Indian stream·Pāli Tipiṭaka·Dhammapada·Chapter XIII. The World.
Loka — the world of becoming
Eleven verses contrasting the world of becoming with the world beyond. 'Rouse thyself, do not be idle! Follow the law of virtue! The virtuous rests in bliss in this world and in the next.'
Source context
- Theme
- the phenomenal world as transient, sorrow-laden, and bubble-like — contrasted with the sage's dispassionate discernment
- Soul-faculty
- Consciousness Soul
Steiner
not engaged in the GA corpus
Cross-tradition
- Vedanta (maya doctrine)The chapter's characterisation of the world as foam and mirage parallels the Advaita Vedanta teaching that phenomenal appearance (maya) is neither fully real nor simply non-existent, and that liberation requires discriminative discernment (viveka) between the eternal and the transient.
- Stoic philosophyThe counsel to regard the world without attachment and to focus on what lies within one's own conduct shows cross-tradition congruence with Stoic distinctions between what is 'up to us' (eph' hēmin) and what is externally contingent.
- Platonic cosmologyThe chapter's image of the world as shadow-like and evanescent carries structural correspondence to the Platonic account of the sensible realm as a lesser image of intelligible reality, requiring the soul's reorientation toward the unchanging.
Chapter XIII. The World.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE WORLD.
167Do not follow the evil law! Do not live on in thoughtlessness! Do not follow false doctrine! Be not a friend of the world.
168Rouse thyself! do not be idle! Follow the law of virtue! The virtuous rests in bliss in this world and in the next.
169Follow the law of virtue; do not follow that of sin. The virtuous rests in bliss in this world and in the next.
170Look upon the world as a bubble, look upon it as a mirage: the king of death does not see him who thus looks down upon the world.
171Come, look at this glittering world, like unto a royal chariot; the foolish are immersed in it, but the wise do not touch it.
172He who formerly was reckless and afterwards became sober, brightens up this world, like the moon when freed from clouds.
173He whose evil deeds are covered by good deeds, brightens up this world, like the moon when freed from clouds.
174This world is dark, few only can see here; a few only go to heaven, like birds escaped from the net.
175The swans go on the path of the sun, they go through the ether by means of their miraculous
[168, 169. See Rhys Davids, Buddhism, p. 65.
170See Suttanipâta, v. 1118.
175Ha*m*sa may be meant for the bird, whether flamingo, or swan, or ibis (see Hardy, Manual, p. 17), but it may also, I believe, be taken in the sense of saint. As to iddhi, 'magical power,' i.e. *ri*ddhi, see Burnouf, Lotus, p. 310; Spence Hardy, Manual, pp. 498, 504; Legends, pp. 55, 177; and note to verse 254.]
power; the wise are led out of this world, when they have conquered Mâra and his train.
176If a man has transgressed one law, and speaks lies, and scoffs at another world, there is no evil he will not do.
177The uncharitable do not go to the world of the gods; fools only do not praise liberality; a wise man rejoices in liberality, and through it becomes blessed in the other world.
178Better than sovereignty over the earth, better than going to heaven, better than lordship over all worlds, is the reward of the first step in holiness.
[178. Sotâpatti, the technical term for the first step in thr path that leads to Nirvâ*n*a. There are four such steps, or stages, and on entering each, a man receives a new title:-- (1) The *S*rotaâpanna, lit. he who has got into the stream. A man may have seven more births before he reaches the other shore, i.e. Nirvâ*n*a. (2) Sak*ri*dâgâmin, lit. he who comes back once, so called because, after having entered this stage, a man is born only once more among men or gods. Childers shows that this involves really two more births, one in the deva world, the other in the world of men: Burnouf says the same, Introduction, p. 293. (3) Anâgâmin, lit. he who does not come back, so called because, after this stage, a man cannot be born again in a lower world; but can only be born into a Brahman world, before he reaches Nirvâ*n*a. (4) Arhat, the venerable, the perfect, who has reached the highest stage that can be reached, and from which Nirvâ*n*a is perceived (sukkhavipassanâ, Lotus, p. 849). See Hardy, Eastern Monachism, p. 280; Burnouf, Introduction, p. 209; Köppen, p. 398; D'Alwis, Attanugaluvansa, p. cxxiv; Feer, Sutra en 42 articles, p. 6.]
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