An analytical of beauty in the story of Phra Nandathera

Abstract

The objectives of this research were: 1) to study the beauty in Buddhist philosophy; 2) to study the beauty in the story of Phra Nandathera; 3) to analyze the beauty in the story of Phra Nandathera. This study was carried out by means of documentary research by collecting data from primary and secondary documents. The obtained data were analyzed by descriptive methods.
The result of this research as follows:
1. Beauty, in the viewpoint of Buddhist philosophy, is beauty in two dimensions: (1) material beauty which is the beauty that consists of the five sensual pleasures (Kāmaguna). It is beauty in form, sound, smell, taste, and touch. In Buddhism, this is regarded as worldly beauty; (2) psychological beauty is the beauty within, the beauty of the mind. This beauty arises from the reduction, cessation, and abandonment of defilements, which is called beauty in the supramundane level in Buddhism.
2. The beauty in the story of Phra Nandathera appears on two levels. (1) worldly beauty: the beauty that arises from the satisfaction of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and the beauty that arises from considering the five sensual pleasures as the threefold characteristics, which are impermanent, suffering, and unbearable in its original state. (2) Supramundane beauty is the beauty that comes from seeing the truth, having a mind that is free from defilements, a mind that is clean, bright, and calm and attains Nibbāna.
3. Based on the analysis of beauty in the story of Phra Nandathera, it is a contemplation of beauty in three levels: (1) beauty in the primary level, which is the beauty of form, sound, smell, taste, and touch, that consists of the five sensual pleasures; (2) the beauty in the middle which is the beauty of restraint in eroticism; (3) the high level of beauty which is the beauty that arises from the elimination of desires and seeing the truth according to the threefold characteristics, which are pure beauty (attaining Nibbāna).