III. Seclusion
Renouncing violence for all living beings, harming not even one of them, you would not wish for offspring, so how a companion? Wander alone like a rhinoceros.
For a person by nature entangled there are affections; on the heels of affection, this pain. Seeing the drawback born of affection, wander alone like a rhinoceros.
One whose mind is enmeshed in sympathy for friends & companions, neglects the goal. Seeing this danger in intimacy, wander alone like a rhinoceros. ….
If you gain an astute companion, a fellow traveler, right-living, enlightened, overcoming all troubles, go with him, gratified, mindful.
If you don’t gain an astute companion, a fellow traveler, right-living & wise, wander alone like a king renouncing his kingdom, like the elephant in the Mataṅga wilds, [his herd].
We praise companionship —yes! Those on a par, or better, should be chosen as friends. If they’re not to be found, living faultlessly, wander alone like a rhinoceros.
Seeing radiant bracelets of gold, well-made by a smith, clinking, clashing, two on an arm, wander alone like a rhinoceros,
[Thinking:] “In the same way, if I were to live with another, there would be conversation or attachment.” Seeing this future danger, wander alone like a rhinoceros.
Because sensual pleasures, elegant, honeyed, & charming, bewitch the mind with their manifold forms— seeing this drawback in sensual strings— wander alone like a rhinoceros.
“Calamity, tumor, misfortune, disease, an arrow, a danger for me.” Seeing this danger in sensual strings, wander alone like a rhinoceros.
Cold & heat, hunger & thirst, wind & sun, horseflies & snakes: Enduring all these, without exception, wander alone like a rhinoceros.….
Avoid the evil companion disregarding the goal, intent on the discordant way. Don’t associate yourself with someone heedless & hankering. Wander alone like a rhinoceros.
Consort with one who is learned, who maintains the Dhamma, a great & quick-witted friend. Knowing the meanings, subdue your perplexity, [then] wander alone like a rhinoceros.….
Unstartled, like a lion at sounds. Unsnared, like the wind in a net. Unsmeared, like a lotus in water: Wander alone like a rhinoceros.
Like a lion—forceful, strong in fang, living as a conqueror, the king of beasts— resort to a solitary dwelling. Wander alone like a rhinoceros.
At the right time consorting with the release through goodwill, compassion, empathetic joy, equanimity, unobstructed by all the world, any world, wander alone like a rhinoceros.
Having let go of passion, aversion, delusion; having shattered the fetters; unfazed at the ending of life, wander alone like a rhinoceros.
People follow & associate
for a motive.
Friends without a motive these days
are rare.
They’re shrewd for their own ends, & impure.
Wander alone
like a rhinoceros. — Sn 1:3
“When elephants & cow-elephants & calf-elephants & baby elephants go ahead of a wilderness tusker foraging for food and break off the tips of the grasses, the wilderness tusker feels irritated, upset, & disgusted. When elephants & cow-elephants & calf-elephants & baby elephants devour the wilderness tusker’s bunches of branches, he feels irritated, upset, & disgusted. When elephants & cow-elephants & calf-elephants & baby elephants go ahead of the wilderness tusker on his way down to his bath and stir up the mud in the water with their trunks, he feels irritated, upset, & disgusted. When cow-elephants go along as the wilderness tusker is bathing and bang up against his body, he feels irritated, upset, & disgusted.
“Then the thought occurs to the wilderness tusker, ‘I now live hemmed in by elephants & cow-elephants & calf-elephants & baby elephants. I feed off grass with broken-off tips. My bunches of branches are devoured. I drink muddied water. Even when I bathe, cow-elephants go along and bang up against my body. What if I were to live alone, apart from the crowd?’
“So at a later time he lives alone, apart from the crowd. He feeds off grass with unbroken tips. His bunches of branches are undevoured. He drinks unmuddied water. When he bathes, cow-elephants don’t go along and bang up against his body. The thought occurs to him, ‘Before, I lived hemmed in by elephants & cow-elephants & calf-elephants & baby elephants. I fed off grass with broken-off tips. My bunches of branches were devoured. I drank muddied water. Even when I bathed, cow-elephants would go along and bang up against my body. But now I live alone, apart from the crowd. I feed off grass with unbroken tips. My bunches of branches are undevoured. I drink unmuddied water. When I bathe, cow-elephants don’t go along and bang up against my body.’ Breaking off a branch with his trunk and scratching his body with it, gratified, he allays his itch.
In the same way, when a monk lives hemmed in with monks, nuns, male & female lay followers, kings, royal ministers, sectarians, & their disciples, the thought occurs to him, ‘I now live hemmed in by monks, nuns, , male & female lay followers, kings, royal ministers, sectarians, & their disciples. What if I were to live alone, apart from the crowd?’
“So he seeks out a secluded dwelling: a wilderness, the shade of a tree, a mountain, a glen, a hillside cave, a charnel ground, a forest grove, the open air, a heap of straw. After his meal, returning from his alms round, he sits down, crosses his legs, holds his body erect, and brings mindfulness to the fore.
“Abandoning covetousness with regard to the world, he dwells with an awareness devoid of covetousness. He cleanses his mind of covetousness. Abandoning ill will & anger, he dwells with an awareness devoid of ill will, sympathetic with the welfare of all living beings. He cleanses his mind of ill will & anger. Abandoning sloth & drowsiness, he dwells with an awareness devoid of sloth & drowsiness, mindful, alert, percipient of light. He cleanses his mind of sloth & drowsiness. Abandoning restlessness & anxiety, he dwells undisturbed, his mind inwardly stilled. He cleanses his mind of restlessness & anxiety. Abandoning uncertainty, he dwells having crossed over uncertainty, with no perplexity with regard to skillful mental qualities. He cleanses his mind of uncertainty.
“Having abandoned these five hindrances—corruptions of awareness that weaken discernment—then quite secluded from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful qualities, he enters & remains in the first jhāna: rapture & pleasure born of seclusion, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation. Gratified, he allays his itch.
“With the stilling of directed thoughts & evaluations, he enters & remains in the second jhāna: rapture & pleasure born of concentration, unification of awareness free from directed thought & evaluation—internal assurance. Gratified, he allays his itch.
“With the fading of rapture, he remains equanimous, mindful, & alert, and senses pleasure with the body. He and enters & remains in the third jhāna, of which the noble ones declare, ‘Equanimous & mindful, he has a pleasant abiding.’ Gratified, he allays his itch.
“With the abandoning of pleasure & stress—as with the earlier disappearance of elation & distress— he enters & remains in the fourth jhāna: purity of equanimity & mindfulness, neither-pleasure-nor-pain. Gratified, he allays his itch.
“With the complete transcending of perceptions of [physical] form, with the disappearance of perceptions of resistance, and not heeding perceptions of diversity, (perceiving), ‘Infinite space,’ he enters & remains in the dimension of the infinitude of space. Gratified, he allays his itch.
“With the complete transcending of the dimension of the infinitude of space, (perceiving), ‘Infinite consciousness,’ he enters & remains in the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness. Gratified, he allays his itch.
“With the complete transcending of the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness, (perceiving), ‘There is nothing,’ he enters & remains in the dimension of nothingness. Gratified, he allays his itch.
“With the complete transcending of the dimension of nothingness, he enters & remains in the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception. Gratified, he allays his itch.
“With the complete transcending of the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception, he enters & remains in the cessation of perception & feeling. And, having seen [that] with discernment, his effluents are completely ended. Gratified, he allays his itch.” — AN 9:40
“Nāgita, there is the case where I see a monk sitting in concentration in a village dwelling. The thought occurs to me, ‘Soon a monastery attendant will disturb this venerable one in some way, or a novice will, and rouse him from his concentration.’ And so I am not pleased with that monk’s village-dwelling.
“But then there is the case where I see a monk sitting, nodding, in the wilderness. The thought occurs to me, ‘Soon this venerable one will dispel his drowsiness & fatigue and attend to the wilderness-perception,1 (his mind) unified.’ And so I am pleased with that monk’s wilderness-dwelling.
“Then there is the case where I see a wilderness monk sitting unconcentrated in the wilderness. The thought occurs to me, ‘Soon this venerable one will center his unconcentrated mind, or protect his concentrated mind.’ And so I am pleased with that monk’s wilderness-dwelling.
“Then there is the case where I see a wilderness monk sitting in concentration in the wilderness. The thought occurs to me, ‘Soon this venerable one will release his unreleased mind, or protect his released mind.’ And so I am pleased with that monk’s wilderness-dwelling.2
“Then there is the case where I see a village-dwelling monk who receives robes, alms food, shelter, & medicinal requisites for curing the sick. Receiving, as he likes, those gains, offerings, & fame, he neglects seclusion, he neglects isolated forest & wilderness dwellings. He makes his living by visiting villages, towns, & cities. And so I am not pleased with that monk’s village-dwelling.
“Then there is the case where I see a wilderness monk who receives robes, alms food, shelter, & medicinal requisites for curing the sick. Fending off those gains, offerings, & fame, he doesn’t neglect seclusion, doesn’t neglect isolated forest & wilderness dwellings. And so I am pleased with that monk’s wilderness-dwelling.
“But when I am traveling along a road and see no one in front or behind me, at that time I have my ease, even when urinating & defecating.” — AN 6:42
Then a large number of monks went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As they were sitting there, they informed him: “Lord, there is a certain monk by the name of Elder who lives alone and extols the virtues of living alone.”
Then the Blessed One told a certain monk, “Come, monk. In my name, call the monk named Elder, saying, ‘The Teacher calls you, my friend.’” …
Then Ven. Elder went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting there, the Blessed One said to him, “Is it true, Elder, that you live alone and extol the virtues of living alone?”
“Yes, lord.”
“But how do you live alone and extol the virtues of living alone?”
“Lord, alone I enter the village for alms, alone I return, alone I sit withdrawn [in meditation], alone I do walking meditation. That is how I live alone and extol the virtues of living alone.”
“There is that way of living alone, Elder. I don’t say that there isn’t. Still, listen well to how your living alone is perfected in its details, and pay close attention. I will speak.”
“As you say, lord,” Ven. Elder responded.
The Blessed One said: “And how is living alone perfected in its details? There is the case where whatever is past is abandoned, whatever is future is relinquished, and any passion & desire with regard to states of being attained in the present is well subdued. That is how living alone is perfected in its details.”
That is what the Blessed One said. Having said it, the One Well-gone further said this:
“All-conquering, all-knowing, intelligent; with regard to all things, unadhering; all-abandoning, released in the ending of craving: him I call a man who lives alone.” — SN 21:10
“With craving his companion, a man wanders on a long, long time. Neither in this state here nor anywhere else does he go beyond the wandering- on. Knowing this drawback— that craving brings stress into play— free from craving, devoid of clinging, mindful, the monk lives the mendicant life.” — Iti 15
Then Ven. Migajāla went to the Blessed One and on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting there he said to the Blessed One: “‘A person living alone. A person living alone,’ thus it is said. To what extent, lord, is one a person living alone, and to what extent is one a person living with a companion?”
“Migajāla, there are forms cognizable via the eye—agreeable, pleasing, charming, endearing, fostering desire, enticing—and a monk relishes them, welcomes them, & remains fastened to them. As he relishes them, welcomes them, & remains fastened to them, delight arises. There being delight, he is impassioned. Being impassioned, he is fettered. A monk joined with the fetter of delight is said to be living with a companion.
[Similarly with sounds, aromas, flavors, tactile sensations, & ideas.]
“A person living in this way—even if he frequents isolated forest & wilderness dwellings, with an unpopulated atmosphere, lying far from humanity, appropriate for seclusion—is still said to be living with a companion. Why is that? Because craving is his companion, and it has not been abandoned by him. Thus he is said to be living with a companion.
“Now, there are forms cognizable via the eye—agreeable, pleasing, charming, endearing, fostering desire, enticing—and a monk does not relish them, welcome them, or remain fastened to them. As he doesn’t relish them, welcome them, or remain fastened to them, delight ceases. There being no delight, he is not impassioned. Being not impassioned, he is not fettered. A monk disjoined from the fetter of delight is said to be living alone.
[Similarly with sounds, aromas, flavors, tactile sensations, & ideas.]
“A person living in this way—even if he lives near a village, associating with monks & nuns, with male & female lay followers, with kings & royal ministers, with sectarians & their disciples—is still said to be living alone. A person living alone is said to be a monk. Why is that? Because craving is his companion, and it has been abandoned by him. Thus he is said to be living alone.” — SN 35:63
