Footnotes
The translations are available at the Pāli Text Society, 73 Lime Walk, Headington, Oxford OX3 7AD, England.
A day of vigil or fasting which laypeople may observe four times a month (the days of the new moon, full moon and the two days of the half moon) by undertaking moral precepts and by visiting the temple.
Pronounce: chitta.
Namely in rebirth.
Moment of consciousness or “mental state”.
These terms do not stand for the conventional ideas of earth, water, fire and wind, but they denote characteristics of realities.
Pronounce: chitchai.
paññā which experiences the nāmas and rūpas of our life is “mundane” or “lokiya paññā ”; paññā which experiences nibbāna is “supramundane” or “lokuttara paññā ”.
There are four stages of enlightenment and at each stage defilements are progressively eradicated.
Mūla means root; it is the same as hetu.
Laypeople can observe five precepts, which are rules of training to abstain from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying and the taking of intoxicants, including alcoholic drinks.
The English translation has: one can never repay…Here I followed the Thai translation.
who have little understanding
Awareness or mindfulness is in Pāli: sati. It is a mental factor which accompanies each sobhana citta, “beautiful citta”. Sati is heedful, non-forgetful of what is wholesome. There are different levels of sati: there is sati with dāna, with sīla, with samatha and with vipassanā. Sati in vipassanā is aware, mindful, non-forgetful of the characteristic of nāma or rūpa which presents itself through one of the six doors. Further on in this book I will explain more about sati.
Literally, “thus gone”, the Perfect One.
Sammā means thoroughly, rightly.
Confidence in wholesomeness.
Kamma is volition, but the terms kusala kamma and akusala kamma stand also for good action or evil action motivated by wholesome or unwholesome volition. Deeds bring their results accordingly; more precisely: the volition or intention which motivates a deed is accumulated and can produce result later on.
There are four stages of enlightenment. At each of these stages nibbāna is experienced and defilements are progressively eradicated. Only when the last stage of enlightenment, the stage of the arahat, has been attained, there is the end of defilements and there will be the end of rebirth. This will be further explained in Ch. 8.
Cankers or intoxicants, one group of defilements. Defilements are classified into different groups.
Nibbāna and the eight lokuttara cittas are the “nine supramundane dhammas”, “nava lokuttara dhammas”.
See, for example, Middle Length Sayings II, no. 73, “Greater Discourse to Vacchagotta”.
Khandha is translated as “group” or “aggregate”. The five khandhas are: the khandha of rūpas, of feelings, of perception, of “formations” or “activities” (all mental factors other than feeling and perception), and of consciousness. Thus, the five khandhas are all nāmas and rūpas of our life.
The once-returner or sakadāgāmī has realized the second stage of enlightenment.
The non-returner or anāgāmī has realized the third stage of enlightenment.
Fetters or sa—yojanas are a group of defilements. The non-returner or anāgāmī has eradicated the five lower fetters, which include wrong views, clinging to sense objects and aversion. The arahat has eradicated the five higher fetters which include conceit, craving for rebirth which is the result of jhāna, restlessness and ignorance.
The ariyans who are not arahats have also at the attainment of enlightenment experienced nibbāna and eradicated defilements, but there are four stages of enlightenment and at these stages defilements are progressively eradicated, as we have seen in Ch 8. The ariyans who are not arahats are sure to reach arahatship. The sotāpanna will not be reborn more than seven times; thus, there is still rebirth for him but he will reach the end of rebirth.
His own body.
I have used the translation of the Wheel Publication no. 67, 68, 69, Buddhist Publication Society, Sri Lanka.
The Buddha.
I am using the translation of the “Therīgāthā” by Ms. Rhys Davids: Psalms of the Early Buddhists, P.T.S.
Dukkha.
Vipākacitta is the result of kamma. Kusala kamma, good deeds, bring pleasant results and akusala kamma, evil deeds, bring unpleasant results.
Here I have added “of defilements”, following the Thai translation which uses the word kilesa.
A person who has realized the third stage of enlightenment.
The five “mundane” powers or knowledges are: magical powers, divine ear, by which one hears sounds heavenly and human, far and near, penetration of the minds of others, divine eye, by which one sees the passing away and rebirth of beings, and remembrance of former lives.
The English text has here: “we say”, but follow the Thai translation: “The Buddha said”.
The “Four Applications of mindfulness” are: Mindfulness of the Body, of Feelings, of Cittas and of Dhammas. All nāmas and rūpas which are objects of mindfulness are included in these four “applications”.
See Visuddhimagga VII, 36-46.
For details see: Visuddhimagga, Ch IV-IX.
Cetasika is a mental factor accompanying citta. There is only one citta at a time, but each citta is accompanied by several cetasikas which each perform their own function. Some cetasikas accompany each citta, others do not. There are akusala cetasikas which accompany only akusala citta, and there are “sobhana cetasikas” (beautiful cetasikas) which accompany only sobhana citta.
The Dhamma.
For the attainment of jhāna one has to develop jhāna-factors, specific cetasikas. At each higher stage of rūpa-jhāna jhāna-factors are abandoned, they are no longer needed. Some people can at the second stage abandon two factors instead of one factor and thus for them there are four stages of jhāna instead of five stages.
Sobhana cittas include not only kusala cittas but also kusala vipākacittas and kiriyacittas (inoperative cittas) of the arahat, accompanied by sobhana hetus, beautiful roots.
A reality with its own unchangeable characteristic which can be known through direct experience when it presents itself through one of the six doors. It is different from concepts or ideas of which we may think, but which are not real in the ultimate sense.
Sammā means: right.
Here I use the translation of the Wheel Publication no. 14, Buddhist Publication Society, Sri Lanka.
Book of the Fours, Ch XII, par 3, The goad. The Buddha uses a simile of horses which are stirred by a goad. Even so a person may be stirred to develop right understanding. Some people are already stirred when they hear about someone else who is ill or dead, while others are stirred when they see it themselves, or when their own relatives are ill or dead, or when they themselves suffer from painful feelings.
I have used the translation of the Wheel Publication no. 19, Buddhist Publication Society, Sri Lanka.
Bhavanga-cittas arise in between the processes of cittas which experience an object through one of the six doors, they keep the continuity in the lifespan of a being.
For such a person jhāna is then the “proximate cause” for insight (Vis. XI, 121).
I am using the translation by Walpola Rahula, in “What the Buddha taught”. The P.T.S. translation is by K.R. Norman.
A “world-period” or aeon, an inconceivably long space of time.
Also the ear, sound, the nose, odour, the contacts through the ear, the nose and the other doorways, and the feelings arising conditioned by those contacts are included in the “all”, as is explained in par 23, “The all”.
These are three unwholesome actions through the body, which are killing, stealing and sexual misbehaviour. There are four unwholesome actions through speech, which are lying, slandering, rude speech and idle speech. There are three unwholesome mental actions, which are covetousness, ill-will and wrong views.
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