Purity and Impurity Depend on Yourself (Dpd.165)

Mark Wong

By oneself, indeed,  is evil done;
by oneself is one defiled .
By oneself is evil left undone.
By oneself, indeed, is one purified
Purity and impurity depend on oneself
No one purifies another.

Dpd.165

Purport :

Purity refers to purification of the mind so that the ordinary defiled consciousness is transformed from wisdom into pure consciousness. Wisdom is the knowledge of intuitive discernment of the absolute Truth of Insubstantiality (Anattā) and the  Law of Dependent Co-arising (Pațiccasamuppāda). Perfect knowledge of Insubstantiality or Dependent Co-arising purifies the mind.  Succinctly put, the ignorant mind of an ordinary worldling or sentient being is defiled or impure; the mind of an Arahant is pure. Furthermore, a mind of attachment to likes is impure and a mind of aversion towards dislikes is also impure. When the mind is neither attached to  nor averse towards the sensual stimuli, that mind is considered to be equanimous. An equanimous mind is said to be pure. When the mind is equanimuous in contact with all forms of sensual stimuli from the immediate environment, the mind is said to be purged of the illusive self-centric ego .

Self-centric ego is superimposed by one’s ignorance of the absolute Truth or by the delusion of the conventional truth which is illusive and unreal. When a person mentally grasps upon the five aggregates as this is I ; this is mine ; this belongs to me, such a mind is considered  to be impure.  Conversely , if  a Knower of Truth or Gnostic does not grasp upon the five aggregates as this is I; this is mine ; this belongs to me, the mind is considered to be pure . The mind is pure if and only if it is not directed and empowered by the self-centric ego.

Therefore, we can conclude that a person, who grasps upon the human personality  as this is I ; this is mine ; this belongs to me, is impure mentally. Conversely, a person, who does not cling upon the human personality as this is I; this is mine; this belongs to me, is pure mentally. Since grasping or non-grasping is personal action, therefore mental purity or impurity is also one’s personal state. In other words , no external agent can purify or impurify a person. We purify or impurify ourselves. Buddhism advocates self-determinism and rejects fatalistic determinism by any external agent.

One’s ignorance impurifies one’s mind.  Likewise, one’s wisdom purifies one’s mind. Mental Purity is mental  liberation. Mental liberation is release from kammic formation.  Hence , liberation is the fruit of one’s free will and effort unauthored by any external agent. Suffering or ending of suffering is strictly a personal affair. No Buddha can purify a Buddhist disciple. No evil or demon can impurify a Buddhist disciple too. There is no one who can save or liberate us. We ourselves  are  responsible for our suffering due to our ignorance of Three Universal Characteristics (Impermanence, Suffering, Insubstantiality) of five aggregates  and the Four Noble Truths. We ourselves are responsible for the release from suffering by the discernment of the Four Noble Truths. We ourselves are responsible to gather the raft and traverse from the shore of saṃsāra to the other shore of Nibbāna . Having traversed, we abandon the raft  to consummate the perfect purity of the mind – the mind of perfect enlightenment.