The Great Discourse on the Wheel of Dhamma

Vihara monastery. Practising mindfulness meditation in accordance with the sutta, she became a sotapanna, well established as a stream-winner in the first stage of the Path and Fruition. Then when king Dutthagamini came on the throne, she went back to her native village, Bhokkanta, where at the Kalla Maha Vihara monastrey, she heard the discourse on Asivisopama sutta which enabled her to attain the fourth stage of the Fruition and become an Arahat, completely free from influxes, passions.

Going over the thirteen existences of Sumana thoughtfully and mindfully, one could get aroused with religious emotion. When the young woman at the time of the Kakusan Buddha died, she left behind her family, possessions and her own physical body. The bereft family and friends would have grieved over her death. She became a hen; What a frightful thought, a human being to be rebom a hen! That hen would have a family and friends too. She met with a terrible death from decapitation when an eagle seized her and struck her fiercely with its beak. There is this consolation, however, that she was rebom a princess for the merit accrued from having heard a discourse on meditation. The hen would not, of course know anything of the dhamma, but as she had given devout attention to the discourese, certain merit would have accrued to her for which she was rebom a princess. Listening to a dhamma discourse is thus very beneficial and fruitful.

It is a matter for gratification that she became a Brahma after being a princess by virtue of her jhdnic attainments. It is gratifying too that from the Brahma world she was rebom in the human world in a wealthy family. But it is very distressing to know that she left behind her family, friends and possessions reluctantly to be rebom a female pig. It is really fnghtful to think of descending to human plane from the Brahma world and to sink further still into animal kingdom as apig. This should be enough to excite alarm and religious emotion, because so long as the noble Ariya magga has not been established, any one is liable to find himself landed in lowly states of existence It was with the intention of arousing

religious emotions and exhorting the Bhikkhus to take to dhamma in all earnestness that the Blessed One had told them the acount of the female hen's succession of existences.

How the young female pig met her death was not mentioned in the texts, but it could be presumed that she was slaughtered by her breeder as in modem times. The young female pig must have a family and friends which she left behind causing grief to them. It was comforting that she was rebom afterwards as a human being in six places from Suvannabhumi to Anuradha. But in each of these existences, every time she departed from one life, there must have been considerable suffering from sorrow, lamentation and grief for her and for her dear ones. That she finally became Bhikkhuni Sumana Then is the most heartening part of the story.

The cause of the succession of her existences departing from one life to be rebom in another is tanhd or samudava sacca, the truth of the origin of suffering, Other people also who are not yet rid of tanha will likewise go through the cycleof rebirths, dying from one life to be rebom in another. It is extremely important. therefore, to get established in the practice of the Noble Anyan Path in order to eradicate tanhd otherwise called the truth of the ongin of suffering. Sumana Theri first heard the discourse on Satipatthana sutta. Then she practised mindfulness in accordance with Satipatthana method which helped her attain the status of sotapanna, the streamwinner. ;Then hearing the Asivisopama sutta, she devoted herself more ardently to the practice and attained Arahatta Fruition to become a female Arahat. Tanhd otherwise samudaya was completely eradicated from her. Therefore there would be no more rebirth for her and she would be enjoying peace after her parinibbana.

Sumana Then, therefore, declared to her colleagues that she would fully pass away, (parinibbhuto), after the Gyusankhdra, the vital principle for her present existence had become exhausted. Thereupon her colleagues. Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunis requested of her the story of her existences “I was ahuman woman at the time of the: Kakusan Buddha, When I died from there. | became a hen.

| was killed by am eagle which broke off my head and devoured me. Then I became a princess in the human world--" She continued to recount her past existences till the tome of her final existence at Bhokkanta village. She cencluded, "Thus have I passed through thirteen existences encountering the ups and downs, viccisitudes of life in each existence, In this last existence, being wearied of the cycle of rebirths, I have become an ordained Bhikkhuni and finally attained Arahatship, I urge all of you, my righteous Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunis, to put forth your endeavour mindfully to become full accomplished in sila, samadhi and panna”. Then she passed away causing religious agitation in the minds of her audience, consisting of men, women, Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunis. This story of the young female pig is fully described in the commentary to Dhammapada.

THE STORY OF SAMANA DEVA

Even if one were engaged in meditation practice to dispel tanhd, samudaya saccG, until one became fully developed in the knowledge of the path, tanhd could still give mse to re-birth. This fact is bome out by the story of a deva named Samana.

During the life time of the Buddha, a certam young man having established faith in the dispensation of the Buddha got himself ordained and stayed with his preceptor for five vassa periods. He performed all the major and minor incumbent duties for his «pajjhdya and leamt thoroughly the two codes, dve mdatikd of Péatimokkha discipline for the Bhikkhus. He also mastered the procedure for purifying himself from serious as well as tnfling offences. Then taking a meditation object of his choice, he repaired to a solitary abode in the forest and deyoted himself incessantly to the practice of meditation.

His efforts at meditation were very strenuous. Even at midnight which the Blessed One had allowed as the time for rest and sleep, he continued on with the practice. Thus stnving day and night and getting enervated by lack of sufficient nourishig food, he

was suddenly seized with a cutting pain, a paralytic stroke, which ruptured the spinal nerve causing him instant death. He was meditating while walking and thus said to have passed away in the course of performing the duties of a Bhikkhu.

According to the commentary, if any Bhikkhu, while engaged in walking up and down the cloister walk or standing leaning against the leaning post, or sitting or lying down at the head of the cloister walk with the double robe on his head, passes away, he is said to die in hamess. So also. a Bhikkhu dies in hamess if he passes away in the course of preaching a sermon, particularly on liberation from the chain of existences.

As the Bhikkhu of our story was engaged in meditating while walking up and down the cloister walk, we could take it that he passed away while he was contemplating the ndma, rupa of the body postures in accordance with the teachig in the Satipatthana sutta. Although he had put in a great deal of effort m the practice of meditation, he passed away without attaming the Arahatta magga, because he was not yet fully endowed with supporting acts of perfections, paramis, necessary for such attainments.

Complete eradication of tanhd is not possible unless Arahatta magga has been attained. That this Bhikkhu had not yet developed even up to the stage of the stream-winner will become clear later. Therefore, because of tanhd which can cause rebirth, ponobhavikd, he was rebom in the celestial abode of Tavatimsa. A magnificient celestial palace awaited him in consequence of the merit he had acquired in the practice of meditation. By spontaneous rebirth, he appeared as if just awakened from sleep, at the entrace of the palace, acelestial being resplendent in full celestial attire.

At that moment about one thousand celestial princesses who had been awaiting the arrival of the master of the palace, saying, "Our Lord has arrived. Let us enteitain him", came gathering round him, holding musical instruments in their hands to welcome him joyously. The deva lord of the palace, however, did not even realize that he had taken a new existence in a new world. He was under

the impression that he was still a Bhikkhu of the human world On the sight of the celestial damsels, he took them to be female visitors to his monastery. He covered up his bare left shoulder with the upper garment and remained seated, his eyes lowered -and assuming a very dignified and reserved pose.

Realizing at once that the new being must have been a Bhikkhu in his previous existence, the celestial ladies addressed him, "My lord, this is the abode of the celestial beings. It is not the time tobe observing the code of Bhikkhu discipline. It is the occasion for enjoyment of celestial pleasures." But he continued on maintaining solemn reserve and dignity. "This deva has not realized that he has become a celestial being in the realm of the devas. Let us drive home this fact to him by our welcoming revelnes". So saying, the celestial damsels started playing the musical instruments accompanied by songs. The deva all the more tightened his retiring disposition, maintaining his dignified solemnity, thinking that the female visitors had come to his forest abode to abandon themselves to frvolous merriment.

Whereupon the celestial ladies brought out a body-length mirror and placed it in front of the deva. On seemg his reflection in the murror, he finally realized that he had left the Bhikkhu's existence and taken rebirth in the celestial land. The Samana deva was greatly perturbed then. He reflected: "I did not take up meditation to be rebom in this celestial land. My object was to attain the most profitable goal of Arahatta fruition. But I am now like a boxer who entered the boxing competition aiming at the championship gold medal but was awarded only a bundle of tumips." Extremely agitated in mind, he thought: "The celestial pleasures are easily attainable. The life-time of an Enlightened One is a rare occasion. To hear the teaching of the Buddha and to attain the Ariya magga is of utmost inportance. By wallowing in the celestial pleasures, there is the danger of losing the opportunity of meeting the Buddha". So without taking the trouble of entering the palatial building, he repaired hastily to the presence of the Buddha

ASQ

while the restraining sila he had observed as a Bhikkhu still remained intact. His celestial damsels also accojmpanied him as if they were anxious not to lose sight of him. On reaching the presence of the Buddha, he addressed Him:

"Most Venerable Blessed One. In what manner will it be possible to avoid and proceed along past the Nandavana garden otherwise known as the Mohana garden, the grove of stupidity because it serves to encourage foolish behavior in the celestial beings who visit it; where thousands of female celestial beings indulge in singing and yodelling; where numerous demons, goblins and spirits haunt.”

Here the deva refereed to the celestial females as demons and goblins and to the Nandavana gardes as the grove of stupidity because he was still in a repulsive mood towards sensual pleasures as a consequence of his intense efforts at vipassand meditation. The commentary explanation of the deva's query as to "how to procced along" was that he was requesting the Blessed One for guidance on vipassan@ which provides access to the Arahatta phdla.

The Buddha reflected on all the circumstances conceming the deva and taught him the Noble Eightfold Path in three verses:

F: U juko nama so maggo abhaya nama sa disa

ratho aku jano ndma dhammacakkehi samyuto.

"Oh, deva, who is anxious to flee away, the straight. path for a quick escape is the Eightfold Path of vipassand you had already trod while a Bhikkhu."

Here, we have given, for the benefit of the present audience, the explanatory meaning of the first line in the verse which just says, "the straight path is that path." That bare translation would have been quite incomprehensible to this audience, but to the deva who looked as if he had come straight from the monastery, where he had devoted himself to meditation, the meaning was quite clear.

The commentary exposition is as follows: On giving meditation training to someone not yet established in sila etc., the Blessed One always advised him: "Purify your sila, moral conduct; develop

mindfulness and concentration, straighten out your views on kamma and its resultant effects", and directed the yogis to get firmly established in these fundamental practices initially. To one already engaged in meditation, he instructed him only in vipassana, the proximate to the Arahatta magga. The deva was already practising meditation exercises and his sila remained unimpaired. It was only the Ariya magga that he needed to accomplish having already developed its precursor pubbabhdga magga vipassand Path. Thus in order to instruct him in vipassand, the Blessed One taught him the three verses.

In this commentary exposition, the fact of his sila remaming unimpaired even after he had passed over froma Bhikkhu's existence to that of a celestial being, should be well-noted. It meant that having not breached any of the precepts such as killing, stealing, sexual relationships etc., he still continued to..maintain his sila. It should be understood, therefore, that even without formal vow of keeping the precepts, sila remains unimpaired if one abstains from evil deeds which one shvuld not commit. It should also be noted that these verses taught vipassand.

As we had explained above, "the best and straightest way of quick escape from the Nandavana garden of the celestial world with its celestial females is the vipassana path which he had trod along while he was a Bhikkhu."

Regarding the next query on the danger-free place of refuge, the Buddha said, "The danger-free place of refuge is that sanctuary, namely, Nibbana, which you had aspired to as a Bhikkhu." This meant that he had to strive on till he attained Nibbana.

As to what type of vehicle should be employed to make the passage, the Blessed One said, "For a silent escape with no one becoming aware of it, you need a silent carriage which is the vipassana two wheeler fitted with two wheels of physical exertion and mental exertion."

The mental effort involved in noting every physical and mental activity is known as cetasika viriya, mental exertion. When

noting the bodily actions of going, standing, sitting, the physical effort required to maintain the body in respective postures is called kayikaviriya, physical exertion.’ Meditation while lymg down involves only mental exertion, not physical exertion. Here as the use of a two-wheeler with wheels of mental exertion and physical exertion was advised, it must be taken to mean the vipassana meditation which requires heedful noting of walking, standing and sitting. Thus to ride on the grand carriage of the vipassana magga fitted with two wheels of physical exertion and mental exertion, we must be engaged in mindful noting while occasionally walking up and down. That is to say, we must note ‘walking’, 'raising’ 'steppmg forward’, ‘dropping’ as prescribed in the discourse on Satipatthana sutta, namely, 'gacchanto va gacchdmiti pa jdndti’.

While striving thus, as the concentration gets strengthened, the yogi will come to distinguish with each noting, the rupa which causes stiffmess and moves, from ndma, the mental act of noting it. As the concentration still gets further strengthened, the yogi will come to distinguish the cause from the effect. He knows. Because of the intention to go, there appears the physical process of going: because there is the object to know, there is knowing. With furthre progress, the arising of each phenomenon for a moment - - the intention to go, the physical process of going, the noting mind - - followed by its dissolution is clearly perceived as if it is grasped in one's own hand. It is realized plainly, then, that what arises momentarily only to vanish soon is not permanent; that what arises and vanishes incessantly is fearsome suffering. The yogi will also comprehend clearly that the phenomena are occurnng of their own accord, following no body's will and therefore, anatta, not subjected to anyone's control. Then the heedful noting should continue while standing or sitting occasionally.

The silent carriage mentioned here is a reference to the horse-drawn vehicles of ancient days. Some carriages are by themselves noiseless, but when burdened with many passengers or heavy loads, are liable to produce creaky sound But the 'magga