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-916 8797] Chapter Nine
1323 Excellent forbearance, excellent gentleness, excellent straightforwardness, excellent purity, excellent truthfulness, excellent self-control, excellent austerity, excellent renunciation, excellent non-attachment, and excellent celibacy are the ten types of Dharma. ||6||
8 797. Question: Why is this said? Answer: The first reason is to restrain the tendencies. The second reason is to show the means of restraining the tendencies to those who are unable to do so. This explanation of the ten types of Dharma should be known to those who are engaged in the community, to avoid negligence. Forbearance is the absence of defilement when a mendicant, seeking the cause of the body's existence, encounters wicked people who insult, mock, scorn, beat, and torture the body. Gentleness is the absence of pride arising from birth or other sources. Straightforwardness is the absence of crookedness in the yogas. Purity is the renunciation of greed that has been acquired through excellence. Truthfulness is speaking good words to good people. Question: Does this fall under the category of verbal restraint? Answer: This is not a fault, because a muni who is engaged in the community speaks to both good and bad people in a way that is beneficial and measured. Otherwise, there would be the fault of punishment due to attachment. This is the meaning of verbal restraint. However, according to the true Dharma, a muni who is engaged in the community, a virtuous person, an initiated person, or their devotees, are allowed to inform others of many duties, such as teaching knowledge and character, and they do all this for the sake of the growth of Dharma. Therefore, true Dharma does not fall under the category of verbal restraint. Self-control is the restraint of the senses of a being who is engaged in the community. Austerity is the practice of penance for the destruction of karma. This should be understood as the twelve types that will be explained later. Renunciation is the giving of knowledge and other things that are suitable for the self-controlled. Non-attachment is the renunciation of the idea of "mine" in relation to the body and other things that have been acquired, even in those things, for the purpose of eliminating karmic impressions. One who has nothing is non-attached, and their state of mind or action is non-attachment. The remembrance of a woman who has been experienced, the hearing of stories about women,