THE GREAT CHRONICLE OF BUDDHAS
84
and roots; or, thinking: ‚This is a gift of life‛, he makes gifts of materials which are
conducive to life-prolongation such as offering of food by tickets
28
, etc., or gets physicians
to attend to the sick and afflicted; or causes fishing nets, bird-cages, traps to be destroyed;
or liberates those who have been imprisoned, or causes a proclamation to be made by
beating of gongs: ‚Slaughter of animals is forbidden; no fish or meat is to be sold‛, he
undertakes himself or cause others to do so for the protection of lives of beings. Such a gift
is known as the gift of
dhamma
(
dhamma-dÈna
).
The Bodhisatta dedicates all the said accomplishments in generosity to the happiness and
welfare of the whole world of beings till they attain NibbÈna
.
He dedicates them as
supporting requisites to his attainment of Supreme Enlightenment, to his inexhaustible will
(
chanda
), energy (v
Êriya
), concentration (
samÈdhi
), wisdom (
paÒÒÈ
) and emancipation
(
vimutti
) through
arahatta-phala
.
In fulfilling the Perfection of Generosity, the Bodhisatta develops the perception of
impermanence with regard to his life and his possessions. He considers these possessions
as belonging to others as well. He constantly and continuously develops great compassion
towards beings. In developing such compassion, he is gathering essence of merit, worth
extracting from his wealth. Just like a person, whose house is blazing, removes himself and
all his most valuable belongings to a safe place, so does the Bodhisatta saves himself and
his valuable assets from the great mansion of three abodes (realms of devas, humans and
BrahmÈs), which are raging with eleven fires
29
of
rÈga
, etc., by giving them away
generously without leaving anything behind. He does so without concern, without
discrimination as to what is to be given away or what is to be kept for personal use.
(This is the method of fulfilling the Perfection of Generosity.)
2. How SÊla-PÈramÊ is fulfilled
Wishing to support others with material aids, one should, in the first instance, strive to
become possessed of wealth and property. Likewise, wishing to adorn beings with the
ornaments of morality, the Bodhisatta, to begin with, has to purify his own morality.
Herein, morality is purified in four modes:
(i) Purifying one's inclination (
ajjhÈsaya-visuddhi
): A person, through purity of his own
inclination, is naturally disgusted with evil. He may become very pure in morality by
arousing his inward sense of moral shame (
hirÊ
).
(ii) Undertaking oneself the observance of precepts taken from others (
samÈdÈna
):
Likewise, a person, who has taken precepts from others, reflects: ‚I am undertaking
the observance of precepts which are taken from such and such a teacher,‛ and,
having respect for other beings, he may become very pure in morality by arousing
his sense of moral dread of evil (
ottappa
).
(iii) Non-transgression (
avÊtikkamana
): When endowed with both moral shame and moral
dread to do evil, there can be no transgression. Through non-transgression, one may
become pure in morality and be well established in it.
(iv) Making amends in case of transgression (
paÔipÈkatika-karana
): If due to
forgetfulness, one sometimes breaks a precept or two, then, through one's sense of
moral shame and moral dread, one quickly makes amends by proper means of
reinstating such as confession or observance of
parivÈsa
30
penance and carrying out
manatta
31
penance to become pure again in morality. (On transgression, a
bhikkhu
has to observe
parivÈsa
penance and carry out
manatta
penance; a layman or a
sÈmaÓera
has to renew the undertaking for observance of precepts to gain
28. Offering of food by tickets,
salÈka bhatta
, read AnudÊpÈnÊ Chapter VI PÈramÊta (Prefections).
29. Eleven fires of
rÈga
, etc., fires of passion, hate, bewilderment, birth, ageing, death, grief,
lamentation, pain, distress and despair
30.
ParivÈsa
. Read AnudÊpanÊ Chapter VI PÈramÊta (Prefections) sub-title on Vematika SÊla.
31.
Manatta
. as above (footnote 30)