of the true meggas or ways to perfection.
the subject under consideration is a very important one. it comprehends and comprises a summary of many particulars already alluded to in the foregoing two articles. the reader will find the path he has to follow less rugged, and the ground he will have to go over not so arid.
our author seems to lay great stress on this special point. the sage, says he, who is desirous to arrive at the supreme perfection, must apply all the powers of his mind to discern the true ways from the false ones. many are deceived in the midst of their researches after wisdom. the real criterion between the true and false ways is this: when, in considering an object, and making a philosophical analysis of it, the sage finds it somehow connected with concupiscence and other passions so far that he cannot, as it were, dissolve it by the application of the three principles of aneitsa, duka, and anatta—that is to say, change, pain, and illusion, then he must conclude that he is out of the right ways; the high road to perfection is barred before him. but on the contrary, whenever, by the appliance of the three great principles, he sees that all the objects brought under his consideration are nothing more or less than the mere compound of the four elements, divested of these illusory appearances which deceive so many, then he may be certain that he is in the right position, and is sure of making progress in the way to perfection.
to facilitate the study of the meggas, buddhists have classified all real and imaginary beings under a certain number of heads. the sage, to complete his laborious task, has to examine separately each of these subjects and submit them to the following lengthened, difficult, and complicated process. he takes up one subject, attentively[228] considers its exterior and interior compound parts, its connection and relation with other things, its tendency to adhere to or part with surrounding objects. pursuing his inquiries into the past, he endeavours to make himself acquainted with the state and condition of that object during several periods that have elapsed; when his mind is satisfied on this point he follows up in future the same object, and calculates from the experience of the past what change it may hereafter become subjected to. this study enables him to perceive distinctly that it is subjected to the three great laws of mutability, pain, and illusion. this conviction once deeply seated in his soul, the sage holds that object in supreme contempt; far from having any affection for or attachment to it, he feels an intense disgust at it, and longs for the possession of neibban, which is the exemption from the influence of mutability, pain, and illusion.
what we have now stated is tolerably clear and intelligible; but what follows is less evident. it partakes of that obscurity and complication so peculiar to buddhist metaphysics. this state of things is created and maintained chiefly by a mania for divisions and subdivisions that would have puzzled even the schoolmen of the middle ages. we have to listen to what our author says respecting the method to be observed in carrying on the great examination of all subjects of investigation. if that labour be patiently and perseveringly prosecuted until all the objects of inquiry be exhausted, ample and magnificent shall be the reward for such labours. the sage will be in possession of the perfect science; neibban will appear to him; he will long for it, and unremittingly shape his course in its direction: in a word, he shall have reached the acme of perfection. seated on that lofty position, enjoying a perfect calm in the bosom of absolute quietism, the sage is beyond the reach of passions; there is no illusion for him; he has cut the last thread of future generations by the destruction of the influence of merits[229] and demerits; he has obtained the deliverance from all miseries; he has reached the peaceful shores of neibban. but such a prize is not easily obtained; it is to be purchased only at the expense of an immense amount of lasting and strenuous mental exertion.
the sage, agreeably to the old and always true saying, know thyself, very properly begins his mightily difficult task with the examination of the five aggregates constituting a living being, the organs of the six senses, and all that relates to them. then he applies himself to the studies of the five dzan, or the parts of meditation and contemplation, and to all that is connected with the seats of rupa and arupa. all the objects of examination ranged on that scale are 600 in number. we shall rapidly glance over this table, indicating but the heads of the principal divisions.
we ought not to forget that the five aggregate, or khandas, constituting a living being, are form, sensation, perception, consciousness, and intellect. supposing that we take the first of those attributes as subject of examination. we must represent it to the mind, carefully examine it in all its bearings and properties, respecting the past, the present, and the future. we must proceed on and bring it in contact with the three great principles of aneitsa, duka, and anatta, and inquire whether form be changeable or not, passive or impassive, transient or permanent. we thereby acquire the knowledge of the following great truth; viz., form is essentially liable to change, pain, and illusion. the examination of each of the four other attributes is proceeded on in a like manner, and a similar result ensues.
the six organs of the senses come next under consideration. these are the eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue, the body, or rather the skin that envelops it, and the heart in a physical sense, and mano in a moral one. each of the six senses partakes of the eleven conditions or attributes we are about to describe; and each of these[230] eleven attributes being brought successively into relation with each of the six senses, must be considered, as above stated, under the treble relation to mutability, pain, and illusion. this will supply the inquirer with a good amount of information. but to shorten this long enumeration, we will mention now successively those eleven attributes the senses may be affected by, and make the application of all to one of the senses, the eye. the same process may be easily repeated for each of the other senses. nothing is to be changed but the name of the sense that has become the subject of examination.
1. ayatana, the door, the opening of each of the senses. applied to the eye, it is the opening through which exterior sensations are communicated to the heart by the organ of seeing.
2. arom, the object of each of the senses. with regard to the eye, it is the appearance or form perceived by the eye; with respect to the ear, it is the sound.
3. winian, the action of perceiving and knowing. applied to the eyes, it is the eye seeing and perceiving, or the sight.
4. phasa, literally the feeling or coming in contact with objects, applied to each of the senses. with the eye, it is the passive and active impression it derives from the objects it considers, and which it conveys to the heart. with the ear it is the impression it receives, and similarly communicates to the heart.
5. wedana, the sensation of pain or pleasure obtained through the senses. with the eye it is the sensation created by the sight of objects perceived by the eye, and communicated to the heart.
6. thangia, the idea or persuasion resulting from the six senses, or, according to some doctors, the identity of the appearance with reality. with the eye, it is the conviction we have that such an object, perceived by the eyes, is round or square, &c., according to the impressions received by that organ.
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7. dzetana, the inclination or rather adhesion to good or bad, consequently to the impressions received from each of the six senses.
8. tahna, concupiscence originating from the impressions of agreeableness communicated by the six senses.
9. witeka, the idea or representation of objects to the mind through the agency of the senses.
10. witzara, the consideration of the objects offered to the mind by the instrumentality of the senses.
11. dat, the matter or elements of the six senses, or, to speak the language of our author, that on which the organs rest, that which supports them.
after the examination of the senses and of the eleven subjects just related, we find the almost boundless field of inquiry to expand in proportion as we appear to make rapid progress. then come successively for examination: 1. the ten kasaings, or the ten parts or elements to be found in each part of a living being, viz., earth, water, fire, colour, odour, flavour, and grease, to which we add the dziwa or life, and that of the organ to which belongs the part under consideration. 2. the thirty-two akan, or thirty-two parts of the living body, of which the first are the hairs, the beard, the nails, the teeth, &c. 3. the twelve ayatana, or seats of the six senses. each sense is double, as far as it is considered in a double capacity, that of receiving and that of transmitting the impressions. 4. the eighteen dat, or matter of the six senses. the organs afford six dat; the objects that act upon the organs supply six other dat; and the last six are afforded by the objects submitted to the action of the senses. 5. the twenty-two indre, or faculties or capabilities of the organs. each organ has three. the eye, for instance, is capable of receiving an impression and of transmitting it; the eye really receives and transmits impressions. the mano, or heart, being a double organ, has six faculties; three if it be considered physically, and three if morally or intellectually. 6. the nine bon, or seats[232] occupied by the brahmas. 7. the five rupa dzan, or degrees of contemplation proper to the brahmas who have a form. 8. the four megga, or ways that lead near to neibban. they are followed by the brahmas occupying the four superior seats of rupa. 9. the arupa dzan, or contemplation proper to those who inhabit the four immaterial seats. 10. the nineteen damma. this word means what we know as certain by the use of our mental faculties. when the mano, by a right use of its three faculties, has freed itself from the principle of illusion and error, then there will be the sixteen virtues or good qualities, known by the name of phola and megga. 11. finally, the twelve patan, or elements that are in the mano, which constitute the memory, and enable man to remember, and silently repeat the impressions transmitted by the senses.
such is the immense extent of observations the sage has to range for obtaining the perfect science. this task is truly an herculean one; very few can perform it.
before coming to the last article, the writer will make a remark tending to show that there is more of the analytic spirit in all what is told us by buddhist philosophers respecting those abstruse subjects than one may be tempted to give them credit for. we have seen that the number of precepts and counsels is almost countless, yet it is agreed by all doctors that the five general precepts are the basis of all, and that he who observes them in all their bearings is as much advanced in the path of righteousness as can be expected. again, buddhists can never exhaust the stores of all that they have to say about the mental operations and meditation. yet all is summed up in the comparatively short doctrine of tseit and tsedathit. the living beings are by them infinitely modified, yet after all we find everything condensed in two words, nama and rupa. the theory respecting the generation of beings and their mutual dependence upon each other is a boundless field. we find, however, that, after all, kan, or the influence of merits and demerits, is the sole cause of and agent[233] in the existence and modification of all beings. mental operations are numbered by hundreds, but the six senses are, after all, the foundation on which that enumeration is raised. the general principles and primary ideas of all these metaphysical theories doubtless belong to genuine and early buddhism. but such plain and elementary principles having been got hold of by heads of philosophical schools, and worked upon in their intellectual laboratory, there have come out therefrom at various periods those theories which have given to the doctrines of buddhism so many different hues, and at the same time contributed so much to puzzle and torment the european student.
