affection

Chapter Sixteen -- Affection

1. Giving oneself to things to be shunned
   and not exerting oneself where exertion is needed,
   seekers after pleasures forsake their own true
   welfare and will come to envy those intent
   upon their welfare.
   
2. Seek no intimacy with the beloved and
   also not with the unloved, for not to see the
   beloved and to see the unloved, both are painful.
   
3. Therefore, hold nothing dear, for separation
   from the dear is painful. There are no bonds
   for those who have nothing beloved or unloved.
   
4. From endearment springs grief, from
   endearment springs fear. For those who are
   wholly free from endearment there is no grief,
   whence then fear?
   
5. From affection springs grief, from affection
   springs fear. For those who are wholly free
   from affection there is no grief, whence then fear?
   
6. From attachment springs grief, from
   attachment springs fear. For those who are wholly
   free from attachment there is no grief,
   whence then fear?
   
7. From lust springs grief, from lust springs
   fear. For those who are wholly free from lust
   there is no grief, whence then fear.
   
8. From craving springs grief, from craving
   springs fear. For those who are wholly free from
   craving there is no grief, whence then fear?
   
9. People hold dear one who embodies
   virtue and insight, who is principled, has realized
   the Truth, and who oneself does what one ought
   to be doing.
   
10. One who is intent upon the Ineffable
    (Nibbana) and dwells with mind inspired (by
    wisdom), such a person--no more bound by sense
    pleasures--is called "One Bound Upstream."
    
11. When, after a long absence, a person safely
    returns home from afar, relatives, friends and
    well-wishers welcome the person home on arrival.
    
12. As kinspeople welcome a dear one on arrival,
    even so one's own good deeds will welcome the doer
    of good who has gone from this world to the next.

Af*fec"tion (#), n. [F. affection, L. affectio, fr. afficere. See Affect.]

1.

The act of affecting or acting upon; the state of being affected.

2.

An attribute; a quality or property; a condition; a bodily state; as, figure, weight, etc. , are affections of bodies.

Boyle.

And, truly, waking dreams were, more or less, An old and strange affection of the house. Tennyson.

3.

Bent of mind; a feeling or natural impulse or natural impulse acting upon and swaying the mind; any emotion; as, the benevolent affections, esteem, gratitude, etc. ; the malevolent affections, hatred, envy, etc.; inclination; disposition; propensity; tendency.

Affection is applicable to an unpleasant as well as a pleasant state of the mind, when impressed by any object or quality. Cogan.

4.

A settled good will; kind feeling; love; zealous or tender attachment; -- often in the pl. Formerly followed by to, but now more generally by for or towards; as, filial, social, or conjugal affections; to have an affection for or towards children.

All his affections are set on his own country. Macaulay.

5. Prejudice; bias. [Obs.]

Bp. Aylmer.

6. Med.

Disease; morbid symptom; malady; as, a pulmonary affection.

Dunglison.

7.

The lively representation of any emotion.

Wotton.

8.

Affectation.

Shak.

9.

Passion; violent emotion.

Most wretched man, That to affections does the bridle lend. Spenser.

Syn. -- Attachment; passion; tenderness; fondness; kindness; love; good will. See Attachment; Disease.

© Webster 1913.