rupa-raga: craving for fine material existence, the sixth fetter.
Rupa means form. In nama-rupa, it means matter in contrast to mind.
In physical matter, it can refer to a distinct shape which appears as a separate recognisable object. In matter which is not living, it could be a statue, a rock, a lake, a building, a photograph etc.
Rupa-raga at this level can be for anything recognisable which is seen and stimulates desire and attachment. It may be accompanied by kama-raga as in the case of e.g. the Rokeby Venus; or it may not if the attraction is aesthetic e.g. Constable's Hay Wain or the view from the bedroom window. It may also be for things heard, e.g. a symphony.
Where there is no kama-raga, it is clear that the attachment is for the perceived form which is superimposed by the mind on a physical sangkhara made up of the four elements. Ordinarily this is not realised. In such a case, if the physical object is destroyed, the form disappears and unpleasant feelings, in proportion to attachment, are experienced as though something real had actually been lost.
Those who can see the distinction between the collection of physical elements and the mentally superimposed image, go for the image. A mental image can be made of an object without its imperfections. In the Hay Wain, the seasons do not change, there are no gadflies, no smells of horse manure, no unwelcome sounds. The worst that can happen is that the canvas itself can be destroyed. If one goes one stage further and dispenses with the canvas, retaining the imagery solely in the mind, one detaches it altogether from matter. One can also improve it. One can choose to view it in Spring or in a snow storm. One can people it with one's friends. One can introduce motion and background music from the Pastoral Symphony. One can bring it alive. One can enter it.
At this point one creates a heaven world in which "moth and rust doth not corrupt nor do thieves break in and steal". Anyone, using a combination of merit, imagination (the creation of images i.e. rupas) and concentration, can do this.
Hence the basis for a fetter: either to forms associated with the elements (i.e. the material sangsara) or to forms dissociated from the elements, i.e. heaven worlds (including the Christian). In either case one is drawn back to the objects of one's desire to be born again on the plane on which they exist. And to die again.
New Project: The Seventh Sanyojana
No comments:
Post a Comment