Path of Freedom [Vimuttimagga]

Subjects of Meditation 141remembering of the Buddha's worth is its function.ts its near cause.The growth in confidenceHe who practises the recollection of the Buddha acquires the followingeighteen benefits: increase of confidence, mindfulness, wisdom, reverence,merit, great joy, ability to endure hardship, fearlessness, shamefastness in thepresence of evil, the state of living near the Teacher, enjoyment of activitybelonging to the ground of the Buddhas, (the happiness of) faring well andapproaching the ambrosial. 1According to the Netti Sutta, 2 if a man wishes to meditate on the Buddha,he should worship Buddha images and such other objects. "What is theprocedure?": The new yogin goes to a place of solitude and keeps his mindundisturbed. With this undisturbed mind, he remembers him who comesand goes in the same way, the Blessed One, consummate, supremelyenlightened, endowed with true knowledge and conduct, sublime, knower ofthe world, matchless guide of men to be tamed, teacher of divine and humanbeings, enlightened, blessed. 3 Thus he reaches the further shore of merit."Blessed One": Because he gets the praise of the world, he is called theBlessed One. Because he has attained to excellent truth, he is called theBlessed One. Because he is worthy of offerings, he is called the Blessed One.Because he has acquired the highest merits, he is called the Blessed One andbecause he is the Lord of the Way-Truth, he is called the Blessed One. Forthese reasons is he called the Blessed One."Consummate": Because he is the recipient of gifts, he is consummate*Because he has killed the defilement-foes, he is consummate. Because hebreaks the spokes of the wheel of birth and death, he is consummate. 4"Supremely enlightened": Because he knows rightly all things, inall his activities, he is called the supremely enlightened. Because he haskilled ignorance, he is called the supremely englightened and because he hasattained to the enlightenment that is unrivalled, by himself, he is called thesupremely enlightened. 5"Endowed with true knowledge and conduct": Knowledge means thethree kinds of knowledge, i.e., the knowledge of past existences, the knowledgeof the passing away and the arising of beings and the knowledge of the extinctionof the cankers. The Blessed One has removed the ignorance of the past withthe knowledge of past existences, the ignorance of the future with the know-1. Only thirteen benefits are mentioned.2. Lit. Netri Sutara.3. Cp. D. Ill, 76; A. 1,168; Sn. 132 (Selasutta): hi pi so Bhagavd araham Sammdsambuddhovijjdcaranasampanno sugato lokavidu anuttaro purisadammasarathi satthd devamanussdnarhbuddho Bhagavd.4. Cp. Vis. Mag. 198; Sn.-a. 441: Arakd hi so sabbakilesehi maggena savdsandnamkilesdnarh viddharhsitattd ti drakattd araharh; te ca nena kilesdrayo maggena hat a tiarinam hatattd pi araham.5. Cp. Vis. Mag. 201-2.