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Practice
The Treatise on What Is to Be Drunk as Cream: Drink the Clear, Discard the Dregs
Maṇḍapeyyakathā
The Buddha said this holy life is to be drunk like the finest, clearest part. The Paṭisambhidāmagga expands that every wholesome quality has dregs to pour away: faith discards faithlessness, energy discards laziness, mindfulness discards heedlessness — and one drinks the taste of meaning, of Dhamma and of liberation.
7 points
The Treatise on What Is to Be Drunk as Cream (Maṇḍapeyyakathā) in the Great Chapter of the Paṭisambhidāmagga, Khuddaka Nikāya, begins with the Buddha's words: "This holy life, while the Teacher is present, is clear and fit to be drunk." Maṇḍa means the clearest, finest part; the dregs are called kasaṭa.
It divides this clarity into three: the clarity of the teaching, the clarity of those who receive it, and the clarity of the holy life, the noble eightfold path. Then it goes through each of the five faculties, five powers, seven enlightenment factors and eight path factors, naming the clear part of each and the dregs to be poured away.
The treatise ends by saying that what is truly to be drunk is the taste of meaning, the taste of Dhamma and the taste of liberation in those qualities, and that nibbāna is the clear part in the sense of the final end.
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1
The holy life is clear and fit to drink Maṇḍapeyyamidaṃ bhikkhave brahmacariyaṃ
The Buddha's words at the head of the treatise: this holy life, while the Teacher is present, is clear and fit to be drunk — the best part, to be taken in, not merely tasted in passing.
Applying it in daily lifeWhen you read or hear good Dhamma, don't just store it as knowledge. Pick one point and "drink" it — put it into practice that week.
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2
Three kinds of clarity Desanāmaṇḍo paṭiggahamaṇḍo brahmacariyamaṇḍo
The clarity of the teaching is the telling, teaching, analysing and making plain of the four noble truths, the foundations of mindfulness and so on up to the eightfold path. The clarity of reception is monks, nuns, laymen, laywomen, deities, humans, or any others who understand. The clarity of the holy life is the noble eightfold path.
Applying it in daily lifeWhen you explain something difficult to someone, follow the principle of "making it plain" in this list. When you're the listener, bring an open mind, since the receiver is also part of the clarity.
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Faith and energy: discard faithlessness, discard laziness Assaddhiyaṃ kasaṭaṃ chaḍḍetvā
The faculty of faith is the clarity of resolve; faithlessness is the dregs. One pours away the dregs of faithlessness and drinks the clear part. The faculty of energy is the clarity of exertion; laziness is the dregs.
Applying it in daily lifeWhen you procrastinate, call it plainly "the dregs", then do the smallest part of the task at once. Naming it makes it easier to pour away.
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4
Mindfulness, concentration, wisdom: discard heedlessness, restlessness and ignorance Uddhaccaṃ kasaṭo
The faculty of mindfulness is the clarity of establishment; heedlessness is the dregs. The faculty of concentration is the clarity of non-distraction; restlessness is the dregs. The faculty of wisdom is the clarity of seeing; ignorance is the dregs. The five powers are treated the same way, in terms of being unshaken.
Applying it in daily lifeBefore work that needs concentration, pour off the obvious "dregs" first: turn off notifications and put your phone out of reach, then begin.
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Enlightenment factors: rapture discards fever, equanimity discards non-reflection Pariḷāho kasaṭo
Among the enlightenment factors, rapture is the clarity of pervading, and fever is the dregs; tranquillity is the clarity of calm, and coarseness is the dregs; equanimity is the clarity of reflection, and non-reflection is the dregs.
Applying it in daily lifeNotice that feverish excitement isn't the contentment of rapture, and blank indifference isn't equanimity. True equanimity still sees and reflects.
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The eightfold path: discard every wrong factor Micchādiṭṭhi kasaṭo
Right view is the clarity of seeing, and wrong view is the dregs; right speech is the clarity of embracing, and wrong speech is the dregs; right livelihood is the clarity of purity, and wrong livelihood is the dregs — and so on to right concentration, whose dregs are wrong concentration.
Applying it in daily lifeTake one path factor a week and see what its "dregs" are in your life. This week, for speech, notice exaggerations or gossip that slip out.
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7
What is to be drunk: the taste of meaning, Dhamma and liberation Attharaso dhammaraso vimuttiraso
He concludes: there is the clear part, there is what is to be drunk, there are the dregs. The taste of meaning, the taste of Dhamma and the taste of liberation in each of those qualities is what is to be drunk. The treatise ends by saying that nibbāna, which plunges into the deathless, is the clear part in the sense of the final end.
Applying it in daily lifeAfter doing something good, pause a moment to "taste" what you gained: clearer understanding and a lighter mind. Knowing the taste makes you want to continue without forcing yourself.
Try it in daily life
The image of pouring off the dregs and drinking the clear part is easy to grasp, like pouring water from a jug with sediment at the bottom. You don't need to filter the whole jug again; you only need to know where the sediment is and not pour it into your glass.
In practice, every quality you want to develop has its "dregs". If you want energy, you must know what laziness looks like; if you want concentration, you must know restlessness. Knowing the dregs lets you pour them off in the right place.
The treatise also reminds us that hearing the Dhamma well needs both a good teacher and a ready listener. If you read or hear the Dhamma and get nothing from it, look at both sides.
Sources in the Tipiṭaka
Tap to read the actual passage on the page cited.
- Maṇḍapeyyakathā Thai Royal Edition · Volume 31 · page 239 Three kinds of clarity, the clear part and dregs of the faculties, powers, enlightenment factors and path, and the taste to be drunk
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