197: Beautiful Mental Factors 'Sobhana Cetasika' (Part 4) Abstinence

In this episode, we explore the second subgroup of the beautiful mental factors — Abstinence (Vīrati). This group consists of three mental factors: Right Speech (Sammā Vācā), Right Action (Sammā Kammanta), and Right Livelihood (Sammā Ājīva).

While these three also appear in the morality group of the Noble Eightfold Path, here we understand them as specific mental factors — wholesome states that arise when one volitionally refrains from unwholesome actions.

We learn how:

• Right Speech means refraining from false, harsh, divisive, and idle speech.
• Right Action means refraining from killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct.
• Right Livelihood means refraining from deceit or harm in one’s profession.

The talk also explains three ways abstinence can occur:

1. By occasion — choosing not to act unwholesomely when tempted.
2. By undertaking precepts — abstaining through moral commitment.
3. By eradication — when an enlightened being has completely uprooted defilements.

Through understanding and mindfulness, we see how true abstinence purifies the mind, leading toward wisdom and liberation.

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Nammo Tashabhavato Ramato Sama Sambudassa Nammo Tasabhagavato Rahato Sama Sambudassa Namo Tasabhagato Ramato Sama Sambudasa Tirabara Buddhism series Dhamma talk number twenty Beautiful Mental Factors Part four Sobhanat Jidisika The second subgroup of beautiful mental factor is abstinence in Pali it sounds like this Viriti V-I R A T I Viriti That's a subgroup name This subgroup consists of three mental factors Viriti means refraining from delighting in Virity means refraining from delighting in it is refraining from wrong conducts or you can say not taking the light in wrong conducts or we can also say this way taking the light in right speech samawasa taking the light in right deed samakamanda taking the light in right livelihood sama in fact these three are also can be found in the morality group of the eightfold noble parts eightfold noble parts has three groups morality group concentration group and wisdom group in the morality group right speech right deed right livelihood so they are the same the same in terms of the heading but in details it differs noble eightfold part give you a general domain where you have to be what to do in here we are discussing a specific mental factor J Dasika So collectively these trees are called weirdity abstinence So let's go one by one the twentieth beautiful mental factor Samawasa Right speech twentieth beautiful mental is Samawasa right speech right speech as a beautiful mental factor Sobhanaji the sea god as a beautiful mental factor does not mean telling the truth it conveys his meaning in a different way it is abstaining or refraining from wrong speech or false speech what are the wrong speech or false speech lying Usawada slandering pisuna wasa rude and harsh words or speech purusa wasa and frivolous talk sambat lapa there are four kinds of wrong speech or false speech so it is like the fourth precept of the five precepts refraining from wrong speech so that is samawasa and the next one is twenty first beautiful mental factor samakamanta right deed I keep putting the number in front because they are altogether twenty-five beautiful mental factors that's why I'm giving a number in front of the mental factor right deed as a beautiful mental factor does not mean doing the right thing it convey its meaning in a different and more precise way it is abstaining or refraining from wrong deeds such as killing panatipata taking what is not willingly giving adhana and sexual misconduct meshasara so in fact these are the the first three precepts of the five precepts we always take that is twenty first beautiful mental factors twenty second beautiful mental factor ismajiwa right livelihood right livelihood as a beautiful mental factor does not mean not selling poisonous and radioactive products I put the word radioactive products in here because nowadays you can make poisons give cancer kill people with these radioactive products they are poisonous in the scripture it's only poison but these radioactive materials are now very poisonous under the heading of poison and again it does not mean selling alcohol and drugs or arms and weapons or human trafficking and slavery in the scripture is only slavery but nowadays slavery is more or less replaced by human trafficking and slaughtering animals such as cattles and fish and you do all these things for a living these are the traits these are the professions and some people live by these traits these five professions are marked as wrong livelihood by the Buddha because they hurt and harm the human race they hurt and harm many many people it is clearly stated these fives are considered wrong livelihood but as a mental factor it does not mean those five it conveys a different meaning it is abstaining or refraining from that full kinds of wrong speech which we have discussed abstaining and refraining from full kinds of wrong speech when one is dealing with one's profession. Whatever profession you are in and if you use wrong and false speech in it that is called that livelihood is called wrong livelihood let's say an example is there's a merchant is trading some goods and if that person is lying about the quality of the product he is selling or she is selling so that to make a living that is not simply the specific profession any profession and you are trying to sell or do to make profit to be better just by lying it is a Sama Ajiwa you have converted your even though normally a decent profession it becomes a at that moment a mental factor becomes a wrong livelihood. Like you think the world leaders politicians presidents prime ministers oh they are governing the world they are doing good for the world but there are some leaders they will lie through their teeth about their job about the work that they are doing at that moment they are not using a wrong speech they are in a state of wrong livelihood that's the definition of wrong livelihood samajiwa as a mental factor abstaining from lying and here is not samwasa normally if you lie this is a it is a wrong speech if you abstain from lying it is the right speech samawasa normally but if you are lying directly related to your livelihood or profession at that moment you can call it a wrong livelihood and if you refrain from it then it becomes a right livelihood. Let's say another one a person who makes a living by killing and selling meat of cattles that is his job that's what he does raise cattles kill them sell meat one day intentionally refrain from killing purposely intentionally refrain from killing and if that's the case it is not called observing or doing the right deed samakamanta it is called sama ajiwa because refraining from killing in one's profession makes it sama not samagamanda not right but become right livelihood. So if one lies or kills related to the livelihood it can it is not called wrong speech or wrong deed but it is called wrong livelihood. If one lies and kill but if one refrains from wrong speech and wrong deed in one's profession it is called right livelihood. When one is engaging in five unwholesome profession which we have stated before trading poisons and so on deemed by the Buddha those five professions already hurt and harm people if you are engaging in it this is an unwholesome profession wrong profession by its nature because it is hurt and harm however one refrains foolishly from wrong speech and wrong deed in one's profession that person has a beautiful mental factor of right livelihood at that particular moment he might be doing a engaging a wrong profession but one refrains intentionally refrain from lying or killing makes the beautiful mental factor of summa ajiwa arises. They are complementalized one at a time each has its own function based on the volition so this beautiful mental factor abstinence or weirdity arises only at the moment when one is purposely abstaining or refraining wrong actions and if you do that it produces right speech and right deed simply wrong actions produce right speech and right deed or right livelihood intentionally purposely so that there is no wrong speech wrong deed and wrong livelihood at that moment that's called weirity because let's see another scenario another case let's say you are chanting you are chanting a mingala sutta properly correctly totally focused on its meaning and senses during that chanting period you do not have wrong speech you do not have wrong deed you do not have wrong livelihood you are as absent from these three but at that moment you have no virity abstinence mental factor in your mind because you are doing a different thing and it is devoid of the three wrongdoings but it is not virity abstinence one must volitionally refrain from doing the wrong actions only then it will cause to arise abstinence virity so there are three abstinence speech deed and livelihood these three abstinence exist in three different modes these are explained in the by the elders in the commentaries three different modes these three modes are one is occasion two is taking precepts and third is cutting off kilisa so what is occasion in Pali it's called sampata virati it is abstaining from wrongdoings when one comes face to face with a situation or condition that calls let's say if you lie it is more beneficial more profitable for you if you don't lie you will lose some in other words the situation or occasion is prompting you to lie so that you can profit more that is facing with an occasion but at that moment for a certain reason whatever the reason is for a certain reason you use that reason in your mind not to do it not to lie doesn't matter if I lose I lose if I don't profit it's okay I won't lie but one thing is exception is the reason is not that you have taken five precepts you have not taken five precepts but you come face to face with the occasion and you choose not to lie that is abstaining under a condition or occasion abstinent using a reason or excuse not to do wrong when the occasion arises that is sampakta viriti one would never tell wrong speech or do wrong deeds even though the occasions demands for it because it is to your favor to do to lie or to do wrong thing occasion demands for it that is sampata virati lying killing deeds and also ripe livelihood it's the same for right livelihood let's build up a scenario let's say a cattle rancher who raised cattle kill and sell meat a cattle rancher intentionally spares a cow from killing is killing a hundred cows but he intentionally spared to kill one cow why let's see that cows his daughter loves very much that cow so the daughter asked him not to so that is the reason whatever the reason is he intentionally spared that cow's life it is a spontaneous act it is a natural act based on a reason at that particular moment beautiful mental factor samiwa right livelihood is arising in that person mind when he spirit that is sampathi abstinence by occasion the next one is samadana virati abstinence by undertaking precepts let's say you are a very serious person you have a great teacher in the morning went to the monastery and pay respect and take the five precepts from the teacher and you live your day and then let's see it's a forest monastery and you come across while you're doing walking meditation in the forest you come across a snake that was about to bite you could have used a stick and strike the snake dead but you reflect at that time I took a precepts and from my teacher that I have great confidence and devotion I will not break my precepts if the snakes want to bite bite me I'm not going to kill that snake that is you avoid doing wrong things because you have taken a precept that kind of avoidance or refraining or abstaining wrongdoings or wrong speech or wrong livelihood is called samadanatvirti abstinence by undertaking precepts and the third and final one is called samuksida virti abstinence by eradicating mental defilements it means abstinence by eradicating mental defilements this abstinence or weird is accomplished by cutting off the kilisa mental defilements samuchida means cutting off in this case abstinence are accomplished by cutting off kilisa mental defilement when a person becomes enlightened or let's say becomes an arahant all mental defilements are eradicated no more law but dosah moha greek anger and delusions are gone totally uprooted this means all tendency of doing wrongs or evil cannot arise in that person anymore it is not that they have to refrain these mental states of defilement cannot arise in an Arahant in an enlightened person therefore all tendencies of doing wrong actions are absent in that person totally absent at the moment of enlightenment all three types of abstinence arise together in that person and it is virtually accomplished they arise they don't have to abstain by occasion they don't have to abstain by precept And it is just by cutting off all three are taken care of. All three abstinence are virtually accomplished by the by an Arhant once he had attained an enlightenment. May all of you be able to develop samukcheta virati. Abstinence by eradicating mental defilements as soon as possible.