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                         GOING FORTH (PABBAJJA)
                      A Call to Buddhist Monkhood

                   An Essay, and Letters on Buddhism

                                   by
                            Sumana Samanera

                       Translated from the German

                      Wheel Publication No. 27/28

                         First Impression  1961
                         Second Impression 1978
                         Third Impression  1983

           Copyright 1961, 1995 Buddhist Publication Society

                      BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
                      KANDY              SRI LANKA


                                 * * *


                         DharmaNet Edition 1995

                      Transcription: David Savage
                Proofreading & Formatting: John Bullitt

        This electronic edition is offered for free distribution
            via DharmaNet by arrangement with the publisher.

                        DharmaNet International
                 P.O. Box 4951, Berkeley CA 94704-4951

                            * * * * * * * *



                                CONTENTS

        Preface
        Going Forth (Pabbajja)
        Five Letters About Buddhism
        Appendix
          I.  Reminiscences of Sumano, by Dr. Ph. Derval
          II. From a Letter by the German Bhikkhu Kondanno
        About the BPS
        Distribution Agreement


                            * * * * * * * *



                                PREFACE

  The essay that forms the first part of this booklet, bears in its
  German original the title //Pabbajja// which, in Pali, the language of
  the Buddhist texts, means //Going forth//, namely from the household
  life to the homelessness of a Buddhist monk. The Pali word
  //Pabbajja// is also the term for the first ordination bestowed for
  entry into the Buddhist monastic Order (Sangha) by which the candidate
  becomes a Novice or //Samanera// like the author of the writings
  presented here, whose illness and premature death deprived him of
  taking higher ordination.

    Fritze Stange, the lay name of our author, was a German by birth,
  and received his novice ordination in 1906 at Matara (Ceylon), under
  the nestor of the German Buddhist monks the Ven'ble Nyanatiloka Thera
  (d 1957). Together with Sumano, a Dutchman, called Bergendahl, was
  ordained as the Samanera Sunno. They were the first two pupils of the
  Venerable Nyanatiloka who, on his part, had received novice ordination
  in 1903 and higher ordination in 1904, both in Burma. As related in
  the Appendix of this booklet, illness obliged Sumano to go back to
  Germany, but in the same year he returned again to Ceylon, together
  with the Venerable Nyanatiloka who had paid a short visit to Germany.
  He took ordination again and then lived in the undulating, grassy
  hillocks of Bandarawela, in Ceylon's up-country -- a landscape of
  ascetical bareness, breathing seclusion and quietude. There he died
  and was cremated in January 1910. A spout just by the spot where he
  lived, still bears in the Sinhala language the name "German Phihilla"
  (German spout). [*]

        * [To those who have the opportunity of visiting Bandarawela some
        road directions may be welcome. The place where Sumano lived and
        died, is reached by going up the Grand Road to Uturu
        Kabillawela, a distance of about one and one-half miles from the
        Bandarawela Town Hall, and then walking down a little over one
        quarter mile on the foot path leading to Gediyarde village.]

    Sumano was held in great reverence by the people for his deep piety.
  He was of an unassuming nature; but his bearing emanated an atmosphere
  of saintliness and detachment, of maturity and gentle firmness which
  obviously must have set him apart from the multitude.

    The same atmosphere of the true ascetic's sincere and forceful
  simplicity radiates from the pages of his little book //Pabbajja//.
  It's first publication in Germany, in the year 1910, deeply impressed
  and inspired the members of the small circles of German Buddhists. An
  English version by Bhikkhu Silacara appeared in Ceylon the same year.
  This has been fully revised for the present edition, after comparison
  with the German original.

    Sumano's letters appeared in print in a German Buddhist magazine,
  "Die Buddhistische Warte," and are published here for the first time
  in an English version prepared by the Venerable Nyanaponika Thera.

    Both, essays and letters, served first to justify and explain
  Sumano's unusual step of entering Buddhist monkhood in the East. There
  is, however, nothing apologetic in his words, no diffident defense;
  they are rather a stirring call to kindred minds for proceeding on
  that hard but incomparably rewarding road towards the "unshakable
  deliverance of mind." In the same spirit they are offered here to the
  reader, as a companion to another booklet in this series of Buddhist
  publications, //The Ascetic Ideal// by Ronald Fussell (The Wheel
  Publication No 23).

                                        Buddhist Publication Society
                                        Forest Hermitage
                                        Kandy, Ceylon
                                        February, 1961


                            * * * * * * * *




                                PABBAJJA

                       "//He is beside himself//"


  "Marvelous is it, O Lord, extraordinary is it, O Lord, how the Exalted
  One has so clearly pointed out the Four Satipatthana, which lead to
  the purification of beings, to the overcoming of sorrow and
  lamentation, to the cessation of pain and grief, to the attainment of
  the path, to the realization of Nibbana! For we also, Lord, as
  householders, have from time to time fixed our minds upon the Four
  Satipatthana." -- "Whilst we thus dwell with earnest minds, eager,
  unweariedly, the memories of household things pass from us; and as
  they so pass, the heart grows ever more steady, becomes quieted and
  unified, finds peace."

    The more frequently a man thus dwells all the more perceptibly does
  the alienation increase, does the world die away from him, for ever
  more clearly does the true nature of the world reveal itself to the
  mind through the persistent contemplation of this truth founded in
  experience:

    Thus is form; thus it arises; thus it passes away.
    Thus is feeling; thus it arises; thus it passes away.
    Thus is perception; thus it arises, thus it passes away.
    Thus are the mental formations, thus they arise, thus they pass away.
    Thus is consciousness; thus it arises, thus it passes away.

  Always the same law, always the same song:

        //Anicca vata sankhara uppada-vaya-dhammino;
        Uppajjitva nirujjhanti, tesam vupasamo sukho'ti//:

        "Transient are all compounded things;
        To rise to fall, their nature is.
        Having become, they pass away;
        Their final rest is highest bliss."


    "I know not, Ananda, even of a single form whereby pleasure and
  satisfaction in form does not pass into sorrow and lamentation, pain,
  grief, despair, since it is transient and changeable" -- and so with
  feeling, and so with perception, and so with the mental formations,
  and so with consciousness. "This world, however, seeks pleasure, loves
  pleasure, prizes pleasure. Only a few beings are stirred by things
  that are truly stirring, in comparison with the greater number who
  remain unstirred by truly stirring things. And again, there are only a
  few who, being stirred, earnestly strive, in comparison with the
  greater number who, being stirred, yet do not earnestly strive."

    Unrestrained by the perception of the hollowness of things, flows on
  the hot stream of foolish desire: "O, that no birth lay before us, no
  old age, no death, no sorrow, no lamentation, no pain, no grief, no
  despair! -- but this is not to be obtained by mere desiring; and not
  to get what one desires is suffering." Ah! if only our parents would
  remain alive; Ah! if only our loved one would not die,... Ah! the
  misery of this law of nature! How many millions daily sob and weep
  over graves! The misery of this law of nature! "What dear to one
  brings sorrow and lamentation, pain, grief, and despair: attachment is
  the root of suffering." Hence the uprooting of suffering is
  non-attachment, the way of escape from all this wretchedness is
  non-attachment, denial, renunciation. "Whoso cleaves to woe, follows
  after woe, is bound up with woe, and thus considers: 'That belongs to
  me, that I am, that is my self (atta, self, soul) -- can such one
  really comprehend woe, can such a one avoid the woe that encompasses
  him?' But he who withdraws himself from attachment and learns to
  renounce, to deny, and to turn away, deprives the heart's pain of its
  nourishment, and by degrees brings about its extinction. "The turning
  away of the will vanquishes all woe."

    This turning away comes into operation where there is an
  understanding of suffering, of the arising of suffering, of the
  cessation of suffering, and of the path that leads to the cessation of
  suffering. Before understanding these truths, man hastens from birth
  to death in the sea of existence (//samsara//), without deriving
  therefrom any true gain for his deliverance -- worn out for naught,
  the body perishes." "It is through lack of understanding and insight
  into the Four Holy Truths, ye disciples, that we had travel so long
  the weary round of Samsara -- both you and I. What think ye: which is
  greater -- the floods of tears which, weeping and wailing, ye have
  shed on this long journey, ever and again hastening towards new birth
  and new death, united to the undesired, sundered from the desired --
  this or the waters of the four great seas? For long have ye
  experienced the death of a mother, for long the death of a father, for
  long the death of a son, for long the death of a daughter, for long
  the death of brothers and sisters; for long ye were harassed by
  disease; and whilst experiencing the death of mother, of father, of
  son, of daughter, of brothers and sisters, the loss of property, the
  torment of disease, whilst being united with the undesired and
  sundered from the desired, thus hastening from birth to death and from
  death to birth ye have verily shed more tears on this long journey,
  than all the waters that are held in the four great seas! But how is
  that possible? Without beginning and without end is this Samsara,
  unknowable is the beginning of beings sunk in ignorance (//avijja//)
  who, seized by craving (//tanha//), ever and again are brought to
  renewed birth, and so hastened through the endless round of rebirths.
  Thus, for long have ye experienced suffering, experienced torment,
  experienced misery, and filled the graveyards -- long enough truly to
  have become dissatisfied with all existence, long enough to turn away
  from all being, long enough to seek release from it all."

    Who take this exhortation to themselves? Those whose minds are
  stirred by these thoughts. And being stirred they will learn to
  understand, and will earnestly strive. "For them delight and pleasure
  in the world gradually passes away, they perceive the coarse as well
  as the subtle lures of Mara; wearied are they of intoxication, of
  self-deception; no longer do they shrink from the inevitable struggle
  for the overcoming of the world; yea, to this or that one, the
  widespread misery in the world reveals itself to his mind so nakedly,
  so powerfully, that the cry for the end of it drowns every other
  voice: "Forth, forth, forth to the other shore!" "Sunk am I in birth,
  in old age and death, in sorrow, lamentation and pain, in grief and
  despair, sunk in suffering, lost in suffering! O that it were possible
  to make an end of all this mass of suffering!" To such a
  comprehension, to such a longing, the meaning of asceticism becomes
  evident as that manner of living which really makes possible
  single-minded devotion to that most difficult of all tasks -- the task
  of becoming perfectly good or pure or holy, and thereby, free from
  suffering and rebirth!

    "If I truly understand the doctrine declared by the Exalted One, it
  is not easy for one who remains in household life to fulfill point by
  point the wholly stainless, wholly purified ascetic life." "Whoso
  lives in the house is busy over-much, is much occupied, anxious about
  many things, disturbed about many things; he is not always entirely
  devoted to truthfulness; not always and entirely zealous in self
  control, chaste, recollected, given to renunciation."

        "Man falls as falls the fruit from the tree,
        Unripe or mayhap ripe, with sudden crash:
        and so, O king, a beggar I become,
        For, the sure pilgrim-life me seems the best."

    "There has never been a householder, Vaccha, who without forsaking
  household-ties, has, at the dissolution of the body, made an end to
  suffering."

    Therefore, whoso resolutely seeks the end, "After a time will leave
  behind a small property, or leave behind a large property; he forsakes
  a small circle of acquaintances, or he forsakes a large circle of
  acquaintances, and goes forth from home to homelessness" -- //pabbajja//.

    But father and mother, wife and children, love and duty? The sense
  of duty depends on understanding. Once a duty has been understood as
  the higher one, it sets aside the lower conception of duty held
  formerly.

    For years a man may have devoted himself to the care of wife and
  child, prizing nothing higher than his family's welfare. Then war
  comes to his country. The course of events stirs him profoundly; he is
  affected by new ideas, another view of things gain strength within
  him. "Sweet it is to die for the fatherland!" The feeling overpowers
  him: "What care I for wife, what care I for child!" Of his own free
  will he goes forth to meet the foes of the fatherland. The duty to his
  country now seems to him higher than the duty to his wife and
  children.

    Another man has in former days, with full conviction, solemnly vowed
  faithfully to stand by his country even to death. Later on, in
  consequence of higher comprehension he gains a higher standpoint, a
  wider outlook; envisages politics as a citizen of the world, thinks in
  universal terms: "This Frenchman is a fellow human being, is a fellow
  sufferer. This Russian is a fellow human being, is a fellow sufferer.
  Life is a sacred thing, frightful, barbaric is this wholesale killing,
  called war -- the visible aggravation of suffering." No longer can he
  slay his fellow-men. In case of a call to arms he willingly allows
  himself to be shot by his own countrymen. The duty "Thou shalt not
  kill!" stands higher in his eyes than any duty towards his fatherland.

    Yet another, as pastor, for many a year enjoyed a secure living with
  his family. By degrees his views undergo a change. He finds himself
  unable any longer to give his assent to dogmas, to the doctrines of
  Revelation, of Grace, or of Forgiveness of Sins, or Vicarious
  Atonement; he can no longer believe in that deplorable and absurd
  doctrine of "eternal damnation for the deeds of a brief spell of
  thirty years." A higher knowledge has come to fruition within him.
  Clear and evident to him has become the universally ruling law, the
  unchangeable, equable relation of cause and effect, the unfailingly
  just recompensations of right or wrong action (kamma). He burdens his
  mind neither with thoughts about the unfathomable, nor with useless
  discussions: he go on preaching as before? He will follow his altered
  convictions, give up his position as pastor -- come what may!

    Whoso acts according to his deepest understanding is always straight
  and candid, ever acts in accordance with truth -- at least relatively
  so: for a man's truth is his degree of understanding.

        "This above all: to thine own self be true,
        And it must follow as the night the day;
        Thou canst not then be false to any man:
        Be true to the highest within you!"

    To a man now, who has clearly perceived the pitiable condition of
  all beings that share a common existence, what higher, holier, or more
  urgent task can there be than to become perfectly kind, perfectly good
  or holy and thereby to get himself cured of this being born, growing
  old and dying, of this sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair?
  Hence if he has truly recognized the significance and value of
  asceticism for the fulfillment of this highest duty, and experienced
  the impossibility of its perfect realization in household life, there
  follows the going forth into homelessness (//Pabbajja//) as
  necessarily as the fall of the drop that is full. "No man can serve
  two masters" -- fully well. The man who devotedly strives for the
  fulfillment of the Doctrine experiences intensely the
  unsatisfactoriness of divided allegiance. Hence after a time, he gives
  it up, for the blessing of himself as well as of his family; an inward
  law of development that is beyond dispute. Only a mother knows the
  pangs of childbirth, and only a mother knows the succeeding joys of
  motherhood. Only he who has left home knows the relief of
  relinquishing accustomed bonds; only he who has left home, knows the
  happiness of being free: an inward experience -- indisputable! "The
  joys of the family life and the joys of the homeless life -- these are
  two different joys: and the nobler of the two is the joy the homeless
  life."

    If millions of honest men in worldly life find //Pabbajja//, the
  Going Forth, obnoxious; if they condemn the incomprehensible act as
  wrong, as unnatural, or deplore it as a mental aberration, they are
  quite right from their own standpoint; no intelligent man will
  contradict them. They act in accordance with their conception of duty,
  and are "great, great in their place" if, before all things they care
  for beloved parents, for wife and children, and strive to fulfill the
  manifold important duties laid upon them by their life in the world.
  Also the few who have a bent for the ascetic life and honestly long
  for it, but feel themselves bound one way or another to their wanted
  way of life and therefore remain in its bondage -- they also are right
  from their own standpoint. So also are those individuals right who go
  forth, being no longer bound inwardly. It is not the outward
  circumstances that bind a man; by himself is man really bound, by
  himself is he really free.

        //Having left parents, son and wife,
        Relations, wealth and land,
        And all desires of sense,
        Let him wander alone like the rhinoceros.//


    By logic, by reasoning or by eloquent words alone that act of going
  forth into homelessness can certainly not be argued or explained. But
  whoso sees this law, whoso sees this truth, no longer asks for proof.
  Quietly and with confidence he acts. What the world says about it,
  leaves him unconcerned.

    "There are two goals, the holy goal and the unholy goal. But what is
     the unholy goal? One, himself subject to birth, seeks what also is
     subject to birth; himself subject to old age, to sickness, to
     death, to pain, to defilement seeks what also is subject to old
     age, to sickness, to death, to pain, to defilement. But what is
     subject to birth, old age, sickness, death, pain and defilement?
     Wife and child are subject to birth, old age, sickness, death, pain
     and defilement; servant and maid, lamb and goat...gold and silver
     are subject to birth, old age, sickness, death, pain and
     defilement. Subject to birth, old age, sickness, death, pain, to
     defilement are these things. And allured, blinded, enchanted a man
     himself subject to birth, to old age, to sickness, to death, to
     pain to defilement seeks what also is subject to birth, old age,
     sickness, death, to pain, to defilement! This is the unholy goal.
     But what is the holy goal?

    "One himself subject to birth, perceiving the misery of this law of
     nature, seeks that which is free from birth: the incomparable
     surety of Nibbana; subject to old age, to sickness, to death, to
     pain, to defilement perceiving the misery of this law of nature,
     seeks that which is free from old age, sickness, death, pain and
     defilement the incomparable surety of Nibbana. This is the holy goal.

    "Formerly, when but a Bodhisatta, myself subject to birth, I sought
     what also was subject to birth; myself subject to old age,
     sickness, death, pain, defilement, sought what also was subject to
     old age, sickness, death, pain, defilement. And it occurred to me
     as follows: `Why, myself subject to birth, old age, sickness,
     death, pain, defilement, do I seek what also is subject to birth,
     old age, sickness, death, pain, defilement? What, if now, myself
     subject to birth, perceiving the misery of this law of nature, I
     were to seek the incomparable surety of Nibbana free from birth:
     myself subject to old age, sickness, death, pain defilement
     perceiving the misery of this law of nature, I were to seek the
     incomparable surety of Nibbana free from old age, sickness, death,
     pain, defilement? And after a time while still young, with
     coal-black hair, possessed of radiant youth, in the prime of my
     life, against the wish of my weeping and wailing parents, I had my
     hair and beard shaved off, put on the yellow robe, and went forth
     from the household life to the houseless one..."

    Whoso well in time sees the holy goal with penetrating clearness, he
  can no longer tie matrimonial bonds.

        //Who dwells alone and seeks not any mate,
        Though young in years yet bides not anywhere,
        Averted, turned away from contract's transports:
        Him the wise well and truly call a sage.//


    Whether, however, a man be old or young, whether he be married or
  not -- at whatever period of his life, the urge in him for the ascetic
  life asserts itself, then along with the other bonds binding to the
  worldly life, the bonds of blood- relationship also lose their force.
  The mother has become an elder sister; the father has become a
  brother; the wife has become a sister; the son has become a brother...
  fellow beings, fellow sufferers. Attachment, longing have died away,
  alienation has set in. Such a one has no longer a place and use in the
  family. "Another law works in the members," a wider love. In love the
  ascetic goes forth from the family, out of love he leaves it. Truly
  difficult to understand is the love in genuine ascetic mind, yet
  relatives also learn to understand it. "And if the families out of
  which those noble men have gone forth from home into homelessness,
  think of these noble men with love, for long will it make for their
  weal and happiness."

     Just as a man, who out of true feelings gives alms at the same time
  makes richer his family, though to outward appearance that family may
  suffer some loss in goods or money: so truly bestows a householder a
  rich treasure to an understanding family, if in a right frame of mind,
  moved by the highest of duties, he renounces the worldly life, even
  though that family may lose its external support. This loss which not
  seldom is brought about by premature death, can be made good and is
  unessential; but essential is: awakening from the slumber,
  thoughtfulness, insight, the perspective of Anatta (not-self), turning
  away, detachment -- that is what matters.

    "Naught is the loss of relatives, riches and honor; but the loss of
  insight is the heaviest loss. Naught is the gain of relatives, riches
  and honor; but the gain of insight -- that is the highest gain.
  Wherefore let your endeavour be: Insight will be gain! Let this be
  your endeavour!"

    "And the former wife of the venerable Sangamaji had heard it said:
    `The monk Sangamaji has arrived in Savatthi.' Then she took her
    child and went to the monastery at the Jeta Grove, near Savatthi. At
    that time, however, the venerable Sangamaji sat at the foot of a
    tree to spend the afternoon there, devoted to meditation. Then the
    former wife of the venerable Sangamaji betook herself thither and
    spoke to the venerable Sangamaji: Look at thy little son here, O
    ascetic! Give me food!' But to these words the venerable Sangamaji
    maintained silence. A second and a third time the former wife of the
    venerable Sangamaji so spoke: `Look at thy little son here! Give me
    food!' And a second and a third time did the venerable Sangamaji
    preserve silence. Then the wife of the venerable Sangamaji laid the
    child down in front of the venerable Sangamaji and went away,
    saying: 'There is thy son, O ascetic; give him food!' The venerable
    Sangamaji however, neither looked at the child nor uttered a word.
    Now when the former wife of the venerable Sangamaji having gone some
    distance turned round, she saw that the venerable Sangamaji neither
    looked at the child nor said anything. Then she thought `This
    ascetic cares not even for his child,' turned back, took up the
    child and went away."


    "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and
     wife and children, and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life
     also, he cannot be my disciple. Whosoever he be of you that
     forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple."

                        -- Luke XIV.26 and 33


    "Think not that I come to send peace on peace: I came not to send
     peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against
     his father and the daughter against her mother, and the
     daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall
     be they of his own household. He that loveth father and mother more
     than me is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter
     more than me is not worthy of me."

                        -- Matthew X.34-37


    "Let the dead bury their dead."

                        -- Luke IX.60


    "My kingdom is not of this world."

                        -- John XVIII. 36


    Apart from the differences existing between the teachings of the
  Buddha and of the Christ, all these sayings have these ideas in
  common:

    1. Void throughout is this world.

    2. Whoso "hungers and thirsts" to overcome this world, will loosen
       all earthly bonds, count them but dirt. Commentators and
       scribes there are in abundance but "whoso has eyes will see."

    Day after day, twenty-four hours older, a hundred thousand heart
  beats nearer to the grave inevitably! "O, put all wishes aside save
  the desire to know truth; recognize the truth and tell it, come what
  may!" Whoso does not act in that way, deceives himself and others.
  Whoso shrinks from the decision that truth demands, puts obstacles in
  the way of himself and others though it may not always be obvious.

        //From life departing man no refuge finds,
        Nor friend, nor loved one, boon companions none.
        The heirs, with strife, divide the heritage,
        Himself fares forth according to his deeds.//


    "Put not thy trust in friends or relatives, and put not off thy
     salvation till the future, for man will forget thee sooner than
     thou thinkest. It is better to provide now in time and do the
     right, than to trust to help of another. If thou art not solicitous
     for thee in the future? Now is the time very precious, now is the
     day of salvation...!"

                        -- Thomas a Kempis


    None can do for another what is needed for deliverance. Here each
  has to rely on himself alone.

        //Self alone is the lord of self.
        What higher master can there be?
        By self alone is evil done, by self one is defiled;
        By self is evil left undone; by self alone one is purified,
        Pure and impure on self alone depend;
        No one can make another pure.

        Hence give not up thine own best weal
        For others' weal however great.
        Once thou hast seen thine own best weal,
        Pursue it keenly for thyself.//


    Concern for oneself, in that sense, is far from being reprehensible
  egotism. It has nothing to do with the oppression or exploitation of
  others, with harshness towards others.

    "Once, Lord, in an hour of solitude and retirement the following
     thoughts came to me: `To whom is one's self dear, to whom is it not
     dear?' And this, Lord, occurred to me: Those who do, and speak, and
     think evilly, to these their self is not dear. And even though they
     say: `We love ourselves,' yet they do not love themselves. And why
     not? Whatsoever unlovely thing they do to one unbeloved that they
     do to their own selves. Therefore is it that their self is not dear
     to them. Those, however, who act, and speak, and think rightly, to
     them their self is dear. And even though they may say: `We love not
     ourselves,' yet they do love themselves. And why? Whatsoever lovely
     thing they do to one beloved that they do to their own selves.
     Therefore is it that their self is dear to them." -- "That is so,
     great king."

    Not only is such true care for oneself unreprehensible, but it is
  the only way to become hale and holy oneself and to help others to
  become likewise. "A man may do ever so much good and take upon himself
  ever so many abnegations, and yet as long as he does not know himself
  he will not reach deliverance." -- "The only limitations he imposes
  upon himself, are those arising from not knowing himself. In the
  degree, however, that he knows himself, he is able to do greatest
  service a man can render for another, namely: to help him to help
  himself; to bring him to a true knowledge of himself, of his own inner
  power." Hence, the more ardently a man devotes himself to the work of
  his own deliverance, all the sooner and more effectively can he become
  a blessing to others; for all the sooner can he learn and experience
  what will help himself and others to win true deliverance; the laws for
  it are the same for all. Any other helpful action, however meritorious
  it may be, is concerned with things external, not with the world
  within. "Can the blind lead the blind? Shall they not both fall into
  the ditch?" Whoso has ever offered to others "bread for stones," has
  first of all labored within himself, "lonely, apart, untiringly,
  ardent and resolute."

    The inward worker who has lived the truth, speaks from experience,
  with the assurance of an "expert": "So it is," he says, and not, "So
  it may be." Therefore his words produce in susceptible minds an inner
  crisis never experienced before, a crisis severe but wholesome: "The
  word of the wise heals." As is the speech of the inwards worker, so is
  his outward behavior: true, straight and firm, serene, aloof,
  uncommon. Such venerable ones are the greatest benefactors of their
  fellow men, the best physicians; visible witnesses of the fact that
  detachment from the world is possible; by their very lives they point
  to the way by which that what continually produces and feeds new
  suffering can be eliminated. Therefore, whether householder or monk --
  above all, win to a true vision for thyself! "Know thyself!" -- "Be
  ever mindful of thyself."

        //The wise upon the path of truth
        He first establishes himself:
        Then only can he others teach.

        Who thus, as he to others tells,
        Can conquer and subdue himself,
        May haply turn them to the true;
        But hard it is to rule oneself.//


    "That, Cunda, one himself sunk into the mire should pull out of the
     mire another sunk therein -- this cannot be. But that one, himself
     not sunk in the mire, can lift out of the mire another sunk therein
     -- that may be. And that one, himself not subdued, not disciplined,
     not attained to the extinction of delusion, should lead others to
     become subdued and disciplined to attain to the extinction of
     delusion -- this cannot be. But that one who himself is subdued and
     disciplined, and has attained to the extinction of delusion, should
     lead others also to become subdued and disciplined and to attain to
     the extinction of delusion -- this may well be."


    The most likely possibility of escape from the mire of ignorance
  (//avijja//) is offered by the life of a tree monk (bhikkhu). Though
  the Buddha's Teaching has been described as "running counter to the
  common current, profound, subtle and hard to realize," there are those
  in the world who, on hearing that Teaching, feel irresistibly
  attracted to the monk life. There are those who, once they become
  aware of the general misery of life and of the way of the speediest
  release from it, lay everything else aside and, without delay, go
  forth into the homeless life -- "their insight needed only to be
  roused." Others again are able after a severe struggle, to break up
  all bridges behind them. Deep-rooted desires and ideas, coarse or
  subtle, so strongly ingrained in ordinary life, may obstruct for long
  an appreciation of the ascetic life; hence people are not in a hurry
  to turn to it, and the strength of character needed for renunciation,
  is lacking.

    "Even that state of mind, Mahanama, still exists in thee and causes
     thy heart to be overpowered at times by impulses of desire, by
     impulses of anger, by impulses of delusion. For, Mahanama, if that
     state of mind no longer had any place in thee, thou wouldst not
     remain in the home life, in the enjoyment of desires."


    It is quite true that noble characters can be found everywhere in
  society, also in family life; it is true that not a few householders
  die more ennobled in mind than many a monk; it is true that an
  earnest, devoted disciple, by virtue of an unusually developed
  character, due to his good Kamma of the past, may, without abandoning
  household ties, attain to almost all stages of holiness, that is up to
  the stage of the Non-returner (//anagami//). But no one who knows will
  maintain that he who is determined to make an end of suffering, may to
  the same effect remain in the household life as lead the life of a
  monk. On the contrary, "the wisest of all times" teach that such a man
  will choose a mode of life detached from all worldly bonds: he will go
  the road that offers the least resistance to his aspirations.

        //Even as the peacock, the blue-necked bird of the parks,
        In its aerial flight never can rival the swan,
        So the dweller in house can never equal the monk --
        Him the thinker withdrawn, in forest abiding.//


    Separation, isolation, again and again, is necessary for bringing
  suffering to an end. Just as the steam which is asleep in the water
  and awakened by fire, does not develop its giant strength, does not
  become a concentrated power, unless it is shut in, likewise man's
  inner potentialities for lack of seclusion, for lack of isolation,
  cannot develop, cannot be converted into higher powers. "Many live far
  below their possibilities because they continually surrender their
  individualities to others." In the worldly life, full
  self-recollectedness, full devotion to the goal, do not come easily.
  The chaotic mass of uncontrolled impressions will divert and distract
  again and again, and will lead astray. Sadly great is the sum of
  energy daily expended to no profit. In home life, too much nutriment
  gross or subtle is supplied by the world of the five senses, and this
  will ever and again disturb those thoughts that in the noble-minded
  are naturally directed towards higher things; hence there is only very
  slow progress in discarding and uprooting obstructing qualities and
  evil propensities of the mind.

    Quite different is it in the homeless state, in a life of solitude.
  There man is, as it were, forsaken by all the world, and thrown back
  entirely upon himself, without palliatives and self-deceptions. There
  he learns to be profoundly ashamed of all that is base, and feels
  himself impelled to strive for progress; mindfully he breathes in,
  mindfully he breathes out, and he wins to the insight that frees from
  suffering. In secluded places -- in the depth of the forest, in a
  lonely cottage, a mountain cave, a cemetery -- the five senses, in the
  absence of their usual objects of craving, are, as it were, put out of
  action; and the sixth sense, the mind, alone, detached, undisturbed,
  effectively collected, can do its work, can understand the workings of
  greed, hatred and delusion, can reject them. "What are the
  characteristics of those venerable ones, what is so special to them
  that people should say of them, `Truly, these venerable ones have lost
  greed and hatred and delusion, or are on the way to overcome them'?
  This question may be answered thus: `Those venerable ones seek out
  lonely places in the depth of the forest: There are not to be found
  any forms entering the field of vision, that can be looked at and
  craved for; no sounds entering the field of hearing, to be listened to
  and craved for; no odors entering the field of smell, to be smelled
  and craved for; no flavors entering the field of taste, that can be
  tasted and craved for; no bodily contacts entering the field of touch,
  that can be felt and craved for."

    Bodily isolation (//kaya-viveka//) in secluded places facilitates
  isolation (//citta-viveka//) from craving and other hindrances. At the
  start, this purification and concentration of mind comes only
  temporarily, during specific meditative exercises; but later on,
  strengthened by these very exercises, that pure and concentrated state
  of mind can be maintained for an increasingly longer time, and will
  make possible a deep and penetrative insight (//panna vipassana//)
  into the true nature of things. And that vision, when completely
  cleansed of delusion will finally bring about ultimate isolation, the
  freedom of every kind of attachment (//upadhi-viveka// = //nibbana//).
  In other words: to a disciple tirelessly meditating in solitude, the
  transient, painful and unsubstantial nature of all constituents of
  existence will become apparent with an increasing clarity and
  certainty. To the degree, however, that ignorance and delusion
  (//avijja//, //moha//) about this world disappear, also desire
  (//raga//) for anything in it, and hate or anger (//dosa//) against
  anything in it, will die away: they will lose their objects, their
  foothold, their basis, their sanction. Thus, with the withdrawal of
  the fuel, this terrible conflagration of suffering is brought to
  extinction, sooner or later, according to previous action-force
  (kamma) and present effort.

    True holiness is never born without solitude; never is it perfected
  without struggle with the passions within. Yet, the untiring activity
  of Gotama, the Buddha and of many of his disciples demonstrate that
  solitude and the happiness of seclusion are not, as many think, the
  aim and end of the ascetic life, but they are an essential means to
  the end, and are an incomparable mine of strength and inspiration to
  him who resolutely strives for the goal.

    "Ye should know that those people practice the most useful
     practices. Know ye that the kingdom is blessed where man is
     inwardly one. They produce more eternal gain in one moment than all
     works ever wrought outwardly."
                                        -- Meister Eckehart


    By a wrong view of life all ascetic endeavour will naturally be
  considered as egotism pure and simple; but right understanding will
  never regard it like that. The true ascetic who has wholeheartedly
  taken up the training knows that, in the absolute sense, there is no
  ego nor anything belonging to it, neither I nor mine. Neither
  corporeality nor feeling, perception, formations and consciousness
  contain any abiding substance, because they are transient, painful,
  subject to change. Therefore, no longer can one who has entered the
  path where deliverance is assured (the //sekha//) bestir himself for
  the sake of the ego; his striving aims at the final cessation of the
  conditioned personality (//kamma//, //khandha//), by the gradual
  elimination of all its roots. But during his more or less protracted
  struggle for final emancipation the //Sekha// is not yet entirely
  cured of all self-affirmation, of all impulses connected with I and
  Mine; still the old Kamma clings to him. Only in the Arahant, the Holy
  One, is the truth of Anatta fully realized, and therewith all and
  every form of self-affirmation is done away; "through the cessation,
  rejection, removal, denial and relinquishment of all notions of I and
  Mine, and all biases of self-conceit, he has won perfect deliverance."
  In other words:

     Much ignorance (and craving): Much self-affirmation
        (and suffering),
     Little ignorance (and craving): Little self-affirmation
        (and suffering),
     Free from ignorance (and craving): Free from self- affirmation
        (and suffering).

     "Ignorance is the root of all self-affirmation."


    It is this very truth that none in this world period has as
  perfectly penetrated, as perfectly taught as the Buddha. The entire
  hard struggle for deliverance was called by the Enlightened One
  briefly "The liberation from the fetter of ignorance" that is, from
  self-illusion. "Hence, Sariputta, thus should you train yourself:
  `Concerning this body endowed with consciousness, there shall not
  arise any notions and biases shall not arise! And we shall abide in
  the attainment of this deliverance of the heart, this deliverance by
  wisdom through which all these notions and biases cease.' Thus,
  Sariputta, should you train yourself. And in so far, Sariputta, as a
  monk attains to this deliverance of the heart, this deliverance by
  wisdom, he is called one who has cut off craving, removed the fetters
  of existence, has made an end of suffering by the full elimination of
  self-conceit."

    The more devotedly one strives towards this goal, the more selfless
  he becomes, and the earlier will he make an end of all egotism:

                 //Sangham saranam gacchami//:

                 "I take refuge in the Order of Monks."

    But, to be sure, mere outward asceticism is of no avail. "Whether
  one remains in the household life or whether one goes forth from it to
  the homeless state, if one lives wrongly I do not praise it. For,
  whosoever either remains at home or departs from home, if he lives
  wrongly, on account of that wrong way of life he can gain nothing on
  the good path of the Dhamma." -- "I do not ascribe asceticism to a
  robe wearer just because he wears a monk's robe. I do not ascribe
  asceticism to a forest hermit just because he lives in the forest. I
  do not ascribe asceticism to a knower of text just because he knows
  many texts... Not because a man wears a robe, dwells in the forest,
  knows the texts, speaks much about the Doctrine, can he get rid of
  craving propensities, can he get rid of hating propensities, can he
  get rid of delusive propensities."

    "There are people who, void of faith, go forth from home into
  homelessness, hypocrites, dissemblers, sham-ascetics, conceited men,
  busy talkers and chatterers, bad guardians of the doors of the senses,
  without moderation at meals, not devoted to wakefulness, indifferent
  to asceticism, without respect for the training, fond of luxury,
  importunate, preferring what is detrimental, shunning solitude as a
  heavy burden, lazy, without energy, heedless and uncomprehending;
  uncontrolled and distracted minds of small understanding, and stupid.
  Such a monk's asceticism appears to me, O monks, like a murderous
  weapon, meant for slaughter, doubled edged, well sharpened, covered
  band wrapped round with a robe. A knife taken up by the blade, wounds
  the hand: misused asceticism drags one the downward path."

    "In error ye wander, O monks of Assaji, upon a false path ye wander,
  O monks of Assaji. How far apart have they strayed, the foolish, from
  this Doctrine and Discipline!" "Hard it is to serve the Exalted One,
  very hard it is to serve the Exalted One!" -- meeting with this
  experience many a weak disciple, discouraged or displeased, has given
  up asceticism (see Majjhima Nikaya No. 67, 77).

    Only to him who knows suffering, only to one who true to the
  Doctrine, earnestly works within, fighting purposefully and
  persistently against Mara -- to such a one only, will the external
  circumstances of asceticism prove to be what actually they ought to be
  according to Buddha's declaration: The most suitable conditions which
  the world can offer for the complete overcoming of the world. Again
  and again did the Master place before his disciples the hollowness and
  futility of half-hearted asceticism, as well as the seriousness and
  difficulties of the true monk's life. Never did he attempt to persuade
  anyone to become his disciple or to lead the ascetic life under him.
  "He lays the Doctrine before the people, does not persuade them, does
  not dissuade them." "He shows the nature of this world after he
  himself has understood and penetrated it. The doctrine, excellent in
  the beginning, excellent in the middle, excellent in its consummation,
  does he proclaim, both in the spirit and in the letter; he sets forth
  the holy life in its fullness and purity." Now, if the nature and
  purpose of this ascetic life becomes overwhelmingly clear to a
  householder or a householder's son, he will become as ascetic of his
  own free will, following his inner urge. "Sunken I am in birth, in old
  age and death, in distress, lamentation and pain, in grief and
  despair; sunken in suffering, lost in suffering! Oh! that it might be
  possible to make an end of this whole mass of misery!" In such a state
  of mind, filled with confidence, he renounces the worldly life, and
  such a renunciation is called in the texts "right-minded renunciation"
  (//nekkhammasankappa//). [*]

        * [//Nekkhamma-sankappa//, "the thought of renunciation," is one
        of the three kinds of Right Thought or Right Aspiration
        (//samma-sankappa//), the second factor of the Noble Eightfold
        Path.]


    With such a true renunciation, such a true //Pabbajja// (Going
  Forth), "has he arrived in a clearing (of life's jungle)" -- but no
  further. "Whoso, as a noble son, has thus renounced, what has he to
  do? Whoso finds no detachment from desires, from evil states of mind,
  whoso finds no joy and happiness or other still better gain, his heart
  will be seized and bound by lust; will be seized and bound by
  ill-will; will be seized and bound by sloth and torpor; will be seized
  and bound by restlessness and worry; will be seized and bound by
  doubt, will be seized and bound by dissatisfaction, will be seized and
  bound by attachment. But whoso finds detachment from desires, from
  evil states of mind, and finds joy and happiness and other states of
  mind, and finds joy and happiness and other still better gain- his
  heart will not be seized and bound by lust, will not be seized and
  bound by ill-will, by sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry, by
  doubt, dissatisfaction and attachment." But this nobility of mind, how
  is it acquired? Only through meditation and again meditation
  (//Satipatthana//): "Here trees invite; there, lonely cottages. Go,
  meditate! Be not slothful, lest later ye repent!"

    True asceticism is an obstinate, mute struggle. Mighty is Mara!
  Fearfully deep-embedded is delusion! "Dying and becoming! Dying and
  becoming!" No standing still should be permitted; no satisfaction with
  what has been attained! "Ever more strong must ye become to reach what
  is still unreached, to attain what is still unattained, to realize
  what is still unrealized!" "I declare unto you, O monks, I call upon
  you to give heed, ye that aspire to the goal of asceticism: see that
  the goal does not elude you while there is more to accomplish!"

    Dying and becoming, again and again -- until nothing can any more
  become, and hence there is nothing that can die! No rest, no stopping
  before Nibbana is reached! "Also to the world beyond I shall not
  cleave, nor shall my consciousness be bound to that world. All
  nutriment is misery, heavenly food as well. To be conscious is to be
  suffering." An ascetic thus minded "has found and finds ever greater
  and loftier results; he is well satisfied with the ascetic life, does
  not give up the noble effort." "It is called `death' in the Order of
  the Holy One, when a person gives up asceticism and turns back to the
  common life of the world" -- this he now appreciates, depending upon
  none in that experience. "As the moth that has caught sight of the
  light does not turn back to the darkness, and as the ant dies on the
  sugar heap, so he turns not back to the worldly way of life but
  devotes himself fully to the noble training, so that he may reach the
  highest state, Nibbana, the extinction of delusion."

    "And so he becomes fit to eradicate the taints (//asava//), and to
     attain, in this very life time, to the taint-free deliverance of
     the heart, the deliverance by wisdom."

    "Whoso, monks, practices the four Foundations of Mindfulness
     (//Satipatthana//) for seven years, may expect one of the two
     results: the Highest Knowledge (of Sainthood), in his present life
     time, or, if there is a remainder of clinging left, the state of
     Non-return (to this world; //anagamita//). Setting aside seven
     years, whoso, monks, thus practices the four Foundations of
     Mindfulness for six years, five years, four years, three years, two
     years, one year -- nay, setting aside one year: whoso practises the
     four Foundations of Mindfulness for seven months, may expect one of
     the two results: the Highest Knowledge, in his present life time,
     or, if there is a remainder of clinging, the state of Non-return.
     Setting aside seven months, whoso, monks, practises these four
     Foundations of Mindfulness for six months, five months, four
     months, three months, two months, one month, or half a month --
     nay, setting aside half a month: whoso practises these four
     Foundations of Mindfulness for seven days, may expect one of these
     two results: the Highest Knowledge, in his present life time, or if
     there is a remainder of clinging, the state of Non-return."


    If weak men only knew themselves! The hero, verily, slumbers in many
  a one!

        //Striving, have many won the deathless,
        And still to-day by striving men can win
        If they with wise endeavour persevere.
        But none can do it who does shun the fight.//


                            * * * * * * * *



                      FIVE LETTERS ABOUT BUDDHISM

          //Translated from the German by Nyanaponika Thera//


                                  I

  From your letter I hear the cry for deliverance. "Deliverance is born
  of knowledge." For attaining to that liberating knowledge, I can, from
  my own experience, only give the advice to you who are otherwise
  fairly well prepared, to imbibe for a period of years the spirit of
  the Discourses of the Buddha, and to set to work accordingly. There
  will then be no need for you to //believe// (as you write) that a
  system of thought can do justice to the world (i.e., reality), but you
  will //know// it. Buddhism does justice to the world even to such a
  degree that it leads to the overcoming of it. It is an unspeakably
  vast task to struggle through and beyond all apparent contradictions,
  and to struggle free, from the most subtle fetters (//tanha//).
  Gotama, the Buddha says expressly: "Profound is this doctrine, hard to
  understand, hard to perceive, tranquil, sublime, beyond the realm of
  logic, intelligible only to the wise. You will hardly understand it
  without patience, devotion, guidance and effort." But, "there are
  beings whose eyes are only little covered by dust. Not hearing the
  truth, they will be lost. It is they who will understand the Dhamma."
  For it has been said that there are "two conditions of right
  understanding: the voice of others (be it orally or in writing) and
  wise reflection" (Majjh. 43). Furthermore: "Also in this doctrine and
  discipline is it possible to show a gradual training practice, gradual
  progress" (Majjh. 107). Gradually one will come to acquire a wise
  understanding of the teachings proclaimed by the Exalted One, and then
  "lofty results will gradually be experienced."

    You write that the spirit of Buddhism is repugnant to you owing to
  its rationalistic penetration of the world. I too had formerly that
  opinion; but it disappears with a more exact knowledge about man's
  composite nature and his way of development as taught by the Master.
  Meditation (//bhavana//, the four //Satipatthana//, //Samadhi//) rests
  upon the fact that mind is the forerunner in evolution  (thoughts,
  words and deeds: //kamma// or //sankhara// within the Dependent
  Origination, [*] //paticca- samuppada//). In brief, what man thinks,
  that he becomes. Meditation, in the Buddhist sense includes what we,
  in Christian lands, call feeling, heart, love, and so on. What
  commonly  is called "feeling" or "emotion," is, in fact, only a
  "clinging," low or noble; it is but ties and fetters, gross or subtle.
  For me, for instance, music was formerly such an important factor
  that, when listening particularly to Beethoven's symphonies, I was
  clearly possessed by them, ravished, shaken. Even four or five years
  ago I busied myself with writing music and composition. My judgment of
  musical performances was generally appreciated. But art is just a
  means to lead us on to the //comprehending// of suffering, and not
  only to an emotional experience of it; it takes us from the
  "particular" to the "general" (aspect of suffering). But more subtle
  devices (than art) await us. All of them, however, are, as the entire
  Teaching, meant "for letting go, not for keeping a hold on them"
  (Majjh. 22).

        * [See "The Wheel" No. 15a/b: //Dependent Origination//, by
        Piyadassi Thera.]


    You say that you have suffered much, and yet you think that this
  world of suffering is a glorious place! But if you progress from the
  emotional experience of suffering to an understanding of life's
  general nature as ill, then there will come a turning point in your
  ideas. You will come to reflect deeply upon the fact that the entire
  existence, being something originated, is bound up with impermanence
  (//sabbe sankhara anicca//). //Everything// originated (body,
  feelings, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness) is
  //anicca//. What ceases is woe, is suffering and not-self,
  unsubstantial //dukkham//, //anatta//. Among these three related
  characteristics of existence, [*] the most tangible one, //dukkha//,
  has been taken out, fully stated and defined in the First Truth of
  suffering; in the second, its cause: in the third its cessation; and
  in the fourth, the practical path of deliverance. He who has eyes,
  will perceive these things. The better one understands and practises
  the Eightfold Path, the less one will be assailed by suffering.

        * [See "The Wheel" No. 20: //Three Three Signata//, by Prof.
        O.H. de A. Wijasekara.]


    //Tanha// (Craving), that 108-headed hydra, will gradually die away
  -- beginning with the grossest, and ending with the most subtle
  craving which one notices only later. Then "done is, what ought to be
  done." Suffering is transcended, and thereby the world or life (=
  suffering), are transcended. "Ceased has rebirth, lived to its end is
  the holy life, the work is done, nothing more beyond this -- thus he
  knows" (Majjh. 94). To him who wishes to inquire further, the
  following texts are recommended for thorough reflection: the 63rd and
  72nd Discourse of the Majjhima Nikaya, and further the discourses 2,
  22, 38, 140; and it is advisable to think slowly and carefully about
  causality (Dependent Origination).

    Enough for to-day. Though Buddhism, as you say, is for you partly
  still unpalatable, yet in the first words of your letter, you admit
  the strict consistency and inner strength of my own way of action. I
  have understood Buddha's logic and love: "the shortest way between two
  points (i.e. the present stage of development, and deliverance) is the
  straight line."

    The study of Pali will permit you as much quicker penetration of the
  teaching, since all translations are makeshifts (even the sound ones
  by Neumann); our words (concepts) are insufficient, and often they
  lead astray.

    ...If, in addition, you will learn by heart the most important
    Discourses, fully or partly, then you will have a solid foundation,
    inwardly and with regard to your linguistic studies.

                                        -- Letter of 9-8-1906

                                 * * *




                                   II


  Dear Sir,

  One who has understood the universality of suffering and the
  importance of the ascetic life for the speediest elimination of that
  suffering, such a one will certainly sympathize with you. According to
  your valuable and frank confession you have "strong sensuality." You
  may know that asceticism or the "holy life" is mostly called
  //brahmacariyam// (the chaste life). It is significant that the same
  term is used in the third //sila// (Precept) of the monk. "Having
  abandoned unchastity, he lives a life of chastity; he keeps aloof and
  abstains from that vulgar practice, sexual intercourse." "He keeps
  aloof," that is, he observes a prudent distance from women, lest he
  lend a hand to Mara, because he is still weak, and in the process of
  growth.

    For the millions of those who live a worldly life, sexual
  intercourse within the limits indicated in Majjh. 41, is not regarded
  as //akusala// (unwholesome); [*] but for the disciple proper who
  wishes "to bring suffering to an end," it is always //akusala//:
  unwholesome, wrong, and conducive to suffering. How could he gain a
  deeper, truly penetrating insight, as long as that powerful
  affirmation of life vibrates through his organism, and paralyzes his
  mind? Therefore, //kammachanda// or //kamaraga// (sense-desire,
  sensual lust) is the first Hindrance, Fetter and Defilement; and its
  opposite //nekkhamma//, "renunciation," is the first help and aid in
  gaining //samma- samadhi//, "right concentration," which is required
  for the pure vision of truth (//vipassana//). Though the entire realm
  of //kama//, i.e., the five sense objects, are a hindrance of
  //samadhi// (concentration), yet one has to recognize the sexual
  sphere as the most portentous in the realm of sensuality. One knows
  what an enormous amount of energy is expended here. He who is
  infatuated, will be aware of it only faintly; but later when fighting
  and subduing his passion, it will become clear to him that he was
  formerly but a miserable specimen of humanity, a slave of Mara; he
  will then appreciate that a mind kept in a violent tremor by strong
  emotions, cannot possibly see reality as it is.

        * [The author's use of the Buddhist technical term //akusala//,
        i.e., "karmically unwholesome," is here somewhat misleading; but
        the meaning intended by him is clear: For a layman, sexual
        intercourse in marriage is not immoral, being not a violation of
        the Five Precepts binding on him. Any form of lust (//lobha//),
        however, is karmically unwholesome, in the strict sense of the
        term //akusala//, though "unlawful lust" (//visama-lobha//;
        e.g., adultery) is so in a higher degree. -- The Translator]


        //The teaching that goes against the current,
        that is deep, subtle and hidden --
        invisible it remains to those infatuated by lust.//


    The Buddha-Dhamma is said to go against the current. The crowd goes
  along with the current: life-affirmation, lust, hatred, self-delusion.
  The true disciple goes against that stream; he negates it, because he
  wishes to transcend the world get rid of it.

    "The turning away of the will vanquishes all woe." Our blind
  fellow-beings, however, who float along with the current will say:
  "But sexual desire is something natural!" It is that very fact which a
  perspicuous Buddhist knows, and therefore turns away:

       //This world, the other world as well
       the Knowing One has clearly shown:
       the realm of nature and its law,
       and freedom ending all that woe.//
                                        -- Majjh. 34

    He who understands //that//, has achieved much.

    Also he who has strong sensual inclination, //can// live
  //brahmacariya//, the chaste life. "There is one who is by nature
  lustful, yet he preserves his chastity, even if passion often makes
  him feel pain and torment; but he is able, though with pain and
  torment, to live the noble, pure life of chastity (//brahmacariya//)"
  (Majjh. 45)

    A disciple who has made himself familiar with the Buddha's
  instruction, is able to fight the passions with quite different
  weapons than other folk, but knowledge without application is dead.
  How, then, can a tendency be gradually expelled from one's nature, for
  instance that to sensuality? By displacing, eliminating and replacing.
  You may have observed how thoughts are placed in the sequence of time,
  how they follow each other, and how only //one// thought at one time
  can be present to consciousness, if ever so briefly.

    Make a start now, and take matters into your own hand! Instead of
  allowing your thoughts to roam about aimlessly, in a confused way and
  impelled by emotions -- you should first select a time of the day, a
  short half an hour, in which to give to your thought-processes a
  definite direction by choosing a suitable subject of meditation. By
  doing so, gradually a counter-tendency is developed, because during
  the 30 minutes of //asubha-bhavana// (contemplation of the body's
  foulness), lust has simply dropped out. If you now return to your
  routine life, the tendency developed during your practice will produce
  an after-effect which will grow more and more beneficial in proportion
  to the intensity and duration of the practice. Gradually, with
  strengthened mindfulness (//sati//), that noble tendency will permeate
  almost whole thought-process, always ready to step in with its
  beneficial effect whenever Mara wishes to intrude. Most of our
  fellow-beings "believe that they push while they are pushed
  themselves." But the true disciple actually pushes matters himself,
  because he has grasped "the law of elimination by disuse," and thus he
  displaces and eliminates, so that passions die away; until at the end
  there is nothing more to die away.

    First a Buddhist should suffuse and saturate himself with the
  Master's words like those in (the "Revelation of the Body"), in the
  //Sutta Nipata// (v. 193ff), the //Theragatha//; Suttas like Majjhima
  Nikaya No. 82; then, if he has noble aspirations the powerful sexual
  urge will be reduced noticeably.

        //Look how this puppet is decked out,
        that skin-enveloped skeleton!
        Fools are deluded by that sight;
        Not those who seek the shore beyond.//

    According to the Master's injunction (Majjh. 75), after listening
  (or reading) there should be thorough reflection about it (//yoniso
  manasikara//), to be done best at a quiet place. You should
  contemplate and analyze this body as it is described (so simply but
  ever so true) in Majjhima Nikaya 10 (Satipatthana Sutta): "He
  contemplates this body from the sole of the feet upwards, and from the
  crown of the head downward, covered by the skin, filled with many
  impurities." He understands it as a putrifying corpse, food for worms,
  as a skeleton and as decaying bones: "My body, too, is of that nature,
  will become like that, and cannot escape it."

    After such thorough contemplation (//asubha-bhavana//), actual
  realization will unfailingly follow. If he now sees women, he is no
  longer dominated by the animal urge of carnal desire, but he sees
  //through// it; he sees them as skeletons. Looking ahead he, already
  now, perceives the flesh now, after death, it will be devoured by
  worms; and, then his prevailing feeling will be compassion: "Soon
  these bodies will perish and will add to the charnel field. May beings
  awake from their frenzy, so that it may no longer be said of them:
  'Worn out in vain, the body dies away,' but may their Kamma come
  gradually to rest!"

    For him who is moved by such compassion, will it be possible to use
  a being for satisfying his lust? Only selfishness will be able to do
  so, even if it hides behind greatest learning. The Master has taught
  his disciples -- of whom none was a eunuch -- how to regulate that
  desire, and how to bring it to rest. If you make substantial progress
  in that respect, you will have achieved much. May you remain mindful
  of the fact that you do it for //your own// sake, for //other's//
  sake, and for the cause (of the truth).

        //Him who as sage from mating keeps aloof,
        Who, young in years, nowhere ensnares himself,
        From heedless rapture free, detached,
        Him as a sage the wise ones rightly hold.//

                                        -- Sutta Nipata v. 218


        Namo Buddhaya,

                Sumano.

                                 * * *




                                  III

  Not many details can be told about your first question. [*] I became
  aware of the fact: "I am afflicted by birth, old-age and death, sunken
  into sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair submerged by
  suffering lost in suffering! Oh, that it might be possible to make an
  end of that whole mass of suffering!" (With regard to your question)
  consider "evolution" in its widest sense. I mean to say: Beings
  understand and follow the teaching of the Blessed One according to the
  degree of their own development. "He who has eyes, will see."

        * [This question was, probably, about the Rev Sumano's reasons
        for entering the monkhood.]


    Let us assume: there is an "intelligent person," "a man of
  understanding." He perceives clearly (a) the impermanency of all that
  is originated, and he understands (b) the conclusion: what is
  impermanent that is liable to suffering (//dukkha//) and it is
  not-self (//anatta//). Through both, (a) and (b), he will understand
  the equation: life=suffering; and now, awake from his slumber, he
  works with increasing intensity to make an end of suffering, and
  thereby, of life.

    But how? "Deliverance results from knowledge." That liberating
  knowledge (=Right Understanding) is (and according to the above,
  cannot be anything else): 1. to know suffering, 2. to know the origin
  of suffering, 3. to know the cessation of suffering, 4. to know the
  path leading to suffering's cessation. This is "the teaching
  particular to Enlightened Ones." "This only do I teach, now as before:
  suffering and the cessation of suffering." Any doubt as to whether
  that knowledge is actually the only one needful to us now, will
  disappear if one reflects carefully on the 63rd Discourse of Majjhima
  Nikaya.

    From experience I may give the assurance that man will grow in his
  detachment, and that suffering will touch him less and less, the more
  mindfully and energetically he walks the path. //Tanha// (Craving),
  the direct cause of suffering (2nd Truth and of renewed existence
  (Paticca-samuppada link 8, 9, 10; [*] Majjhima Discourses, 9,39) is
  gradually brought to extinction. First its gross form dies away, and
  later the more subtle one that is imperceptible at the start (this
  Tanha-hydra has 108 heads).

        * [See "The Wheel" No. 15a/b.]


    Though, as a rule, only the genuine bhikkhu will be able to walk the
  path perfectly, yet the opinion which one sometimes finds expressed,
  that //only// the bhikkhu can do it at all, is erroneous. Everyone who
  leads the home life -- more especially if living alone -- can tread
  the Path and progress on it very far, "according to the nature of his
  actions." Everyone who has become a bhikkhu with the clear awareness
  of what he is doing, has once lived the worldly life before, but has
  prepared himself before he chose to lead the ascetic life that is so
  beneficial. Gotama Buddha, in the 43rd Discourse (Majjhima Nikaya)
  addressed to the citizens of Sala, has given very valuable
  instructions for right conduct in thoughts, words and deeds. Adherence
  to that conduct will, to the degree of one's success in doing so,
  contribute considerably to the overcoming of suffering. Without having
  fully understood the importance of a virtuous life (//sila//) for
  purification and for mental concentration, it will be premature if the
  disciple desires to attain the meditative absorptions (//jhana//). If
  you consider very carefully the following you will see clearly in that
  matter.

    We find in the texts the following threefold division of the Path:

     3. //samma-vaca//, Right Speech          }
     4. //samma-kammanta//, Right Action      }  I. //Sila// (virtue)
     5. //samma-ajiva//, Right Livelihood     }

     6. //samma-vayama//, Right Effort        }  II. //Samadhi//
     7. //samma-sati//, Right Mindfulness     }  (concentration)
     8. //samma-samadhi//, Right Concentration}

     1. //samma-ditthi//, Right Understanding } III. //Panna//
     2. //samma-sankappa//, Right Thought     } (wisdom)

    Usually the factors numbered (1) and (2) are mentioned first,
  because the Path cannot be trodden without a degree of Right
  Understanding and Right Thought. In their //perfected// form, however,
  they constitute //panna//, the highest wisdom.

    Virtue comes first (being perfected later, by concentration and
  wisdom). Then follows Concentration, comprising the 6th, 7th and 8th
  factor of the Path Among them, Right Effort consists of the Four
  Endeavors (Discourse 141); and these four are also called "implements
  of concentration." The four "Foundations of Mindfulness" [*]
  (//satipatthana//), which according to Discourse 141, form the seventh
  Path factor, are "the objects of concentration"; and Concentration
  proper, the 8th factor, is explained by the four meditative
  absorptions (//jhana//).

        * [See "The Wheel" No. 19: //The Four Foundations of
        Mindfulness//.]

    In other words, firstly strong energy (6th factor) has to be
  developed, and untiringly one should work, that is meditate, in
  accordance with the four Foundations of Mindfulness, for providing the
  inner training required for the entry into the First Absorption.

    How then, can such mighty energy be developed? "If he sees with his
  eyes a visible object, he does not take up its general features nor
  its details. Because lust and grief, unwholesome and evil thoughts may
  overwhelm him who dwells with his sense of sight unrestrained, he
  practises that restraint, guards his sense of sight and watches over
  it." The same holds good for the other four physical senses and mind
  as the sixth.

  ________________________________________________________________
       |   I   |   II   |   III   |   IV   |   V    |   VI
  ----------------------------------------------------------------
    1  | Eye   | ear    | nose    | tongue |  body  |  mind
    2  | Forms | sounds | smells  | tastes | tactile| mental
       |       |        |         |        | objects| objects
  ----------------------------------------------------------------

    Through the six senses (the subjective side of reality; see the
  first line in the sketch) we communicate with the outer world (the
  objective side of reality; see the 2nd line). From this is seen the
  immense importance of controlling that apparatus (//salayatana//, the
  5th link of the Nidana-chain, //Paticcasamuppada//) for the specific
  purpose of gaining  mental concentration, and for the general purpose
  of eliminating suffering. "He who does not know know and understand
  according to reality, the eye (ear, etc.), visual (etc.) objects
  visual (etc.), consciousness, visual (etc.), impression, the feelings
  produced by visual (etc.) impression -- he will be delighted in the
  eye; being delighted in it and attached to it, he will allow himself
  to be allured by it, looking always for the enjoyment provided by it.
  To him the life process consisting of the five Groups (//khandha//)
  will continue to accumulate, and craving that leads to renewed
  existence, finding delight here and there, will continue to grow.
  ...But he who knows and understands according to reality, the eye...,
  will not be delighted in the eye..., seeing always the danger in it.
  To him the five Groups will decrease, and craving... will vanish."

    "The concentration of one who has achieved that, is Right
  Concentration."

    "He who sees the Dependent Origination, sees the Dhamma; he who sees
  the Dhamma, sees the Dependent Origination."

    This spiritual struggle will lead to victory chiefly through
  constant mindfulness and thought concerning the fact of origination
  (arising), in other words, impermanence. For instance: "Now this
  unpleasant feeling has arisen in me (e.g., by insult) produced by
  auditory impression (see Paticcasamuppada 5,6), and it is conditioned,
  not unconditioned. Conditioned by what? By sense impression. And he
  knows: impression is impermanent; he knows: feeling is impermanent...
  Then his mind, thus discerning the elements, becomes gladdened,
  serene, strong and steady" (similarly with I, III-VI of the above
  sketch).

    So far about Energy or Right Effort (the 6th path factor), being the
  implement by which to attain concentration (meditative absorption).

    Information about the Four Foundations of Mindfulness will be found
  in Majjh. 10 (//Satipatthana-sutta//), 118 ("Mindfulness on
  Breathing"), 119 ("Mindfulness on the Body"), 62 ("Admonition to
  Rahula"). Then, "while he thus dwells earnest, ardent and mindful, the
  memories bound up with home life will vanish in him."

    I have experienced myself how important it is to meditate upon the
  four Foundations of Mindfulness (//Satipatthana- sutta//). I have
  learned that Discourse by heart, in Pali, and daily I repeat one
  seventh part of it in my meditation; every week has brought new
  revelations (//sati//). But one must //work// for it. "He who does not
  work, cannot follow the truth." "It is not possible, thus I teach, to
  obtain assurance at once, at the start; but gradually fighting,
  progressing step by step, one will obtain assurance. ...And because he
  makes determined effort, he realizes for himself the highest truth and
  visualizes it by wise penetration." He who attends to the preparatory
  work, as indicated, will avoid the illusions of "wrong concentration"
  (//miccha-samadhi//), and will steer straight towards Right
  Concentration, because cultivation of //samadhi// means the
  cultivation of, and the training in just these things, i.e., Energy
  and Mindfulness.

    The fact that also householders (lay followers) can practice
  mindfulness, is mentioned in Discourse 51: "We too, O lord, being
  householders, have from time to time established our mind in the four
  Foundations of Mindfulness; and we dwell, O Lord, contemplating the
  body in the body, ardent, clearly comprehending, mindful, having
  overcome covetousness and grief regarding the world."

    If you now read a Discourse like the 27th, where the Master gives a
  connected summary, you will have confirmation of that sequence of
  practice mentioned above: first //sila// (virtue; but here more
  comprehensive, being intended for monks); then the control of the
  senses (i.e., energy) and mindfulness (the passage on Clear
  Comprehension from Discourse 10). Also the five Hindrances which have
  to be overcome before one can enter the first Absorption, are found in
  the 10th Discourse, at the beginning of the fourth Foundation of
  Mindfulness. How difficult it is, generally, to gain the Absorptions,
  is shown by the Buddha's statements in the 128th Discourse; there,
  profoundly, and step by step, the hindrances and their overcoming are
  shown... But the difficulties mentioned there, will not deter an
  earnest disciple. He knows that evolution does not proceed at a bound,
  but that, by an indefatigable application of the appropriate means,
  progress undreamt of, may be achieved in a short time... However, the
  fact cannot be concealed: "Profound is this teaching, difficult to
  grasp... you will hardly understand it without patience, devotion,
  effort and guidance"; and "there are fools who study the teaching; but
  though they have studied it, they do not wisely examine the meaning of
  the teachings; without wisely examining the teachings their
  contemplation will not yield satisfaction; ...they do not grasp the
  purpose for which they have studied the teaching. To them, their wrong
  grasp of the teaching will bring them harm and suffering for a long
  time."

    Yet it has been said that the teaching is intelligible to every
  person of understanding, and that it grows in clarity for the earnest
  disciple. "There are no ascetics who know and understand everything at
  once. That is impossible." It is by //training//, by indefatigable
  training, that everything is nursed to maturity. "What a monk
  considers and reflects upon for a long time, to that his mind will
  incline."

    If once the fundamental truths have been thoroughly grasped and
  experienced, and, through a faithful devotion to the inner work, "the
  gradual perception of a great result" has appeared, then from such a
  soil a beneficial and powerful //saddha// (confidence) concerning the
  future work ("the achieving of the unachieved") will grow. This is the
  first of the five "qualities of spiritual striving" (//Padhananga//),
  by the help of which the disciple may achieve his aim quickly.

    I am filled with an unshakable //Saddha// (confidence). A confidence
  rooted in understanding and experience surmounts difficulties met by
  one who is given to speculative thinking, a hair-splitter, or a petty
  critic. Though the way of expression (in the Discourses) may sometimes
  be difficult or strange (particularly in translations), and though, in
  some instances, the teachings given there, may remain unintelligible
  for some time, let us have Saddha! "Enlightened Ones do not speak
  imperfectly." "Work, Work!" as we have stressed above -- that is the
  key word. Then the Dhamma will be realized, experienced and no longer
  requires proof or guidance, not even by a Buddha. "In the Liberated
  One is the knowledge of Liberation." "Equal to me will be those
  victorious ones who have destroyed craving."

    Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Samma-sabuddhassa!

                Stg.


                                 * * *



                                   IV

                                                Bandarawela (Monastery)
                                                28th April 1909

  Dear Mr. N.,

  If you attach great significance to "Mindfulness of Breathing"
  (//anapana-sati//) you have perceived an important fact. As the four
  Foundations of Mindfulness (//satipatthana//) may be called the heart
  of the doctrine, so is "Mindfulness of Breathing," if rightly
  understood, the heart of the heart. "Mindfulness of Breathing if
  developed well and regularly practiced, brings to perfection the four
  Foundations of Mindfulness," thus it is said in the 118th Discourse.
  He who knows these means of deliverance, and applies them, will
  experience by himself that restlessness, desire, anger,
  misapprehensions and thereby all deep sorrows, will vanish, and will
  reappear only and always, when that mindfulness (//sati//) is absent.
  While our other fellow-beings, millions of them -- go on living
  without any substantial gain in liberation ("worn out in vain, this
  body dies away"), he who knows the laws of deliverance can
  purposefully take into his hands the work of their unfolding; he can
  loosen, and finally break, the chains of slavery.

    First of all, three things are required here: 1. persistence, 2.
  persistence, 3. persistence. Without great devotion, without
  extraordinary patience even one who is otherwise gifted, will not be
  able to make progress. It is important that the beginner betakes
  himself to a quiet place, as secluded as possible, so that the
  habitual //tanha// -- nourishment for the five senses (see end of
  Majjh. 150) -- is reduced, and the numerous sounds, voices and noises
  which, particularly at the beginning, hinder so much any deeper
  concentration, do not constantly interfere. You will not have missed
  the fact that it is expressly stated in the Discourses 10, 62, 118 and
  27, that the disciple should resort to the forest, an empty room, etc.
  Thus, whenever bonds of profession or family do not fetter you, you
  should make haste to go out of your town, like one who seeks hidden
  treasure, and should choose a suitable spot in forest environment.
  Then you should sit down there in a posture that allows you the
  longest time of sitting immovably. "Mindfully he breathes in,
  mindfully he breathes out" -- that is the general practice of
  //Anapana-sati//, introducing the subsequent 16 specific exercises,
  and forming the transition from ordinary confused thinking to
  concentrated meditation focused upon a definite mental object. The
  former kind of thinking, ordinary reflection, is called //vitakka//,
  i.e., "discursive thinking." By Mindfulness of Breathing that
  discursive thinking is suspended and silenced. //Anapanasati
  bhavetabba vitakk'upacchedaya//: "Mindfulness of Breathing ought to be
  practiced for cutting off discursive thinking." How is it to be done?

    "Breathing in long, he //knows// `I breathe in long'; breathing out
  long, he knows `I breathe out long'; Breathing in short, he knows "I
  breathe in short"; breathing out short, he knows "I breathe out
  short." Now, at one and the same time only one single thought can be
  clearly present to consciousness; thoughts //follow// each other, they
  are placed in time. All exclusion of evil thoughts effected by
  meditation, rests upon that fact, is made possible by that fact. He
  who thinks for one minute a thought of kindness, has //at that time//
  no thought of hate in his mind; he who thinks of a corpse for one
  minute, has no lust while doing so; he who contemplates impermanence
  for one minute, will not have conceit. Whenever, and as long as, one
  knows "I breathe in, and out, long or short," for that time, even if
  it is only for a fraction of a second, other //vitakka// (discursive
  thoughts) will be excluded.

    You will, however, experience that, when you resolve to be strictly
  watchful, the first breaths that follow, will go in and out a clear
  awareness of them, but after that, habitual worldly thoughts
  (//vitakka//) will appear again during a single breath. But if one
  considers that the complete tranquilization and exclusion of
  discursive thoughts is tantamount to the entry into the Second
  Absorption, one will, in spite of all relapses, persist in one's
  practice, week by week, month by month, year by year; and during a
  single session the meditator will apply mindfulness 100 times or 1000
  times or more. Gradually the law of "development by use" (the inherent
  power of repetition) will show itself; it works as reliably as the law
  of "elimination by disuse."

    In one minute, one may breathe 15 times (30 inhalations and
  exhalations). If one is conscious of it, even if only at the
  beginning, one will have given a definite direction to one's mind 300
  times in 10 minutes. If for about 10 minutes no breath has been
  missed, it is certainly an achievement, though, to a beginner, some
  fatigue may be noticeable. The simile of the turner ("turning long or
  short"), given in the 10th Discourse, shows clearly how simply that
  exercise is meant (long-short, in- out; knowing). Generally spoken, it
  is the most simple that is truly great and profound. From the
  foregoing it will become clear how important that simple and easily
  intelligible exercise is. If patiently sustained, it is bound to
  result in the calmness and concentration of mind (//samatha//),
  aspired by you. The Master teaches how to bind a second postulate, a
  "Must" -- mindfulness (//sati//) -- to breathing which is the constant
  companion of man from birth to death. The first "Must" is faithful:
  man //must// breathe constantly (except in the fourth Absorption). The
  second "Must" has to be developed from it. In other words, breathing
  cannot wait; if it is not to escape unnoticed (as it happens in
  ordinary life), mindfulness (//sati//) must be present and alert. "For
  one of confused mindfulness, I say, there is no Mindfulness of
  Breathing."

    There are people endowed with outstanding gifts. As soon as they
  know the method, they will practice with zeal and determination.
  Perhaps you too will, even after a short time, attain genuine
  Absorption of mind, will easily leave behind the Sensuous Sphere, and
  realize one or more stages of meditation. Through those two exercises
  that degree of Samatha (tranquillity) can be achieved only if the five
  Hindrances are removed, the presence of which is incompatible with
  Absorption.

    But even if, for a long time, the meditator cannot attain to the
  absorptions, other gratifying results of //Anapanasati// will become
  evident. Firstly, the calm and concentration of mind as effected by
  meditative training in solitude, can now be maintained for
  increasingly longer periods of time. Calm and concentration will
  gradually enter into the meditator's innermost being, and will also
  manifest themselves outwardly in his daily behavior (in the family,
  in professional life and towards friends), by a calmer and more
  composed way of speaking (//santa-vaco//, "quiet of speech"), and by
  calmer bodily movements (//santa-kayo//) in going, turning, looking,
  bending and stretching of limbs. Secondly, what is incomparably more
  important, there will be a keener insight (//vipassana//) into the
  nature of the world, that is, of the five Khandhas, as impermanent,
  liable to suffering and not-self. A man with keen eye sight will excel
  in observation. Similarly, greater tranquillity (//samatha//) means
  deeper insight (//vipassana//); and, again, strengthened insight into
  suffering will be an incentive to achieve a greater power of
  concentration as a means to the end (insight). It is a reciprocal
  process "No meditative absorption without wisdom: and no wisdom
  without absorption."

    Therefore, after having practiced for some time the exercises No. 1
  and 2, [*] one may go over to No. 13: "contemplating impermanence, I
  shall breathe in and out" (Discourse 118 or 62). In doing so, one
  should keep in mind that what is spoken of here (in the 13th exercise)
  are phenomena (//dhamma//), objects of thought (i.e., what appears in
  the mind), pertaining to the fourth Foundation of Mindfulness. The
  four //Satipatthanas// may be regarded as stages: I. at the first
  stage, one learns to contemplate on the gross material body, as it
  appears to simple observation (Majjh. 10); 2. in the second
  //Satipatthana//, the feelings, likewise in their simple presentation
  (as pleasant, unpleasant, etc.); 3. in the third an essential change
  should follow; the knowledge, gradually prepared and matured by the
  first three //Satipatthanas//, that the entire world of plurality is
  only an object for each subject, a manifestation of thought, hanging
  only on a single thread: consciousness.

        * [This refers to the 16 exercises given in Majjh. 118.]


    Then the passage in Majjh. 10 -- "Thus is corporeality, thus its
  end," etc. -- will appear in a different light, because the proper
  light has dawned upon the meditator. "Thus is corporeality";
  appearances, phenomena, arising in consciousness with help of the
  likewise conditioned visual organ (colors) the auditory disappears
  again, as a subjective process: appearance, //anicca, anatta//. It is
  similar with the other Khandhas: "Thus is feeling, thus is its origin,
  thus its end."  Here one can learn to understand the whole of
  existence as an illusion, as not-self (//anatta//); and the
  Ego-delusion will dissolve quickly. This is so, because all wishing,
  longing, hating, disliking, fearing, grieving or being excited, in
  brief all mental afflictions stem from the Atta-idea ("I," "Mine," "my
  own," self) If that delusion loses its hold, a decisive change takes
  place, a detachment, a feeling of liberation as never experienced
  before. The person X. is now seen as a temporary combination of ever
  changing Khandhas (processes of existence); and after sometime this
  person will disappear from the scene; it has never harbored an eternal
  self (also Karma can become exhausted).

    The idea of Anatta may get strengthened in us in a way somewhat like
  that:

    Not I (an abiding individuality) breathe, but breathing occurs;
    not I go, but going occurs;
    not I stand, but standing occurs;
    not I sit, but sitting occurs;
    not I lie down, but lying down occurs;
    not I look, but looking occurs;
    not I bend, but bending occurs;
    not I eat, but eating occurs;
    not I talk, but talking occurs;
    not I feel joy or grief, but a pleasant or unpleasant feeling occurs;
    not I think, but thinking occurs.

    By such a contemplation, one will become selfless, all-loving,
  truly detached. and the word in Majjh. 10 will become clear: "He lives
  independent, and does not cling to anything in the world."

    By the power of thinking sharpened and made lucid by the exercises 1
  and 2 of (Anapanasati), the facts of impermanence and not-self
  (impersonality) will be visualized more strongly (exercise 13).
  Therefore I have given here that indication, because it is insight
  that lastly leads to deliverance. Concentration (//samadhi//,
  //samatha//) is only the clarification of mind, which, however, is
  indispensable; just as in spectacles the glasses are the essential
  thing, but one can look through them only after removing from them the
  dirt or moisture.

    I have mentioned to-day only the exercises No. 1, 2 and 13. As you
  know, talking is here of little avail; doing, practicing, is all that
  matters. After some time you may communicate your experiences, and, if
  required, ask for further information. You are quite right in saying
  that, without explanation, one cannot do much with the 16 brief
  instructions (Discourse 62 or 118), particularly if the translation is
  unsatisfactory. But in the Canon you will find further elucidations
  about the single points.


                Sumano

                                 * * *




                                   V

                                                Naples,
                                                17th October 1906

  Dear Friend,

    A few words about giving-up. It is better not to have cigars about
  oneself, on principle. Similarly, he who wishes to wean himself from
  alcohol, will not carry a bottle with him. He who wants to give up
  desire for women, will better not go to places where he will have to
  face temptation. To be sure of one's steps is important particularly
  at a stage of transition. Mara is on the look-out for any possible
  opening, therefore he must not be given any chance. "Once" is not
  "never." He who has no cigars about himself, //cannot// smoke (and so
  it is with drinking). No fire can flare up without fuel; for the
  present, at least, indulgence has been made impossible. Gradually the
  law  of "elimination by disuse" will come into effect. The need and
  desire for the former enjoyment will weaken and finally cease. If
  someone says that he has got over smoking, etc., but he carries cigars
  about him for the sake of a test, then he has not yet fully abandoned,
  //tanha// (craving). He who has entirely abolished that craving, will
  no longer cherish such thoughts; in that respect he is fully at peace,
  and already thinks further ahead. Thus a disciple who has freed
  himself from sexual urge, will, though immune not seek temptations.
  More important things have to be done. No rest before Nibbana!
  Besides, if he refrains from testing his power of resistance, this
  will be more profitable to others in his environment who cannot see
  into his heart, but observe only his external behavior; and quite
  reasonably, their confidence might be shaken by their observations,
  though they may not talk about it.

    Doubtlessly, the struggle against Mara (//tanha//, craving) is hard,
  because for Mara it is actually a question of "to be or not to be," a
  fight of life or death for his "kingdom of nature." For long, long
  times we have been his serfs. Now this serfdom is over for us.
  Nevermore shall we find lasting satisfaction anywhere in this Samsara.
  One who has taken the Buddha as his guide and master, will understand
  the nature of "Mara's Realm" so poignantly that he can no longer find
  full satisfaction in the "Realm of Nature" where everything is
  impermanent. By seeing the misery of it, we are on the road of escape
  from it.

    What, now, is the principal task for us who already possess a good
  deal of right understanding who at least have a knowledge of the
  doctrine, and observe virtue (//sila//)? //To watch, watch, watch//.
  To be constantly on guard. In particular: to try to remain mindful.
  //Samadhi// (concentration, meditation) is the Buddhist practice
  proper. At the start of the practice the mind is not collected at all,
  the capacity of concentration is weak. But, as the Master explained,
  by training, by unceasing training, the little child, first constantly
  falling, learns to toddle about, till finally as a grown-up man he can
  walk steadily and continuously for long stretches. If a man possessed
  of intelligence falls, he has not been watchful, was absent-minded.
  "Lax mindfulness, produces new taints (//asava//) and strengthens the
  old ones; unflinching mindfulness gives no room for new taints and
  destroys the old ones." For instance, one has seen innumerable times
  that "all formations are impermanent"; one has also agreed with the
  Buddha's words: "Whatever corporeality exists, one's own or of others,
  beautiful or ugly, all corporeality should, with proper understanding,
  be regarded as it truly is: `It is not mine...'; thus it will be
  abandoned, will be rejected." Very often the misery of corporeality
  has been felt most pungently, and the misery of craving has been
  understood, yet this or that object will still titillate our senses
  whenever watchfulness is lacking. But if one remains mindful, and
  turns at once to an analysis of the perception, one will not be
  enticed by any material from. One will see that the material form has
  been made up into an evanescent structure of this or another kind
  (young, or old, beautiful or ugly), by the karmic formations
  (//sankhara//) which are impermanent in themselves, one will see that
  material form is put together in a similar way as a potter (himself
  impermanent) shapes (fragile) pots. Then "his mind, dissecting thus
  the elements, will become joyful, gladdened, strong and steady."

    It is doubtlessly a hard way, but gloriously safe. Truly, in that
  manner, one can perceptibly detach oneself from the world.

                Namo tassa,

                Stg.


                            * * * * * * * *




                                APPENDIX


                       I. REMINISCENCES OF SUMANO

                           by Dr. Ph. Derval


  "Fritz Stange, student of natural sciences" -- thus my late friend,
  then a newly registered freshman, was introduced to the academical
  association to which I belonged. A handsome young man, with smooth,
  blond hair, and an elegant mustache, with deeply blue and strikingly
  large eyes, a gentle voice and a mild glance, thus he stood before us.
  He was a gentle person and a keen student, who, in lonely hours, used
  to comfort his soul by playing the violin; he was an ardent admirer of
  Richard Wagner, and, if possible, he did not miss a single performance
  of Wagner's operas. If anyone had said that a person like he would
  ever become a Buddhist ascetic, he would have provoked general
  laughter.

    We liked each other from the beginning. Strange became my personal
  freshman. My other freshman was a great artist in the field of music,
  and has now become an excellent, though little known, Sanskritist and
  Vedantist. The three of us, united by bonds of closest friendship,
  soon met regularly at the sessions of the Theosophical Society which
  everywhere has prepared the way for the Buddhist movement. Following
  the wish of his father, Stange had to give up his studies so dear to
  him and donned the uniform of an official of the Postal Department.
  For none of us had the student life any special attraction, and Stange
  himself saw in it only the karmic way by which we came together. As an
  official, Stange remained a keen Theosophist, lived as a vegetarian,
  and plunged deeply into the study of those teachings which then we
  called Buddhism.

    Besides he was unusually capable in his profession, and, personally,
  he was the favorite of all who knew him. When he was a probationer for
  the higher postal career ("Oberpostpraktikant") at Kassel, he began to
  study the Discourses of the Buddha in Neumann's translation, under the
  guidance of a friend who was an ardent Buddhist, and soon the
  resolution matured in him to seek deliverance from the grievous
  suffering that pervades the life of all beings. He had fully grasped
  the Truth of Suffering. But knowledge alone was not sufficient for his
  fervent, pure, and profound heart. Thus he left, as a true follower of
  the Blessed One, his home, his property and his relations, in order to
  enter the Sangha (Buddhist Monkhood) in distant Asia.

    "Why does one go to the countries of Buddhism?" he wrote to me once.
  "Briefly spoken, because there, and particularly in Burma, all
  conditions are cut out for a life in the Sangha. One is relieved of
  all worldly cares, for eating, drinking, clothing, lodging, etc.; in
  contrast to Europe, one can live there the holy life, first
  externally. How one detaches oneself inwardly is everyone's most
  personal affair." Thus he came to Ceylon. "The reception," he wrote,
  "was so friendly, the helpful response so strikingly unexpected, that
  already a fortnight after my arrival in Ceylon, I followed an
  invitation of the Bhikkhu Jinavaravamsa to stay at Chulla Lanka. [*]
  There I have spent the holiest time of my life, in meditation, study
  of Pali, and conversation about the teaching. ...But this body `that
  sickly thing,' did not stand it." On medical advice, Stange decided to
  return to Europe to cure his lung disease. In summer 1906, he lived
  first at Wingendorf near Lauban; afterwards, following the invitation
  of a friendly physician with Buddhist leanings, at Birkfield in Syria
  (Austria).

        * [An island in the sea near the coast of Matara, a town in
        South Ceylon. The Sinhalese name of the island is Galgodiyana.]


    On the 11th of October 1906, the ship took him out again, hardly
  recovered. This time he went soon to the healthy up- country of
  Ceylon, to Bandarawela. Until his complete recuperation, he took, as
  preliminary step towards the Sangha, the white dress of an Upasaka,
  but soon he donned again the yellow robe of a Samanera (novice). His
  intention was to return later to Europe, together with Nyanatiloka,
  for establishing the Sangha there. "The time will come," he wrote in
  his letter of 7- 7-1906, "when a Sangha will be established in Germany
  by thoroughly trained Bhikkhus, and thereby a firm basis will be
  formed for the dissemination of the Teaching that brings such
  unspeakable bliss."

        "When illness visits thee, make mindfulness arise.
        Illness has come. No time is now for negligence."

                                        -- Theragatha


    How earnest he was in his determination, is confirmed by the
  following words of his:

    "And even if I had not met a single good Bhikkhu, this would not
  have disconcerted me "Rare are Enlightened Ones." "Small is the number
  of those who are not gripped by them." These words of the Enlightened
  One are of general validity. A perceptive disciple will see in that
  fact an admonition to make all the quicker an end of suffering. So
  strongly have I become aware of the truth of this. Teaching and of its
  profundity, that, on the one hand to swerve from that path to another
  one has become an impossibility; and, on the other hand, even my
  walking alone on that path would be done without hesitation or
  surprise."

    Now his striving within this present impermanent existence has come
  to an end. Just as his going forth from home was similar to that of
  his Lord and Master Gotama, so it was the same illness, dysentery,
  which had dissolved the body of the Perfect one, that also took away
  the dear heroic Samanera Sumano. Death is indeed the lot of everything
  born and originated.

    When Sumano started on his way to Homelessness, he pointed out to
  his relatives the justification of that step in a beautifully lucid
  tract, quoting in it, especially, sayings of Jesus of Nazareth. To the
  public he gave the work published a few weeks ago, "Pabbajja, Going
  Forth into Homelessness." Only by absorbing its contents fully, we
  shall be able to measure the single-minded, pure, noble, and yet
  firmly rooted work for deliverance done by our friend who is now free
  from the world of appearance.


                                 * * *




            II. FROM A LETTER BY THE GERMAN BHIKKHU KONDANNO


  "What I have to say about Sumano's death is the following: In autumn
  last year, Bhikkhu Nyanatiloka, the Burmese monk Silavamsa and myself
  made a walking tour for a week through the South West of Ceylon, via
  Adam's Peak, and came also to Bandarawela. First the three of us went
  to the small mud-hut, hardly 3X4 meters in size, where Sumano had
  lived and died. The hut is situated in a very lonely place, outside of
  the village, in the midst of bare grassy hillocks, so that no sound
  can be heard from the village, and no human habitation can be seen
  right around. It is desolate and lonely there, as rarely anywhere
  else. The second hut which, when Sumano died, was inhabited by Sunno,
  had already fallen into decay, and the rain had washed away nearly
  every vestige of it. Afterwards we wanted also to go to the site of
  the cremation, but we missed the place. Hence I went, without
  Nyanatiloka, once more there, together with the Thera of the
  Bandarawela Monastery, and I found there, besides some pieces of
  molten glass, a few small unburned splinters of bone. I picked them up
  and handed them over to Nyanatiloka who still keeps them at Dodanduwa
  as a token.

    The site of the cremation is on the top of one of those grassy
  hillocks, about 10 minutes distance from the hut. Boys planted a Bodhi
  tree at that spot. A great gathering is said to have been present at
  the cremation, amongst them hundreds of Christians and Mohammedans who
  secretly respected the ascetic way of life led by Sumano.... After the
  cremation, the ashes were distributed among the lay people, and many a
  Christian, Mohammedan, and Hindu took them as gladly as a
  Buddhist...."

                            * * * * * * * *




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 TITLE OF WORK: Going Forth (Pabbajja): A Call to Buddhist Monkhood (The
                Wheel Publication No. 27/28)
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