Dwelling apart -- free and liberated (sutra)

Amber Larson (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly; Maurice O'C. Walshe, (Migajalena Sutta, SN 35.63)

Forest meditation under an umbrella-mosquito net, a Thai crot (withfriendship.com)

 

The Buddha with avian fighting naga (Sharko333/flickr)

[In Savatthi, Ven. Migajāla asked the Buddha:] "'Dwelling apart,' it is said, venerable sir, 'dwelling apart': How far, venerable sir, does one dwell apart, and to what extent does one dwell with another?"
 
"There are, Migajala, objects cognizable by the [sensitive tissue in the] eye -- attractive, pleasing, endearing, agreeable, enticing, lust-inspiring.

"And if a meditator relishes them, welcomes them, persists in clinging to them -- then due to this relishing, welcoming, and persistent clinging, delight arises. And from delight infatuation arises.

"Infatuation brings bondage, and a meditator who is trapped in the bondage of delight is called 'one who dwells with another.'

"There are sounds cognizable by [the sensitive tissue in] the ear... fragrances cognizable by [the sensitive tissue in] the nose... tastes cognizable by the tongue... sensations cognizable by the body... phenomena cognizable by the heart/mind... and a meditator who is trapped in the bondage of delight is called 'one who dwells with another.'

 

Museum Buddha, Chauncey McCormick Gallery (Mark Kamermans/pomax/flickr.com)

  

"And a meditator so dwelling, Migajala, even though one may frequent jungle glades and remote forest-dwellings -- free from noise, [in sweet solitude] with little disturbance, far from the madding crowd, undisturbed by others, well fitted for seclusion [of mind and body] -- still one is termed 'one who dwells with another.'
 
"Why is this? Craving is the other one has not left behind, and therefore one is called 'one who dwells with another.'

"But, Migajala, there are objects cognizable by the eye...

• ear...
• nose...
• tongue...
• body...

mind -- attractive, pleasing, endearing, agreeable, enticing, lust-inspiring. And if a meditator does not relish them, does not welcome them, does not persist in clinging to them then -- due to not relishing them, not welcoming them, and not persisting in clinging to them, delight fades away, and without delight there is no infatuation.

"Without infatuation, no bondage is generated. And the meditator who is freed from the bondage of delight is called 'one who dwells apart [i.e., dwelling free of attachment, without craving].'
 

The madding crowd (triggerandfreewheel.com)

"And a meditator so dwelling, Migajala, even though one may live near a place crowded with monastics, lay-followers, rulers and royal ministers, and the followers of other spiritual teachers -- still one is termed 'one who dwells apart [free of attachment, without craving].'

"Why is this so? Craving is the other one has left behind. And therefore one is called one who dwells apart [free of attachment, without craving]."

"An Island to Oneself" (sutra)

Maurice O'Connell Walshe, Attadipa Sutta (SN 22.43); Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

An island on a river at sunset with sudden bursts of lightning (Gary Story/plus.google.com)

 

Sitting is intensive but not the only way

"Meditators, be islands unto yourselves [Note 1], be your own [guide], having no other; let the Dharma be an island and a [guide] for you, having no other. Those who are islands unto themselves... should investigate to the very heart of things [2]:

"'What is the source of sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair? How do they arise?' [What is their origin?]

 

Buddha on island of Sri Lanka (NH53)

"Here, meditators, the uninstructed worldling [continued as in SN 22.7]. Change occurs in this person's body, and it becomes different. On account of this change and difference, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair arise. [Similarly with feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness].
 
"But seeing [3] the body's impermanence, its change-ability, its waning [4], its ceasing, he says 'formerly as now, all bodies were impermanent and unsatisfactory, and subject to change.' Thus, seeing this as it really is, with liberating insight, one abandons all sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair. One is not worried at their abandonment but, without worry, lives at ease. And thus living at ease one is said to be 'assured of deliverance [5].'" [Similarly with feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness].

NOTES: 1. Atta-dipa. Dipa means both "island" (Sanskrit dvipa) and "lamp" (Sanskrit dipa), but the meaning "island" is well-established here. The "self" referred to is of course the unmetaphysical pronoun "oneself" (cf. SN 3.8, n. 1).

2. It is necessary to withdraw, to be "an island to unto oneself," at least for a time (as any meditator knows), not for any "selfish" reasons but precisely in order to make this profound introspective investigation. Otherwise, in another sense, Buddhists would of course agree with John Donne that "No man is an island."

3. As Woodward remarks in [Book of the Kindred Sayings, a  translation of the Samyutta Nikaya, Vol. III, PTS, 1924], one would expect to find here the words which he inserts in the text: "The well-taught [noble] disciple," as in many passages. If one, in fact, sees these things and reflects as said in the text, one will cease to be [an ordinary] "worldling." 

4. Waning (viraga) is elsewhere also translated as "dispassion" (SN 12.16, n. 2).

5. Tadanganibbuto means rather more than Woodward's "one who is rid of all that."

• See island admonition in the Buddha's final sutra: DN 16.

The Buddhist Layperson (sutra)

Dhr. Seven, Pfc. Sandoval, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly; The Buddhist Lay[person], essays by R. Bogoda, Susan Elbaum Jootla, Maurice O'C. Walshe (BPS.lk/AccesstoInsight.org)

Temporary novice touches Indonesian image of the Buddha (Massulan/flickr)

The Lotus-like Lay-follower

Wisdom Quarterly (AN 5.175) 

Novice and layperson (deepblue66/flickr)

The Buddha said: A lay-follower (upasaka) with five qualities is a jewel of a lay-follower, is a lily, is a lotus.
 
What are the five qualities?

1. One has confidence (faith).

2. One is virtuous.

3. One is levelheaded (rather than superstitious).

4. One believes in the efficacy of action(karma) rather than luck or omen.

5. One looks to and attends first to the spiritual-community (Sangha) for those worthy of support.

Meditation hall as Tulku Dakpa Rinpoche gives teaching on seven-point mind-training at Danakosha Dharma Center (Mitjoruohoniemi/flickr)

 

Ten Qualities of the Lay-follower

Wisdom Quarterly (Questions of King Milinda (Milindapañha, Chp. IV)

King Milinda (Menander I) coin

These ten, great king, are the qualities of the [Buddhist] lay-follower: 

1. One shares the joys and sorrows of the spiritual-community (the lay, monks', and nuns' Sangha collectively).

2. One places the Dharma (truth) first [that is, before self and worldly considerations, referring to the three dominant influences (adhipateyya), Dharma being the third, after atta (self) and loka (plane of existence); see AN 3.40].

3. One enjoys giving according to one's ability.

4. If one sees a decline in the Dispensation of the Teaching of the Buddha, one strives for its strong growth.

Meditation is not mandatory but joyful, helpful.

5. One cultivates right views, disregarding belief in superstitions and omens, and will not accept a replacement teacher to supplant the Buddha/Dharma, not even for the sake of life. (That is not to say that one has no other teachers. Even at the time of the Buddha, Buddhists had additional teachers like the Buddha's four chief disciples, Sariputra, Khema, Maha Moggallana, and Uppalavanna. They also had preceptors and noble helpers (kalyana mittas) given that "noble friendship" is the whole of path to enlightenment (SN 45.2).
 
It is characteristic of a stream enterer and other noble disciples, once having seen for oneself that the Buddha was correct and the only one pointing to nirvana, it is not possible to doubt. There is no need for any teaching to gain enlightenment other than one in line with the Dharma he taught and that other noble ones in the Sangha espouse).

Come on, I want to hear the Dharma in this beautiful gompa! (Daniel O'Donnell/flickr.com)

 

6. One guards one's deeds and words.

 

7. One loves and cherishes peace and concord.

8. One is not envious or jealous.

9. One does not live a Buddhist life by way of deception or hypocrisy.

10. One has gone for guidance (sarana) to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.
 
Four Essays for Lay Buddhists

1. Principles of Lay Buddhism (R. Bogoda)
2. Right Livelihood: The Noble Eightfold Path in the Working Life (Susan Elbaum Jootla)
3. Having Taken the First Step (Maurice O'Connell Walshe)
4. Detachment (M.O'C. Walshe)