The Great Discourse on the Wheel of Dhamma

vehicle’ is able to carry an unlimited number of passengers without producing any sound. Sometimes, while listening to the teachings of the Buddha, passengers numbering eighty four thousand rode on this ‘magga vehicle’, piloted by 'vipassand magga' which transported them noiselessly to their final destination, the Nibbana. Thus this carriage was admired as a noiseless vehicle. Intimation was in this way given by the Buddha to the deva that it would be possible to make his silent escape, without letting the celestial females know, by means of this transport.

2. _Hiri tassa apdlambo, satvassa parivadranam,

dhammdham sarathim byumi, sammaditthi pure javam.

Hiri, sense of shame and horror to commit evil deeds serves as the leaning board of seats on the carriage without which passengers are liable to fall backwards when the carriage moves. The 'magga vehicle’ has excellent leaning-boards of hiri and ottappa.

The meditating yogi feels revulsive and horrified at the possible arising of unwholesome thoughts conceming some objects which he may have missed in his heedful noting. It is like the revulsion one feels towards coming into with filth after having a nice, clean bath. The conscientious concem (solicitude) for nonarising of unwholesome thoughts and revulsion towards them is termed hiri or otherwise sense of shame. There 1s also fear of unwholesome thoughts leading to evil actions which will yield unwholesome resultant effects, and hinder escape from samsdra, the cycle of existences. This fear of evil deeds and its unwholesome consequences is termed offappa.

For this sense of shame, hiri, and fear of evil deeds, ottappa, the yogi devotes himself in a reverential attitude to the task of noting every physical and mental phenomenon without missing any. In this way, magga path is kept developing with each passing moment. This is like the manner in which the leaning boards of the carriage prevent the passengers from falling backwards, maintaming them in their positions. That is the reason why the Blessed One had termed hiri and ofttappa as the leaning boards of the vipassand

magga vehicle.

Then the Blessed One went on to explain how the mindfulness is like the covering drapery or the awning of the magga vehicle In the same way the shielding awning fitted in a carnage guards against the danger of stones or sticks being thrown in, mindfulness of every mental and physical phenomenon, as it arises, keeps oneself secure from the danger of demeritorious deeds. Therefore the four foundations of mindfulness such as the contemplation of the body etc, are termed the covering drapery of the magga vehicle.

The Blessed One continued: "I call the right view pertaining to Ariya magga, ariva magga sammdditthi, preceded by vipassana sammadithi, the right view pertaining to vipassand, the driver of the carnage."

Of the six kinds of right views, namely, kammassakata sammaditthi, jhana sammdditthi, vipassana sammdditthi, magga sammdditthi, phala sammdditthi, and paccavekkhan& sammdditthi, the mght view conceming the Fruition, phala sammdditthi is the resultant effect of the magga. Similarly paccavekkhana sammdditthi, the nght view conceming recollectedness is the reflective knowledge which appears after attainment of the Path and Fruition. Therefore it needs no particular effort to develop them. Kammassakata sammaditthi, the right view conceming kamma and its effect, has to be established even before one starts the practice of meditation. The right view conceming jhdna is related to the purification of mind which is the base for vipassana. Thus the proximate knowledge which has to be developed for the promotion of rightview conceming the Ariya magga is the nght view conceming vipassand. When the vipassand knowledge is fully developed knowledge of Ariya magga otherwise called the nght view conceming the magga arises spontaneously. It is just like a royal procession coming along after the roads have been cleared by the police and military escorts. Therefore, it is said that vipassand sammdditthi proceeds, followed by Ariya sammdditthi. While engaged in vipassana meditation,

vipassana nana \eads the way for the development of other maggas. At the momentg of attainment of Ariya magga, magga ndna gives the lead to other maggas. For this reason, the Buddha had called the vipassana sammdditthi and Ariya magga sammdditthi, the drivers of the carriage. The last verse runs as follows:

3. Yassa etddisanydnam, Itthiyd purisassa v4,

sa ve etena, yanena nibbdnasseva santike.

"Any woman or man_ possessing this eightfold magga vehicle can get to the presence of Nibbana by means of the vehicle."

In accordance with this last verse, the owner of the eightfold magga vehicle, irrespective of sex, is definitely bound to 'reach' Nibbana. So it is very clear that anyone desirous of reaching Nibbana must develop Ariya magga based on the vipassana magga.

It is common knowledge that in this mundane world, the owner of some form of transport is able to reach the required destination by using it. However, just having the knowledge of the mechanism of the transport without actually possessing it, will not get any one any where. Likewise, by just knowing how to ennmerate the various types of rupas and ndmas,or the different kinds of maggas, no one can reach Nibbana.It must be definitely noted that only by coming into possession of the vipassana magga vehicle through contemplation of the actual arising and dissolution of nama and rupa and riding on the carriage of the Eightfold Path, one can reach Nibbana. The three verses explamed above are summarised as follows:

1. The straight path is magga, the destrination is Nibbana,

free from danger.

2 Fitted with two wheels of energetic efforts, the magga

carriage is silent.

3. Hiri and ottappa serve as the leaning-board while mind-

fulness forms the drapery and awnings of the carriage.

4. Magga ndna preceded by vipassand nana is the driver

of the carriage.

5. Owners of such carriage, whether man or woman.

6. May nde comfortably in it to reach Nibbana.

After teaching the three verses, the Buddha also gave the discourse on the Four Noble Truths which we shall discuss again when we come to the section on the Truth of the Path, magga sacca.

The deva Sumana, while listening to the discourse, reflected on the meditation practices of his former existence. Although he had not been able to attain to higher knowledge as a Bhikkhu in spite of strenuous efforts at meditation, in the existence of a deva whose physical body was free from impurities, he was able to develop, in no time, successive vipassand ndnas step by step until he attained the Path and Fruition of the first stage and realized Nibbana, thus becoming a sofdpanna, a stream-winner.

The main pomt which this story of Samana deva has brought home is that, although the Bhikkhu had been engaged ardently in vipassana meditation, as Ariva magga which could cut off the tanha had not yet been attained, this tanhda otherwise called samudaya-sacca had, after death, caused re-birth in the new existence of a celestial being. The story also pointed out how Ariya magga could be developed and how as a deva higher knowledge could be attained with ease.

Another pomt brought out in the story 1s that, if attachment lingers on, in an individual or on object, bhava tanhd, the craving for existence, is likely to cause re-birth in the vicinity of such a person or object. How attachment to an object will lead to renewed existence in close proximity toit 1s bome out by the well-known story of the Bhikkhu Tissa, who died with great craving for his robes, and consequently was re-bor in the form of a body louse on those very- robes.

Now we shall deal with the account of how attachment to one's wife had caused re-births as asnake, a dog and a cattle.

ATTACHMENT TO WIFE LEADS TO REBIRTHS AS A

SNAKE, A DOG, A CATTLE

There lived in a village in Sri Lanka a man who was misbehaving with the wife of his elder brother. The woman was more passionately attached to her paramour than to her legitimate husband. She therefore instigated her lover to get rid of his elder brother. The man remonstrated, "Woman! Dont't ever talk like that. 4 But after she had repeated her evil suggestions for three times, the lover asked, "How would I go- about it 2" She replied, "You go with an axe and wait for him at the riverside near the big caper tree. T'll send him there." Thereupon, the man proceeded there and lay in wait for his elder brother, hiding amongst the branches of the tree.

When the husband came back from his work in the forest, the wife made a show of loving affection for him and fondly brushing his hair said, "Your hair needs cleaning, it is too dirty. Why not go and shampoo it at the river side near the big caper tree ?" Happy with the thought, "my wife is very tender with her affections for me," he went accordingly to the bathing place at the riverside. He was preparing to wash his hair, bending his head down, when his young brother came out from the hiding place and cruelly chopped his head off with the axe.

Because of the clinging attachment to his wife, he was reborn a green snake (rat snake according to Ceylonese scholars). Still attached to his wife, the snake took to dropping himself down from the roof of the house upon the woman. Realizing that the snake must have been her former husband, she caused it to be killed and removed. Even after passing away from the snake's existence, his attachment for his former wife still remained strong and he was rebom a dog in his old house. Asa dog it was still clinging to his former wife, following her every where even when she went out to the forest. People made derisive remarks, "The hunter woman with the dog is going out. Wonder where she is headed for!" The woman asked her lover again to kill the dog.

His attachment still intense and persisting, the dog was rebom a calf in the same house. The young calf also went following her every where, drawing laughter and ridicule from the people again, "Look, the cowherd has come out. Wonder which pasture her cattle are going to graze in !" Again the woman asked her man to kill off the young calf. Again his tenacious attachment to his wife caused rebirth, this time in the womb of herself.

In the human world which he regained, he was bom endowed with jdtissara ndna, the faculty of recalling previous existences. Exercising this faculty, he went over the past four existences and was greatly distressed when he came to know that they were all terminated at the instance of his former wife. "What an irony to have taken rebirth in the womb of such an enemy" he lamented.

He would not let his mother, the enemy. touch him. Whenever the mother tried to hold him, the baby cried out vociferously. So the grand-father had to take over the task of bringing up the child. When the child reached the age when he could speak. the grand-father asked him, "My dear child, why do you cry out when your mother tres to hold you?" "This woman is no mother to me. She is my enemy who killed me off for four successive existences". So saying, he recounted to his grand-father the story of his previous lives. On hearing this sad tale, the old man wept, embracing the child and said, "Come, my poor grandchild, let us get away. I see no gain in staying here." They went away and stayed in a monastery where both of them received ordination and in time, through practice of meditation, were ableto attam Arahatta path and fruition and gained Arahatship.

The moral to be drawn from this episode is that attachment gives rise to repeated new existence at the very location of that attachment. This story clearly bears out the truth of the teacing, ponobhavikd, "attachment brings about fresh existences." But after the existences of a snake,a dog and a calf, meeting violent death in each. in the last life of a human bemg, when he attained

Arahatship, the rahna was completely extinguished. There would be no mere rebirth for him, and he would be free from all forms of suffering,

It would be well to take to heart the moral of this story and strive for freedom from all suffering through practice of vipassana meditation. There would be no end of quoting similar stories from the Pali texts and commentaries. Let us now come to the experiences and episodes met with in modem times.

A DHAMMA TEACHING SAYADAW

From 1291 to 1301 B.E. we were resident at Taungwine Taikkyaung monastery of Moulmein. At that time there was a dhamma preaching Sayddaw of great repute. At the traditional feeding ceremony, a week after the death of a lawyer donor of his, he gave the following sermon as the merit-sharing service for the departed one.

"This life of mine is transitory; but my death is truly permanent. I must die inevitably. My life will end up only in death. Life alone is impermanent: death, on the other hand, is definitely stable, permanent." t

This contemplation on death was used as the theme of his sermon. We were present on the occasion of that ceremony and had heard his sermon personally. Within a few days after this event, we heard the sad news of demise of the dhamma preaching Sayadaw. We had thought then that he would have passed away contemplating on death as he had preached only a few days ago. We heard that the Sayadaw had met a violent death at the hands of assassins who had stabbed him with a dagger.

About three years later, a certain young boy from Mergui came to Moulmein accompanied by his parents. He had been worrying his parents, asking them to take him to Moulmein. On arriving at the monastery of the former Sayadaw, the boy informed his parents that he was, in previous existence. the presiding Sayadaw of that monastery. He could tell every thing about the

monastery and whatever he said was found to be true. He rerembered all the leading monks from the nearby monasteries and addressed them by names he had used to call them previously.

When he was asked by mentioning the name about a certain man, who was a close disciple of the late Sayadaw, the boy relied. "afraid, afraid." When questioned what he was afraid of, he recounted how that man in association with some persons had stabbed him to death, how he had run away from them, and coming to the river bank and finding a boat, he made his escape nding on the boat. Later arriving at a village on the Mergui coast, he said. he entered the house of his present parents.

_ The visions he saw of how he had fled from his assassins. how he found a boat on the river bank, how he took a nde on it and came to the house of his parents were all gati nimittas, signs of destiny which had appeared tohim at the approach of death. This is also anotable incident which confirms the fact that attachment brings forth new existence.

BORN A BUFFALO FOR THE SUM OF KYATS 40?

In a certain town in Monywa district, there lived « man who was engaged in the business of money lending dunng the Bnitish regime. He asked for the return of a loan from a certain farmer who replied he had already repaid the money he had borrowed from the man. The money lender repeatedly insisted that the farmer had not yet repaid the loan. Finally, he declared, "May 1 become a buffalo in your house if Ihad really asked for a double payment of the fortv kyats which you said you had already retumed." With this oath, he pressed again for the retum of his loan. The poor farmer was thus forced to make knowingly a double settlement of the loan he had taken.

Soon after, the money lender passed away. And there was bor in the house of the farmer, who had made double payment of his loan, a young buffalo. Guessing that the money lender had made a rebirth in his house as a buffalo, the poor farmer called out