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“ Full of hindrances is household life, a path defiled by passion: free as the air is the life of him who has renounced all worldly things. How difficult it is for the man who dwells at home to live the higher life in all its fullness, in all its purity, in all its bright perfection! ”

“ Just as if a man were to set up that which is thrown down, or were to reveal that which is hidden away, or were to point out the right road to him who has gone astray, or were to bring a lamp into the darkness, so that those who have eyes can see external forms ;—just even so, Lord, has the truth been made known to us, in many a figure, by the Exalted One. ”

“ Uprightness is his delight, and he sees danger in the least of those things he should avoid. He adopts and trains himself in the precepts. He encompasses himself with goodness in word and deed. He sustains his life by means that are quite pure; good is his conduct, guarded the door of his senses ”

“ When the Exalted One was once journeying through Kosala with a great company of the brethren, with about five hundred brethren, he came to the Brahman village in Kosala which is called Manasākaṭa. And there at Manasākaṭa the Exalted One stayed in the mango grove, on the bank of the river Aciravatī, to the north of Manasākaṭa.
2. Now at that time many very distinguished and wealthy Brahmans were staying at Manasākaṭa; to wit, Kaṅkī the Brahman, Tārukkha the Brahman, Pokkharasādi the Brahman, Jāṇussoṇi the Brahman, Todeyya the Brahman, and other very distinguished and wealthy Brahmans. ”

“ There is nothing original in the Buddhist belief that a man’s habit of mind at the time of his death would determine, save only in the one case of the Arahat, the nature of his rebirth. It is an Indian—not an exclusively Buddhist theory. The Buddhist texts represent it as held by non-Buddhists, and already long before. the Buddha’s time, and as accepted by all as a matter of course. And it is even not exclusively Indian. As I have pointed out elsewhere, it is [\q 299/] ascribed by Plato to Socrates. [1] The essentially Buddhist parts of the theory are three. ”

“ And a man with business on the other side, making for the other side, bound for the other side, should come up, and want to cross over. And he, on this bank, were to be bound tightly, with his arms behind his back, by a strong chain. Now what think you, Vāseṭṭha, would that man be able to get over from this bank of the river Aciravatī to the further bank?’
‘Certainly not, Gotama!’
27. ‘In the same way, Vāseṭṭha, there are five things [\q 311/] leading to lust, which are called, in the Discipline of the Arahats, a “chain” and a “bond.” ”

“ And that even the Rishis of old, the authors and utterers of the verses, of the ancient form of words which the Brahmans of to-day so carefully intone and recite precisely as they have [\q 305/] been handed down—even they did not pretend to know or to have seen where or whence or whither Brahmā is. ”

“ Buddhaghosa adds that because Manasākaṭa was a pleasant place the Brahmans had built huts there on the bank of the river and fenced them in, and used to go and stay there from time to time to repeat their mantras.
6. Jaṅghāvihāraṃ anucaṅkamantānaṃ anuvicarantānaṃ. Caṅkamati is to walk up and down thinking. I have added ’after their bath,’ from Buddhaghosa, who says that this must be understood to have taken place when, after learning by heart and repeating all day, they, went down in the evening to the riverside to bathe, and then walked up and down on the sand. COMP. Mil. 22; Jāt. ”

“ This may possibly mean ’in the disciple recommended by the Arahat’ (that is, by the Buddha) . But the latter is expressed rather by Sugata-vinaye. Comp. Aṅguttara V, 237-239 with 234, 235. [Go Back]
21. These Five ’Hindrances are more fully dealt with above, p. 82. [Go Back]
22. Sapariggaho vā Brahmā apariggaho va ti. Buddhaghosa says on Vāseṭṭha’s reply, ’Kāmacchandassa ,ābhavato itthipariggahena apariggaho,’ thus restricting the ’possession’ to women. But the reference is no doubt to the first ’hindrance’ ; and the word in the text, though doubtless alluding to possession of women also. ”