Today the 8th waning day of Tazaungmon, it is the turn for fifth gæthæ. Hitvæna
piyañca appiyañca, “The bhikkhu who is striving for liberation from the misery of samsæra, rejects lovable beings and lovable things as well as hateful beings and hateful things through meditation in order to reach the stage of arahatta phala. To a monk there should be no beloved or hated persons or things. People suffer immense misery because of beloved and hated beings and things. In this reference the Dhammapada says: Mæ
piyehi samægañchi, “May (I) not meet with lovable beings and things, nor with hateful beings and things, for missing the former makes for misery, and meeting with the latter makes for misery, too.” Just coming across lovable beings or things does not matter as much as falling in love with them. Likewise, mere coming across hateful beings and things is not so damaging as hating them. One feels miserable if one’s beloved children are separated from one by death or by having to live separately with hardly any hope of meeting them again. In the same manner, if one’s prized possessions such as gold, silver, jewellery and other valuables were robbed or destroyed by fire, flood or storm, one would suffer much misery. So it is better for one not to come across beloved beings and things and loving them. It is far better not to come across them at all, for if they were met with, one would probably fall in love with them. However, most people think that it is very good, very enjoyable to come across lovable beings and things and loving them. So they are out in search of them, in other words, they are searching for misery. That is like creating misery for oneself. Then, one would be happy not to come across hateful things and enemies. If one meets with them, it is good to eschew malice and develop loving-kindness for them. Among hateful things, bad smell is worse; it is worse than hateful sight. Then again, bad contact is wrose than bad smell. Aches, pains and tiredness could result from a bad contact; it could even kill one. It is best not to meet with such hateful things. It one has to meet them, one much endure them as much as one can. One should reject hatefull persons and objects by making a constant note of the sight of them as such, and such noting would not admit of either love or hated. If one feels either love or hatred, one should make an immediate note of that feeling and thus get rid of that feeling of love or hatred as the case may be. If one makes a note of the happening and fading-out in this manner and gets to the stage of an anægæmi, hatred that is included in dosa (anger) is abandoned. In that stage one would not have any feeling of hatred for hateful things or persons one meets with, and remain in peace and happiness. Again, when one reaches the stage of an arahanta, one would be rid of ræga (lust) which is often mistaken for love. One would not then be effected by anything lovable or lovely, and would remain in peaceful and happy state. We all should work to attain that stage. If one is rid of loving or hating, one is rid of kilesæ. The Buddha reiterated the message in another form so that the audience of celestial beings would understand better. It has been stated clearly in the satipa¥¥hæna teaching that if one is in meditation by making a note of the in-breath and out-breath or of the constant changes in body, or of pain and sensation such as, tension, pain and aches or the changing mental phenomena, one would not have any occasion for lust or desire. One would not also have any egoistic obsession. So if one wants to be rid of obsessions, one must go in for meditation, and thus make a constant note of the ever-changing phenomena in the body, the feelings, the states of mind, and mental conceptions. At the beginning of the meditation practice, one would find nothing unusual. But as one carries on and thus gains concentration (samædhi), one would discern the matter from the mind. One would also see the cause and the effect and the ever-changing character of the phenomena. One would then be convinced that these happenings and disappearances are in a state of flux and they spell only misery and are going by themselves beyond one’s control. In other words, one would be convinced of the anicca, dukkha and antta nature. When one is thus convinced, one will be free of obsessions, and eventually gain insight of arahatta magga phala. One would then become an arahanta. BE FREE FROM THE HITCHING-POST If one is free of obsessions, one is released from the hitching-post of samsæra. So the Pæ¹i idiom says: Saµyojaniyehi, meaning “being free from the hitching-post of attachment for things, animate or inanimate”. Saµyojana, or the fetter is a tying of one so that one cannot get out of samsæra. It is after all an aggregate of kilesæ (defilement). The arahantäs have cut off these ties and are free from the hitching-post of samsæra. Such bhikkhus can achieve sammæ paribbæjeyya, meaning that they can live properly in the world. Now, in review, the second gæthæ relates to the riddance of secular ma³galæ: the third to the riddance of kæma ræga and bhava ræga. The present one relates to the riddance of obsessions of love and hatred. May the audience be free from the saµyojana, the hitching-post of samsæra, and thus speedily attain the state of nibbæna. Sædhu! Sædhu! Sædhu! End of Part IV
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