is the impersonation of the inexorable, inflexible law that bound together act and result, this life and the next; Karma explains everything that concerns the world of living beings, animals, men, the power of kings, the physical beauty of women, the splendid tail of peacocks, the moral dispositions of everyone; Karma is a sentient being’s inheritance, the womb which bears him or it, the womb to which he or it must resort; Karma is the root of morality, for, what we have been makes us what we are now. If a man becomes enlightened, stops, and realizes highest perfect wisdom and enters Nirvana, it is because his Karma had worked itself out and it was in his Karma to do so; if a man goes on in ignorance, angry, foolish and greedy, it is because his Karma had not yet worked itself out and it was in his Karma to do so.
Rightly illumined, thoroughly perceiving, firmly established, thus was he enlightened.
Destroy birth, thus death will cease; destroy deeds then will birth cease; destroy attachment then will deeds cease; destroy desire then will attachment end; destroy perception then will desire end; destroy sensation then ends perception; destroy contact of the six sense organs then ends sensation; the six entrances of the sense organs all destroyed, from this, moreover, individuality and the picking out of different related notions will cease. Consciousness destroyed, individuality will cease; individuality destroyed, then consciousness perishes; consciousness ended, the dream energy of Karma has no hold and handle; Karma done, ignorance of dreaming ends; ignorance destroyed, then the constituents of individual life will die: the Great Rishi was thus perfected in wisdom.
Here is the list of the Nirdana Chain Links:
1. Ignorance
2. Karma
3. Consciousness
4. Individuality
5. Six contact organs
6. Sensation
7. Perception
8. Desire
9. Attachment
10. Deeds
11. Birth
12. Death
Insight arose, ignorance was dispelled; darkness was done away and light dawned. Thus sat the Buddha of our present world, strenuous, aglow, and master of himself, singing this song in his heart:
“Many a house of life has held me;
Long have I struggled to find him
Who made these sorrowful prisons of the senses!
But now, you builder of this tabernacle—You!
I know thee! Never shall you build again
These walls of pain, nor raise the roof-tree
Of deceits, nor lay fresh rafters on the clay;
Broken your house is! and the ridgepole split!
Delusion fashioned it! Ignorance is your name!
Safe I pass now, deliverance to obtain.”
In him, thus freed, arose knowledge and freedom, and he knew that rebirth was at an end, and that the goal had been reached.
And for the benefit of the world he now devised the way, based on the Four Noble Truths.
THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS
1. All life is suffering . . . (all existence is in a state of misery, impermanency and unreality.)
2. The cause of suffering is ignorant craving
3. The suppression of suffering can be achieved
4. The way is the noble eightfold path.
And the Noble Eightfold Path is as follows:
THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH
1. Right Ideas , based on these Four Noble Truths
2. Right Resolution to follow this Way out of the suffering
3. Right Speech , tender sorrowful discourse with the brothers and sisters of the world
4. Right Behavior , gentle, helpful, chaste conduct everywhere
5. Right Means of Livelihood , harmless foodgathering is your living
6. Right Effort , rousing oneself with energy and zeal to this Holy Way
7. Right Mindfulness , keeping in mind the dangers of the other way (of the world)
8. Right Meditation , practicing Solitary meditation and prayer to attain holy ecstasy and spiritual graces for the sake of the enlightenment of all sentient beings (practicing Dhyana to attain Samadhi and Samapatti).
“When this knowledge had arisen within me, my heart and mind were freed from the drug of lust, from the drug of rebirth, from the drug of ignorance.”
Thus did
Rightly illumined, thoroughly perceiving, firmly established, thus was he enlightened.
Destroy birth, thus death will cease; destroy deeds then will birth cease; destroy attachment then will deeds cease; destroy desire then will attachment end; destroy perception then will desire end; destroy sensation then ends perception; destroy contact of the six sense organs then ends sensation; the six entrances of the sense organs all destroyed, from this, moreover, individuality and the picking out of different related notions will cease. Consciousness destroyed, individuality will cease; individuality destroyed, then consciousness perishes; consciousness ended, the dream energy of Karma has no hold and handle; Karma done, ignorance of dreaming ends; ignorance destroyed, then the constituents of individual life will die: the Great Rishi was thus perfected in wisdom.
Here is the list of the Nirdana Chain Links:
1. Ignorance
2. Karma
3. Consciousness
4. Individuality
5. Six contact organs
6. Sensation
7. Perception
8. Desire
9. Attachment
10. Deeds
11. Birth
12. Death
Insight arose, ignorance was dispelled; darkness was done away and light dawned. Thus sat the Buddha of our present world, strenuous, aglow, and master of himself, singing this song in his heart:
“Many a house of life has held me;
Long have I struggled to find him
Who made these sorrowful prisons of the senses!
But now, you builder of this tabernacle—You!
I know thee! Never shall you build again
These walls of pain, nor raise the roof-tree
Of deceits, nor lay fresh rafters on the clay;
Broken your house is! and the ridgepole split!
Delusion fashioned it! Ignorance is your name!
Safe I pass now, deliverance to obtain.”
In him, thus freed, arose knowledge and freedom, and he knew that rebirth was at an end, and that the goal had been reached.
And for the benefit of the world he now devised the way, based on the Four Noble Truths.
THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS
1. All life is suffering . . . (all existence is in a state of misery, impermanency and unreality.)
2. The cause of suffering is ignorant craving
3. The suppression of suffering can be achieved
4. The way is the noble eightfold path.
And the Noble Eightfold Path is as follows:
THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH
1. Right Ideas , based on these Four Noble Truths
2. Right Resolution to follow this Way out of the suffering
3. Right Speech , tender sorrowful discourse with the brothers and sisters of the world
4. Right Behavior , gentle, helpful, chaste conduct everywhere
5. Right Means of Livelihood , harmless foodgathering is your living
6. Right Effort , rousing oneself with energy and zeal to this Holy Way
7. Right Mindfulness , keeping in mind the dangers of the other way (of the world)
8. Right Meditation , practicing Solitary meditation and prayer to attain holy ecstasy and spiritual graces for the sake of the enlightenment of all sentient beings (practicing Dhyana to attain Samadhi and Samapatti).
“When this knowledge had arisen within me, my heart and mind were freed from the drug of lust, from the drug of rebirth, from the drug of ignorance.”
Thus did
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