Book of the Eights

 

1.         amity = metta.

 

The footnote refers to the phrase “exercised, augmented, and set going” as occurring other places – D ii, 103; M iii, 97; S I, 116 – but I find it as a difficult translation. M iii, 97: “when he inclines his mind towards realizing any state that may be realized by direct knowledge, he attains the ability to witness any aspect therein, there being a suitable basis.”

 

Of the eight advantages, eleven are given at A v, 342

 

A iv, 150	A v, 342
Ok	Sleeps happy
OK	Wakes happy
OK	No evil dreams
OK	Dear to humans
OK	Dear to non-humans
OK	Devas guard him
OK	Fire, poison, sword don’t affect him
	Quick mental concentration
	Serene complexion
	Makes an end without bewilderment
	Reaches Brahma-world at death if not an arahant already.

 

In the gatha:

 

“But, like the starry host beside the moon” A iii, 34:

 

“As stainless on her sky-bound course, the moon

Outshines in splendor all the stars’ array:

Just so the virtuous, believing man

In charity outshines the mean on earth.”

 

A iii, 365: “As the light of the stars is not worth a sixteenth part the light of the moon and the light of the moon is counted chief…”

 

A v, 22: “Just as of all starry bodies whatsoever the radiance does not equal one-sixteenth part of the radiance of the moon and the moon’s radiance is reckoned chief of them...” (in reference to seriousness.)

 

“He but one being love, good follows thence” – this reminds me of the ‘finger-snap’ sutras in the Book of the Ones.

 

In Kurt Vonnegut’s “The Sirens of Titan”, irresponsible playboy-turned-space-wandered Malachi Constant is being unmercifully exposed and humiliated by Winston Niles Rumfoord. “Tell me—tell all of us—just one good thing you ever did in your life.” Malachi hesitates, then eventually stammers out “uh…I had a friend…”

 

“Those royal sages…ample sacrifice…the Bolts withdrawn”: this is another dig at Brahmanic practices—the merit is as the stars to the light of the moon.

 

2.         Each of the conditions for wisdom has some aspect:

 

a.     Living near the teacher: having a teacher of teachers. See b.

b.     A v, 16: elder monks who know much, well-versed in the sayings, who know the teachings thoroughly. Then these can be asked questions.

c.     This implies to me the need for meditation as an integral part.

d.    The precepts: we must have an ethical base.

e.     Basic book wisdom: know the tenets, not only in letter, but in meaning.

f.      Here we connect with A iv, 3: the seven powers. The power of energy: “he is steadfast, firm in advance, nor lays aside the yoke of righteousness.”

g.     Guarded speech: we don’t just chit-chat aimlessly. More importantly is the fourfold meditation. Noble silence: this is both the second jhana and one’s basic meditation subject (Note to M I, 161).

h.    Contemplation of the five skandhas and dependent origination.

 

“eight conditions, eight causes conducive to getting wisdom.”

 

First of all, this tells us clearly that prajña is dependently arisen. It is not inherent. We must create the appropriate conditions, provide the causes, for this prajña to arise and, having arisen, for it to grow and continue.

 

Second, it makes clear that causes & conditions persist over time—these eight items will persist and assist in a continual manner.

 

Third, it demonstrates our ownership of our karma, in that we can turn aside ignorance and strive for prajña.

 

Fourth, it shows that prajña, as dependently arisen, interexists with phenomena and states that we don’t normally connect with a state of prajña, such as ethical behavior.

 

Fifth, it supports the Threefold Training in that sila, samadhi, and prajña are facets of the same jewel.

 

3-4:     I note that talkativeness is an unendearing quality, as is abusing and insulting one’s colleagues in the “godly life.”

 

6:         The ordinary folk want gain, fame, praise, contentment and rebel against the opposite. From a Mahayana point of view, all of this is Buddha-nature & the labels are obscurations. Another way to consider this is that it’s all subject to change, no matter what the label. (This is more Hinayana.)

 

8:         Vessavana is the same royal deva who appeared before Nanda’s mother.

 

“…whatsoever be well-spoken, all that is the word of the Exalted One…”

 

I see here more evidence behind the difference in the Buddhist distinction of “authentic” teachings and the Christian—or many other faiths. Whether or not the Buddha actually said something or other, it is that it be “well-said”, i.e., following the Three Dharma Seals—and if it meets this criterion, then it is the word of the Buddha. Thus there is no problem with sutras such as the Lotus, Vimalakirti, etc., which are obviously from much later but which are said to have been spoken by the Buddha and reported back evam me suttam.

 

10:      This reminds me so much of situations at school in which “fancy” students get into a dissolute lifestyle and begin pulling in the “plain” ones—those who are probably very impressed by the attention and don’t realize that these smiling, sparkling people are actually leading them astray—and that the “fancy” people are probably heading down the tubes.

 

Continuing here with my observations about problematic students, the water-pipe metaphor in this sutra is highly effective, in that the problem may not appear until it is tested. Then it is discarded: I note that the more impressionable students don’t usually stay in the outer-sparkle circle for long. They see what it is and they move on. Soon enough the sparkle types either realize what they’re doing and stop, or else they leave (either of their own free will or through flunking out.)

 

11:      In his teaching to the brahmin, the B describes his stages on the night of his enlightenment:

 

First Watch: his own rebirths & future lives.

Second Watch: Interdependent Transformation and Karma

Third Watch: the Four Noble Truths

 

I should add that in the third watch of the night, upon the complete realization of the Noble Truths, the Buddha was fully realizing what he had realized in the first watch (previous lives) and second watch (karma and impermanence.)

 

The full realization of dependent origination is contingent upon those prior realizations in the sense of its being the Grand Unified Theory.

 

“Ignorance being removed, knowledge arose; darkness being removed, light arose.”

 

It’s wonderful to see this statement—ignorance an darkness are hiding our states of knowledge. The Dharma rain acts as a solvent.

 

19:      “Even so in this discipline of Dhamma there is a graduated training, a graduate practice, a graduate mode of progress…” this speaks well of the slow, steady process of purification and insight instead of only single illumination.

 

“Just as the ocean has but one taste, the taste of salt; even so this discipline of Dhamma has but one flavor, the flavor of release…” important and very memorable line.

 

25:      A nice observation on the Refuges here: when you have found refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, you are a lay disciple.

 

27:      As misogynistic as the attribute of women as scolding might be, it is not without its merit.

 

36:      The three bases are giving, morality, and meditation.

 

39:      At S V, 391 there are four streams (yields) of merit—the three Jewels, and virtues known to the noble ones as the fourth. Essentially the same as the first four in this sutra, but encompasses all the precepts.

 

The actual list in this sutra seems a bit boggled; because it combines five gifts with eight yields of merit; the fifth of the five gifts is the eighth yield.

 

Refuge in Buddha

Refuge in Dhamma

Refuge in Sangha

Refraining from killing

Refraining from stealing

Refraining from sexual misconduct

Refraining from lying

Refraining from intoxicants

 

Thus we can see one of the sources for combining the refuges with the precepts—there they’re together in one group, as “eight streams of merit.”

 

35:      The inability to attain sufficient merit by gifts alone. Thus Bodhidharma and the emperor of China.

 

36:      The various levels of rebirth listed take us to the top of the sense-sphere realms, those which lie directly above the human realm. But no farther because he doesn’t reach the realms of “making mind become”—i.e., the realms corresponding to the jhanas.

 

Deva Realms (Sense-Sphere Realms)

 

Bodhi	PTS	Head Deva’s Name
Paranimittavasavatti	Power over other’s creations	Vasavatti
Nimmanarati	Delight in creating	Sunimmita
Tusita	Tusita	Santusita
Yama	Yama	Suyama
Tavatimsa	Devas of the Thirty	Sakka
Four Great Kings	Four Royal Devas

 

37:      A iii, 172 lists five gifts of a good man.

 

A iv, 243	A iii, 172
Gives clean things
Gives what is choice
Gives what is proper
Gives at fitting times	Gives in time
Gives with care
Gives repeatedly
Giving calms his mind
After giving is glad
	Gives in faith
	Gives in deference
	Gives with unconstrained heart
	Gives without hurt to self and others

 

38:      A iii, 46 is similar, with the “good” of the good man being listed as five benefits—parents, wife & children, employees, friends, brahmins & recluses. This one adds: ghosts of his forebears, rajah, and devas.

 

40:      The alternate rendering of “immediate” instead of “very trifling” strikes me as much more sensible. He’s discussing what happens pretty soon—the next birth at the very latest—and so it makes sense as ‘right away’ or ‘immediate.’

 

I like this statement of the version of the eight precepts, which define speech-related issues more closely: lying, backbiting, harsh speech, frivolous speech.

 

41:      These eight precepts are more along the lines of a monk: they are the lay householder five, plus:

 

One meal a day

No shows or entertainments

Low beds

 

42:      Deva time compared to human (devas of the four kinds) is:

 

50 human years = 1 deva day. Therefore:

 

18,250 human years = 1 deva day.

 

Devas of the Four Kings live 500 years. Thus the deva lives for 182,500 deva days, which works out to 273,062,500 human days.

 

Devas of the Thirty: quadruples the time. (100 human years – 1 day, and lifespan = 1000 years.)

 

Yama devas: 200 human years = 1 deva day; lifespan = 2000 years.

Tusita devas: 400 human years = 1 deva day; lifespan = 4000 years.

Delight in creating: 800 human years = 1 deva day; lifespan = 8000 years.

Power over creations: 1600 human years = 1 deva day; lifespan = 16000 years.

 

So this table gets gives us a sense of how many human years a deva lives, and how many times a human lifespan the deva’s lifespan is:

 

Deva	Lifespan in Human Years	X Avg. Human Life (70 yrs.)
Four Kings	25,000	357.14
Devas of the Thirty	100,000	1,428.57
Yama	400,000	5,714.29
Tusita	1,600,000	22,857.14
Delight in creations	6,400,000	91,428.57
Power over creations	25,600,000	365,714.29

 

In terms of modern cosmology, even the life of a deva in the Paranimittavasatti realm (power over other’s creations) still fits comfortably within the lifespan of the Earth—25.6 million years.

 

Thus although devas are long-lived to be sure, they aren’t really all that long-lived and there is plenty of room for many rebirths.

 

46:      These “fairies” are the devas, just as is the first samyutta of the Samyutta Nikaya.

 

46-50: While it’s true enough that these can be seen as using the Dharma to ‘keep women in their place’, it is also true that part of the virtues of a woman lie in her being a lay-disciple who is capable of rebirth among the devas. In this way it strikes me as being quite forward-thinking, in that the women are at least not considered as being wholly chattel.

 

51:      I love this story of Pajapati’s bringing the Buddha around on the issue of womens’ ordination. Interesting that he adds some fairly stringent new rules & states that Saddharma will last only 500 years instead of the 1000 he had originally prophesized. But we are at 2500 years now, and Saddharma has lasted—maybe a little beat up here and there—but still strong.

 

52:      Here the Buddha requires that a monk who is to be the nun’s advisor must be considerably accomplished—thus the training of the nuns is being taken quite seriously.

 

53:      A good test of what may be Dhamma:

 

Dhamma leads to:

 

Dispassion

Release from bondage

Dispersion of rebirth

Wanting little

Contentment

Frugality

Solitude

Exertion

 

…and in no case to their opposites.

 

54:      These attributes for the householder are intriguing.

 

a) alertness: being good at your profession, being deft & tireless. Here is work as a spiritual practice—doing what you do as well as you can, with alertness.

 

b) wariness: protecting your justly-obtained wealth. I don’t see this as hoarding, but just sensibility. NOTE: for me this means getting rid of the damned debts, which eat away at my justly acquired small amount of money.

 

c) good company

 

d) even life: not squandering income, not living beyond his means. Micawber to David Copperfield. But we are not misers, either: if his earnings be great and he live meanly, then he isn’t being even, either. In short, live within your means, neither spendthrift nor unnecessarily stingy.

 

In general, this sutra is almost a  recipe for living a balanced, healthy life:

 

1) Handling income properly

2) Right livelihood

3) Not squandering wealth

4) Having virtue, charity, faith, wisdom.

 

There is nothing ascetic about it. This sounds almost as though the Buddha may be talking to a very young man who needs some solid, fatherly advice.

 

62:      A ii, 97 clarifies that he examines the meanings of the teachings he has memorized.

 

The upshot here is that for one to teach, one must have a pleasant voice, a good enunciation, be urbane in speech, distinct, free from hoarseness and informative, be one who instructs, incites, rouses, and gladdens one’s fellows in the godly life.

 

63:      Here the training is clear: cultivate the Brahma-viharas and the four foundations of mindfulness. This sutra almost seems a blueprint for Vipassana training.

 

64:      Perhaps in making a visit to Gaya, the Buddha was waxing nostalgic.

 

69:      This reminds me of the Buddha’s answer to the question of whether he was a man or a god: “I am awake.”

 

81:      A chain of dependence. Any one lower down which is lacking destroys the next one down (and all those thereafter.)

 

Mindfulness & self-possession

Conscientiousness & fear of blame

Control of the senses

Moral practice

Right concentration

True knowledge and vision

Aversion and dispassion

Emancipated knowledge and vision

 

82:      I rather passed right over this sutra on first reading, and then this time around it revealed itself in one aspect. Go to the corner of Powell and Market. You’ll hear preachers haranguing the crowd. Preachers will preach no matter what, in any circumstances, whether they be welcome or not. Missionaries have often been distinguished by downright obnoxious behavior, aggressive and arrogant.

 

But now consider the Buddha. He will preach the Dhamma only when the conditions are truly right—a monk is a believer, visits him, sits down to listen, asks questions, listens attentively, bears Dhamma in mind while listening to answers, tests the truth of what is heard, walks in conformity with the Dhamma. This last implies that he lives in the teachings—the compassion born of true understanding of dependant origination.

 

83:      This is another amazing sutra, given how the message winds up being so different from the questions. Those questions all seem to be of the “First Cause” type—where are all things rooted, their cause & origin, and so forth. The Buddha’s answer lies firmly in the realm of dependent origination, and not the sign-on-the-dotted-line style of “all things are rooted in God.”

 

86:      I find this sutra strange to the point of incomprehensibility.

 

91:      Here the Eightfold Path is listed as giving us the complete understanding of passion—so it really is the way out. In the long following list, we see that it is not only understanding, but exhaustion & abandonment and so forth. And then for other very negative states.