Brahmavihāra Dhamma

Brahmavihara Dhamnia

Commentaries. I would therefore like to add here Other stories such as, Saimivati Vatthu, etc., as had been illustrated in other commentaries.

Story of Samivati who was invulnerable against the shot of an arrow

During the life time of our Lord Buddha, King Utena was the ruling monarch of the State of Kosambi (rather, a City). He had three Queens: one of them being Vasuladatta in name. She was the daughter of King Candapajjota, the Ruler of Ujjeni State. The other queen’s name was Simivati. She Originally belonged to Baddavati town and was the daughter of a millionaire mamed Baddavati. Sometime after the death of her Parents, having been adopted by Ghosaka, the rich, she was generally recognized as the daughter of Gho. saka. The next queen bore the name of Magandi. She was the daughter of a Brahmin by the name of Magandi from the country of Kuru,

Magandi, the Brahmin’s daughter had a very fair complexion and was said to be extremely attractive. Hence, a number of wealthy persons were stated to have made proposals asking for her hands in marriage for their sons. However, these proposals were turned down by Magandi’s father on grounds of their being unworthy of acceptance for his beautiful daughter. One day this Brahmin Migandi cams across the Exalted One, Having noticed the majestic features and line. aments of the Baidha, h2 considered Buddha as being a worthy suitor for his daughter, and then asked the Buddha not knowing who he was as: “O, Reverend Bhikkhu! I have acharming daughter. I have been searching for a man deserving of giving marriage to my daughter all throughout in the past, but to no avail. O, Bhikkhu! You have the manly qualities really worthy of my daughter’s hands. I wish I could

Story of Samiyati

offer my daughter to you. Could you please wait fot a while at this place ?’’, said the Brahmin, He then immediately left the place in a hurry and soon came back bringing his wife and daughter.

Buddha, after leaving his foot-print at that place where he met the Brahmin, proceeded to another place mot too far away from the place of their meeting, and stayed on. On their return to the site where they first met, he could only find the foot-print of the Buddha, When he told his wife that this was the foot-print of the Bhikkhu he had met, the wife remarked that the owner of this foot-print was a person who had already discarded the sensual pleasures (kamaguni}, or in other words, it was the foot-print of a man totally devoid of sensuous pleasures and human passionate desires, with her knowledge of the science of astrology. The Brahmin after telling his wife to keep her mouth shut, followed the direction of the footprints implanted on the surface of the earth, and eventually found the Enlightened One. He then addressed the Buddha, ‘‘O Ashin Bhikkhu! [ offer you my daughter to be your wife and looked after by you.’’

Buddha before replying to him as to whether he would accept the offer of the Brahmin’s daughter Migandi or not, recounted his life story beginning from His Great Renunciation up to the time he settled down at the foot of Ajapala Bo(Bodhi) tree after His Enlightenment, and as to how Mara, the Evil One, had been shadowing him, or rather, investigating and keeping constant vigilance on him. When Mara knew about Buddha’s total emancipation from lusts of the flesh and sensuality, he was put to mental distress with full of anxiety, Mara’s three daughters with a view to giving help to their father, disguised them. selves as b°autiful devine maidens (female Devas) and tried to allure and entice the Buddha. This was related

Brahmavihara Dhamma

to him by the Buddha, and after that speech, the Lord went on to explain how he had withstood and elimi-

pleasures or desires, the nated raga, the worldly pleasures or desires, though these very charming and facinating daughters of Mara had tried to invoke his passion, in the following

DOk3O 76 d olodw |

Disvana tanham aratim ragifica, ~

naGhosi chando api methunasamam.

Kimevidam mutta karisapunnam, padapi

1 Af samp taxi tus na icche. toon”

Brahmana-~—O, Magandi, the Brahmin! tanham aratim raginca—the three daughters of Mara by the name of ‘tanha’, ‘arati?’ and ‘raga’, disvanaapi-even though seen, . methunsamam—in the matter of sexual connection(intercourse) chando-—desirable passionate attachment or inclination, me-in me,the Buddha,ahosi-has not occurred. Muttakarisapuynam—Being full of or brimful with urine and excrements(faeces), idar : imam—thie Magandi, disyathough seen, chando na hoti-reason for desirable pas: sionate feeling not being arisen in me, kimeva—needs no mention, or rather, is not at ali surprising. Nam-— In regard to this girl Magandi, pddadpi-even with my foot, samphusitum—to touch(her). na icche—is undesirable or loathsome, that is to say “‘I cannot bear it’’.

In brief, it means: ‘‘No clinging sensual desire has occurred in me even at the sight of the three daughters of Mira. Accordingly, there is hardly anything to say im the case of your so-called beautiful daughter Magandi, a worthless body full of loathsome filth, such as faeces and urine. I’m not even inclined to touch her with my foot.’ After having heard these Buddha’s words or preachings, both the parents of Migandi becoming mindful and aware of the truth of the Dhamma, reached the stage of andgami-phala and became Anigimis. These words, however, made Magandi,

Story of. Samivyati

the daughter, intolerable. She felt eo bad and indignant that she bore grudge against the Exalted One from that time onwards. Bearing in mind that she was purposely put to disgrace, she plotted with iniquity to take vengeance upon Buddha at one time or the other when she got married to a person of her own choice.

Relating to this incident, it seems reasonable to raise a question as: ‘‘Doesn’t Buddha know that Migandi would bear grude out of resentment ?”. Yes, indeed, Buddha was well aware of it. It has been explained in Dhammapada Commentary that the Exalted One uttered these words of truth purposely knowing fully well that only by preaching in that manner, her parents would attain wndgadmi-phala and that the speech was delivered after due consideration of the benefits which would be derived as against the vengeance which was gure to be hatched against him by Magandi.

Having been liberated from kémardga after becoming Anigimis, Migandi’s parents put their daughter under the care ani guardianship of her uncle and then, _* entered priesthood in the realm of Buddha’s Sasana. ne Later, after continuous exercise of intense meditation, they bscans Arahats. Sometime afterwards, Magandi’s uncle offered her niece’s hands to King Utena. The King made her his Chief Queen.

At that time, Ghosaka, the rich, had donated a monastery, named Ghositarama, to the Buddha and Disciple-Sanghis in Kosambhi State. Kukkuta, the millionaire had also erected a monastery and offered it ia donation to the Exalted One, while another millionaire Pavarika offered a monastery called Pavarikdrama. Buddha, in response to the invitation of these three millionaires, proceeded to Kosamhbi State and resided in the three monasteries by turns. The ~ Buddha also accepted and took the offer of meals

Brehmayihéara Dhamma

generously given by these three donors and honoured them with His presence at their respective homes.

One day, Sumana, a flower seller offered meals to the Sarmghis led by the Buddha after she had obtained Permission from the said three millionaires’ On that very day, a maid servant of the Queen Samavati by the name of Khujjuttarid went out to buy flowers as usual. Sumana, the flower eecller told Khujjuttara: “To-day Wwe fervently requested the Enlightened One to accept and take the offer of meals at my residence. Ll invite you also to join with me to hear the Buddha’s Sermon after the feeding of meals is over. You may buy the flowers and take them away only after listening to the Buddha’s sermon.” Khujjuttara accepted the invitation and then listened to the Anumodana Dhamma attentively along with Sumana. [n the course of the sermon, Khujjuttara through contemplation and noting on what had been heard, achieved sotdpattimagga—phala, and became a Sotapanna. _. It was stated that usually Khujjuttara bought only four kyate worth of flowers out of cight kyats @iven her from the King’s coffers, keeping four kyats for her own personal use, On that particular day since she had become a Sotipanna, she had absolutely no mind to steal other people’s property. She therefore bought eight kyats worth of flowers. Seeing the flowers much more than that had been usually found, Samivati inquired, “O, Sister! Did the King give you double the amount of money that was ordinarily given to purchase the flowers particularly to-day?” a To this query, Khujjuttara replied, ‘‘No, Madam, certainly not.’”’ ‘“‘Why then there are flowers about twice 423 many as was usually the case?’‘ asked the Queen. Khujjuttara admitted: “Usually on previous occasions, I pocketed four kyats, and only bought four kyats worth of flowers. To-day, I had bought

Story of Simivati

flowers to the full value of all eight kyats.” This was a candid reply by abstaining herself from telling lies or falsehood. This manner of. reply deserves paying attention. Simply because, in those ancient times, a Queen had full and absolute powers to the extent of imposing a capital punishment on any person whom she disliked or considered guilty. The Queen could possibly give orders to execute Khujjuttara for having committed theft of the money paid to buy flowers, or rather, fir the offence of misappropriation. However, Khujjuttara had spoken the truth and nothing but the truth without fear of the consequences that might befall her. This noble and honest attitude in telling the truth is the courageous attribute of sofdpattimagga, the Special Dhamma, Further interrogation was made as to why she did not slice off half the amount of money given her on that day. Khujjuttara replied that it was because she had gained the Special Dhamma, the awakening of the higher consciousness of the Dhamma after listening to the sermon delivered by the Buddha.

Simavati then reflected with her right devotion of mind that to become purified in mind without any intention to steal was indeed marvellous. She imagined that this Dhamma must be really noble. This kind of thought could only eccur. in the mind of a virtuous person. If the person is vicious and wicked and not virtuous, anger would have arisen in him or her, particularly in such a case like this when it was known that the other had stolen or misappropriated the money > given for the purpose of buying flowers. Samave however, being a person with a virtuous mind with her background perfections, was elated to find her maid-servant cleansed of vice, and equipped with the noble Specia} Dhamma. A keen desire with a feeling of enthusiaSm having pervaded Simivati, she entreated Khujjuttari, ‘“‘O, my elder sister! We also wish to

Brahmavihara Dhamma

hear and share the Special Dhamn.a which you said have achicved. Please explain tous.” Khujjuttara in reply requested to let her take a bath to keep her ~ body clean before she preached the spotlessly purified Dhamma. Khuijuttara Was therefore permitted to bathe with scented water and to wear a complete 4 Outfit of dress made of a very fine texture. Khujjuttara then put on a Piece of garment round her waist and wrapped herself up with another piece of cloth _ in the upper portion of her body above the waist let_ ting a part of the garment rest upon one shoulder while leaving the other shoulder bare-(ekemsam paru_ Pityd). Later, she took her seat on the alloted place. With a peculiar kind of glittering fan called ‘citrabijani’ holding in her hands, she beckoned the fivehundred maids-of-honour batch by batch and gave them her preachings.While listening to the Dhamma preached by Khujjuttara, with utmost concentration they devotedly contemplated and noted with diligence. For having immersed themselves in Vipassana Dhamma, higher awakening consciousness had arisen in them that led to their attainment of sotapatti-phala, Samavati and all her maids-of-honour totalling two hundred and fifty in number became Sotapannas,

Thence, all of them after paying hamage to Khujjuttara requested, ‘‘O, Sister! Effective from to-day please relinquish thie lowly and mean duties of a maid—servant and assume the role of our mother and Teacher. Then, please be kind enough to visit the Buddha daily and listen to the sermon delivered by the Enlightened One. Thereafter, please impart i to us the Dhamma you have heard.” Therefore, Khujjuttara went to pay obeisance to the Lond Buddha everyday and listened to His noble preachings. On her return, she recounted the Dhamma with wonderful precision as had been heard and remembered by her. Having had her Special Perfections (Paramitas), she

Story of Samavati

remembered all what had been preached by the Buddha and could impart the preachings exactly in the same maaner as was delivered by the Enlightened One both in modulation of the voice, accent and tone Even nowadays, some people could imitate the style of ‘ preaching done by the preachers in demeanour, mode of delivery, pitch and rhythm. This appears possible because of their pdramitas, On the part of Khujjuttara, she had prayed for attainment of this Special attribute in the past hundred thousand kappas. That is why she had later become an outstanding intellectual well-versed and fully accomplished in the Three Baskets of the Baddhist-Scriptures (tipitekadhara). Some time later, she was conferred upon by the Buddha with the pre-eminent Title of Etadagga, the foremost rank among the learned female disciples (Bhikkhunis) unrivalled in the knowledge of the Scriptures and in possessing the ability to expound them.

Five-hundred maids of honour led by Samavati then requested Khujjuttara to find ways and means to enable them to worship the Buddha and the Sainghas. It is pretty difficult for those residing in the King’s Palace to meet outsiders As euch, Khujjuttara gave them advice to make small holes in the wall of the upper storey Of the palace building to be able to see through these holes when tuddha and his samghkas came walking along the road on their way to the residential mansions of the millionaires (benefactors) living in the city to take meals on invitation. This advice which was accepted and implemented, had enabled the Queen and her maids to peep through the small holes at the time when Buddha and his company of disciples came strolling along.

On one day, when Miagandi saw by chance the small holes in the wall of the King’s Palace, inquired as to why the wall had been so perforated with small