The Heart's Fallows and Bondages

[1][bs][pts][upal] THUS have I heard:

Once when the Lord was staying at Sāvatthī in Jeta's grove in Anāthapiṇḍika's pleasaunce,
he addressed the listening Almsmen as follows:

While the five Fallows of his heart are left untilled
and its five Bondages are unshattered,
no Almsman can possibly shew growth,
increase
and progress
in this Doctrine and Rule.

What are the five Fallows he leaves untilled?

Take the case of an Almsman
who feels doubts and [72] misgivings
about the Master,
without either certainty or conviction,
so that in this frame of mind,
his heart has no bent towards ardour,
zeal,
perseverance,
and exertion;
this marks the first Fallow untilled.

Or suppose he feels these same doubts and misgivings
about the Doctrine -
or the Confraternity -
or his course of training,
with the same lack of bent towards ardour,
zeal,
perseverance,
and exertion; -
this marks the second - the third - and the fourth Fallow untilled.

The fifth is when he is angry with his fellows in the higher life,
is displeased with them,
is upset about them,
and fallow - as it were - in his relations to them,
so that he has no bent towards ardour,
zeal,
perseverance,
and exertion.

What are the five Bondages he leaves unshattered?

Take the case of an Almsman who,
in the matter of sensuous pleasure,
is not void of passion and appetite,
fondness
and yearning,
thirsting,
feverish longings
and craving;
in this frame of mind,
his heart has no bent towards ardour and so forth.

This marks the first Bondage unshattered.

If he is in like case
in the matter of the body -
or of visible forms, -
this marks the second and the third, respectively,
of the heart's Bondages unshattered.

Or, again, if after eating as much as ever his belly will hold,
an Almsman is fond of his chair
or bed
or of slumber,
then his heart's bent
is not towards ardour,
zeal,
perseverance,
and exertion;
and this marks the fourth Bondage unshattered.

Or, lastly, an Almsman's ambition in the higher life
may be for some particular order of gods;
and so his virtue,
conversation,
austerities
and higher life
aim at ensuring his becoming a god,
or some particular god.

If such be his aims and ambition,
then his heart's bent
is not to ardour,
zeal,
perseverance,
and exertion;
and this marks the fifth Bondage unshattered.

If, Almsmen, these five Fallows of his heart
are left untilled,
and if these five Bondages
are unshattered,
no Almsman can possibly shew growth,
increase
and progress
in this Doctrine and Rule.

[73] If, on the other hand,
an Almsman has the five Fallows of his heart tilled
and its five Bondages shattered,
then it is quite possible for him to shew growth,
increase
and progress
in the Doctrine and Rule.

What are the five tilled Fallows of the heart?

Take the case of an Almsman
who feels no doubts or misgivings about the Master
but feels certainty and conviction,
so that his heart is bent on ardour,
zeal,
perseverance,
and exertion, -
this marks the first Fallow tilled.

If he feels no doubts or misgivings about the Doctrine -
or about the Confraternity -
or about his course of training, -
and if his heart is bent on ardour,
zeal,
perseverance,
and exertion, -
this marks the second - the third - and the fourth Fallow tilled.

The fifth is when he is not angered against his fellows,
is not displeased or upset by them,
nor is he fallow - as it were -
in his relations to them; -
this marks the heart's fifth and last Fallow tilled.

And similarly with shattering the heart's five Bondages.

He develops the four bases of psychic power,
in which purpose,
will,
thought,
and study respectively
inspire what moulds and fashions vigorous concentration.

Strenuousness itself is a fifth.

The Almsman who is equipped
with these fifteen^[1] factors
of the strenuous character
has the capacity for breaking through,
the capacity for full Enlightenment,
and the capacity for the Peace beyond compare.

It is like a hen
with a clutch of eight
or ten
or a dozen eggs,
on which she has sat closely,
keeping them as warm as may be
with all her pains and care;
albeit the wish may arise within her
that her chicks
with claw
or beak
would break through the shell
and win forth,
yet that hen's chicks are capable of breaking the shell
and winning forth
quite safely; -
even so, [74] the Almsman who is equipped
with these fifteen factors of the strenuous character
is capable of breaking through,
is capable of full Enlightenment,
and is capable of the Peace beyond compare.

Thus spoke the Lord.

Glad at heart, those Almsmen rejoiced in what the Lord had said.

^[1] I.e. the five tilled Fallows plus the five shattered Bondages plus the four psychic bases; with strenuousness itself added on to the latter as a fifth (Bu. ).

Majjhima Nikāya 1. Mūla-Paṇṇāsa 2. Sīhanāda Vagga

Sacred Books of the Buddhists Volume V Dialogues of the Buddha Part IV

Further Dialogues of the Buddha Volume I

Sutta 16

Ceto-Khila Suttaɱ

The Heart's Fallows and Bondages

Majjhima Nikāya
1. Mūla-Paṇṇāsa
2. Sīhanāda Vagga

Sacred Books of the Buddhists
Volume V
Dialogues of the Buddha
Part IV

Further Dialogues of the Buddha
Volume I