Some friends save, others destroy us

• Some friends save us, others destroy us | Buddhism with Venerable Gotami
• The Buddha's Guide for Lay Buddhists (Sigalovada Sutta)
• Wisdom Quarterly: The Buddha on toxic relationships

'7' and the Seven Factors of Enlightenment

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit; ReligionForBreakfast, 2/8/24

Is anything more wonderful than enlightenment?

In Buddhism, the Seven Factors of Enlightenment (Pali satta bojjhaṅgā or satta sambojjhaṅgā, Sanskrit sapta bodhyanga) are:

1. Mindfulness (Pali sati, Sanskrit smṛti) to maintain unbiased, undistorted, unembellished awareness of reality (dhammas, "phenomena," "things") just as it is, in particular the Teachings (the Dhamma).
2. Investigation of the true nature of reality (Pali dhamma vicaya, Sanskrit dharmapravicaya)
3. Energy (Pali viriya, Sanskrit vīrya) also effort, determination
4. Joy or rapture (Pali pīti, Sanskrit prīti)
5. Calm or tranquility, relaxation, serenity (Pali passaddhi, Sanskrit prashrabdhi) of body and mind
6. Stillness (samādhi) a calm, one-pointed state of mind [1], or "bringing the buried latencies or samskaras into full view" [2]
7. Equanimity (Pali upekkhā, Sanskrit upekshā), which is unbiased looking on, accepting reality just as-it-is (yathā-bhuta) without clinging or aversion.

The Seven Factors of Enlightenment as a set is one of the "seven sets of thing" comprising the Thirty-Seven Requisites of Enlightenment (the bodhipakkhiyadhamma or "things pertaining to awakening").

The Pali Buddhist term bojjhanga is a compound of bodhi ("enlightenment" or "awakening") and anga ("limb" or "factor") [3]. More

• SuttaCentral: Seven Factors of Enlightenment
• SuttaCentral: A Guide to Linked Discourses

Of course, the number seven comes up many more times than this in Buddhism. A person, having realized the first stage of enlightenment (a stream-enterer) has at most only seven more rebirths. Why? It's just that way by the cosmic order of things, the niyamas in Abhidharma terms.

"Why does the number 7 appear everywhere in religion?"

(ReligionForBreakfast) The number seven appears everywhere in the Bible...and a bunch of other religious traditions, too. Why is the number seven sacred?

• 00:00 Why so many 7s?
• 00:24 Near Eastern context
• 5:03 Later development of Sacred 7
• 5:59 Cross-cultural phenomenon?
• 7:18 Origin theories
• 10:46 Patreon

Support on Patreon: religionforbreakfast

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Arvid Kapelrud, "The Number Seven in Ugaritic Texts," Vetus Testamentum, Vol. 18 (Oct 1968), 494-499.
• Denise Flanders, "The Rhetorical Use of Numbers in the Deuteronomistic History," 2022.
• Denise Flanders, "Saul has Killed His Thousands, David His Ten Thousand," dissertation, 2019.
• James Pritchard (ed.), "Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament," Third Edition with Supplement, 1969.
• R.A. Kraft, "Philo's Treatment of the Number Seven in On Creation," in "Exploring the Scripturesque, (2009), p. 217-236.
• Botterweck et. al. (ed.), "Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament," Vol. 14. Laki, "On the Origin of the Sexagesimal System," Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, Vol. 59, No 1/3 (Jan-March 1969).
• Kazuo Muroi, "The Origin of the Mystical Number Seven in Mesopotamian Culture"
• Adela Harbro Collins, "Cosmology and eschatology in Jewish and Christian Apocalypticism," 1966.
• Bendt Alster, "Early Dynastic Proverbs and other Contributions to the Study of Literary Texts from Abu Salabikh," Archiv für Orientforschunb (1991/1992), 1 - 51.
• Leonid Zhmud, "From Number Symbolism to Arithmology," Zahlen- und Buchstabensysteme im Dienste religiöser Bildung.
• L. Schimmelpfennig (ed.) Tübingen: Seraphim, 2019. P. 25-45.

Verses of the Dhammapada (Dhp. 1)

Sutta Friends (Dhp. 1: Pairs (6-20); Dhr. Seven, Crystal Q. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

A new translation of The Dhammapada (Gil Fronsdal)

So much potential as "Buddha Boy," now Ram Bahadur Bomjon is sunk in controversy.

.

Could Buddha Boy become a buddha?

6. People who quarrel do not realize that one day through these quarrels they will die, but those who do realize this fact [quickly] settle their quarrels.

7. Whoever lives focused on the pleasant nature of things, with sense faculties unguarded, immoderate in eating, lazy and sluggish, will be overpowered by Māra (Death), just as a storm throws down a weak [and stiff] tree.

8. Whoever lives focused on the unpleasant nature of things, with their sense faculties guarded, moderate in eating, faithful and diligent, will not be overpowered by Māra, just as a storm cannot shake a mountain of rock.

9. Whoever is defiled, devoid of self-control, devoid of truthfulness yet wears the monastic robe is surely unworthy of such a robe.

10. Whoever has removed defilements, is well established in virtue, is filled with self-control, is filled with truthfulness is indeed worthy of such a robe.

Knowing-and-seeing is best.

11. In the world there are unbeneficial things. Some mistake these unbeneficial things for beneficial ones. They also mistake beneficial things -- such as developing virtue, stillness (concentration), and wisdom -- for unbeneficial ones. They are enveloped in wrong thoughts. They never reach what is beneficial.

12. Based on right view some people think right thoughts. These wise ones know beneficial things -- such as developing virtue, stillness, and wisdom -- to be beneficial. They also know unbeneficial things to be unbeneficial. That is why they reach the most beneficial, nirvana.

13. Just as rain breaks through a poorly thatched house, lust penetrates the mind that has not been developed by calm-and-insight meditation.

14. Just as rain does not break through a well thatched house, lust fails to penetrate a mind that has been well developed by calm-and-insight meditation.

15. The wrongdoer grieves in this life and in the next, grieves in both worlds, cries and is afflicted, seeing one's own defiled deeds.

16. The maker of merit rejoices in this life and the next, rejoices in both worlds, rejoices and is delighted, seeing one's own pure actions.

17. The wrongdoer feels regret in this life and in the next, feels regret in both worlds, is remorseful knowing, “I have done harm.” One is even more remorseful once reborn on a plane of misery.

18. The maker of merit is delighted in this life and in the next, is delighted in both worlds, is delighted in knowing, “I have made merit.” One is delighted even more once one is reborn on a [fortunate plane].

19. Even though a negligent person preaches much Dharma (Truth) to others, one does not practice accordingly. That person is like a cowherd who counts only the cows of others. That person does not attain the stages of enlightenment as a monastic.

20. Even if a person practicing the Dharma preaches little to others, one lives according to the Dharma. With developed knowledge and a well-freed mind, one abandons passion, aversion, and wrong view (greed, hatred, and delusion). Not clinging to anything in this world or the next, one attains the stages of enlightenment as a monastic.

Well said, well said, well said! (Sādhu, sādhu, sādhu!) WQ translation based on Dhp. 1 Yamaka Vagga: Pairs (1-20) – suttafriends.org

Sutra: Advice to Rahula at Mango Stone

Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Ambalatthika-Rahulovada Sutra: "Instructions to Rahula at Mango Stone" (MN 61, Mi 414), based on Ven. Thanissaro (trans.), Wisdom Quarterly

Family: Rahula, the Buddha, and Ananda

Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One (the Buddha) was staying near Rajagaha, in the Bamboo Grove, at the Squirrels' Feeding Ground.

At that time Ven. Rahula [the Buddha's son, a monastic* in training at age 7 (Comy.)] was staying at the Mango Stone. Then the Blessed One, arising from his meditative seclusion in the late afternoon, went there. Ven. Rahula saw him approaching from afar and set out a seat and water to wash his feet.

The Blessed One sat down on the seat prepared for him and washed his feet. Ven. Rahula, bowed and sat respectfully to one side.

Then the Blessed One, having left a little bit of water in the water dipper, said to Ven. Rahula: "Rahula, do you see this small amount of water remaining in the dipper?"

"Yes, venerable sir."

"That's how little of a monastic* there is in anyone who feels no shame at telling a deliberate lie."

Having tossed away the little leftover water, the Blessed One said to Ven. Rahula: "Rahula, do you see how this small amount of water is tossed away?"

"Yes, venerable sir."

"Rahula, whatever there is of a monastic in anyone who feels no shame at telling a deliberate lie is tossed away just like that."

Having turned the water dipper upside down, the Blessed One said to Ven. Rahula: "Rahula, do you see how this water dipper is turned upside down?"

"Yes, venerable sir."

"Rahula, whatever there is of a monastic in anyone who feels no shame at telling a deliberate lie is turned upside down just like that."

Having turned the water dipper right side up, the Blessed One said to Ven. Rahula: "Rahula, do you see how empty and hollow this water dipper is?"

"Yes, venerable sir."

"Rahula, whatever there is of a monastic in anyone who feels no shame at telling a deliberate lie is empty and hollow just like that.

"Rahula, it's like a royal elephant: mighty, of good pedigree, accustomed to battle, its tusks like chariot poles. Having gone into battle, it uses its forefeet and hindfeet, its forequarters and hindquarters, its head and ears, its tusks and tail. But it keeps protecting its trunk. The elephant trainer notices and thinks:

"'This royal elephant has not given up its life to the king.' But when the royal elephant...having gone into battle, uses its limbs and his trunk, the trainer notices and thinks: 'This royal elephant has given up its life to the king. There is nothing it will not do.'

"In the same way, Rahula, when anyone feels no shame in telling a deliberate lie, there is no harm (wrong), I tell you, he will not do. Thus, Rahula, train yourself, 'I will not tell a deliberate lie even in jest.'

"What do you think, Rahula, what is a mirror for?"

"For reflection, venerable sir."

"In the same way, Rahula, bodily, verbal, and mental actions (deeds, karma) are to be done with repeated reflection.

"Whenever you want to do a bodily action, reflect on it: 'This bodily action I want to do, would it lead to my harm, the harm of others, or both? Would it be an unskillful bodily action, with painful consequences, painful results?' If, on reflection, you know that it would lead to self-harm, the harm of others, or to both, that it would be an unskillful bodily action with painful consequences, painful results, then any bodily action of that sort is absolutely unfit for you to do.

"But if on reflection you know that it would not cause harm...it would be a skillful bodily action with pleasant consequences, pleasant results, then any bodily action of that sort is fit for you to do.

"While you are doing a bodily action, reflect on it: 'This bodily action I am doing, is it leading to self-harm, to the harm of others, or to both? Is it an unskillful bodily action, with painful consequences, painful results?' If, on reflection, you know that it is leading to self-harm, to the harm of others, or to both...give it up.

"But if on reflection you know that it is not...you may continue with it.

"Having done a bodily action, reflect on it: 'This bodily action I have done, did it lead to self-harm, to the harm of others, or to both? Was it an unskillful bodily action, with painful consequences, painful results?'

"If, on reflection, you know that it led to self-harm, to the harm of others, or to both, it was an unskillful bodily action with painful consequences, painful results, then confess it, reveal it, lay it open to the Teacher or to a knowledgeable companion in the supreme [monastic] life. Having confessed it...exercise restraint in the future.

"But if on reflection you know that it did not lead to harm...it was a skillful bodily action with pleasant consequences, pleasant results, then stay elated and joyful, training day and night in skillful mental states.

• [The same is then said for verbal and mental actions.]

"Rahula, all those Brahmins and [wandering ascetic] monastics in the course of the past who purified their bodily, verbal, and mental actions did it through repeated reflection on their bodily, verbal, and mental actions in this way.

"All those Brahmins and monastics in the course of the future who will purify their bodily, verbal, and mental actions will do it through repeated reflection on their bodily, verbal, and mental actions in this way.

"All those Brahmins and monastics at present who purify their bodily, verbal, and mental actions do it through repeated reflection on their bodily, verbal, and mental actions in this way.

"Thus, Rahula, train yourself: 'I will purify my bodily actions through repeated reflection. I will purify my verbal actions through repeated reflection. I will purify my mental actions through repeated reflection.' This is how to train yourself."

That is what the Blessed One said. Gratified, Ven. Rahula delighted in the Blessed One's words. More

*NOTE: Throughout ancient cultures, the terminology of music was used to describe the moral quality of people and actions. Discordant intervals or poorly tuned musical instruments were metaphors for wrongdoing (harm). Harmonious intervals and well-tuned instruments were metaphors for good. In Pali, the term sama ("even") described a tuned instrument. There is a famous passage (AN 6.55) where the Buddha reminds Sona Kolivisa — who had been over-exerting himself in his spiritual practice — that a lute sounds appealing only if the strings are neither too tight nor too loose but "evenly" tuned. This image has special resonance with the Buddha's teaching on the Middle Way, which avoids the two extremes of sensual indulgence and self mortification. It also adds meaning to the term samana ("monastic" or "wandering ascetic"), which the texts frequently mention as being derived from sama. The word samañña ("evenness," the characteristic or quality of being in tune) also means the quality of being a monastic: The true monastic is always in tune with what is proper and good.

• See also: MN 62, MN 147

The Buddha on SNL (comedy)

Rahula's true inheritance was the Dharma.

Once the Buddha had to deal with his mischievous son, Venerable Rahula, a young monastic, who was given to telling jokes and jesting. The Buddha admonished him and advised him not to counterfeit the truth even for the sake of humor. It would be for his good for a long time if he abstained from lying even in jest, even sarcastically, even facetiously. Some take it as a monastic rule set down, to avoid lying even in telling a joke, a fiction. So might the SNL players be in some karmic hot water for not only counterfeiting the truth but for doing so about a buddha, the best of blameless beings? We don't know. It would be good to read The Buddha's Words on Karma: Four Discourses of the Buddha from the Middle Length Discourses (accesstoinsight.org)

SNL must have SEX on the brain or at least the actor who plays Poseidon

• Ambalatthika-Rahulovada Sutra: Instructions to Rahula at Mango Stone (accesstoinsight.org)
• Rahula Sutra: Advice to Rahula
• Cula-Rahulovada Sutra: Shorter Exposition to Rahula
• Maha-Rahulovada Sutra: Greater Exhortation to Rahula

Meditate with desire? Yes (Ajahn Chah)

Ajahn Chah (ajahnchah.org) via Ven. Sujato, Ellie Askew, Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

I crave to make an end of craving. Is that OK?

Lustful desire (thirst, craving, clinging, greed) is a defilement. But we must first have some kind of desire (ambition, a sense of urgency, determination, the will to gain some good) to start practicing the Middle Way.

Suppose we went to buy coconuts at the market, and while carrying them back someone asked: "Why did you buy those coconuts?"

Why did you buy this hard shell, to eat?

"I brought them to eat."

"Are you going to eat the shells, too?"

"Of course not."

"I don't believe you. If you're not going to eat the shells, why did you buy them?"

Well, what would you say? When asked, how are you going to answer that question?

We practice with some form of desire to begin with. If we had no desire at all, we wouldn't practice. Contemplating in this way can give rise to wisdom, you know?

Master Chah mindfully meditating in the forest

For example, with those coconuts, are you going to eat the shells as well? Of course not. Then why did you buy them? They're very useful for wrapping up the contents of coconut. If after eating the contents we throw the shells away, there's no problem.

• [Don't throw them away until they've served their purpose.]

Our practice is like this. We're not going to eat the shells, but it's not yet time to throw them away.

We keep them first, just like we do with some forms of desire. This is how the practice of Buddhism is. If someone wants to accuse us of eating coconut shells, that's their business. Let them. We know what we're doing.

Buddhism in seven words (2)

Ellie Askew (Dhammapada, Chapter 14: Verse 183), Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Siddhartha: Hmm, how to put this in brief? (The Buddha/pbs.org)

.

1. Do
2. good.
3. Avoid
4. bad.
5. Purify
6. the
7. mind. (Dhp 183)

Ajahn Chah on the Buddha's Middle Way

Ajahn Chah (ajahnchah.org) via Ven. Sujato, Ellie Askew; Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Ven. Sujato Bhikkhu, Western Buddhist monk

Walking the Middle Path of the Buddha is arduous and challenging. But reaching its ultimate goal is joyous and satisfying.

There are the extremes of skillful and unskillful (good and bad, profitable and unprofitable). If we are confident, we follow the Buddha's wise guidance.

If we become enraged at someone, we immediately go searching for a stick to attack that person. We have no patient endurance.

If we love someone, we want to caress them from head to toe. Am I right?

These two sidetracks completely miss the middle. This is hardly what the Buddha advised. The Buddha's Teaching, the Dharma, is to gradually put these things down and abandon them.

Samsara (the Wheel of Life and Death) is full of delusion and pain.

.

His path-of-practice is a Middle Way that leads out of continued becoming, toward freedom from rebirth: It is a path free of samsaric duality, birth/death, happiness/unhappiness, good/evil.

Those people who crave continued becoming are blind to what’s in the middle. They fall off the Path on the side of craving happiness then completely pass over the middle on their way to the flip side of disappointment and frustration.

They continually skip over the center. This sacred place is invisible to them as they rush back and forth. They don’t stay in that place where there is no more becoming and no rebirth.

They don’t like it, so they don’t stay. Either they go down out of their home and get bitten by a dog or fly up to get pecked by a vulture. This is existence in samsara [always beset by disappointing, impermanent, and impersonal experiences].

RAW: WHAT AJAHN SAID (translated from Thai) Walking down the Middle Path of the Buddha is arduous and challenging. There are just these two extremes of good and bad. If we believe what they tell us, we have to follow their orders. If we become enraged at someone, we immediately go searching for a stick to attack them. We have no patient endurance. If we love someone we want to caress them from head to toe. Am I right? These two sidetracks completely miss the middle. This is not what the Buddha recommended. His teaching was to gradually put these things down. His practice was a path leading out of existence, away from rebirth -- a path free of becoming, birth, happiness,unhappiness, good, and evil. Those people who crave existence are blind to what’s in the middle.They fall off the Path on the side of happiness and then completely pass over the middle on their way to the other side of dissatisfaction and irritation. They continually skip over the centre. This sacred place is invisible to them as they rush back and forth. They don’t stay in that place where there is no existence and no birth. They don’t like it, so they don’t stay. Either they go down out of their home and get bitten by a dog or fly up to get pecked by a vulture. This is existence.

The Buddha's advice to his son

John D. Ireland, excerpt, Rahula Sutra (Sn 2.11); Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

Young Prince Rahula, prompted by his mother (Bimba Devi/Yasodhara) asks for his "inheritance." After renouncing the world, the Buddha came back to save his son, wife, family, relatives, friends, and the whole world by teaching the Path to Freedom he had discovered. The Buddha gives his son his inheritance by directing Ven. Sariputra to ordain the boy, giving him a spiritual inheritance far better than the one he asked for.

 

All in the family: Rahula, the Buddha, Ananda

"Rahula, renouncing the five [captivating] pleasures of the senses that [trap,] entrance, and delight the mind, and with confidence departing from home, become one to make an end of  all suffering!
 
"Associate with good friends, and choose remote lodgings, secluded, free of noise. Eat but moderately. Robes, alms (food), medicinal remedies, and a dwelling -- use without craving (clinging to) these things. Be not one who returns to the world.*

• *By being dragged back to the world by craving for these things (Commentary).

Rahula, when you see your father -- that's him in the front -- ask him for your inheritance.

 

The mother of Rahula, Bimba Devi

Practice restraint according to the Discipline (monastic disciplinary code or vinaya), and exercise restraint of the five sense faculties.

"Practice mindfulness of the body to continually develop dispassion [towards it to gain freedom from it.] Avoid the sign of the beautiful (subha) that is connected with passion [and therefore with clinging]. By meditating on the foul* aspects, cultivate a mind that is calm and collected (pure, concentrated, undistracted).

• *The "foul" (asubha, unlovely) refers to contemplation of the body by bringing to mind the body as a corpse moving through various stages of decomposition and the contemplation of the 32 parts of the body as it is now -- as a means of being able to let go and develop liberating detachment from the body and dispassion toward its beautiful signs or aspects (subha-nimitta).

"Meditate on the signless.*

The marriage of Prince Siddhartha and Princess Bimba (Yasodhara) before birth of Rahula

• *The signless (animitta) is one of the Three Liberations (vimokkha) by which beings are freed from the world (rebirth, samsara). The other two are desirelessness (appanihita) and emptiness (sunnata, the impersonal nature of all condition things). The signless is connected with the idea of impermanence of all conditioned things (cf. The Path of Purification, Visuddhi Magga, XXI 67f).

Princess Bimba holding Prince Siddhartha (W)

"And [thereby] get rid of the tendency toward conceit (mana, misconceiving). By thoroughly understanding and uprooting conceit one will live in the (highest, unmatched) peace."

"In this way the Buddha repeatedly advised his son, who became a Buddhist monk named Venerable Rahula."

What is the Buddha's "Path"? (Dhammapada)

Acharya Buddharakkhita, Dhp XX, Maggavagga: The Path, Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Noble Eightfold Path

273. Of all the paths the Noble Eightfold Path is the best; of all the truths the Four Noble Truths are the best; of all things passionlessness is the best: of humans the Seeing One (the Buddha) is the best.

 

274. This is the only path; no other results in the purification of insight. Tread this path, and you will bewilder Mara [Death].

 

275. Walking upon this path one will make an end of all suffering. Having discovered how to pull out the thorn of lust/craving, I make known the path.

 

Buddhas point the way to freedom.

276. You yourselves must strive; the buddhas [supremely enlightened teachers] only point the way. Those meditative ones who tread the path are released from the bonds of Mara.

 

277. "All conditioned things are impermanent" -- when one sees this with wisdom (insight), one turns away from suffering. This is the path to purification.

 

278. "All conditioned things are unsatisfactory" -- when one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering. This is the path to purification.

 

279. "All things are impersonal (not-self)" -- when one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering. This is the path to purification.

• These are the Three Marks, which are also called the Three Characteristics of All Conditioned Existence. They are true of all phenomena, which arise, turn, and fall away and so are radically impermanent at every moment. They are utterly incapable for providing lasting satisfaction. And, most difficult to comprehend, they are utterly impersonal, without self, neither the parts or property or constituents of a self.

The Path of Purification (Buddhaghosa)

280. Idlers who do not exert themselves when they should, who though young and strong are full of sloth, with a mind full of vain thoughts -- such indolent one do not find the path to wisdom.

 

281. Let one be watchful of speech, well controlled in mind, and not commit unskillful deeds in bodily actions. Let one purify these three courses of action [body, speech, mind] and win the path made known by the Great Sage.

 

282. Wisdom springs from meditation; without meditation wisdom wanes. Having known these two paths of progress and decline, let one so conduct oneself that one's wisdom may increase.

 

283. Cut down the forest (lust), but not the tree; from the forest springs fear. Having cut down the forest and the underbrush (desire), be passionless, O meditators!

• (V. 283) Meaning: "Cut down the forest of lust, but do not mortify the body."

284. For so long as the underbrush of desire, even the most subtle, of one partner towards another is not cut down, one's mind is in bondage, like the sucking calf to its mother.

 

285. Cut off your attachment in the manner of one who plucks with hand an autumn lotus. Cultivate only the path to peace, nirvana, as made known by the Exalted One.

 

286. "Here shall I live during the rains, there in winter and summer" -- thus thinks the fool. One does not realize the danger (that death will eventually intervene).

 

287. As a great flood carries away a sleeping village, so death seizes and carries away the person with mind/heart clinging, doting on children and wealth.

 

288. For one who is assailed by death there is no protection by kin. No one there are to save such a person -- neither children, nor parent, nor relatives.

 

289. Realizing this fact, let the wise person, restrained by virtue, hasten to clear the path leading to nirvana.

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The Bad Ruler (sutra)

Elizabeth J. Harris, Violence and Disruption in Society: A Study of the Early Buddhist Texts (BPS Wheel #392), edited by Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly

1. The Forms of Violence

What the Buddha knew

The sutras of the Buddha, as they have been handed down to us, are replete with details about the contemporary realities of those times. They reveal much about the social contexts within which he moved and the faces of society with which he was familiar.
 

The Canki Sutra shows a Brahmin overlord insisting that the Buddha is equal to him in birth, riches, and the knowledge of the Vedas [the sacred texts of the Indus Valley Civilization and later of India]. He continues:

Indeed, sirs, King Seniya Bimbisara of Magadha with his wife and children has gone to the recluse Gotama [the Buddha] for guidance for life. Indeed, sirs, King Pasenadi of Kosala with his wife and children has gone to the recluse Gotama for guidance for life. Indeed, sirs, the Brahmin Pokkharasati with his wife and children has gone to the recluse Gotama for guidance for life [3].

Important here is the reference to kings. The texts show clearly that the Buddha had an intimate knowledge of statecraft.

Records of his conversations with King Pasenadi and King Bimbisara show him speaking in a language which those involved in government could understand. King Pasenadi, for instance, comes through as a man torn between his duties as king, involving some degree of ruthlessness, and his concern for spiritual things. At one moment, he is seen preparing a sacrifice in which many animals are to be slaughtered and menials beaten and, at another, speaking seriously with the Buddha about the dangers of wealth, power, and misconduct [4].

What is significant is the level of knowledge shown by the Buddha about the pressures on a king such as Pasenadi. His use of similes and illustrations, for instance, appeals to King Pasenadi's experience, including the central concern of all rulers at that time -- defense against aggression. At one point King Pasenadi asks about the value of gifts and to whom a gift should be given for the gift to bear much fruit. The Buddha replies:

A gift bears much fruit if given to a virtuous person, not to a vicious person. As to that, sire, I also will ask you a question. Answer it as you think fit. What think you, sire: Suppose that you were at war, and that the contending armies were being mustered. And there were to arrive a noble youth, untrained, unskilled, unpracticed, undrilled, timid, trembling, affrighted, one who would run away -- would you keep that man? Would such a man be any good to you? [5]

The Buddha thereby uses similes from King Pasenadi's military world to indicate that virtue does not depend on birth but on [merit and the] qualities of character. In fact, in a number of texts, illustrations drawn from the context of the state, defense and martial arts can be found. Not only does the Buddha make use of military metaphors, but the texts show that he had extensive knowledge of the strategies of war, punishment, and political patronage. The Maha-dukkha-kkhandha Sutra, for instance, uses graphic description to show that war and conflict spring from sensual desires:

And again, meditators, when sense pleasures are the cause... having taken sword and shield, having girded on bow and quiver, both sides mass for battle and arrows are hurled, and knives are hurled, and swords are flashing. Those who wound with arrows and wound with knives and decapitate with their swords, these suffer dying then and pain like unto dying... 

And again, meditators, when sense pleasures are the cause... having taken sword and shield, having girded on bow and quiver, they leap on to the newly daubed ramparts, and arrows are hurled, and knives are hurled, and swords are flashing. Those who wound with arrows and wound with knives and pour boiling cow-dung over them and crush them with the portcullis and decapitate them with their swords, these suffer dying then and pain like unto dying [6].

In the next part of the sutra, a variety of horrific punishments are described and a keen awareness of their nature is seen:

Kings, having arrested such a one, deal out various punishments: they lash him with whips and they lash him with canes and they lash him with rods, and they cut off his hand... his foot... his hand and foot... his ear... and they give him the "gruel-pot" punishment... the "shell-tonsure" punishment... "Rahu's mouth"... the "fire-garland"... the "flaming hand"... and so on [7].

In another sutra handed down to us, two men are pointed out while the Buddha is talking to a headman, Pataliya. One of them is garlanded and well-groomed; the other is tightly bound, about to lose his head. We are told that the same deed has been committed by both. The difference is that the former has killed the foe of the king and has been rewarded for it, while the latter was the king's enemy [8].

Hence it is stressed that the laws of the state are not impartial: they can mete out punishment or patronage according to the wish of the king and his cravings for revenge or security.

 

It cannot be argued that the Buddha was ignorant of the political realities of his day. He spurned frivolous talk about such things as affairs of state [9],  but he was neither indifferent to them nor uninformed. On the contrary, his concern for the human predicament made him acutely aware of the potential for violence within the economic and political forces around him.

The political milieu of rival republics and monarchies in northern India forms a backdrop to his teaching, whether the rivalries between the kingdoms of Kosala and Magadha or the struggles of the republics to maintain their traditions and their independence in the face of the rising monarchies [10].

 

However, the violence attached to politics and statecraft forms one section only of the picture which emerges from the texts. Violence is detected in the Brahminical sacrificial system, in the austerities practiced by some wanderers, and in the climate of philosophical dispute among the many sramana [wandering ascetic] groupings as well as in the area of social discrimination and the economic order.

 

Religion, to take this first, is seen as a cause of physical, verbal, and mental violence. The violence inflicted through sacrifices is described thus:

Now at that time a great sacrifice was arranged to be held for the king, the Kosalan Pasenadi. Five hundred [lit. "a large number"] bulls, five hundred bullocks, and as many heifers, goats, and rams were led to the pillar to be sacrificed. And they that were slaves and menials and craftsmen, hectored about by blows and by fear, made the preparations with tearful faces weeping [11].

In contrast, the wandering ascetic groupings within this period rejected sacrifice. Denying the authority of the Vedas and a realm of gods to be manipulated, their emphasis was on renunciation, the gaining of insight and philosophical debate.

Nevertheless, a form of violence was present. The austerities practiced by some of those who came to the Buddha were worse than any enemy might inflict as punishment. The Buddha himself confessed to having practiced them before his enlightenment.

In the Maha-Saccaka [12] and the Maha-Sihanada [13] Sutras there is vivid description of the excesses undertaken. Taken together, the two sutras cover the complete range of contemporary Indian practices, which included

• nakedness or the wearing of rags, tree-bark fiber, kusa grass, wood shavings, or human hair;
• deprivation of food to the extent of existing on a single fruit or rice grain;
• self-mortification through lying on thorns or exposing the body to extremes of heat and cold;
• copying the habits of animals such as walking on all fours or eating similar food.

It was the Buddha's view that such practices were a form of violence, although undertaken in the name of religion and truth-seeking [14].

 

Undertaken also in the name of truth were verbal battles between different groups of wanderers. The Buddha's followers, in fact, were frequently at the receiving end of an aggressive campaign by other wandering ascetic groups to ridicule their beliefs.

The description of these incidents gives useful evidence of the prevailing atmosphere [15]. In the Udumbarika Sihanada Sutra, Nigrodha the Jain claims:

Why, householder, if the samana Gotama [the Shaman Gautama, the wandering ascetic, the Buddha] were to come into this assembly, with a single question only could we settle him; yes, I think we could roll him over like an empty pot [16].

In the Kassapa Sihanada Sutra, the Buddha speaks out:

Now there are, Kassapa, certain wanderers and Brahmins who are clever, subtle, experienced in debate, hair splitters, who go about, one would think, breaking into pieces by their knowledge the speculations of their adversaries [17].

 

Violence of state and violence in the name of religion were two faces of the Buddha's society. Violence within the economic order was another. The sixth century B.C. in [what later came to be called] India witnessed urbanization and commercial growth.

The cities of Savatthi, Saketa, Kosambhi, Benares, Rajagaha, and Champa would have been some of the most important centers known to the Buddha, who spent much time in urban environments.

As Trevor Ling argues in his study, The Buddha [18], the growth of these cities spawned individualism and competition in response to changing economic patterns and social dislocation. The potentially violent tensions generated are reflected in the Buddha's teachings through such themes as the rightful gaining of wealth, the place of service and work [19], correct duties towards employees, and the wise choosing of friends.

For instance, a Samyutta Nikaya text contains a conversation between Rasiya the Headman and the Buddha. The Buddha speaks out against those who gain wealth by unlawful means, especially with violence [20].

Then, in the Sigalovada Sutra ["Advice to Householders Discourse"], the Buddha outlines rights and duties for the different social relationships in society [21].

 An employer is advised to: assign work according to the strength of the employee; supply food and wages; tend workers in sickness; share with them unusual delicacies; grant them vacation leave.

The same sutra comments on friendship and says that four foes in the likeness of friends should be avoided:

1. a rapacious person,
2. a person of words not deeds,
3. the flatterer, and
4. the ne'r-do-well.

"This is fine." (ThisModernWorld.com)

The study of what the Early Buddhist texts say about violence must be seen against this background of political violence and social change. The empiricism of Early Buddhism also demands this -- the Buddha's appeal to what is observed in society as a basis for evaluating the truth of his teachings [22].
 

The analysis of historical context calls into question whether any philosophy or thought system can have universal relevance. Since the human situation across the permutations of history is indeed subject to change... More
 

NOTES:

Sean, they're not talking about me, right?

3. MN 95/ii,167.

4. The Kosala Samyutta (Samyutta Nikaya, Vol. 1) records the conversations which this king had with the Buddha. The examples mentioned have been taken from this section.

5. SN i,97.

6. MN 13/i,86-87.

7. MN 13/i,87.

8. SN iv,343.

9. In several sutras, the Buddha comes across groups of wanderers engaged in heated discussions about kings, robbers, armies, etc. (e.g., DN iii,37; MN ii,1). In contrast, the Buddha advised his disciples either to maintain noble silence or to speak about the Dharma.

10. See Romila Thapar, A History of India (Pelican Books UK, 1966), Chapter 3.

11. SN i,75.

12. MN 36/i,227ff.

13. MN 12/i,68ff.

14. At the end of the Buddha's description of his austerities in the Maha-Saccaka Sutra he says: "And some wanderers and Brahmins are now experiencing feelings that are acute, painful, sharp, severe. But this is paramount, nor is there worse than this. But I, by this severe austerity, do not reach states of further men, the excellent knowledge and vision befitting the Ariyans ["Noble Ones," enlightened persons]. Could there be another way to awakening?" (MN i,246).

15. The Maha-Sakuludayi Sutra (MN 77/ii,1ff.) reflects contemporary realities when a town plays hosts to various groups of wanderers.

16. DN 25/iii,38.

17. DN 8/i,162.

18. Trevor Ling, The Buddha — Buddhist civilization in India and Ceylon (Penquin Books UK, 1973).

19. See Esukari Sutra, MN 96.

20. SN iv,330ff.

21. DN 31.

22. Reference can be made to the following: (a) AN i,188ff. The Buddha's advice to the Kalamas. (b) AN ii,167ff. The Buddha advises the monastics to scrutinize closely anything said to have come from his mouth. (c) Canki Sutra: MN 95/ii,170-71. The Buddha says that belief, reasoning, and personal preference are not guarantees of truth. (d) Vimamsaka Sutra: MN 47. The Buddha urges his disciples to examine his own conduct before deciding whether he is an Enlightened One, and to investigate empirical evidence rather than accept things through blind faith.