Buddhism in Vietnam
The Tribulation of Unrelective Living
By Bhikku Bodhi - Wisdom Publications 2005
01/01/2022 15:50 (GMT+7)
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We can see from these texts that the Buddha does not clamor for changes merely in the outer structures of society. He demonstrates that these dark phenomena are external projections of the unwholesome proclivities of the human mind and thus points to the need for inner change as a parallel condition for establishing peace and social justice

  •  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.” 


  •      Anxiety Due to Change


   “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.”

Excerpt from: (AN 3:35; I 138–40)
In The Buddha’s Words An Anthology of Discourses from the Pāli Canon 
Bibliogrphy Primary sources  
Bodhi, Bhikkhu, trans. The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Samyutta Nikāyā. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2000. 
Ireland, John D., trans. The Udāna and The Itivuttaka: Inspired Utterances of the Buddha and The Buddha’s Sayings. Kandy, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society, 1997. 
  Ñāṇamoli, Bhikkhu, trans. The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Majjhima Nikāya. Edited and revised by Bhikkhu Bodhi. 2nd ed. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2001. 
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Walshe, Maurice, trans. The Long Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Dīgha Nikāya. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1995. (Originally published under the title, Thus Have I Heard, 1987.)
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Dheliwala. Sri Lanka: Buddhist Cultural Centre, 1994.
Analāyo. Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization. Birmingham, UK: Windhorse, 2003.  
Choong Mun-keat (Wei-keat). The Fundamental Teachings of Early Buddhism: A Comparative Study based on the Sūtrāṅga Portion of the Pāli Saṃyutta-Nikāya and the Chinese Saṃyuktāgama. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2000.  
Thinhert. The Foundations of Buddhism. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Jayatilleke, K.N. Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1963. 
MalaysiaasKaraoke, G.P. The Pāli Literature of Ceylon. 1928.
 RPrintert.Kansasy, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society, 1994.
Manné, Joy. “Categories of Sutta in the Pāli Nikāyas and Their Implications for Our Appreciation of the Buddhist Teaching and Literature.” Journal of the Pali Text Society, XV: 29–87.   
 Minh Chau, Bhikṣu Thich. The Chinese Madhyama Āgama and the Pāli Majjhima Nikāya. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1991. . Ñāṇamoli, Bhikkhu. Life of the Buddha according to the Pāli Canon. 3rd ed. Kandy, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society, 1992. Ñāṇamoli, Bhikkhu. Mindfulness of Breathing (Ānāpānasati). Kandy, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society, 1964.
Ñāṇamoli, Bhikkhu, trans. The Path of Purification (Visuddhimagga). Colombo, Sri Lanka: M.D. Gunasena, 1964.
Ñāṇananda, Bhikkhu. Concept and Reality in Early Buddhist Thought. Kandy, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society, 1972. Norman, KR. Pāli Literature. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 1983. Nyanaponika Thera and Hellmuth Hecker. Great Disciples of the Buddha. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1997. 
Nyanaponika Thera. The Heart of Buddhist Meditation. London: Rider, 1962.
Nyanaponika Thera. The Vision of Dhamma. 2nd ed. Kandy, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society, 1994.
Soma Thera. The Way of Mindfulness. The Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta and Its Commentary. 1941.
 4th ed. Kandy, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society, 1975.

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