Larger Section on Discipline in Virtue
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| Recluse and holy man, shramana and sadhu |
- prophesying long life, prosperity and so on, or the opposite, from the marks on a person’s limbs, hands, feet, and so on
- divining by means of omens and signs
- making auguries on the basis of thunderbolts and celestial portents
- interpreting ominous dreams
- telling fortunes from marks on the body
- making auguries from the marks on cloth gnawed by mice
- offering fire oblations
- offering oblations from a ladle
- offering oblations of husks, rice powder, rice grains, ghee, and oil to the devas
- offering oblations from the mouth
- offering blood sacrifices to the devas
- making predictions based on the fingertips
- determining whether or not the site for a proposed house or garden is propitious
- making predictions for officers of state
- clearing demons from a cemetery
- clearing ghosts
- knowledge of charms to be pronounced by one living in an earthen house
- snake charming
- the poison craft, scorpion craft, rat craft, bird craft, crow craft
- foretelling the number of years a person has yet to live
- reciting charms to give protection from arrows
- reciting charms to understand the language of animals —
“one abstains from such wrong means of livelihood, from such debased arts.
“Whereas some wandering ascetics and Brahmins, while living on the food offered by the faithful, earn their living by a wrong means of livelihood, by such debased arts as interpreting the significance of the color, shape, and other features of the following items to determine whether they portend fortune or misfortune for their owners:
- gems,
- garments,
- staffs,
- swords,
- spears,
- arrows,
- bows,
- other weapons,
- women,
- men,
- boys,
- girls,
- slaves,
- slave-women,
- elephants,
- horses,
- buffaloes,
- bulls,
- cows,
- goats,
- rams,
- fowl,
- quails,
- lizards,
- earrings (or house-gables),
- tortoises, and
- other animals —
“Whereas some wandering ascetics and Brahmins, while living on the food offered by the faithful, earn their living by a wrong means of livelihood, by such debased arts as making predictions to the effect that:
- the ruler will march forth;
- the ruler will return;
- our ruler will attack, and the enemy ruler will retreat;
- the enemy ruler will attack, and our king will retreat;
- our ruler will triumph, and the enemy ruler will be defeated;
- the enemy ruler will triumph, and our ruler will be defeated;
- thus there will be victory for one and defeat for the other —
“Whereas some wandering ascetics and Brahmins, while living on the food offered by the faithful, earn their living by a wrong means of livelihood, by such debased arts as predicting:
- there will be an eclipse of the moon
- an eclipse of the sun
- an eclipse of a constellation
- the sun and the moon will go on their proper courses
- there will be an aberration of the sun and moon
- the constellations will go on their proper courses
- there will be an aberration of a constellation
- there will be a fall of meteors
- there will be a skyblaze
- there will be an earthquake
- there will be an earth-roar
- there will be a rising and setting,
- a darkening and brightening of the moon,
- sun, and
- constellations
- such will be the result of the moon’s eclipse,
- such the result of the sun’s eclipse,
- (and so on down to)
- such will be the result of the rising and setting,
- darkening and brightening of the moon,
- sun, and
- constellations —
“Whereas some wandering ascetics and Brahmins, while living on the food offered by the faithful, earn their living by a wrong means of livelihood, by such debased arts as predicting:
- There will be abundant rain;
- there will be a drought;
- there will be a good harvest;
- there will be a famine;
- there will be security;
- there will be danger;
- there will be sickness;
- there will be health
“Whereas some wandering ascetics and Brahmins, while living on the food offered by the faithful, earn their living by a wrong means of livelihood, by such debased arts as:
- arranging auspicious dates for marriages, both those in which the bride is brought home and those in which she is sent out
- arranging auspicious dates for betrothals and divorces
- arranging auspicious dates for the accumulation or expenditure of money
- reciting charms to make people lucky or unlucky
- rejuvenating the fetuses of abortive women
- reciting spells to bind a man’s tongue,
- to paralyze his jaws,
- to make him lose control over his hands,
- or to bring on deafness
- obtaining oracular answers to questions by means of a mirror,
- a girl,
- or a deva
- worshipping the sun
- worshipping Mahābrahmā
- bringing forth flames from the mouth
- invoking the goddess of luck
“Whereas some wandering ascetics and Brahmins, while living on the food offered by the faithful, earn their living by a wrong means of livelihood, by such debased arts as:
- promising gifts to deities in return for favors
- fulfilling such promises
- demonology
- reciting spells after entering an earthen house
- inducing virility and impotence
- preparing and consecrating sites for a house
- giving ceremonial mouthwashes and ceremonial bathing
- offering sacrificial fires
- administering emetics, purgatives, expectorants, and phlegmagogues
- administering medicines through the ear and through the nose,
- administering ointments and counter-ointments,
- practicing fine surgery on the eyes and ears,
- practicing general surgery on the body,
- practicing as a children’s doctor
“Sirs, the monastic who is thus possessed of moral discipline sees no danger anywhere in regard to restraint by moral discipline. Just as a head-anointed noble warrior who has defeated enemies sees no danger anywhere from those enemies, so the monastic who is thus possessed of moral discipline sees no danger anywhere in regard to restraint by moral discipline. Endowed with this noble aggregate of moral discipline, one experiences a blameless happiness. In this way, sirs, the monastic is possessed of moral discipline. CONTINUED IN PART IV
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