Dighajanu (Vyagghapajja) Sutta: Conditions of Welfare

Heedful at administering
or working at one's occupation,
maintaining one's life in tune,
one protects one's store of wealth.
A person of conviction,
consummate in virtue,
magnanimous, free of selfishness,
constantly clears the path
to security in the lives to come.
Thus for one who seeks the household life,
these eight qualities, leading to welfare & happiness
both in this life & in lives to come,
have been declared by the one
whose name
is truth.
And this is how, for householders,
generosity & merit increase.


AN 8.54

Thus have I heard. Once the Exalted One was dwelling amongst the Koliyans,[1] in their market town named Kakkarapatta. Then Dighajanu,[2] a Koliyan, approached the Exalted One, respectfully saluted Him and sat on one side. Thus seated, he addressed the Exalted One as follows:

"We, Lord, are laymen who enjoy worldly pleasure. We lead a life encumbered by wife and children. We use sandalwood of Kasi. We deck ourselves with garlands, perfume and unguents. We use gold and silver. To those like us, O Lord, let the Exalted One preach the Dhamma, teach those things that lead to weal and happiness in this life and to weal and happiness in future life."

Conditions of Worldly Progress
"Four conditions, Vyagghapajja,[3] conduce to a householder's weal and happiness in this very life. Which four?

PATICCASAMUPPADA

“Thus, Ānanda, in dependence upon (paṭicca) feeling (vedanā) there is craving (taṇhā), in dependence upon craving there is pursuit (pariyesanā), in dependence upon pursuit there is gain (lābha), in dependence upon gain there is decision making (vinicchayo), in dependence upon decision making there is desire and lust (chandarāgo), in dependence upon desire and lust there is attachment (ajjhosānaṃ), in dependence upon attachment there is possessiveness (pariggaho), in dependence upon possessiveness there is stinginess (macchariyaṃ), in dependence upon stinginess there is safe guarding (ārakkho) and because of safe-guarding various evil, unwholesome phenomena originate, the taking up clubs (daṇḍādāna) and weapons (satthādāna), conflicts (kalaha), quarrels (viggaha), disputes (vivāda), insulting speech (tuvaṃtuvaṃ), slander (pesuñña) and falsehood (musāvādā).”

From Buddha's Ancient Path...

The Venerable Sariputta addressing the monks said: `It is Nibbana, friends, that is happiness; it is Nibbana, friends, that is happiness.'Then the Venerable Udayi asked: `But what, friend Sariputta, is happiness, since herein there is no feeling?' `Just this, friend, is happiness, that herein there is no feeling.' 30 This saying of the Venerable Sariputta is fully supported by the following one of the Buddha: `Whatever is experienced, sensed felt, all that is suffering' (yamkinci vedayitam tam dukkhasmim ti)
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Pleasures are like poppies spread,
You seize the flower, its bloom is shed;
Or, like the snow fall on the river,
A moment white, then melts for ever.
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Man is always attracted by the pleasant and the delightful, and in his search for pleasure, he runs after the five kinds of sense objects; cognizes ideas and clings to them. He little realizes that no amount of forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles and mental objects or ideas will ever satisfy the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind. Beings in their intense thirst for either possession or the satisfaction of desires, become bound to the wheel of existence, are twisted and torn between the spokes of agony, and securely close the door to final deliverance. The Buddha was most emphatic against this mad rush, and warned:

Pleasure is a bond, a joy that's brief,
Of little taste, leading to drawn-out pain.
The wise know that the hook is baited.

Nayidam attakatam bimbam...

Nayidam attakatam bimbam
Nayidam parakatam agham;
Hetum paticca sambhutam,
Hetu bhanga nirujjhati.


Not-self-wrought is this puppet form,
Nor other-wrought this mass of woe;
Condition-based it comes to be,
Condition-ceased it endeth, lo.

What causes this possessive Clinging to what is Painful?

At Savatthi, while seated, Venerable Rādha asked the Blessed Buddha:
Venerable Sir, one says: "A Being!" In what way, Sir, is one a being?
When one is stuck, Rādha, tightly stuck, in desire, lust, delight, & craving
for form, then one is called a being! When one is trapped within yearning,
longing, fascination, and craving for feeling, for perception, for mental
constructions and for all the various forms of consciousness, in so far as
this violent force of clinging is still active, then one is defined as a being...
Imagine, Rādha, some small boys & girls who are playing with sand castles.
So long as they are not devoid of desire, affection, attraction, delight, &
fascination for those sand castles, then they will like them, play with them,
treasure & guard them, be obsessed with them & treat them possessively...
But as soon as the small boys & girls lose their desire, delight, affection,
attraction, and fascination for those sand castles, then they scatter them
with their hands & feet, bulldoze them, shatter them, and eradicate them!
So too should you, Rādha, scatter form, destroy it, shatter it, eradicate it
by practicing the stilling of all craving for form. So too should you scatter
feeling, scatter perception, scatter constructions, & scatter consciousness,
demolish it, shatter it, tear it down, by the practicing of the destruction
of craving. For this destruction of craving, Rādha, is peace, is all freedom,
is pure bliss... Absence of craving, Rādha, is Nibbāna...

I’m disciple of that Great Man, without compare...

I’m a disciple of the non-deluded, the arrow pulled out, victorious one

He is appeased, blessed, without worries, virtuous and wise.

Doubts overcome, is a happy one, with vomited worldly matters

I’m a disciple of the perfect human, bearing the last body.

The disciplined charioteer has no doubts, about merit.

I’m a disciple of the rightfully enlightened one, who has no conceit.

He is patient, endowed with knowledge, is a limitlessly deep sage.

I’m a disciple of the Blessed One, released from bonds.

He is an unbound elephant in the forest, pure, with the flag put down.

I’m a disciple of that tamed Blessed One, gone beyond the world’s diffuseness.

He is the seventh sage abiding on the path of Brahmaa. He knows the three vedas.

I’m a disciple of that Blessed One. He is like Sakka the king of gods.

He is mindful, wise, not interested or disinterested

I’m disciple of the undisturbed master of the self.

Neither clinging nor giving up, has the highest secluded mind.

I’m disciple of one who has crossed and helps others to cross.

He is thus gone, is without compare.

I’m a disciple of that appeased, wise, clever, Blessed One,

With the destruction of craving he is enlightened.

I’m a disciple of that Great Man, without compare.’