Commentary on the Dhammapada–by Swami Nirmalananda Giri
The Secret of Immortality
“Attention leads to immortality. Carelessness leads to death. Those who pay attention will not die, while the careless are as good as dead already.”
“Attention”–appamada in Pali–literally means “non-infatuation,” but is usually interpreted as the result of such freedom from infatuation. Narada Thera says it has the connotations of “ever-present mindfulness, watchfulness, or earnestness in doing good.”
If loose lips sink ships, then lax and unaware minds sink lives. This is important for us to comprehend, since we often think that spiritual life is charging ahead in some kind of inspired enthusiasm that precludes any intellectual application or plain good sense, that somehow our sincerity and aspiration will ensure success and safety. It is as silly as that terrible and criminal debacle known as The Children’s Crusade. At this time in history we are equally appalled and astounded that any sane human being could possibly believe that the sight of little barefoot children coming in innocence and trust would conquer the minds and hearts of murderous plunderers–who were actually no worse than those who engineered such a monstrous folly as a kind of “spiritual” trick on them. As Will Cuppy pointed out, it is useless to appeal to the higher nature of those who have none.
Tarzans of the Light
For those of us who have wandered through the tangled jungle of world scriptures–each one usually claiming to be the sole truth–that are compounded of revelations, exhortation, cajolings, threats, mind-boggling assertions, and supposed profundities that can never be either proved or disproved, the rational and practical teachings of Buddha found in the Pali scriptures come as a shock. So much so that, conditioned by prior study, we may disregard them. After all, where is the esoteric wisdom, the secrets meant for only the select few? Where are the symbols and the mysteries? Above all, where are the irrational formulas of “Truth” that demonstrate how ignorant and limited we are in our inability to make any sense of them because they are above all sense? And where are the mystic techniques that will open the universe to us and reveal all mysteries and bestow all knowledge and power?
We are so used to religion being either a magic shop or a launching pad to higher worlds, that Buddha’s uncompromising good sense and insistence on freedom from all that binds us right here and now disorients us. And his assertion that we must look at all things and see their truth (or untruth) and act honestly regarding them is a real comedown for us who prefer to leap and swing from tree to tree in life’s jungle, happy carefree Tarzans of the White Light to whom Everything Is God, So Why Worry? “What is there to do, and where is there to go?” is our way of saying: “I won’t” in response to Buddha’s urging to real happiness and freedom from care. But eventually we begin to get the idea, and then every word of Buddha is a key to liberation.
Immortality
“Attention leads to immortality.” The Pali word translated “immortality” is amata, which literally means “deathlessness.” Venerable Narada Thera says that amata is a synonym for nirvana, and comments: “As this positive term clearly indicates, Nibbana is not annihilation or a state of nothingness as some are apt to believe. It is the permanent, immortal, supramundane state which cannot be expressed by mundane terms.” It must be noted, though, that immortality is a state, not eternal embodiment–in this or some other realm–and consequently identified with “I am this, I am that.” To transcend both birth and death is immortality, is eternity.
Since it leads to immortality, attention is definitely more than simple awareness or even insight. It is “earnestness in doing good,” in pursuing the sole good: liberation. Naturally, a great deal more than attention is needed, but Buddha mentions it because without its dynamic all the other requisites are worthless, like machines without the energy to run them.
Death
Again, death is not divestment of a body, but immersion in the relative world of samsara and its bonds. It, too, is a state, even though external conditions necessarily follow and mirror its presence. “Life” in any relative condition is really death, because it shrouds the truth of our essential being. “Carelessness” is the opposite of attention, and is the way we all lead our lives, physical and psychological. If that were not so, none of us would be here. We neither see nor deal with anything in a realistic manner. Frankly, we are profoundly delusional, and our only hope is the correct pursuit of ultimate reality–which is ultimate freedom. Consequently we pray: “Lead me from death to immortality–Mrityor m’amritam gamaya.
Cultivation
Attention cannot be produced immediately, it requires constant and vigilant cultivation, meditation being the prime implement of such cultivation. For “those who pay attention will not die, while the careless are as good as dead already.” Keeping this perspective in mind daily, there is hope for our ascent to life and immortality. “So having clearly understood the value of attention, wise men take pleasure in it, rejoicing in what the saints have practised.”
Hypocrites
There are two kinds of hypocrites in spiritual life: those that when they learn what is required of the successful seeker honestly refuse and turn away, and those who sigh, mope, carp, and whine, grudging the slightest discipline or denial, dragging their feet every step of the way. The first kind are not so bad–they go away and leave the path of dharma (and those who are travelling it) in peace. The second type, however, are much worse. They both disrupt and exasperate the sincere and worthy who take delight in meeting the requirements of dharma, and keep hanging on like deadly parasites, doing their utmost to compromise and degrade the dharma to their level of laziness and corruption. These are enemies both to themselves and to those that come after, for if there are enough of them and they get into some kind of authority, they often succeed in completely destroying the dharma for many, and sometimes for ages. Of them Saint Jude wrote: “These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever” until they change direction completely. They are always getting “confused,” “worried,” “bothered,” “disturbed,” and depressed–usually over everybody else but themselves. They spread gloom and discontent. As Yogananda said, they are spiritual skunks, stinking up wherever they go, but all the time blaming it on others. “I don’t understand” and “I don’t see why” are the javelins they are forever hurling, acting the part of the injured, the neglected, the misunderstood, and the despised.
On the other hand…
By contrast, “wise men take pleasure in” the way of truth, and gladly meet the requirements. Since they really want freedom, for them no price is too high. Knowing that you really do get only what you pay for, even in the abstract realms of consciousness, they “rejoice in what the saints have practised.” Yes, they rejoice! For they practice that which the “saints,” the Aryas, have practiced, and get the same results.
1) Dhammapada 21
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2) Dhammapada 22 [Go back]
3) Jude 12,13 [Go back]
4) Arya(n): Literally, “one who strives upward.” Both Arya and Aryan are exclusively psychological terms having nothing whatsoever to do with birth, race, or nationality. [Go back]
