Page:A History of Indian Philosophy Vol 1.djvu/122

 106 BuddhZ:fit Philosophy ECHo mind if not properly and carefully watched would like sometimes to turn back to the enjoyment of plti again. The two character- istics of this jhana are sukha and ekaggata. It should however be noted that though there is the feeling of highest sukha here, the mind is not only not attached to it but is indifferent to it (atillladllllrasllA'he slIkhaPiiramippatte pi tatiyaJjhii1le Zlpe/khako, Jla tattha sltkhiibhisllllgella iikatjtjhiyati)1. The earth ball (pa!/zavl) is however still the object of the jhana. In the fourth or the last jhana both the sukha (happiness) and the dukkha (misery) vanish away and all the roots of attachment and antipathies are destroyed. This state is characterized by supreme and absolute indifference (upckkhii) which was slowly growing in all the various stages of the jhanas. The characteris- tics of this jhana are therefore upekkha and ekaggata. lith the mastery of this jhana comes final perfection and total extinction of the citta called cetovimutti, and the sage becomes thereby an arhat2. There is no further production of the khandhas, no reb.irth, and there is the absolute cessation of all sorrows and sufferings- N ibbana. Kamma. In the Katha (11.6) Yama says that" a fool who is blinded with the infatuation of riches does not believe in a future life; he thinks that only this life exists and not any other, and thus he comes again and again within my grasp." In the Dlgha N ikaya also we read how Payasi was trying to give his reasons in support of his belief that" Neither is there any other world, nor are there beings, reborn otherwise than from parents, nor is there fruit or result of deeds well done or ill done 3 ." Some of his arguments were that neither the vicious nor the virtuous return to tell us that they suffered or enjoyed happiness in the other world, that if the virtuous had a better life in store, and if they believed in it, they would certainly commit suicide in order to get it at the earliest opportunity, that in spite of taking the best precau- tions we do not find at the time of the death of any person that his soul goes out, or that his body weighs less on account of the departure of his soul, and so on. Kassapa refutes his argu- ments with apt illustrations. But in spite of a few agnostics of 1 Visuddhimflgga, p. 16 3. 2 j}faiJhi11la Nikiiya, I. p. 296, and ViSliddhimfl.fga, pp. 167-168. 3 Dialogms o/th Buddha, II. p. 349; D. N. II. pp. 317 ff.