verbatim from D 16.6.7. Prof. Rhys Davids, the founder of the
Pāli Text Society, probably produced the most well‐known
rendering of the last two Pāli words, with his phrase: “Work out
your salvation with diligence.”
CHAPTER 44: VĀSITTHĪ’S BEQUEST
1. Page 355, I felt as a traveller standing on the brink of
a pond… This image is reminiscent of one commonly used in
the suttas by the Buddha to describe the 3
rd
jhāna, one of the
levels of meditative absorption (e.g. at D 2.80 and M 39.17):“Just
as in a pond of blue, red or white lotuses, some lotuses that are
born and grow in the water thrive in the water without rising
out of it, and cool water drenches, steeps fills and pervades them
to their tips and their roots, so that there is no part of all those
lotuses unpervaded by cool water; so too a bhikkhu makes
happiness drench, steep, fill and pervade this body, so that
there is no part of his whole body unpervaded by that happiness.”
It is also very similar to an image used in the
Visuddhimagga (‘The Path of Purification’), to describe the
difference between happiness and bliss: “If a man exhausted in a
desert saw or heard about a pond on the edge of a wood, he
would have happiness; if he went into the wood’s shade and
used the water, he would have bliss.” (The passage is at Vsm. IV
§100). Lastly, the image is used in §194 of the ‘Book of the Fives’
— in a conversation between two brahmins, Kāranapāli and
Pingiyāni: “Just as a man, tortured by heat, exhausted by heat
— wearied, craving and thirsty — might come to a pool — clear,
sweet, cool, limpid, a lovely resting place — and might plunge
therein, bathe and drink and allay all woe and fatigue and fret;
even so, when one hears the Dhamma of Master Gotama, all
woe, fatigue and fret are wholly allayed” (A 5.194).
2. Page 355, “One who has seen the greater, my friend, is
not moved by the less… Curiously enough this saying also
seems to have come from §194 of the ‘Book of the Fives.’ The
exact words there are: “Just as a man, well satisfied with some
delicious taste, does not long for worse tastes; even so, when
one hears Master Gotama’s Dhamma, one does not long for the
talks of others.”
466
It is also echoed at §22 of the Collection of Sayings on
Cause (S 12.22): “It is not by the low that the highest is attained.
It is by the highest that the highest is attained.” (See also Chapter
20, note §13, Chapter 36, note §10 and Chapter 37, note §1).
3. Page 356, “Then you know of something higher than
this brahmā world?”… We return again to the theme
mentioned in Chapter 38, note §6. Much of what follows, and
threads of a similar hue, can be found in the Brahmanimantanika
Sutta, (‘The Discourse on The Invitation of a Brahmā’)
at M 49.7‐27; and in a similar incident at §5 of the ‘Collection
on the Brahmās, S 6.5.’
4. Page 356, But there is that which does not pass… This
paragraph is composed from several different sources; in
particular (as in Chapter 37, note §1) from the collection of
Inspired Utterances, Ud. 8.1; also from the ‘Collection of Sayings
on the Unconditioned’ (Asankhata), S 43.
5. Page 357, “‘That we shall rise again there… cannot
truly be said of that realm… The first sentence here is a
condensed version of a very significant exchange between the
Buddha and a wanderer called Vacchagotta; it occurs in the Aggi‐
Vacchagotta Sutta (‘To Vacchagotta on Fire’) at M 72.16‐22.
After being asked about where an enlightened being
reappears after death, the Buddha makes it clear that the terms
‘reappears’ and ‘does not reappear’ do not apply, thereby leaving
poor Vacchagotta somewhat bewildered. The Buddha goes on
to explain: “What do you think, Vaccha? Suppose a fire were
burning before you. Would you know — ‘This fire is burning
before me’?”
“I would, Master Gotama.”
“If that fire were to be extinguished, would you know —
‘This fire before me has been extinguished’?”
“I would, Master Gotama.”
“If someone were to ask you, Vaccha — ‘When that fire
was extinguished, to which direction did it go: to the east, the
west, the north or the south?’ — being questioned thus what
would you answer?”
“That does not apply, Master Gotama. The fire burned
467
dependent on its fuel of grass and sticks. When that is used up,
it is reckoned as extinguished.”
That is to say: the way he asked the question presumed
a reality which did not exist, therefore the designations did not apply.
Furthermore: “An enlightened one is profound,
immeasurable, unfathomable like the ocean... and such a one is
liberated from being reckoned in terms of material form (the
body), feelings, perceptions, ideas and emotions, and by states
of consciousness.” (See Chapter 20, note §4). Also worthy of note
on this issue is the conversation between the Elder Nun Khemā
and King Pasenadi, found at §1 in the ‘Collection on the
Unrevealed’ (S 44.1), and the Buddha’s comments at M 120.37
(‘The Discourse on Reappearance by Aspiration’).
6. Page 357, I must have murdered a brahmin at some
time… The full story of Pukkusāti and his karmic history is
found in the Majjhima Nikāya Commentary for Sutta §140. (See
also at Chapter 21, note §2).
7. Page 358, Even when the great and holy Upagupta…
Upagupta does not appear in the Pāli texts; in the Northern
Buddhist tradition, however, he is named as the Fourth Patriarch
after the Buddha. The first was Mahā‐Kassapa, the second was
Ānanda, the third was Sanakavāsa.
The incident K.G. describes here, with Upagupta wailing and
grief‐stricken, crying: “Damn this pitiless transiency…” is only one
part of this significant encounter.
Upagupta was a very popular Dharma teacher. Whenever
he gave a talk hundreds of people would come to listen. Māra, the
Lord of Delusion, was jealous of Upagupta’s fame and popularity,
particularly as he knew that Upagupta was helping to spread the
teaching of the Buddha. To see the words of the Buddha filling the
hearts and minds of the people annoyed him deeply as he saw that
this would enable more and more beings to escape his influence.
Māra thus conceived a plan to stop his Upaguptaʹs students from
listening to him.
On one occasion, when Upagupta was teaching, Māra first
showered the assembly with pearls, then gold, then he conjured
up a musical show right next to the Dharma Hall, complete with
colourfully costumed celestial dancers and spirited music. It was so
468
Dostları ilə paylaş: |