Aṅguttara Nikāya (AN8.6) Lokavipatti:
Eight Worldly Conditions
K.S. Chow
Gotama Buddha declares that eight worldly conditions spin after the world and the world spins after the eight world conditions . A renowned imperial Chinese poet in the imperial China depicted these eight conditions as the eight winds which either elevate the social status of a man or cause his downfall. These four pairs of or eight worldly conditions are enumerated as follows :
- Gain and Loss
- Status and Disgrace
- Praise and censure
- Pleasure and Pain
One is either praised by others for one’s success, achievement or strength or disparaged by others for one’s failure, retardation or weakness. Gotama Buddha categorizes two categories of people in relation to their reactions to these eight worldly conditions which either upgrade or degrade their social positions. There are the first category of uninstructed Buddhist disciples and the second category of well-instructed Buddhist disciples .
The uninstructed Buddhist disciples of the first category are those Buddhist adherents who have not intuitively discerned the Three Universal Characteristics (Ti-lakkhaṇas) of the phenomenal world and the Ultimate Reality of Dependently co-arisen Unity or Non-duality. The Three Universal Characteristics are Impermanence (Anicca), Suffering (Dukkha) and Insubstantiality (Anattā) leading to mutability of all phenomena. When these Buddhist disciples experience the positive conditions of life, such as Gain, Status, Praise and Pleasure , he or she is attached to them. They create kammas. They are thus defiled and entangled by the kammic bondage leading to suffering. Conversely, when they experience the negative conditions of life, such as Loss, Disgrace, Censure and Pain , they are averse towards them. They create kammas again. They are thus defiled and entangled by the kammic bondage leading to suffering. Kammic bondage implies non-liberation even though the kammas are positive. Kammas are non-liberating because all kammas are directed and empowered by self-centric ego.
Because they do not practise the skills of the four foundations of mindfulness , their sensual activities are directed and empowered by the illusively superimposed self-centric ego. They live a life of fallibilities and vulnerabilities which bring them vexation or suffering in life . The commission of either positive or negative kammas mirror that the execution of the skillful means of the four foundations of mindfulness are not yet consummated. The Truth discernment has not matured. Equanimity supported by wisdom of insight into the Truth of Insubstantiality, Dependent Co-arising and Four Noble Truths has not been actualized.
Conversely , when the well-instructed Buddhist disciples experience these eight worldly conditions, they are not attached to the positives and neither are they averse towards the negatives . Because they have intuitively discerned the Three Universal Characteristics , they are neither attached egoistically to the pleasant experiences nor are averse egoistically towards the unpleasant experiences. They have developed the power of equanimity from the skillful practice of four foundations of mindfulness. They do not grasp upon the five aggregates as this is I; this is mine ; this belongs to me. Thus , the six sense gates are well guarded without outflows or cankers. Evidently, they have annihilated the self-centric ego. They lead a cankerless or undefiled holy life. They are saved or liberated as they have crossed from the shore of illusion to the other shore of enlightenment beyond. They take refuge in the Insubstantiality of the five aggregates against the eight winds of Gain, Loss, Status, Disgrace, Praise, Censure, Pleasure and Pain which assail them. The have taken refuge in the sanctuary of Dhamma – the complete silence of the chatter of the human mind . The complete silence or peace of the human mind is known as Nibbāna.
Human life is akin to the metaphor of the waves and the borderless Ocean. The untouched waves are drowned in the depth of the ocean unreached by the external winds. The untouched waves merge completely in unity with the ocean. The dichotomy between the waves and the ocean vanishes. Conversely, the waves struck by the winds are further churned up by the ocean creating even more and greater waves. The more greater waves metaphorically mirror the manifest of more passionate dramas of life – ups and downs of saṃsāric life . The dramas of saṃsāric life are directed and empowered by self-centric ego. The metaphor of waves and borderless ocean is the most ideal analogy to depict the intimate relationship between the conventional truth of phenomena and the ultimate Truth of the Principle. Religious Truth discernment is the consummate apprehension of the phenomenon-principle or relative-absolute relationship. |
