The Great Discourse on the Wheel of Dhamma

Part V

THE TURNING OF THE WHEEL OF DHAMMA

PART V

(The New Moon of Thadingyut, 1324 B.E)

Last week on the 8th waning day of Thadingyut, when we gave the discourse on the 4th part of the Sutta, we had dealt with the exposition on the truth of suffering. We will go on today with the exposition of the Truth of the origin of suffering. First, we shall go over again the headings of the four Truths:

1. Dukkha saccé — The truth of suffering.

2. Samudaya saceaé — The truth of the origin of suffering.

3. Nirodha saccé — _ The truth of the cessation of suf-

fering.

4. Magga sacc@ — The truth of the path leading to

the cessation of suffering.

As explained in the 4th part of the discourse, after defining the Truth of suffering which He had discovered personally by penetrative insight, the Blessed One went on giving the definition of the Truth of the ongin of suffering.

SAMUDAYA SACCA

Idam kho pana, Bhikkhave, dukkha-samudayo ariva saccam: Yavam tanhad ponobhavika nandiragasahagata tatra tatrabhinandini. sevathidam, kGmatanha, bhavatanha, vibhavatanha.

- Bhikkhus, what I will presently teach is the Noble Truth conceming the origin of suffering or the Truth which Noble Ones should know. There is this hunger, this craving which gives rise to fresh rebirth and is bound up with pleasure and attachment (or has the nature of pleasure and attachment); seeks delight, finds gratification now here, now there. everywhere. What is this sanha, craving? It is of three kinds namely, k@matanhd, the sensual

craving, the desire for enjoyment of sensuous pleasures; bhavatanhd, craving for etemal existence, holding the etemity—belief, vibhavatanhd, craving for non-existence (selfZannihilation), believing that there is nothing after death. These three kinds of craving are the truth of the origin of suffering,

The truth of the origin of suffering, that is, craving is the causal agency responsible for all kinds of suffering, already explained, starting from the suffering of fresh becoming to suffering of the five aggregates of grasping. To eliminate suffering, it is essential to know the cause of suffering. It is like making a diagnosis to know the cause of an ailment, so that it may be cured. The Blessed One had personally penetrated to this truth of the cause of suffering and had consequently entirely eradicated suffering by removing its cause. The samudaya-saccd is nothing but tanhd, craving or hunger. It is like feeling thirsty or hungry. Tanhd is thirst or hunger for sense objects.

The craving for sense objects gives rise to fresh becoming (ponobhavika). So long as one remains in the grip of this tanhd, continuous rebirths will take place. We shall discuss how fresh rebirths take place later.in the discourse. This tanhd finds pleasure in sense objects and clings to them. It is delighted with seemingly pleasant sense objects and even as oil or dye solution remains absorbed on any surface it happens to come into contact, ranha holds on to the sense objects tenaciously. This tanhd finds gratification here, there, everywhere. There is never any boredom or monotony in the pursuit of pleasure. Any seemingly pleasurable sense object, whereever it presents itself gives delight.

In the human world. life in the lower strata of society may be anything but attractive or pleasant to people of higher station. Yet we can see people, unfortunately bom into poor circumstances, enjoying, nevertheless, their lives wherever they may be. Likewise, to the human mind. animal life is unpleasurable, repulsive, hornble. To assume the physical body of a snake or an msect is an abominable thought for a human being. Yet if unfortunately rebirht

takes place in an animal world, a being is quite pleased with his physical body and finds delight in its life. It is because of the nature of tanhéi which finds gratification in every existence, in every sense object, wherever it may be. The Blessed One had therefore described tanhd as finding pleasure here, there, in every existence, in every sense object. This is well illustrated by the stories of Sampeya Naga king and Queen Upari.

THE STORY OF SAMPEYA NAGA KING

In one existence, the Bodhisatta was bom into a poor family in the vicinity of the river Sampa. Envious of the life of pleasure enjoyed by the Sampeya Naga king, the Bodhisatta engaged himself in the good deeds of giving alms and observing, the precepts. As a result, when he passed away, he was rebom spontaneously in the realm of the Nagas, and found himself seated on the throne of the Sampeya Naga king, in the full shape and form of a Naga being. Now, Naga is a species of snake. To be rebom as a snake from the human existence is really frightful and abominable. The Bodhisatta, looking at his repulsive, horrible new form, reflected thus: "As a result of my good deeds of charity and observance of morality, I could have been rebom in any of the six realms of the devas. But because I had wished for the pleasures of the Naga king, I am rebom into this world of reptiles. Oh! To die would be better than to live the life of a snake", and he even played with the idea of committing suicide.

In the meanwhile, a young Naga female by the name of Sumana gave a signal to other young Naga females to commence entertaining their new king. The young Naga females, assuming the appearance of beautiful devis, goddesses, started singing and dancing and playing various musical instruments. Seeing the beautifit goddesses entertaining him with song, dance and music, the Sampeya Naga king imagined his Naga abode to be the palace of the king of the gods and felt very pleased. He also took on the appearance of a god himself and joined the female Nagas in their revelries with

much delight.

_ But being a Bodhisatta, he easily regained the sense of reality, and resolved to be bom again as a human being so that he could further promote his paramds, the virtuous qualities of almsgiving, keeping precepts etc. In pursuance of this resolution, the Sampeya king later came to the human world and seeking solitude in a forest, kept observance of the moral precepts. _

The point we wish to rhake in this story of the Sampeya Naga king is that from the human point of view, the body of a reptile is horrible, repulsive. At the initial stage of the Naga life, the Bodhisatta also viewed his new life with horror and revulsion; but the sight of the attractive female Nagas brought about a change in his outlook, which kept him revelling and delighting in the Naga existence as if it were the home of gods It is tanhd@ which seeks delight here, there, everywhere rebirth takes place that made the Bodhisatta enjoy his Naga life after the initial revulsion. There was also the wish, he had made, while he was a poor man in the human world, for the pleasurable life of a Naga king. This wish or craving was also tanhd. which landed him in the realm of the Nagas. m accordance with the words of the Blessed One; "Ponobhavikd -gives rise to new birth".

THE STORY OF QUEEN UPARI

Queen Upari was the chief queen of King of Assaka who once ruled over the country of Kasi at its capital Patali. She was said to be of great beauty. Ancient kings used to select the most attractive maidens of their kingdom to become their queens. Consequently all their queens were noted for their charm and loveliness. Queen Upari was outstanding amongst them because of her raving beauty and enchantment Bewitched by her alluring comeliness, King Assaka had lost his heart on her.

Much adored by the monarch and while still in the prime of her beauty and charm, Queen Upari went to the gods' abode. Now 'to go to the abode of the clestial beings' is a Burmese cultural

usage to denote the death of a royal personage. Likewise, ‘flymg back’ means the passing away of a Buddhist monk, a mere cultural usage. A dead person finds rebirth in an existence as conditioned by kamma, the previous volitional activities. As it happened, the Queen Upari, in spite of the saying according to the cultural usage that ' she had gone to the god's abode’, actually made her rebirth in the abode of the lowly beetles.

With the passing away of his adored queen, King Assaka was consumed by firecely buming fires of sorrow and lamentation. He caused the corpse of the queen embalmed in oil, to be placed in a glass coffin and kept undemeath his bedstead. Overwhelmed by gnief, the king lay on the bed without food or sleep, wailing. moaning over the loss of his beloved queen. The royal relatives and his wise ministers tried to console him and give his solace by reminding him of the nature of impermanence and conditionality of existence, all to no avail. The corpse in the coffin, being embalmed in oll,.would remain well preserved just like being treated with chemical preservatives of modem times. The queen would therefore appear to the king as if she was lying, sleeping in the coffin. The sight of the corpse acted like fuel to his buming sorrows and lamentations which continued to consume him for seven days.

At that time, the Bodhisatta was a hermit, endowed with abhinn&, supemormal jhanic powers. living in the forest of the Himalayas. He happened to scan the whole world using his abhinnd, and saw King Assaka in the throes of intense sorrow He knew also that no one but himself could save the king from his misery. He therefore made his way to the royal garden of King Assaka by means of his jhdnic powers. "There a young Brahmin came to see the hermit who made enquiries of him about the Kmg Assaka. The young man told hir. how the king was being overwhelmed by grief and requested him to save the king. "We do not know the king. But if he came and asked us, we could tell him about his wife's present existence", replied the hermit. Thereupon the young man went to the king and

said to him, "Great Sir, a hermit endowed with celestial eye and celestial ear has arrived in the royal garden. He said he knew and could show the present existence of the departed queen. It would be worthwhile to go and see him".

Upon hearing that the hermit could show him the queen in her present existence, the king immediately took off for the royal gardens in a carriage. Arriving there, he paid respectful homage to the hermit and addressed him. "Reverend Sir, is it true that you claim to know the present existence of the queen Upari?" On the hermit admitting his claim, the king wanted to know where she was re-bom now.

"Oh, great King, Queen Upari took delight in her beautious appearance and was very vain about it. She had spent her time engaged only in beautifying herself to make herself more alluringly attractive, forgetting all the while to perform mentorious deeds, to give alms and observe moral precepts. In consequence, she has passed over to a lowly existence. She is presently rebom as a female cowdung-beetle in this very garden", the hermit told the whole story very frankly.

Persons favoured by fortune enjoying privileges of wealth. family, education, rank, physical beauty etc., are prone to exhibit haughtiness in their dealings with others. Shrouded in their own vanity and self-esteem, they become neglectful in their performance of meritorious deeds. Humility plays no part in their make-up. The Blessed One had taught in the Culakammavibhanga sutta that such vain-glorious, haughty persons are liable to land up m lowly inferior re-births. On the other hand, unpretentious persons who show humility and pay reverential respects to those deserving of homage will be rebom in noble families.

Queen Upari of our story was extremely beautiful and being the chief queen of the ruling monarch was of very high status in life She had her head tumed by these pre-eminent qualities and looked down with contempt on those she should have shown her respects For such unwholesome attitudes and actions, it may be

presumed she was rebom a lowly female cowdung-beetle. On hearing this account of rebirth of his beloved queen as a female beetle, King Assaka promptly rejected it, saying "I don't believe it."

The hermit replied, "I can show you the female beetle and make her talk too." The king said, "All right. Please do and make her talk too." The hermit using his supematural powers of abhinna made a vow for both the male and female beetles to make their appearance before the king.

When the male and female beetles emerged from the heap of cowdung into the presence of the king, the hermit said, "Oh King, the female beetle which is following from behind was your chief queen Upari devi. Having ahandoned you, she is now trailing the male cowdung— beetle wherever it goes. Oh King, have a good look at the female beetle who was lately your chief queen Upan.”

The king refused to believe the hermit. "I can't believe that such an intellignet being as my queen Upan was rebom as this female beetle", said the king.

True, for those who do not quite believe in the laws of kamma and its resultant effect, who do not understand the principles of conditionality or causal relationship, as explained in Paticcasamuppada, it would be difficult to accept that a being of the human world should have gone down so low as to become a mere beetle. Even in these days of sasanad when Buddha's teachings are widely prevalent, there are some people holding the view that "when man dies, he cannot descend mto an existence inferior to that of a human being". So it is not surprising that during the dark ages when Buddha's dispensations were yet unheard of, such stones of incamation were received with scepticism.

Nevertheless, according to the teachings of the Buddha. for so long as one has not yet attamed the status of an Anya, one can descend from the human world or the celestial realm into the four lower states of existence; conditioned by the bad kamma and the mental reflex just befor death, rebirth may take place in the lower order of beings. On the other hand, conditioned by good kamma

and wholesome mental attitude on the threshold of death, ascent may be made from an inferior sphere of existence into the higher realm of human and celestial beings.

There is the story of a Bhikkhu named Reverend Tissa who developed attachments to his saffron robes when he was about to die. As a consequence, he was rebom a body louse making his home on those very robes. There is another story of a frog who met its death while listening to a discourse by the Buddha. He became a celestial being in Tavatimsa celestial abode. These are examples which serve as evidences of various transformations at the time of rebirths.

But king Assaka, not having heard of such discourses, could not accept that his queen had become a female beetle. Accordingly he refused to believe it. The hermit therefore proposed that he would make the female beetle talk. The king accepted the proposal. Thereupon the hermit made the vow, using his supematural powers, to have the conversation between him and the female beetle comprehensible to the king and his audience.

"Who were you in your past life?", the hermit asked.

"I was the chief queen Upan of king Assaka".

teplied the female beetel.

"What now, female beetle, do you still love king

Assaka or do you love only this cowdung — beetle?".

To which the female beetle gave the reply: "True, king

Assaka was my husband m my past life. At that time, I

used to roam about in this garden, in the company of king

Assaka, enjoying the five sense —pleasures of sight, sound,

smell, taste and touch. But, now that I am in the new

existence, I have nothing to do with king Assaka."

The commentarial version of the female beetle's reply is as follows “In my present existence, 1 could relish killing the king Assaka and with the blood from his throat, washing the feet of the cowdung - beetle who is my present beloved husband". This commentarial exposition makes the beetle's reply sound very harsh