Identity and Experience_Hamilton_1996

76 Identity and Experience
might in any case expect to find a passage on this subject included in the
canonical material since it is a pan-Indian belief that one can to a greater
or lesser extent choose or influence one's next life by one's particular
aspirations at the time of death.43 And the Buddha's teaching that karma is
volition gives considerably more credence to this notion. But the message
the Sutta contains is far more powerful if considered in the light of its final
paragraph. This states that a bhzkkhu who has reached the advanced stage
implied by possession of the five qualities of faith, moral standing, learning,
detachment and wisdom, need not have inclinations towards a specific
favourable rebirth such as those already mentioned. He also has the choice
of liberation, which is achieved through the extinction of the iisavas. Since
one of the Esavas is the desire for continued becoming, we can see that it is
the extinction of this altogether, rather than desiring to continue to become
in a favourable circumstance, that is necessary in order to bring about the
liberating factor of no subsequent arising (rebirth) at all.44 So while this
Sutta does serve to illustrate that specific mental inclinations can produce
specific results, the message of the Sutta is, rather, a warning of the binding
power of volitions.
Having discussed sapkhira in the contexts of the pa.hcmuppiida formula
and the sapk+zErWndha and established a relatively clear understanding of
how each contributes in its own way to the cyclic ethical activities of the
individual, I turn now to illustrating that, in practice, the complex of
volitional factors of which an individual is comprised is far from being so
clearly defined. Volitions do not come to fruition according to a set
temporal pattern. They can therefore lie dormant, as it were, and for long
periods of time condition the constitution of the individual through the
cyclic way the formative activities and the volitions condition each other.
The term used in Pali to indicate this is anusya, which means: "bent, bias,
proclivity, the persistence of a dormant or latent disposition, predisposition,
tendency. Always in a bad sense".45 'Bad' of course means binding, not bad
in the legal sense of criminal or even in the simple sense of unpleasant. The
English term 'bias' is perhaps a good word to convey the connotations
associated with anuraya. That anusaya implies 'bad' tendencies is suggested
in passages which equate their absence with the absence of other
fundamentally binding factors. In the Sutta N;Pcita we read of "the bhiMu in
whom there are no latent tendencies, in whom the unwholesome roots are
de~troyed".~~ The venerable Khemaka, who has managed to eradicate
overt identification with each of the five khandhas, still has not "eradicated
the tendency to think 'I am"'.47 The subtle nature of this tendency is
likened in the text to a soiled cloth which has been washed clean but which
still has about it the vague smell of salt or cow-dung. It has to be returned
to the washerman to leave it for some time in a sweet-scented coffer
(analogous to further meditation on selflessness). The vague smell will then
be completely removed.