1. The Story of Thera Maha Moggallana

    Comment January 27, 2021

    Verse 137: He who does harm with weapons to those who are harmless and should not be harmed will soon come to any of these ten evil consequences:

    Verses 138, 139 & 140: He will be subject to severe pain, or impoverishment, or injury to the body (i.e., loss of limbs), or serious illness (e.g., leprosy), or lunacy, or misfortunes following the wrath of the king, or wrongful and serious accusations, or loss of relatives, or destruction of wealth, or the burning down of his houses by fire or by lightning. After the dissolution of his body, the fool will be reborn in the plane of continuous suffering (niraya).

    The Story of Thera Maha Moggallana

    While residing at the Jetavana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verses (137), (138), (139) and (140) of this book, with reference to Thera Maha Moggallana.

    Once, the Nigantha ascetics planned to kill Thera Maha Moggallana because they thought that by doing away with Thera Maha Moggallana the fame and fortune of the Buddha would also be diminished. So they hired some assassins to kill Thera Maha Moggallana who was staying at Kalasila near Rajagaha at that time. The assassins surrounded the monastery; but Thera Maha Moggallana, with his supernormal power, got away first through a key hole, and for the second time through the roof. Thus, they could not get hold of the Thera for two whole months. When the assassins again surrounded the monastery during the third month, Thera Maha Moggallana, recollecting that he had yet to pay for the evil deeds done by him during one of his past existences, did not exercise his supernormal power. So he was caught and the assassins beat him up until all his bones were utterly broken. After that, they left his body in a bush, thinking that he had passed away. But the Thera, through his jhanic power, revived himself and went to see the Buddha at the Jetavana monastery. When he informed the Buddha that he would soon realize parinibbana at Kalasila, near Rajagaha, the Buddha told him to go only after expounding the Dhamma to the congregation of bhikkhus, as that would be the last time they would see him. So, Thera Maha Moggallana expounded the Dhamma and left after paying obeisance seven times to the Buddha. Continue reading →

  2. Throughout immeasurable eons

    Comment February 11, 2017

    Time has no beginning;
    it has no end.
    Throughout immeasurable eons,
    violence and conflict have abounded,
    and body and spirit deeply wounded.
    May the time for healing begin now.
    May universal peace be ours.

    ~amtbweb

    Buddha

  3. Maha Kassapa: Father of the Sangha

    1 November 25, 2015

    1. Kassapa’s Early Years

    Among those of the Buddha’s disciples who were closest to him, there were two friends, Sariputta and Maha Moggallana, who were the chief disciples of the Buddha, the exemplary pair of disciples. There were also two brothers, Ananda and Anuruddha, who were likewise eminent “Fathers of the Order.” In between these two pairs stands a great solitary figure, Pipphali Kassapa, who later was called Maha Kassapa, Kassapa the Great, to distinguish him from the others of the Kassapa clan, such as Kumara Kassapa and Uruvela Kassapa.

    After Sariputta and Maha Moggallana had passed away, predeceasing the Buddha, it was Maha Kassapa who was held in greatest respect and reverence in the Order. But even after the Buddha’s passing away, Maha Kassapa did not become the elected head of the Order of Monks, as it had been the Buddha’s express wish that there should not be a supreme authoritative head of the Sangha. Shortly before his passing away, the Buddha had said: “That which I have proclaimed and made known, Ananda, as the Teaching and the Discipline (Dhamma-Vinaya), that shall be your Master when I am gone” (D.16).

    Yet the natural authority emanating from Maha Kassapa made him particularly honored and venerated in the Sangha. There were many factors that contributed to his pre-eminent position after the death of the Master. He had been praised by the Buddha as being equal to him in many respects[1] and he shared with the Master seven of the thirty-two “Marks of a Great Man.” He had been the only monk with whom the Buddha had exchanged robes. Maha Kassapa possessed to the highest degree the ten “qualities that inspire confidence.”[2] He was also a model of a disciplined and austere life devoted to meditation. So it is no wonder that he was elected to preside over the First Council of the Sangha which had been summoned on his urgent advice. It may have been on account of all these features of his personality and his life that, much later in China and Japan, Maha Kassapa came to be regarded as the first patriarch of Ch’an or Zen Buddhism. Continue reading →

  4. The Story of Devadatta

    Comment October 28, 2015

    Devadatta attacking Buddha

    Verse 9: He who is not free from taints of moral defilements (kilesas) and yet dons the yellow robe, who lacks restraint in his senses and (speaks not the) truth is unworthy of the yellow robe.

    Verse 10: He who has discarded all moral defilements (kilesas), who is established in moral precepts, is endowed with restraint and (speaks the) truth is, indeed, worthy of the yellow robe.

    1. kasavam or kasavam vattham: the yellow or reddish yellow robe donned by members of the Buddhist Religious Order. There is a play on words in the above stanzas; ‘anikkasavo’, meaning, not free from faults of moral defilements and therefore, stained; and kasavam, the yellow robe, dyed sombre in some astringent juice and is therefore stained.

    2. vantakasav’assa: lit., has vomited all moral defilements; it means, has discarded all moral defilements through the four Path Knowledge (Magga nana).

    While residing at the Jetavana monastery in Savatthi, the Buddha uttered Verses (9) and (10) of this book, with reference to Devadatta.

    Once the two Chief Disciples, the Venerable Sariputta and the Venerable Maha Moggallana, went from Savatthi to Rajagaha. There, the people of Rajagaha invited them, with their one thousand followers, to a morning meal. On that occasion someone handed over a piece of cloth, worth one hundred thousand, to the organizers of the alms-giving ceremony. He instructed them to dispose of it and use the proceeds for the ceremony should there be any shortage of funds, or if there were no such shortage, to offer it to anyone of the bhikkhus they thought fit. It so happened that there was no shortage of anything and the cloth was to be offered to one of the theras. Since the two Chief Disciples visited Rajagaha only occasionally, the cloth was offered to Devadatta, who was a permanent resident of Rajagaha.

    Devadatta promptly made the cloth into robes and moved about pompously, wearing them. Then, a certain bhikkhu from Rajagaha came to Savatthi to pay homage to the Buddha, and told him about Devadatta and the robe, made out of cloth worth one hundred thousand. The Buddha then said that it was not the first time that Devadatta was wearing robes that he did not deserve. The Buddha then related the following story.

    Devadatta was an elephant hunter in one of his previous existences. At that time, in a certain forest, there lived a large number of elephants. One day, the hunter noticed that these elephants knelt down to the paccekabuddhas* on seeing them. Having observed that, the hunter stole an upper part of a yellow robe and covered his body and hand with it. Then, holding a spear in his hand, he waited for the elephants on their usual route. The elephants came, and taking him for a paccekabuddha fell down on their knees to pay obeisance. They easily fell prey to the hunter. Thus, one by one, he killed the last elephant in the row each day for many days.

    The Bodhisatta (the Buddha-to-be) was then the leader of the herd. Noticing the dwindling number of his followers he decided to investigate and followed his herd at the end of the line. He was alert, and was therefore able to evade the spear. He caught hold of the hunter in his trunk and was about to dash him against the ground, when he saw the yellow robe. Seeing the yellow robe, he desisted and spared the life of the hunter.

    The hunter was rebuked for trying to kill under cover of the yellow robe and for commuting such an act of depravity. The hunter clearly did not deserve to put on the yellow robe.

    Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:

    Verse 9: He who is not free from taints of moral defilements (kilesas) and yet dons the yellow robe, who lacks restraint in his senses and (speaks not the) truth is unworthy of the yellow robe.

    Verse 10: He who has discarded all moral defilements (kilesas), who is established in moral precepts, is endowed with restraint and (speaks the) truth is, indeed, worthy of the yellow robe.

    At the end of the discourse, many bhikkhus were established in Sotapatti Fruition.

    * Paccekabuddha: One who, like the Buddha, is Self-Enlightened in the Four Noble Truths and has uprooted all the moral defilements (kilesas). However, he cannot teach others. Paccekabuddhas appear during the absence of the Buddha Sasana (Teaching).

    Dhammapada Verses 9 and 10
    Devadatta Vatthu

    Anikkasavo kasavam1
    yo vattham paridahissati
    apeto damasaccena
    na so kasavamarahati.

    Yo ca vantakasav’assa2
    silesu susamahito
    upeto damasaccena
    sa ve kasavamarahati.

    Source: Tipitaka

     

Live & Die for Buddhism

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Me & Grandma

My Reflection

This site is a tribute to Buddhism. Buddhism has given me a tremendous inspiration to be who and where I am today. Although I came to America at a very young age, however, I never once forget who I am and where I came from. One thing I know for sure is I was born as a Buddhist, live as a Buddhist and will leave this earth as a Buddhist. I do not believe in superstition. I only believe in karma.

A Handful of Leaves

A Handful of Leaves

Tipitaka: The pali canon (Readings in Theravada Buddhism). A vast body of literature in English translation the texts add up to several thousand printed pages. Most -- but not all -- of the Canon has already been published in English over the years. Although only a small fraction of these texts are available here at Access to Insight, this collection can nonetheless be a very good place to start.

Major Differences

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Major Differences in Buddhism: There is no almighty God in Buddhism. There is no one to hand out rewards or punishments on a supposedly Judgement Day ...read more

Problems we face today

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Of the many problems we face today, some are natural calamities and must be accepted and faced with equanimity. Others, however, are of our own making, created by misunderstanding, and can be corrected...

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