[f37] Dialogues of the Buddha, Part III., p. 35.
[f38] Dialogues of the Buddha, Part I., p. 82.
[f39] The Pali text that will correspond to this Chinese Sutra in the Dīrgha-Āgama is the Kevaddha Sutta, but the passage quoted here is missing. See also the Lohicca (Lou-chê) and Sāmañña-phala in the Chinese Āgamas, in which the Buddha tells how essential the life of a recluse is to the realisation of enlightenment and the destruction of the evil passions. Constant application, earnest concentration, and vigilant watchfulness—without these no Buddhists are ever expected to attain the end of their lives.
[f40] The rendering is by Rhys Davids who states in the footnote: “The word I have here rendered ‘earnest contemplation’ is Samadhi, which occupies in the Five Nikayas very much the same position as faith does in the New Testament; and this section shows that the relative importance of Samādhi, Paññā, and Śīla played a part in early Buddhism just as the distinction between faith, reason, and works did afterwards in Western theology. It would be difficult to find a passage in which the Buddhist view of the relation of these conflicting ideas is stated with greater beauty of thought, or equal succinctness of form.” But why conflicting?
[f41] One hundred and eight samadhis are enumerated in the Mahāvyutpatti. Elsewhere we read of “innumerable samadhis.” Indians have been great adepts in this exercise, and many wonderful spiritualistic achievements are often reported.
[f42] This series of dhyanas has also been adopted by Buddhists, especially by Hinayanists. No doubt the Mahayana conception of dhyana is derived or rather has developed from them, and how much it differs from the Hinayana dhyanas will be seen later as we go on. The detailed description of these dhyanas is given in the Agamas; see for instance the Sāmañña-phala Sutta in which the fruits of the life of a recluse are discussed. These mental exercises were not strictly Buddhistic, they were taught and practised more or less by all Indian philosophers and mendicants. The Buddha, however, was not satisfied with them, because they would not bring out the result he was so anxious to have, that is, they were not conducive to enlightenment. This was the reason why he left his two old teachers, Arada and Udraka, under whom he first began his homeless life.
[f43] For example, the ten subjects for meditation are: Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, Morality, Charity, Heaven, Serenity, Breathing, Impermanence, and Death. The five subjects of tranquillisation are: Impurity, Compassion, Breathing, Origination, and Buddha. The four subjects of recollection are: Impurity of the Body, Evils of the Senses, Constant Change of Thought, and Transitoriness of Existence.
[f44] Laṅkāvatāra, Nanjo Edition, p, 77.
[f45] There is however a Sutra in the Saṁyukta Āgama, fas. XXXIII., p. 93b (Anguttara-Nikāya, XI., 10), dealing with true dhyana (ājānīya-jhāna) which is to be distinguished from untrained dhyana (khaḷuṅka-jhāna). The latter is compared to an ill-disciplined horse (khaḷuṅka) kept in the stable that thinks nothing of his duties but only of the fodder he is to enjoy. In a similar way dhyana can never be practised successfully by those who undertake the exercise merely for the satisfaction of their selfish objects; for such will never come to understand the truth as it is. If emancipation and true knowledge are desired, anger, sleepiness, worrying, and doubt ought to be got rid of, and then the dhyana can be attained that does not depend upon any of the elements, or space, or consciousness, or nothingness, or unthinkability—the dhyana that is not dependent upon this world or that world or the heavenly bodies, or upon hearing or seeing or recollecting or recognising—the dhyana that is not dependent upon the ideas of attachment or seeking—the dhyana that is not in conformity with knowledge or contemplation. This “true dhyana” then as is described in this Sutra in the Nikayas, is more of the Mahayana than of the Hinayana so called.
[f46] Kern’s translation,” Sacred Books of the East,” Vol. XXI., pp. 299–300.