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Practice ZE D The Qualities of the Combatant and the "Departure" The training or development (bhāvanā) presents in the Buddhist doctrine two stages. In the first place, there are the kinds of discipline that, not being carried beyond a certain point, serve only for this life; they are distinguished from those that are considered as "wisdom" and that relate to a more than human experience (uttari-manussa-dhamma).+ More important and more general, however, is the division of the whole ascesis into three sections: the preparatory section of "right conduct" (sila); the section of spiritual concentration and contemplation (samadhi); and finally, the section of "wisdom" or transcendental knowledge and spiritual illumination (pafifia); (Skt.: prajfia).2 In what follows we propose to arrange the disciplines referred to in the texts into one or other of these three sections in the manner most satisfactory for the reader.

Our aim is not purely informative; we hope to provide also, for anyone who may be interested, some practical guidance. The exposition, then, will be accompanied, where necessary, by an interpretation based on what can be considered as "constant" in a careful comparison of the various traditions.

Before we discuss the instruments of the ascesis we must make some general observations on the preliminary conditions required of the individual, apart from what has already been said about the determination of the vocations. The first point is that in order to aspire to awakening one must be a human being.

The possibility of achieving absolute liberation is offered primarily, according to Buddhism, only to one who is born a man. Not only those who are in lower conditions of existence than the human, but also those who are in higher conditions, such as the devā, the celestial or "angelical" beings, do not have this opportunity.

While, on the one hand, the human condition is considered to be one of fundamental contingency and infirmity, on the other it is thought of as a privileged state, obtainable only with great difficulty—"it is a hard thing to be born a man."

The supermundane destiny of beings is decided upon earth: the theory of the bodhisattva even considers the possibility of "descents" to earth of beings who have already achieved very high, "divine" states of consciousness, in order to complete the work.

As we shall see, liberation can occur also in posthumous states: but even in these cases it is thought of as the consequence or development of a realization or of a "knowledge" already achieved on earth. Man's privilege, as conceived by Buddhism along such lines, would seem to be one that is connected with a fundamental liberty.

From this point of view man is potentially an atideva, he is of a higher nature than the "gods," for the same reason as is found in the hermetic tradition;? that is, since he contains in himself, not only divine nature to which angels and gods are tied, but also mortal nature, not only existence but also nonexistence: whence he has the opportunity of arriving at the supertheistic summit that we have discussed, and which is in fact the "great liberation."

Those who desired to enter the order created by Prince Siddhattha were specifically asked: Are you really a man? It is taken as a premise in this case that not all those who appear to be human are really "men." The views, widespread in ancient India as elsewhere, that in some men animal beings were reincarnated—or vice versa: that some men would be "reborn" in this or that "animal womb"—may be understood symbolically:® they refer, that is, to human existences whose central element is guided entirely by one of those elemental forces that externally manifest themselves in the normal way in one or other animal species.

We have, moreover, already spoken of the limitations arising out of the various "races of the spirit." A third point is that an original condition imposed by the canon for admission into the order was that of being of male sex. Eunuchs, hermaphrodites, and women were not accepted.”