[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
what is to be eliminated is only bad mental states. Desire for pleasure and striving after wealth are bad, but it
does not follow that desire and striving are bad in themselves. Desire for what is good (Dhammachando as
opposed to Kamachando) is itself good, and the effort to obtain nirvana is often described as a struggle or
wrestling[468]. Similarly though absolute indifference to pains and pleasures is the ideal for a Bhikkhu, this
by no means implies, as is often assumed, a general insensibility and indifference, the harmless oyster-like
life of one who hurts nobody and remains in his own shell. European criticisms on the selfishness and
pessimism of Buddhism forget the cheerfulness and buoyancy which are the chief marks of its holy men. The
Buddhist saint is essentially one who has freed himself. His first impulse is to rejoice in his freedom and share
it with others, not to abuse the fetters he has cut away. Active benevolence and love[469] are enjoined as a
duty and praised in language of no little beauty and earnestness. In the Itivuttaka[470] the following is put into
the mouth of Buddha. "All good works whatever[471] are not worth one sixteenth part of love which sets free
the heart. Love which sets free the heart comprises them: it shines, gives light and radiance. Just as the light of
all the stars is not worth one sixteenth of the light of the moon: as in the last month of the rains in the season
of autumn, when the sky is clear and cloudless the sun mounts up on high and overcomes darkness in the
firmament: as in the last hour of the night when the dawn is breaking, the morning star shines and gives light
and radiance: even so does love which sets free the soul and comprises all good works, shine and give light
and radiance." So, too, the Sutta-Nipata bids a man love not only his neighbour but all the world. "As a
mother at the risk of her life watches over her own child, her only child, so let every one cultivate a boundless
love towards all beings[472]." Nor are such precepts left vague and universal. If some of his acts and words
seem wanting in family affection, the Buddha enjoined filial piety as emphatically as Moses or Confucius.
There are two beings, he says, namely Father and Mother, who can never be adequately repaid[473]. If a man
were to carry his parents about on his shoulders for a hundred years or could give them all the kingdoms and
treasures of the earth, he still would not discharge his debt of gratitude[474]. But whereas Confucius said that
the good son does not deviate from the way of his father, the Buddha, who was by no means conservative in
religious matters, said that the only way in which a son could repay his parents was by teaching them the True
Law.
The Buddha defines the sixth section of the path more fully than those which precede. Right effort, he says, is
when a monk makes an effort, and strives to prevent evil states of mind from arising: to suppress them if they
have arisen: to produce good states of mind, and develop and perfect them. Hitherto we have been considering
morality, indispensable but elementary. This section is the beginning of the specially Buddhist discipline of
mental cultivation. The process is apt to seem too self-conscious: we wonder if a freer growth would not yield
better fruits. But in a comparison with the similar programmes of other religions Buddhism has little to fear.
Its methods are not morbid or introspective: it does not fetter the intellect with the bonds of authority. The
disciple has simply to discriminate between good and bad thoughts, to develop the one and suppress the other.
It is noticeable that under this heading of right effort, or right wrestling as it is sometimes called, both desire
and striving for good ends are consecrated. Sloth and torpor are as harmful to spiritual progress as evil desires
and as often reprimanded. Also the aim is not merely negative: it is partly creative. The disciple is not to
suppress will and feeling, but he is to make all the good in him grow; he should foster, increase and perfect it.
What is right-mindfulness[475], the seventh section of the path? It is "When a monk lives as regards the
body, observant of the body, strenuous, conscious, mindful and has rid himself of covetousness and
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]