眾生無邊誓願度
煩惱無盡誓願斷
法門無量誓願學
佛道無上誓願成

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Dharma Teachings

10 Jul 2019    Wednesday     1st Teach Total 1686

What kind of craving has a srotāpanna eradicated?

Original text of the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra: 须陀洹断三结。贪痴不生。若须陀洹作是念。此诸结我不成就者。应有二过。堕身见。及诸结不断。

大慧白佛言。世尊。世尊说众多贪欲。彼何者贪断。佛告大慧。爱乐女人。缠绵贪著种种方便。身口恶业。受现在乐。种未来苦。彼则不生。所以者何。得三昧正受乐故。是故彼断。非趣涅槃贪断。

Explanation: The Buddha said that the srotāpanna has severed the three bonds, and greed and delusion do not arise. If a srotāpanna has this thought: "If I do not cultivate and accomplish these three bonds, there will be two faults — falling into the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) and the bonds of afflictions remaining unsevered." Mahāmati said to the Buddha: "World-Honored One, you have said that sentient beings have numerous desires. Which desire has the srotāpanna severed?" The Buddha told Mahāmati: the craving for and delight in women, clinging and lusting after them through all kinds of means and methods, committing evil actions of body and speech, enjoying pleasure in the present while planting the seeds of future suffering — this craving the srotāpanna has severed, and it no longer arises. Why is this so? Because the srotāpanna possesses the blissful meditative absorption (samādhi) of meditative concentration, and has no need to crave the pleasure of women. Therefore the craving is severed — but it is not the craving that inclines toward the bliss of nirvāṇa that has been severed.

This means that in a srotāpanna a certain kind of craving does not arise, not that all craving ceases to arise; one in whom all craving ceases to arise is a third-fruit anāgāmin. When the first fruit is attained, the view of self and the three bonds are severed, and the clinging and lusting toward the opposite sex no longer arises, because of the blissful meditative absorption. This so-called blissful meditative absorption refers to the meditative experience and the phenomenon of awakened clarity at the moment of realizing the first fruit. Therefore, attaining the first fruit requires meditative concentration — one must have preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi) — and then, upon realizing the first fruit, there will be the state of meditative absorption, including meditative concentration and the wisdom of eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa).

——Master Sheng-Ru's Teachings
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Those who grasp at precepts not established by the Buddha, which cannot bring liberation, cannot be liberated from birth and death.

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