The Chanting Together

Nines

'There are [sets of] nine things ...

[9.01][pts][olds] 'Nine causes of malice (āghāta-vatthūni): Malice is stirred up by the thought: (a) "He has done me an injury", (b) "He is doing me an injury", (c) "He will do me an injury", (d)-(f) "He has done, is doing, will do an injury to someone who is dear and pleasant to me", (g)-(i) "he has done, is doing, will do a favour to someone who is hateful and unpleasant to me."

[9.02][pts][olds] 'Nine ways of overcoming malice (āghāta-paṭivinayā): Malice is overcome by the thought: (a)-(i) "He has done me an injury ... " (as (1)). [263] "What good would it do [to harbour malice]?"

[9.03][pts][olds] 'Nine abodes of beings (a) Beings different in body and different in perception, (b) beings different in body and alike in perception, (c) beings alike in body and different in perception, (d) beings alike in body and alike in perception, (e) the Realm of Unconscious Beings, (f) the Realm of Neither-perception-Nor-Non-Perception, (g) beings who have attained to the Sphere of Infinite Space, (h) beings who have attained to the Sphere of Infinite Consciousness, (i) beings who have attained to the Sphere of No-Thingness (as Sutta 15, verse 33).

[9.04][pts][olds] 'Nine unfortunate, inopportune times for leading the holy life (akkhaṇā asamayā brahmacariya-vāsāya): [264] (a) A Tathāgata has been born in the world, Arahant, fully-enlightened Buddha, and the Dhamma is taught which leads to calm and perfect Nibbāna, which leads to enlightenment as taught by the Well-Farer, and this person is born in a hell-state [507] (nirayaɱ),^[1119] ... (b) ... among the animals, (c) ... among the petas, (d) ... among the asuras, (e) ... in a long-lived group of devas,^[1120]1120 or (f) he is born in the border regions among foolish barbarians where there is no access for monks and nuns, or male and female lay-followers, or (g) he is born in the Middle Country,^[1121] but he has wrong views and distorted vision, thinking: "There is no giving, offering or sacrificing, there is no fruit or result of good or bad deeds; there is not this world and the next world; [265] there are no parents and there is no spontaneous rebirth; there are no ascetics and Brahmins in the world who, having attained to the highest and realized for themselves the highest knowledge about this world and the next, proclaim it";^[1122] or (h) ... he is born in the Middle Country but lacks wisdom and is stupid, or is deaf and dumb and cannot tell whether something has been well said or ill said; or else ... (i) no Tathāgata has arisen ... and this person is born in the Middle Country and is intelligent, not stupid, and not deaf or dumb, and well able to tell whether something has been well said or ill said.

[9.05][pts][olds] 'Nine successive abidings: [the jhānas and Spheres of Infinite Space, Infinite Consciousness, No-Thingness, Neither-Perception-Nor-Non-Perception, and Cessation of Perception and Feeling].

[266] [9.06][pts][olds] 'Nine successive cessations (anupubba-nirodhā): By the attainment of the first jhāna, perceptions of sensuality (kāmasaññā) cease; by the attainment of the second jhāna, thinking and pondering cease; by the attainment of the third jhāna, delight (pīti) ceases; by the attainment of the fourth jhāna, in- and out-breathing ceases;^[1123] by the attainment of the Sphere of Infinite Space, the perception of materiality ceases, by the attainment of the Sphere of Infinite Consciousness, the perception of the Sphere of Infinite Space ceases; by the attainment of the Sphere of No-Thingness, the perception of the Sphere of Infinite Consciousness ceases; by the attainment of the Sphere of Neither-Perception-Nor-Non-Perception, the perception of the Sphere of No-Thingness ceases; by the attainment of the Cessation-of-Perception-and-Feeling, perception and feeling cease.

'These are the [sets of] nine things ... '

^[1119] As n.244.

^[1120] I.e. rebirth among those devas whose lives are so long that they miss the chance of human rebirth at a propitious time. Cf. n.888.

^[1121] The central, 'civilised' area of India (including the Gangetic basin) as opposed to other less favoured regions: cf. n.722.

^[1122] The words of Ajita Kesakambali (DN 2.23).

^[1123] I.e. becomes so subtle as to be imperceptible.

[Ones and Twos] [Threes] [Fours] [Fives] [Sixes] [Sevens] [Eights] [Nines] [Tens]