•

Buddha Siisana Nu"alta Organization Malzasi Trans/ation Commit(n, Rangoon.

A DISCOURSE ON

HEMAVATA SUTTA

An English Renderiftg by U On Pe (let Toe)

Filst printed (J1ll1 published in the Socialist Re[JIIlJ/ic of tile Union of Burma.

December 1980

First Pri nted 1980

Rf'ligious publication Permission No. 17M Cover Permission No. 350

First Impression 1000

Cover by Zwe Press

(Dhamma.dana)

The contents of this boek may be reproduced and reprinted in part or in whole

after prior intimation to the publisher.

Publisbed by U Pwint Kaung (Exemption No.667) Buddha·Sasana Nuggaha Organization,

16 Hermitage Road, Rangoon, Burma Printed by U Tun Shein (Perm. 02138), Zwe Press

172, 33rd Stre~t, RaDsooD, Burma

,

Contents

Foreword •••• 1 1. Date for this sutta ... 6 2. Concentrated attention is Essential 8 3. Proper way of listening to a sermon 9 4. The woman who overheard the

two devas 000 13 5. Invitation by SiWigiri deva .... J4 6. Araham attribute 16 7. Buddha attribute .... 20 8. Hemavata's question (1) .... 21 9. Embarrassing to be questioned 24

10. SiHigiri's answer (I) ... 25 11. Very adorable 27 12. How maha-karuna happened ••• 2S 13. Followers of wrong faith

more pitiable ... 34 14. Q & A between king Kawrabya

and Venerable Rathapala ... 34 15. An enlightened question ••• 41 16. Ability to view unpleasant

things as pleasant ••• 43

A

HEM A VAT A SU 1T A

17. M;,bakassapa and a leper 44 3~, The two. kinds used ~ 18. Is he free of guilt of torture

51 3 f' The attnbutes of Sugd'NI

and lassitude? ••• 38. Hemavata's Question No 19. Rude words of takkadun Kassapa 52 39. Three kinds of m;cchu dif

20. Is He into jhana ••• 53 40. Satagiri's Answer No 4

21. Satagiri's answer No 2 54 I 41. Also free of moha ... 22 The bogus Buddhas ••• 55 42. Free of miccha difthi since 23: Nobody wants to be killed or receiving assuring prediction •• ,

56 robbed 43. Tallies with the theory of 6Cmao

24. Free by means of samuccheda dies and is reborn as man" •..

virati ... 57 44. When did false faiths spring up?

25. You would'nt steal if you had 45. Free of all moha .... 1 sympathy ... 58 r

46. Has the eye of knowledge . ... J

26. Freedom from sin of stealing 47' Buddha cakkhu 103

through vipassana ... 59 48. Asayti-nusaya nana • •• Ic}S

27. Freedom from sin of stealing 49. Hemavata's Query No 5 113 through Ariya magga 59 50. Three kinds of vijja ••• 115

28. One prone to killing in not a 51. Pubbenivlisa nana 115

63 52. Dibbacakkhn n(ina 116 Sotapan .. , 53. Di bbacakkhu can see pet a

29. Samatha jhCtna 67 30. Vipassantl jhana 68 spirits 118 ... 54. Asavakkhava nana ... 120 31. Buddh:1 into Jhdna while audience 55. Eight vijjt'i 122

were s(lying "Sadhu" 71 56. Vipassana tiana 123 32. Burmese Sl7dhu and Csylonesej

.... 71

57. AIallomayiddhi and lddhivialza ~' SCidhll ... fi,! 11([ 127 ...

33. Vassakara's slander ... 78 ':'8, Cefopari),a nuna • ••• 127 34. Satagiri's Answer No 3 ... 80 59. Matikamii t;"l the woman devotee '''8 35. Of two kinds of speech two 60. No mischief near a mind

J _

are permissible ... 84 rrader . ... 138

B c

ll.bMAVATA SUTTA HEMAVATA SUTTA

61. Dibbasota nema ••• 140 83. Must not transgress the area

62. Fifteen caI'ana 141 of samtidhi ... 178 84. The six sense-bases make up

63. One with vijja carana in most 146

man 180 sacred

••• ... 85. Suffering in the six 180 64. yogis here have these attributs

... 150 ( 86. Hemavata's question number

too ... two 183 65. The story of Suppabuddha 151 87. Giving instructions to

... 66. About lady Kiili ... 155 Malukya·putta bhikkhii 67. Hemavata's question No 1 160 ... 187 .. , 68. Buddha's answer (l) 160 88. Discarding taf).hii occuring

70. Where the six are there taka is .. , 160 on the sight ... 188

71. Only the six are in company .... 164 89. The current of kama: Desire ... 193 72. The eye, the sense of seeing 90. The current of bhava, existence ... 194

and the sight 165 91. The curre'nt of diuhi, false

73. The ear, the sense of hearing beliefs ••• 195

and the sound ... 166 92. The current of Qvijjii, ignorance ... 197 74. The tongue, the sense of taste 93. First qualification of the

and the taste ... 167 successful swimmer • •• 198 75. The body, the sense of touch 94. The second qualification ... 200

and the touch ... 167 95. The third qualification . .. 201 76. Mind associated with ideas 169 96. Don't talk Rashly About 77. Tiring oneself is not Eka·dhammo ... 202

necessarily attakilamatha ... J70 97. The Buddha's answer (3B) 206 78 . The Buddha's admonition

. .. ... 171 98. The past history of Hemavata

79. Kiima·sukkhallika and and company ... 208 attakilamatha differentiated ... 173

80, Samatha and Vipassana '" 174

8l. No transgression .. , 176 82. ATit!ha's false notions ... 177

D p.

• Namo Buddhassa: Honour to the Fully Enlightened One. Homage to him, the Great Omniscient Sage Who spr~ad the net of rays of his Good Law. These rays of His Good Law. His message true. Long may they shed their f3diance over the world .

•

FOREWORD This book is the translation by U On Pe,

a well-known Burmese writer, of the Vene­rable (Aggamahapandita) Mahasi Sayadaw's discourse on Hemavata .gutta. According to tradition, Hemavata sutta belongs to a place between Dhammacakkra sutta and An~ta­lakkhal)a sutta in chronological 0 er. Although it is liot as famous as these ~o suttas, it is no less valu<.Jble to those who seek truth and wish to gain knowledge about Lord Buddha and his teachings.

It will not be out of place to mention briefly the circumstances under which the preparation of the original book started. At one time the Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw delivered a series of sermons on Dhamma­cakkra sutta at the request of his disciples. The sermons cont:lined :l lot of information about the sutta and its practical application

1 B 1

FOREWORD

and left a deer impression on the listeners. As one of the fortunat e persons who had he~rd the talks, [ had them tape-recorded and finally wit h the approval of the Sayadaw the discourse was published Now the book is bein<s tralJsla ted ill to English for the be­nefit of non·Burmese reading public.

At the instance of the Venerable Ashin VaJ.1I)ita who helped me in preparing the book on Dhammacakkra sutta I requested the Venerable Mabasi Sayada~ for a dis­course on Hemavata sutta. The Venerable Sayadaw kindly consented and gave a series of talks at the beginning of the Burmese new year in 1963 at the Mahasi meditation centre when it was crowded with practising yogis, including a host high of school and college students. Six sermons were tape recorded, transcribed, then submitted to the yenerable Sayadaw and came out in print 10 1973.

As the work of the learned Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw, the discourse on Hemavata ~utta is a highly informative and ilIuminat-109 talk on Bu.ddba.Dhamma in a language so clear and sImple that it can be under. ~~Od ?y Buddhists a~d non-Buddhists alike.

e dIscourse contams interesting stories and remarkable maxims in stanzas that can

. . r \

-, - - - ,

I

FOREWORD

be easily memorized by the reader. Abovo all, the erudition and wisdom underlyinl the whole discourse wilJ undoubtedly belp the reader to understand the Dhamma and its taste which excels all other tastes. As the Buddha repeatedly says in Vinaya, Anguttara­nikaya and Udana, "As the great ocean has but one taste, that of salt, so has this Dhamma and Discipline but one -taste, the taste of Freedom."

In conclusion, as the saying goes, "tbe proof of the pudding is in the eating of it", and the reader will judge for himself and enjoy the taste of the Dhamma in the pre­sent work. The discourse provides practical lessons that will be immensely beneficial to all spiritual aspirants regardless of sex, race, nationality, status or occupation. We wish this book, the first of its kind on the subject in English language ~ thorough success. May all beings attain the Ariyan path and insight as pointed out in this work and achieve liberation and peace in Nibbana, the abode of the Arahants and the Buddbas.

U Thein Han, B.A., B.L. (MAHASI YOGI)

Hony: Treasurer, Buddha Sasana Nuggaba Organization

Rangoon

3

•

L r

-...., ,- --

I

A DISCOURSE ON

HEMAVATA SUTTA

Part I This Hemavata sutta is realJy a sboJt

piece, and so it is apt to be overlooked. b1 many. In fact, it is the second 9f the sermons of the Buddha, for it wis delixered after the. Dhamma-cakka sutta, tht fiTSt Rt the Buddha's sermons. Only after this ser­mon was the well-known Anatta-ltlkl<haoa sutta delivered. This sutta was delivered OD the night of the same d~y on which tbe Dhamma-cakka slltta was delivered.

This sutta is suitable to every persoD­The dialogue between Hemavata deya aDCl Satagiri deva contains descriptioDl of tile admirable attributes of the Buddba, and also the ways of conduct for those who are members of the Buddha's siisanii (area bf teachings). The woman who overheard the dialogue between the two devils was so adoring of the attributes of the Buddha that she became a So/lipan although she had

5

ItEMAVATA SUTTA

not yet learnt of the Buddha's attainment of Buddhahood.

Now, if the audience of my lecture were to reach realisation of the Dhamma Jike that woman, it would be rcally good because the woman heard only a short dialogue whereas my audience would be hearing a discourse which will last over two hours daily for three or four days. My audience would be learning more from an elaborate discourse than what the woman bad learnt from a short dialogue . My audience could possibly acquire at least some piirami for at­taining the stage of sotapan, if not sotapan­hood.

Date for this Sutta How long ago did the Buddha deliver this

sermon? He had administered the cool so.othing water of the Dhamma to huma~ bemgs, devas and Brahmas for forty five years after He had delivered His first sermon ?f Dh~mmacakka sutta before he passed Into 'Y,bban~. From the time of His passing to t~ls day IS a period of 2506 years. So addmg the forty five years of His life as a teacher to ~he length of tha t period, the le~gth of hme that had passed since the H emavata Sutta is 2551 years. Being as old as the Dhammacakka sutta, it must be taken

6

HEMAVATA SUTTA

as one of tbe earliest sermons delivered by the Buddha.

At the end of the full moon day of the month of Kason 255\ years ago, tbe Buddha attained Buddha-hood, and for seven times seven days He stayed on at the seven nearby places. After 49 days following the attain­ment of Buddha-hood~ the Buddha went to Migadavun jungle near the city of Baneres (modern name: Varanasi) for the purpose of delivering His first sermon to the five hermits (the paJ1ca vaggi). The date of the First Sermon was the full moon day of the month of Waso, 2551 years ago. The time was the even ing when tbe reddened ball o( the sun was about to sink into the western horizon while the yellowish disc of the full moon was rising from the eastern horizon. It was then that the Buddha began the delivery of His Dhammacakka sulla.

Myriads of devas and Brahmas assembled around the Buddha to listen to His First Sermon. Of tbe five human beings, the panca vaggi, the oldest one, Ashin KOt)­danna had attained to the stage of SOltipanna whereas 18 crores of Brahm{is and numberless devas had attained the realization of the Dhamma, according to Afilinda Pafihd.

Among the celestial audience was a dcva, Satagiri, named after Sata mountain which

7

PJEMAVATA SUTTA

was his residence. He was highly gratified t hear the DllOmmacakka sutta, but h~ was not certain about the presence of his friend, Hem~vat a deva, a!1d 3:fter looking around, he fo u nd tb at hIs fnen~ was absent. He was anxious to se~ hIs f riend present because he thought to hlm~elf that after the Jas t sermon of the precedIng Buddha, Kassl'lpa, myri~ds of "Yo~ld-periods past this was th~ fir · t tlme a SImIlar sermon was 'heard and so he wished to have his f riend, H~mavata. to be present in the audience and was wondering why the latter had not 'come to hear the First Sermon. SaHigiri had failed to attai n realization of the Dhamma owing to such distraction.

Concentrated Attention is Esse ntial To attain realization of the Dhamma

while listening to a sermon, one must have a settled mind for it is only through con­centrated atte~tion and with a settled mind could one attain sam ddhi and only samadhi could make for insight. If the mind wande~s during the sermon over domestic , economIC and other secular affairs. sam adhi will not be attained If anxiety sets in, it is all for the worse. If distraction and anxiety crop up, the essence of the Dhamma will slip, and as samadhi is lacking, there will be no

8

HEMAVATA SPTTA

insight and if one cannot ~ttain i.nsi~.t for viplIssan<i, how can one attam real!zahon ~f the Dhamma'l Concentr.lted attentIon "bIle listening to a sermon is, therefore, an important factor. The way to conduct one­self white listening to a sermon is described in Kassapa samyutta as follows:

Proper way of listening to a sermon A sermon must be attended to with a mo­

tive of profit, meaning that in 'a commercial transaction a good and fair bargain must be struck Vrith due care, that in harvesting crops due care must be exercised so tb, t not a grain of corn, not a single fltri g of beans, as the ca!'e may be, should be left behind. That utmost care with which gold and gems must' be kept need\; no special men­ti on. In the same way, in attending a sermon­meeting one mus t li sten car ru1ly so that not a word of tbe preacher is missed and one must al so try to realize the medning of each and every word uttered . According 10 that trea tise, the listener must listen carefully, with fu ll mental involvement, ar.d words of the Dhamma must be adl leted to in practice.

That is th e proper Wd Y of attendin " to a sermon. If one attends to a sermon in thi ~ way, one' s mind will be calm and aJ:>sorbed

9

dEMAVATA SUTTA

in the sermon; one will be ~ree froIll; inter­ference, and thus attain punty of .mmd. At such moment there occurred many lDstances of realization of the Dhomma after the ser­mon on the four Noble Truths was heard. The attainment of redemption from the samsiira by Ashin K01)dafifia and the de vas and Brahmiis when the sermon of the Dhamma­cakka was heard on that day was due to their concentrated attention to the Buddha's words. In this instance, Satagiri might have missed some of the words as he had been thinking about his friend Hemavata. If he had not missed the words, he might have pondered deeply upon the meaning of the words. It appears that he did not quite understand the sermon as be had been won­dering why his friend had not turned up; he had been tbinking that his friend had been under the spell of pleasures and enjoying them so that he was absent, and so he, Satagiri, had not come to the realization of the Dhamma.

In the reference to the thinking of Sata­giri about his friend, there is the mention of Hemavata as being under the spell of pleasures, or in other words, "being begui­led by worldly pleasures". True, the worldly pleasures, do beguile though they do not have any intrinsic values. Some persons

10

HEMAVATA SUTTA

cannot come to attend this sermon-meetiug because the"y are being beguiled by worldly pleasures. To such peopte the practice (f the Dizamma is a far cry.. They usual r' think that the Dhammacan be practised lat r and that, for the pre-sent, making a lhine ,

making headway in life and enjoying l pleasures of life, <.lre m Jre urgent. h8, indeed, IS the beguilemel.lt of the orIdly pleasures (kama-gulJ<l) ,But "hat is really urgent and important is to practi e the Dhamma Such practice can be J ad only within the fold of the Buddba's slisanii whereas orldly pleasures can be sought anywhere at any time. It is, tberefore, advisable to pay more atten ion to the practice of the Dhamma after having acquired sufficient means of livelihood.

By the practice of the Dhamma, one co­uld attain to one of the stages of spiritual achievem~nt and thUii escape from the dangers of the four planes of existence of niriya (hell) . Even if one cannot yet attain to the stag,.s of magga and phala, one can be.::ome involved in the Dhamma and con­tinue making good deeds (kusala).Thus, one could be reborn as a human being, or get to the spiritual planes of devas or ascend the higher planes of existence and obtain

11 E 2

HEMAVATA SUTTA

the benefits of a higher state of existence. If, however , one wasted one's time in ~he affairs of secular life, one would be 111-equipped for a good life in the next existen­ce. Therefore, thinking that the worldly pleas ures a re m ore i mportant and urgent, though they really are not, is due to the be­guilement of the worldly pleasures. It is in fact an illusion. Satagiri was giving a tho~ght to his absent friend and letting his mind wander during the Buddha's discourse. That is why he had missed the chance of realization of the Dhamma.

After the Buddha's discourse on the Dhammacakka slltta, Sa tagiri left the assem­bly to invite his 'friend. Satagiri was a leading warrior deva, and so when he went out he was accompanied by his five hundred warrior-attendl\nts with chariots drawn by elephants, horses and galons (huge and powerful birds). At the same time Hemavata was on his way . to his friend SaHigiri to invite him to a celestial festival of flowers­wonderful flowers that were then in full bloom in the Himalayan mountains. He, too, came in full force with his warrior­attendants and chariots. Of course, they were both. making an aerial journey, Hema­yata headm~ for the south and Satagiri

1~

HEMAVATA SUTTA

heading for the north. lhey met over the city of Raj" i ri

hen fd~ oJ met, Hemav' ta said: nen tagi i, t le HI 1 Y a~ now fu 1 of J v r. S ~ver bdore So I have c me to inv C you 0' feas to cele-brate the (lec <)! "

Sataglfl ~ ) 11· r '0' l.r limata-ya we e so I U J 1.J 4 Of ..1. Hemavata said h~ did rio. knlJ ' th ~ ret :s011. fben Satagl I < i : 'Tl e Hi n y~ are not alone in beine so unu~ l.l! y" J v:lID; flo ers bloom as abundur tly ,,' L S resolend ntly every­where else The re 0 t, n )I?c 0 he than thatSa1Dma~ambll h<· b\" L tta '1t. nhghten-ment for t tJO '1 [lths no Toda: Ie delivere his Firs ;er on, the Dhammacakka sutta and all tlJe flo 'e of .111 he tree on this ~arOl bIos t)m f rth by way of m kmg obeisance to ne En igbteneJ One. I re­membered you ery much \\ ilile [ was attending the fit on meetin ,and 0 I have now come to invite you to it "

The woman vho ov rheard the two dey 5

While the two .devas were conversing. a rich mao' d lighter, ham d Kali, was njoy­iog the breeze ftei havi g opened a window

13

HEMAVATA SUTTA

of her boudoir. Tbe month of 'Ya.so at Rajagiri city was a hot mont~ as It IS he!e at Mandalay or Shwebo. Kiih was then 1D her family way, and was feeling hot. So she opened the window and was exposing herself to the breeze when she he<1rd the two devas overhead. Sbe tben Jent a very attentive ear to their conversation. She could make out that the conversation was not between two human beings and thought that it must be between two ceJestial beings. She must have been about sixteen or seventeen, for in India in these days girls were married early and got into family way for the first time at that age. The child she was carrying was Done other than a future disciple of the Buddha, S01).akutika1)1).a thera, who was bestowed upon with etadagga (distinction) for his excellent reading skill.

I nvitation by Satagirl deva Satagiri said "friend Hemavata, this day

is the fifteenth day of the month, a sabbath day, and is bright at night with celestial light. This day is the day on which the Buddha delivered bis first Sermon, and so the trees are in full bloom not only in the Himalayan region but in the environment of the Sata mountain Not only in these regions but also all over the world, the flowers

14

I

HEMAVATA SUTTA

blossom by way of making obeisance to the Buddha 0 ,' this auspicious occasion. The devas and Brahmiis attending the sermon­meeting are so numerous that the world is aglow with celestial lights. And in the east the full moon shines clearly along with a~ahli planet. This night is therefore, full of light from all these sources,and is a sacred one."

The world must have been so beautiful with blossoms and celestial lights in the all-seeing eyes of the devas. Even to human eyes it must have been beautiful. Incident­ally, once I went on a pilgrimage to the Kyaikh tiyoe pagoda. It was the night of the 14th day of Tabodwe (February) in 1?93 (Burmese Era). The moon was nearly fun and shining clearly. Looking out from mountain range, I found the hills and valleys ali around beautiful under the flooded moonlight. Some trees were full of flowers, the trees standi ng on the mountain slopes made for the scenic beauty of the panorama. Now, from the view of the d~vaj the entire world must have been'very beauti­ful indeed on that day of the first Sermon. So Satagiri invited his friend Hemavata to go to make obei'\ance to the Buddha.

"Let us now go to make obeisance to our great teacher, the Buddha of the noble and

IS

HEMAVATA SUTTA

glorious lineage of Gotama," said Satagiri to his friend, Hemavata.

Continuing he said that the gre< t teacher, Siddhattha ol the Gotama Ii neage of the Sakkya clan, had pr~ctised the Dhamma in Uruvela forest for SlX years and had become tpe Enlightened One possessing the nine incomparable attributes beginning with the attribute of Araham. Now, I will explain briefly the nine attributes of the Eulightened One.

Araham Attribute

Araham means "deserving." What is the Buddha deserving of? He is deserving of special adoration and worship. People in the world worship various objects. Some worship trees, some worship forests, mountains, oceans, the sky, the sun, the mOOD, the planets. Some worship various ki ds of devasj some worship god in heaven, some worship Brahmti And among men, too, some worship t e headmen of the various sects and denominations. Now, then, why do people worship? Because they want to be free from dangers and disasters. Ever~body wants to be free from dangers and disas­ters a?d wan~s to be prosperous, healthy, long-hved, nch. Not only human beings, devas also want to be prosperous. People

16

HEMAVATA SUTTA

want to make r2~ r ac ievements than their skill can c, s they de end on the devas of all r • UC <, t d moun-tain $pint5. Hit .. )' v uip .. nd make offerings to them. Some . na . ine a uper-powerful being who cre t " thorld an i s people an thln lJs, an s i th't imagined being. There is, bow ver, no one who has ever come acro~ .j teh a being and can d~scribe hL ppear' TIC s. These people worshlp th:.'\t being bec311 e omeone in the p~s w ... ~ reported to a e said that he had seen that being. h t rson might have been dreaming.

I . Each re igi ni&t v 0 hip in accordanee , with his.. b liei '(om ge eradon to

geperatio . witt ')ut b jng critical. Even in :this aJe of s;ientific inquiry, traditional belief!! h~~ve f_mained. in fact, there are no ground t or holding th.- those who pr y to be sav d from ad e ity Jill b so saved by praying alone. If th gods or God could save these prdy ... rful 0 Ie all of th m would be rich. healthy and prosperous. But such is not the case. Tho e who do not pray may become ric . As a matter offact, those who work without praying in any hne 011 profitable trade and occupation have

'become rich and p 0 ~rous. Every person is rewarded for his work according to i1s

17

HEMAVATA SUTTA

worth. It is obvious th<lt idlers do. not get 'ch It is one's own effort that gIves the

:~w~rd, and prosperity is no t due to worshp of the gods.

The Buddha did not say, "Venerate me, and I will save you." He said that one would enjoy the fru its of one:s own dee.ds and misdeeds. But one can gam an especIal merit if one makes adoration to a pers!,n who possesses a fu1l measure of morahty (sUa) and other noble qual,ities. If .the merit thus gained finds an occaSIOn to gIve of the reward the adorer will get the reward dur­ing his'lifetime, but it is also certain that the reward will be gained in the course of the series of existences. So said the Buddha. If the adoration is made to a person who has no qualities that would make him noble and holy, such an adoration is f!ltile. It is like keeping bricks and gravels mstead of precious stones, thinking that they are pre­cious. How can you expect to get the price of precious stones if you sell bricks and gravels? If, however, you keep real precious stones, then you can sell them at their standard prices. In the sa me way, if you make adoration to noble and holy persons, you will gain the kind of merit you expect to get. As for the Buddha, He is the highest among those possessing sUa and other noble

18

HEMAVATA SUTTA

qualities. So if the devas , Brahmas and human beings make <ldoration to the Buddha. they will gain merit and receive rich rewards ranging from the benefits of human and celestial lives to the realization of Nibbdna. Such benefits are gained not because the Buddha gives them but they are gained from the merit accruing from adoration to tbe Buddha. So the Buddha has ..gained tbe appellation of Araham, the One deserving of the adoration of human and celestial ~eings. This is a (noble appellation. Thus Satagiri praised the Buddha.

The other meaning of Araham is "to be far from something!' What is it far from? The meaning is that the Buddha is far from defilement of the mind, kilesti. Beings in all planes of existences hanker after things that are desirable, or in other words, they have greed (lobha) . They become angry when they come across things that excite their anger (aosa) and are under delusion or mistaken notions (moha) . On the contrary, the Buddha is far away and clear of lobha, dosa and moha. That is the reason why the Buddha deserves the noble appellation of Araham.

The next is Sammil sambuddha attribute. Sammti means "truthfully"; sam means "by ~ oneslf"; buddha means "knowing". So the

19

HtiMAVATA SUTTA

term' means "knowing tbe trutb (the Dhaml1!a) ful1y' by one;;elf." T~e _Buddha bad earhcr received tutelage of Alara and Udaka; ber­mits in samatha .Jnd vipassalla, but when He attained rthe Buddhahood, He did so not with tbe kno wledge gained from these her­mits but by methods evolved by Himself with HIS own insight. He did make His own efforts to gain the jhiillas of iiniipiina; He percei ed -paticcasamuppada witb His own imight; He judged tbe state of rupa. and niima (physic:11 and mental phenomena) by H.s own insight, and eventually became Buddba. This is brieflY about tbe Buddba's realisation of the Truth all by Himself. That is the reason why the Buddha deserves the noble appellation of Sammasambuddha,

Buddha Attribute When the Buddha attained Buddhahood,

He gain cd full knowledge of the past, th: present and the future: He knew immediately whatever He gave His tbought to. There is nothing He did not know. For the reason that He knew everything fully and comple­tely all the Dhamma, the Buddha is deserv­ing of the noble appellation of "Buddha". Thus said Satagiri in praise of the Buddha.

Satagiri told his fr iend Hemavata that the noble at tribu es of tb~ Buddha were' so

20

HEMAVATA SUTTA

numerous that one could not count and expla,in them for myriads of years to do fU,lI Justice to them. Then be invited his fnend to the Buddha's sermon-meeting.

After hearing out his friend, Hemavata made an examination of the points in order to determine whether the one referred to by his friend was really a Buddha, So he put q~estions to his friend, and Satagiri gave bls answers. At that time the masters of seve~al sec_ts such as PuralJa Kassapa, Mak­khah Gosala and four others were making the claim that each of them was the Buddha. It w~s, ,therefore, necessary to make an examlllatlOn of this nature.

Hemavata's question (I)

, "Fr~end, Satagiri, can your Teacher keep hIS mIDd m good disposition? That is is y~ur Teacher well disposed to all the beings wIthout any discrimination?

"Friend Satagiri, in this world there are many who claim to be Buddhas, May I ask y~>u: ,Ca,n your Buddha remain impartial to hIS dISCIples and the disciples of others as well, and keep bis mind in good disposition toward all living beings? Can he have mettd (goodwill) toward all and wish them for

21 F 3

HBMAVATA SUTTA

their wellbeing and happine~s? ~an be have kindness and pity 011 all altke?

This was the question th.at should be put because in some who claImed to be the Buddha there WFlS partial itY,extending metta and Karuna (lovinr -kindness and pity) only to those' who followed them and made adoration to them, saying that they would save only those who adored them and would punish others who did not. They said that those who did not follow them and adore them would be relegated to hell. Such claimants to Buddahood should not be re­garded as real Bu~dha~ for a r~al. Bu~~ha would keep His mmd 10 good dISposItion toward all living beings.

Hemavata continued: !'Friend, can your Buddha control his mind and remain neutral itt reaction to what is pleasant and also to what is unpleasant'l" In this world people are pleased when they c,ome in contact \yith pleasant things and enJOY them, and are displeased and cannot control their dislike when they come in contact with unpleasant things. They are angry and disappointed, and cannot control their anger. In fact, they let their minds follow the s~nsations and cannnt control their minds. But a real Buddha can control His mind. Hemav<1ta's question is an important one,

22

. HEMAVATA SUTTA

Now, as for people, they let their minds go after senses and sen~ations, Th~y ~mi~e if anything evokes a smIle, curl theIr hps 10 contempt if a thing invites contempt. They laugh at funny things and weep over things that move them to tears, things that are sad. They desist from going to an undesira­ble place at first but laler, when the temp· tation makes an urgent push, they go to such places. In the same way, they are tempted to say and do things they should not say or do after a short period of resis­tance. This is what is called Idting one's mind follow the sensations.

Let alone others, some of the y<'gis were disappointed because they could not make progress in their meditationsl "ork 8~d were giving it up and making preparations to leave when their mentors had to stop them by giving them admonitions. Then when they were so persuaded, and when they res~med their meditational work and accordmgly made progress, tbey were pleased. But there are some yogis who would not be persuad­ed and went home. That also is an instance , . of letting the mind follOW tbe sensatIons, There are still other instancrs of some yogis attaining the stClge of nibbidtifiiina (insight into wearisome condition), who became disappointed because they found things

23

HBMAVATA SUTTA

wearisome, and went h.ome. If such yogis had continued with theIr work they wouIe! have attained full insigh t. But they could not control their mind a nd had given up. What a los s! Howeve r, most of the yogis listened to the aJrno nitions of their medita­tional mentors ank managed to control their minds.

Tn secular life, too, there are many things over which o ne could control one's mind. The Bllddha's mes s ~ge was for control of the mind. It is found that those who have attended to the Dhamma can control their minds considerably. But those who have not, and are outside the influence of the Dhamma, are found to be without a sense of shame or fear and do or say what they like. Hemavata, therefore, asked his friend if his Buddha was the one who could control his mind . That is quite a relevant question.

Embarassing to be questioned It is important to put searching questions.

Once at a food-offering ceremony at a house, a certain Sayadaw told me that he was questioned by an American visitor. The questions were incisive and searching. and the Sayadaw said that it was quite an ordeal to be so questioned. Yet this Sayadaw was wellknown as a conversationalist. The visitor

l

HEMAVA1'A SUTTA

asked the Sayadaw how long the latter had practised the Dhamma and what iiriiman4 (perceptions) he had had. The Sayadaw laid such questions were embarrassing. But to me, such questions were justified because an intelligent enquirer into the Dhamma would put such searching questions to the one who ought to know. To a seventy-year old monk who had the reputation of deep learn­ing the enquirer should put su~ searcbing questions regarding the monk s personal experiences in the meditational practice. The important thing is to be able to make bold and definitive replies to such questions and

·not to be embarrassed. Hemavata was no ordinary person. He

was formerly, during the time of Kassapa Buddha, a venerable monk teaching five hundred disciples. That is why he had asked questions relevant to the attributes of a Buddha. Satagiri was also a venerable monk at that time who had entered the holy Order together with Hemavata and taught five hundred disciples like the latter.

To the questions put by Hemavata. his friend Satagiri gave a graphic answer thus:

Satagiri's answer (I) "Friend Hemavata, our teacher. the Buddha

has the attribute of looking upon all beio8s

25

BEMA VAT A SUrl'A

with the same attitude and also of having full con trol of His mental disposition on good as well as bad sensations."

This was Satagiri's answer. He meant to say that tbe Buddha's disposition toward all beings was based on the principle tbat they were all alike and equal, whether they were those who adored him or those who did not. There were His close disciples . who had gained enlightenment because they had heard His sermon on Dhammacakka and also just ordinary disciples who simply made adora­tion to Him and his Dhamma, thus becoming disciples who were within the fold of His silsana. Of course, there were those who were outside the Buddha's sasana, and there were also followers of Mara, who were actively opposing the Buddha . "Our teacher, the Buddha is equally well disposed to all beings, with no discrimination, giving out His metta karUf).d (sympathy) to all," said SaUigiri. '

The time was at the commencement of the Buddha's s(7.sanU. In terms of later situations it may. be said that the Buddha was equally well dIsposed to those who were His devout followers giving Him the four essential needs of a bhikkhu as well as to the brahmins and heretics who were dead against Him. The Bu~dha adopted the same attitude to. ward HIS arch-enemy, Devadatta, as toward

26

HEMAVATA SUTTA

his own son Rahula, having relard for both of them as beings. The Buddha 'did not act partially toward anyone; He disseminated his loving-kindness and sympathy to all beings.

So Satagiri replied, "Our teacher, the Buddha, is full of tadiguQa, the attribute of a well-balanced attitude to all beings in all planes of existence."

Very Adorable

When one takes into consideratiOD the partiality people in this world have toward those near to them and those far from them. toward the insiders and the outsiders, one cannot but be full of adoration for the Buddha. Partiality is manifest in every sphere of human activity. To those whom we favour we go all the way to giving them all the help we can, with concessions and condona­tions. To those against us, however, we have no desire to render any help; even to those who have nut given us any help. though they may not be opposed to us, we render help grudgingly if we are called upon to do something for them. Attitude towards one and all as alike and equal is a rarity. Leave aside outsiders, we cannot adopt an evenness of mind to all the members of our own family.

27 •

HBMAVATA SUTTA

Let alone ordinary human beings, ~ven those, in other religions , who are wors~]pp­ed as gods have sddom adop!ed an athtu~e recognizing equality of all betngs. You wIll come across gods who say, in effect, "I will save only my followers and relegate the others to helL" Compared to such gods, the Buddha is very adorable.

The Buddha wished all beings happiness in the same way as He ',,: ished His ~on, Rahula. to be happy; H e wIshed all bemgs to attain nibbana just as He wished ~ahula to attain nibbiina; He had the same pI!y a~d sympathy for all beings as he had for Rahula. It is difficult for people to adopt an attitude of equality to all. But in the case of the Buddha and when He disseminated maha­karuna (great pity and sympathy), He did disse"minate it to all beings in all planes of existence.

How Maha-karuna Happened According to Pa{isambhidamagga, perceiv­

ing in all beings the miseries of old age, illness and death, in graded succession, leading to the state of impermanence, a great pity arose in the mind of the Buddha. The Buddha, surveying entire planes of existence, percieved the piteous state and so 8reat pity arose in His mind . It is iike a

28

I

HEMAVATA SUTTA

man of kindly disposition having taken pity on pensons in great distress. The pity cf the ordinary person is just ordinary; there is nol much depth in it worth "speaking. The pity taken by the IBuddha, however, was by far the deepest, by far the most widespread. The Buddha took pity on mankind for the present state of distress, perceiving that in the next existence a particular being would be reborn in the nether re ~dons of "iriya, tiricchana and peta. His pity was even greater. Also perceiving that ::l being would suffer from old age, illness and denth in all the series of existences ,to come, the Buddha took pity on one and all. Now, look at the life of"man. After coming to existance as a man, he has to acquire knowledge for earn­ing his livelihood, and after attaining t\\enty years of age, he is obliged to take up a job and work on and on till he becomes old and decrepit, and then he suffers from illness of many kinds and at last, unable to get the diseases cured, he dies.

Men are just living their lives without being actually aware of the slow and gradual deterioration of their bodies and the onset of disease of one kind or another till at the last moment when nothing can be done to cure the disease, death is at hand. Then only do they realize the sad fact. The members

29

HEMAVATA SUTTA

or the family of the dying person do their best to nurse him and allay his suffering but there is really nothing that can be done, and surrounded by weeping relatives, he passes away. For a few months the relatives re­member him and feel sad but later they begin to forget him. That, in sum is the life of man: that is just one stage' in the unending stream of existences.

The same pattern applies to his next exi­stence; the gradual deterioration of the body the onset of old age and diseC}se and th~ eventual death. This the Buddha perceived: He. surv~yed millions of ailing beings ·and dylOg belOgs, and the sorrow§ of those who are ne~r a~d dear t.o .them, and a great pity arose 10 HIm. "MIllions upon millions" is the usua! current term, but in reality the ~u~ber .IS countless-If the history of a be­l!1g s eXIstence were to be illustrated picto­nally. ~he pictures so depicted would fill the entIre surface of the earth. and more sp~ce, wo~ld be needed. The pictures of the bemg. s buth, old age, il1ness and death were p~rcelved by the Buddha who felt a great P!ty for that being; that was how the great pi ty, or mahti karuQti, arose in Him.

.

. Th!ls., we ?lay learn: "Man's impermanence 11 dnVlng him to old age, illness and death."

30

l

. HEMAVATA SUTTA

The Buddha foresaw tbat unless Heaaved the beings from the disasters of old age ilInesss and death by making tbem follo~ His teachings and working out their own salvation, these beings would continue to be involved in the cycle of existences and suffer in the nether regions. So, th.e Buddha fel.t pity for all beings in all planes of · eXIstence as He had felt for his ·own SOft Rihula. Thus said Satagiri in reply to Hemavata's first query; "All the sentient beings in all the planes of existence are helpless; they have no one to look to for protection and care. Thus, the Buddba feM a great pity, mahakaruQa, for all beings."

In the present life of men there are, how­ever, persons to whom they can look to for help and support, such as parents for their children, children for their parents in old age, teachers for their disciples, disciples for their teachers, and releatives for mutual help. and support. But such help and support are Just ordtnary. Real help and support cannot be offered by anyone else. For in­stance, the children cannot help their parents from getting old . In the same way, the parents cannot help their children from getting on in years. The children cannot take out and share among themselves the ageing elements of their parents. So also, they can-

31 B 4

HEMAVATA SUTTA

not take out and share among themselves the ailing elements in order to render some relief to the ailing perwil. Of course doctors and physicians can do something 'to some extent but in the case of incurable diseases they can do not:ling effectively. They cannot avert oncominq death. Nor can the children and relatives and intimate friends of a dying person do anything to avert death. All they can do ' is to merely look on the dying person. People have died in this way. No help or support can be rendered to enable a being to free hil!lse~f from old age, illness and death or from:gomg to the nether regions after death.

Only the Buddha could save the beings from these disasters by guiding them on the right path by His teachings and making them wo rk according to the Dhamma. The me. thod of such savings is like the method the physicia~ applies i~ treating a patient to cure. a. dIsease, tha~ IS, by prescribing suitable medlclOe and forblding him to take unsuit­able food and do unsuitable actions. There was n~ m~;hod .of working miracles by d~mandlOg: Let hIm be cured". If the patient d~d not follow the physician's directions, the dIsease would not be cured. In tbe same way the B~ddha c0.u1d only show the right path t\nd gIve the rIght directions, and those who

. ~~

HEMAVATA SUTTA

followed His instructions would be saved from hell, old age. illness and death; in a word, such beings would be saved frotn the sanisara, the endless cycle of existences.

A Buddha came into being only after a lapse of many kalpiis (eons). and each Bud­dha lived only foracertain period in accord- . an~e with the general expectation of life in that particular era. It is, therefore, difficult to have an opportunity to hear the sermons of a Buddha. Though t he Buddha had passed away, one could hear the discourses on His sermons delivered by learned and saintly monks and laymen, and work accord­ing to the instructions contained in them to enable the person concerned to save himself or herself from hell and further inv?lvement in the sanistira. But such oppor­tunity could not be obtained in every period Of. existenc~. In this world there are many faiths, and If one follows a false faith then . . , It IS a dangerous risk because if one follows the wrong instructions and works for the ~rong ends (;>De will sink deeper and deeper mto the whIrlpool of sanis(lra. As for the ~uddha, He fe.1t pity for all beings, irrespec­h.ve of the faIths they were following. His PIty for them was even greater, realising that so many beings in the various planes of existences were following the wrong path .

33

HBMAVATA SUTTA

Followers of wrong f a ith more pitiable

The follower of a wrong fDith is really more pitiable than others hecause althou.gh hehas been seeking the r ight path to happIness and wellbeing, he mistakes the wrong. path for t.he rigbt one, and foJIows a path whIch leads him to more disasters, the more he surges ahead. The followers of the Buddha should not feel complacent about having found the right path . They should work to attain at least one stage of salvation, for then only would they be sure of being saved from disasters. In the next existence they will not be with tbe present oarents and teachers; they may be reborn of parents of other faiths. Then they will probahly be placed on the wrong path. For that reason, the Buddha takes great pity on the beings who have no one a ble to save them from the disasters of old age, illness and death, or from helI and from wrong faiths . And His pity is same and equal for all beings, with no discrimination.

Q &A Between king Kawrabya and venerable Rathapala

In this world there are kings who have large armies to protect them and for such kings it m:1y be said that tbey can place their reliance on them in worldly affairs.

34

HEMAVATA SUTTA

However, such kings, too, have to become old in due course, and no army of guards could protect him from old age, nor from illness and death when such disasters come to him. In the time of the Buddha there was an Arahat by the name of Rathapala. He was the son of a rich man and friend of king Kawrabya. One day the king asked the venerable monk why he had turned a mOilk.

The venerable monk said in reply that he had turned a monk after he had heard the Buddha's sermon relating to the helplessness of all sentient beings from the onslaughts of old age, illness and death.

The king did not understand what help· lessness meant. He said that:as a king, he had large armies to protect him from all harm, and that he did not understand what was meant by having no one to help.

Then the venerable Rathapala said: "Oh King, did you ever suffer from serious illne(ts?" The king replied, "Yes, sir, I did," Then the venerable monk asked him if he coutu seek relief from that illness by asking his relatives to share tbe suffering with him. "That ill impossible," the king said. :"1 had to suff~r £11 alone," The venerable monk then iaid that was precisely what the Bud ..

35

in!MAVATA SUTTA

dha meant when He said that all the beings were without anyone to help them or anyone to whom they could Jook for help and succour.

So it is clear tEat even if one has many persons to help and protect him in worldly matters, one is utterly helpless in matters relating to old age, illness and death. Accord­ing to the scriptures, in the world of living beings there is not one property which can be ,caHed one's own because one has to leave everything when one dies and heads for a new existence. This fact the Buddha realised and His pity for all beings was great, or in other words, mahiikaruQ.a arose in the mind of the Buddha.

Ordinarily, people have what they call their _personal and private property such as gold, silver, food, cattle, vehicles, etc" but when one dies one has to leave all these things behind, nay, one's body, too. Death may come today or tomorrow to anybody; so r we cannot say that the time for sucR abdi­cation is still far off. Even during one's lifetime these worldly things could be stolen and taken away by forcejthey are not reaHy one's own possessions.

One's real possessions comprise one's meritorious deeds, such las, giving of

36

HBMAVATA SUT1'A

alms, observing the pJ'ecepts and doing meditation. These cannot be atolen or robbed, and they can be taken alona from one term of existence to another. PerlOns who are rich in meritorious deeds will obt_ existences of wellbeing. It is therefore nec.­sary to strive to gain merit by doing dina (alms-giving), saa .(observing. the proc:opta) and bhavanii and vlpassana (mmdfulneas and meditation), the last two being the most im­portant. You should strive to do them jUlt for one or two days if you can afford to do it only that long, for such a deed is valuable and can be done with out incurring auy expenses.

Those who have had these things ' haye something to fall back upon at the time of death. At the door of death one could die peacefully by doing meditation till the last breath. and after death one would surely attain to the abode of the devas (celestial beings). So you should do assiduously these three meritorious deeds.

The worldly property is not one's own but it is common property. You have to leave it ' to your survivors who enjoy it after your death and so if you are mentally attached to wO'rldlY property, you will probably be­come peta (being of the nether regions undergoing untold sufferings and misery).

37

•

HBMAVATA SUTTA

The Buddha pereeived the helplessness of all beings and felt great pity for t~em.

The Buddha also saw that belDgs were assailed by insatiable desires for worldly things and had thus become slaves of lust and greed, and so His pity for them was great. He saw that all beIDgs were always hungered by tal).h6 (lust), that t~ey all hankered after good and pleasant thIDgs to satisfy their six senses, that they were never satisfied with long life and fame that they might have fortunately obtained, that they were never satisfied with all the best endow­ments their lives had offered them.

Their wants multiply progressively, and these desires dominate all the aspects of their lives, and they are never satisfied. Now there are many millionaires in some countries. They have more money than they they can spend, but their wants and desires have no ceilings; they are never satisfied. The kings have never stopped their imperia­listic plans; they want more and more COUB­tries under their sway.

It is said that the devas are much more greedy. The powerful ones usually have five hundred to one thousand celestial maidens in their harems, but they always want some more ~nd are never satisfied. They are

3R

HEMAVATA SUTTA

enjoying all the delights and pleasures of celestial life and yet they want more aod are never satiated. So Sakka, tbe King oftbe Devas, likened them to the petas who ale always hungry because they do not have anything to eat.

So the Buddha saw that all beings were slaves of lust and greed. <.lnd tbat moved Him to great pity.

True, all beings are slaves of lust and greed. They serve their lust and greed even at the risk of their lives. They go OUf in search of the things their lust or greed urges them, and risk their lives to get them. They have to work daily for all their lives to satisfy their lust and greed, and after death and in the next existence, too, Itbey remain slaves of the same master, tal)hd. There is no period of rest .for them.

In this world a slave may remain a slave only during his lifetime, but a slave of lust has an unending term of servitude till the time of salvation when one becomes an Arahat and thus ends his stream of samSlira. Avijja (ignorance) colours all things as desirable things and tGl)hti (lust) makes thrm seem deligh.tful and urges all beings to strive to obtain them. They strive all their Jives aud are never satisfied with what they have acquired. They are always hungry, and

39

HEMAVATA SUTTA

there is no time of satisfaction and so they are always in a miserable state. This the Buddha perceived and was moved to great pity for all the beings in all the planes of existence. .

" Unsatiated, all beings are slaves of lust." " Men are driven to old age, ilJness and

death." "Beings are s~ weak and helpless." "No real personal property, and all have

to be abandoned ." These a re the four points in the discourse

between the venerable Ratthapala and king Kawrabya. The venerable monk said that the Buddha saw this deplorable plight of all beings and was moved to great pity. The Buddha said to Himself that there was no one ex.cept Him to save them.

Thus Satagiri saId of the great pity the Buddha had for all beings without partiality or discrimination.

"Besides, our teacher, the Buddha~ can take with equanimity all the desirable as ­well as undesirable sensations," continued Satagiri. It was a reply to Hemavata's ques­tion whether the Buddha could restrain His p)~asure wh~n in contact with pleasurable th10gs aod HIS anger at undesirable things uI}.1ike other beings who are moved and

40

HEMAVATA SUTtA

swayed by sensations of all kinds. This waA a pertinent question and the answer was apt.

Nowadays, when a man asks one of his friends who seems uI}.concerned with religious matters to attend a discourse by his rewrend teacher, the person so invited puts f\ rather impertinent question, thus: J

"What can your monk do? Is he adept i.n astrology, or can he do propitiations :to enable me to become prosperous? CaR he make arrangements to get a separated couple reconciled, or recover a lost propertf,l Or can he make some propitiations f~r olle to g<ain promotion in his position?"

This is quite an insoleJ;lt question. T,blS is not just a make-up ca~e; I have learned of severa) instances of this kind from those who ought to know. Such questions are put by ignorant, irreverent persons.

An enlightened question ' , Hemavata's question in this context was

most perti nent, a wise one. A t the time of the Buddha there were many who claimed to be Buddhas. Prominent among these pretenders were:

1. PuraI)a ISassapa, leader of a gro~p; 2. M:lkkhah Gosala, another; 3. Ajita Kesakambala, another;

t 41 p S

HEMAVATA SUTTA

4. Pakudha K accayZlna, another: 5. Niga1)da Nataputta, another;

and 6. Sificafifia, yet another.

These six h'ld their own respective follow­. ing who believed in their divination of the past , present and future, and their following was fairly targ.e.

Hemavata, however, knew that these so-called great teachers did not have the ability of viewing things pleasant and unpleasant with equanimity. So he wanted to know whether or not his (tJendl Satagiri's teacher was like them. Satagiri ! gave him a categorical anSwer f9 that question. . , .

"Wh~t is the :Buddha's ability to have His mind in full control in respect of possible reaction to things pleasant and things unpleasant?" The Buddha could view these things with mindful indifference that is, rejecting both the pleasant and the unpleasant with an equal attitude of mind of which He had full control. Howeve: beautiful and lovely a thing might be the Buddha could view it to reatile that it' was after .all undesirable. He could look at the beautIful lady, Maga1)dhi, and immediately sre that she was made up of the 12 kotthiisa (parts of the body), having nothing that

42

HEMAVATA strrtA

could be taken as pleasant and desirable. In the same way, He looked at th.e three beautiful daughters of Mara and' saw thetn as mere conglomeratiODs Of detestable ~tI (physical) elements.

Not only the Buddha, but His descipltl, the Arahats, could view things in the Sln~le manner and keep their minds iB f1111 cbnttol. And even the non-Arahats., those w~o llad been practising the meditation OVln~ the unpleasantness of material things (asuI1Kb­~ammatthiina) could view physical ereme!#s 10 the same reali stie manner. Opce, in ~ri Lanka, Maha Tissa MahatlJera of Cetiya Mountain looked at a laughing girl on his round for alms-food and saw tbe unplea •• rit­ness of the physical ' elemeJlts an.. dnls ~ained jhiina, the n via the jhtina fta.1f to Arahathood. Those practising meditati~n a~d having reached the stage of bhanga-Nina wIll be able to view things in their iDteftant decay and thus, in their being unp~as8nt and undesirable.

Ability to view unpleasant things as pleasant

In viewing u npleasant things so that they became pleasant, the Buddha conve ted hate~ut beings into loveahle ones by means of HIS mettel (loving-kindness). He viewed

43

HEMAVATA SUTTA

such beings with karu1)a (pity), ~~d those being~ became as I~vc(\ ble and pItIable as His own son, RIThula and thus were free ~f unpleasant and undesirable elements III theIr looks. The Buddha viewed Devadatta, who attempted His life by roIling down a lar'ge rock fr8m GiJjhakutta Mountain on to Him, as kindly and lovingly as He viewed his son, Rahula. He had for Devadatta, the same g~odwill for t1;l~ latter's welfare as He had for His son, and thus turned the unpleasabt into the pleas~nt.

For thi~ reason of viewing unpleasant things as "pleasan t, the Buddha picked \lp tl1e s&lii ftom th~ dead body of PUQ.Q.a, a slave woman, and wore it as a robe wi~houtr any feeling of disgust. For the same reason, tpo, H~ ate the cake from the folds of Millika's skirt without disgust, and also ate the leaviQgs of a meal eaten by a brahmin named Paiicaggadayaka without disgust.

. Mahakassap and a leper There is an instance of Mahakassapa

Mahathera's freedom from the feeling of disgust. Once, the venerable Arahat stood for alms-food at the place where a leper was eating his meal. He did so to enable this leper to gain merit which would result in prosperity and happiness in his next existence.

44

BEMA VA~ ~UT;rA

. h' J\. I r The leper eatJ~g IS mea \Vas so ot good volition for giving alql3 tb~~ nco p¥t the remainder of tl;te food he; Jl~~ \\~c;.n eating into the alms-bowl Rf the .}ir+We~e monk. In doing so. t~e lep~r w.iw1t!iQJly dropped one of his djsea~~:-eroded Jih&Crs into the bowl. The great Arahat ~~e~ or this but he did not remove 14e ~finger ,Qd ate all the meal without any fecli.g. ()r disgust.

This is an example of viewln. ttt un­pleasant thing as equal to anything '4Jn.i­dered pleasant in rospeet of the el~ntl comprising it. All the Arahats could view in this mSllner, not to say 9[ tbe Bu4dha.

The Buddha could also view the pleasant as well as the unpleasant with uQQoneern. The most important is to be able to r .. 1 unconcerned about the ailments occu., illl iB one's body. The Buddha felt pain ~ecause He was struck in the foot by a Splillt'r from the rock Devadatta had rolled down from the mountain but He viewed the pain with unconcern . Also, ' <luring the last year of His life, 'he Buddha suffered from a serious illness but He viewed the physical ailment with great unconcern.

Not only the Buddha but the Arahats also could view pleasantness and unpleasantness

4S

with unconcern: This ability is an attribute called chalaiJgupekkha.

The yogis who are practitioners of medita­tion and who have reached the stage of $ankhuupekkhii iiana can ignore pleasantness aAd unpleasantness by taking cognizance of the fact and dismissing the cognition immediately., Such yogis may be said to have acquited part of the attribute of the Buddha and the Arahats for a temporary period. Tkose who have attained this stage should be glad about it .

There are three kinds of evil intention (sankappa ).

(1) f{iimlf sankappa, the intention to obtain desirable and pleasant things;

(7) ByapsMa-sankappa, the illtention to cause death and destruction;

(3) Vihimsa-sankappa ; the intention to iII­treat others.

These are the three evil intentions which must be dismissed fr~m one's mind. Theh there are three kinds of good intentions:

(1) nekkhamma-sankappa, the intention to oppose lustfulness·

(2) abYdPada-sc:nkapp~, the intentien to ca~s~. happlDes8 and wellbeing;

\3) aVlhlm~a-sankappa, the intention to have kIndness.

46

ltEMAVATA SUT1A

These are the three good intentions which mUlt be acquired. The \1IHVtdl, s-req. ~ lust for plealant thin.s, and anpt'" ¥JTe for destruction and .. ttare of .~s unpleasant. . I

As for the Buddha, suck evil thoughts were (ar removed. lie was fy!} pC ,ood inteations. He was free of lust for pleasant thinas, and also from desire for destruction and torture of things, unpleasant. In Him kappeBed spontaneous feelings of kindness aad good­will for all beings and things irr.spective of whether they were pleasant and desirable er unpleasant and abhorrent. His min. was always clear and well under control.

In fine, the Buddha could control Wis mind and keep it at His own will by loing iato jhana and phala samapatti. He could keep it in the same condition of goodwill and loving kindess for a moment or for the entire day or for the entire week as long as He wished.

So, Satagiri said: "Our teacher, the Buddha, can keep His

mind under control as regards the three evil wishes and the three good wishes, for He has His mind under full control."

The Buddha is adorable. He does not di.criminate between those who have deep reverence for Him or those who are antago-

41

HBMAVATA SUTTA r. 1

Qistic to Him ted had melta and karuna for 811 beings. lie had good wishes for all pleasant and unpleasant alike. and was in full control of His mind. The Buddha is indeed adorable.

J '1 (End of part one)

1 • , m [ 1 r .,

«)'1 I 11 . ( I I c 0 I r

'd , { , 'I t •

I'> • • 'IG :> t

0' , fC f \

r ( r 1 ,. J I 1

v ,

d ) ~ ) I t { ,

48

1

l - . ( r r

f

Part If • I

The answer to the tilst query g~ye ""ifaft(k sufficient ,cause to 'be copvintied Ul~t tlie Buddha refeFred to by· Sitigi.p.,taW ~ genuine one, But to be more sute~~. mac;te 3'second 'query. . In'

Hemavata's second q~ n Hemavata said, "Frie,nd Sltjsjri t~es

your teacher not take tbpJProperty tht,o~.Qer has not given by action or by word ofmo~tht Does He not rob or steal?"

,I No pilfering at it.1I i

Taking anything that is not givOQ by it, owner is stealing. Stealing consi!' ts in takina by stealth or taking by force. Tbi, guestioD would seem to Buddhists an inSlOlent ~De. To ask whether such a personality as th~ Buddha had ever taken anything by ste~1th or by force is downright rude. Even if the same question were put to a present-day monk it would be taken as rude. The person

49

,

HEMAVATA SUTTA

who is so asked would be greatly. offe!1de~; "Is your teacher, the monk, free ~f pIlferIDg~ It is indeed an insolent. questIOn. ~ut 10 those days such a questton was not Imper­tinent nor was it insolent. Those w~re the days when people were eagerly 100kIDg for the genuine Buddha, and many bogus Buddhas were on the scene.

The prominent bogus ones such as Pural)a Kassapa and five others were claiming that they were Buddhas. Their foJlowers were adoring them and takin, refuge in them in the belief that they were real Buddhas. These bogus Buddhas were giving sermons dismis~ing the idea of Kusala and akusala (good deed and evil deed).

Sat!giri aDd Hemavata had been «evas since the latter part of Kassapa Buddha's S(isana till the beginning of Ciotama Buddha's attaiBment of Buddhahood. For such a long period these two celestial beings would have I had experiences of pretenders to Buddhahood at a time when people were eagerly awaiting the coming of the Buddha, just as citizens of a country were awaiting the coming of their real king when many pretenders sprang up to claim the throne. Hemavata knew that the bogus ones were not free of pilfering, sO he had put this question. He

J 50

HEMAVATA SUTTA

wanted to examine Sitagiri's teacher in respect of .misdeeds.

Today we can c<¥Dpare ~otes with many persons wko have been worshipping some­thing or somebody as God. According to their testament, their God does not lIeC;Dl!O be ' free of bad deeds. Their God, tup Creator, is said to have pUdjsb,d so.p1~ persons with death and destru(:ti()n Qf property, and such acts are consid~~~d by .8udqbism as ev.i1 deeds. Therfror~. Hemavata's question was not imp"ertment; it wa_s quite pertinent in the context of tii~ prevailing situation of those days. Then Hemavata asked.

Is He free of guilt of tOrture and lassitude'!

"How is that? Is your teacher, the Bud~~a, free of the guilt of torture and also of lassitude?"

Lassitude is a kind of forgetfulness. While being overhelmed by sexual desires one is apt to forget that it is sin to commit fornication. Sexual intercourse is an ignoble act, and such act is sin if committed under unwarranted circumstances. "Forgetfulness" used in the origiQal PaIi text is a euphemism for immorality.

51 B 6

HEMAVATA SUTTA

Rude words of takkadun Kassapa

This takkadun (oDe following the wrong path) was na~ed Kassapa. He was, of course not Pu rana Kassapa, a Buddha. pretender. He c.lllie to Venera~le Bakula about fifty years after the passmg away of the Buddha. The takkadun belonged to. a sect which required its members !o prachse asceticism with no clothes on . ThIs Kassapa was a follower of Niganda Nataputta, a well-known leader of the sect. The later members of tbis sect became what are now called Jains.

When I visited Migadavunna Garden in India, I came upon a Jain templ~. In that temple were <photographs of then ;monk.s, called Muni. Muni means a monk In Buddhism. Our Buddhist monks are fully clothed in yellow robes but their monks are all naked. We found such naked munis . along the banks of tbe Ganga.

This Kassapa was a friend of Venerable Arahat, Bakula, when the latter was a layman. Kassapa asked Bakula: ~'Friend, how long have you been in the Buddha's siisana?" Bakula replied, "Eighty years." "How many times did you indulge in sexual in.tercourse during that period?" ~sked

52

HEMAVATA svtTA

Kassapa. That obviously was an insolent question.

Then Venerable Bakula said: "F ad Kassapa, you should ask, 'How man)' tlQl.e. did you think of sex?' That is a civilliZed query."

Kassapa revised the wording of hil ooa­tion accordingly. Then :Venerable BaJWIa replied: "I became an Aralult on the eigllA" day of my ordination, and becoming an Arahat means becoming free of aU desires of sex. So I say that 1 had not t"o,,~ of sex since the time of my ordination, that ii, not once in the eighty yea rs." ";1This answer surprised Kassapa who thaii took refuge in the Buddha's sasanaand after practising meditation, became an A,aIun. Hemavata was polite because he was not ignorant of the sasanii of the Buddha, and so he referred to "forgetfulness" or "lassitude". He meant to ask if Satagiri's teacher was clean of lust.

Is He into the Jhana? Hemavata asked whether Satagiri's teacher,

the Buddha was into Jhan(7 0 r in other words, wasHe full of awareness so tbat lie could reject all lustful desires which are an impediment to Arahathood. Lust is a basic

53

HBMAVATA SUTTA

impediment. (Hankering after plea~an! things and indulging in pleasures, . or k!lesa kama.) If one is free of that, on~ !s saId to have attained the first stage of Jhana. Now this question is just a corollary to the question of lassitude. Thus, Hemavata had put these questions relating. to I?isdee~s. of physical nature, namely, pIlfermg, kIlhng and sex act. Then he asked about jhana.

Satagiri's Answer No.2

"Friend Hemavata, our teacher is free of the guilt of pilfering. He does not steal or rob, like the bogus ones. Why am I so sure? Because the Buddha said in his Dhammacakka sermon that He had found the middle path, majjhima patipada. He also said that he had practisea maggangas" These eight noble truths consists of ~samm{ikammanfa, right action. This refers to refraining from killing. stealing and sex act. These are the acts one must avoid; and such an avoidance is called viratl.

Viratt is of three kinds: sampatta viratf refraining from evi1£deeds without formally taking the precepts of siia (observance of morality): sarna-dana viratf refraining from evil deeds after formally taking the precepts of s'ila: and permanent avoidance by means of Ariya magga, called samuccheda viratJ.

54 .

HEMAVATA SUTTA

Satagiri knew that the Buddha ... "ee of the guilt or physical miscS.oedl aa ... the Buddha had dctclared that He had com pIe ted the practice of Ariya lnQgga w • embraces aU the v irati, av.oidance of all physical misdeeds. So he s~id, "Our;. iCfacher. that Buddha, is free of the gui~tof pi'f~in, "

The bogus Buddhas I want to give you a further eX~la~iolJ

regarding the question of pilfenog. Tho bogus Buddhas claimed to be Buddhas m.,cll earlier than the coming of the genuine Buddha. Of the six bogus ones, Ub a Kassapa said that killing, stealing, robb'ng were not evil deeds, and that at the sama time, aIms-giving and other good acts wore not good deeds.

Another bogus one, Makkhali -~ala, said that there was no cause for either misery or happiness, for such states were pr~destined, and so, however mlicb oa= "HI evIl deeds one would not suU'er ia the saa. wa7 as one would not gain any merit by domg good deeds. There was no ,such thing as. samsara (cycle of existences), he main­tall~ed, and all beings would be saved w.ben thelT turns came. I

Pakudha-kaccayana, a leader of another sect, said that all beings were composed of

ttEMAVATA SUTTA

the four elements togethe.r with misery, happino8s and l)ife, and so If one were to cut a being with a sword, the sword would cut into these s~ven components but the being would remain unaffected.

Ajita another bogus one, maintained that there w~s no such thing as the next life for any being, and good deeds and evil deeds would not produce any effect.

From the teachings of these bogus ones We can surmise that they encouraged com­mitting evil deeds; they seemed to be urging people to kill and steal.

Nobody wants to be killed or robbed

As a matter of fact, every being would like to live long, and would not want to be killed, or to be robbed of his or her hard­earned possessions. Therefore, no one should kill anyone. Sacrifices should not be made by killing Jives under a mistaken notion that such sacrifice s were meritorious deeds. In the same way, no one should steal anyone's property, either for himself or for others.

Yet in those days the bogus leaders of the sects maintained that killing or stealing Was no sin, and it may be inferred that since they said so, they tllemselves would not be free of such sins. As for the genuine Buddha, these deeds should be declared as sins. He

.'

56

ftEMAVATA suttA

did not commit these sins and would not have anyone commit them. This Wat-Ww.t made Hema vata put the que,tiCJJl .... t stealing, to which S.atagiri made a PJ'Clltpt answer saying that hIS teacher, the Budd,lla, was free of the sin of stealing because fle was in complete practice of sammtikam­manta.

Free by means of samuccheda virati

If one were not in complete praQtiQe .of sammakammanta one would not be qUite reliable although one !flight .have d~clatod that he would avoid taklOg thlOgS wblch the owner had nC:t allowed him to take. ~ne may steal when one has a chan~e of steahog and cannot resist the temptahO~. To tate an obvious example, .at the time of !be British evacuation a~d j:Jst ~efore the gomlDg of Japanese troops Illto thiS country. m.olt of the people of the towns fled, leavmg their property and the people of the countr~­side swarmed into the towr;ts to. loot. It IS said that it was an amusmg Sight to see almirahs too large for the hovels in which these looters lived.

These looters were in their ordinary Jives observers of the five precepts, but wben they were given an oppo[unity to steal with impunity, their precepts were broken. That

57

HBMAVATA SUrrA

is because of the absence of samuccheda viratl, that is avoidance of sins by means of Ariya magga. As for the Buddha, He was in complete practice of sammakammatlta and was therefore free of the sins of steahng and killing.

You would'nt steal if you had sympathy

Stealing other persons' property is an act devoid of s),mpatbetic feeling that a moral person should have. Nobody likes to be robbed, so also nobody should rob anybody. This . feeling of sympathy a moral person would surely have, and so would not have the desire to steal even if he had not formally taken the precepts. This kind of avoidance is called Sanipatta viratI. The avoidance after taking the precepts is called slimadclna viratL

On the subject of stealing, a Jain master said, "One's property is oDe's outer life, and SQ steal,ing is taking one's life" This is quite a plauSIble argument though a HtIe COll­trived. What he meant to say is tbat killing is an outright taking of another person's 1ife, and stealing is also another form of taking his life, for his property constitutes ~is oute! 1ife. since he has to depend upon

. It for his hvmg. That person has acquired

S~

HEMAVATA SUTI'A

bis property by dint of hard work aM diligent saving and hoarding. So his property is really part of his life. Some persona die of sorrow for the loss of their property. That is why the Jain master declared ahat property is one's outer life.

Freedom from sin of stealing througtt vipassana

Even jf one is not free of lob"a '(greed), one should refrain from steali ng either by having a feeling of sympafhy or by strict observance of the precept. To the yogts who take cognizance of the inceSs;lllt happening and immediate passing of things, avoidance of the sin of stealing is already a completed act. To tbem everything is in the procen of incessant happening and jmmedjat~ decay and passing out, meaning anicca (imper­manence); everything going on in that pro­cess is therefore not under anybody's con­trol, meaning anatta I and so the desire to kill or steal will not occur. To the yogis, the practice of virati is already an accom­plished act.

Freedom from sin of stealing through Ariya magga

When the meditational practice reached an advanced stage, one could see the cessa-

59

EMAVATA surTA

tion of ntima and rfJpa and gain the insight of Ariya magga. At that time there nev~r Occurred any desire to steal or to C?mmlt any sin. That is the time of Upr?otlD.g o,f aU the evil desires by means of Anya Vlratz. This complete abandonment is called samuc­cheda-pahana. This abandonment occurs not only when one reaches the higber stage of meditational insight but even at a lower stage when one becomes a sotlipan. At that stage all the evil deeds referred to in the five precepts (paika sila) have been uprooted.

According ito Dhammadasa sutta, a saMpan possesses an insight which enables him to know full well the attributes of the Buddha and so he has a deep reverence for Him. In the same way, he comes to have a strong conviction of the attributes of ,he dhamma and the samgha. So the so/apan has come to possess the aciJity to observe fully the five precepts which the Ariyas hold in high esteem. •

So a. pe.rson reaching the stage of saUl­panna InsIght becomes fuBy convinced of the attributes of the Buddha, of the Dham­rna, and of the Samgha, and has come into the fold of Ariyas with an ability to Observe the five precepts fully.

The Ariyas adore the five precepts. They do DOt want to break them; they are always

'0

HEMAVATA sUTtA

anxious not to break the .'lila They observe the precepts not because they are afraid that others would censure them but because they.want to keep their minds in purity, and punty of tbe mind can be achieved only by ob.s:er-vance of the five precepts. Not only dUlIng tbis life but in all future existences do they not want to fail in keeping tbe precepts. They may not ,know !hat thc:Y have become sotapan in theIr prevIous eXl~tence but they do know that they must observe the five precepts fully and with no default.

Sometimes one comes across a person ,,:ho bas never done any evil deed such as kill­ing or stealing sin~e his. infancr. He w~s not given any partIcular InstructIons by his parents but he knows by himself what is an evil 'deed and refrains from it and keeps his .'II/a in purity since his childhood. May be, he had achieved a special insight of the dhamma in his previous existence. There are also instances of persons who though born of non-Buddhist parents have come all the way to this country to practise meditati?n. Maybe, such persons have h ad some practl~e of observance of the Buddha's dhamma 10 their previous existences. These are interest­ing instances, and their cases must be evaluated in accord with the extent and

P 7 61

depth of th eir study and practice of the )dhamma.

A real sotiipan has ~ Iready come into .the f old of the Ariyiis and so he has been stnct. Iy observing th e fi ve precepts and has thus completely uproot ed all evil deeds. Though he is not entirely free of lobha (greed) and dosa (anger), he does not have. so. m~ch of them as t@ drive him to commIt SlDS m con. travention of the five precepts. He wouJd not think of stealing, and if he wanted something that would be useful to ~im,. he would buy it or ask the OWner t~ give It to him in charity. That is the behavIOur of an ordinary AriYi'i . The Buddha had already removed all the evil deeds by means of all three v iran, and so stealing is entireJy out of the question. When he was giving the Dhammacakka sermon, He declared that he had rejected a11 evil-doing. So Siitagiri said:

"Gotama Buddha is clean of the sin of taking anything that was not given by the OWner by word or by action. This I decJare with the COurage of conviction. "

Hemavata did not put this question relating to the sin of stealing not to know a mere temporary and occasional abstenance from that sin but to be convinced that the Buddha completely cleared Himself of the

62

• • et '

HEMAVATA sUnA

sin of stealing. Satagiri's answer was categorical.

Then the second answer was: II AIIO, Buddha Gotama is free of the sin of torture on all beings. He is free of torturing and killing beings." This answer se~ms to be Dot matching with the attributes of the Buddha, but the question to this answer was put because in those days there were bogus Buddhas, and the intention was to distin­guish the genuine from the bogus. In those days there were also believers in God, the creator of aIJ beings and things, and such creator was reported in plain terms in their own books as having meted out punishment to those creatures who went against his wishes.

Punishment by that God consists in causina great storms and floods to kill peo,?le, causing great earth-quakes and destructlOD to the crops for the same purpose. If it were so, then their God was not free from the sin of killing his creatures. The question Hemavata put about the sins of stealing and killing was relevant in the context of the situation prevailing in those days.

One prone to killing is not a sotapan Once, a writer said in one of tbe journals

that a sO/lipan will not kill others, but if

63

HEMAVATA SUtTA

. e will kill his an one comes to ~iIl hIm, h that he made atlaeker. Tha t wClter decJa re~ of the nature that statement af.ter a researe

f the human mlOd. hose o I. t wonder w That is ridiculous. JUs h f and how

mind he had made a resea~~t h~~e made a he could do . that. He. m He might have research of his own ~l1nd. He might have thoughht. he I~~; ~/~~JI~n~lIow the attacker as ke~ lI~se 1 ad an effective weapon to kill hIm when h~h b ay of defence, and to return the att.ac y w that he would migbt have got hIS own answer . t attack tbe attacker first. F rom hIS. persob!la

h t he obtained the conclusIOns w . IC argumen . k. his artIcle. he expressed as hIS remar In . ' . According to the tenets of BuddhIsm, thIS is a ridiculous statement.

The very fact that one thinks one can and should retaliate the attacker proves that:e is not a sotapan, for accordm~ t.o the B _ dhist tenet the person entertaIDJn~ such a Doti.n is ~ mere puthuj janf;i, defimtelY

k no.

1t,

a sotaptin. A rea) sotapan ,would not 1 even a flea or a bug, not to say of a hu­Illan beiog. This fact must be remembered once and for all. ~

As for the Buddha, the rejection of such sins is complete. So Satagiri gave a catc-

HBMAVATA SUTTA

gorica] answer: "I d~c'are with the courale of conviction tbat Our teacher th~ Bu"dha. never kills or tolures any being."

Then comes thc third answer: "Our teaellar, the Buddha, is never forgetful. S" ia. 4'ar lemoved from forgetfulness."

Forgetfulness jn the secular 8ense is well known. You forget to do some,hin& or lOU forget names and so on. Or you fall un­conscious and fall from the hej~ or 8F

t drowned. But forgetfulness in the presC.lj context is not that kind. ForgetfulnCM meau to be absorbed in tbe five kinds of kiillkJ­gul).O (enjoyment of tbe five lenses); it is Jetting tbe mind lost in tbese seo-se-eajoy_ ments. It is called pamtido in PaiL

Like Jetting loose the ropes ti,;d around the, necks of cattle and allowing them to wander and graze where they liie, jf the mind is let loose and allowed to enjoy an kinds of tbe senses, it il pamada, 01 forget­fulness. That kind of forgetfulnen is very enjoyable indeed, if you will. EnJoy­iog the beauty of a Woman Or of a man. tbe sweetness of the VOice, the sweetaesa Of the smelJ, the sweetneas of the taste abel the . delight of the touch of an indilfiduaJ .. pfeasurable. To think of the good thin .. in Ure even if you cannot have them reali"

~MAVATA SUTTA

to think of enjo.yment of t~e senses;~~~~ fancies also brmg some ktnd of pI

to you. t 'n think-All your waking hours are spen ~ out ing of sensual pleasures and workIng d arrangements for enjoying them. You 0 that not just for one day, on.e month or 03e ear; you do that all YO~lf ~lfe. If you 0 ~ot bave I cbance of thinkIng of such PleOj

sures you get bored. If there were no sensua pleasures to think of and arrange ~o g~t them, then people wouldn't want to live ID this world.

Such getting lost in thought and enjoyment of sensual pleasures is called pam ada. Of these sensual pleasures, sexual pleasures a~e most prominent. So Hemavata asked hIS friend whether his teacher. the Buddha, was (ree of the sin of copulation.

To this question Satagiri gave a definite answer, "Our teacher, the Buddha, is absolutely free."

Tbis apparently impertinent question was quite pertinent in the context of the situation of tbat period. The answer was also definite. The Buddha was free of not only the phYlical pleasures but also of the enjoyment of the looks, the voice, the smeH, the taste and other forms of contactal pleasures. And also, He was free of the forgetfulness in

66

HEMAVATA SUT'rA

regard to the practice of the satlpatt"ana (meditation); He was always into jhalla.

There are two kinds 0 f jhana. (I) Samatha jhana, concentration on appearances and (2) Vipassana jhtina, constant mindfulDCII of the physical and mental phenomena by dwelling deeply on the incessant happeninl and immediate decay and perceivinl thus theanicca (impermance), dukkha(misery) and anatta (non-entity) of all ingredient •.

Samatha jhana Concentration of one's mind on a certain

object is caUed samatha jhtina. Pallia Vi kasina is concentration of one's mind on the earth. Such concentration would not make for insight into the happening and decay of things but as the mind is fixed on tlte same object, sensual tboughts do not have a chance to enter the mind. ORe can attaiJ;l by this method the four stages of rupa jhana, and then on to the next four stages of arupa jh(7na. These jhanas would not give the practitioner an iftsight into the impermanence of the ingredients of exis­tences; they are good only for getting concentration and keeping the mind calm and collected.

The progress in the jhana would lead to dibbacakkhu, special sight, dibbasota, special

67

HEMAVATA SUTTA

. - b'l't to review past hearing, pubbenzvasa, ? I 1 Y " to know existences and cetopanya. abIlity another person's mind,

h 'h - one can Then ' basing the sarna! a } ana t lly d " d even ua practise vipassanc7 me ItatlOn an th

h ! . 'bt So sarna a attain magga and p a a InSI.g s. t If jhiina should not be held 1ll cont~mp. d one practised anapana kammathana an dvattimstikara kammatthana. one could ke~p one~s mind calm and collecte? _and .attam jhtina. and basing on that jhana, If o~e went in for vipass~m£i one c~>uld atta!D magga and phala insIghts, But If one dId not observe the happenings and decays and just practised the samatha jhana, one would get only concentration and calmness of the mind.

Vipassana jhana

Observing the three lakkha1]a (signs) means vipassanti jhana.

The three lakkha,! £7 are anicca lak-khanti dukkha lakkhana and anatta lakkh~na. Observing these three signs means vipassana jhana. But one cannot possibly . start with observation of these three iakkhana. One must start observing the consciousness emanating from the six sense­doors of the body. To Observe the actions Qf the bOdy, one must make a note of t4eDl

68

HEMAVATA SUTTA

as they OCcur, tbus: "goingu, "lifting" 'of tbe foot, "moving forward", oC tb~ (o.o.t. "dropping" of the foot, as one ~s waJ"~. In the same way" one must nQte the stall~. sitting, sleeping, bending, stretc,wng, ruh,. of the abdomen, and .its falI(n8, ~eeJna. hearing etc.-aU actions ~s they OCCUlj. •

While noting these actions of the body and the mind as they occur, one \\UJI cqwe to know of the new occurronce Or b.~!! ing of the actions and also th~ passing ~ of these actions to be followed by ..... series of actions. By making tbis observ.u~ one w.iII come to know of the imperllJaM4W' (anicca) , or the constant changes illdica~ instability which spells difficulty; distress and misery (dukkha) and of the absonqe lir control ~f the actions by anything ~aUH self (a.natta).

The mindfulness of this state of aWain ~ in the physical and mental phenomena takes the meditator to the beginning of sammasa"q_ nana stage of inSight. At this stage the YOli will make a note of any movement or action, physical or mental, over and ov~, and thus derive a measure of pea.c~fuf happiness that is born of sam(ldhi (con.cen_ tration), This kind of concentration is called ekaggata samtidhi. Tbis state is equivalent to the /first stage of jhLlna. In the next

69

. . HEMAVATA SUTTA

stage, as the yogi progresses to it, the actions and Movements will present them: selves spontaneously ,for noting. The yogI bas passed the first stage in which he has to make an effort to note them. That stage of insight is called udayabbaya-ntiQa.

At that stage vitakka (thinking) and vic..ara (wandering of the mind) are absent, and pili sukha (joyfulness) abounds with a further strengthening of samtidhi. Therefore, the earlier part of this udayabbaya stage of insight is equivalent to the secoRd jhtina stage.

At the advanced stc ge of udayab.aya the light emanating from the state of joy will be overcome by sukha (peaceful happiness) and samtidhi (concentration) which have become prominent. That stage is equivalent to the third stage of jhana. Then further, even sukha dims and fades when attention is focused on the constant decay and passing out of the phenomena as bhanga-fitiC).a (insight Oll decay and destruction) develops . At that stage upekkha (indifference) stands out prominen­tly. That stage is equivalent to the fourth stage of jhana. In fact, upekkha (indifference) and eskaggatti (one-pointed concentration) -bec?m~ more pr~minent i~ the next stage of 1081ght sankharupekkha_nti'!a . The yogis

70

. HEMAVATA SutTA

who have advanced to this stage will know what it is.

When S£1tc7giri said that the Buddha was not out of jhelna he meant that the Buddha was into all these stages of jkeina.

Buddha into jhana while audience were saying "Sidhu"

The Buddha wa~ constantly into the jkiina, and for that He IS adorable. While, after the end of a part of a sermon the audience exclaimed in one vOice, "Sadhu! Sidhu! Sidhu! (Well done!), the Buddha went into jhana even during that brief interval. And then He resumed the sermon. Such con­stancy is really marvellous.

Burmese Sadhu and Ceylonese Sadhu There are occasions for the audience to

say "Sti dhu" during my preaching but they are rather few. But in Burma it is usual for the audience to say "Sadhu" at the end ?f a Pali gtith6 (verse) of which the preach-109 monk gives a literal translation. When th.e monk ends in a long dra wn-out voice wIth the (Burmes~) phrase "phyitkya Ie dawt tha. de~" the audience says without any hes~tahon, "Sadhu". They don't care to notIce whether the verse so recited and translated relates to a subject which caUs

ss 71

HEMAVATA SUTTA

for an exultant hailing or not. They just note the end illg word s " rlla dee" and drone out " S ll dhu" .

For instance in the Vessantra Iiitaka, king Vessantra 'ga ve a way his two children, a son and a daugl1ter of tender ages of four or five, to Jujaka Brahmin. The Pali verse in that connection describes the Brabmin's cruel treatment of the children who wept desolately ; how the Brahmin beat them cruelly and dragged them away. When the preaching monk recited that verse and translated it into Burmese and ended his versIon with tbe usual "tha dee" the audience droned out the usual "Sadhu". Well, that is the part of the story which calls for sympathy and sadness from the listeners, not exultation, and so the "Sadhu" went awry. But in Burma the audience don't care to discriminate.

In Ceylon, however. the audience intones "Sadhu" three times only for the part of the sermon which nlated to attainment of Arahatship or Nibb ana, for tbat is an occa. sion of ~x lJltation when_ a congratulatory note of JOY, such as "Sadhu", is called for. Dur~ng t,~e _ time,?fthe Buddha the practice

of saYlDg Sadhu must be of the Ceylonese pattern . When the aUdience said "Sadhu"

72

HEMAVATA sutTA

three t~me~, the Buddha paused, and during that bnef Interval He went into jhclna and soon after the saying of "Sadhu" by the audience, He resumed His sermon He never remained idle. How adorable! J

The preaching monks of today may not be entering into the jhana; that brief interval is probably the time of resting his voice or it is the time for bim to think of the words he will utter when he resumes his sermOD.

Moreover, the Buddha looked on all be­ings with great pity, entering into the mood of great pity and loving kindness (mahika­rUJ)a samapatti) and also into the ecstatic mood of sanctification Arahatta sam(lpatti for twelve crore times each altogether twenty four crore times, daily. That shows that the Buddha had not missed one moment in en­tering into jh(tna; So Satagiri said in reply to his friend's query, "The Buddha who knows all the Dhamma fully is never away from jhana". .

To sum up, the Buddha was free of the sin of stealing, the sin of torture and killing, and was always away from forget. fulness,

nor did He ever stop entering into jhana.

73

HEMAVATA SUTTA

As tbe Buddha knew all the Dhamma fully, He did not have to think abead. of what He would say in a sermon seSSIOn. He was always prepared. He als~ k~e.w of the measure of maturity of any md!vldual for Him to give an appropriate teaching,. so He did not need to take time for any ~md of preparation. Not only did He enter mto the jhdna after the .s~rmon ses~io~ bu t, as has been s3id He utilIsed the bnef mtervals during the se;mon session when the audience said "Sadhu" to enter into the jhana. He never remained idle for one moment.

Taking this into consideration, we should know how adorable the Buddha is, and we must adore Him by taking refuge in Him with concentrated attention, and while we are doing that we should make a note of the happening of the joy emanating from adoration and immediate fading out of that joy and thus meditate in the vipassana way, thereby strengthening the inSight thus gained till we reach the ultimate stage of Ariyti mar!,ga.

Now in conclusion of today's session, I would like to urge the new Yogis to enter into th~ meditational practice by first noting the actIOns of the body, such as the riSing and falling of one's a15domen, and thoughts

74

HEMAVATA SUTTA

and fancies c: f tI~e mind. Noting the mental p.h~nomena IS cl!hinl~passanll. Noting the sHlffness and the achmg of tbe limbs and all the ot1cr physical discomforts constitutes vedanctnupassan,((. Seeing, hearing, etc., and anger, dJs~ppolntmeflt and other workings of the mll1d noted and meditated upon make for dhammanupassan((. Noting the varjo~s movements and actions of the body const. tutes Kayanupassan((.

The yogis at this meditation centre have been doing this meditational practice, and all of them have been trying to free themselves from forgetfulness (pam(ida.) In a few days, or one month, they will have attained advanced stages of meditationaI insights.

Of the four magga fiJfl)a, Solt/patti magga enables the one who attains it to gain great concentration. Then advancing from that stage to the next, sakadag((mi magga, the yogi will have bis concentration power strengthened further, and when one reaches the next stage, anagami magga, there wiII not be any wandering of the mind and the concentration will be much deeper; from t hat stage one can ad vance through diligence to theuItimate stage of Arahatta magga and thus attain the state of an Aralull. At that

75

· HEMAVATA SUTTA

final stage, forgetfulness is out of the question, Mindfulness is ever present. So in praising the insight of an Aralzat, it is said: "The Araha! is of all mindfulness while walking or standing or sleeping or waking."

An Aralzat never misses a moment in his mindfulness of the physical and mental phenomena, and his a wareness is of a sweeping nature. By "sleeping" it means that there is mindfulness till the point of falling asleep and the mindfulness is resumed at the point of w~king up. There is of course, no question of mindfulness while one is asleep. That is how mindfulness is ~ractjsed ~very moment of one's waking lIfe, accordmg to the Buddha's admonition of " apamadena sampc7detha" (constant awareness).

Our yogis have been doing meditational work. That is a really gratifying fact. They mllst work hard enough to attain at least the first stage of magga, that is sotc7panna magga. When one attains that stage one will never go to four nether regions of bell.

This is the introductory part of Hemavata SUlta.

76

Part III

The two questions put by Hemavata re­late to physical commission of sin, and also­whether the Buddha was far and away from jhana. Then Hemavata put questions relating to sins of speech.

'. Friend Sa tagiri, does your teacher the Buddha, refrain from telling falseho'ods? Does He refrain from using rude insolent and condemning words? Does He refrain from uttering words' which destroy friendli­ness and unity?" said Hemavata.

Hemavata wanted to know whether the Buddha committed sins of speech, such as, using abusive words, telling lies, and teIJing tales which could set one person against the other. Unity among friends and allies could be disrupted by someone dropping a few words, quite pOlitely, hinting at some­thing which could create misunderstanding

77

HEMAVATA SU'ITA

Vassakara's slanner

DUring the time of the Buddha, King Ajatasattu wanted to invade Vajji w.here Liccbavi princes were reigning. Tbese prInces were ruling the country in barmony ._and unity, Clnd their unity was strength. Apta­saltu tried to disrupt the unity and under­mine the strength of Licchavi princes by employing a ruse. He sent Vassakara, one of his ministers, into exile. and Vassakara went to the Licchavi prinaes to seek refuge. Some of tbe princes said to others, "This Brahmin, Vassakara, is a cunnillg man. Don't let him take refuge". Others re. plied, "This Brahmin was exiled because he spoke for us against his own king. So we should take him on ." So Vassakara was received by the Licchavi princes and appoint­ed a teacher to the children of the princes.

Vassakara taught tbe princes' chHdren well, and thus earned the trust of the princes. Once he obtained the trust and confidence of the princes, Vassakara started his campaign of setting one prince against another. Th~ ruse ~eemployed was subtle: He ~,alIed one pnnce aSIde and asked in a whisper,

;Have you taken your mea]?" "What curry dId you eat?"

HEMAVATA SUlTA

. ~he other princes saw tbis, and asked the pI !nce what the teacher told bim. The priDce saId, truthfully, that the old man asked him whether he had taken his meal and what curry he ate. Other princes did not believe him. They tbought to tbemselves, "One would not ask such questions in a whisper. There must be some important secret."

Next, the Brahmin called another prince and asked, "Does your father plough the field? How many bullocks draw his plough?" When the other princes asked him what .had passed between the Brahmin and him, the prince told them trutbfully, but none of them believed him. Then tbe Brahmin called another prince and asked in a whisper, "Are you cowardly?" The prince asked him in surprise, "Why? Who told you tbat'," Then the Brahmin said, "Oh, your friend, that prince" an~ poin ted to another prince. The pri l.1ce was angry at being so accused and began to misunderstand the other prince.

• In this way, using simple words, Vassakara

set about setting one prince against another, and within three years he had succeeded in creating misunderstanding among the Lic­chavi princes. The disruption of tbe unity was so great that each prince would not like to look at the face of the otber. Then

• 79 .

HEMAVAtA SUfTA

. e to King Vassakara sent a secret ~essag ainst the A 'atasattu who Jed an army ag ", As ki~gdom of the Licchavi princes, V~~J~s as

each prince misunderstood the 0 e of having accused him of cowardice, none them went out to fight the invading ymy. They said to themselves, "If they sa~, ~m cowardly, let them go out and fight . n 0 King Ajatasattu could capture the cou

b tr~

easily. 1 his furnishes a good lesson a. ?u backbiting Hemavata, therefore, asked., ~ your teacher, the Buddha, free of, spe,~c calculating to create misunderstandIDg?

The fourth question was: "Is yo~r teac~er, the Buddha, free of speech ,~evold ~f Im­portant and valuable import? Such kmd of talk includes the present-day novels and fairy tales which are devoid of morals and valuable messages for the good of secular life or spiritual life of people. They are written up for pleasure reading; they con­tain only some :'stories" and descriptions just for reading pleasure. Hemavata asked bis friend, Siitagiri, whether his teacher, the Buddha, was free of such kind of frivolous speech.

Satagiri's Answer No.3 Satagiri said in reply, "Friend Hemavata,

Gotama Buddha does not tell Jies; He

~o

HEMAVATA SUTTA

always refrains from falsehood." Since the time when he was a bodhisatta (would. be Buddha) and received an assuring prophecy from a former Buddha, He had refrained from telling lies. He had always been free of that sin. He always told the truth. For the person who tells lies there is no sin be would not hesitate to commit because he will lie about his deed when asked about it. He dares do any kind of evil deed. The Dhammapada says:

"He who leaps over truth or abandons truth and resorts to lies, abandons beneficial effects in his next existence, and so there is no sin he cannot commit!'

Leaping over truth means abandoning truth, and that means telling lies. One who does not hesitate to {teH lies ~an commit any kind of sin for he is ready wIth a false explanation. Such persons will do anything for his personal gain. One who dares do any evil deed has no good future in his next existence', and that means he leaps over the next existence. He cares only for his welfare in the present existence and does not care for what will happen to him in his next existence. Such a person will do any kind of evil deed if only it can prod~ce material benefit for him in the present hfe.

P 9 81

HEMAVATA SUTTA

SO untruthfulness is the leader of all other sins.

The would-be Buddha had avoided this great sin of false speech in all his existences. His avoidance of this sin is, of course, through sampatta virall and samadana viraII but not through samuccheda virati. Only when he became the Buddha did He avoid this sin through the last-named viratI: that is, the avoidance through Arahatta magga.

To explain further, the would-be Buddha avoided telling lies though he had not formally taken the precepts. He did not lie and always told the truth. That is avoidance through sampatta virati. If a person has taken the precepts forma1ly, saying: "I take the precept of avoidance of telling falsehood," then he avoided telling lies through samiidtina virati.

Such instances of avoidance of falsehood are usually in consideration of some factors, such as, advanced age, reputation, fear of censure or fear of committing a sin.

However, if one has attained sotapanna magga through meditational practice, one abandons. false speech completely. At that stage telling falsehood is foreign to his n.ature .. The B~ddha had abandoned this sin smce HIs attalllment of this early stage of

82

HEMAVA1A smA sot~7panna magga. When He reached tlae ulhmat~ stage of Arahatta magga this matter was entIrely out of the question. The BuddlJa had dcc~ared that He h?d a1ready attained tha,t .ultImate st~ge. So Satagiri pve a ~efinHe reply to the query, laymg,

Our teacher, the Buddha has completely abandoned the sin of false'speech." " Then to the secon~ question he replied,

Also, the ·.Buddha IS free of using crude, ab~sive and contemptuous language besides bemg free of speech calculated to cause misunderstanding and disruption of amity and unity".

In the case of Arahats there were instancet of use of rude language because they had such a habit though, of course, they had no evil motives. For instance, Venerable Pilindavaccha bad the habit since he was a Brahmin of calling people ., vasa/a" which means "mean fellow". Even after he had become an Arahat he did not abandon this habit. As for the Buddha, there was no instance in which He had retained His habits, good or bad, after His attainmellt of Buddhahood. He was completely clear of all the habits that are usualJy carried along through one's series of existences.

To the fourth question Satagiri replied: "Our teacher. the Buddha, speaks only of

83

HEMAVATA SurrA

what is good, appropriate and ben.e~cial either to the secular world or to the spIrItual world. "

By that Satagiri meant that the ~ud_~ha saw the truth of any matter by HIS nal).a and spoke either for the benefit of secular or ,of spiritual life, and that He never indulged in an idle talk.

There are four elements of speech. They are: (I) telling tbe truth, no lies; (2) .no slander, saying things with a view to effectmg amity and unity, (3) using pleasant language, avoiding rude words; (4) avoiding idle talk, using words of no value or benefit. Those four elements apply to communication in worldly affairs as well as religious affairs. If one observes these four rules of speech, one can be said to be of clean speech.

Of six kinds of speech two are permissible

It is said that there are six kinds of speech in human communication. Number one is the speech that is a lie, that is not of any benefit and also not liked by others For instance, if one makes a false accusatio~ of immorality against a person who has a c.lean ~ecord, the~ the a~cuser's speech is a be. HIS accusatIOn mIght be believed by

~4

HEMAVATA SUTTA

another person Who will then take the accused person amiss, and thus unwittingly carn demeri t. Th e accused person will also fecI badly because he has been wrongly accused. The accuser's false accusation will not be liked by wise and moral persons. So such speech is malicious and inappropriate.

Number Two: A speech is not truth, and there is no benefit from it, but it is liked by. many. In this category are included tales, words causing misunderstanding and disunity, and discourses on false religions. Tales, fables and novels or stories are mere fabrications. They are not the accounts of real events, and so reading them gives no benefit to the reader who, may be sexually aroused or moved to sorrow, anger or dejection. Yet these tales and stories arc liked by many people. Then backbiting constitutes false accusations and descrip­tions of the other party, deSigned to cause destruction of amity and unity. The present day propaganda contains many such lies and un warran ted accusations. Such slanders cause distress in the listener but he may of tell feel that such speech is for his own good and like it.

I shall refer to some stat~me.nts in the Pitaka literatureofthe Buddha s hme. Before tbe Buddha attained Buddhahood there were

85

HEMAVATA surrA

in ancient times religions which said !hat sacrificial offering of animals ne~trahsed evil deeds and br ol:lg11t prosperIty and happililesS. Even King Pasenadi Kos~la had once made arrangements for sacrIfice of animals to p ropitia te th e gods. He arranged to have fi ve llUndred each of young co ws, bull s, goats a n61 sheep kill ed and sacrificed.

At that time, at tIle instance of Queen MaIJikii the King approa ched the Buddha an d submitted the case. Th e Buddha said that the sounds a nd voices that the King bad been .beari ng had rela tionship with the p ropi tiation of the gods, that killing tbe aniw als for sacrifice was detrimental to tbe King's interest, that on tbe contrary, if the anim als were released and allowed to live, the meritorio us act would bring him peace and happiness. The King realized bis erf(~r and ordered tbe sacrificial animals released. Th.ere is no acceptable logic in killing anImals for the purpose of obtaining prosperity and happiness for oneself. It is u~reas?nable to suppose that other's misery WIll brlOg about one's happiness. Yet there are !l1any people who are in favour of sacnficel.

Even in the time of the BUddha Ajita a ]e~der of a sect, maintained: ';lhere' is neither kusala (gOod deed) nor akusala (bad

86

• HEMAVATA SUTTA

deed and these 'deeds have no effect be­muse there is no next exist.nce." llf you consider the i mmed iaote eff eets of good and bad deeds you will sel that this L;rgument is not ten~ble. Accord ing to Buddhism, such belief is ca lled uccheda ditthi. The subscri­ber to such belief will not do any good deed and he will not shun bad deed. Thus, ther~ will be no moral quality with him that deserves pra ise. When after his death he goes to th ~ next existence which he has denied, then he will go to one of the ~eth~r planes and suffer g reat misery. , Such l~ his plight , according to the Buddha s teachlDgs.

·Such belief s are of no benefit, yet many people subscribe to them .. So the statement, "There is no kamma, or Its effect, because there is no afterlife" is no truth and ~as no benefit f o r any, but many people hke it. This is a n example of the Number Two category of 9peech . Though many pe?ple like such statements, they must be aVOIded because they are no truth a.nd have no benefit. And the Buddha a VOIded them.

Number Three: This category includ~s speech that is truth but it is 0'£ f!o bene'£lt and is not liked by other~. :rhlS IS, for m­stance, calling a thief a thIef. a chea~ a chea~, a fool a fool, or a blind person bIID~. This is true but there is no benefit and IS not

81

HBMAVATA SUTTA

liked by the person concerned. Tbis kind of speech was never used by tile Buddha.

Number Four: This ca tegory includes speech which is truth but of no benefit though liked by many. Tb is is. for instance, quoting somebody and se tti ng him against the other. Such speech ca uses misunderstand_ ing and distress in the person concerned . Th o ugh distressed, he might like it because he is under the impression tha t tbe reporter lets him know what the other person said abou t him. This a lso includes political rum ours aDd side-talk s ~bich may be true ~nd wb i~h may be relished by many but it IS. of no benefit to tbe people generally: it dIsturbs the mind of those who are devoting themsel ves to religious work, Such kind of speech was never made by the Buddha.

The two kinds used by the Buddha

NU~ber Five: The truth, beneficial though nt~ lIked by s~~e perso~s. SUch speech in­c u ~s adn;lODltlOn whIch says, " In Our prevIOUS eXIstences you have done a lIt of bad deeds and so you are now' . If you d' d 10 mIsery. doing ba~n Je~~n't .y~ul1r bway~ and continue

1 WI e dIfficult fo !o save yourself from hell " Tb' d ~ ~ou IS motivated by a k 'nd: IS a monItIon of the person conce: ned wlSThhf.or t~e 'welfare

• IS duect ap-88

HEMAVATA SUTTA

.proach may not be liked by the person COD­cerncd though it is a statement of truth, bu~ such speech should be made. And the Bud­dha made such kind of speech.

The Buddha said that Devadatta \\Iho tried to set up a parallel organization by per­suading some of the monks to renege, thus committing what is called samghabhedaka sin. would fall into hell and suffer misery there for the entire kalpa (aeon). This pre­diction was not liked by the Devadatta group but it was made for the benefit of others who might otherwise happen to com. mit a similar sin. The Buddha made such speech because He knew that it .was truth and beneficial to many though not liked by some.

Number Six. True, beneficial and popu­lar. This category includes discourses on dana (charity) sIla (morality) and bhavan,(1 (meditation) . These are the truths benefI­cial and liked by wise and moral persons, and so the Buddha used this kind of speech on appropriate occasions. The Bu?dha's main purpose was to make su{;h kmd of speech.

Now we have completed the list. Of the six categories the speech which is falsehood and not beneficial should not be made though it may be liked. or not liked, by

89

•

HEMAVATA SUITA

others Such kind was never used by the Buddh~. Trut h but not beneficial tbough it may or m ay not be liked by others would never be said by the Buddha These are the f our k inds the Buddha never used. T ruth, beneficial th ough it may be liked or not by

.others, was said by the Buddha. Of cou~se, the Buddha chose the appropriate occasl~n for the use of sucl] speecb . He never saId anYlh ing irrelevant to the situation.

To choose the right words for the rignt occasion is an important matter. It is not appropriate to say something true and beneficial at a place where fe3tivities are being held. For instance. at a wedding oeremony or an ini tia tion ceremony wh~re people are light-minded, it is not appropriate to give discourses on serious subjects such as meditation on death o r inSight into the state of nibbiina. In tbe same way, it is not appropriate to give a discourse Ion Mangala at the aIms-food offering ceremony at a funeral house.

Summing up, the Buddba used only words which represent the truth and are of benefit to many. So Satagiri said in reply to Hemavata's 9uery that the. BUddha said what should be saId after Surveying the benefit in the mundane and spiritual affairs.

90

HEMAVATA SUTTA •

The attribute of Sugata

For the reason that the Buddha used appropriate speech for appropriate occasions He was in possession of the attribute of Sugata which means "saying good (appro­priate) words". In other words, the Buddha said what was true and beneficial to many though it mayor may not be liked by some.

• So we will say, "The Buddha had the attribute of saying good words whether they are liked or not."

After Satagiri bad made a repJy ab~ut the Buddha's abstention from the four SInS of speich, Hemavata put questions relating to the sins of the mind.

Hemavata's Question No. (4) Hemavata said, "Friend Satagiri. is your

teacher, the Buddha, free of desires for . sensual pleasures'l"

Of the three sins of the mind, abhijjhd refers to the 'desire to get other's possessions and scheming to achieve that purpose. Hemavata wanted to know whetber the Buddha was free from abhijjhii. People gene­rally want to possess things that please their senses even those who declared themselves to be Buddhas were not free from abhijjhci .

91 •

HEMAVATA SUTTA

"Is the mind of your tencher, the Buddha, clear of the des ire to kill and destroy?" Hemavata asked.

By th is he meant whether the Buddha was frec of byap llda, the wish entertained by a person to see o thers he hates dead or des­troyed. People generally wish someene they do not like dead; some even utter the ,words to express that wiih. The bogus Buddhas of those days were no t free from th is desire. !hey said tha t one could kill with impunity. rhe God Who pun ished his creatures with death cannot be said to be free from this ~esire. The wish for other's death, byapttda ~s after all an expression of anger, and so Jt can never be termed clean-mindedness, Hemavata wanted to know whether the Buddha was so clean-minded· he said in effect. "Is the mind of your ' teacher 'the ~uddh.iL free of the dirt of evil wish~s: is It clean!"

. Then; Hemavata put the next question; "Has the Buddha overcome maha (delusion rend~red by ignorance)?" Ml~chl[, tlitthi, the wrong belief is a

combll1atlOn of maha and aViJ'J' - (. ' ) So sk' h th h ({ Ignorance.

'ha

mg w e ~r t e Buddha had overcome ma a meani as~ing whether the Buddha was clean of mlccha ditthi wh' h . f the three signs of the mind It IC lIds one 0

, wou appear

92

HEMAvATA SUTTA

rude to put such a question about tile Buddha but in those days when many lead~rs of heretics were claiming to be Buddhas this question was pertinent. '

Three kinds of miccha ditthi

Among the bogus Buddhas, Puriu;ta Kassapa preached that killing, stealing and other evil deeds did not constitute sin ~nymore than alms-giving and otl?er good deeds constitute merit. This belief which rejects the principle of kamrna and its effect is eaIIed akiriya ditthi.

Ajita, another heretical leader, preached that there was no effect of either good deed or bad deed because after death there would be no new ~xistence. Death spelled the end of life. This belief is called nauhika ditthi­nihilism.

Another heretical leader, Makkhali, preach. ed that there was no cause either for defilement and misery or for happiness and purity in all beings. This no-cause belief is called altetuka ditthi, This b", lief also rejected kamma and its effect.

The last of them, Pakudha, said that all beings were composed of tbe four elements, plus sukha dukklta and jiva (life), and these Seven elements could not be annibilated

93

HBMAVATA SUTTA

by any force. Any good or bad deed could not affect this composite entity. The!efore, neither sin nor merit llUd any meanIllg, be added.

These leaders of falst> faiths had had wrong conceptions and were sunk under mtJha and aVijjL7 . Hemavata's query wbether the Buddha was free of micc//lt ditlhi was therefore pertinent.

Hemavata asked: "Does your teacher, the Buddha, have the eve of knowled~e to see aJI the dhamma?" .

Questions relating to the sins or.the body, of the speech :lnd Qf the mind had been made and categorical answers received, but tbat by itself did not satisfy the inquiry whetber the Buddha was tbe real Samma­sambuddha Buddha, for these attributes could be had by Paccekabuddhas and Arahats. Pacce,kabuddha is a n\Jn ·preachiI1~, lesser, Buddna. So Hemavata put an Important question; "Does your teacher, the Buddha, have the eye of knowledge to see all the Dhamma?"

Sa tagiri's Answer No.4

Satagiri said, "Friend Hernavata our teacher, the. Buddl1a, has never had any sensual deSIre <lnd is <11 ways clean of tanha. " .

94

HEMAVATA SUTTA

This is the answer to Hemavata's first of Number FO,ur in the series of questions. Since the time of renunciation at tbe age of 29, the Buddha had been c:ean of sensual desires. Even when He was suffering acutely from extreme asceticism, H is mind had not harkened bark to the former state of joys and pleasures of the palace. He was far removed froLl the desire to possess other person's possessions. When he bad attained Buddhahood, the Buddha rejected all ele­ments of taf)h(( through Arahatta magga. This He had declared when He gave the Dhammacakka sermon, saying that He bad rejected all the ingredients constituting samudaya sacca.

The answer to the second question in the series said: HThe mind of our teacher is Dot sullied and it is al ways clean." The Buddha's mind was alwfYs permeating with metta for al r beings and there was not ~ sh~dow of byapada and dosa. While Angult Mala was chasing the Buddha with a sword,~the Buddha was of a clean mind full of mett{i and karuna for the man who was chasing Him. When the drunken elephant, Nala~iri, ~ushed to gore Him, the Buddha was lIkeWIse of clean mind. So was He when 1?evadatta rolled down a huge rock upon. Hl~. Even on c;uch critical occasions HIS mlOd wa~

HEMAVATA SUTTA

cleclO of deJires; nothing need be said of it at other times. The Buddha wllo had cleaned His mind of byttp(7da Cl nd dosa th rough Araha/ta magga, had always been of clean min d. Hence Satagiri's answer.

Also free of moha As an answer to the third question, Sata­

giri said, "Our t acher, the Buddha, has overcome through the four Ariya magga all moha and avij ja "

What Hemavata meant to ask was whether the Buddha had ov rco.me ducarita miccha ditthi based on moha, but Scitagiri's answer went ~eyond that and was all-em bracing. Be saId that the Buddha had overcome all moha which is obviously a complete answer.

Free of miccha ditthi since rece iving assu r ing prediction

Since the time when the would-be Bud­dha was given all assurance by Dipankara, a former Buddha, that he would become a B U~ dha, he h~d ?een free of beliefs wh ich ~enled the prIncIples of kamma such be­Wfs as sassat~ 1itthi and uccheda ditthi, ed hea~1 ~~l at_ta lOl~ d B~d dballOod, He reject~

1 esu W lI cn mcludes of ducarita micchc7 d' h' H ' course, the fal se fai ths llt l. e then referred to

propagated by the heretical

96

HEMAVATA SUTTA

leaders. PuraQ.a Kassapa and othed. directed his audience not to folio" wrong paths.

The Buddha had said that the b~li c f that killing, stealing and othe r evil deeds did not produce evil effects was the product of in attachmen t to rupa, l'edalJa, sanna, sankhiira and vinfiana, the five ingredients of physical mattter. If rupa was known to be subject­ed to anicca and dukkha, the remaining ingredients would be li kewise sub jected, and that knowledge c{J'U ld not lead anyone to the wrong beliefs , the Buddha pOinted out.

The Buddha likened leading heretic Mat­khali to a dragnet and urged His disCiples to reject that f alse fa ith. Let us recount briefly Makkhali 's fai th. According to him, there was no cause for either poverty or prosperity and the>re was no agency to alter or improv~ t he situ ation because all beings were predestined, and so they woul~ have their share of pover ty a nd prospenty; all beings got their e xi s ~ences. in. accordance with predestination, c It~er In hIgher planes or lower planes of eXIstences. There was no lengthy period of misery f~r the bad and the foolish nor a short penod for the rich and the wIse; each being was to. take his own share of misery and happmess,

97

HEMAVATA SUTTA

. t as the poverty and prosperity, and JUs roIling ball of thread comes to a stop when all the thread has been untwined , so also the samSllra for each being woul? comd to an end when 11e had Jived out hIS pre es­tined period of existence.

Tallies with the theory of "man dies and is reborn as man"

This idea of predestlDCHion which asserts that one has just to live out his time in th~ sams(ira and need not make any effort for improvement for he will mature automati­cally and gradu ally, goes very well with those Who do not have to make any eWort to do good deeds and also with those ' Who want to do bad deeds. It is quite a good idea for lazybones and bad-ha ts. It also seems to be in accord with a recently pro­pagated belief that since man has already a tta ined the status of man, he wiJJ not get downgraded after his 'de ath, for he will gradually mature , automatically; the belief assuming the term, jn Bu rmese, lu 'the lu phyit (man dies, becomes man).

The Buddha li kened MakkhaJi as a human dragnet, for once a man gets into the ne t of his faith be cannot get out but has to die in it. The Buddha meant by this that

98

HEMAVATA SurrA

those Who favoured this belief would not do a ny good volitiona l act which would ena ble them to a ttain to celestial pl anes and nibb£lna, an d so they would fa ll into hell .

Now I have heard that there are some who tell their audience th at it is enough for them merely to lis ten wh at they preach and that it is not necessary f or anyone to do any meditation. Such p reachers should make a note of the metaphor of the dra £net used by the Buddha for the leading dWhi Makkhali . Not only Makkna/i's fa ith but also the faiths of Pura~a and Ajita f all into the same category of " dragnet fa iths" which remove the opportunity for beings to go to c@iestiaJ planes of exis tence or to attain nibbtina.

When did fa lse fait hs spring up? When did the false f ai ths denying kamma

and its effect spring up? According to Cakkavatti sutta, t hey sprang up d uring the era in which man's life-span was one thousand years. It is probable that til I that er3 people had in them less amount of lobha, do sa and moha and so were not enamoured of this argu~ent about karnma and its effect, but since then people were m ore and more depraved, and began to subscribe to these faiths . But these faiths were not as populaf

•

99

,

HEMAVATA SUTTA

as they appeared to be, for even at t~e time of the Buddha when the span of man s life had gone ~down to one hundred, they were not liked by many.

But now as moral deterioration is gradu­ally increasing, people are becoming mOre and more immoral, and the false faiths are beginning to flourish. And according to Cakkavatli sutta, at the time when man's expectation of life is reduced to just ten years, morals wiU fade out and the term akusala (evil deed) will go out of usage. This tbeory of rejection of !camma is gradually gaining more favourable attention because people's lobha is increasing and their hankering after sensual pleasures is making a corresponding increase. Nowadays, there are some who are of the opinion that if one avoids evil deeds one will not achieve allY useful purpose. That view leads people to these false faiths.

Free of all moha The ignorance of !camma and its effect

that is becoming rife now is the result of overwhelming lo~ha superimposed by moha. The Buddha realIsed this for Himself and so He preached to the people for making efforts to red~c~ the vOluwe of lobha and moha. The dIsCIples fOllow the Buddha's

100

IIIEMAVAl'A SUTrA

direction and try to reach realisation through meditational practice and thus free themselves from these false faiths. They come to realise that the kamma of the previous existences had made them what they are in the present existence, and the kamma of thv present existence, jf nOl y( t free of tal)/za, will determine the state of· the next existence. Thus, they confirm their belief in the true faith.

The Buddha was obviously free of miccha ditthi, but at a time when there were many bogus Buddhas, Hemavata's query whether the Buddha had overcome molta which makes for micchii ditthi was quite pertinent, and Sata~;iri's answer went far beyond because it said that the Buddha had over­come all moha (that is, all the accessories of moha).

Has the eye of k nowledge In answer to the fourth que::.tion, Sa a­

giri said, "Our teacher, the Buddha, has the type of knowledge which sees all the dhamma."

There are five kinds of eyes. They are: (I) mamsa cakkhu, the eye of flesh, or the

ordinary eye; (') dibba cakkhu, the eye of abhiiiJltiI)a

(higher psychic poweIs);

101 If 14

TJEMAVATA SUTTA

(3) dhalllma cakkllll; the eye. of kno~le~ge; (4) samallta cakkllll, (all-seemg eye) mSIght (5) Buddha cakkhu, the eye of the Buddha.

(1) The ordinary eye is very clear and can see around to the distance of one yuja1Ui.

0) Dibba cakkhll, or the eye of Abhififia can see all material forms, large or small, near or far: it can see the abodes of devas and Brahmas, the nether regions such as niraya ' (hell), peta and asztrakayas .(ghosts and spirits); it can also see the universes. This oye can see anything anywhere, any shape or colour; it can also see where a be­ing after death bas gone to take up its next existence. /Tbe Buddba had attained this eye It midnight of the day when He was to attain Buddhahood. He then sawall the 31 planes of existence in which beings of all sorts were either enjoying pleasures or suffering from misery. We need not add that He sawall of the hu man and animal worlds.

(3) As for the eye of knowledge, the term "~nowledge" refers to that gained from v!passana '?1agga and paccavekkhana, espe­~Ially to Any.! magga. The eye of knowledge )S ~fte~ referred to as the eye of dhamma w~lch IS synony mous with sotapanna magga ilGna.

102

HEMAVATA SUTTA

(4) samanta cakkhu is synon)'mous with sabbaiifiuta nana. It is the eye which sees all the dhamma. The BuddhJ. had declared while giving the firs t of all His sermons, Dhammacakka sutla, tb a t He had acquired this cakkhu and become the Buddha.

Budd ha c.akk hu

(5) Buddha cakkhu means "the eye of the Buddha!' This coostitut-(S indriyaparopri­yalta nana which is th e insight into the grades of maturity of the minds of all beings. Saddha, viriya, sali , san1(]dM and panna (well·established confidence in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha; diligence; mindfulness; concentration; wisdom respec­tively) constitute indriya. The Buddha could perceive the degree and grade of maturity of all these aspects. He examined a being's state of mental i acuIty to determine how that particular being stood in the Clatt~r .of perceiving the Dhamma and thus attaIDJDg nibbana. If a certain individual was still lacking in maturity, tbe Buddha would not yet teach him the Dhomma The Bud?ha waited till he reached the stage of matu~lty, and that period of postponement mIght extend to years or months; or it might be just a matter of hours or minutes.

To give an insta_[I~e of ~uch.p.ostponement, a person named Bahlya darucmya came from

103

•

llEMAVATA SUITA

his residence in suppuraka in thfe ~e~i.on ~! A aranta on the VI es tern coast 0 I!.. la . Jeiavana monastery near the cit~ of Savat~tl' 200 y"janas away. He arnved at e monastery at the time wh;n the ~uddha w~s out to receive alms-food III the city. ,He dId not wait at the monastery, but went mto the city to see the Buddha. When he met the Buddha he made obeisance and requested Him to teach him the Dhamma. The Buddha saw that he was not yet mat~re eno~gh to receive His te aching, and saId that It was not fitting to give teachings while going the rounds for alms-food. Bahiya made the request for a second time, and the Buddha refused. When be made the third request, the Buddha sa \V that his indriya had attained sufficient maturity andgave him the following sermon:

"If seeing ha ppens to be mere seeing, if hearing happens to be mere hearing, if arriving happens to be mere arriving, if knowing happens to be mere knowing, such actions do not bappen , they do not remain still, a~d as they do not remain still, they are nei ther here nor there, and nothing re!Dains. That non-happening is th' end of misery"

Bahiya, while hearing the sermon became an Arahat after going through th~ stages

104

IIEMAVATA SUTTA

of insight, the four magga and phala. This is an instance of postponement for a few minutes.

Asaya-nusaya ii81).a Asayanusaya fi {i 1).a means an insight into

the idiosyncrasies of an individual. The predilections are called asaya, and there are two elements in the mental makeup of the individual, namely ditthi alld fi ii1Ja. Those who are worldly usually have diUhi deep in their minds Tbey subscribe to either sassata or uccheda faiths . Those who like the former do not like the latter, for they like immor­tality of the soul. Those who like the latter do not like the former, for they favour the idea of the disappearance of all entities of a being after death. Though they may change over for some reasons or other they revert to their f-ormer faith later. They are like dogs which wander ,during the day, and come back to their steeplOg places at ~lght . The Buddha knew whether an, individuai was inclined to the. sassata f.aIth or. the uccheda f aith, and dIrected Hl~ teach~ngs accordingly, so that particular b~lDg realIsed the true faith and quickly attaIned m(lgga.

As for those who wanted to get out of the rut of samsara and attain ~ibbli"a~ !~ereare those who have acquired vlpassana naJ)" and also those who have attained Ariyti magga

lOS

HEMAVATA SUTTA

llana. Although they had not yet reach~d the' stage of Ariyli magga, and were shll holding the views of nicca (permanence), sukha (happiness) and atta (selt), they would regain the insight of anicca, dukkha and onotla when they heard the Buddha's ser­mon Such i~ the case with those who have gained vipassana insight but have stopped making note of anicca, dukkha and analla for some time, for they can regain their in­sight soon after they go back into their meditational practice. That is like returning to one's borne.

As sotiipanna and sakada gdmi are not fully clear of kama, raga and bY(ipiida (desire lust,and anxiety),theymayrelapse into thes~ fee~IDgs to a certain extent during tbeir off­penods from meditation, Once into it again !hey will regain their insight of the truth' If only for some time. It is like going out of one's bome, a stately mansion to several places during the day for on~ reason or anot~er and cornin!! back to their homes for the Dlght. The Buddha sa w this state of mind a~d g~ve a teaching best suited to the in­c~IDatlOns and idiosyncrasies of such indi­VIdual so that he might attain the stage Qf magga and phala.

The onusaya kileS(i comprises seven com­ponents, namely, kdma r(~ga (sexual desire),

106

•

HEMAVATA SUTTA

bhav,a raf,a (lust for life), patiga (aversion or . lll-Wl~l~, ~nana (conceit), ditthi (wrong be~l~F), Ylczklccha (perplexed thinking) and aVIJJd (Ignorance). The Buddha discerned w,h~t was uppermost in the mind of an in. dIvld'!al and gave him an appropriate teach1l1g. That was why those who had had an opportunity of hearing the Buddha's sermon quickly attained nibbana . N?w these .two k~nds of insight, namely ~ndrtyaparOprtyatta-nana and asaya·nusaya narJa are together cailed Buddha cakkhu, "the eye of the Buddha." This twin insight was possessed only by the Buddha and none othe~ Arahat; not e~e~ Venerable Sariputra, had It. Venerable Sanputra could not deter­mine the grades of maturity of the mental state of an individual and give him an appropriate teaching.

Once, Venerable Sariputra taught a disciple of his the asuhha kammathana exercises, and asked him to practice it for the whole period of the Lent. The disciple could not make any progress. so Venerable Sariputra took him to the Buddha, reported the matter and gave up the disciple to Him. Then the Buddha viewed the idiosyncrasies of that monk and gave him a golden lotus which He had created for the purpose and asked him to focus his attention on it and make a note of the redness of the flower.

107

HEMAVATA SUTTA

k d'd as he was directed, and The mon I ld lotus gained the four

looking at the gO en he Buddha caused stages of j"{ifla"l[~~d tget brownish black, ~ed ~~:el~l~~k~~iSing out ~f the jlla na

'v"d the decay and reahsed the de.cay pefrch~1 C bodv through introspectlO11. o IS own. 1 . d Then the Buddha appeared before l1m.an

:we him a sermon, and t~e monk attallled

~rahatta plw/a while attendlDg to the sermon. "In this episode, the monk had b.een for

five hundred existences a goldsmIth ~nd naturally liked everythi~g neat a,nd tIdy. He was, therefore, not Illterested III asu~ha kammiitlliina which involves contemplatlon

of the decomposition of corp,ses, ve~era,ble Sariputra did not know of IllS predllectlOn

and taught him an unsuitable method of contemplation. The Buddha, on the contrary, knew well of the individual's prejudices and gave him [ollita kammathana (contem­plation of r~dness) after giving him a golden lotus, 'Because of the appropriate teaching the monk attained Arahatta phata wi thin a few hours,

As the Buddha alone pO~5essed these two kinds of insight, Satagiri replied definitely: "OUi teacher, th,e Bud~ha, has the eye to se~ the dhamma III all Its asnects,"

Of the five kinds of eyes ' el1umeratE'd in an earlier paragraph, all ~xcept the first

108

• IlEMAVATA SUTTA

kind, the ordinary eye, which needs no special mention belongs to insight~ pertaining to the dhamma, and the Buddha was in full possession of all the four. Hence, Satagiri's reply.

To reiterate, Satagiri said to his friend, Hemavata, that the Buddha was clear of all desires and lusts and was of clean mind; that the Buddha had expurgated dosa and byapada through ana gt'imi magga, meaning that His mind was never sullied by feelings of anger or anxiety.

Incidentally, Venerable Sariputra was praised for absence of dosa in him. He was never angry, A certail} Brahmin unbeliever would not believe it. He maintained that Venerable Sariputra was not angry because there was nobody to provoke his anger. So one day while Venerable Sariputra was on his rounds for alms-food, be slapped the Arahat's back severely. Venerable Sflriputra did not even look back 3t him and waS walking with composure. Then only the unbelieving Brahmin realised the truth and humbly begged the the Venerable Arahat's pardon. In fact, not only Venerable Sariputra but 'aU other Aralzat's also were clear of anger. Yet they st.ill had some idiosyncracies which are vestIges of anger.

109

HEMAYA'lA surrA •

ddl oulo di!;pense with all Only the Bu \a c His mind was always traits of character. exceedingly clean.

- - " 'd trc Buddha had overcome Sataglfl sal I t know-

all asperts of molla. !do w mea1ns n~ means in the four Truths. Co?verse y, 1 . hattin wrong notions ()t them, tbat IS, for instat;ce taking dukklza as slIk/w. Whenever one is i~ the process of .inccessant happe~­ing and immediate fadmg out, there IS nothing pleasant or stable; all are unpleasa~t and unstable, and for tha~ reason, there IS no happiness but only misery. Yet ':lloiza causes one to mistake misery f?r happmess.

In the same way, whatever IS heard, ~r smelt or eaten or touched or thought of IS really the niima rupa undergoi~g const.ant changes of happening and dIsappeanng. But 1110lla persuades one to think of them as good and pleasar t and encourages one to be mentally attached to them, And this attachment (samudaya sacca) makes for new existenc~l;. Ce35'atiol1 of existences is nirodha saccii. ,\Joha makes one disliRe it, because cessation or existences is taken to mean the final death, and is therefore not relishing.

Moha makes one dislike dana, sIla and bhtivanli which are the causes for attaining nibb(lna. These are taken to be arduous tasks! so is vipassanti thought to be. That

110

t1.EMA V A 1 A SOH A

is molza: having wrong notions. Satagiri meant to say that the Buddha had over­come all aspects of 1110ha and was <.:lean of moha and avijja.

The next series of Hemavata's questions runs ~lS follows:

(1) "Friend, S~tagiri, has your teacher, the Buddha, full possession of special fiana called vijj(l?

(2) And also of the basic moral conduct called carana?

(3) Has your teacher, the Buddha, ~O!ll~ pletely rid Himself of all (ism'a kilesrl?

(4) Is He free from ,the cycle of ex­istences! that is, that there is no new exisence for Him?

To these questions Satagiri gave categori­cal answers to the effect that the Buddha was in full possession of all tbe qualities referred to by Hemavata.

As we know, Kali, a rich man's daughter who overheard the dialogue between the two celestial beings in the sky over her head attained the stage of sof<7panna magga. She became a sotapan because she learned ahout the attributes <?f the ~uddba and W:1S happily adoring Him while she

111 F12

,

HEMAVATA surTA

went through the st 3g~S of meditati?n , pre­ceiving an;cca. dukklw and anatla 01 mntter and mind. KiiWs achievement was rea lly wonderful.

Satugiri's full answers are ~given in the following chapter, This is tbe end of Pa rt Ill.

112

•

Part IV

Hemavata's Query (..1 0. S

To these four questions Satagiri said that the Buddha possessed fully and complttely all the nana called vijjC/, .

Vijj C/, means "special knowledge" or " wisdom". There are three kindt: and also eigh t kinds. The Buddha had all these fully.

Besides, our teacher, the Buddha, has clean basic moral conduct, that is, all the basic moral conduct that paves the way to Nibb anii.

"Also, our te:lcher, the Buddha, has in Him none of kilesa asavo, that is, K(1111(lsava, ditth(isava and avijjt7sava.

"And, our teacher, the Buddh:l, has no more new existences; He is free from the cycle of exi stences."

11 3

HEMAVATA SUTTA

The reason for Salagiri's definite. answers to Hem,w<lta's four further questions ,:"as

that he had heard the Bllddha declare dUClng the Dhammacakka sermon that He had already had completely magga sac~a,?r the eight maggo. Of them, samma dlt/ltT. and somma sat/kappa are the maggas re.atmg .to pann!i or what is called vijjti, the spe~H~.l knowledge and mental powers. ~ammc7 vacq, sa/1llYlu kammanta and sammd til/va const}· tute stla magaa, and SQI1l111lL v((yama, samma sali and samm~ salll li dlri are together samadhi magga. Tbese sila magga and sanUidhi mtigga are what con5titute caraI).a or the basic moral conduct.

In th e Dhall1macakka sermon there was also a declaration by the Buddha that He was Samm([ sambllddha, tbe Enli !;btened One, the .genuine Bu~dba ) who was in full pos­seSSIOn of specIal I?ental p~w~rs called vijj£7 a?d caral)a . T~ at I S wby Sa tagiri gave out hIS ans¥- ers wIth the courage of conviction.

Also, the reas on for the definite answer !O the question about riSQl'O kilesc7 was that 10 the Dhammacakka sutta the Buddha said tha t He had completely rid Himself of samudaya sacca (att achment). This state­m~nt together with t he decl aration of Himself as Sammasambuddha convinced

114

HEMAVATA SUTTA

Sa tagiri that his teacher, the Buddha, was the gen uine Buddha.

The a n swer to the fourth question that the Buddha b.ad no future new existences was due t o the Buddha's declaration in the Dhammacakka sermon, "My deliverance f ro m kHesa is permanent." By tbat He meant that the deliverance was complete and not for a temporary measure; it was not just a few moments or for a certain period ; it was permanet and invioiable. fhe Buddha added that the present existence of his was the last, and there was no future new exis tence for Him.

Three kinds of vijja Tllere are th ree kinds of vijja as well as

eight kinds . The three kinds pubbenivasa fi aI).a, dibbacakkha iiana and asavakkhaya nana. (T hese are often referred to wlth their initials as p ll, di, ii.)

pubbeniva.sa iiana

This nana is the mental a bility to look back and see the previous _ exis~ence s. The Buddha acquired this iiana lD tbe first part of the Ili~ht of the f ull moon <;lay of the month of Kason. the day O ll wa lch .the Buddha was to attain Buddll ahood. S~nce then He had kno wn about the prevl<1US exhtences and pondered upon the m.

11 '

IIHfAVATA SUTTA

Dibbacekkhu fiana

This l1ii1la is tbe ability to see as if with the eye of a deva, The metc1ph,or of the , ~ye of a deva is used just to ~xplatn the abIlity contained in this nanO but, in fact, the ability far exceeds tbat of the eye of deva. What a deva's eye cannot see, this fie/na can. The persons possessing this ntlna can ponder and look far dist~Hlces, of more than many crores of yuzalltl and see the colours and forms of being there, This nana can see what the human eye cannot It can see through walls, mountains and other fOID1S ?f barrier. It can t:>een the b<jngs suffering 10 the nether regions of hell, anjmal king­dom, and the world of peta. It can see the entire human world, and also the celestial planes of existmce,

The human eye C:lllnot see even <mardian :lngel.s ,o~ for~sts, mountains ~l11d trees in th~ VIClntty. ;)om~ say thJt ther~ is no such bemg as deva because such a being cannot be seen, but such persons dare not remain under the trees or places reputed to be haunted by ghosts. They dare not behave in such ~ way .a~ to offend the spirits. Some guardl,an SpInts of property and ghosts do sorn&times show their forms and frif.Jhten people Some persons have had a chant:>ce of

HEMAVATA SUTTA

seeing their forms. Among the spirits that usually frighten people are devas also. There is a reference in l'Jettii sutta to celestial spirits which showed the monks who had come to reside at the monasteries in the forest. in various forms and thus tried to frighten them. Such spirits were the guar­dian angels of trees.

There are instances in which the peta beings did frighten. Once. King Bim bis~Ha returned to his palace after he bad offered alms-food to the Buddha and Sangba and on that night peta beings haunted tbe royal chumber in the palace and tried to frighten the King. These beings heard from Kassapa Buddha, a previous Buddha, that t ! ey would obtain things to eat after they had said "Sadhu" (well done!)when the King dbtribut­ed his merits gained from the good deed of al ms-food of fering So they gathered around the Buddha's monastery and waited to say "Siidhu" but, unfortunately, the King forg~t to distdbute his merit, and returned to illS

palace. He did not know about this matter, ~o the

peta beings enter,ed hi~ chamber to flIghten him just to remmd hIm.

When the King reported to the ,Buddha about this, the Buddha told the Kmg that

117

HEMAVATA SUTTA

these pew beings had been the King's , re-

I t' 9 ') ka/pa co a CT and th~ t these beIngs

a I ve s _ .l :::- ' f 'h 1 ' haunted the royal .cbam?er to . ng. ten. 11m

b . f reminding him about h IS failure

y w.ty 0 b . S the to distribute his merit to all etng

s. 0

King offe red alms-food to t!le Buddha at;ld Sangha again on the fo1l0W1,ng day and dIS­tribut ed his merit to all bemgs. T he peta beings said "Sadhu" aDd thus obtamed

celestial food . So the re are various kinds of haunting and f rightening by spirits, for the devas, the peta spirits of property who also belong to th e category of deva, can do hauntin

CT and fri gh tening. The human eye

cannot ~ee t hese spirits but the eye of dib-bacakkll abhiiifiana can: .

Dibbacal<khu can see peta spirits

Durin g the t i m~ of the Buddha, one daY Venerable Maha Moggalana and Venerable Lakkhana were coming down f rom Gijjakut­ta Mountain while 0n their rounds for almS­food, when they saw on the way vadous kinds of peta spirits There were peta beings made up of only skelelons, those of on~y flesh, and also those of bodies on fire. The skeleton ones and flesh ones were b'i n gs

pecked at by crows, vultures and kitts and they were cryi'llg loudly from pain an d run-

118

HEMAVATA SUTTA

ning <Ibout in 1he sky, Venerable M(lha Mog­galaoa smiled at the. thought that he had been free of the possibility of ~uch an I.xistence of sutTering. Venerable Vlk kbana nsked him why be smiled. He said, "ask me after the a lms-food round." Soon after having had their meals, Venerable Lakknana asked Venerable Maha Moggal<.na, in the presence of the Buddha, why he had smiled. Vener­able Maha Moggalana replied simply that he smiled because he saw the strange sight of peta beings. Then the Buddha said, "My disciples h,we acquired the e)e of nt/,na,

and can, therefore, see what a human eye cann o t such beings as the peta, Now my disciples can bear witness to the fact that there are such beings as peta, I myself, had been them on the night when I was abou t to a tain Buddhahood while sitting on the aparaj ita pedestal under the Bhodi tre~, 1 bave withheld a discourse on tbese bemgs because I was sympathetic ,with th?s.e w~o would earn akusaia by theu sceptICiSm 111

this matter. Th~t strange peta was a bu t­cher in this city of Riijagiri. He had fallen into hell ~md suffered many hundreds ~f thous(\nd s of years before he became thls peta to repay a residue of the debt ?f his sin s . Moggaliwa was r ight, whe,l; be said he h a d seen astrange peta beIngs.

) 19

.-...... ...

H1:MAVATA SU'lTA

The Buddha continued to des~ribe more than twenty kinds of pe~a belllgs. Some

. had to suffer pam from swo rds , peta belllgs d' that fell upon their lances, arrows an pms bodies and pierced them. Some had lum~s of iron of various sizes .fall through t~elr bodies and were rU~D1~g ab.out, crYing aloud from the excruClatmg pam they ,,'e re sufferin!! from the process. No human be­ing in that area could see them. Nor c~uld Venerable Lakkhana who had not acqu!red dibbacakkhunana :yet. Such miserable beIngs were found rot only on Gijjakutta Moun­tain but elsewhere toO, in places where they had, in their previous existences, done mis­deeds, Only the eye of abhiiinc1na can see them; the ordiJalY human eye cannot.

The dibbacakklzu abhinnana C~ln see not only pela beings but all other beings, too, in bell ancl l(j the abodes of dCl'{fs "nd Brahmas. Venerable Anuruddba could see one thousand universes at once with the eye of this abhi1l1117na, <llld the Buddha could see innumerable universes, He had acquir­ed this abhinll (i l1a on the night of the full moon day of Ka~on when He W3S just about to attain Buddh ahood.

Asavakkhaya nana ~his n({ lla is the ability to purge ;dllusts.

deslfes and other ddilernent s. It is Ariya

120

HEMAVArA surrA

magga naQa of which the re are four grades: sotc7panna magga rUlna, sakadtiglimi magga nana, ana gc7mi magga nana and Arahatta magga nana.

Of these four nana, sotapanna magga nana purges the defilements (c7savo andkilesa) concerning ditthi (wrong belief): sakadag{i 1Jli magga liana the defilements conceruing glOsS kama raga (lust and desires); anc7gumi magga n(IQa the defilements concernlng subtle mainfestations of kama raga; and Arahatta magga nana purges all the rc::main­ing defi lements of lust and desires. So these four magga nana are collectively called asavakkhaya frana. But as the last-n med nana, Arahat ta magga nana, alone can purge all the defi lements, this nana is refefled" t<? as Arahatta magga nana. This ll C(lla \h~ Buddha attained on the full moon dCly ot Kason just before dawn.

This nana was attained by the Buddha after meditatin g upon the paticca sal11upp(-da, past midnight of that day . when Ht! rost! from the anapana jhana dU rIng w,hleh H~ observed the sta te of ha ppelllD g an_ deterioration of the five upt7danakkhand~I' Such observation is called udayabbayq. TblS observation is just like the obsl:fval1on ,of seeing, hearing, knowing, etc , now bemg

121 F 13

11 - - , HEMAVATA surrA

practised hy the yogis here t~d ay . But the~e is one distinction in regard to the Bu~d~a s practice, that 'is, He entered all the }hanas and at the same time observed t?e happ~n. ing and deterioration of the thIngs ms!de \ and outside the body. There was noth mg left unobserved, that is the important distinction. The observation process was, of course, the same.

The Buddha went on from this stage townrd the attainment of Ariya magga nana in accordance with the various stages of meditation and observation of vipassana. When He attained the Al'ahatta magga nana, He saw the state of nibbtma, and then attained Buddhahood after gaining sabbannu­fa ll cl/l(l and all the other attributes of the Buddha. This the Buddba declared when He gave the first sermon, Dhammacakka slIlta, stating that He was sammasambudclha. That is why Satagiri said that the Buddha had the three vijja nana, known by the initials of pu, di, {i. .

Eight Vijja

The thre~ vijj(1 namely, pu, di, c/, have been ~xplamed. Now to make up eight vijju we WIll have to add five, namely vi 111a ce and di by their initials. The long f ~rms

122

HEMAVATA SUTTA

~re . v!passana nana, manomayiddhi nana. zddhlVldha nana, cetopariya nana and dibba: sota nO na respectively.

Vipassana nana

V;pas~ana nana is attained by observing the. ac tIOns of nc1 ma rupa in the &tate of a.mcea r clukkha and anatta. It is not attained sHnply b¥ casual observation but by in-depth observ~tlOn . of the act ions as they are happenm g wlthout leaving any one of them unob&erved . T hus the observaticn should be on al~ acti~ns such as, seeinr hearing, smellm~ , ea ting, ~ ~ c., as they are happening an~ wIthout faIll?g ~o observe any single actIOn. At the begmnmg one should pitch ~p?n one ,kind of action performed by a hvmg belOg. So the Buddha in Mahrl Satipatthana sutta, said gicchantova giccha­miti, pajanati, meaning, "As you go, observe to know that you go ." By that He meant that one should observe the force of vii yo (wind, or the p ropelling force) as one walked. So also , He said, "As you sit , observe to know that you sit."

So as you are co ncentruting your attention on the action of sitting, you will observe such mental or physical feeling as occasioned by this action of si tting. In the same manner, you will observe bending, stretching,

123

IlEMAVATA SUTTA

moving as these actions are happen~ng. So I hav'" 'instructed y 0U to. take t e e?sy

t·" e of observing the rislOg and fallmg

prac IC 't' a pose of of the abdomen as you SI 10

medita tion. The Pali text in .~[al/(l Satipatth(/n~ sutta

gives full instructions for observatiOn of that changing state of the bod~,. so my instruction for observing. the. r.1Smg . and falling of the abd?men whIle slttmg qUletly is in accord with It.

If you think there is a gap in the. obser­vations between the rising and falhng of the abdomen you can put in an obs.e~va­tion of the sitting posture,. such as f]smg, falling, sitting rising, falhng, .... Suc.h gap­filling would complete the observatIOn. o.f the entire state of tbe body. That consltl­tutes observation of physical state, kayo-nllpnssana

While thus sitting if you feel the strain, the heat and the pain in the body, you should observe these vedan(( (feelings). That consitutes vedaniinupassana. If a thought occurs, you should note it. That constitutes cittil nupassana. Then the observation of seeing, hearing, etc ., as they are, that is, a s a series of phenomena, constitutes dham­manllpassmui.. Summing up, your practice of

124

\

IillMAVATA SUTTA

meditation is complete with the fou r kinds of satipatthana.

Now, as .you do medi tation embracing the four satzpatthona, your mind will not go anywh~re but it will be full y concentrat­ed .and wIll make the observation of the a~tlOns as they happen, without any omis­SI0I.l. T~ere will be onl y concentrated observah~n ., Thus the mind beco mes puri­fied .. obta.lOmg. the state of mental purifi­catIon (cltta vlsuddhi ). Wb ile in that state of mind, the act of observation and the mind, which makes that observation will become disti~c.t from each other . Wh~n you observe Le nsmg of the abdo men the rising as such is separate f rom the ' cognitive knowledge of the rising. The same applies to the falling of the abdomen, the bending, the stretcl ing, etc. Thus, the action and the cognitive knowfedge become separate, y,·hich means that the non-knowing physical action and the knowing mind are two separate entities. In other words, the practising yogi will be able to discern the ll (i ma (mind) from I'upa (matter). That stage of insight is called llama-rupaparicclzeda nci lla, which is indeed important as the foundation ,of the meditational insight. With"ut the atta)~­ment of this nc7na tl1e other stages of medl­tational insigh t cannot be reached.

]25

•

HEMAVATA SUTTA

Going on with the practice, the yogi will come to discern the cause and effect . of actions such as that the form of mO~lOn happen; because of the desire for ~otlOn: knowing happen.s because of the f~ehDg of knowing, or seelDg happens ~ec~use of the object of seeing, etc. The yogi Will come to realize that the causes and effects ~re after all in the mind and th(;; matter. ThIS know­ledge brings him to paccayajpariggaha nana, the insight that sees causes and effects.

Continuing the practice of meditation, the yogi makes a note of the appearance and disappearance of actions and feelings. For example, when pain happens, the yogi makes a note of the pain as it occurs such as, "paining, paining .. ." till the pain disappears. Thus he makes a note of the entire process from the beginning to the very end This making a note of successive happennings makes for an observ ation of anicca, fonowed of course by that of dukkha and anatta. This series of insights constitutes vipassana nana. ~he cognitive abil ity becomes sharper and

qUlc~er. as the yogi continu es with his medltatlOna! practice. This vipassana n(iIla ~an be attuned by an ordinary yogi but 10 th.e case of the Buddha, the attai~ment of Vlpassana nl"W was an easy m a tter

126

HEMAVATA SUTTA

si n~e H e ~ad a lready attained jh(zna and pUrIty of mm d .

~'1 anomay iddhi a nd iddhividha nana Manom~yiddhi and Iddlzividha nana are

f or 7reatmg; Manomayiddhi nana is for cr_eatmg one s o~n image, and Iddhividha nu na for creatmg a variety of thin U's w?a leyer one ~ishes to create. The Jatte; nuna IS of a wlder scope. The sky could be create d as ~he earth; an earthen road could be creatc~ In the sky so that one could ~alk on I t. One could create oneself as lIght as cotton wool so that one could be blown away in the wind. One could create the earth to become water or a tunnel so that one could dive into it. One could make o neself i nvisible. One could create anything. Such creative power is called Iddhividha n{ina which is an abhinniina in accord with the f ourth jhana.

Cetopariya nana Cetopariya nana is a lso in accord with

t he fourth jhana, and one who possesses this niina can read the thoughts of others a nd know what has happened in the past week and also the thoug bts that will crop up in the forthcomin g seven days. Current thoughts a re an open book to him. It is

121

HEMAVATA SUTTA

rather difficult to live with ~uch a person. Living with such a person is in a way a check on the misdeeds one is apt to make. Here is the story of Ma tika Ma ta, an old woman who had come to possess this nana.

Matika Mata, the woman devotee wh o attained abhinnana

When the Buddha was residing at Jeta­vana monas tery in Savatthi, sixty monks came to take meditation instructions from Him, and looked for a suitable place to settle do wn for meditation pr21ctice. Th~y came to a village by the name of Matika w.here Matika Mata, the mother of the yIllage h,eadman requested them to reside In the ~l ll a ge fo r the Lent. Mon~steries were bUIlt for them, and the sixty monks settled down,

The monks assembled and ga ve advice to one ano~her . "We should not be careless an~ neg!Jg"nt," they said, "for the eight fVea~ mraya ,(belJ) are like an open house. ,e ave reCEIved from the Buddha ins truc }~N~!o rh meditational practice, and we mu:>t

t em. We should not reside t Ogdl r even two by two . We sho Id 'd ' and separately." So they rU d rest e alont aDd c Ive , each alone

ommenced their meditational practice:

128

HEMAVATA SUTTA

One dJy M:;:tika Mata had butter, oil and molasses brought to the monasteries and she herself came with her retinue in the evening, She found none of the monks. Then those who knew said that the monks ",:ould come, to the meeting place when a sIgnal was gIven, and the monks came out severally from their separate places of meditation, thinking that one of them had fallen sick and that they were asked to assemble to help. him.

• Matika Mata misunderstood the monks,

and asked, "Have you all quarrelled?" The monks said, ',No", and when asked why they did not come all together as they usually did when they came to her residence for. alma-food, they said that they were practising samaJ).a dhamma and so they were living separately. They said practising the samaJ).a dharnma in separate pl~ ces facili­ta ted attainment of samcldhi and fi:iJ).a.

Matika Mata had never heard of sama~a dhamma and asked the monks what it was. The monks explained that the anatomical par ts of the body had to be conte~pla ~ed upon andl their decay and detenoratIOn noted. The old woman asked whether this dhamma was specially for the, monks and whether it could not be pracll.sed by lay people. The monks said that tIlls could

129

HEMAVATA SUTTA

. erson. Then Miitika be _practIsed by anhe Pmonks to give .her MaUL r~quested tht editationalpractIc~. instructIOns .for e m given. Of couse, It The instructIons w~re a hour or two to did not take more t an e~ Ie say that medi­give them. N ;.w.~, some Pb P ndertaken only tational practice can e ~ course of after one has been throuoh a f

. . fa t one way 0 Abhidham.11l1l. That IS, Ink c, the practice. discouragtng people to ta e up

Matika Mafa came home and began the ractice. It is not known ~ow many days

;he took to attain anaga111l magga andpha~a but she did attain them befor: ~he. mon s . did. Once she attained the anaga,?ll mag¥a~ she came to possess the four p~tls~m_b~lda nana, and thus attained the abhll1n.lll)eL Just referred to. She made an observatiOn .and found out that the monks had ~not attaII~ed any jlltlna or even vipassana nal)a, Owmg to lack of sufficient nutrition. So she had nutritious food sent to the monks who h:4ving been properly fed, appl~ed themsel~es more vigorously to the medttahonal practIce and attained Araha/ship during the Lent. From this we should note -that food is an important factor in the meditational practice.

When the Lent was over I the sixty monks went to pay their re3pects to the Buddha

130

HEMAVATA S~TTA

at l~tavana monastery. They praised Matika Mata before the Buddha. saying that the old woman knew their minds and complied with their wishes, and that as they ",ere strong enough to apply themselves to the meditational practice, they had achieved concentration and attained insight Hearing this news, a certain monk wanted to go to , that village and do meditation there. So he requested meditation-instructions from the Buddha and went to that village monastery.

When he reached th~ monastery; he thought to himself~ "This old woman is said to know others' thoughts. I am tirea today from the journey, and cannot sweep the monastery. It would be better if the old woman sent someone to sweep the monas­tery." Matika Mata knew of the monk's thought and sent a man to sweep the monas­tery. Then the monk was thirsty and wished some syrup sent to him. The syrup ~as accordingly sent to him. On the followtng morning he wished to have meat s~lad. and sott porridge sent to him, and hlS wlshes were complied with.

The monk then wanted to see. th~ old woman, and the old woman knew bls WIshes and went to see him at the monaste!y. bringing with her alms -food . After partakwg of the food the monk asked the old woman

131 14

HEMAVATA SUTTA

whether she was Matika Mata. :'Yes, Re­verend son," the old woma~ rdephebd. i":en she asked him why he ~nqulfe a ou er, the monk said that he dId so bec~use he h~d found that she knew every WIsh of his. The old woman said that there were many among the monks who possessed such power. The monk said that he wanted to know whether she knew others' thoughts. Matika Mata replied that those who possessed such power behaved in that manner. Her reply was an indirect admission, This is the case with every'Ariya. The Ariyas have no pride, and they do not want to reveal their real capabilities. When confronted with a direct question, they usually give an indirect reply.

When the monk came to know that the old woman was really in possession . of the power to read others' thoughts, he felt rather uneasy to be residing in the monas­tery built on her charity. He thought to himself that being a puthujjana, he might entertain some evil thoughts and wishes, and with this woman knowing his thoughts and wishes, he would be caught in the act and ~e reprimanded and put to shame. So he said that he was leaving the monastery and left forthwith. '

!he old woman asked him where he was gOlDS and the monk said that he was goiog

132

\

HEMAVATA SUTTA

back to his Teacher, the Buddha. The old woman requested him to st8Y on at the monstery, but the monk could not be per­suaded. He WaS really afr~jd of her.

When the Buddh~ asked him why he had tur~ed .back, he saId that he was afraid to re~I<!e tn that monastery because Matika Mata knew every single thought of his and would one day catch him red-handed ~hen as a puthujjana he entertained some un­wholesome thoughts. The Buddha pondered upon a suitable place for the monk and found out that the monastery was most suitable to such a monk who was in that habit of en~ertaining so many thoughts and wishes. WIth the old woman unwittingly acting as a curb on his random thoughts, this monk would feel constrained to achieve concen­tration. Incidentatly, some of the yogis do need a meditation-instructor who knows their thoughts. When they are asked to make a note of the actions of the mind and the body and not give themselves up to con­teMplation, they cannot help entertaining stray thoughts and wiihes. Some of them waste their time by having chit-chat with one another. When the meditation-instructor suspecting them makes enquiries, hjnts of theIr doings come up to light. If a thorough probe could be made, they would not dare

133

HEMAVATA SUTTA

to entertain stray thought s and wldshes . For this monk the place where the 0 woman

ent to watch hi s thoughts seemed was pres k d h' t

t 'table So the Buddha as e 1m 0 mos Slll . • h h tl d go back to the monastery WhlC • e . e . He told the monk to control only hIS mmd, ~nd said if he could make a note ~f the actions of his mind there was nothmg to be afraid of.

The Buddha said the mind which is hard to control the mind which is quick in flight and touch~s on all the feelings, if that mind could be tamed and disciplined, well done. The tamed and disciplined mind conveys happiness.

The mind is uncontrollable. If asked not to think about some things, the mind does flit about on these very things. It cannot be beaten and punished. It is really uncon­trollable. The mind is quick. very quick. At the beginning of the meditatioflal prac­tice, the noting of the flitting mind is a hard task. This Ulitting mind touches on various thoughts and wishes. Unlike physical matter, the mind cannot be barred or impounded. Though the body is in the meditation cell the mind goes out and about w~e~ev~r it wa~ts to roam . It is good to dlSclpllne the mmd, for a disciplined mind could bring happiness.

134

HEMAVATA SUTTA

People want to be happy. There is no one who wEnts to be unhappy. The best way to m ake oneself happy is to tame the wild and uncontrollable mind and discipline it. The method of disciplining the mind is lhe a ttitude of y~miso manasikara (an attitude o~ "whatever will be, will be"). Happiness will come a s much as the mind is disciplined .

At least if one can hold saranagunam (devotion to the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha)' and thus discipline one's mind one would find bliss in human and celestiai existences. Otherwise, one would~not possibly obtain such rewards, and would be wallow­ing in misery in the nether planes of existences. .

The mind would be more disciplined and tamer if one could successfully observe one or two of the five precepts in addition to devotion to the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. Of course, if all the five precepts could be observed properly it would be much better. Added to that , if one could do meritorious deeds of dana (charity), sl/a (precept) and bhtivana (meditation), it would be far better. Bhavanii could d? much better. Of two kinds of bhavano, bliss could be obtained in the regions of TUpa and arupa through practice of samatha bhiivanii whtle

US

HEMAVATA SUTTA

_ ld elevate one to the vipassanii bhuvQfla cou 'bb -attainment of the bliss of nI (/1')a.

For beginners it would not be ~o easy to make a note ef the rapidly ?ha~1glfig phet;t0-mena. They will have to ~ersIst 10. the notmg until the happening an~ dl~app~anng proc~ss is clearly seen. The mmd IS dl!ficU.lt to dIS­cipline 'and, as you all kno~, It flIts ab<?ut and is hard to catch and brIdle. To descnbe the waywardness of the mind, I would put it as follows: .

"The mind is uncontrollable, fleet1O~, touching on whatever it wants to. If t~IS riotous mind could be caught by watchlOg and noting its action, and thus disciplined, it would be tame and civil, and would give of happiness."

The unbridled mind flits from one thought to another at random. Stray and idle thoughts occur to people who do not care to make a nOle of the action of the mind w\lich gives imagination full play. Thus, irrelevant thoughts and wishes are spawned and some of these thoughts and wishes sometimes drive those who entertain them to acts of indiscretion and violence. Such criminal actions make for unlimited un­happiness. These thoughts and wishes could send one down to hell or other nether planes of existence.

136

tIEMAVATA SUTtA

There is a saying in Pali: "cittena niyate loko", meaning "the mind carries the world." I~ other words. the mind carries one to vanous planes of existence it can take one t<? t~e regions of happiI).e;s if it is good. a!ld It ~a~ t~ke <?ne to the regions of U!lh~p~1Oess If I! IS eVIl. So it is our duty to dIscIplIne the mmd so that it takes us to higher planes,

The meditational practice starting with the noting of tt' e rising and falling of the abdomen is for catching hold of thf! fleeting mind and keeping it t rom :alighting on unwholesome desires. If such efforts for control of the mind are made persistently by repeated noting of its actions, it will beco[!le docile. When a yogi reaches tbe stage of sankharupekkha iid1Ja the mind will become considerably tame and civil. Such a tame and civil mind could eventually carry one to the ultimate stage of insight, when one will attain Arahatta magga and pha/a.

Now to retUJn to the noble old woman, Matika Mata. She saw in her concentra'tion the return of the monk, an~ prepared proper food which she offered ~lm w~en. he arrived . The monk resumed hIS medItatIon and in a few days became an Arahut. What

131

HBMAVATA SUTTA

I want to say is that not only th~ Buddh a but such persons as Matika .~ata could possess cetopariya ncwa, the ablltty to read others' thoughts. Another point I want to make is that one could attain the highest Istage of insight if one could only get rid pf undesirable and un wholesome thoughts.

No mischief near a mind-reader

It is true that one who is near a person \vho can read one's mind dare not entertain any unwholesome thought. In 1293, Burmese Era, when I was in my eighth year as a monk, I went to live in a cemetery. As that time I had not done any meditation work. I was then in search of a suitable meditation-teacher and arrived at the monastery of Venerable U On Gaing which was at the place called Shweyaullgpya Hill neat Donwun railroad depot in Thaton Distr~ct, This . Venerable monk always prac\lsed austenty and did his meditation work at a cemetery. He passed his nights there. He went from one cemetery to another near the villages where he went for his alms-food.

When I arrived at the Venerable moak's monastery I wen~ along with his disci les who were followlDl him to a cemet~ry.

1~~

HEMAVATA SurrA •

Bef ore long, the venerable mon k was approached by some villagers with a request th at he go and keep watch on thc grave of a freshly buried corpse The corpse was t~at of a fifteen-year old suicide The vIllagers made this request apparently to have the ve.nerab~e monk watch the grave and guard It agalDst possible exhumation by black magi~ians who were usually out to cut off the Wflsts of the corpses of suicides to use them in their black magic.

The venerable monk and his disciples in~luding myself accepted the offer and shIfted to the cemetery containing the grave of that suicide girl . We got to the cemetery just before sunset . We were all eight. Mats were spread around the grave pots of drinking water were also set at suitable places. When we took our seats, I chose a seat nearest the corpse of the suicide girl. I was only about two cubits away from it. Other monks were experi­enced, but I was not. It was the first time I had been at a cemetery . I felt rather uneasy. I could't possibly change places with any other because I was the ~ost senior among the disciples . Others reCIted M ettLl sutta and lay down to sleep . I d~dn't lie down- I didn't want to. So I sat tight. I remem'bered the words in Visuddhi Magga

139

HEMAVATA SUttA

to the effect that ogres usuaUy haunted the grave and sat near the corps~, so I sat just tight I did SO for four O1ghts.

While I was sitting like that I had to control roy thoughts because if the cemetery guardian angels and the 8rgreS were near the corpse, they would probably know my thoughts and frighten me. So my thoughts were then within limits. From my exp'erience 1 surmise that the monk near Matika Mata was obliged to c<mtrol his mind and keep it pure, so he attained Arahatship so quickly.

Dibbasota nana

This is the last of the remaining five nona . Just as dibbacakkhu is the power to see all objects irrespective of size or distance, dibbasota is the power to hear all sounds irrespective of volume or distance. Not only the sound from the human abode but also the sound from either the abode of devas or the abode of Briihmiis can be heard by one in possession of dibbasota nana. The sounds from other universes can also be heard.

So Sata'4iri told his friend Hemavata that the Bu.?~ha was in full possession of the three VIJJ8 as welt as the eight vijji the supreme mental abilities. "Besides,'~

140

HEMAVATA SUTTA

said Satagiri, "Our Teacher, the Buddha, possess carana, pure and excellent basic conduct."

Fifteen Carana

Satagiri replied, when Hemavata asked that the Buddha was in full possession of the fifteen categories of basic conduct. These are as follows: "' . (1) Patimokkha sanivara sUa: The meaning of this term is that the one who keeps this sila (precept) will be duly favoured by this sUa itself. This sUa protects the one who keeps it from all the disasters emerging from the present existence and those from the future existences in the course of sanisiira. For the lay people the five precepts are in fact pMimokkha samvara sila, and for the monks the 227 precepts, or nine thousand crores of precepts in detail, are piitimokkha sanivara sila . If one keeps these precepts, one will be free from slander or contempt and also from punishment by royal decree. In terms of samsara, he will be free from the possibility of falling into hell and the four nether regions of misery. So this pro­tecting sUa is called patimokkha samvara

sila. • (2) Indriya samvara sUa: This sUa is

guardin~ oneself as one sees, hears, smens,

141 , 15

HEMAVATA SUTTA

, greed lmot ill-will, eats against Jealousy, T1" sUa' can be dejection and angel', l1S. k' d observed only when one is dOIng. one. In of ' meditation or another, <?theI Wise, It can be observed with only parh'\l success.

(3) Bhojane mattanfiuta: This is care taken b Obe when one partakes of f~od, or rlceives alms, or uses tbings of dally use. When one takes food, one must take care as the Buddha had i.nstructed ~hus: ".Wh~n one has good food, one delIghts 10 I~; when, however, one has bad food, one IS disappointed and unhappy· So one must get rid of aU reactions, whether good or bad."

One takes one's meal not to be delighted, not to revel, in the roeal, not to become plump and pr tty, One takes meal merely to sustain oneself, to be saved fro m hunger, for hunger would bring about sufferi ng and ill.health, and one has to be healthy to' be able to do what the Buddha has enjojned upon people, that is, to faithfully observe the precepts. In the same wav. one wears the robes to keep out cold and' heat, to prot,ect oneself from attaoks of mosquitoes, flies, snakes and scorpions So in eating or wear­ing the robes, on~ must care to know why • these are being us~d. That is called bhojane lDattannuti.

142

HEMAVATA SUTTA

(4) Jagariydnuyoga: jagariya means "to be alert" and anuyoga means "to make an effort". It refers to light and less sleep and to keep one's mind and body alert. Of course, that is for the purpose of doing meditation. 1£ one is up and about doing other things, the purpose win not be achieved. Once a monk told me that when he was awake his mind used to entertain so many unwholesome thoughts that he was obliged to sleep as long as possible. What he said makes sense. If one habours ill-thoughts while awake, one will be acquiring demerit. So it sounds rather reasonable to say that if one is asleep one has less chance of har­bouring ill-thoughts. But what this rule of conduct means to bring home is that one must be active in meditation work. The Buddha's preaching says that by pacing to and fro, by sitting all through the day, one could be free from the thoughts ~hat ~re­clude good deeds, and thuS Olle s mind would be kept pure.

The instruction is that one should make one's mind pure and free of gre~d, lust ~nd other undesirable desires ~Y. takIDg physical exercise of walking or. ~lth~g. Of . course, between walking and slttmg IS stan~lng, and that physical action should be Inclu~ed. Only _the remaining of the four physical

143

HfMAVATA $tJ1TA

postures that is, lying down is not pre­scribed. One should keep one~s body al.ert by walking sitting and sometImes standmg thoughout ' the day till ]0 p.m. befo~e midnight. Then for four hours .one. may h,e down to sleep in order to mamtaln one s health. But while one ; is still lying bef~re one falls asleep, one should continue WIth the meditation. Then one should wake up at two in tbe morning and resume the meditation. Of the six parts of one day, one should sleep only one part and keep awake for the remaining five and be engaged in the meditation. That is what is called jagariy'anuyoga.

(5-8): These are the four rupa jhana. It is possible to include arupa jhana as the fourth jhana.

(9-10) There is no need to dilate on saddhii and ririya. These two are included in the ten carana . .

Then there are sati (awareness); patina (intellect); ~;ri (shame for misdeeds) ottappa (f~ar of misdeeds); and bahusacca (being well-informed).

Being well-informed means in this context Omt ODe should have heard and made note df the Buddb.a's preaching. Making note or the preaCfllog and thus getting inC orma-

l~

HEMAVATA SUTTA

tion of ~he dh~mma is "hea ring", or (/ gama suta, DJscermng and reali'ing the truth a rte r doing actual practic{" of meditation is "seeing", or adhigama suta. These two added become bahusacca. How much of general knowledge should one have? For an ordinary devotee, being informed of one giitha, or verse, is sufficient. For those who will preach to others many of the Budd ha's teachings should have been learnt. Then the questio n arises: "How was the Buddha who had had no opportunity of learning from others full of hearing and seeing?"

The answer is: the Buddha was fully equipped with "seeing"; He knew everything there was to know, and had no need to iearn from otbers . It is like a person wbo does not have to learn from others about tbe things that are in his house because lie knows everytbing about them. As the Buddha knew all the dhamma without ~exception. His knowledge was full and sacred. '

Satagiri declared emphatically that his teacher, the B~~dha .was i~ X~l1 possession of the three viJj el, elgbt vIJJa and fifteen carana.

As I have said earli~ r . named Kali who was WIth dialogue between the two

145

the young lady child heard the devas. As the

lIEMAVATA SUTTA

voices floated down from ,the sky, she knew that they must be the _ ~oIces of devas a~d listened attentively, Kah was endowed wIth p -rami (special endowment), so she heard the a~gels although an ordinary human would not be able to hear them, She could ~lso understand their dialogue, so she became devoted to the Buddha.

One with vijja caraQa is most sacred

There was in India a caste system which divided people into different classes, Brah­maQa and Khattiya classes were regarded as noble and superior to Vessa and Sudda who were the commoners. Then there were also clans. Kosiya and Bharadvaja clans were inferior to Gotama and Moggaliina clans. Then you all know about the avoidance of contact with beggars, scavengers, etc., who are oalled "untouchables". These untouch­ables had to live in a village of their own outside the city. When they walked about in the city they had to tap the ground with a stick so that the sacred ones could a void physical contact with them. In the story of Mitan~a,_ the rich man's daughter DiUha­m~ngahka happe~ed to have seen the beggar Matanga .and saId that it was inauspicious. So .the. r,tch ,man's servants beat Matanga Tbls distinction of caste was pronounced

146

HEMAVATA SUTTA

in t,hose days, and it still remains in today's IndIa.

Here is a hearsay evidence. The late VeluvuQ S~yadaw of Bahan Tow! ship in Ra,n~oon CIty saw it himself. During the Bnbsh rule when he went to India and Ceyl.on (Sri Lanka) on a pilgrimage, he was received as a house guest by an Indian rich man. The rich man told the venerable monk "Y , ou can put up at my house but as we cannot occupy the place where you have stayed, we . will make a special place for you. We wIll also make s special bathroom because we cannot use the same one you have used."

That was a special treatment given only to those from Burma, IB their country a person of lower caste cannot enter the temple visited by people of higher castes. According to their belief, one born into a family of a lower caste cannot improve his social position, and one born of a high caste family remains superior and "noble" what­ever mischief he may have made. Such beliefs are in their scriptures as they are in Buddhist books as well.

There is a caste distinction in Ceylon too, but it is not so severe. In that country a monk born of a high caste family does not

141

HBMAVATA SUTTA

monk born of a low pay respe~ts to tht~le monk of the low ca.ste caste famtly an~ather diffident toward hIgh appears to be h . however no such caste laymen. T ere IS, ' distinction in Burma.

I . ty Kha ttiya caste, or the ruler Amo,ng ~I , b of the highest status.

T~s!e~~ms:~~s ~f t~iS caste wou~d not marry utside their caste and they saId th~t theIr

~aste was "pure". The member~ of thIS cast~ were brave and loyal to thetr caste an their country, too. They were the holder~ of power. So in the caste system the Khattly~s were the noblest, and as such, they were In possession of the attributes of vijja c~rana, for only those who possess such attnbutes are the noblest among men and gods.

From temporal point of view, the person of Khittiya caste is the. noblest, and from the spiritual point of VIew, the person. who has the attributes of vijja-carana IS the noblest. Such declaration was made of the Buddha by Sahampati Brahma, and the Buddha replied in support of it. The person of high caste was the noblest only as long as he lived, but when he died he had nothing to fall back upon. But :the person who had the attribute of vijja carana, remained noble for all times; the more attribute he had, the nobler he became.

l4,

HEMAVATA SUTTA

People would have a high esteem for any perso~ w~o had the ability to fly in the air and dl.v~ mto the ground, or one who hat! the abilIty to read others' minds or who could tell the next existence of' the dead. They wo?ld hav~, hig~ regard for Qne pos­sessed wIth the hearmg and seeing" power. Well, sllch power can be had by some yogis whose concentration powers are at their keenest.

By the w.ay, there is a woman living on an Island 10 Pakokku district who did meditation work in accordande with our instructions and is said to have gained the "hearing and seeing" powers. one day, her younger sister lost her jewellery, so she asked her elder sister where to locate it. The woman entered into meditation and saw in her mind's eye that the maidservant of the house stole the jewellery and stowed it away on the loft in the kitchenjn her house. The younger sister took a policeman to the maidservant's bouse and searched, and the stolen property was found at the place indicated. It is said that the policeman was surprised.

Well, this is a present day instance of such powers and similar instances are none too few. If' only the powers of abhifiiid could be displayed, people would have ttie highest esteem.

149

HEMAVATA SUTTA

- the most important are Amon~ !~ese nal).as asavekkhaya nana. If

vipassana ~al;1O a~d santi nana, one becomes one has gamed ~p.rs one has gained asavek­cula sotapan, an IlJ one becomes a full kha!a nanad as'lt~e 'free from the danger

~ftf~"7n:nint~1 hell and t~~t!~~:s n:!h!~~fd gioos For seven future eXI . nd be as~ured of freedom from misery a durin that tenure of these seven he would surel; attain Arahatship and. enter t~e stat~ of Nibbana. If one has gamed .nanas 0 higher degree one will surely attalD a much higher status 'than that of a sottipan. .

Those who have attained high status III the planes of existence, those of the huma?, celestial and Brahma worlds, are all III possession of the attribute of carana and sila. Those who are attending religious ser­mons such as the one you all are now.atten­ding, have the attributes of carana l~ the same way as the Ariyas who have achieved magga and phala of different grades. If, however, one is in possession of both the attributes of of vijja and carana, one becomes nobler.

Yogis here have these attribute, too The yogis who have now been doing

meditation work have, in the first instance, the attribute of vipassana n£1l)a. And of

150

IJHIAVAIJ\ SUllA

~()l~;~e. the one w.ho h~s attained Any({ '}I~lo.~{f pilato h[l~ gamed (fsCll'e:.kklw),o oclna. F:IO!l1. a~lOng the five carana, tht practising y?gl Iii l.n·possession of·si/a, has control of ]l1S physH;ClI and mental actions, and is alert. So the yogis at this meditation centt!r could gain tI!c [lttributcs of l'i i jl) and cordna and b Come noble in accord"a'nce with the'teach­ings of the Buddlu. This is really gratifying.

As for the Buddha, all the attributes of vijjt! and car{{J)a were fully possessed by Him. The Buddha's attribute of l'ijja cal'Cnia sam­

, jlallno is now fully explained.

The story of Suppabuddha In this reference, a story will be told of

a poor m811 of long ago, named Suppabuddba. During thc time of the Buddha there lived a mall called Suppabudqha AbJndoncd by his parents when he was a mere child, Sup­pJbuddha became a bergar. He was stricken with leprosy. Homeless, be had to sleep on the roadsi Ie. A" his disease guve him pain durinl! the nigllt he groaned and thus dis­turbcJ others' leep. lIe wa5 hereforc called Suppabuddha, "the Waker of sleepels".

One day, 011 his rounds of b,egging, Suppa buddha saw alar,e gntbeflog of p(;opie . Thinkin o that he would get much

151

HEMAVATA SUTTA

. he crowd, Jle went near the chanty fr~~ tund tInt it was a congrega-people ,<In h 0 the Buddha's sermon. He t ion to ear the sermon So he meek ly w~nted t~ "b~~r e of the gathering. The sa~ at ,tut; .gth His dibbacakkhu fia~za t hat Buddha saw WI • f Dh Suppabuddha would see the lIgh t 0 ,~m~a on that day. T~s- Budddha ~vlent ~~eW~uddh! sermon on dana. an SI a. . . exhorted the audIence to refram fl om killiu<1 stealing, etc., Suppabudd ha was deter;ined to observe the precepts. So, gradually he ga ined sila. When the Buddha discoursed on the Four No ble Truths, Suppabuddha m~d itated upon them , and thus became a so ft/p an. .

After the meeti ng had ended, S uppabuddha went away as the crowd d ispersed. Then a little later, he ca m · back to the Buddha. The King of the celestial beings wanted to test Suppa buddha's integrity. The King said, "Hey, Suppa buddha. You are one of the poorest men and also stricken with leprosy.

. If you obey me, I will give you much wealth and Cure you of your disease."

Suppabuddba said, "Who are you? What are your instructions'?" The King of devas said, "I am the King of devas. Gotama who has been giving sermons is not a true

152

lIl:M, VAIA SlJ i fA •

Buddha. His dif.ciples are Dot tme bhikkhus You must say:, 'I don't t<lke refuge in th~ nUdd~a; I 1 dun ( take refuge ill the Dhamma; I don t taKe refuge in tbe Sangha'."

Suppa.buddha said, "You arc too rude for ~ KIl1~ of devas. You shouldn't be talkl11g with me. YOll s"jd that I am very P?or and have !lllTIe to take refuge in .. Why d/d you say th 11? I am now a true ~on of Lle Buddh<l. I am not poor. I am now wealth~ and noble because I am now in full posseSSIOn of the sevl,; 11 lei nds of property or the .g?od and noble, namely, saddlzii, st/a, /111'1, ottappa, sllla, "Ciiga, pafiijc7, as enumerated by {·he Buddha. You are not fit to hold con venation with me," And be sent the King of del'(ls away.·

"uppabuddha went to 5Cc the Buddha and reported .t o Him bis findings of the Dhamm~. It lS. tbe Silme with tile present doy yogi who IS eager to report to his or her meditation-instructor what be or she experienced during the me'Jitation session.

. After Sut1pabuddha IJdd nnde his report to the Buddha, he cumc away. As f<lte ordaineJ, Suppa buddha was gored to death by a cow on his return from the.Buddha's monastery. He became a deJ'(f in the celestial abode of Tm'atinis{f wh~re he had superior powers

153

HEMAVATA St!TTA

1 lire lchcJ the c~les-oyer the ~ev~~rW~OerIt~' don~ oUlsiJ~ the t1al abod _ - (the scope of teachings). Buddha's sa sana

These devas were dis!latis fled. The~ said that although this SuppJ.buddb<l was am.ong th lowliest in his life as a human bel~g, bee was holding a position higher ~han theIrs. The King of devas bad to explaIIl to ~hem why SuppJbuddha had attained a ,hIgher position. He said that in the human eXIstence Suppabuddha had performed the sev~n duties of the good and noble, and so ,m this existence of deva he was endowed wIth the benefits of his previous meritorious deeds. .

This story illustrates the point that a ~piri­tually highly placed person stands hIgher than others even though he may occupy a lowly position in secular sodety, Sup~a­buddha had performed the seven dutIes only for a few hour& before his death, but he was in possession of the attributes of vijjti carm)a. He h~d been a leper because in one of his previous existences he called a pacceka Buddha a leper. He was gored by a cow because in one of his previous existences h~ robbed and killed a pr03titute. The Buddha, in reference to his fate, warned the audience to avoid doing bad deeds just as one has to avoid impediments and pot-

154 .

HEMAVATA SUTTA

holes While walking. Our yogis should learn the moral of this story and avo!'·l b d deeds. u a

Now Hema vata asked, c'Is your teacher, the Buddha, free of lust and desire~? Is He also free of a future existence?"

And Sa,tagiri replied: "Our teacher, the B~ddha, IS ,free of lust and de5ires. For HIm there IS no futUre existence."

This is just a reitera,tion of the que:stion and the answer. The POIOts are: the riddance of lust and desires and cessation of the cycle of exis tences, Now, if one is not cleaned or lust a rd desires~ one will have a new eXIstence. and suffer from birth old age, disease, and other kinds of m'isery, although one may have the attribute of vijja caralJa. Only when there is no more existence will one be rid of all tbe miseries. These two poinLs are of utmost importance.

About Lady Kali • Turning back to Kali, \J;"e find that this

young pregnant ~oman over~eard the two ~mgels and was o\'erj()yed to he;11' about the attributes of the Buddba. As ~he was filled with joy, she did meditation forthwith and soon reached the stage of sohipalllla magga and phala, thus becomi!ig a sohipan, In due

155

Hb\1AVATA SUIlA

course~ she gave ~irth to a child ':'!I<? later became SonakuttIkan tJ :1 thera. I-..ah W"lS the first woman to have become a sotl/pan. She achieved that distinction on overhearing the attributes of the Buddha (lnd, thus having a firm faith in .Hi! I Later, she was to recieve from the Buddha the highest hon our of etadagga.

Hemavata , too, becnme confid{;nt or the attribu tes of the Buddb(l and w(lS eager in the adora tion of the Buddha. He said to bis frien d, Satagiri, "The mind of the Buddba is full y pure. His physical and mental behaviou r is also free of faults, the Buddha ha s al l the attributes of vijj a carana. I adore Hi m." • .

Let us close tod<lY's discou rse. We wi ll say more ubout the ador <l tion at ou r next session. May t11e audience be able to work to deserve the attributes of l'ijja camlla and. continue their r ood work till they attam the state of nibbll na.

155

Part V . }femav~lta was .

Satagiri's reply Imm~n.sely gratified with possession of tbe r:~3~dlDg the Bud<lha's carm)a. So he said ,,~b.utes o~ yijj{i and Buddha whom you 'h fIend. Sa!agiri, the a pure minco He . ave praIsed IS truly of taking what 'tb IS, clean of ~ny act of . 1 e owner does t . IS C ean of lies an .. no slve; He Budd,ha has all th~ at~~~CiOUS speech. Tbe carat)a. You, m f' n ut,es of vijja ri nd Buddha truly." y nend, nave praised the

This is connatuiatin s·_·· praises of the B ddl .g <,L,gm on his dl

- L1 1a. Hemav'Ita said " S-1U: Sadhu: Siidhu" (W II d < , a­

Well done!) e one! Well done!

onI~li~eplY : S:ltagir i congr~ltul' ted Hemavata B dd a.cceptance. of hiS praises of the

u ha In good falto. Then he asked He­mavata to come with !Jim to th B ddt worshi H' e II 1a to . p JIll.. This invitati nn Hcmavrlta accepted. He sa id , " Frj nd Sat, "iri Jet us go to WOI sl1ip th e Buddin \\lho has' s11Iooth

]57

HEMAVATA SUTTA

. , hose of a forest ,goa t, . W110 is ca~ves ltke t ho has courage and mdustry, thm ~t body, 7 desi;es and obsessions, who who IS free 0 d s aringly, who usually patrtak~s tooftllefos~3te ~f jlzi171a in the forest en ers 111 . B ddh ho's such as Uruvela forest; the u a w d tl of the Gotama clan." Then. he turne 0

d· of cel"stial bemgs al1d asked the au ]ence .. . ' d S-t- .. them to follow him and hIS fnen, a aglfl.

When be said tbat the Buddha had smooth calves like those of the forest goat,

. Hemav8ta meant that the calves. of the legs of the Buddba were smooth, wIthout any lumps. When he said that the Buddha w~s tbin he meant to refer to the Buddha s six ye1rs of austerity which He abandoned only over two ?1onths ago: During the period of austcnty the Bodhlsatta, th~n of course not yet the Buddha, was emacIated. So He could not have recovered his former normal weight after two months or so. Usually, according to tbe scriptures, of all the Buddhas, the Buddha Gotama and his predecessors, ",ere never hefty.

The reference of the Buddha's partaking of food sparin,':ly, aceo ding to the scrip­tures, is to the habit of the Buddha to take just one bo\\-lf1l1 of meal only once for the day He took a little more when He had to make a journey during the day,

158 ,

HEMAVATA SUITA

Then turning to the celestial beings who were following him, Hemavata said: "Devas 17t up. approach the Buddha who, like ~ hon, .IS hard to approach, who rises and flouflshes alone, for He does not have the comp~ny of kilesd (defilements), who is free of eVIl ?eeds. who is not enmeshed in lust a~d desI~es. Let us .s~bmit to. Him queries wIth a Vlew to obtamlilg answers which will unravel Death's trap."

When they reached the presence of the Budd~a, He~avata sought permIssion to sub~Il1t questIOns. He said "Oh Lord. the EnlI~htened One, who can and does preach the four Noble Truths both synthetically and analytically, who knows all the Dhamma fully as no one else does, who overcomes all dangers, may we submit a few questions?"

This is the usual approach in polite society. In those days among the higherups in society, such as kingl;, lords, wise men, the one who wished to make an enquiry usually prefaced his question with a request for permission. Only the ill·educated shot the questions without any c remony. Hema­vat a had been a well-educated monk, learned of the scriptutes, during his existence before be became a deva. So he knew manners.

159

J1l:MA \' I I" SU I fA

Hem3vata's Question No. I When the Buddha gave. him the. permis­

sion. Hemav.1ta put the flrst qll~S~ 1(!J1 t~us: "Oh Lord how does a .'i(lftav.{ «I bemg)

:.lris'!? 'What' does lola J which c~nstit.ut~s saft([I'd. have as company'l T? whIch .]5 It attached? Wlult is involved 111 the mIsery ~un'crecl by saUIll'ti5 wh? consti!ute 10/\a?"

rhe four points in thts questIon do carry deep significance. An ordinary £leva could not have put such [l question. Helll;]v<1ta could because he had been a well-educated and learned monk during the time of Bud­dha Kussapa.

Buddha's Answer (I)

The Buddha replied thus: "llcll1;lYata, salIm'" o.r loi.a arises when

the£\~ arc ~ix together. I.o/\({ which is com­posed of wttal' tI.'i has the six in company. To the six is it att <,ched. The six are in­volved in the misery suffered by a sattal'(i who constitutes lol\a.

(a, Where the six arc, there loka is. The six referred to by the Buddha arc. the

uyatanas (sense·ba es). The six are the eye, th~ ear, the nose, the tongue, the body and tile rind. T.hey are c~llJed the inner "J'afal/os. f there .Ire th _ s)', {l ~("tClI'" comes into

160

IlEMAVATA SUIIA

foel~g· ..ti7~. t~e satt.avil is otherwise called s n . lYIng bemgs must have these six o} :rbases. Statues and images have figures .. lese sense· bases but as they are not

hvmg ones, they do not have any of these senses.

If there ar~ f ou r or fi ve sense- b3ses, there may be a bemg. One who is defective of tdhe eye has other sense-bases so too one

efective of t'le ear or the' DOS~. I' once c~me across a monk whose nose was defec­tIve and could not have any sense of smell If. there are the tongue, the body and th~ ml~d, there can be a sattava.. SO 'T,e marine aDlmals aI:p~ar t~ be logs or weeds but they are hVIDg beIngs. So there can be a sattaV{i i\ there are the tongue, the body ~nd the mmd. In the rllpa plane of existence, If there are no nose or tongue or body yet there ?re beings with the eye, the ear 'and the m~nd ~)llly. In arupa plane, therl is only the mmd In a being. All the six sense· bases are absent in asanilQssa plane of existence. It is supposed that in this answer the Buddha meant to exclude this plane. So we can con­clude that when there is only the mind there can be a being. Of cours~, \\hen there are all the six in the being there is nothing more to say. Tbe existence of one, three, four or five sense-bases is included in

161 F 17

HEMAVATA SUTfA

, um of the six to which the Bud­the maxIm d' His answer. dha referre In <

, inner ayatanas? In the Now about the ,SIX, 'ent mind appears in

human world ahn Inclr~er at the same time the womb of: e mOthe fetus . So the mind as the formatton of t theT and a satlava and the body appear ~~e 's o~ly after the comes into belDgs, 1, ba e b'rth that tbe eye the materIal sense- s ~d the seeing, th~ mental sense-base appear

:imultaneously, So do the e~r and the bear­ing' the nose and the smellIng; the tongu~ and til.? taste; the body and tbe sense 0 toucb, As for the mind, the thought comes with it. Then all these sense-bases together make up the sattav(/.

If there is no eye and so cannot see, no ear and so cannot hear, no sense of s~ell, no sense of touch, nor sense of feehng, then it is no being in the human world. Look at a corpse. A little. after death,. a corpse is just like a livlllg human ~eIDg. However, the difference is that there IS n.o sense-base of any kind in it. So a corpse IS

not a being. If one cuts up ~ ~orpse, o~e dces not commit an act of kIlltng. But If one treats the corpse of a person of noble characler disrespectfully, then one commits a sin. Some people have an attachment still

162

l1HMAVATA SU'JTA

for a corpse which bas of course none of the sense-bases, and so cannot be called a being.

Some people are under the impression that death means the ('xit of some living thing from a body, but it is not so. If the sense­~ases ?ontinue their opera tions, thtu one IS consIdered to be alive. At the last mo­ment these sense-b -Ises cr ase to operate, then death occurs. Once th ~ y ce:lse, and if the person concern~d is not free of kilesii (defilements), a new mental phenomenon pit­ches itself on a certain material base.

The mind at the last moment of the cessation of the life of a being is called cuti cilia (the dyirg mind), and the new mental phenomenon on a . new material base is called patisande citla, This mental phenomenon is mallayatana (sense-base of the mind). Simultaneously, U'e material base has in it kayayatana (sense-bas. of the body). So since t lt e inception of a being there appear two or three or four or five or all six sense-bas(s. With the appearance of these sense-bases a new being appears. So said the Buddha, "Where there are the six, ther!! [oka is". However, it .is not that a new being springs up, nor IS the old being transferred to a new plane of existence. 10 fact, new sense·b~ses appear

163

HEMAVATA SUTTA

because of the previous kat11l11a. .With<;>Ut the six iiyatana there can be no bemg. LIke a flowing river in which the water movt?s on with no gap though the old flow IS followed immediately by a new ~ow, the nyatalla (sense.b(1ses) move on wIthout a break or a gap. Th is is considered by one with no med itational insight as stable and permanent.

To a yocrj who has been constantly making a note of the succ~ssive happening and disappearing of the six ayalana, tbe ,inces­sant change bas been seen and the Imper­manence is thereby realised, He or she comes to know for himself or herself that human existence is a series of incessant happenings and disappearances and that there is nothing p.! rmanent in that existence.

(b) Only the six are in company

The Buddha had said that loka or sattav{f, is constantly in the comp:1ny of the six. The six inner ({ya/alla, namely, the eye, the ea.r, the nose, the tongue, the body and the mlDd, are constantly in close association ,,:ith the six outer iiyatana, namely, the sIght, the sound, the smell, the taste, the t?ucb and the thought. In other words . the SIX sen~e·bases are closely related to the

161

HEMAVATA SUTTA

six . sen~e-objects . Tbe latter may be living or manJrnate.

The eye and the sense of seeing associ .. ted with the sight

We differentiate between men and women by appearan~es. In effect, the e)e and the s~nse of seemg associate themselves with the sIght or appearance. Once seeD, the mental sense-base la~es an illJpression 01 the sight. !hough the sIght ibelf has disapprared and IS no longer there, the impIession on the mental sense-ba~e Iem~ilJs. · This makes the associati cn of human beings, and such associati( n or relationship is, in fact, the eye, or calddl:iyatana, .th~ sense of seeing, or manayatana dnd the sight or the appearance, or rGp ayatana all blended. There is re.ally no such thing as man or woman or thing. This is according to the paramattha (realistic) point of view. Think deeply and carefully, and you will come to know that, after aU, this is an interplay of (i),atana or sense­bases. To a yogi who is a meditational practitioner, with well· developed concentra­tion, such realisCltion is just normal; there is nothing extraordinary about it. He or she will make a note of api earance and immediate disappearallce of the semes. ~o said the Buddha: "Where there nre the SIX,

HiS

HEMAVATA SUlfA

there is taka, and [aka is closely associated with the six. "

The ear and the sen se of hear ing

as sociated with t e sound

Differentiatio n bet'" een men and women is ml de by b.earing the nwle voice and t he fel:laJe voice. The enr, hearing and the sound are associa ted with one another and the mind retains t he memory of the sound, whether it is the vo ice of a m an or of a woman, whether i t is pleasing or repugn ant to the ear. There is no owner of the voice according to the paramattha p oi nt of view; there is only an association of t he ear the mind and the sound. To a yo gi of medita­tional experir.nce it is obvious . The nose, the sense of sme ll and "the smell

The nose and the sense of smell associate themselves with all kinds of smell, man's smell. woman's smell, the smell of a flower etc. The. m.ind registers the ."m ell. In thi~ matter, It IS not only the smell itself but the possessor of the smell, whether it is a woman c.r a man, th<lt makes an impression on the mm~. For i ~stance, if you ki ss your ~on, there IS no kisser or the kissed; there IS the nose, the sense of smell and the shell all blended. In other words, there is t e nose, the sense of smell or the mind,

166

HEMAVATA SUTTA

and the smell all associated with another.

one

The t o ngue, the sense of t a$te and the taste

Eating fo~d and feeling the sense of t aste make the mmd take an impress ion o f the t as te. The eateI' will be saying this food is t asty, that food is tasty; it is sweet, or c reamy or something as the m ind re f!i sters the taste. However, the eater , the food and the t as te and the preparer of the food a re really not t here On~e the f ood is gu lped down, the t as te dSlappears. There is no permanence.

The body, t he se nse of touch and the touch

The touch o r the physical eon tact is the cO?Jposition of tb e thre e elements, pathavi, teJo and vayo . T he rou ohness or the smoothness is pathavi, the ~a rmth or thl! cool is tejo, t1.1C sWTness. or the push or the move ment )5 1'(1),0. The t rt ctile l'on tact wi ! h o ther bodi es or things such as clo thes, bed, etc, is tn) m itor\'. The meditational practitioner has to rna ke n o te o f these toucJ'es and contacts

That is why the Buddha exhorted His di sciples to note " going while go ing" . This wa s, ill effect, an in st ruction to disct rn the

161

HEMAVATA SUTTA

true nature of v,'iYo, the motor· action . In the same way, they were. asked to make a note of every physical actl(~n sllch as stan~­ing, sitting, lying, sl~eplDg . . ,Why th.IS instruction? The rea on IS that II one dId Dot note the bodily <1ctions, one would not know of tile physical ac tions and tbat ignorance spawns kilestl ~hich would m~ke for either good or bad actIOns. After havwg noted the bodily actions, one should be mindful of anicca, dukkha and anatta If one is deeply mindful of them, ns one has accordingly developed Ariya magga nana, the miseries of kilesil and kama will be completely rid of.

Here, I would like to point out that the rising nnd fnlling of the abdomen is included in the physical actions. I have, therefore, been ins tructing my disci ples to make a note of th~ r ising <:ln d fa lli ng of the abdomen when a yogi begins his medita­tional pr3 c t i c ~ This instruction is app arently easy t o. follow: Once the yogi hall acg uired sal11li dlu , he wIll co ne to reali ze t 11e sense of touch in the tO ll g' en ing :ln i softening of the abd omen and th us rea li se ph ysical and ment11 ayatana in accorciallc';! wi th the D hamma. The yogi wi ll know cka f ly that there is no "I", there is j us t t he to uch an d th e sense of touch.

1()8

•

I

HEMAVATA SUTTA

Mi nd a ssociates with Ideas The mind which diffe renti at es man and

:-V0man , associates itself wi th thoughts or Ideas. In other words, manayatana associates itself with dhammiiyatana. People often say, "1 am p aying attent ion to so mebody" "1 am t hin king of someone," " 1 ha~e dreamt o f so meone," etc. In fac t, nobody meets a ny body else. Such thoughts do Occur incessantly du ring all waking hours. They run in series. U nwholesome thoughts, too, occur often Every ti me a thought occurs, the mind associates itself with it, and many people revel in such thoughts, and would not like the suggestio n that they go in for meditati onal practice.

There are some p reachers v.ho instruct their audience to kee p t beir minds free and relaxed instead of concen tra t ing on medita­tional points because concentra tion, they say, restricts the mind. This is in contraven­tion of the Buddha's instr uctions although it assumes an appearance of the Buddha's teachings. If, accordin g- to these preachers, the mind is set free it wi ll surely indulge in fond thoughts and revel i n sensual plea­sures. It would be like the idle thoughts of an opium smoker. Indulgen ce in such idle thought is the: same as indulgence in sensual pleasures. In this Hemavata sutta.

169

HEMAVATA SUTTA

the statement that the mind worl(S conjo~ntly with ~ense-obj.:cts or ideas ~s d np¥ropnat~' In order to separate the mID ~om, e ideas one must go in for ,medltahonal

t ' to gaI'n concentratIon. If the prac Ice . d '11 concentration power is weak',the mm WI go astray associating ~ t self with ,the, sense· objects outsidl! the powt of m ~dltatI~ll, as. the yogis mu st lnve found for thems\Jv~s,

Some pretentious prea~hers bla~e ~edlta. tional practice as ~ausJl~g, boddy dlSCOII,l­fort. This is really discredltI~g the,Buddha s word, Those who foHow thea a~vl,ce would be losing their chance of gammg true insight and would be UDwittingly committing a great sin agJinst Ariyas and other noble persons.

Tiring oneself is not necessarily attakilamatha

Tiring oneself mentally and physically for non·meditational occupations is an attakila­mafha practice, but it doesn't relate to meditational practice The idea that if the body is mortified sensual feelings will not occur is wrong, aod the physical mortifica­tion in accordanc.e with such idea is an attakilamatha practice , But if, while trying to attain medita tional insight, one makes physical exertions, one doesn't commi t the sin of physicaJ mortifil.;ation. Ev~n if the

170

l-IEMAVATA SUTTA

exertions cause dea th, it isn't a sin of that kind. ConSider the case of an opium-addict who refrains from taking opium at the risk of great physical discomfort. Such a person is not com mitting the sin o f attak ilamatha . Would the Buddha blame a person who rhks his life to keep h is sila intact?

For instance, refraining f rom ad ultery by restraining one's carnal desire in the face of temptations is a great physical discomfort. Would the Buddha blame such a person? So also one who refrains from afternoon meals just to keep one's sila of the eight precepts, would tbe Buddha blame bim? There is an instance of a servant of Ana­tbapindi ka, who determinedly absta ned from afternoon meals though be was being as'sailed by a gastric disease, and who even­tually died, This is not an attakilamatha practice. This servant man became an arboreal guardian-angel after his dealb, The Buddha praised such determined acts of abstenance to keep sTia intact thus: "My disciples do not break their precepts even at the risk of their lives".

The Buddha's admonition

The Buddha admonished His disciples: "Bhikkhus, attainment of the Dhamma may

171

HEMAVATA SUTTA

be achieved by diligence and strength even though one is reduced to ~ skeleton. Y,ou shall make an endeavour tor such, attal~: ment with determination and persIstence. This is an urgent admoni~ion of the Buddha, as contained in Malll7gosmga sulfa.

"SaripuWt! The bhi~khii who af~er ~lis meJI sits cross-legged wIth the determmatlOn Dut to leave this sitting posture before attainment of freedom from defilements, and carries out the practice of meditation is the one who adorns this sal forest of Gosinga."

Thus said the Buddha in the Gosinga sutta.

From these statements one can clear the doubts about the sin of tiring the body especially in reference to the endeavour to achieve meditational insight, and also about the undt:sirabili ty of sparing one's physical and mental efforts in the meditational prac­tice. You must remember once and for all that making utmost effort in the medita­tion a} practice cannot be equated with ill­treati,ng one's body and thus committing the sIn of attakilamatha. You must avoid the bogus instructors of meditational practice, or you would be misled.

172

HEMAVATA SUTTA

Kama-sukha lli ka and at ta l<il amatha differen t iat ed

The prac tice which fails t o con trol one's mind with mere mindfulneijs which is in fact the lowest step to attainment of medi­tational insigh t and which allows one's mind to wander as it wishes is indeed kilma-sukhal­lika nuyoga (indulgence), The monks should st~ive to be free ,from thi s by at least being mmdful a t the ti me of t ak ing meals that food is not for enjoyment of sen sual pleasures but for gaining strength to enable one to carry out the meditational practice. Then on the other band, tiring one's body and mind in one's endeavour to attain meditational insight does not constitute the sin of atta­lei/amatlta nuyogQ . Self·mortification without the object of gaining slla or sain L7 dhi or pafiii(~ by remaining naked and heating one's body at the fire or in the sun, or soaking one's body all day in the water is indeed attakilamatha nuyoga.

Tiring one's body and mind for keeping the five-fold, eight-fold, ten-fold precepts (sila) or the precepts to be kept by the monks and novices does not constitute atta­kilamatha lluyoga; It is following the middle path of sila magga, Making utmost physical and mental efforts to attain samudhi does

173

IIEMAVATA SUTTA

ot consti t II t e allak i1aJIICltlw llUYO ~a . It is ~ollowjng the middle path of sal/ltidlll I1w¥ga. To make an incessant note of .the actIOns of the body and mind, thus tH1!lg t~e body

d the mind in order to alt am vlpassana a~nii(7 and ,;wggll-phala panna, does n<?t ~onstitute atlakilamatlw nuyolfC:' _ it IS following the middle path of Panna magga.

Samatha and Vipassana

Of the three P,Hts of the Mi~dle Way, namely, the slla part, the san!(ldhl 1?art an~ the pai'ifi £7 part the sTla part IS obvIOus and does not [leed' any elaboration The other two must be differentiated . Samatha is concentration upon a certain object, such as inhalin a breath and exh aling breath. This is just to leep the mind from its constant flights: it is to keep the mind stable. Making a note of the inhaling breath as it brushes the tip of the nostrils, and also making a note of the exhaling breath as it pushes :out of the nostrils this noting is called anapaT).a samatha biivan,i . As one concentrates upon the inhaling and exhaling breaths, one gradually gains sall/odhi, stability of the mind. In the same way, by other forms of samatha kammathCtlw, such as, contempla­tion of a corpse, samadhi can be gained. This samadhi, however, does not involve

174

UEMAVATA SUTTA

the differeutiation of rfwa and nama nor does it by itself give a ~ knowledge of the physical and mental actions, as well as amcca, dukkha and anatta. Samatha bavana is merely for gaining concentration. The Buddha directed His disciples to con trol the mind by means of samatha. Vipassna comes in only when one concentrates on the actions of the six sensual organs of the body and makes a note of their act ions. What kind of noting should be made? Noting should be made of the nature and significance of rupa and nama, the appear· ing and d isappearing of the actions in success ion . At the same tirne~ one has to think dee ply of the an icca, dukkha and anatta nature of this flux of actions. By thus seeing keenly the true nature of tupa and nama, one is practi sing vipassana or meditational practice. Those who do not know properly are under the impression that vipassana is mere making a note of only one thing. They do not know that making a note involves observation of the physical and mental actions which are in constant flux and such observation is to be made in terms of anicca, dukkha and allatta. So the Buddha said that whatever emanates from the six "doors" of the body should be made a note of and pondered upon. The

17'\

HEMAVATA SUTTA

Buddha also preached thousands of . sermo~s for control of the mind thro.ugh Vlpassana. Through vipassanti pe?ple ~I1J be ~ble to know of the associ3fJon ot the s ~ n ' e-bases with tbe sense and the ~eDse.obJects. and soch actions clOd interact,?ns do con;, titute the world or planes of eXIstence.

No transgression

There must be no transgression from one area to another, for instnnce, from the area of paiiiiii to the area of siia Some persons do not really know the nature of c7yatana' but they have learnt up from the b~oks or the lectures and think much of thelT second­hand k~owledge. From thejr pesudo-know­ledge they often draw wrong conclusions. They argue that a gourd is a chemical conglomerate just as is a fowl. So, they say if no sin is commit-ted by cutting tbe gourd, cutti ng the fowl is like wise no sin. Syrup, they say, is of the c7po element, so is liquor. So it is no sin to drink liquor as it is no sin to drink syrup. If the touch between man and ma n is no sin. as it is mere photthappa (sense of touch), tben tl1e touch between man and woman is also no sin. The touch is of the same nature, they s~y , as the to.uch of a bed-sheet, or a pI llow, Tbis kind of .foolisb argument is the

176

HE MAVATA SUTTA

same as that fo rwarded by a monk named A rittha during the time of the Buddha.

Ari ttha's fa lse notion~ Ari ttha was asking why laymen enjuying

sexual plea urcs could a tta in the state of sotapanna while monks were denied such pleasures; :Jlthc'ugh th monks were all owed to sleep on soft beds why they were not allo wed t 'le similar soft touch of the female bodj, f or the feelinb of touch was identical. He WdS say ing that it was no sin to enjoy the touch of t he felnale body. Other wise a nd saintiy monk s reasoned with him and persuaded him to the right view but he was sayina that it was what the Buddha had t aught, or that it was in accord with the Bud dha's teachings. So he was taken to tbe presence of the Budd ha. 'When the Buddha asked hien, he said that tha t was what t~e Buddh ~\ had taught. The ~uddha then saId t hat He had nev..!r t~ ugh t 10 tba t way, and ca lled Arinha a hDpeless man who could Bot attai n the state of ma.gga an~ plzqla. Even then Ar itrba did not dIscard hIS bell.ef. At t he present time there are people lIke Ar iftha, [ would (;ven say tha t t?ey are the relatives and descendents ?f . Anttha w.ho still a rgue tha t ~hejr helief IS III accord WIth the teach in gs ot tile Buddha.

177

HEMAVATA SUTTA

Nowt if they say that syrup is csse.nti~lly the same as liquor because both are hqu~ds, then liquor is essentially the same as UrIne. Would they drink urine? If they say that gourd is esentially the same as fowl or. for that matter their children, would they have their child~en cut up like the gourd or chicken? If they say the feeling of touch is the same between that of the bed-sheet and pillow and that of the female, can they live all their lives married only to the bed-sheet and piIJow? If we ask these questions, the correct answer will corne out. The Arahats who know in their wisdom the true nature of sense of feeling, have never transgressed from the bounds of si/a. Only those who have superficial knowledge say things VYhich are outside the scope of s i/a. They do not merely say so, but they go further and commit sin. If they do that, they would be like holding a live coal, thinking that it is not hot. Sin would not le t them go scot­free; it wculd give of its evil effec't as best it could. So those holding the live coal in their full grips would get the worst b ' trn.

Must not transgress the area of samadhi

Some are saying that samadlzi is not necessary, th at if one just ponders upon the

178

HEMAVATA SUITA

two pafina magga, llJ meiy, Sammti dittlti and samm{l sankappa, t here is no need to make a note of happeni ng and destruc ti on This is a transgression of the area of samadhi. Jltanasamadhi is ind eed t he best to a ttain but f ailing t ha t , one should have acquired khanika samiidh i which is eq uivelent to upaC{ira samadhi. Otherwise, it is Dot real vipassal1a panfia So said the Buddha ­"Bhikkhus try to acquire samadhi A bhikklll~ who ha s a st a ble mind kno ws t he truth. What is knowing 'the t ruth? It is knowing that cakkhu (t he eye '; is nOD-permanent, that rupa (appearance) is non-permanent, and that caklchu-vinfia (the sen se of seeing) is non-permanent."

The Buddha said further th J t one, bereft of sammaditthi, is bereft of vipassana-n(ina. So it is clear that without samtldhi one cannot acquire v;passan(7 ·nana and attain maggaphala-niina. One cant therefore, decide that knowledge outsid e of sam(ldhi is not vipassana-nalla and tha t wi thout vipassan(l­nana one cannot attain nibbalh7. Superficial knowledge is not the monopoly of the Buddhists, for non-Buddhists could acquire it if they make a study of Abhidlwmmli. It is absolutely necessary, tberefoI{. to try to acquire real knowledge by constantly

17·)

HEMAVATA SUTTA

making a note of the nature of the sense­bases by l'ipaSSan l{ method.

The six sense-bases make up m an To the question how toka cam; into . being,

the Buddha's ~Inswer was loka s eXIstence was bused upon the. ::,ix sense-~ase s.lt means that all be ;ngs WhICh compnse toka come into being on the basis of the six sense-bases.

Suffering in the six To the question where do the beings sutTer

from ill effects of the six sense-bases, the Buddha replied that they suffered from the ill effects in the six sense-bases themselves. He said that tbe beings suffered because they made effor ts to satisfy these six sense­bases. According to the commentary on the sutta, the sensa tions emanating from the outer objects make elll attack on the six sense-bases. ]n my opinion , tbe sensations such as sight, sound, tas te, smell, touch and thought invite taf) /za (desire) and it makes beings suffer. I think that is a better explanation.

People are constantly making efforts to get b~autiful things, animate or inanimate, and If they do not get them they go on searching for them till they can get hold of them. When they come to possess them,

180

lIEMAVATA SUTrA

they make efforts to hold them and prevent them from bein.; lost or destroyed. Thus, the people are constantly making efforts and suIl'ering In the same manner, they t ry to get otber feelings and sensations, such as sweet sounds, good taste, delightful touch, and fond hopes and thoughts They t~y. to make themselves healthy and long livmg so tha t thl.!y may enjoy these sensa­tions longer. In making these efforts people have to feel anxious about themselves as well as others. Though they make constant efTorts for containing and maintaining these sensa tions, tbings do not occur as they wish Things disappear as quickly as they appear. Dangers se t in and destroy them. On 1!.uch occasions people suffer greatly not only physically but mentally too. This concerns not onl y human beings but celestial beings also, fo r these celestial beings, too, make similar efforts for similar purposes. Do not bave t he impression that if one becomes a celes ti al being owing to one's good deeds, o ne gets to a place where every wish is fulfill ed an d one does not need to have any more wishes; that is, on6 would be sa tisfied to the f ull. No being is ever sat is fied with wh at has been given, and will a lways ask f or more. To get more,

181 F 19

HEMAVATA SUTTA

further efforts have to be, made, ::Ind suffering ensues from the ~e eft orts.

Suffering will re511lt from a~tion involving sacrifice of lives of other bemgs under the mistaken notion that one would gain merit from such act If one kills, steals or does things which one thinks will make for one's own prosperity and happiness and those of one's relatives and friends, one will recdve all the sufferings resultin !~ from the act. Not only that; one will go down to the n!ther regions of existence.

Enjoying the senses does not bring any real happiness; it brings only suffering. Say, for instance one continues eating go~d food after hlVing reached the state of satiety or fullness. Eating good food seems enjoyable in the first stages but gradually the enjoyment will decline and suffering will ensue. It is the same with other senses. If one looks at beautiful things constantly, one will get tired and s~ffering , . probably in the form of di'sgust, WIll set 10 One would not enjoy, tactile cOD~act con ~tantly; suffering would certainly set ~n after ~nehas pa,ssed the stage of satis­faclIons. Enjoyment IS only transitory, and It can cO,ver up ~ he innate sufferings just for a ,whde. Maki ng an effort is, in fact, suife[J ng.

182

llEhlAVATA SUTIA

Hemavata's Question f ' umber Two Hemavata said, "0, Lord The sattavii w?ich is in. effect toka I; subjected to ml ~ery . What IS the attachment tupiidiina) ~hlch makes on~ believe this is myself, this IS my own? May l ask what is the way to redemption. Would you, 0 Lord, please say how one must free oneself from misery!"

Hemavata's fi rst question to the Buddha r~lated to the tru th about misery (dukkha SICCli ) and his second ques tion is about the way to free oneself fro m misery.

"Hemavata" said the Buddha, "the mind which is the sixth of the six sense-bases produces desire and causes at ' achrnent for the five other senses and sense-bases."

The five kiimaguQa means the de sire to enjoy the sight, the sound, the smeJI the taste and the touch. These senses carry with them their respective sense-bases; the eye, the ear, the nose , the tongue and the body. The mind also carries wit h it tho ugb ts and feelings.

To thoC\e who do not have l'ipassall (/ practice, any object they see gives them the idea that it is " my eye that sees," The young: hwo can see well will say that their eyes. are good and clear, but the old whose eyesIght is defective will lament their plight. Both

I

183

HEMAV ATA SUTTA

the young and the ol.d feet. tha.t ~he sense organ of si"ht is lhetrs. ThIS Jde<1 of self extend~ to ~II parts of the body and the whole body and tben to one's own ~r?perty. This notion extends further to cognItIOn of male and fennIe . "This body is ~ind; I am this body." Looking 'It a beClutlful.person and liking him or her, and IWCln tl~g . to possess, and having thus got, thtnkmg "Tbis is mine, my own" ... all these are the products of the mind.

For instance, YOll go to the bazaar and look at dresses on di"play and choose what you like and buy them and think that they are your own . In the same manner, one looks at another and is ellamollred of his or her beauty and desires that person and wants to possess that person's body. The eye, the object of sight and the sense of sight; these are the three ayatana, and there is attachment. "This is mine, this is my own. I possess it."

The same attachment or obsession applies to the case of hearing, smelling, tasting or touching. Everything is for attachm' nt. If, for instance, you t~uch Somebody and you know t~e sense of touch, then you say, "I touch hIm or her." If you feel hot or stiff in the limbs, you say "I fee] hot" or "I feel stiff in my limbs." ,

184

HEMAVATA SUTTA

SO the Buddha said: "Hemavata, in loka the five !camaguQ.Cl and the mind (manaya­tan a), or the six sense-bases cause tanhn (lust), and if thut taQ.ha is discarded, deli­verance from du!ckha is certainly achieved."

The reason for attachment and desire is ignorance of the fact that the sight-object or matter, the seeing and the eye are all ayatana. This ignorance is like insanity. Madmen have unstable minds and cannot tell the good from the bad, the valuable from the valueless; thev don' t know what is us -ful, valuable and"keep useless things in their bags. You all must have seen such lunatics The so-called sane men would act in the sam" way if they were under mis­taken notions.

At the end of the Second World War those who foresaw the coming end of the Japanese occupation in Burma exchanged the Japanese currency notes which would soon be worthless, with many things. Those who did not have such foresight cheerfully received the notes in th~ hope that these notes would continue to be valid. Then in a ,. day or two, the change came. The Japaaese currency notes became worthle~s, and tbe hoarders suffered the ccmequences.

When I was young [CJme acro~<; people who filled pots with salld and waIted for

18)

HEMAVATA SU'lTA

them to turn into gold according to the prediction of a con-man who posed. as a master-magici:1n whom these people belteved . They ar' reallv fools flIld mad men who cannot tell the- truth from tile Jie, the good from the bad. Once they are cured of madness, they will find that the things they have cherished are worthless:. During the time of the Buddha Pad:lcra became raving mad. She went about without any clothes on, but as she was insane she thought what she was doing was good :md proper. When she came near the Buddha, the Buddha restored her to sanity by admonition and she realised her situation at once and eventually became an Arahat. Being one with parami (potential for perfection), Padacara knew at once at the Buddha's word of caution that she was naked. Her sense of propriety returned, and she took a shawl from a person near her and wrapped herself and sat down to listen to the Buddha's sermon. And while listening to the sermon she attaind the state of ~O!iipanna. This is an instance of aC~lfIng the right vision (lnd discarding the worthless notions.

The people I spoke about just. now found out in due course that the 'things tbey had cherished were after all worthless ,

186

HEMAVATA SUTTA

and ye.t they could not discard their worth­less thlDgs. Those who are always mindful of the.constan~ changes involving happening and dlsa ppea rmg all .the time, will have no attachme~t for anythIng that others have been settIng so much value upon.

Giving instructions to Malukya-putta bhikkhii

When the Buddha was about to give instructions to Malukya-putta I bhikkhO, He asked:

"Malukya-putta, do you have any desire for the appearances that you have never seen, or those that you are not in the act of seeing or those that you never expect to see?"

"No, sir, that is impossible," replied the bhikkhii.

Now, if I asked you the same question as the Buddha put to Malukya-putta bhikkhu, you all would give the same answer as he did. A person whom you never e.~pect to see, ..... you would not have any feeling of love or hatred for bim, would you? Now, such persons are so many in so many villages, towns, cities and countries, and you wouldn't ever haw any feeling of love or hatred. For them

187

HEMAVATA SUTTA

you wouldn't have any, atta~hment, desire or ll1st. Kiles17 doesn t ansI! from the unseen . This point should be Doted.

In that case, one need not. have _to get rid of kilesii by means of vlpassqna. The thing simply doesn't h.appen fo~, s~nce there is no seeing, t here Sflses no kzlesa . So y ~u don't gain merit, nor does akusala (evIl , sin) hap pen. As for tbe. thiogs seen, b~w­ever kilesa 8riSCS both m the act of seel ng and 'after havi ng seen, because a mental picture is letained in t!le memory and on reflecti on or recall, k desa would recur. These cherished memories are stored up in the ~1fchi ves of anusaya (rooted memories). It is necessary to roo t out these by me3ns of vipassana.

The Buddha gave Malukyaput ta bhikkhft the doctri ne of dittlzeaitthamattani bhavissati (seeing only what 'is being seen), or minding the pre ent.

Discarding tal)ha occuri ng on HIe

sight

According to the Buddha's instructions to Milukyaputta bhikkhii, one must note what is seen as seen and no more. Tha t is the general idea of the instructions. For meditational practice, however one must note the beginning of any obje~t or sense

IR8

IIEMAVATA SUTTA

as it is in the process of happen ing. One must. acc?rdingly make a not~ of, le t us say, walkmg 10 i ts process, that is, lift ing the foot, moving forward and letting fall the foo t, and noticing that each (lct in tbe pro­c~ss appears and disappear s in rapid succes­SIOn. Only those who have higher percepti on witl be a bJe to notice clea rly this rap id chain of action. If f' ne cculd concent rate on eCich phenomenon di stinctly clOd separa­tely, one would not feel any attachrr en t or desire, and tbus taf)ha tj got rid of.

To some vipassana practitioners bea ring was takl:ll notic~ of as mere hea rin g, and no l ike or dislike is attached to it. Some are reported to have felt the so und enter the ear, and can tell whether it enters the right ea r or the left. Smell aiso appears and disappears in rapid succe~~i0n and no at­tachment of any kind occurs. The same with tasting food.

The ~e l1s e of touch is quite dis tinct ly marked. The ri sing anJ f(.lIing of the :1bdo­men is obvious; so are the aches aIld p~ins. Physical <1ctions a re al: o easy to make no te of and ma kior note of each <let in the pro­ce~s of an act i'on precludes any . ind of a t­tachment or desire. As regarus til t! min d th at wanders it is not so diflicult h) m~ k note of it, ~nd a practised m ... dit ale r' s n~ ind

IR9

HEMAVATA surrA

seldom loafs and when it does, it is usually CJught and b~o llght back immediately .to t~le point of concentration. Thus taJ).hil IS nd of from the mind.

Somdimes mental pictures of persons, bhikkhus oardens and many other things appear; ;h~y are mere figments of th.e ima­gination. [hey will soon fade out If one makes a note of them. No attachment occurs. Sometimes, t00, one hears or seems tohear, a celestial being or a teacher saying some­thing but if one makes a notc of that, the hearing will disappear and no attachment can occur. The yogi who experiences such hearin,; should not be falsely flattered. If he is pleased or fl attered, that fact should be made note of immediately and it will dis­appear. That is how tm)hCL should be rid of the thougbt or the feeling.

And that is also the way in lY hich vipa­ssal1li insight is ained and eventually Ariya­magga achieved and nibb(i llCl attained. As the strength of insight inc r~ases wisdom . , In creases, too, and thu\) occurrence of at-tach men t is entirely ruled out. So the Buddha said t ba t if tanha is discarded deliverctnce fr om dukkha is cer tainly achie~ed .

Upon hearing the two answers of the Buddh a, Hemavata ano SaL-lgiri and their foll owers att J ined tbt: st ale of so tupmllla.

190

Ill:MAVATA SUT fA

The young lady. Kali, who had heard only the d i alogge between Sat agid and J[emavata became a sotapanna before they did. They should have reached the ultimate state of an Araiza!, but they were destined to atta in to the first state only~

END OF PART V

191 F 2u

• Chapter VI

This is tlte last par t of the d,iscour se on this sut ta . The main points of In teres t arc the three questions Hemavata put to the Buddha. Hemavata became a so/(/pan after hearing the Buddha's J( pJy to the second qu estion but in d ef~reDce to. the Dhamm~, Hemavata pu t the tblrd ques tIOn as follows. -

"Oh Lord " sa id Hemavata, "in this 'oka W'110 ca r{ swi m out of the eddying cur­rent of kilesa?"

In the never-ending ch ain of existences, called sams(rra, there is a fast-flowing cur­rent with eddies, called kilesc7. Who can swim so skilfuJly that he or she can swim out of this current? Hemavata repeated the question in another metaphor, saying:"Who can swim out of the vast stretch of deep water, called sams(i ra?"

Samsara, which is an uninterrupted flow of existences, a successive happenings and

192

11l:MA \lATA SUTTA

des tructions of the aggregates (khandd), is likened to a fast·flowing, wide and deep river or a vast stretch of water. It is diffic~It for one, ho "v ever skilf ul in swim­ming, to swim out of it.

Co nti nui ng, Hcmavata said: "Appare ntly bottomless, there is no thing above the su rface of the water to hang on to; who can manage to escape fro m drowning in tlut vast stre tch of water, Oh, Lord?"

To this question t he Bllddha made the follo wing answer :-

"Hemavata, one whose Sf /a is clean and full and whose S{[flhldhi is firm, making a n~te of the phYSical and mental acts without fa il and whose knowledge of th ings sec ul a: and spiri tual. is of a high order wiII be able to SWIm across the usualiy unswimmable stream of samS<7ra." This is the Buddha' s answer to the first part of Hem8vata's ques tion.

The current of kama: Desire Delightful objects invite. de.si re. and

attachment , call ed kClma, WhICh IS lI kened to a currel1t with ed~ i es: kfimogha. Those who are involved In de sH~, . lust. and attach menl are said to be dr.lftmg III the current of k ti ma. Tho"c who like and want

193

HBMAVATA SUTTA

the objects of desire, ~uch as sight, smell , taste touch man or womaD, property of all s~rts, h,;ve to put forth their efforts to obtain and possess them. Once they have them they have to put forth more efforts to p~eserve lind mnintain their possessions. They have to rl!sort to . sins such as ther.t, murder, robbery. cheating. :1dultery to gmn possession of these obje~t s of their desires. For such sins they wi 1/ go down to hell and other nether regions of misery. That is what is called d rifting in the sea of samstira There <1le other people who do good deeds and are accordingly able to g'tin existence in hum<1n or celestial world where they are end0wed with we<1lth which they enjoy immensely. That is al~o called being immersed in the sea of sClInslira. Existc:nce in human or celestial world presupposes old age ~Ind death for which one will surely feel angui!>h and suffer from misery. That is, in fact an immersion in the sea of sa111sara. '

The current of bhava, existence

. To be enamoured of bhava ( e xi~tence or life) is called drifting in th e current of bhavogha, the eddyin g CLirrent of bhava. SO.rn:! want to a tt ain higher planes cf eXi stence such as rupa bharG nnd arupa

1 9 ~

HEMAVATA SUTTA

hhava, and accordingly work t o acquire rupa j lzan c7 a~d arupa jhana. When tbey reach thes~ higher planes of existence thei r ~pans of lIfe are very long, to be counted 10 a eo ns, ?u t they are not everl asting. They have to die, and some go to h~man world and others to celestial world , where misery abound s. They get only a brief relief not a rele<1se from the chain of existence~ .

The current of ditthi, false beliefs

To be entangled in tile various currents of ditthi o r fa !<;e beliefs is ve ry com mon. Th:re are ill ~ r y kinds of belief, some behefs belonging to some racial grou ps Cl nd some to some localities . The various beliefs can be categorised into t~'o: one ~mbracinez. the belief that all beings are IDdestrucll ble, cal led sassala dittlz i, and the other the belief that a being is destroyed altogether after its dea th ca lled uccheda ditthi. Those em hracing th~ laller belief do not ca ~ e to avoid evil deeds, no r do they feel t he need to do good deeds , Thev can do what they like so long as they '~Ivoid crimes punishable by law. They believe that they will not be obliged to pay for the deed .. they hrl\ e don e du ring their lifetimes or later becau se, to them, there

HEMAVATA SUTlA

is no more new existence. Such p~ople will probably go to hdl and other nethLr regions because the deeds they have done during their lifetimes will probably be ~ar from good. This is an. example of g,et,llng into trouble by folIowlOg a wrong pdLI.

There are people today who tUll1 t.he Budd!la's teachings top~y-turvcy ,md advIse their followers not to do good deeds, not to do meditatkn, or they \\ ould be in trouble. Their followers will most probably do only bad deeds and arc 1110St likely to go to hell.

Those who believe in the indestructibility of beings do something which they take to be good deeds but among such deeds is sacrifices of some animals' lives in rites according to th~ir beliefs. Such evil deeds done under mistaken notions will surely send the evil·doers to hell. It is like taking wrong medicine which aggravates the disease. There are some other people who believe that they can do anything, good or bad, with impunity so long as they have f(lith in their God.

There are worshippers of the sun, the moon, the moun lain, the spirits or gods; the~e are also some who believe they can be delIvered from misery if th ('Y stclI\e them­selves or lay naked or stay in the heat of

19 ,

)

lIEMAVATA sur A

the sun or stay immersed in watet ' there are also some wh o believe that th~y will be free of misery if t hey keep their minds idle. How can one acquire sila, sal1litdhi and paiinc1 withou t making the mind work hard and properly'! All beliefs in religious prac­tices which cannot lead to liberation fr om salnsiira belong to what is Called silabbata paril-Inasa ditthi . The followers of such faith s will never get out of the great whirl pool of samslira. They will go througb a long ser ies of existences as they drift along the curre nt of samsl1ra. This is rcally terri ble.

The current of avijj a, ignora lce

Then there is what is called " the current of avijj{i" which means ignorance of the Four Noble Truths. People mistake misery for happiness; they do no i: kno w the t~lltb about misery (dukkha saccLl) All the actIO ns emanating f rom the pbysIcal an~ "!ent,d make-ups are really elements ot mIsery, but most people think th at the sight they want to see', the sound they wan t to hear, the smell they want to llmeIl, the food tbey want to eat, the touch they want. to touch, and the thou{!ht they want to th mk arc al!

od Such 0 thinking is the fe'm!t of fg~lor·ance (molw, avijjt7) . Liking ~lI c h !h ~l1gS is tar).h(i, to be attached to them I S IIpadll lla,

197

HEMAVATA SUTTA

. I bjects of desires and to stri~e to gam t Ie 0 b . d (kllsala or is deeds either good or a? d b d akusala): f)wing to the deeds, go~ or <'.' existence recurs repeatedly; the edxlste~ce~hl.n the 31 planes of exis tence are ue 0 IS avijjii . This CUrIent of avijj(c flows down to the lowest hell and up to bhavagga (t~pmost region of existence, the highest regIOn of Bra/una .) In Bhuridatta and Campeyya j {itokiis it is explained that the would-be Buddha became a great snake or dragon because he Icnged to become a snake, thinkin C! that such existence would be good. This c~Jrrent of avijjc7 is very fearful indeed

1 t is not easy to get beyo~~ these c~r­rent s; one must :have the abIhty to SWIm Ollt of them. That is wby Hemavata asked t he Bllddha who could swim out of them In answering th at question. the Buddha described the qualifications of the success­ful sw immer.

Firs t qualificati o n of the successful swimmer

The Bud dha said tha t the first qu alification of tbe successful swimmer is that he must al ways be f ully quip ped with pure sfla. This is a really essential qu alifica tion, so the Buddha pu t it as the firs t. The one who

19R

HEMAVATA SUITA

fi rmly b:1ieves in t~ e Buddha's teachings must belIeve th ;H If on ly one is fully equipped wit h pure sTla for a ll tiC1es, one will be able to overcome the four great currents and thus attain nibbana. Some may refe r to the story of Santati, a king's min h ter , who atta ined nibbana just befo re his death "while the smell of th e liquor bad not ye t left his mouth", and enqu ire abou t the requ irement of being equipped for ::I ll t imes wi th pure Sf/a . Well, such are few instances; I shoulj say, cne in a hundred thousand . Such persons had h;:} d with Hem already p !7 rall/; of the highest order. They were rare eVt l1 in the t im ~ of the Buddha . They we re exceptio ns. T~ e Buddha knew of them and their grade of pdraml.

In the case of the first five monks. ponca vaggi, only Kondafiiia attained to the state of sottipanna on the first day of the Dham­macakka serm on; tbe otber four had to strive for it l ('r [ (l nT more days in succes­sion, one Mter another. Not all of them were in possession (If pal'ami of the sam.e calibre' SLlch diff~rel1c' s in gr<Hies and c alI­bre or' ptl rami SllOl !l ~1 be note~. Ther~ are tbose who ga in the dllamma whIle hea rIng a sermon but the y are \cry f ew; others have to work for some lengt h of time, some for a few honr;;, S.1me othe rs for days, months

199

HEMA V AlA SU 1 fA

or years in accord~nce wilh their respect­tive P<iUII11i.

Now in the Buddh~'s word ab~ut" the '( I' <"fa for 'Ill times' the phrdse for pun y 0 .J I ( 'f' t'

·tli times" me,lns the length 0 tlI':le rom ~hc tIme of commencing ~he pr~ctlce of the dlW/JIlIlll through the entne peflod of the practice s. It is only then that one ca~ feel hllppy that one ha~ :111 alon~ had one s ~tfa pure, and that feeh~g of ~lch~evement would bring about samiidlll. O.thennse, doubt about one's own s/Ia would Impede the progress in the attainment of the state of complete concentration. Without concentratio~ one cannot ac qui re vipassal1(1 llana. And wIthout vipassail l/ fi ona, magga pha/a nOna would be far out of one's reach. For a layman, one mut be flllly cquipprd with paflC{{ stia, for a monk olle must be equipped with piiti­mokklw's'la. S/Ia is the first requi site, the first qualification for one who strives to swim out of the four great currents.

he Second Qualif ica t ion

The second qualific<ltion relatcs to .sCl/l1u­dhi.1t means tbat after hav ing bee n equipped with pure s'iia one must work hard to attain the states of samadhi and j lli'il1G. It means that one must v.ork for the atta inment of nil the eight kinds of j hulla or :I t leas t O ll C

200

•

i l bMAVATA SU'l'l'A

o~ two of them. This is fo r disciples of tbe lllgber o rd er. If one c(Jnnot strive to atr ain apPGlh7. jlzana, one must work for attain­ment of upaClira samadlzi or its equivalen t khaQika sal71 lldhi. tha t is, vipassana samadhi. This is the least requirement for one to become full y equipped with cittarisuddhi (purity of min d) , and with this, ore can attain Ilibbana Otherwise, the purpose would not be achieved.

The Third Qua lifi cation

The third qU <l lificJ tin is pai'ina. Paiiii({ can be attained only by being mindful of the actions and phenomena occuring within onc's physicCiI and menwl make­ups One can gain real knowledge of the incessant motions of acts and happenings only when one mJkes :1 note of them internally. How can one gain f en} kn o\'. ledge by noting tbe acts and actions o f 3D other person's mental and physical mnke-u ps? You may think that a person is happy but he may really be in a sad mood. In the same manner, you m:ly think one is doi ng a good deed but he might be about to do something bad or evil. It is only of oneself one can know fully. If one makes a Dote of what is p:oing on in oneself. one will be .I b Ie t 0 k n () w w h .1 t rea II y is lite mat t er . It

201 F 21

HEMAVATA SU'ITA

is not rcally dimcu! t to make a men ta l note of the tidl !:'s in flu x in () neself; one has o nly to make :1 '-note of lhings as they occ ur or disappear in quick succession.

Don't Talk Rashly About Eko~dhammo

Those who have:1I t ~ined jhii na mu st make a note of the st att: of jllttllCl as Nell as all the phenomena emanating from the acts of seeing, hearing, etc . Such mixed phenomena are together called pakit!~lCIka. Tho:,e who have not attained jh ti na must make a note of what they see, hear. etc . In fact, they must note the actions emanating from mind and m1tter. Some say that making a note of what happens a'\ it happens could result in dete rior.lt ion of one s concentration. They say that it spoils the concept of ekodham­mo (single purpos ). Such persons do not understand the working.s of practice in vipassall ,l. As a lll'lttcr of fact vipassan<7 d 't ' o~sn . l'D:ean c~)l1centrating only on one obJecl; It IS maktn~ note of all the (lcts and actions of mind and matter . If one does not make a note of them, one wiII probably take .th ~ m to he permanent, capable of giving h ; rpI~e s s a.nJ repre senting self, and such o )s.c ~S I\' ~" t,hlOkin g wiiI bring about kamma V;~ I C ll will I.n ~lIrn make for a new existence. J Ipa~wn f IS lntended to get rid of the con.

202

•

11EMAVA'iA Su i 1.\

sequen ces by ~1 a ki g a note of the pheno~ men a and com1l1g to a rE'a.li.:ati o n of an ieca, dukklJa a nd allatta. rhe. Budd~a said all pb.e­Domena must be p erceIved WI! h insi'Itt. ~here i.s no menti on of cko-dhallllllO in the

Pall scr~ptu res or in" the comment:1rics. There 15 , ho wever, ment ion ( f it in Anguttara Nik ayo and Dasllttra ,sutfa but the me~nin~ is n0t \\h 1t some people rashly Lke It to be. It means that oll e sho uld stick to one me thod of meditation a nd in the. books ale men t ioned as mdny as ten dIfferent methods. Talk ing rashly abou t " eko-dhammo" without k Il O\ in CT its . c proper me<ll1 lDg and in ten t should be d iscouraged.

Now, by m;lking a note of what is happening in the physical arid men aJ m,lkc­ups and thus gaini ng sam(i dhi, one acquires insight (pailfia) by perceiving ll izma (mind) and rupa (matter) separately, Dnd a lso by knowing the deep signi fic;mce of cause and effect. Vipassall ({ is achic\ed by a deep perception of ([ni('( (I, dukkha 3JH.l af/atta, and when vipassancl i'1 liw7 (mcditationa l insight) has been g1ined and developed further, one will grad uate to the Ariya magga. One who has a tt:lined AriJii magga is the swimmer who c:m 'wim out of the rough and stron o cu rren ts of S1I11I\(l ra. That

2()3

•

HF.MAV ATA SUTTA

is w,lht th Buddha said in reply to IIcma­vata's que:;ti )n,

The manner of swin'ming ,out of these currents vill now he expl~lIncd for the benefit of those whu still, need ~llfther clarificdtion, If une can dIscern IlIbUlft/li tnrough the insit:llt ut" sO/llpatti l1Iagga iiana t

one mu t b.! sail to have crossed the cur­rent of dittlli , Th:!! i., why it is said that a sorl/pan is cleared of, he obsession ,3bo~t atla, of the f.:11 e belief th:H a bemg IS

indestructible, whi~h is the belief of sassata dit/hi, of the fals~ belief that nothing remains :' ft~r the de:tth and destruction of the present form and mentCll m~ke-up, which is tIle belief of lfcdlC'da dinhi He is also rid o f the false belIef c,i\led silabbata pal',l m li sa ditthi w:1.ch says th at nne C3n

l:;.a in deliverance from sams({/'a not by working for ncq uistion (J f sila, samadhi and pann(1 but by loi ng a little bit of mef1tal ex..!rcise. A sot [pefl has never failed to be ent renched in (D''': b~lie f ill the Buddha, Dln'1ma and Sang'1R, awl in th :! be lief that one must work for th e a cqui ~ itioll of slla. samlidhi and panna It is o i1 1y those who arc not ,sot7p~lJl, who ,1L indecisive in fixing th ir beli f and so go r(J und looking [or mentors and moe of len tb an not w31k into the 1.~lmps of ler' ders of false d o ~trines

20 ~

HF.MAVATA SUTTA

alld thus' s ufT~ r much along the long pClth of sams£7 l'a.

As for a sotapan, he never deviates f rom the right path and will be free of the suf­ferings belonging to a being after at most seven existences, It is therefo re clear that if one could swim across the current of ditthi, one would make a n immense gain.

Getting 011 to he next step in the grad u­ated stages to the attainment of n;bbtaw, that is, ~tate of sakadag l 111i magga nlilw, one would be able to weaken the force of tr.e current of !\llma-raga but not be com­pletely 1 id of it. One must surge ahead b,Y continufIlg the meditational practice, It IS only when one bas attained the stat,e of altrlgami .. magga and plzala that one WIll be completely rid of the current of kiuJla. F~)f him there is no such thing as desire; he will not even think of wanting anything; there is no wisb, no longing or hankering. T'hus, he is in a Ilappy state, free of the I11Isery resulting from desires, But he has the cur­rent of bhal'a to swim across.

Th~ yogi who has 8chi~ved up to the stage of aflagtlJJll', IIh,!gga ~1(11)a 11;ust, carry on with the m ditatlOn ttll be. dttam~. _the mo!'>t mature insight of A ralwttt7lmagga nat/a. Then he will have swum across the current

~05

tlEMAVATA sutfA

of bhava; for him there is no new existence. By then he has swum succes'ifully across the four currents of sanisdra and got out of it.

The Buddha's An.;wer (38) "Hcmavata dev<.I" said the Buddha. "The

Aralwt who .has overcome <.III the strings of saniyojana attachment after having cleared himself of the desires, never gets drowned in the bottomkss, refugeless sea of sQ/11si/ ra, but remains "float always Clnd in :\ state of happiness."

According to the nrst part of the Buddha's answer, the one who has persisted in the practice of meditation attains the Ultimate Stage and has become an A rahat . For him there is no ne\v existence; he is completely out of the stream or SOI11Su J'{l Ho wever, ;111

a~llgani has crossed tIle curren ts clOd is on bls way out of the st r.eam. Sakadagam has no .more than two eX lstenc s to str ive for de!lverancc, and SOldpan b(ls at most ~cve ll eXlstences to go through. All of them have sav~d themsel.ves from bell and the net her ~e'g!Ons or eXIstence For a pwh lljjanCl there IS no guarantee agains t fa lli ng into hell tho~gh he may have done good deeds . To ~ucn I?ersons the samsCt ra is a terr ible sea III WhlC.'l there is nothing to grasp, or ta I-e rrfuge Ill, to keep oneself afl oat. Now is

206

J

IlEMAVATA surrA

the time fo r working for deliverance from the sea of samsara or the cycle of exis­tences in the 31 regions of existence.

Now the exposition of the text of the Hemavala sutta has corne t o an end. Only Hemavata ' s ad ul ati on of the Buddha . remams.

After having heard the words of the Buddha and perceived the gre.at wisdom of the Enli ,~htened One, Hemavata was fu ll of adoration and turned to the celestiCl I beings, a thousand of them, followers of his <.nd of his f fie nd Satagiri, and UT cred them to worship the Buddha. He asked them to worship the Buddha endowed wi th deep and full wisdom, free of desi res of all kinds, the Buddha who had been walki[lg the path of the Araha!. He said that because they hJd worshipped the Buddha and hea rd His sermon, thl!Y had come upon the dawn of enlightenment. The turning to the Buddha, Hemav ita said "We, the thousand dera-yakkas, adore an take refuge in Thee, tbe noblest Lord and Master."

The reason for these thousand celestial beings having achieved the purpose of the dhamma can be found in th e story of their past.

207

HEMAVATA SUTTA

The Past History 0 He .. ,ava ta a (ld Company

Kassapa Budd ha passed in to ni bbana a nd His relics w~re enshrined i n a great golden pagoda. At that time two men .ente red the order of monks in the sacr.ed c lrc l.e ?f .t he Buddha 's sr(san(/ (inst ructIOnal dlSCIPI.lflC) out of thei r free will an d noble vohtIOn. (Incidentally, there a re two kinds of m on ks, t:l ~lt is, those who enter the Order out of their free will 3nd noble volition, called saddha pabbajita, and those who enter the Order out of fear o f punishment by law for their crimes, called bhaya pabbajita. The former are the true servants of the Order and the latter th~ detractors who weaken and spoil it. The duties of a monk are under two main ca tegories. The first category is to study and eventualfy teach the lite rature of the Dhamma, and the second is to practise medita tion to achk\e the purpose of the Dhamma.

During the ti me of Buddha Gotama there were many bhikkhfJs beginning with (h e 6r8t five, panca vaggi, who becam l: Arahats. Ther~ were, for instance, the son of Ya ssa, the nch mao, and his 54 fr iends, the thirty clans!Deo of Bhaddavaggi. t he th o usand hermits led by Uruvela Kessapa, the o nes who were to become Venenb les Sariputra

208

HEMAVATA SUTTA

and Maha Mogglana and their 2.( 0 hermit fo ll owers. All of t he m practised t he LJhalllma and beC8me Arahats. Of the m the son of Sena, a rich man, did most c r 'ditably in t he practice of the Dhamma.

This person was very s("\ ft and tend er. He had never set h is fe ·~t l n the en th Tbe soles of hi s fe~t were covered wi th soft hairs . When this soft and tendt:r ma n entered th e Holy Order, fully d.; ter~ine~ to work; ha rd at the d uties of a blllkkhu for del iverance from the misery of samS(i l'a, a problem a rose. .He wo:ke? his h a~d c.s(. He carried o ut hIs medItatlOnal prdct lce while wal k ing up a nd do wn the passageway barefooted His feet were so ~oft an d tender that t hey SOO I) had b!blers a?d bled. The pas3ageway was staIDe d wIth blood yet he d id not give up. Howeve r, he co~ld not achieve t he purpose of the Dhamma Latt l! r he despaired and thought of ledving the O rder. H -:: was unde~ th: impression tbat he had no t enough puraml to achieve the purpose of. the Dlwll1! }/~ . Then the Buddha came to hun and adv lst d him not to st r~lin too m uch nor to ~elax too much, that is, to foll ow the ... mldd!e path. The hhikkllD follo wed l11: eh l( uddha s advice and soon hecame a n " I a a .

209

HE~1AVA1A SU I J'A

There were in the days of the Buddh a counties nu mbers who attained the sta te of an Araliat , or the state of a sottipan , sakad(lgam and all(/gam, all the noble ones who ful fi lled the wi shes of the Buddha by pract isi ng meditation a nd achieving the purpose of the Dlial1lma. The two new monks who entered the Order thought to th emselves that the number of those \\ho practised the Dliammt1 were very many, and that as they themselves were still young the) should first make a study of the literature of the Dhamma. They said to themselves t hat they would practise the Dhamma when they grew old . Thu'! applying themselves diligently to the study of the li l..:ratu re of the Dlwmma, the two monks bec 'lmc m:1stcrs of th e 'ri-pitakas . They then taugh t five hund re d monks the various treatises of the Dhalllma, and became fam ous lcachcrs

Now, let us discu'ls the decision made by the monks who were fut ure Heml vata and hi'.) [ri~lld Satagiri , Tbey dec ided to study the D/wl1l l11 a when young and practise it w~1en Old, Who can gU1rantce that a person will ?ot d,le young? If he dit!s young, then he wil l mLSS th e opportun ity of practising the DlwlI1l1la . The nudd h.l'", wish i ~ for all

210

I

j

HEMAVATA SUriA ,

to sta r t tbe practice of the Dha1lll11a when young.

The Buddha said "The bhikkhu in the Buddha's srtsanii, wbo practises tbe Dhamma while young wi th a view to attaining magga phata, enlighte ns the loka which is s-ynony­mous with his own f ive khandc[ s) just as the moon which is releas ed f rom the banks of cloud shi nes over the world."

The pe rson who practises l'ipaSSCIn li enlightens his own loka in the same manner as the moon lights up the world. He starts his practice with the regular noting of the rising and falling of his abd omen and tbus comes to know the real nature o f mind and matter first, and then as he goes on with his noting he comes to kno w t be real nature of nam.akkhallda (mental make-up), He learns the deep truth of anicca, dukkha and (matta. As his practict! advances, his insigbt deepens and enlightens his loka, or lZ iill1a-rllpa , or the five klzand(( s.

It may be asked whether the same kind of enlightenment will not occur to the ol~. Certainly it will, but in the old tbe realt­sation and enlightenment may be slow to come. Age slows down the facultie~ of the body and the mind. A man of thlIty may achieve hil) purpoqe within onc month where-

211 F22

HEMAVA TA SUTTA

<I S a mao of sixty or seventy may be a?le to do it only in two or thr:e m onths. 1he difference lies in the physIca l and .mental health a nd strength, and in the wO~fles a~d anxieties, too. The young person s ~nlIn power is keen while the old man's d ete~lOra­tes. Th e la tter may have more w~Hfles t o contend with. So the Buddha pra Ised .t he young for doing the meditaiional prac tIce.

In the case of monk s, it is better f or the freshly-ordained monk s to stnrt the practice of meditation becau se they are you n g an d keen their confidence strong, their siia free frord doubts and defaults. f\lthough it is admittedly important to pursue the studies of the literature of the Dlzamll1a, young monks should do the meditation practice at lelst in the first three months. Well, that i's my opinion. POSSibly, the would-be Hemavata and the would-be Satagiri died before they attained old age. They seem to have had no chance to practise the Dhamma.

Those two venerable monks received the high esteem of their disciples, both bhikkhGs and the laity, and the Buddha's s(lsana of those days was flouris~ing. At that time there lived in a monastery two youog monks one a strict follower of the rules and regu: 1ations of the Order and the other a reca-

212

HEMAVATA SUTTA

lcitrant. When the good f ollower pointed o ut the errors of the recalcitrant, the latter would not brook criticism. The former told hi m to wait till the pavara7J{c time came.

The monks were all obliged to attend the pavct raQct ceremony soon after the end of t he Lenten period. They invited one ano ther 'to point out the errors or the commissions and omissions of the rules a nd regulations ·of the Order. This cere­mony is held annually on the full moon day of the m on th of Thadingyut, the end of the Lent. T he one who is criticised for his erroneous acts and behaviour thanks the one or ones who p oin t out the errors and promises them to be m ore careful in f uture. This ceremony of critic ism is for making the Buddha's stisanti clean and intact. The Buddha prescribed this ceremony; attendan ce is compulsory.

One shol!lld be thankful to the critic who points out one' s erro rs and faults, for such criticism gives one a!1 opportunity to. mJkc amends. lpatti (defau lt) in a 1l10,!k I S, f ar more serious than the fault or cnme In a layman. If a monk dies with out knowing that he has had ii patU and so has had no opportunity to m <1ke amends, he c:m get to hell. If he knew his (1patti and m.lde amends

213

•

HEMAVATA SUTTA

accordingly, hi s sda woul~l become p~re, and if at that time of punty he p ractise d tile Dhamma he could acquire wisdom of a high orde;, or if he died, he would get to upp :! r regions of bliss. So the ~ uddha said "The good people who pom t out olh~rs' faults with good intentions a re loved and respected by o ther good people but they are bated by the bad and the evil ones ."

The monk who was the recalcitrant opposed the monk who was a strict follower of the rules and regulations of the Order. So the latter told the former that he would report tbe matter to the synod of senior monks. Tbe recalcitrant was afraid tha t he might be ousted, so he approached the members of the synod and gave them robes and begging bowls and paid them respects. He rendered small services to the senior monks and behaved meekly. The monks asked him what the matter was. He said that he had had a dispute with his monastery male over his behaviour, and asked tbem to reserve judgment when his case came up to the synod. The senior monks said that they could not burke any case, but the reealcitrant insisted. The monks had already accepted his gifts and services and felt rather diffident to deal.wi th hi .) case. So they promised to burke hI S case when it came up. This is,

214

• •

HEMAVATA SUTTA

of course, partiality and corruption. When thus assured, the recalcitrant went back to his monastery and treated his colleague with arrogance. The faithful monk had some suspicions and made quiet enquiries. He had wondered at the delay in the disposal of the case he had put up to the synod. The disciples of the senior monks whom he a pproached were reticent.

The recalcitrant became more and more brazen-faced. He asked the faithful about t he case and insolently challenged him. "Now you have lost your case. You should not come back to the monastery. Go e lsewhere; don't live with me," he said. The f a ithful as ked the senior monks about the case and received U.n unsatisfactory answer. These old monks were otherwise very hone::. t but since they had accepted the fav ours from the bad monk they devia ted fro m the path of hone sty.

The young fa ithful monk shouted. " Since the passing of the Kassapa Buddha you two monks, senior and learned, have been looked up to a s another Budd ha but you have re nd ~ r ;! d yourselves unfit to Pass judgments o n ca ses rela t ing to the rules and regula tions of the holy O~d~r. ~he Buddha's stl san c7 has gone decay; It IS be lD g

HEMAVATA Sur-rA

destroyed", Of course, such corrupt prac­tices are to be deplored,

The two senior monks became repentent when they heard the accusati,on made b,Y the young monk and this prick ~f t,helr conscience persisted ~hrou~h t ~ elr hves.

~ They could not get nd of theIr doubts about their honesty even after Ion '.!; years of service to the Order by teaching their disciples the Dlzamma and observing the rule" and regulations of the Order up to the time of their death. So they became celestial orgcs on the Himalayas though they s'l ould otherwise have reached higher regions of existence in the celestial world because of thei r great servic~s. One came to be known as Hema vnta and the other Satagiri . They belonged to the higher echelon of the orge (guardian angels) hiera rchy, holding the rank of commandants of the ogre battalions . There were 28 such high officia ls , including these two, under the charge of the chief, Duvera.

The celestial ogres, by t he way, a re far superior to t he ordi nary ogres though they mIght not be handsome like the devas or angels,

Hemavata and Sa tagi ri repented their misdeeds in their past lives and de plored

216

• HEMAVATA SUTTA

their weaknesses as t hey succumbed to corruption by an evil monk. They said that their lon g and merit o rious services to the K assapa S17san c7 shou ld have sen t them to one of the elevated r egi ons in the ce lestial world . Th ey f eIt sorry to find tbat some of ~heir lay d isciples had got to tbe upper regIOns whereas they were o blige d to take lower posi t ions. They p ro mised between themselves that if one had some great news he should immediately inform the other. In pursuan ce of Ih is p romise, Satagiri hurried to hi s fri en d Hem avata a nd broke of the n t! WS of t he firs t sermon of Buddha Gotama.

They h ad lived aons, and after the rise and fall of several ka/p el (long periods of time) they reached the time when Gotama Buddha, some 2550 years a go, on the full moon day of the month of Kason, gave H is first 5ermon , Dhammacekka sulla, to the five hermits, the panca vaggi, with thous :1nds upon thousands of celestial bein gs in attend a nce . As I h ave mentioned at the beginning of th is disco urse, S~Wigiri failed to locate his friend, Hemavatn, in the assembly (lnd so he hurried to him to tell the greDt news .

Hernavata was overjoyed a t the hearing of the Buddha's sermon and \'vent round

217

ltEMAVATA sutTA

from village to vilJage, from mountain to mountain, of the celestial kingdom to announce the coming of the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha.

This is the end of the Hemavata sutta. May the audience be able to cross the four great currents of samsdra by their arduous praclice of vipassQIl<i. and thus attain the blissful state of nibba na.

Sidhu! Sadhu!

218

•