THE GREAT CHRONICLE OF BUDDHAS
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the first accomplice: ‚Friend, after you have lured him into the jungle, I shall
molest him and make him weak. There is no problem for me to do that.‛ And the
third murderer says to the second accomplice, ‚Friend, after you have molested
him and made him weak, let it be my duty to cut off his head with my sword.‛
Then the three accomplices carried out their plan successfully.
In the above simile, the moment when the first accomplice lures someone from
amidst the circle of dear ones into any of the five new destinations is the work of
jÈti
. The molestation and weakening of the victim, rendering him quite helpless by
the second accomplice is the work of
jarÈ
. The cutting off head with the sword by
the third accomplice is the work of
maraÓa
.
Or in another simile:
JÈti
is like someone taking a hazardous journey.
JarÈ
is like
the weakening of that traveller from starvation on the journey.
MaraÓa
is like the
enfeebled traveller, alone and helpless, falling victim to the beasts of prey that
infest the forest.)
(12) Soka parideva, dukkha domanasupÈyÈsÈ sambhavanti
Just as ageing and death must follow rebirth, so also when rebirth occurs in any of the
four kinds of rebirth, the five kinds of loss occur as consequence, namely, (i) loss of
relatives, (ii) loss of wealth, (iii) loss of health, (iv) loss of morality, (v) loss of right view.
When any kind of these losses happen, there is much grief, lamentation, pain, distress of
mind and anguish, which are the suffering in brief consequent to rebirth. There is of course
untold misery that arises due to rebirth.
(13) Evame tassa kevalassa dukkhakkhandassa samudayo hoti.
In the long long course of
saÑsÈra
, the truth that needs to be perceived is that, apart from
mind and matter, there is, in reality, no person or being, no individual entity. It is a mere
causal chain rooted in Ignorance, dependent on which twelve causal factors arise, ending
up in death; and yet the occurrence of these twelve factors is considered by the worldling
as deva or human (or brahmin), thus binding them to the chain of rebirth endlessly. The
whole thing is just an unalloyed mass of recurrent
dukkha
. This is the stark truth about
existence that is generally cherished as one's ‘life’. (This verse being straight forward, is
left unparaphrased by the author.)
This is the Doctrine of Dependent Origination.
The Four Kinds of Analytical Knowledge (PaÔisambhidÈ-ÒÈÓa)
It has been said above that as soon as the Buddha attained Perfect Enlightenment, He
became possessed of the four kinds of Analytical Knowledge. These four Knowledges are:
(i)
Attha paÔisambhidÈ-ÒÈÓa
, (ii)
Dhamma paÔisambhidÈ-ÒÈÓa
, (iii)
Nirutti paÔisambhidÈ-
ÒÈÓa
, (iv)
PaÔibhÈna paÔisambhidÈ-ÒÈÓa
.
PaÔisambhidÈ
means multifarious, diverse,
various.
PatisambhidÈ-ÒÈÓa
means Knowledge which is discriminating and comprehensive.
(i)
Attha patisambhidÈ-ÒÈÓa
: Herein
attha
means: (a) things that are dependent on
conditions, i.e., understanding results of causes, (b) NibbÈna (c) meaning of words (
PÈli
),
(d) resultant thoughts (
vipÈka
) (i.e. mind and mental concomitants), (e) non-causative
thoughts (
kiriya
) (i.e. mind and mental concomitants).
The Buddha became endowed with the above five kinds of
attha
(meanings, results) as
soon as He attained Buddhahood. Being endowed with Analytical Knowledge of
attha
, the
Buddha knew discriminately and comprehensively about everything, and was able to
expound these to others. The great non-causative consciousness (
mahÈ
kiriya ÒÈÓa
)
associated with four kinds of knowledge that arises in the Buddha when His mind attends
to the above five
atthas
, as well as
magga-phala
that He knows when His mind attends to
NibbÈna, are called
Attha patisambhidÈ-ÒÈÓa
of the Buddha.
(This
attha patisambhidÈ-ÒÈÓa
of
ariyas,
who are still training themselves to attain
arahatta-phala,
such as that of the Venerable Œnanda, consists of the great meritorious
consciousness,
mahÈkusala-citta
, associated with four kinds of knowledge that arises in