Buddha's Life #10 Stages of Enlightenment & Final Liberation

Given half way through a three week Pilgrimage to the Buddhist Holy Sites of India, this talk is a very 'rich' one, covering many interesting subjects and concepts. It touches on themes such as The Life of the Buddha, his central teachings, practicing those teachings, the results of Practicing the teachings, what Enlightenment actually is, what is uprooted from a mind in the process of Enlightenment, and what might remain after Enlightenment. 

Transcript

So we'll review a little bit.

We were just in Vaisali this morning,

Traveled to Kusinara.

Actually I'm going to be reading from the final year chapter of the life of the Buddha,

Where he also walked from Vaisali to Kusinara.

So we've come in the very same direction,

Following the Buddha's footsteps.

Yesterday we recited the Ratanasuta in the place with the Anandasutra and the Asoka Pillar with the Lion Capital.

One of the verses of protection was recollecting the four pairs,

The eight kinds of noble beings,

Recollecting the fact of the enlightened Sangha.

The reason I mention that now is in this final year of the Buddha,

He passes through an area and people are asking about the rebirths of various people.

And the reason I want to read this paragraph is very interesting because we glimpse what is happening in northern India after Lord Buddha has been teaching for 45 years.

It's quite stunning.

So he's wandering in stages towards Vaisali.

When the Blessed One had stayed at Koti Gama,

As long as he chose,

He said to the Venerable Ananda,

Come Ananda,

Let us go to Nadiika.

Even so Lord,

The Venerable Ananda replied.

Then the Blessed One journeyed to Nadiika with a large community of bhikkhus.

While there he lived in the brick hall in Nadiika.

Then the Venerable Ananda went to the Blessed One.

He said,

Lord,

The bhikkhu named Sahara died at Nadiika.

What was his destination?

What was his rebirth?

The bhikkhuni named Nanda,

The lay follower named Sudhatha,

The woman lay follower named Sujatha,

The lay followers named Kakuda and Kalinga and Nikatha and Kati Sabha and Tuta and Santuta and Bada and Subhata.

These died at Nadiika.

What was their destination?

What was their rebirth?

The bhikkhu Sahara Ananda,

By realization himself here and now,

Entered upon and dwelt in the deliverance of mind and deliverance by understanding that are taintless through exhaustion of taints.

That means he was Narahant.

The bhikkhuni Nanda,

With the destruction of the five more immediate fetters,

Reappeared spontaneously elsewhere,

There to attain Nirvana without ever returning from that world.

So she was a non-returner,

One final life in the Pure Land,

Pure abodes.

The lay follower Sudhatha,

With the destruction of the three fetters and with the attenuation of lust,

Hate and delusion,

Became a once-returner who will return once to this world to make an end of suffering.

The lay follower Sudhatha,

With the destruction of three fetters,

Became a stream enterer,

No more subject to perdition,

Certain of rightness,

Destined to enlightenment.

The lay followers Kakuda,

Kalinga,

Nikatha,

Kati Sabha,

Tutu,

Tuta,

Santuta,

Bada and Subhatha,

And also 50 lay followers all became non-returners.

That means they go into the Pure Abodes where they'll attain Arhantship.

90 lay followers became once-returners and 500 lay followers became stream enterers.

So Lord Buddha is wandering through an area where he's passed through previous times.

And after 45 years of teaching,

This is the kind of result we can see many people practicing rightly,

Practicing correctly,

Attaining to these paths and fruits that make up the four pairs,

The eight kinds of beings.

So I thought I'd just go through that again.

What actually one abandons when practicing correctly.

So the stream enterer abandons self-view.

So they see through the self-view.

So they don't believe that they're a solid,

Unchanging self anymore.

They've seen it as a habitual way of perceiving the body and mind,

But it's not true.

They see through that very clearly.

And then they no longer believe that rites and rituals are the correct way of practice.

They understand that mindfulness is the correct way of practice.

So overcoming self-view,

Overcoming rites and rituals,

And then overcoming doubt about the correct way of practice.

So those are the three fetters which are the first to go after a person attains to stream entry.

They know how to practice.

They don't doubt about what is right mindfulness,

What is right concentration.

They understand,

They've glimpsed nirvana,

Experienced nirvana.

As we also know from our studies,

Impossible to be reborn in hell,

Or as an animal,

Or as a ghost.

So at the last of that paragraph,

Over 500 lay followers became stream enterers.

The Buddha could report that.

The next stage is having a similar insight,

But it goes deeper and it cuts through the delusion and the ignorance more deeply.

And what happens then is the greed and the hatred are what they call attenuated,

So weakened.

The power of greed and hatred is weakened.

So if you realize that there isn't really a self,

There's not much to want is there,

Because who is it that wants it and who is it that doesn't want it?

So that insight into not-self,

Then the greed and the hatred is getting uprooted through that insight.

So those five fetters,

Seeing through the self-view,

Not having any more doubts,

Not believing that rites and rituals will get you enlightened,

And then weakening greed and hatred,

Then you're a sakatakami,

A once-returner.

The next level of insight,

The non-returner,

There's no greed,

There's no hatred anymore,

And absolute confidence,

No doubts about how to practice,

But still a little bit of what they call vanity,

Still perceiving things as self as a latent habit.

So it is sometimes described as like a rose.

You can see the petals,

You can see all of the parts of the rose,

And you know it's not a solid thing,

But there's still the fragrance.

That's like this subtle feeling of self,

Even though you can see completely through it.

Those people who have very deep level of attainment become non-returners.

They go to what they call a pura bodh,

Which is even higher and more subtle than the Brahma realms,

But impossible to return from there.

That's where they'll attain Arahantship,

And then enter their final nibbana.

So,

And then there's the Arahants who have no more greed,

No more hatred,

No more delusion on any level,

Never to be reborn anywhere again.

So you can see the Buddha had taught people correctly,

And they were practicing correctly,

And they would attain many,

Many people,

Retaining these results as he was walking through these areas.

So as we were explaining yesterday,

Sometimes people experience the path to stream entry,

And later on experience the fruit in a unchanging,

Unshakable way.

It can be like that.

That's the eight stages.

But depending on how much Barami people have developed in past lives,

For some people it's very fast.

They attain,

Like with Hanya Kondhanya,

He attained to stream entry.

The next Dhamma talk he attained to Arahant.

It depends on how long people have been ripening their spiritual faculties.

The Buddha then said,

It is natural for human beings to die,

But if you come and ask this question each time one dies,

It wearies the perfect one.

So by the end of his life everyone's coming,

Where did that one get reborn?

Where did that one get reborn?

Where did that one get reborn?

And he basically says,

You have to know for yourself whether or not you've attained the stream of Dhamma,

Whether or not you've seen through Self-view,

Whether or not you have unshakable faith.

This is something that one can know for oneself,

Something that one should know for oneself.

And please stop coming and asking the Buddha,

Who has taught you how to realize that.

Basically he's saying,

Get on with it.

When the Blessed One had stayed at Nathika as long as he chose,

He said to the Venerable Ananda,

Come Ananda,

Let us go to Vaisali.

Even so Lord,

The Venerable Ananda replied then the Blessed One journeyed to Vaisali with a large number of bhikkhus.

While there he lived in Ambapali's grove in Vaisali.

There he addressed the bhikkhus thus.

This is what Ajahn Purnima was talking about yesterday,

A famous teaching that Lord Buddha gave in Vaisali.

And we were talking a little bit about Ambapali.

It was in this final year of the Buddha's life that Ambapali,

The court courtesan,

Offered her mango grove not long after this occasion to the Buddha in the Sangha.

And we were contemplating that yesterday.

We discussed that briefly,

How wonderful it is that when someone practices correctly,

Regardless of their status,

Remember Ambapali was very beautiful.

When she became an Arahant,

She was able to look at her past lives.

Because remember she was very beautiful and the princes were arguing about who would get to marry her.

And they decided that no one should get to marry her because they wanted to share her.

And so she was made into a court courtesan for the nobility.

And she was so beautiful and so sought after.

So it was difficult for people to understand,

Modern people to understand.

Apparently this was a livelihood that had a lot of respect.

She was a very,

Very high level entertainer.

Even King Bimbisara traveled from Rajagaha to be entertained by Ambapali.

And she had a son by him.

That son became a Bhikkhu.

He later became an Arahant.

He taught his mom.

His mom also,

I think,

Attained a Sotapanna.

Then she became a nun and then she became an Arahant also.

So here you have a very high level courtesan in the earlier part of her life becoming an Arahant later in her life.

I find that very poignant.

Just remember what Ajahn Anand said.

He said,

Imagine Miss India as beautiful as that.

But then imagine she also has the accumulated virtue to become an Arahant.

Then you see this very physically beautiful person with this incredible sense of presence of mind and grace and power coming from Barami.

Apparently she was more beautiful than Miss India.

But of course she became old and she wrote some very poignant verses when she was old about the change that had occurred in the Therigata.

Anyway the Buddha is staying in Ambapali's grove.

He addressed Abhikkhu thus,

Abhikkhu should live mindful and fully aware.

This is our instruction to you.

How should Abhikkhu live mindful?

Here Abhikkhu abides contemplating the body as a body.

Ardent,

Fully aware,

Mindful,

Having put away covetousness and grief for the world.

He abides contemplating feelings as feelings.

Ardent,

Fully aware,

Mindful.

He abides contemplating consciousness as consciousness.

Ardent,

Fully aware,

Having put away covetousness and grief for the world.

So that's basically a sophisticated way of liking and not liking.

Covetousness and grief.

So with regards to physical feelings,

Just knowing them without liking or not liking.

With regards to mind states,

Just knowing them without grasping for or not for.

And maintaining this consistent mindfulness.

He abides contemplating mental objects as mental objects.

Ardent,

Fully aware,

Mindful,

Having put away covetousness and grief for the world.

And how is Abhikkhu fully aware?

He's fully aware in moving to and fro,

So that's aware of all of your physical movements.

In looking ahead and away.

In flexing and extending the limbs.

In wearing the outer patched cloak,

So in wearing the robes.

The bowl,

The other robes.

In eating,

Mindful while eating,

Mindful while drinking,

Mindful while chewing,

Tasting,

Evacuating the bowels and making water.

In walking,

Standing,

Sitting,

Going to sleep,

Walking,

Talking and keeping silent.

Abhikkhus would live mindful and fully aware.

This is our instruction to you.

So doing that,

As the Buddha described also in one of those weeks after his enlightenment,

And he's going to describe again in a coming paragraph,

By maintaining this consistent mindfulness in the four foundations of mindfulness in all postures,

The mind attains to the deathless.

So right mindfulness leads the mind into insight,

Liberating insight.

Lord Buddha became quite sick in Vaisali and then he extended his life.

He realized it was not yet time to die.

He hadn't yet made an announcement to the Sangha.

And he said to Ananda,

After his illness,

Ananda was a little bit upset.

He'd become used to seeing the Buddha with basically perfect health.

Lord Buddha responds,

I'm old Ananda.

My years have turned 80.

Just as an old cart is made to carry on with the help of makeshifts,

So too it seems to me the perfect one's body is made to carry on with the help of makeshifts.

So that's like patches.

For the perfect one's body is only at ease,

With non-attention to all signs and with cessation of certain kinds of feelings,

He enters upon and dwells in the signless heart deliverance.

So this is an important thing to understand.

It's also the most profound Dharma,

So it's a little bit difficult to understand.

The Buddha is basically saying when he's aware of Nibbana,

He doesn't feel the pain in the body.

But if he's not,

If his awareness is not placed on that,

Then there's a lot of pain in an 80 year old body.

With the non-attention to all signs,

That's also conditioned.

So when his attention is not on the conditions,

When his attention is on the unconditioned,

When he enters and dwells in a signless heart deliverance.

So basically,

When he meditates upon his liberation,

Upon Nibbana,

That which he's realized,

And then he instructs Ananda,

Each of you should make himself an island.

So this is the real meaning of that statement.

And it's important to know that that's our potential.

And it's also the highest realization,

So it's not an easy thing,

But it's the correct instruction.

Because it is capable to make ourselves like an island,

That's our goal.

When you realize the deathless,

When you realize the signless,

When you can place your awareness on something which isn't affected by conditions,

The mind is like an island,

Unperturbed,

Unaffected by anything,

Unshakable peace.

So that's the potential of all of us.

And of course it's a training,

So we can't just do that,

Knowing that that's our potential.

We can't just decide,

Okay,

Now I'm an island.

But we train,

Don't we?

We train in establishing moments of peacefulness.

We train in letting go with mindfulness and wisdom when we're having reactions,

When we are affected by things.

It is a gradual training.

One of the things I love about Thanacharnananda's teachings is he's adjusted them to make them more encouraging or more valid for contemporary practitioners.

He talks about temporary liberations,

Tatanga-wimuti.

So when you read the life of the Buddha,

People are becoming Sotapanna,

Sakadagami,

Anagami,

Arahants,

Left,

Right and center.

It seems easy.

But those are the people with the accumulated virtue and the spiritual powers,

Which are powerful enough to do that.

For the rest of us who are making our faculties powerful,

It's a process.

But when you come to meditate and there are hindrances,

And you apply the mind to its meditation,

And you find that you're able to weaken the hindrance and eventually pacify the hindrance,

Well that's a temporary liberation from that hindrance and we take heart from that.

So it's like you come and you sit.

There is some agitation,

There is some aversion,

There is some sleepiness,

But you apply the mindfulness as Lord Buddha says,

Aware that you're sitting,

Aware of feelings,

Pleasant,

Painful,

Neutral,

Aware of mind states as mind states.

That's pulling back from grasping at them as being a self and training the mindfulness.

And then you'll see that within your meditation session there's a moment where the mind is like an island.

And it's by training the mind in that way again and again and again.

And then outside of the sitting,

Because you've trained in mindfulness and wisdom and you've trained in letting go,

Ajahn Chah places enormous emphasis on that training in recognizing something as unskillful and then letting it go.

People who don't train themselves don't even know they can do that.

But this is one of the wonderful things about Buddhist practice is we can train ourselves to let go.

Sometimes we can,

Sometimes we can't.

But it's very important to understand when you can,

You're about to get angry and you can stop yourself.

You've got angry and you can literally let it go.

You're about to get very greedy and you can place your mindfulness of that mind state and don't go there.

And then you're able to see the mind really can be like an island if we train it to be aloof from the chalazes and from the hindrances that come into the mind.

And that training is what leads to what the Buddha has realized here,

Where his mind really is an island unto itself.

It's those temporary liberations and that training in being an island unto yourself in moments,

In periods,

That's the training that deepens and deepens.

So each of you should make himself his island,

Himself and no other his refuge.

So this was the Buddha's response when Ananda was upset because he looked old.

Buddha was basically saying don't look to me as a refuge.

Make yourself an island.

The Dharma is your refuge.

So these are the Buddha's words.

Each of you should make the Dharma his island,

The Dharma and no other his refuge.

How does a bhikkhu or lay practitioner do that?

A bhikkhu abides contemplating the body as a body,

Ardent and fully aware.

Contemplating feelings as feelings,

Ardent and fully aware.

Consciousness as consciousness.

Mental objects as mental objects,

Ardent and fully aware.

Having put away covetousness and grief for the world.

Either now or when I am gone.

So that's correct practice whether the Buddha is in the world or not.

So he's instructing Ananda before his death,

This is your refuge,

Whether the Buddha is in the world or not.

This is the refuge,

Your practice that makes you an island unto yourself,

Your practice of Dharma.

So not long after this Sariputta passed away.

We talked about this in Rajshikia.

Remember Sariputta went to visit his mum because he had one duty not yet fulfilled.

His mother had no faith even though she had seven Arahant children.

She still held on to her faith in a brahma,

The great brahma.

She didn't have faith in her son so he went and he passed away in the chamber where he was born.

And if you recall the heavenly four kings came and paid respects.

Indra came and paid respect and then brahma came and paid respects and then the mother developed some faith.

She realized well if even the god,

The deity that I love,

Feel the devotion towards paid respects to my son,

My son has realized something and he taught her and she became a Sotapanna.

Then he died and then Chunda,

His attendant,

Comes to tell the Blessed One.

Actually he tells Ananda first.

This is also in the last year of the Buddha's life.

Ananda says to Chunda,

We should see the Blessed One and tell him this.

Let us go and tell him.

Even so Lord,

They went together,

The Blessed One to the Blessed One and paid homage to him.

Then they sat down at one side and the Venerable Ananda said,

Lord,

This novice Chunda has told me that the Venerable Sariputta has attained my nonibbana and that these are his bowl and robes.

Indeed Lord,

When I heard this I felt as though my body were quite rigid.

I could not see straight and all my ideas were unclear.

Then the Buddha challenges Ananda with profound wisdom.

Why Ananda,

Do you think that by attaining final nibbana he has taken away the code of virtue or the code of concentration or the code of understanding?

So that is sila,

Samadhi and banya.

When Sariputta passed away did he take the training in sila,

Samadhi and banya with him?

Did he take the training in the code of deliverance or the code of knowledge and vision of deliverance?

Ananda replies,

Not that Lord,

But I think how helpful he was to his fellows in the holy life advising,

Informing,

Instructing,

Urging,

Rousing and encouraging them.

How tireless he was in teaching them the Dhamma.

We remember how the Venerable Sariputta fed us and in response to we remember how the Venerable Sariputta fed us and enriched us and helped us with Dhamma.

So keeping in mind that Ananda at this stage is a Sotapanna,

He is a stream enterer.

So he is seen through the self view.

He has unshakable faith but he is still affected a little bit by liking and not liking.

So he doesn't like it that Sariputta has passed away.

And because Sariputta was so dear to him,

As Sariputta was dear to so many.

The Buddha who is an arahant is not affected by such things.

Ananda,

Have I not already told you that there is separation and parting and division from all that is dear and beloved?

How could it be that what is born,

Come to being,

Formed and subject to fall should not fail?

That is not possible.

It is as if a main branch of a great tree standing firm and solid had fallen.

So too Sariputta has attained final Nibbana in a great community that stands firm and solid.

How could it be that what is born,

Come to being,

Formed and bound to fall should not fall?

That is not possible.

Therefore Ananda,

Each of you should make himself his island,

Himself and no other his refuge.

Each of you should make the Dhamma his island,

The Dhamma and no other his refuge.

So this threefold training,

Sila Samadhipanya,

The training in virtue,

Ethics,

The training in concentration,

The training in developing wisdom,

This is our refuge.

One morning the Blessed One dressed and taking his bowl and robe he went into Vaisali for alms.

When he had wandered for alms in Vaisali and had returned from his alms round after his meal he spoke to the Venerable Ananda,

Take a mat Ananda,

Let us go to the Chapala shrine to pass the day.

Even so Lord,

The Venerable Ananda replied,

I am not going to pass.

The Venerable Ananda replied and he took a mat and followed after the Blessed One to the Chapala shrine.

There the Blessed One sat down on a seat made ready and the Venerable Ananda paid homage to him and sat down at one side.

When he had done so the Blessed One said,

Vaisali is agreeable Ananda.

And so are the Udena shrine,

The Gautamaka shrine,

The Sathambaka shrine,

The Bahuputthu shrine,

Saran Dada shrine and the Chapala shrine.

When anyone has maintained in being and developed the four bases for success,

Made them the vehicle,

Made them the foundation,

Established,

Consolidated and properly undertaken them,

He could if he wished live out the age of what remains of the age.

Ananda,

The perfect one has done all that.

He could if he wished live out the age or what remains of the age.

So the Buddha was giving a hint.

Even when such a broad hint such as a plain sign was given by the Blessed One,

Still the Venerable Ananda could not understand it.

He did not beg the Blessed One,

Lord,

Let the Blessed One live out the age.

Let the Sublime One live out the age for the welfare and happiness of many,

Out of compassion for the world,

For the good and welfare and happiness of gods and men.

So much was his mind under Mara's influence.

A second and a third time the Blessed One said the same thing and the Venerable Ananda's mind remained under Mara's influence.

Then the Blessed One told the Venerable Ananda,

You may go Ananda,

Now it is time to do as you like.

Even so,

Lord,

He replied and rising from his seat he paid homage to the Blessed One.

Then keeping him on his right he went away to sit down at the root of a nearby tree.

Soon after he had gone,

Mara,

The evil one,

Came to the Blessed One and stood at one side.

He said,

Let the Blessed One attain final nibbana now.

Let the Sublime One attain final nibbana now.

Now is the time for the Blessed One to attain final nibbana.

These words were once spoken by the Blessed One.

So remember,

I mentioned this yesterday.

After the Buddha's enlightenment,

Under the Bodhi tree,

Way back in the beginning,

Mara came to the Buddha and said,

You're not enlightened.

The Buddha says,

I am.

And then he said,

Don't tell anyone.

And remember we were considering yesterday the issue of the bhikkhunis,

The way Lord Buddha refused at the first two requests by Ananda but agreed at the third request.

And I reminded us that the Lord Buddha had actually set the intention to have bhikkhus and bhikkhunis right there from the very beginning.

So now he repeats what he said to Mara under the Bodhi tree at the very beginning of his teaching career.

I will not attain final nibbana,

Evil one,

Until the bhikkhus,

Bhikkhunis,

Laymen,

Followers and laywomen followers,

My disciples,

Are wise,

Disciplined,

Perfectly confident and learned until they remember the Dharma properly,

Practice the way of the Dharma,

Practice the true way and walk in the Dharma.

Until after learning from their own teachers,

They announce and teach and declare and establish and reveal and expound and explain.

Until they can reasonably confute the theories of others that arise and can teach the Dharma with its marvels.

But now all that has been accomplished.

So the Buddha said,

It's like a mission statement,

Isn't it?

These are the things I will accomplish until I've accomplished these things.

I will not enter final nibbana.

After 45 years of wandering around northern India and teaching,

He has a great sangha of foremost disciples.

Must have been tens of thousands,

Maybe hundreds of thousands of arahants.

But indeed the sangha was great.

Great bhikkhus,

Great bhikkhunis,

Great lay.

Remember that paragraph I just read?

Passing through one area,

500 Sotapanas,

Lay people.

The sangha was indeed great and there were many wonderful teachers,

Accomplished practitioners.

So the Buddha felt that he had done his work.

All that has been accomplished.

Let the Blessed One attain final nibbana now.

So it's actually Mara who is repeating back to the Buddha,

This paragraph.

Remember when you said this Lord Buddha?

And then he says,

All that has been accomplished.

Now attain final nibbana.

These words were spoken by the Blessed One.

I will not attain final nibbana,

Evil one,

Until this holy life has become successful,

Prosperous,

Widespread and disseminated among many.

Until it is well exemplified by men.

But now all that has been accomplished.

Let the Blessed One attain final nibbana now.

When this was said,

The Blessed One replied,

You may rest evil one.

Soon the perfect one's attainment of final nibbana will take place.

Three months from now the perfect one will attain final nibbana.

It was then at the Chapala shrine that the Blessed One,

Mindful and fully aware,

Relinquished the will to live.

When he did so,

He was able to relinquish the will to live.

When he did so,

There was a great earthquake,

Fearful and hair-raising.

And the drums of heaven resounded.

Knowing the meaning of this,

The Blessed One then uttered this exclamation.

The sage renounced the life-affirming will,

Both measurable and immeasurable.

And concentrated inwardly and happy too,

He shed his self-becoming like a coat of male.

Male is,

You know,

Knights have under their armor chainmail.

It's like a suit.

So he shed his self-becoming like clothing.

The Venerable Ananda thought,

It is wonderful,

It is marvelous.

That was a great earthquake,

A very great earthquake.

It was fearful and hair-raising and the drums of heaven resounded.

What was the cause?

What was the reason for the manifestation of that great earthquake?

He went to the Blessed One and after paying homage to him,

He sat down at one side.

When he had done so,

He asked the Blessed One about the earthquake.

So Tanacharanan mentioned in a discussion I had with him once,

This isn't a normal kind of an earthquake that causes destruction and death.

It's when the world,

The whole world moves.

But it doesn't cause destruction.

It means something so profound has happened that it's shaken the four elements.

The Buddha explains the eight causes for such an earthquake.

Ananda,

Eight reasons for the manifestation of great earthquakes.

What are the eight?

This great earthquake in water.

The water stands in air and the air in space.

There are occasions when great winds blow or great forces move.

The great winds blowing make the water quake.

The water quaking makes the earth quake.

This is the first reason.

Again,

A monk or a Brahmin may possess supernormal power and have reached mind mastery.

Or deities may be mighty and powerful.

One who has maintained in being the perception of earth limitedly and the perception of water measurelessly can rock this earth and make it quake and shake and tremble.

So a great meditator can actually make the whole world shake if they can contemplate the water and earth element in that way with their powerful mind.

This is the second reason.

Again,

When a bodhisattva,

Mindful and fully aware,

Passes from the heaven of the contented and descends into his mother's womb,

Then the earth rocks and quakes and shakes and trembles,

As it did when our bodhisattva came into his mother's womb,

Mahamaya.

This is the third reason.

Again,

When a bodhisattva,

Mindful and fully aware,

Comes forth from his mother's womb,

Then the earth rocks,

As it did with Siddhartha.

This is the fourth reason.

Again,

When a perfect one discovers the supreme full enlightenment,

Then the earth rocks.

This is the fifth reason.

Again,

When a perfect one sets the matchless wheel of the Dhamma rolling,

This is the sixth reason.

Again,

When a perfect one,

Mindful and fully aware,

Relinquishes the will to live,

Then the earth rocks.

This is the seventh reason.

Again,

When a perfect one attains final nirvana with the nirvana element without result of past clinging left,

Then the earth rocks.

This is the eighth reason.

Again,

When the earth rocks.

This is the eighth reason.

Once and under,

When I was newly enlightened,

While I was living at Uruvela on the banks of the Naranjara River,

At the root of the Goat Herds Banyan tree,

Mara the evil one came to me and said,

Let the Blessed One attain final nirvana now.

Then the Blessed One went on to tell all that had passed between him and Mara,

As he said before,

Not until there are bhikkhus and bhikkhunis,

Laymen and laywomen,

Practicing correctly.

And once established,

Sangha has become strong,

Well established.

And now and under this very day at the Chapala Shrine,

The Blessed One,

Mindful and fully aware,

Has relinquished his will to live.

When he heard this,

The Venerable Ananda said,

Lord,

Let the Blessed One live out the age,

Let the Sublime One live out the age,

For the welfare and happiness of many,

Out of compassion for the world,

For the good,

The welfare and the happiness of Gods and men.

In Adhvananda,

Do not ask that of the Perfect One now.

The time to ask that of the Perfect One has gone by.

So,

For the teachings here in Kusannara,

I'm going to break it into two talks.

I'm just going to say a few more words,

But as far as the readings go,

I'm going to read up to this point.

The Buddha has relinquished his life force.

He has three more months to live.

Apparently,

Ananda could have begged him to stay until the end of the age,

And he would have if Ananda had asked.

I don't understand why the Buddha needs the attendant to ask him to stay until the end of the age.

But I've mentioned before,

I'm a fan of Ananda,

And I'm reluctant to think that he makes mistakes,

Actually.

But I could be wrong.

I'm not sure,

I don't,

Personally,

I'm not convinced that Ananda made a mistake.

This is just my theory.

I'll tell you why I have this theory.

Earlier on,

After just a few years,

Some of the monks started breaking more and more rules.

The first few thousand all became Arahants quickly.

They all knew how to behave.

When the Buddha taught the Awadapati Mokka,

It was a set of principles.

It wasn't detailed rules like laws.

The longer the Buddha stayed,

The more conflicts,

The more mistakes,

The more problems.

There were 227 rules by the time he passed away.

Not long after he passed away,

One elderly monk said,

Oh good,

Thank goodness he's gone.

Now we don't have to keep all those rules.

What do you think would have happened if the Buddha lived much longer?

My personal feeling is that the Buddha had to live much longer.

My personal feeling,

Again it's just Ajahnachala's theory and I'm willing to be wrong,

But I'm just sharing my theory.

I think the Buddha left at the perfect time.

So that the most people could attain merit,

Auspicious merit and good karma and be liberated,

But with as few as possible making bad karma.

Can you imagine the Buddha is still leading the Sangha and less and less and less monks are keeping the rules?

What do you think the karma of those monks would be?

You see these fake monks selling Bodhi leaves under the Bodhi tree and these monks standing with their bowls every time we get off are on the bus wanting money.

So you see the quality of the monks was getting less even during the life of the Buddha.

So it's not necessarily the case that just because the Buddha is there that the monks would be perfect.

The thing that's required for monks to behave perfectly and nonce is their previous practice.

There is a finite amount of beings who've developed themselves to that point that they can behave impeccably.

The well practiced Sangha.

So in Thailand you have the scandals don't we?

We have the Yantras,

We have the Nen Kams,

We have the problems.

Very famous monks who then cause big problems.

So my feeling is the Buddha graciously left at the right time.

But after he'd accomplished all of those things,

Great disciples,

Arahant disciples and many of the foremost disciples still living.

Not long after he passed away,

Maha Kasapa called for the first council.

Ananda relayed all of the teachings.

They canonized them,

They remembered them.

And basically it was teamwork after that.

But imagine how many people,

Just as it's incredible merit if you can relate to the Buddha skillfully and make merit with him.

It's incredibly bad karma if you make a mistake with the Buddha.

So imagine he's wandering around still in Northern India.

Most of the people who had the merit to become Arahants already became Arahants.

Because of his wonderful teaching,

Most of them have already entered final Nibbana.

And then beings of lesser and lesser virtue.

How many people would have made that karma in relationship to a Sammasambuddha?

So anyway,

My personal faith is that the Buddha knew that it was the right time.

But the other thing which is an important point to make,

And this is my question,

Especially to the people who felt sad in the Maha Parinibbana Lihara today.

When we talk about the Maha Parinibbana of the Buddha,

Nobody uses the word death.

Nobody says the Buddha died here or no Buddhist who has studied the Maha Parinibbana.

Nobody says the Buddha died here or no Buddhist who has studied.

My question to you,

Can the Buddha die?

Does anyone think the Buddha died?

Do you think the Buddha died?

So the Buddha describes his realization as the deathless.

That's his own word for describing his liberation.

What he realized is beyond death.

And that's what he's teaching us to realize.

And that paragraph that I read earlier,

The Buddha said,

When he placed his attention on the signless deliverance of mind,

He was not aware of the pain of the body.

So he's placing awareness on something which is of mind.

But it's signless.

He also calls it the unconditioned.

So he's placing his awareness on something unconditioned,

Something deathless,

Signless deliverance of mind.

So if his mind is delivered,

Signless deliverance,

If his mind is delivering from conditions,

If he's realized the deathless,

When the body dies,

What happens to the Buddha's mind?

It continues to enjoy the deathless.

So it's interesting,

What I'm going to read tomorrow,

This is important to understand because remember,

One layman offers him a meal,

And it gives him terrible dysentery,

And then that layman feels terrible.

He says,

Well,

I'm killing the Buddha.

The very best of intentions.

He didn't intend anything,

Of course,

But that was the meal because the Buddha had relinquished the life force.

That was the three-month point.

There was a very particular poison that had to be there,

And it was time for the Buddha to die.

Then he said,

Don't worry.

Two meals bring enormous merit in the life of a Buddha.

The meal before the enlightenment and the meal before the Mahaparinibbana.

That seems to suggest something.

It suggests that the Buddha is going to achieve or accomplish or experience something great after that.

He's going to be relieved of the burden of these conditions.

There was another phrase that we talked,

He said,

The body is the result in an Arahant of past clinging.

So if someone's an Arahant,

The body they have is the result of past clinging,

But they don't have any clinging now once they're an Arahant.

But once the body is gone,

They don't have the result of past clinging either.

They just have the liberated mind.

This is an important thing for Buddhists to consider,

Because I think the reason I don't feel sad when I go into the Mahaparinibbana temple,

The first time I went,

Which is 13 years ago,

I cried.

Just as we will read,

All of the devas who loved the Buddha cried and all of the Sotapannas cried,

But people who were higher than Sotapanna didn't cry.

I'm not making a claim.

But the Buddha says,

He who practices correctly sees the Buddha.

The Buddha attained the deathless.

So just from contemplating that very deeply,

I don't think the Buddha's gone anywhere.

I don't think the Buddha died.

And I'm confident that if I practice correctly,

I will see the Buddha.

And seeing the Buddha doesn't mean seeing a being.

That means seeing a liberated,

Purified mind.

And I don't know about how you guys felt when you were meditating under the Bodhi tree,

But there are moments or periods of time when meditating under the Bodhi tree in Vodkaya that it feels like the Buddha is radiating loving-kindness to you.

Did anyone else feel that?

So that's very interesting.

There's something particular about Vodkaya that many people feel almost like the Buddha is still there.

But he's not there as a self.

He's not there as a being.

He's not there as a condition.

But something's there.

And if you meditate there with faith,

It's almost like you meet the Buddha.

He who practices correctly meets the Buddha.

Or you find the Buddha.

And you find the Buddha.

He who practices correctly meets the Buddha.

Or you feel the Buddha.

You're touched by the Buddha.

You feel the Buddha's metta,

His purity,

His wisdom.

One of the reasons I love meditating in Vodkaya so much.

Sometimes it's like you're meditating with the Buddha.

Or you're meditating and the Buddha's spreading loving-kindness to you.

So I don't believe that the Buddha died.

That's why we call it Mahaparinibbana.

He put down the result of past clinging.

Which he already wasn't attached to while he was alive.

And after he was Buddha,

He wasn't attached to it anyway.

But it was there.

It was the result of past clinging.

And he did his duty.

He made the Sangha great everywhere he went.

Thousands of beings becoming liberated.

Humans and Devas.

So he did his duty.

But when he entered Mahaparinibbana,

There was no clinging and no result of past clinging.

So it's an unshakable peace,

Unceasing peace,

An experience of liberation.

Signless deliverance,

He called it.

So that's why offering that final meal is tremendous merit.

It's helping the Buddha go beyond even the residue of past clinging to Mahaparinibbana.

In a way we should feel happy for Lord Buddha.

This is the place where he was able to completely put down all the burden,

Having done his duty fully.

And he also explained to us,

This training,

Sila,

Samadhi and Panya,

That's your refuge.

Whether I'm in the world or not with the physical body,

That's the refuge.

So I offer that pure reflection.

Tomorrow,

Apparently there's a group of a hundred Thais arriving tonight.

They'll probably have breakfast before they go over to the Mahaparinibbana temple.

So what are we going to do?

We're going to go before breakfast,

Aren't we?

Okay,

Thank you.

Enthusiasm,

Please.

I'll ask you again.

What are we going to do?

We're going to go before breakfast,

Aren't we?

Yes!

Okay,

Satu,

Satu,

Satu.

Wake up,

Call it five.

Wake up,

Call it five.

Now I remind you,

Remember in Vltispi it was four.

Now it's back at a very reasonable five.

Okay,

Middle way.

Five o'clock on the bus at 5.

45.

And then it's not a guarantee,

But it's at least a little bit likely that we might get some quiet time in there.

What I'd like to suggest is an hour of sitting.

And then I think we're going to do our puja outside.

So we'll graciously leave and allow the hundred Thais and a thousand Burmese and two thousand Sri Lankans to come and do their pujas.

And we will,

Tomorrow hopefully being there as the gates open,

Sit for an hour.

No matter how quiet or noisy it is,

We will sit there like rocks on Vulture's Peak.

Unperturbed.

And then at the end of the hour we'll go out and we'll do our puja and then sit for a bit longer outside.

It might be a bit cool.

We've actually come further north now,

So you'll need your shawl.

It might be colder outside in the morning.

So hope you have a nice rest.

Reviews

Great to remind us that the Buddha is still here. Thank Ajahn Achalo for this insight 🙏

Thank you. May you be well and may you be happy...🙏🏼

Very informative, encompassing many teachings and concepts, with beautiful and consistent reference to the Buddha’s exemplary life. Wonderful. Sadhu sadhuu sadhuuu!!!

What a beautiful summation of this journey. Thank you Ajahn for providing such clarity and especially drawing and repeating the Lord Buddha’s lessons at every key step. Even after 20 years of practice I marveled at how much I have been lacking in historical root knowledge. I smiled and wished I had made this pilgrimage with you. But, now I have! I will return to this talk again and again to humbly mine the wisdom it holds. Much appreciated.

I also really enjoyed your personal revelation about Ananda. I like him too.

May you be well. 🙏🏻

Thank you! Beautiful and very inspiring.

I’m so lucky to have found my Teacher Ajahn Achalo. 🙏

A great deal to contemplate

Wonderful as always. Thank you. Xxx

I close my eyes and imagine I'm on the Pilgrimage in India 🌺❤🌺
Thankyou for this Ajahn Achalo 💐💚

Wonderful teacher