- The Dart of Painful Feeling
“Monks, when the uninstructed worldling experiences a painful
feeling, he sorrows, grieves, and laments; he weeps beating his breast and becomes
distraught. He feels two feelings - a bodily one and a mental one. Suppose they
were to strike a man with a dart, and then strike him immediately afterward
with a second dart, so that the man would feel a feeling caused by two darts.
So too, when the uninstructed worldling experiences a painful feeling, he feels
two feelings - a bodily one and a mental one.
“While experiencing
that same painful feeling, he harbors aversion toward it. When he harbors
aversion toward painful feeling, the underlying tendency to aversion toward
painful feeling lies behind this.5 While experiencing painful feeling, he seeks
delight in sensual pleasure. For what reason? Because the uninstructed
worldling does not know of any escape from painful feeling other than sensual
pleasure.6 When he seeks delight in sensual pleasure, the underlying tendency
to lust for pleasant feeling lies behind this. He does not understand as it
really is the origin and the passing away, the gratification, the danger, and
the escape in the case of these feelings.7 When he does not understand these
things, the underlying tendency to ignorance in regard to
neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling lies behind this.
“If he feels a pleasant feeling, he feels it attached. If he
feels a painful feeling, he feels it attached. If he feels a
neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling, he feels it attached. This, monks, is
called an uninstructed worldling who is attached to birth, aging, and death;
who is attached to sorrow, lamentation, pain, dejection, and despair; who is
attached to suffering, I say.
“Monks, when the instructed noble disciple experiences a painful
feeling, he does not sorrow, grieve, or lament; he does not weep beating his
breast and become distraught.8 He feels one feeling—a bodily one, not a mental
one. Suppose they were to strike a man with a dart, but they would not strike
him immediately afterward with a second dart, so that the man would feel a
feeling caused by one dart only. So too, when the instructed noble disciple
experiences a painful feeling, he feels one feeling—a bodily one, and not a
mental one.
“While experiencing
that same painful feeling, he harbors no aversion toward it. Since he harbors
no aversion toward painful feeling, the underlying tendency to aversion toward
painful feeling does not lie behind this. While experiencing painful feeling,
he does not seek delight in sensual pleasure. For what reason? Because the
instructed noble disciple knows of an escape from painful feeling other than
sensual pleasure. Since he does not seek delight in sensual pleasure, the
underlying tendency to lust for pleasant feeling does not lie behind this. He
understands as it really is the origin and the passing away, the gratification,
the danger, and the escape in the case of these feelings. Since he understands
these things, the underlying tendency to ignorance in regard to
neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling does not lie behind this
“If he feels a pleasant
feeling, he feels it detached. If he feels a painful feeling, he feels it
detached. If he feels a neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling, he feels it
detached. This, monks, is called a noble disciple who is detached from birth,
aging, and death; who is detached from sorrow, lamentation, pain, dejection,
and despair; who is detached from suffering, I say.
“This, monks, is the
distinction, the disparity, the difference between the instructed noble
disciple and the uninstructed worldling.”
The Vicissitudes of Life
“These eight worldly
conditions, monks, keep the world turning around, and the world turns around
these eight worldly conditions. What eight? Gain and loss, fame and disrepute,
praise and blame, pleasure and pain.
“These eight worldly
conditions, monks, are encountered by an uninstructed worldling, and they are
also encountered by an instructed noble disciple. What now is the distinction,
the disparity, the difference between an instructed noble disciple and an
uninstructed worldling?”
“Venerable sir, our
knowledge of these things has its roots in the Blessed One; it has the Blessed
One as guide and resort. It would be good, venerable sir, if the Blessed One
would clarify the meaning of that statement. Having heard it from him, the
monks will bear it in mind.”
“Listen then, monks, and attend carefully. I shall speak.”
“Yes, venerable sir,” the monks replied. The Blessed One
then spoke thus:
“When an uninstructed worldling, monks, comes upon gain, he
does not reflect on it thus: ‘This gain that has come to me is impermanent,
bound up with suffering, subject to change.’ He does not know it as it really
is. And when he comes upon loss, fame and disrepute, praise and blame, he does
not reflect on them thus: ‘All these are impermanent, bound up with suffering,
subject to change.’ He does not know them as they really are. With such a
person, gain and loss, fame and disrepute, praise and blame, pleasure and pain
keep his mind engrossed. When gain comes he is elated and when he meets with
loss he is dejected. When fame comes he is elated and when he meets with
disrepute he is dejected. When praise comes he is elated and when he meets with
blame he is dejected. When he experiences pleasure he is elated and when he
experiences pain he is dejected. Being thus involved in likes and dislikes, he
will not be freed from birth, aging, and death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain,
dejection, and despair; he will not be freed from suffering, I say.
“But, monks, when an instructed noble disciple comes upon
gain, he reflects on it thus: ‘This gain that has come to me is impermanent,
bound up with suffering, subject to change.’ And so he will reflect when loss
and so forth come upon him. He understands all these things as they really are,
and they do not engross his mind. Thus he will not be elated by gain and
dejected by loss; elated by fame and dejected by disrepute; elated by praise
and dejected by blame; elated by pleasure and dejected by pain. Having thus
given up likes and dislikes, he will be freed from birth, aging, and death,
from sorrow, lamentation, pain, dejection, and despair; he will be freed from
suffering, I say.
“This, monks, is the distinction, the disparity, the
difference between an instructed noble disciple and an uninstructed worldling.”
“Monks, I will
teach you agitation through clinging and non-agitation through nonclinging.9
Listen and attend carefully. I shall speak.”
“Yes, venerable sir,” those monks replied. The Blessed One
said this:
“And how, monks, is there agitation through clinging? Here,
monks, the uninstructed worldling, who is not a seer of the noble ones and is
unskilled and undisciplined in their Dhamma, who is not a seer of superior
persons and is unskilled and undisciplined in their Dhamma, regards form as
self, or self as possessing form, or form as in self, or self as in form.10
That form of his changes and alters. With the change and alteration of form,
his consciousness becomes preoccupied with the change of form. Agitation and a
constellation of mental states born of preoccupation with the change of form
remain obsessing his mind. Because his mind is obsessed, he is frightened,
distressed, and anxious, and through clinging he becomes agitated.
“He regards feeling as self … perception as self …
volitional formations as self … consciousness as self, or
self as possessing consciousness, or consciousness as in self, or self as in
consciousness. That consciousness of his changes and alters. With the change
and alteration of consciousness, his consciousness becomes preoccupied with the
change of consciousness. Agitation and a constellation of mental states born of
preoccupation with the change of consciousness remain obsessing his mind.
Because his mind is obsessed, he is frightened, distressed, and anxious, and
through clinging he becomes agitated.
“It is in such a way,
monks, that there is agitation through clinging.
“And how, monks, is
there non-agitation through nonclinging? Here, monks, the instructed noble
disciple, who is a seer of the noble ones and is skilled and disciplined in
their Dhamma, who is a seer of superior persons and is skilled and disciplined
in their Dhamma, does not regard form as self, or self as possessing form, or
form as in self, or self as in form.11 That form of his changes and alters.
Despite the change and alteration of form, his consciousness does not become
preoccupied with the change of form. No agitation and constellation of mental
states born of preoccupation with the change of form remain obsessing his mind.
Because his mind is not obsessed, he is not frightened, distressed, or anxious,
and through nonclinging he does not become agitated.
“He does not regard
feeling as self … perception as self … volitional formations as self …
consciousness as self, or self as possessing consciousness, or consciousness as
in self, or self as in consciousness. That consciousness of his changes and
alters. Despite the change and alteration of consciousness, his consciousness
does not become preoccupied with the change of consciousness. No agitation and
constellation of mental states born of preoccupation with the change of
consciousness remain obsessing his mind. Because his mind is not obsessed, he
is not frightened, distressed, or anxious, and through non-clinging he does not
become agitated.
“It is in such a way,
monks, that there is non-agitation through non-clinging.”