Bhikkhu Pesala - Where Have You Come From

7/30/2019 Bhikkhu Pesala - Where Have You Come From

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The Weaver's Daughter A

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Where Have You

Come From?

byBhikkhu Pesala


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Where Have YouCome From?

byBhikkhu Pesala

Latest Edition Nov 2012Bhikkhu PesalaAssociation for Insight MeditationYou may print copies of this book for your own use. However,

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Contents

The Weavers Daughter ..........................................................1

Who Am I?..............................................................................4

How Can We Remove Egoism?..............................................5Who Can Attain Nibbna?......................................................8

To Where Are You Going?.....................................................10


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1

The Weavers DaughterThe Buddhas daily routine was exaordinary, he slept for

only a few hours in the early hours of the morning. We dividethe night into three watches: om 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., om 10 p.m.

to 2 a.m., and om 2 a.m. to 6 a.m.. In the first watch, aerbathing, the Buddha taught the communi of monks. At theend of the first watch, the monks would return to their quarters.Then celestial beings approached the Buddha to ask questions.The Buddha spent the middle watch answering their questions.

During the first part of the last watch the Buddha practisedwalking meditation to relieve the stiffness caused by siing sincethe morning. In the second part, the Buddha lay down mindfully

and slept. In the third part, he enjoyed the bliss of nibbna. Aerabiding in the absorption of great compassion in the fourth part,at dawn he considered who was ready to be taught the Dhamma.

One morning he perceived in his divine eye the daughterof a poor weaver whose wife had just died. Realising that theyoung girl needed to hear his teaching, the Buddha went onfoot to the village where she was staying. Seeing the Buddha

arrive, the villagers invited him for the meal, and the Buddhagave a discourse aer the meal to all the villagers, includingthe young girl. The essence of his teaching was as follows:

Death is certain, life is uncertain. Contemplate death constantlyto overcome the fear of death. As one who enters the junglearmed with a stick is not aaid on seeing a snake, one whocontemplates death constantly is not aaid if death comes

suddenly. The villagers all appreciated the Buddhas discourse,and for several days meditated seriously on death. However,aer a week or so every one of them had forgoen the Buddhasadvice, and was carrying on just as heedlessly as before except, that is, for the young girl. Because her mother hadrecently died, she could not forget the Buddhas words. Shemeditated constantly on death, for months and years aerwards.

Three years later the Buddha reconsidered the weaversdaughter situation and, seeing that she now had mature insight,


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2 The Weaver's Daughter

he went to her village to teach her again. She was now sixteen,and had to work hard to help her father, who had no otherchildren. On the day that the Buddha arrived, the weaver had

been working all night to finish an urgent job, and his daughterwas busy spinning more thread for her father. Hearing that theBuddha had arrived she considered what she should do. Shedecided to go to see the Buddha as soon as she had finishedher spinning, then she would take the newly spun thread toher father.

The villagers offered the meal to the Buddha, but as the girlwas not present, the Buddha sat in silence aer the meal waitingfor her to arrive. The villagers were obliged to wait in silencetoo, out of respect for the Buddha. Finally, the young girl arrived,and the Buddha asked her the following four questions:

Young girl, where have you come om?I do not know, Lord she replied.Young girl, to where are you going?I do not know, Lord she replied.

Do you not know?I know, Lord she replied.Do you know?I do not know, Lord she replied.The villagers were baffled by her answers. Some thought

she was being cheeky, and started scolding her, Why dontyou tell the Buddha that you came om the spinning-shed, and

are going to your fathers house?The Buddha silenced them and asked the girl to explain her

answers. The girl replied:When you asked, Where have you come om? you didnt

want to know that I came om the spinning-shed; you meantto ask om which existence I came to this one. So I replied thatI do not know.

When you asked, To where are you going? you meant toask to which existence I am going aer this one, so I againreplied that I do not know.


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The Weaver's Daughter 3

When you asked, Do you not know? you meant to ask, Doyou not know that you will die? so I replied that I know I will die.

When you asked, Do you know? you meant to ask, Do

you know when you will die? so I replied that I do not knowwhen I will die.

The Buddha praised the girl for her intelligent answers, andthe villagers were amazed. The Buddha then spoke thefollowing verse:

Blind is this world, only a few can see clearly. Like birdsthat escape om a net, only a few go to a blissful state.

The girl realised nibbna and became a Seam-winner onhearing this verse.

The young girl then went to her fathers house and put thenewly spun skein of thread down by the loom. Aer workingthe whole night, her father had fallen asleep at the loom. Whenhis daughter came in, he woke up with a start, and accidentallyswung a heavy beam on the loom. The beam suck the girl

hard, and she died on the spot. The father was totally disaught,and hurried to the Buddha to seek consolation. The Buddhaexplained the uth of suffering to him, and the weaver askedfor ordination, later aaining Arahantship.

The Buddhas love and compassion was unlimited. For thebenefit of one poor girl and her father, he twice went on a longjourney to teach the Dhamma, and he did not forget about the

girl aer the first visit, but returned as soon as he knew that sheneeded his help. Though he had many thousands of disciplesincluding kings and ministers, and also taught celestial beings,the Buddha always had time for anyone who would benefitom his teaching, even including beggars and slaves.

This story is very interesting for the Buddhist because itshows that although we do believe in rebirth we do not need

to remember our previous lives to gain nibbna, the goal ofBuddhism. The weavers daughter could not tell the Buddhaom which existence she had come to be reborn as a weavers


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daughter, but the Buddha was pleased with her answers. Shehad understood about the uncertain of life and the certainof death aer three years of meditation. That understanding

enabled her to aain nibbna while listening to the verse.Who Am I?

One who has aained nibbna no longer has any doubts suchas Am I? Am I not? What am I? How am I? since theegocenic way of thinking has been removed by insight. It is notunlike the case of someone who has grown up and lost interestin football. He is no longer disappointed when his football team

loses, or elated when they win. Even if he hears that his formerfootball team has been relegated to the second division, it no longermaers since he doesnt follow the team avidly any more.

Self-view is hard to remove entirely. We identi with ourfamily, our school, our neighbourhood, our local football team,our couny, or our racial group. If we hear any good or badnews about anything that we regard as ours then we feel elated

or depressed. If we hear someone say something critical aboutus personally, then we may feel terrible. However, we shouldnot take it too much to heart. There is a saying in theDhammapada:

They blame those who speak too much,They blame those who speak too lile,They blame those who remain silent.

No one escapes blame in this world.

Similarly, if someone praises us we should not becomeconceited because of that. If we work hard we will get a goodresult, that is only natural, but there is always someone whocan do beer than us, at least in other ways. It is hard to removepride and conceit, but we must do it if we want to gain thehighest happiness. The Buddha described how his pride andintoxication vanished, when he was still an unenlightenedBodhisaa. On seeing an old man, all pride and intoxication


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How Can We Remove Egoism? 5

in youth vanished. On seeing a sick man, all pride andintoxication in health vanished. On seeing a dead man, all prideand intoxication in life vanished.

How Can We Remove Egoism?How can we remove self-view, pride, and conceit? We must

develop mindfulness or awareness. Whatever thoughts orfeelings arise within us should be observed as they occur ommoment to moment. We should not allow ourselves to be heedlesseven for an instant. Heedlessness allows defilements like self-view,pride, and conceit to enter the mind and dominate it.

Perhaps you have enjoyed watching a cartoon like Tom andJerry. How did the ideas Tom and Jerry arise? When onewatches a cartoon, one become absorbed in the story and soon

begins to believe and feel what one imagines Tom and Jerryare feeling. Actually, Tom and Jerry exist only in our imagina-tions. A cartoon is only drawings that are displayed on thescreen in rapid succession. However, the mind arises and passes

away much more rapidly than the cartoon pictures, so it canput together the dialogue, sound effects, and pictures to createthe illusion that Tom really is bashing Jerry over the head witha ying-pan, so we are emotionally affected by what we see.

Real life is like this too. We see and hear things so rapidlythat our mind consucts a mental picture, which we regard asreal. If someone abuses us, we may feel like they are bashing

us over the head, they are making bad kamma, but we suffer.Why is this? It is due to the mental formations that we create.We cannot easily stop this natural process because it is the resultof previous kamma. Having abused others in the past, we haveto suffer abuse in the present. However, we can sharpen ourawareness of the process to the point where we can separatethe mental impressions om the experience of hearing. Even-tually, we will realise that all these impressions do not happento anyone, they just happen. Then we will realise that the ideaof a self, a person, a me, or a you, is just an illusion.


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Self-view is deeply rooted and cannot be removed by theunmindful person. The average, unmindful person dwells withself-view dominating his or her mind for the entire life. The

mindful meditator can disrupt it temporarily while engagedin meditation, but aer stopping meditation it will graduallyreassert itself unless the meditator has gained deep insight. Ifa meditator gains deep insight and aains the first path of aSeam-winner, self-view is completely desoyed, and willnever arise again. Such a person may be heedless to some extent,

but can never be careless enough to break any of the fiveprecepts. He or she is absolutely ee om rebirth in the fourlower realms of hell, hungry ghosts, demons, and animals, andwill aain final nibbna (Arahantship)within seven lives at themost. Having seen nibbna personally, he or she has unshake-able confidence in the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sagha, and isuly worthy of offerings and homage. The weavers daughterwas a Seam-winner.

Aer aaining nibbna, the Dhamma becomes cenal to the

life of a Seam-winner. They are not yet ee om sensual desireand anger, so they can lead a fairly normal family life. Wheneverthey wish to enjoy the peace of nibbna they can meditate again,developing concenation, and aaining the uition of the firstpath. If their concenation is song, they may remain in theaainment of uition for quite long periods, say, an hour ortwo. If they wish to aain the higher path, they should go into

reeat for meditation and resolve not to aain the uition ofthe first path during that period, and sive to aain the higherpath. If they are successful and aain the second path of aOnce-returner, they will be reborn on this earth only once moreat the most before aaining the final liberation ofArahantship.

The second path desoys song forms of lust and anger, butsome of these deep-rooted defilements remain, so they still

have some sensual aachment and ill-will. If the Once-returnersives again in meditation and aains the third path of aNon-returner, all aces of lust and anger are uprooted. Since


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How Can We Remove Egoism? 7

they have no sensual aachment at all they will not be born inthe womb again, and will take rebirth only in the SuddhavsaBrahm realms. These realms are the Theravda Pure Land

because only Non-returners are reborn there. The Bodhisaasare not reborn there either, because they are still worldlingswho have not yet gained even the first path of a Seam-winner.

Non-returners seem to be exemely rare these days. SayaThetgyi, a Burmese lay meditation teacher, who taught U BaKhin (Goenkajis teacher), was reputed to be a Non-returner.The Venerable Ledi Saydaw praised him and asked him toteach meditation to his own monk disciples. A Non-returnerwill be naturally inclined to lead a monastic life, having nosexual desire at all, but may be obliged to remain as a lay personto support relatives. The poer honoured by Buddha Kassapain the Ghakra Sua (Majjhimanikya, Sua 81) was aNon-returner. Though he was a humble poer, he was the chiefsupporter of Buddha Kassapa, and looked aer his own blindand aged parents. He did not use money, but let people take

his pots, leaving whatever goods they wished to in exchange.Knowing that he was a good supporter of the Buddha, theydonated generously so he didnt need any other source ofincome. Refusing to dig the earth himself, he gathered clayom river banks or that had been dug up by animals. Thus,though a layman, he lived on ten precepts like one gone forth.

The Non-returner has to sive again in meditation to aain

the final goal of Arahantship. Only then is all rebirth andsuffering finally desoyed. Not even the subtlest defilementsremain, so the Arahant is worthy of the highest honour. Theword Arahameans worthy. There have been a few monksin Burma and Thailand in recent years who are reputed to haveaained the final path. Venerable Ledi Saydaw was thoughtto be one, but it is hard to be sure, since Arahants are exemely

modest about their aainments.A certain monk was living in dependence on an elder whowas an Arahant. Living in dependence meant in those days that


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the pupil shared a cell with his teacher, looked aer his robes,studied at his feet, and accompanied him on the daily alms-round. Teacher and pupil lived liked a good father and devoted

son. One day, while walking for alms, the pupil asked histeacher, Venerable Sir, how can one know an Arahant?Theelder, who was an Arahant, replied, It is not easy iend, toknow an Arahant. Even if one were to live in dependence onan Arahant, doing all the duties for him, and accompany himon his daily almsround, one might not know that he was anArahant.Yet even when given such a broad hint by his teacher,the pupil did not realise that the elder was an Arahant.

Due to excessive devotion, pious people are inclined toelevate their revered teacher to the status of an Arahant, thoughhe may still be a worldling or Seam-winner at best. Toeradicate all lust, anger, conceit, and aachment to life is noeasy task. First one should aim to aain the stage of Seam-winning in this very life. If one succeeds in doing that, one mayperhaps then be able to distinguish between a worldly person

and a saint, since one will be ee om doubt and superstition.

Who Can Attain Nibbna?It is my belief that most intelligent people could aain

Seam-winning in this very life if they really ied hard.However, very few really sive hard in meditation. Sinceconfidence and effort are lacking, the goal cannot be aained.

Though she was only thirteen years old, the weavers daughterpractised meditation relentlessly for three years to aain thepath. These days, people think that a ten-day intensive vipassancourse is really a bit over the top, but siving in meditationthroughout the whole day and late into the night is notself-mortification. It is the minimum amount of effort requiredto aain deep insight or nibbna. If we want to sleep at leastsix or seven hours, the goal is still far away.

To motivate oneself, one should meditate seriously on death.There is no guarantee that one will not die today. Perhaps one


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Who Can Aain Nibbna? 9

can avoid paying taxes if one lives like a monk, but no one canavoid death. Each breath brings death nearer. Please thinkseriously about this do not imagine for one minute that it

will never happen to you. If you postpone meditation until youare old assuming that you live to old age your aachmentwill have grown songer, and your health and vitali will havegrown weaker. It is best to meditate in the prime of youth,

before the cluer of household life aps one in its vice-like grip.In Burmese, the expression for geing married means,

literally, to fall into house prison. The Burmese have the rightaitude. Married life is a comfortable prison om which it ishard to escape. Even if one partner eely permits the other togo to meditate for a few weeks, or to ordain permanently, mostwill not want to go.

When the Bodhisaa heard that his son had been born hemurmured A feer has arisen so his father Suddhodananamed his new grandson Rhula meaning feer, hoping thatthe baby would prove an impediment to the Bodhisaasrenunciation of household life. Fortunately for us, theBodhisaas mind was already made up, and the news ofRhulas birth was the final spur to make him decide, It must

be done at once, before I get aached. So he le the palace onthe same night without even seing eyes on his newborn son.

Aachment is very sticky stuff. Many monks who fall backto household life do so because of sexual desire. To get ee

om sensual aachment, one must meditate either on deathor on the repulsive aspects of the body. One should considerwhat all human bodies contain. If we opened one up and tooka look inside, it would be hard to become lustful. It is just afoul smelling carcase of meat, blood, and bones that we haveto carry around the whole day and night. If there was no skinor clothes to cover it up, what a horrible sight it would be. One

would need to carry a stick to drive off the dogs and crows thatwould come sniffing around looking for something to eat. Yetpeople think very highly of their own bodies, and those of


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others. What folly it is to lust aer another persons body, butdelusion fools us completely when we are heedless.

At one time a certain nun fell in love with the Venerable

nanda and, pretending to be ill, she arranged for him to visither in her quarters. Venerable nanda was then still only aSeam-winner, so he was not yet ee om lust, but he waswise enough not to allow desire to arise. He did not get angrywith her either, but admonished her, Sister, sexual intercourseis the cause of birth. From birth, old age, disease, and deatharise. Realising that Venerable nanda knew about her ulteriormotives, she confessed her offence to him, and regained hersense of shame.

To gain liberation om suffering, there has to be renunciationat some point. Desire and aachment will not just disappearof their own accord. We have to pluck them out as we removea splinter or thorn stuck under the skin. It is painful, but whenit is done we can dwell at ease again. The most effective wayto remove desire is to practise mindfulness meditation relent-

lessly throughout the whole day without a break until insightknowledge arises. On seeing things as they really are, desireand aachment will vanish.

To Where Are You Going?Most of us will not aain final liberation in this very life and

become an Arahant we have to be realistic. Therefore, it is

pertinent to ask, To where are we going aer death? We donot know, and there is no point in idle speculation. However,the Buddha advised all of his followers, both lay and monasticdisciples, to contemplate constantly on five things. Thisdiscourse is called: The Certainties to Constantly Recollect(Abhihapaccavekkhitabbahna Sua).

These five certainties, monks, should be constantly recol-lected upon by a man or a woman, by a householder or by one

gone forth. What five? I am subject to aging, I have not gonebeyond aging. I am subject to disease, I have not gone beyond


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To Where Are You Going? 11

disease. I am subject to death, I have not gone beyond death.All that is mine, beloved and pleasing to me, will perish and bedesoyed. I am the owner of my kamma, heir to my kamma, I

have my kamma as my seed or womb, I am related to my kamma,and have kamma as my ue refuge. Whatever kamma I shalldo, whether good or evil, I will inherit its results (vipka). Thesefive certainties, monks, should be reflected upon constantly bya man or a woman, by a householder of by one gone forth.

Such teachings are unpopular these days. People areintoxicated by sensual pleasures and do not like to reflect at allon aging, disease, death, and impermanence. Many do not

believe in kamma and rebirth.However, the Buddha gave clear insuctions that his

followers should reflect on these things, not just occasionally,for example when aending a funeral or embarking on ahazardous journey, nor even daily before lying down to sleep,

but constantly (abhiha).Living beings are heedless. While intoxicated by thoughts

and perceptions of sensual pleasures they are liable to domisdeeds by body, speech, or thought, which will result insuffering in the future, either in this very life, in the next life,or in future existences.

This story of the Weavers Daughter clearly shows that themajori of the villagers who heard the Buddhas initialinsuctions to contemplate on death did not pay heed. Only

the weavers daughter was heedful because her mother hadrecently passed away. Therefore she was songly motivatedand full of zeal (savega). Arousing a sense of urgency is vital,otherwise no one will be inclined to sive hard this very day.


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Bhikkhu Pesala - Where Have You Come From

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