[continued 2]
The Buddha taught that
one is not a brahmin by birth but by deeds, a teaching mirrored in the story
of Sunīta. He was born in a family of outcasts whose traditional work was to
throw away the garlands and flowers used in peoples’ homes, festivals and
worship. One night as the Buddha sat in meditation of the Net of Great
Compassion, Sunīta came to his knowledge and he saw the requirements for
Arahantship in his heart, shining like a lamp within a jar. When dawn came the
Buddha took his bowl and followed by the Bhikkhus set out on alms round, until
he came to the place where Sunīta was working. He was sweeping up rubbish into
heaps, putting it into baskets, which he then took away on a carrying-pole.
(Now according to caste laws, outcasts such as Sunīta must not come into
contact with or approach, those of the higher castes). Sunīta seeing the
Buddha was filled with joy and finding no place to hide in on that road, he
placed his pole in a corner of a wall and stood as if stuck to the wall
honouring the Buddha with his hands together. When the Buddha came near he
said to Sunīta, ‘What is this wretched way of life to you? Can you bear to go
forth?’ And Sunīta, experiencing the rapture of one who has been sprinkled
with the Deathless, said: ‘If even such as I, Exalted One, may in this life go
forth, why should I not do so? May the Exalted One having compassion on me,
let me go forth! And the Buddha said. ‘Come, Bhikkhu!’ and that was his
Acceptance. After hearing the Buddha’s instructions he won attainments in due
order until Arahantship - and Sakka and Brahma with their heavenly retinues
came to pay him homage. Many Bhikkhus hearing of his attainment, came to ask
him questions - ’From what family did you go forth?’ ‘Why did you go forth?’
‘How did you penetrate the four Noble Truths?’ Sunīta told them the whole
matter in these words:
(620-631)
Sumangala was also a
poor men who earned a sparse living in the fields with a sickle, plough and
mattock. One day when King Pasenadi had given a great offering to the Buddha
and the Bhikkhu-Sangha, he saw this and thought, ‘These Sakiyan samanas live
in sheltered lodgings and have fine robes - what if I were to go forth too?’
When he had gone forth, he took a meditation exercise to the forest but he
could not stand the solitude and thought to return to his village. But as he
went along he saw peasants in the fields working hard with soiled clothes,
covered with dust and seared by hot winds and it occurred to him how much
misery they had in their lives. So roused to great exertion by this he
attained Arahantship and to celebrate his emancipation from suffering he
uttered this verse:
(43)
Kappatakura was even
worse off since, born of a poor family, as a boy the only way he could support
himself was to go round clad in rags and begging for rice - hence his nickname
‘Rags-and-rice’ (Kappata-kura). Later, he lived by cutting and selling grass.
One day engaged in cutting grass in the forest, he saw a Thera and sitting
down near him, heard Dhamma. Then he thought ‘What is this wretched way of
life to me?’ and so entered the Sangha, putting his ragged cloth aside.
Whenever discontent with the Bhikkhu-life assailed him he would go and look at
his rags, put them on and then lead a layman’s life again. He left the Sangha
in this way, seven times and Bhikkhus told the Buddha about him. One day, as
he was a Bhikkhu again, he sat nodding on the outside of the assembled
Bhikkhus while the Buddha was giving a Dhamma-talk. The Buddha admonished him
with these verses (quoting Kappatakura’s thoughts about his rags):
(199-200)
This strong exhortation
of the Buddha pierced, as it were, even to his bones and he thus managed to
establish insight and soon attain Arahantship. Then he repeated these verses,
which had been his goad as his declaration of perfect knowledge.
In accordance with his
past kamma, Dasaka was reborn in Sāvatthi as the child of a slave of
Anāthapindika the great merchant and was appointed by him as gate-porter of
the great monastery built by him. His master freed him and he was accepted as
a Bhikkhu but soon grew slothful sleeping long after meals, and made no
efforts to free himself from the round of birth and death. When Dhamma was
taught he would find a corner on the outskirts of the assembly and sit there
snoring. To stir him the Buddha one day spoke this verse:
(17)
Aroused by this
exhortation the Thera shortly afterwards won Arahantship.
Now we come to the
verses of two boys, both called Sopaka, meaning ‘of low caste’ and both born
poorly. The first of them lost his father when young and was brought up by his
uncle. That man, instigated by his own son attempted to have Sopaka killed by
taking him to the charnel-ground at night and there tying him to a corpse,
thinking, ‘The jackals will kill him’. But when they came young Sopaka cried
out for help and the Buddha at that time sitting in meditation saw his plight,
also that his heart contained the conditions for Arahantship. So he projected
a vision of himself and spoke to Sopaka words of comfort and the boy burst his
bonds and went to where the Buddha stayed, already a Stream-winner. The Buddha
later taught his mother Dhamma so that she won the fruit of Stream-winning
while Sopaka, concealed from her, became an Arahant. Then the Buddha wished to
give him the Acceptance[17]
and so asked him what later was called ‘The Boy’s Questions’. All the ten
questions, beginning with ‘What is the one?’ (A. All beings are sustained by
food), were answered accurately by Sopaka, so this was his Acceptance. Sopaka
Thera told of his Acceptance in this way:
The other boy Sopaka’s
mother had great difficulties at his birth and fell into a coma. Relatives,
thinking her dead, carried her with Sopaka still unborn, to the charnel-ground
and began to cremate ‘the body’ and having lit the pyre, went away. Rain put
out the fire and Sopaka was born, though the mother died. The watchman of that
place adopted the boy who, when seven years old, came to the notice of the
Buddha seated in meditation. Realising that this boy could win Arahantship,
the Buddha went there and Sopaka rejoicing, saluted him. After obtaining the
consent of the father, Sopaka became a member of the Sangha, the Buddha giving
him the meditation-subject of loving-kindness (mettā). And after winning Arahantship through this method, Sopaka
encouraged all the other Bhikkhus and samaneras to practise in the same way -
making no difference between those who are friendly, indifferent or hostile -
for all alike their love should be one and the same nature, including all
states of existence, all beings in all ages:
(33)
Brahmadatta was another
Bhikkhu who showed the power of his loving-kindness, though in his case, in
the face of difficulties. He was a prince, son of the King of Kosala and saw
the greatness of the Buddha, when the Jeta Grove was presented. Having faith,
he entered the Sangha and in due course attained Arahantship. One day on alms
round, a Brahmin abused him but the Thera continued in silence. Again the
Brahmin reviled him and people commented on the Thera’s silence. At this,
Brahmadatta taught them Dhamma:
That Brahmin, hearing
these words, asked both for forgiveness and for the Going-forth and practising
the development of loving-kindness was taught in this way by Brahmadatta
Thera:
Out of loving-kindness
and compassion, Passika helped his
unbelieving kinsfolk. He came of a brahmin family and after gaining confidence
in the Buddha, entered the Sangha. While he was practising he fell sick and
his relatives attended upon him and healed him. Greatly moved by the illness
to the dangers in life, he increased his efforts and so won Arahantship.
Afterwards, he established his kins men in the Refuges and Precepts so that
when they died rebirth took place in the heavenly realms. And when the Buddha
asked him about his relatives, Passika Thera replied:
Another Bhikkhu who was
ill was Vakkali
, born in a brahmin family
and proficient in the three Vedas with their ritual. He one day saw the Buddha
and so great was his attraction that he left home for the homeless life, so
that he could see more of his person. He followed the Buddha everywhere and
never took his eyes off him until one day laid low by illness he could not see
him any more. When Bhikkhus saw that he was depressed, he explained to them
that he could not see the Buddha and they arranged for the Buddha to visit
him. The Teacher said to him ‘What is there in seeing this vile body. He who
sees Dhamma sees me - he truly sees me’[23].
Vakkali no longer gazed, but his attachment was still strong, so the Buddha
sent him away at the end of the Rains-retreat. Vakkali dwelt on the Vulture
Peak near Rajagaha gradually maturing his insight but suffered from
insufficiency of food, so one day the Buddha visited him and said:
Vakkali:
With these words the
Thera aroused insight and attained Arahantship.
And now by way of a
lighter interlude, here is
Usabha who was born among the Buddha’s own people, the Sakiyans
and when the Buddha visited his kinsfolk out of compassion for them, Usabha
saw his power and wisdom and having confidence, entered the Sangha. But all
his days after this were passed in company with others while all his nights
went in sleep and he neglected all practice of Dhamma. One day, confused in
mind and negligent, he dropped off to sleep and dreamt that he had shaved his
head and beard, put on a purple cloak, and then seated on an elephant, entered
the town for alms food! Seeing the people there he dismounted for shame and
awoke then thinking, ‘Why, it was a dream! Confused and unmindful I saw myself
in sleep!’ Roused by this incident he established insight and in due course
won Arahantship. And as he had made the dream his goad, so he celebrated it
when declaring his perfect knowledge:
[13]Rajagaha (modern Rajgir).
[14]The words tranlated, ‘Holy Life’, ‘holy one’ and ‘holiness’ are brahma cariya, brahman and brahmanam.
[15]Bracketted words are partly explanations supplied by the Commentary and partly gessswork. The text seems rather corrupt - meaningless if translated literaly. There is as little of metre in the Pali of the first verse as in my rendering.
[16]Trans. Van. Nyanamoli Thera, in „The Guide“ (Pali Text Society, London). This is also verse 325 of the Dhammapada („The Path of Truth“, Mahamakut Press, Bangkok).
[17]This is an exceptional case since Sopaka was nowhere near twenty years old.
[18]‘Thus’ - seeing things as they really are.
[19]Simile of the Saw, see Middle Length Collection, Discorse 21.
[20]Simile of the Son’s Flesh, see Related Collection, II, 63 (and Wheel No. 105-106, B.P.S.)
[21]Simile of the Lute, see Related Collection, IV, 205.
[22]The thirty-three - a name for one of the sensual realm heavens.
[23]The Buddha is unique among Indian Teachers not agreeing to the common worshipful attitude among devotees (bhaktas) of blind faith. He wanted people not merely to follow but to practice and understand thoroughly. This is shock treatment for a bhakta!
[24]Destruction of the pollutions (āsava): the pollution of sense-desires, the pollution of existence the pollution of unknowing, and sometimes added: the pollution of views. See, the Buddhist Dictionary, Nyanatiloka Mahathera, B.P.S., Kandy, for definitions.