Sangīti Sutta: The Chanting Together | 2 Part
Sangīti Sutta: The Chanting Together
Part 2
1.11. 'There are [sets of] four things which were perfectly proclaimed by the Lord...
(1) 'Four foundations of mindfulness:
Here a monk abides contemplating body as body, ardent, clearly aware and mindful, having put aside hankering and fretting for the world;
he abides contemplating feelings as feelings...; he abides contemplating mind as mind...;
he abides contemplating mind- objects as mind-objects, ardent, clearly aware and mindful, having put aside hankering and fretting for the world.
(2) 'Four great efforts:
Here a monk rouses his will, makes an effort, stirs up energy, exerts his mind and strives to prevent the arising of unarisen evil unwholesome mental states.
He rouses his will... and strives to overcome evil unwholesome mental states that have arisen.
He rouses his will... and strives to produce unarisen wholesome mental states.
He rouses his will... and strives to maintain wholesome mental states that have arisen, not to let them fade away, to bring them to greater growth, to the full perfection of development.
(3) 'Four roads to power:
Here a monk develops concentration of intention accompanied by effort of will, concentration of energy,... concentration of consciousness, and concentration of investigation accompanied by effort of will.
(4) 'Four jhānas:
Here a monk, detached from all sense-desires, detached from unwholesome mental states, enters and remains in the first jhāna, which is with thinking and pondering, born of detachment, filled with delight and joy.
And with the subsiding of thinking and pondering, by gaining inner tranquillity and oneness of mind, he enters and remains in the second jhāna, which is without thinking and pondering, born of concentration, filled with delight and joy.
And with the fading away of delight, remaining imperturbable, mindful and clearly aware, he experiences in himself that joy of which the Noble Ones say: "Happy is he who dwells with equanimity and mindfulness", he enters and remains in the third jhāna.
And, having given up pleasure and pain, and with the disappearance of former gladness and sadness, he enters and remains in the fourth jhāna which is beyond pleasure and pain, and purified by equanimity and mindfulness.
(5) 'Four concentrative meditations.
This meditation, when developed and expanded, leads to (a) happiness here and now, (b) gaining know- ledge-and-vision, (c) mindfulness and clear awareness, and (d) the destruction of the corruptions.
(a) How does this practice lead to happiness here and now? Here, a monk practises the four jhānas.
(b) How does it lead to the gaining of know- ledge-and-vision?
Here, a monk attends to the perception of light, he fixes his mind to the perception of day, by night as by day, by day as by night. In this way, with a mind clear and unclouded, he develops a state of mind that is full of brightness.
(c) How does it lead to mindfulness and clear awareness?
Here, a monk knows feelings as they arise, remain and vanish; he knows perceptions as they arise, remain and vanish; he knows thoughts (vitakka) as they arise, remain and vanish,
(d) How does this practice lead to the destruction of the corruptions?
Here, a monk abides in the contemplation of the rise and fall of the five aggregates of grasping:
"This is material form, this is its arising, this is its ceasing; these are feelings...; this is perception...; these are the mental formations...; this is consciousness, this is its arising, this is its ceasing."
(6) Four boundless states.
Here, a monk, with a heart filled with loving-kindness, pervades first one quarter, then the second, the third and the fourth.
Thus he stays, spreading the thought of loving-kindness above, below and across, everywhere, always with a heart filled with loving-kindness, abundant, magnified, unbounded, without hatred or ill-will.
And likewise with compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity.
(7) Four formless jhānas.
Here, a monk, by passing entirely beyond bodily sensations, by the disappearance of all sense of resistance and by non-attraction to the perception of diversity, seeing that space is infinite, reaches and remains in the Sphere of Infinite Space.
And by passing entirely beyond the Sphere of Infinite Space, seeing that consciousness is infinite, he reaches and remains in the Sphere of Infinite Consciousness.
And by passing entirely beyond the Sphere of Infinite Consciousness, seeing that there is no thing, he reaches and remains in the Sphere of No-Thingness.
And by passing entirely beyond the Sphere of No-Thingness, he reaches and remains in the Sphere of Neither-Perception-Nor-Non-Perception.
(8) Four supports: Here a monk judges that one thing is to be pursued, one thing endured, one thing avoided, one thing suppressed.
(9) Four Ariyan lineages.
Here, a monk (a) is content with any old robe, praises such contentment, and does not try to obtain robes improperly or unsuitably.
He does not worry if he does not get a robe, and if he does, he is not full of greedy, blind desire, but makes use of it, aware of [such] dangers and wisely aware of its true purpose.
Nor is he conceited about being thus content with any old robe, and he does not disparage others.
And one who is thus skilful, not lax, clearly aware and mindful, is known as a monk who is true to the ancient, original Ariyan lineage.
Again, (b) a monk is content with any alms-food he may get...
Again, (c) a monk is content with any old lodging-place...
And again, (d) a monk, being fond of abandoning, rejoices in abandoning, and being fond of developing, rejoices in developing, is not therefore conceited...
And one who is thus skilful, not lax, clearly aware and mindful, is known as a monk who is true to the ancient, original Ariyan lineage.
(10) 'Four efforts: The effort of (a) restraint, (b) abandoning, (c) development, (d) preservation.
What is (a) the effort of restraint? Here, a monk, on seeing an object with the eye, does not grasp at the whole or its details, striving to restrain what might cause evil, unwholesome states, such as hankering or sorrow, to flood in on him.
Thus he watches over the sense of sight and guards it (similarly with sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, thoughts).
What is (b) the effort of abandoning? Here, a monk does not assent to a thought of lust, of hatred, of cruelty that has arisen, but abandons it, dispels it, destroys it, makes it disappear.
What is (c) the effort of development? Here, a monk develops the enlightenment- factor of mindfulness, based on solitude, detachment, extinction, leading to maturity of surrender;
he develops the enlightenment-factor of investigation of states, ... of energy,... of delight,... of tranquillity,... of concentration, ... of equanimity, based on solitude, detachment, extinction, leading to maturity of surrender.
What is (d) the effort of preservation? Here, a monk keeps firmly in his mind a favourable object of concentration which has arisen, such as a skeleton, or a corpse that is full of worms, blue-black, full of holes, bloated.
(11) 'Four knowledges: knowledge of Dhamma, of what is consonant with it, knowledge of others' minds, conventional knowledge.
(12) 'Four more knowledges: knowledge of suffering, its origin, its cessation, the path.
(13) 'Four factors of Stream-Attainment: association with good people, hearing the true Dhamma, thorough attention, practice of the Dhamma in its entirety.
(14) 'Four characteristics of a Stream-Winner:
(a) Here, the Ariyan disciple is possessed of unwavering confidence in the Buddha, thus:
"This Blessed Lord is an Arahant, a fully-en-lightened Buddha, endowed with wisdom and conduct, the Well-Farer, Knower of the worlds, incomparable Trainer of men to be tamed, Teachers of gods and humans, enlightened and blessed."
(b) He is possessed of unwavering confidence in the Dhamma, thus:
"Well-proclaimed by the Lord is the Dhamma, visible here and now, timeless, inviting inspection, leading onward, to be comprehended by the wise each one for himself."
(c) He is possessed of unwavering confidence in the Sangha, thus:
"Well-directed is the Sangha of the Lord's disciples, of upright conduct, on the right path, on the perfect path; that is to say the four pairs of persons, the eight kinds of men.
The Sangha of the Lord's disciples is worthy of offerings, worthy of hospitality, worthy of gifts, worthy of veneration, an unsurpassed field of merit in the world."
And (d) he is possessed of morality dear to the Noble Ones, unbroken, without defect, unspotted, without inconsistency, liberating, praised by the wise, uncorrupted, and conducive to concentration.
(15) 'Four fruits of the ascetic life: the fruits of Stream-Entry, of the Once-Returner, of the Non-Returner, of Arahantship.
(16) 'Four elements: the elements of "earth", "water", "fire", "air".
(17) 'Four nutriments: "material" food, gross or subtle; contact as second; mental volition as third; consciousness as fourth.
(18) 'Four stations of consciousness: Consciousness gains a footing either
(a) in relation to materiality, with materiality as object and basis, as a place of enjoyment, or similarly in regard to (b) feelings, (c) perceptions or (d) mental formations, and there it grows, increases and flourishes.
(19) 'Four ways of going wrong: One goes wrong through desire, hatred, delusion, fear.
(20) 'Four arousals of craving: Craving arises in a monk because of robes, alms, lodging, being and non-being.
(21) Four kinds of progress:
(a) painful progress with slow comprehension, (b) painful progress with quick comprehension, (c) pleasant progress with slow comprehension, (d) pleasant progress with quick comprehension.
(22) Four more kinds of progress: (a)progress with impatience, (b) patient progress, (c) con-trolled progress, (d) calm progress.
(23) Four ways of Dhamma: (a) without hankering, (b) without enmity, (c) with right mindfulness, (d) with right concentration.
(24) Four ways of undertaking Dhamma:
There is the way that is (a) painful in the present and brings painful future results, (b) painful in the present and brings pleasant future results, (c) pleasant in the present and brings painful future results, and (d) pleasant in the present and brings pleasant future results.
(25) Four divisions of Dhamma: morality, concentration, wisdom, liberation.
(26) Four powers: energy, mindfulness, concentration, wisdom.
(27) Four kinds of resolve: [to gain] (a) wisdom, (b) truth, (c) relinquishment, (d) tranquillity.
(28) Four ways of answering questions: the question (a) to be answered directly, (b) requiring an explanation, (c) requiring a counter-question, (d) to be set aside.
(29) Four kinds of kamma:
There is (a) black kamma with black result, (b) bright kamma with bright result, (c) black-and-bright kamma with black-and- bright result, (d) kamma that is neither black nor bright, with neither black nor bright result, leading to the destruction of kamma.
(30) Four things to be realised by seeing:
(a) former lives, to be realised by recollection (b) passing-away and realising to be realised by the [divine] eye, (c) the eight deliverances, to be realised with the mental body, (d) the destruction of the corruptions, to be realised by wisdom.
(31) 'Four floods: sensuality, becoming, [wrong] views, ignorance.
(32) 'Four yokes (yoga) (= (31))
(33) 'Four "unyokings": from sensuality, becoming, views, ignorance.
(34) 'Forties: the "body-tie" of hankering, ill-will, attachment to rite and ritual, dogmatic fanaticism.
(35) 'Four clingings: to sensuality, to views, to rules and ritual, to ego-belief.
(36) 'Four kinds of generation: from an egg, from a womb, from moisture, spontaneous rebirth.
(37) 'Four ways of descent into the womb:
(a) One descends into the mother's womb unknowing, stays there unknowing, and leaves it unknowing;
(b) one enters the womb knowing, stays there unknowing, and leaves it unknowing;
(c) one enters the womb knowing, stays there knowing, and leaves it unknowing;
(d) one enters the womb knowing, stays there knowing, and leaves it knowing (as Sutta 28, verse 5).
(38) 'Four ways of getting a new personality:
There is an acquisition of personality that is brought about by (a) one's own volition, not another's, (b) another's volition, not one's own, (c) both, (d) neither.
(39) 'Four purifications of offerings: there is the offering purified (a) by the giver but not by the recipient, (b) by the recipient but not by the giver, (c) by neither, (d) by both.
(40) 'Four bases of sympathy: generosity, pleasing speech, beneficial conduct and impartiality.
(41) 'Four un-Ariyan modes of speech: lying, slander, abuse, idle gossip.
(42) 'Four Ariyan modes of speech: refraining from lying, slander, abuse, idle gossip.
(43) 'Four more un-Ariyan modes of speech: claiming to have seen, heard, sensed, known what one has not seen, heard, sensed, known.
(44) Four more Ariyan modes of speech: stating that one has not seen, heard, sensed, known what one has not seen, heard sensed, known.
(45) Four more un-Ariyan modes of speech: claiming not to have seen, heard, sensed, known what one has seen, heard, sensed, known.
(46) Four more Ariyan modes of speech: stating that one has seen, heard, sensed, known what one has seen, heard, sensed, known.
(47) Four persons:
Here a certain man (a) torments himself, is given to self-tormenting, (b) torments others,... (c) torments himself and others,... (d) torments neither himself nor others...Thereby he dwells in this life without craving, released (nibbuto), cool, enjoying bliss, become as Brahma.
(48) Four more persons: Here a man's life benefits (a) himself but not others, (b) others but not himself, (c) neither, (d) both.
(49) Four more persons: (a) living in darkness and bound for darkness, (c) living in darkness and bound for the light, (c) living in the light and bound for darkness, (d) living in the light and bound for the light.
(50) 'Four more persons: (a) the unshakeable ascetic, (b) the "blue-lotus" ascetic, (c) the "white-lotus" ascetic, (d) the subtly-perfect ascetic.
'These are the [sets of] four things which were perfectly proclaimed by the Lord... So we should all recite them together. . .for the benefit, welfare and happiness of devas and humans.
[End of first recitation-section]
2.1. 'There are [sets of] five things perfectly proclaimed...
(1) 'Five aggregates: body, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, consciousness.
(2) 'Five aggregates of grasping (as (1)).
(3) 'Five strands of sense-desire: a sight seen by the eye, a sound heard by the ear, a smell smelt by the nose, a flavour tasted by the tongue, a tangible object felt by the body as being desirable, attractive, nice, charming, associated with lust and arousing passion.
(4) 'Five [post-mortem] destinies: hell, animal-rebirth, the realm of hungry ghosts, humankind, the deva world.
(5) 'Five kinds of begrudging: as to dwelling-place, families, gains, beauty, Dhamma.
(6) 'Five hindrances: sensuality, ill-will, sloth-and-torpor, worry-and-flurry, sceptical doubt.
(7) 'Five lower fetters: personality-belief, doubt, attachment to rite and ritual, sensuality, ill-will.
(8) 'Five higher fetters: craving for the world of form, craving for the formless world, conceit, restlessness, ignorance.
(9) 'Five rules of training: refraining from taking life, taking what is not given, sexual misconduct, lying speech, strong drink and sloth-producing drugs.
(10) 'Five impossible things: An Arahant is incapable of
(a) deliberately taking the life of a living being;
(b) taking what is not given so as to constitute theft;
(c) sexual intercourse;
(d) telling a deliberate lie;
(e) storing up goods for sensual indulgence as he did formerly in the household life (as Sutta 29, verse 26).
(11) 'Five kinds of loss: Loss of relatives, wealth, health, morality, [right] view.
No beings fall into an evil state, a hell-state... after death because of loss or relatives, wealth or health; but beings do fall into such states by loss of morality and right view.
(12) 'Five kinds of gain: Gain of relatives, wealth, health, morality, [right] view.
No beings arise in a happy, heavenly state after death because of the gain of relatives, wealth or health; but beings are reborn in such states because of gains in morality and right view.
(13) 'Five dangers to the immoral through lapsing from morality: (as Sutta 16, verse 1.23).
(14) 'Five benefits to the moral through preserving morality: (as Sutta 16, verse 1.24).
(15) 'Five points to be borne in mind by a monk wishing to rebuke another:
(a) I will speak at the proper time, not the wrong time, (b) I will state the truth, not what is false, (c) I will speak gently, not roughly, (d) I will speak for his good, not for his harm, (e) I will speak with love in my heart, not with enmity.
(16) 'Five factors of endeavour: Here, a monk
(a) has faith, trusting in the enlightenment of the Tathagata: "Thus this Blessed Lord is an Arahant, a fully-enlightened Buddha..." (as Sutta 3, verse 1.2),
(b) is in good health, suffers little distress or sickness, having a good digestion that is neither too cool nor too hot but of a middling temperature suitable for exertion,
(c) is not fraudulent or deceitful, showing himself as he really is to his teacher or to the wise among his companions in the holy life,
(d) keeps his energy constantly stirred up for abandoning unwholesome states and arousing wholesome states, and is steadfast, firm in advancing and persisting in wholesome states,
(e) is a man of wisdom, endowed with wisdom concerning rising and cessation, with the Ariyan penetration that leads to the complete destruction of suffering.
(17) 'Five Pure Abodes: Aviha, Unworried, Clearly Visible, Clear-Sighted, Peerless.
(18) 'Five kinds of Non-Returner; the "less- than-half-timer", the "more-than-half-timer", the "gainer without exertion", the "gainer with exertion", "he who goes upstream to the highest".
(19) 'Five mental blockages: Here, a monk has doubts and hesitations
(a) about the Teacher, is dissatisfied and cannot settle in his mind. Thus his mind is not inclined towards ardour, devotion, persistence and effort; (b) about the Dhamma...; (c) about the Sangha...; (d) about the training ...;
(e) he is angry and displeased with his fellows in the holy life, he feels depressed and negative towards them. Thus his mind is not inclined towards ardour, devotion, persistence and effort.
(20) 'Five mental bondages: Here, a monk has not got rid of the passion, desire, love, thirst, fever, craving
(a) for sense-desires: thus his mind is not inclined towards ardour, devotion, persistence and effort; (b) for the body,...(c) for physical objects,...
or (d) having eaten as much as his belly will hold, he abandons himself to the pleasure of lying down, of contact, of sloth;
or (e) he practises the holy life for the sake of becoming a member of somebody of devas, thinking: "By means of these rites or this discipline, this austerity or this holy life I shall become one of the devas, great or small." Thus his mind is not inclined towards ardour, devotion, persistence and effort.
(21) 'Five faculties: the faculty of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body.
(22) 'Five more faculties: pleasant [bodily] feeling (sukha), pain (dukkha), gladness (somanassa), sadness (domanassa), indifferent feeling.
(23) 'Five more faculties: faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, wisdom.
(24) 'Five elements making for deliverance:
(a) Here, when a monk considers sense-desires, his mind does not leap forward and take satisfaction in them, fix on them or make free with them, but when he considers renunciation it does leap forward, take satisfaction in it, fix on it, and make free with it.
And he gets this thought well- set, well-developed, well raised up, well freed and disconnected from sense-desires.
And thus he is freed from the corruptions, the vexations and fevers that arise from sense-desires, and he does not feel that [sensual] feeling. This is called the deliverance from sense-desires.
And the same applies to (b) ill-will, (c) cruelty, (d) forms, (e) personality.
(25) 'Five bases of deliverance: Here,
(a) the Teacher or a respected fellow-disciple teaches a monk Dhamma. And as he receives the teaching, he gains a grasp of both the spirit and the letter of the teaching.
At this, joy arises in him, and from this joy, delight: and by this delight his senses are calmed, he feels happiness (sukham) as a result, and with this happiness his mind is established;
(b) he has not heard it thus, but in the course of teaching Dhamma to others he has learnt it by heart as he has heard it; or (c) as he is chanting the Dhamma. ..;
or (d).. when he applies his mind to the Dhamma, thinks and ponders over it and concentrates his attention on it;
or (e) when he has properly grasped some concentration-sign, has well considered it, applied his mind to it, and has well penetrated it with wisdom.
At this, joy arises in him, and from this joy, delight; and by this delight his senses are calmed, he feels happiness as a result, and with this happiness his mind is established.
(26) 'Five perceptions making for maturity of liberation: the perception of impermanence, of suffering in impermanence, of impersonality in suffering, of abandoning, of dispassion.
'These are the [sets of] five things which were perfectly proclaimed by the Lord