Buddha the teacher of gods - part 2

Buddha the teacher of gods - part 2

WOULD AN ARAHANT SAY "I" OR "MINE"?

Other devas had more sophisticated queries. One deva, for example, asked the Buddha if an arahant could use words that refer to a self: "Consummate with taints destroyed,One who bears his final body,Would he still say 'I speak'?And would he say 'They speak to me'?"his deva realized that arahantship means the end of rebirth and suffering by uprooting mental defilements; he knew that arahants have no belief in any self or soul. But he was puzzled to hear monks reputed to be arahants continuing to use such self-referential expressions.

The Buddha replied that an arahant might say "I" always aware of the merely pragmatic value of common terms: "Skillful, knowing the world's parlance,He uses such terms as mere expressions.

The deva, trying to grasp the Buddha's meaning, asked whether an arahant would use such expressions because he is still prone to conceit. The Buddha made it clear that the arahant has no delusions about his true nature. He has uprooted all notions of self and removed all traces of pride and conceit: "No knots exist for one with conceit cast off;For him all knots of conceit are consumed.

When the wise one has transcended the conceived He might still say 'I speak,'And he might say 'They speak to me.'Skillful, knowing the world's parlance,He uses such terms as mere expressions." (KS I, 21-22; SN 1:25)

CROSSING THE FLOOD

Once late at night a deva came into the Buddha's presence, shedding bright light over the whole of Jetavana. He saluted the Lord, stood to one side, and asked: "How, dear sir, did you cross the flood?" This god knew that the Buddha had gone beyond samsara's deluge of misery and wanted to learn how he had achieved this.

The Buddha replied: "By not standing still, friend, and by not struggling I crossed the flood." The deva, perplexed by this paradox, asked for clarification. To clear up the analogy, the Exalted One told him: "When I came to a standstill, friend, then I sank; but when I struggled, then I got swept away. It is in this way, friend, that by not standing still and by not struggling I crossed the flood.

The metaphor describes balanced effort. He "sank" when he did not work hard enough, but if he strained too hard he became agitated and got "swept away." When he discerned how to cross over with just the right balance between energy and calm, he transcended the flood of suffering fully and permanently. This deva rejoiced that at long last he had met a real arahant, a true holy man:

After a long time at last I seeA brahman who is fully quenched,Who by not standing still, not struggling,Has crossed attachment to the world." (KS I, 2; SN 1:1)The delighted deva had correctly perceived what set the Buddha apart from others: he had transcended death, rebirth, and all suffering by eliminating all the mental impurities. The deva began with a modicum of faith in the Buddha and received personal instruction from him. As a result, the commentary indicates, he became a stream-enterer. After the Buddha approved the deva's verse, he paid respects and departed.

DOWNFALL

On a similar occasion a deva asked the Buddha to explain the causes of the downfall, or moral decline, of beings. In reply, the Buddha first gave a summary: "He who loves Dhamma progresses, he who hates it declines."

Then he named ten specific dangers to avoid: (1) the company and teachings of the vicious, (2) excessive sleep and talk, (3) being irritable, (4) not supporting aged parents if one has the resources to do so, (5) lying to a monk or Dhamma teacher, (6) being stingy, (7) being conceited about birth, wealth, or community, (8) running around with many women, (9) drinking, gambling, and adultery, and (10) marrying a woman many years younger than oneself.

The Buddha concluded, "Reflecting thoroughly on those causes of downfall in the world, the wise one, endowed with insight, enjoys bliss in a happy state." Meditation on this negative subject makes wisdom grow, through avoidance, while encouraging insight and bringing pure happiness (Sn vv. 91-115).

SAKKA'S QUESTIONS

Sakka, king of the devas in the heaven of the Thirty-three, played many roles in the Buddha's mission. He attended on the Bodhisatta at his final birth and at the Great Renunciation, visited the Buddha under the Bodhi Tree, and several times proclaimed his confidence in his unique qualities. A discourse called Sakka's Questions (DN 21) took place after he had been a serious disciple of the Buddha for some time. The sutta records a long audience he had with the Blessed One which culminated in his attainment of stream-entry. Their conversation is an excellent example of the Buddha as "teacher of devas," and shows all beings how to work for Nibbana. For these reasons we will study Sakka's Questions in depth to see what message it has for us today.

[7]From his vantage point in the Tavatimsa plane, Sakka was a keen observer of the behavior of humans and other beings. He saw that while beings would like to live with each other peacefully, they rarely succeed. Thus his opening question to the Buddha attempted to unravel this contradiction: "By what fetters, sir, are beings bound — gods, humans, asuras, nagas, gandhabbas, and whatever other kinds there may be — whereby, although they wish to live without hate, harming, hostility or malignity, and in peace, they yet live in hate, harming one another, hostile and malign?

The Buddha explained that two mental factors — jealousy and avarice — cause all this trouble; from these two qualities almost all the aggression in the world arises. In this way the Buddha began a step-by-step lesson in Buddhist psychology: causes and conditions govern everything that happens in the universe. Sakka next asked about the origin of jealousy and avarice. Behind jealousy and avarice, the Buddha said, lie liking and disliking, and the source of both liking and disliking is desire.

As this is such a basic problem, Sakka wanted to understand even more deeply the causes of desire. The Buddha told him that desire is triggered by thinking. Although he did not specify what sort of thinking, he must have been referring to unsystematic mental activity, the random thoughts in which the untrained mind indulges. When Sakka asked about the cause of thinking, the Buddha said it is the "tendency to mental proliferation." This is what brings about random thinking, which leads to desire, which in turn culminates in like and dislike. These in turn condition jealousy and avarice, from which arise the conflicts in our daily lives.

Sakka next shifted to a more directly practical issue: "How does one destroy this sequence that leads to so much misery?" He requested the Buddha to explain what should be done to eliminate this tendency to endless proliferation of mental activity. The Buddha replied that one should not blindly follow after every feeling that arises in the mind. Rather, meditators should pursue a feeling — whether it be a pleasant, painful, or neutral one — only if doing so contributes to the growth of wholesome qualities. If we are alert to our reactions and see that pursuing a feeling strengthens unwholesome tendencies, then we should relinquish that feeling. We will not get carried away by desire for more enjoyable feelings or by aversion towards pain and unhappiness.

Sakka once again was very appreciative of the Buddha's words and he next asked more specifically about the practice of bhikkhus. The deva knew that monks practice the Dhamma to the highest degree, in the purest form. As a god he could not become a monk, but he wanted to discover how monks acquire the restraint required by the monastic disciplinary code. The Buddha replied that the good bhikkhu pursues only bodily conduct, conversation, and goals which are conducive to the growth of wholesome qualities, to the attainment of Nibbana. He rigorously restrains himself from everything detrimental to these aims.

Sakka had one more question about mind training: "How do bhikkhus control their senses?" Again the Buddha spoke of avoiding whatever leads to evil while cultivating the positive, this time referring to all kinds of objects — forms, sounds, odors, tastes, tactile objects, and ideas. This is a basic Dhamma theme: always avoid unwholesome actions while one works to create wholesome kamma.

Sakka wanted to take full advantage of his lengthy audience with the Blessed One, so he embarked on another series of queries. These deal with the variety of religious teachers he had seen in the world. Even a deva can be confused by the range of doctrines taught by "holy" people. He genuinely sought to learn: (1) if these teachers all taught the same thing, and (2) if they are all liberated. How often do we hear today, "All paths lead to the same goal," or "All spiritual teachings are the same beneath their superficial differences."

But the Buddha, the Fully Self-Awakened One, replied negatively to both of Sakka's questions. He explained that spiritual teachers do not all teach the same thing because they have different perceptions of the truth. From this it logically follows that they cannot all be fully liberated.

Proclaiming where true liberation lies, the Buddha instructed Sakka that only those "who are liberated by the destruction of craving are fully proficient, freed from the bonds, perfect in the holy life." When evaluating spiritual teachers, bear in mind that liberation means destroying desire. Sakka approved of the Buddha's statement and remarked that passion pulls beings to repeated rebirth in happy or unhappy circumstances.

Sakka was so at ease with his Teacher that he then related a story which shows an unexpected aspect of deity-human relationships. Long ago he had gone to various human ascetics for advice on these matters with utterly unilluminating results. None of the yogis that Sakka had hoped to learn from had told him anything. In fact, as soon as they realized he was the king of the devas, one and all decided to become hisdisciples. Ironically, Sakka found himself in the awkward position of having to tell themwhat little Dhamma he understood at the time.

They had no teachings to give him.Sakka had been delighted with this whole conversation. He declared that it had given him a unique happiness and satisfaction "conducive to dispassion, detachment, cessation, peace, higher knowledge, enlightenment, Nibbana." This was the direction he had longed to travel, literally for ages. He had at last made substantial progress with the guidance of the Blessed One.

Inviting Sakka to delve further into his mental processes, the Buddha then asked him what thoughts contribute to this great satisfaction. In his final reply, Sakka declared he was joyful because he foresaw six facts about his future: (1) As king of the devas he had gained "fresh potency of life." (2) At the end of this life, he would mindfully choose where to be reborn, in a human or higher realm. (3) In that future life too, he would follow the Buddha-Dhamma with wisdom, clear comprehension, and mindfulness. (4) He might attain arahantship in that existence. (5) But if not, he would become a non-returner (anagami) and, after dying there, be reborn in the highest Pure Abode. (6) Finally Sakka knew that thatexistence would be his last; before it ended he would become an arahant.[8]

The king of the devas then spoke a verse in gratitude to the Buddha: "I've seen the Buddha, and my doubtsAre all dispelled, my fears are allayed,And now to the Enlightened One I payHomage due, to him who's drawn the dartOf craving, to the Buddha, peerless Lord,Mighty hero, kinsman of the Sun!"

The sutta then indicates that Sakka gained the stainless "vision of the Dhamma" by which he became a stream-enterer. All his uncertainties about the path to final awakening had been dispelled by the Buddha's masterly replies to his questions, and his own past merits bore their proper fruit.

There is another discourse with Sakka as questioner (MN 37). It is set later on, at the monastery built by the woman lay devotee Visakha for the Buddha in Savatthi. This time Sakka asked the Buddha: "How in brief is a bhikkhu liberated by the destruction of craving... one who is foremost among gods and humans?"

In reply, the Buddha summarized the sequence that leads a bhikkhu to liberation: "A bhikkhu has heard that nothing is worth adhering to. When a bhikkhu has heard that nothing is worth adhering to, he directly knows everything... he fully understands everything... whatever feeling he feels, whether pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant, he abides contemplating impermanence in those feelings, contemplating fading away, contemplating cessation, contemplating relinquishment.

Contemplating thus, he does not cling to anything in the world. When he does not cling he is not agitated... he personally attains Nibbana. He understands 'Birth is destroyed, the holy life has been lived, what had to be done has been done, there is no more coming to any state of being.'

The cycle of dependent origination (paticca-samuppada) explains that contact leads to feeling which in turn conditions craving, and craving causes clinging, which leads to rebirth and suffering. So by contemplating feeling and by seeing it as impermanent, unsatisfactory, and non-self, the bhikkhu gives up all craving and clinging. That is Nibbana here and now. Delighted, Sakka paid respects to the Buddha and returned to the Tavatimsa deva plane.

The Buddha Goes to Teach Deities

In several episodes the Buddha travels to higher planes to teach the beings dwelling there. While he generally visited the lower brahma planes for this purpose, his most important course of instruction to the gods took place on the Tavatimsa deva plane (No. 7 on the chart). The Pali commentaries report that during the seventh rains retreat after his Enlightenment, the Buddha spent three months in the Tavatimsa heaven teaching the entire Abhidhamma to his mother along with numerous other devas and brahmas. They had gathered there from the various deva planes of ten thousand world systems in order to listen to his exposition of this extremely precise philosophical psychology.[9]

Only higher beings could have remained sitting in a single posture this long, and continuity of attention is essential for properly grasping the Abhidhamma. "Infinite and immeasurable was the discourse, which went on ceaselessly for three months with the velocity of a waterfall" (Expos 19). But as the Buddha was a human being, his body required normal food. Thus everyday, in the terrestrial forenoon, he created an image of himself to continue preaching in Tavatimsa, while in his natural body he came to earth to collect almsfood and partake of a meal. Venerable Sariputta met him daily at the Anotatta Lake, and there the Buddha summarized for him what he had taught the deities the previous day. Sariputta gradually passed all this material on to his own group of five hundred bhikkhu pupils, elaborating and organizing it to make it easier to comprehend.

The Buddha gave this profound teaching in a higher plane as it demanded super-human attentiveness. His chief student there was his mother, who had died a few days after his birth and was reborn in the Tusita deva-world. By teaching her the most subtle aspects of the Dhamma, the seven sections of the Abhidhamma Pitaka, the Buddha expressed his gratitude to his mother for having carried him in her womb and bringing him into this world.

MAHA BRAHMA

The stories of a Buddha going to teach a brahma take place on the plane of Maha Brahma, the third of the fine-material planes (No. 14). Many people worship Maha Brahma as the supreme and eternal creator God, but for the Buddha he is merely a powerful deity still caught within the cycle of repeated existence. In point of fact, "Maha Brahma" is a role or office filled by different individuals at different periods.

The Buddha has directly seen the origins of Maha Brahma and understands what it requires to be reborn in his world. In the Brahmajala Sutta (DN 1) the Buddha describes how a supposed Creator God came to believe himself omnipotent and how others came to rely on his sovereignty.

His description was based, not on speculation or hearsay, but on his own direct knowledge. The Buddha explains that when our world system disintegrates, as it regularly does after extremely long periods of time, the lower sixteen planes are all destroyed.

Beings disappear from all planes below the seventeenth, the plane of the Abhassara gods. Whatever beings cannot be born on the seventeenth or a higher brahma plane then must take birth on the lower planes in other remote world systems.

Eventually the world starts to re-form. Then a solitary being passes away from the Abhassara plane and takes rebirth on the plane of Maha Brahma.

A palace created by his kamma awaits him there: "There he dwells, mind-made, feeding on rapture, self-luminous, moving through the air, abiding in glory. And he continues thus for a long, long time." After ages pass, he becomes lonely and longs for other beings to join him. It just so happens that shortly after the brahma starts craving for company, other beings from the Abhassara plane, who have exhausted their lifespans there, pass away and are reborn in the palace of Brahma, in companionship with him.

Because these beings seemed to arise in accordance with the first brahma's wish, he becomes convinced that he is the almighty God: "I am the Great Brahma, the Vanquisher... the Lord, the Maker and Creator, the Supreme Being." The other brahmas, seeing that he was already present when they took birth in his world, accept his claim and revere him as their creator.

Eventually this misconception of a Creator God spreads to the human plane. One of the other brahmas passes away and is reborn here. He develops concentration and learns to recollect his previous life with Maha Brahma, but none of his lives before that. Recollecting that existence he recalls that Maha Brahma was considered the "father of all that are and are to be... permanent, stable, eternal." As he is unable to remember further back, he believes this to be absolute truth and propounds a theistic doctrine of an omnipotent Creator God (Net 69-70, 155-66).

The Venerable Ledi Sayadaw, a highly renowned Myanmar scholar-monk of the first part of this century, gave a careful analysis of the powers of Maha Brahma in his Niyama Dipani (MB pp. 138-39). He states that although Maha Brahma can perform all sorts of transformations, he cannot actually create independent creatures, change the kammic law of cause and effect, or keep anyone from growing old or dying. Brahma can use his special powers to transport a man to the brahma plane for a short visit, but he cannot ensure that someone will be reborn there.

SIKHIN BUDDHA AND ABHIBHU

This story of a former Buddha's encounter with brahmas was recounted by Gotama Buddha to his disciples as follows. Buddha Sikhin took his chief disciple, Abhibhu, along on a visit to a brahma world where he told him to give a discourse to the brahma, his ministers, and his retinue.

[10] Venerable Abhibhu then "instructed, enlightened, incited, and inspired" the audience with a talk on Dhamma. But the great brahma and his cohorts did not appreciate what they heard. Instead of paying careful heed to the chief disciple's words, they felt insulted that a disciple should preach in the presence of the Master.

In their pride, they considered themselves worthy of the direct attention of the Buddha himself. Sikhin of course knew the brahmas' unwholesome thoughts. Without addressing them directly, he urged Abhibhu to continue and "agitate them exceedingly" in order to force them to acknowledge that they were not all-powerful, permanent, or superior to this arahant.

Abhibhu followed his master's instructions by working supernormal feats while continuing his discourse.

Only rarely does a Buddha himself perform supernormal acts or permit one of his disciples to do so in the human plane. But in a brahma world, where deeds that seem impossible to us are the norm, these tactics are appropriate. At times Abhibhu made his body invisible while speaking to the brahmas, at times half visible, at times fully visible. This masterful performance did humble those brahmas. They became more receptive, and realizing the monk was no ordinary human being, they exclaimed, "This is a marvellous thing: the great magic power and might of the recluse!

Abhibhu then remarked to the Lord that while speaking in a normal voice in the Brahma world, he could make the beings in the surrounding thousand realms hear what he said.

The Buddha, deeming this relevant to the occasion, urged him to show his prowess. By projecting and broadcasting his speech, the disciple strove further to stimulate a sense of urgency in the brahmas so they would realize the need to stop the cycle of birth and death. Although the lives of brahmas are full of the bliss of jhana, they remain subject to continual subtle change, to death and rebirth, and to suffering. Abhibhu declaimed: "Arouse your energy, strive on!Exert yourself in the Buddha's Teaching.Sweep away the army of DeathAs an elephant does a hut of reeds.One who dwells diligentlyIn this Dhamma and DisciplineWill abandon the wandering on in birthAnd make an end to suffering."

Then Buddha Sikhin and his chief disciple left that brahma realm. They had done everything they could to make the brahmas see their own limitations and encourage them to practice the Dhamma (KS I, 194-96; SN 6:14).

BAKA BRAHMAA

Brahma known as Baka once reflected privately that he and his plane of existence were everlasting. He thought that there could be no higher plane of rebirth and was convinced he had overcome suffering. The Buddha discerned his deep-seated wrong view and decided to pay him a visit. When he appeared in that brahma world, Baka Brahma welcomed him formally but immediately announced: "Now, good sir, this is permanent, this is everlasting, this is eternal, this is total, this is not subject to pass away; for this neither is born nor ages nor dies nor passes away nor reappears, and beyond this there is no escape."

(MN 49)The Buddha, however, contradicted him, pointing out that every one of his claims was wrong.

Just then Mara the Evil One joined the conversation. Mara's task is to prevent beings from being won over to the Dhamma, to keep them trapped in the cycle of birth and death, his own personal domain.[11]Taking possession of one of the brahma's attendants, Mara urged the Buddha, with a display of sympathy, to accept this brahma as God, the creator of all beings. He told the Buddha that recluses of the past who delighted in things of this life and "who lauded Brahma" won happy births afterwards, while those who rejected Brahma had to endure terrible punishment. The Exalted One let him have his say and then called his number: "I know you, Evil One. Do not think: 'He does not know me.' You are Mara, Evil One, and the Brahma and his assembly and the members of the assembly have all fallen into your hands, they have all fallen into your power. You, Evil One, think: 'This one too has fallen into my hands, he too has fallen into my power'; but I have not fallen into your hands, Evil One, I have not fallen into your power."

All beings subject to craving — humans, subhumans, devas, or brahmas — are said to be in Mara's power because they can all be moved by defilements and must drift along in the current of birth and death. But the Buddha and the arahants have permanently and completely escaped Mara's ken and power, for they have eliminated all defilements. They have exhausted the fuel of rebirth and thus have vanquished the Lord of Death.

Baka Brahma next speaks up on his own behalf. He reminds the Buddha of his opening statement on permanence. He warns him that it is futile to seek "an escape beyond" his own realm, then he cajoles and threatens him in the same breath: "If you will hold to earth... beings... gods... you will be close to me, within my domain, for me to work my will upon and punish."

The Buddha agrees that if he clung to earth (or any other aspect of existence) he would remain under the control of Maha Brahma (and Mara too), but he adds: "I understand your reach and your sway to extend thus: Baka the Brahma has this much power, this much might, this much influence." The Buddha points out that beyond the thousandfold world system over which Baka reigns there are planes of existence of which he is totally unaware, and beyond all conditioned phenomena there is a reality that transcends even "the allness of the all" — a consciousness without manifestation, boundless, luminous on all sides — to which Baka has no access. Demonstrating his superiority in knowledge and power, the Buddha uses his psychic powers to humble Baka and his entire assembly. By the end of the discourse, these once haughty beings marvel at the might of the recluse Gotama: "Though living in a generation that delights in being... he has extirpated being together with its root."[12]

A BRAHMA WITH WRONG VIEW

Once an unnamed brahma gave rise to the deluded thought, "No recluse is powerful enough to reach my realm."

The Buddha read his mind and proved him wrong by simply appearing before him and sitting at ease in the air above his head, while radiating flames from his body in a dramatic display of supernormal powers. Four great arahant disciples — Mahamoggallana, Kassapa, Kappina, and Anuruddha — independently realized what had happened and decided to join their Master on this brahma plane. Each disciple sat in the air respectfully below the Buddha — but above the brahma — in one of the cardinal directions, shedding fire around himself.

A short dialogue in verse took place between Mahamoggallana, the Buddha's second chief disciple, and the brahma: "Today, friend, do you still hold that view,The same view that you formerly held?Do you see a radianceSurpassing that in the Brahma-world?""I no longer hold that view, dear sir,(I reject) the view I formerly held.Indeed I see a radianceSurpassing that in the Brahma-world?"Today how could I assert the viewThat I am permanent and eternal?"

According to the commentary to this story, the brahma gave up his belief in his own superiority when he observed the magnificence of the Buddha and the arahants. When the Buddha preached the Dhamma to him, he was established in the fruit of stream-entry and stopped thinking of himself as permanent. When this brahma saw his own impermanence clearly and distinctly for himself, his former tenacious opinion that his world and life were immortal was uprooted. Many aeons of preparation, the brahma's quick intellect, the Buddha's perfect timing, and the support of the four arahants bore fruit in the deity becoming a stream-enterer.

After the Buddha and his arahants left and returned to Jetavana, the great brahma wanted to learn more about the powers of bhikkhus. He sent a member of his retinue to ask Mahamoggallana whether there are even more bhikkhus who can perform such feats. Moggallana replied: "Many are the disciples of the BuddhaWho are arahants with taints destroyed,Triple knowledge bearers with spiritual powers,Skilled in the course of others' minds." (KS I, 182-84; SN 6:5)

Not only do large numbers of bhikkhus have such special powers and the ability to know other people's minds, but there are numerous fully purified arahant disciples of the Buddha as well. The emissary was glad to hear this answer, as was the brahma when he received the report.

MAHA BRAHMA KNOWS HIS OWN LIMITS

Once a bhikkhu with psychic powers visited the various celestial realms seeking an answer to the question, "Where do the great elements — earth, water, fire, and air — cease without remainder?" An exhaustive inquiry led him from one realm to the next, until he finally came to Maha Brahma. The first three times the monk asked his question, Brahma replied evasively: "Monk, I am Brahma, Great Brahma, the Conqueror, the Unconquered, the All-seeing." Exasperated, the bhikkhu demanded a decent reply, "Friend, I did not ask if you are Brahma... I asked you where the four great elements cease without remainder."

At this point Maha Brahma took the monk by the arm, led him aside, and told him, "The brahmas of my entourage believe there is nothing Maha Brahma does not see, there is nothing he does not know, there is nothing he is unaware of. That is why I did not speak in front of them."

Admitting his ignorance, he advised the monk to return to his Master, the Awakened One, who rephrased the question and gave the appropriate answer.

In this discourse we have more evidence that a Buddha is far beyond Maha Brahma in power, teaching skill, and understanding, and much of the proof is volunteered by the Great Brahma himself (DN 11.67-85).

Devas Learn as the Buddha Teaches Humans

We have observed devas and brahmas approach the Buddha and ask him questions and we have followed the Buddha on his journeys to fine-material planes to uproot the delusions of brahmas. The Buddha also instructs gods indirectly, when they overhear him teaching humans. In such situations, devas with the requisite supporting conditions from previous lives can attain awakening along with the human auditors. A number of suttas conclude with a statement that the discourse was applauded by many devas and brahmas who attained one or more of the stages of awakening while listening in. One example is a discourse the Buddha gave to his son Rahula.

The Buddha had been instructing Rahula gradually from the time he was ordained as a novice at seven years of age. The training became more profound as he grew in years and powers of discretion. By the time Rahula was twenty-one, the Buddha decided it was time to lead him towards arahantship. So one day, after the Blessed One had finished his meal, he told the young monk to come along with him to the Blind Men's Grove near Savatthi for the afternoon. Rahula agreed and followed. But they were not alone, for the text tells us that "many thousands of deities followed the Blessed One, thinking: 'Today the Blessed One will lead the Venerable Rahula further to the destruction of the taints.'" The commentary says that these gods had been companions of Rahula's during a previous life in which he first made the aspiration to attain arahantship as the son of a Buddha.

The Buddha sat down at the root of a tree and Rahula also took a seat. The Buddha asked Rahula if each sense organ, each sense object, each kind of sense consciousness, and each kind of contact is permanent or impermanent. Rahula stated that they are all impermanent. We can deduce that the devas, invisibly present, were listening and simultaneously meditating on the appropriate answers. The Buddha asked: "Is what is impermanent pleasant or suffering?" Rahula acknowledged that anything that is impermanent must be unsatisfactory or suffering. Then the Teacher queried: "Is what is impermanent, suffering, and subject to change fit to be regarded thus: 'This is mine, this I am, this is my self'?" "No" came the reply. The invisible audience too must have drawn the same conclusion.

Next the Buddha asked Rahula if the feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness that arise through the contact of the six sense organs with their objects are permanent or not. These are the four mental aggregates that — along with material form — constitute a being. Rahula again said that they are impermanent.

He must have deduced that since the contact between the sense organs and their objects changes every instant, the aggregates that derive from them must also be transitory. And again he recognized that whatever is impermanent is unsatisfactory. He also understood that it is untenable to consider anything impermanent and unsatisfactory as "I, mine, or myself," as the concept of control is at the heart of our ideas of "I" and "mine."

The Buddha then concluded that once one understands these facts fully, and sees how all these things are causally connected, one becomes disenchanted with all conditioned things: "Being disenchanted, he becomes dispassionate. Through dispassion [his mind] is liberated. When it is liberated there comes the knowledge: 'It is liberated.' He understands: 'Birth is destroyed, the holy life has been lived, what had to be done has been done, there is no more coming to any state of being.'"

That is, he attains full awakening, arahantship, and is no longer subject to rebirth. As Rahula listened to his father's words, his mind was released from the taints through non-clinging.

By fully penetrating the discourse he had become an arahant, fully liberated from suffering.

All the deva and brahma spectators listening to the discourse attained the paths and fruits: "And in those many thousands of deities there arose the spotless immaculate vision of the Dhamma: 'All that is subject to arising is subject to cessation.'" Some of them, according to the commentary, became stream-enterers, some once-returners, some non-returners, and some arahants. This variety was due to the differences in their prior preparation and present effort at the time of the sutta. Even though this discourse was geared to a young monk, while the Buddha spoke higher beings developed their own insight through hearing it and purified their minds (MN 147; also at SN iv, 105-107)

.III. Devas and Brahmas Honor the Buddha

Everyone who has even glimpsed the magnificence of the Dhamma feels tremendous esteem for the Buddha. Deities realize that he had dedicated innumerable lifetimes to perfecting himself so that he could teach others the way beyond suffering. Because of their devotion to the Exalted One, devas gratefully come down to the human plane — though the earth is said to be repulsive to their refined senses[13] — to express their homage and affirm their devotion to the Supreme Teacher. This is the reciprocal aspect of the Buddha as "teacher of devas": his deva and brahma disciples acknowledge their debt to their incomparable master.

They venerate him for his extraordinary purity and unique capacity to train others. These Dhamma beneficiaries from the higher planes rejoice and offer profound homage to the Buddha because they see, over a broader temporal range than is perceptible to ordinary humans, how he offers beings the way out of the misery of samsara.

We will look at several examples of how the gods paid respect to the Buddha, finishing with the Great Occasion. Not only do these incidents help illuminate the relationship between gods and the Buddha, but they can also serve as sustenance for our own Buddhanussati, meditation on the qualities of the Buddha. This kind of contemplation creates wholesome kamma by increasing our confidence in the Teacher and prepares the mind for deeper concentration and insight.

Sakka's praises reported by Pañcasikha

Once Pañcasikha, a celestial musician, messenger, and attendant on the deva planes, appeared before the Buddha. He reported that Sakka, king of the gods of the Thirty-three, especially honored the following qualities of the Buddha and his teaching: 1. The Lord has striven out of compassion for beings, like no other teacher they can find.2. The doctrine he teaches is "well proclaimed by the Blessed One, visible here and now, immediately effective, inviting inspection, onward leading, to be experienced by the wise for themselves."3. He distinguishes and proclaims what is good and what is bad.4. He explains the path to Nibbana.5. He has taught beings to become learners (i.e., stream-enterers, once-returners, and non-returners) and arahants.6. Gifts to the Buddha are well-given (because they bear great fruit) and are accepted by him without any conceit.7. He practices what he teaches and teaches what he practices. There are absolutely no contradictions between his verbal and physical actions.8. The Lord has gone beyond all doubt and accomplished his aim in regard to the goal and the supreme holy life.

Pañcasikha reported that when Sakka had said all this, the gods of the realm of the Thirty-three were delighted. Sakka then concluded by telling them to cultivate the wish: "May this Blessed Lord continue to live long... free from sickness..." as that would benefit devas and humans (DN 19.1-14). What Sakka recommends is a simple form of meditation on universal love. His audience must have been a group with mixed potential for Dhamma comprehension and he showed them a simple way to create wholesome mental kamma. Since they all agreed that the Buddha was a very great being, they were happy to listen to his praises from Sakka. This induced them to wish him good health so that he could teach more beings the way to Nibbana.

BRAHMA SANANKUMARA

Sakka is often shown leading his fellow devas in some Dhamma activity. Here he praises human beings who became noble ones and took rebirth on the plane of the Thirty-three, where they outshine the other gods in fame and splendor: "The gods of the Thirty-three rejoice, their leader too,Praising the Tathagata, and Dhamma's truth,Seeing new-come devas, fair and gloriousWho've lived the holy life, now well reborn.

Outshining all the rest in fame and splendor,The mighty Sage's pupils singled out.Seeing this the Thirty-three rejoice, their leader too,Praising the Tathagata, and Dhamma's truths." (DN 18.13)

For Sakka and his cohorts, the great renown and beauty of the new devas confirm the value of the Buddha's teachings. They are glad and therefore honor the Buddha and the Dhamma.

This verse comes at the beginning of a complex sutta which makes a number of interesting points about gods. Ven. Ananda had asked the Buddha where many deceased disciples of the Magadha area had been reborn. Before answering, the Buddha directed his mind to find their plane of rebirth.

While he was investigating in this way, a deva came to him and announced that he was the former King Bimbisara, a stream-enterer. As a man, he had been a devoted lay disciple for many years and had now been reborn among the Four Great Kings (plane No.6). This deva related to the Buddha a long incident from the past that began with Sakka's remarks about newly arrived devas. The episode provided the answer to Ananda's original question.

After Sakka finished speaking, the gods noticed that an unusually brilliant light shone on the assembly. Then its source, Brahma Sanankumara, approached the gathering. The former Bimbisara explained that whenever a brahma descends to a deva plane he assumes a grosser form "because his natural appearance is not such as to be perceptible to their eyes."

Brahma Sanankumara then gave the devas a Dhamma talk in which he surveyed the central teachings of the Buddha. He began by praising the Blessed One's compassion: "Since the Lord, out of compassion for the world and for the benefit and happiness of the many, has acted to the advantage of devas and mankind, those... who have taken refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha and have observed the moral precepts have, at death... arisen in the company of... devas."

Sanankumara concluded his discourse with words of great homage for the Buddha and the Dhamma. He said that if one were to praise the Dhamma as well proclaimed, etc., and then to add "Open are the doors of the Deathless!" one would be speaking in accordance with the highest truth (DN 18.27).

In the final portion of Brahma Sanankumara's speech, he numbered the stream-enterers and once-returners who had recently been born in the deva planes. But he did not venture to comment on the number of worldlings who had acquired merit: "But of that other race indeedOf those who partake of merit,My mind can make no reckoning,For fear that I should speak untruth."

Sanankumara appears in several other suttas, where he always reveres the Buddha and the noble Sangha. One of his stanzas, in which he extols the Buddha, is quoted several times in the Pali canon:[14] "The noble clan is held to beThe best of people as to lineage;But best of gods and humans is onePerfect in true knowledge and conduct." (MN 53.25)