XXVI. The Ten Virtues Of The Holy Dharma (Or Doctrine)¹

1. According to the Southern School, the Dharma (Pāli: Dhamma) implies not merely the Scriptures, but also the study and practice of them for the purpose of attaining Nirvāṇa(Pāli: Nibbāṇa)

2. These are the opposite of the Ten Impious Acts. Three are acts of the body, namely, Saving Life, Chastity and Charity. Four are acts of speech, namely, Truth Telling, Peace-making, Politeness of speech and Religious discourse. Tree are acts of mind, namely, Benevolence, Good Wishes, and Meekness combined with faith.

3. The six Pāramitā (or ‘Six Boundless Virtues’) are Boundless Charity, Morality, Patience, Industry, Meditation, Wisdom. In the Pāli canon ten Pāramitā are mentioned: Charity, Morality, Renunciation, Wisdom, Energy (or Industry), Tolerance, Truthfulness, Good-Will, Love and Equanimity.

4. The Four Noble Truths taught by the Buddha may be stated as follows: (1) Existence in the Saṃsāra (the transitory and phenomenal universe) is inseparable from Suffering, or Sorrow. (2) The Cause of Suffering is Desire and Lust for Existence in the Saṃsāra. (3) The Cessation of Suffering is attained by conquering and eradicating Desire and Lust for Existence in the Saṃsāra. (4) The Path to the Cessation of Suffering is a Noble Eightfold Path.

5. Literally ‘the Four Arūpa(Formless) Unions’. To be born in any of these worlds, wherein existence is bodiless or formless, is to be united with them. These worlds are the four highest heavens under the sway of the God Brahmā, known as the Higher Brahmaloka (‘Realms of Brahmā’). Their names are (1)Ākāśānantyāyatana (Realm wherein consciousness exists in infinite space); (2) Vijñānānantyāyatana (Realm wherein consciousness exists in the infinite state of consciousness); (3) Ākiñcanyāyatana (Realm wherein consciousness exists free from the infinite state of consciousness); (4) Naivasañjñāna Sañjñāyatana (Realm wherein there is neither perception nor non-perception). These four realms represent four progressive stages in the higher evolutionary process of emptying consciousness of its most subtle saṃsāric objects, through yogic meditation, and thereby attaining higher conditions of saṃsāric existence preparatory to the attainment of Nirvāṇa. In the first state, consciousness has no object upon which to centre itself save infinite space. In the second, consciousness transcends infinite space as its object. In the third, consciousness transcends the second stage and thus becomes free from all thinking or process of thought; and this is one of the great goals of yoga. In the fourth state, consciousness exists of itself and by itself, without exercising either perception or non- perception, in profoundest samādhic quiescence. These four states of consciousness, which are among the highest attainable within the Saṃsāra, are reached in yogic trance induced by deep meditation. So transcendent are they that the unwisely directed yogin is apt to mistake the realization of them for the realization of Nirvāṇa. The Prince Gautama, ere attaining Buddhahood, studied and practised the yoga pertaining to the Four States of Formless Existence under two gurus, Ārlāra and Uddaka, and relinquished it because he discovered that such yoga fails to lead to Nirvāṇa. (Cf. the Aryaparyesana, or 'Holy Research', Sutta, Majjhima Nikaya, i. 164-6.)

6. According to the Mahāyāna, there is the lower path, leading to the Four States of Formless Existence, and to other heaven worlds, such as that of Sukhāvatī, the Western Paradise of the Dhyānī Buddha Amitābha; and the higher path, leading to Nirvāṇa, whereby the Saṃsāra is transcended.

7. Most of the great religious teachers of India have been either of royal descent, like Gautama the Buddha, or of Brahmanical or priestly origin, like Ashvaghosa, Nāgārjuna, Tilopa, and many others who were eminent Buddhists. Buddhism holds that the historical Buddha, Gautama, is but One of a long succession of Buddhas, and that Gautama merely handed on teachings which have existed since beginningless time. Accordingly, it is directly due to beings in past aeons having practised these venerable teachings, based as they are upon realizable truths, that there have been evolved enlightened men and gods; and this fact proves the virtue of these teachings, recorded in the Buddhist Scriptures known as the Dharma.

8. These are the four celestial kings who guard the four quarters of the Universe from the destructive forces of evil, the Four Great Guardians of the Dharma and of Humanity. Dhr̥tarāṣṭra guards the East, and to him is assigned the symbolic colour white. Virūḍhaka guards the South, and his symbolic colour is green. The red guardian of the West is Virūpākṣa, and the yellow guardian of the North is Vaiśravaṇa.

9. The six sensuous paradises, together with the Earth, constitute the Region of Sensuousness (Skt. Kāmadhātu), the lowest of the Three Regions (Skt. Trailokya) into which the Buddhists divide the cosmos.

10. These are the deities inhabiting the seventeen heavens of Brahmā which constitute the Region of Form (Skt. Rupadhātu), the second of the Three Regions, wherein existence and form are free from sensuousness.

11. These are the deities inhabiting the four highest Brahmā heavens, wherein existence is not only non-sensuous, but is also formless. These heavens (named above) together with the Akaniṣṭha (Tib. 'Og-min) Heaven, the highest saṃsāric state constitute the Region of Formlessness (Skt. Arūpadhātu), the third of the Three Regions. Beyond this is the supra-cosmic state, beyond all heavens, hells, and worlds of saṃsāric existence, - the Unborn, Unmade Nirvāṇa. The Stūpa (Tib. Ch'orten) esoterically symbolizes the Way to Nirvāṇa through the Three Regions.

12. These three gradations of human beings correspond to three steps to Arhantship (or Saintship in the Buddhist sense), preparatory to the Full Enlightenment of Buddhahood. 'Entering the Stream' (Skt. Srotāpatti), which implies acceptance of the Doctrine of the Buddha, is the first step of the neophyte on the Path to Nirvāṇa. 'One who receives birth once more' (Skt. Sakridāgāmin) has taken the second step. 'One who will not come back [to birth]' (Skt. Anāgāmin), being one who has taken the third step and attained to the state of the Arhant, normally would pass on to Nirvāṇa. If, however, he takes the vow not to accept Nirvāṇa till every sentient being is safely set upon the same Supreme Path that he has trodden, and thus becomes a Bodhisattva (or 'Enlightened Being'), he will consciously reassume fleshly embodiment as a Divine Incarnation, a Nirmāṇakāya. As a Bodhisattva, he may remain within the Saṃsāra for unknown aeons and so give added strength to the 'Guardian Wall [of Spiritual Power]' which protects all living things and makes possible their Final Emancipation. According to the Pali canon, one who is a Srotāpatti will be reborn at least once, but not more than seven times, in any of the seven states of the Kāmadhātu. A Sakridāgāmin will assume birth only once more, in one of the Kāmadhātu. And an Anāgāmin will not be reborn in any of them.

13. Self-Enlightened (Skt. Pratyeka) Buddhas do not teach the Doctrine publicly, but merely do good to those who come into personal contact with Them, whereas Omniscient Buddhas, of Whom was the Buddha Gautama, preach the Doctrine widely, both to gods and to men.

14. It is the Holy Dharma alone which has revealed to mankind the Bodhic Pathway and the supreme teaching that Those who have won the right to freedom from further worldly existence should renounce the right and continue to reincarnate in order that their Divine Wisdom and Experience shall not be lost to the world, but employed to the sublime end of leading all unenlightened beings to the same State of Emancipation.

15. In having chosen the Path of Infinite Benevolence, the Bodhisattvas have projected into the worlds of saṃsāric existence subtle vibratory influences which protect all living beings and make possible their spiritual progress and ultimate enlightenment, as otherwise explained above. Were there no such inspiring and elevating influences in the world, mankind would be without spiritual guidance and remain enslaved by sensuous delusions and mental darkness.

16. The Buddhist teaching that the beneficial results of deeds of mercy done in this life assist one even in the unhappy after-death states is proved by experience and so shows the virtue of the Holy Dharma.