Today, the new moon day of Nattaw, the 9th gæthæ will be explained. Lobhæñca
bhavañca vippahæya, The bhikkhu has abandoned lobha as well as kamma which causes new existence. He, too, refrains from ill-treatment, cruelty including bondage. He is free form the spike of kilesæ after over-coming doubts. In this gæthæ, the things that should be discarded are similar to those mentioned in previous verses, but a repetition is being made here for those who are going to realise the Truth in the manner of driving home the important points. The gæthæ says lobha (greed) must be eradicated. This is quite obvious to the audience here. But in those days, some devas and brahmæs might not have had an opportunity of hearing the Buddha’s sermon previously. It was for the benefit of such beings that this point was repeated. The lobha that must be done away with is the same as Samudaya Saccæ of the Four Noble Truths. In other words, it is ta¼hæ (lust). That is indeed an important one to be eradicated. Desire, delight, attachment, etc, are its other names used in Dhammasa³ganø Pæ¹i treatise in the Abhidhammæ Part of the tri-Pø¥aka. There are more than one hundred synonyms. This lobha is to be eradicated by the arahatta magga insight, and until it can be done so, it has to be curbed by søla (moral practice). Lobha belongs to the mind, and desire or lust may occur in the mind, but søla must be kept to check its implementation by deed or speech. One who keeps søla in strict observance will avoid the misdeeds of stealing deceiving and resorting to unjust means. This is obvious. To go one step further, one must eliminate desire or lust, or greed, by striving to gain mental stability through bhævanæ (meditation). For example, if one makes a constant note of the incoming and outgoing breath passing through the nostril, desire or greed will not generally occur. The occurrence will be delayed. During the time when one is into jhæna, the lobha sentiment will be totally excluded. Even after the jhæna sitting it seldom occurs. That is why some of those who has had jhæna thought they had become arahanta though they had not really reached the stage of arahatta magga phala. Although they had jhæna, they could fall from that stage when they came across something desirable. One must go in for vipassanæ meditation to preclude the possibility of hankering after things of delight. We have already told you how to do meditation. If one makes a constant note of the phenomena as they occur, there will be no chance for lobha to get into one’s mind. If one fully aware of the anicca, dukkha and anatta nature, one will not give lobha a chance to occur. If the vipassanæ insight were fully developed, one would achieve ariyæ magga insight and reach the ultimate goal of Nibbæna. On attaining the first stage of insight, one will eliminate such lobha as can push one down to hell. On attaining the second stage one will have got rid of the desires and lust for things of delight, and on attaining the final stage, one will eradicate all desires and attachment to existence. That was what the Buddha instructed for eradication of lobha. Next, the gæthæ says, the cause of new existence must be rejected. Once lobha has been eradicated by means of arahatta magga insight the possibility of a new existence has been precluded. One who has attained the first stage on the path to purity, that is, one who has become a sotæpanna, will have rejected all ill deeds paving the way to the nether regions of hell. Such a person will have only seven existences in the upper regions for he has already rejected the possibility of an extension beyond that limit. On the third stage that is on becoming an anægæmi, one has eliminated the cause for any further existence, and on reaching the final stage of arahatta magga, possibility of a new existence in rþpa bhava (corporeal world) or arþpa bhava (incorporeal world) has been eradicated once and for all. So when an arahanta passes away he is said to have passed into parinibbæna (final release from the cycle of existence). Next, the gæthæ says the bhikkhu must refrain from cruelty. Cruel treatment includes cutting of limbs and putting in chains and throwing into prison. In those days criminals were treated cruelly. They were seized and placed in chains and thrown into prison. Then they were subjected to all kinds of cruel treatment including cutting off of their limbs. In the same manner, men captured animals and killed them, or cut of their limbs. Such cruel treatment must be refrained from by bhikkhus; that is; by those who are concerned with keeping of the precept relating to killing and torture. This habit can be rejected when one has acquired the sotæpanna insight. When one reaches the final stage of arahatta magga, not a slight vestige of cruelty has remained. The Buddha urged his disciple to attain that final stage in order to eradicate cruelty. Then, the gæthæ says that the bhikkhu must overcome all doubts and hesitation. Doubts arise when one cannot decide between truth and falsehood. Doubts spread over the veracity of such points as whether the Buddha is the true one or the false, the doctrine of magga, phala and Nibbæna is true or false, or whether the practice for søla, samædhi and paññæ is true or false. There are doubts about the sanghä the disciples of the Buddha. Doubts arise about kamma and its effect, or about cause and effect. The bhikkhus must entertain no such doubts; these must be dispelled. These doubts are cleared only on attaining the sotæpatti magga insight. Before reaching that stage one can disperse doubts by listening to discourses on the words of the Buddha. Yogøs who are in meditation practice can dispel these doubts. When one comes to realise the separateness of rþpa and næma, the doubt about næma-rþpa will be dispelled. For instance bending (of arm) is the effect of the desire to bend which is the cause. If one realises that one will not entertain doubt about cause and effect. This is in fact, dispelling of doubt in respect of paticcasamuppæda (causal genesis). Then when one see clearly the flux of phenomena, one will be convinced of the anicca, dukkha and anatta nature, and there won’t be any doubts about them. Then when one reaches the stage of sotäpatti magga, all doubts will be dispelled. The Pæ¹i term salla means “arrow” or “spike”. Here the latter meaning seems more appropriate. What are the spikes referred to in this context? They are ræga, dosa and moha. Ræga is the same as lobha; so once lobha has been rejected, ræga go with it. In fact, once lobha is eradicated, dosa and moha disappear too. Those who are afflicted with ræga suffer immense misery. Just as one suffers a lingering pain when stuck by a spike one who is afflicted with ræga suffers unending misery. As he thinks lust is enjoyable, he will go about hunting things to lust for, and such hunting entials a series of discomfort and distress. In the same way, one who revels in anger would not like to be told to restrain it. One who is overwhelmed by moha takes falsehood for truth, thinks that the impermanent rþpa and næma to be lasting and that the corporeal matter is self (“my-self”). Being thus misguided, such a person commits sins unwittingly and has to pay for them by suffering in hell. So the Buddha urged His disciples to work to be free from the spikes of defilements. The refrain the verses runs: “The monk who is free from all attachments lives properly in this world”. This is the end of the discourse on the 9th gæthæ in the Sutta. Sædhu! Sædhu! Sædhu! End of Part VIII
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