On the Path of the Buddha: Buddhist Pilgrimage in North India and Nepal
(Phillip Lucas) This educational video follows the path of Buddhist pilgrims from around the world as they visit Lumbini, Nepal, the traditional site thought to be where Prince Siddhartha (the Buddha-to-be) was born.
Then it is on to "Enlightenment Grove" or Bodh Gaya in Bihar (Vihara), India, the site of Prince Siddhartha's great awakening or enlightenment (maha bodhi).
Then it is on to Sarnath, India, the site of the Buddha's first sutra or sermon, where he made five converts of wandering ascetics who previously accompanied him on his spiritual quest.
Then it is on to the ancient royal city of Rajgir, India, the site of Vulture's Peak, the hill where the Buddha delivered several famous sutras.
Then it is on to Vaishali, India, where the Buddha first accepted females into the Buddhist Order of Nuns (Bhikkhuni Sangha).
Finally, it is on to Kushinagar, India, the site of the Buddha's final nirvana, the culmination of his long journey through samsara (the Wheel of Life and Death).
It will happen this weekend -- as it has happened every year Coachella has convened for a weekend of sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll in the desert -- that two friends will grow weary of the worldly life and seek something more spiritual and meaningful to make an end of all further suffering.
Getting high, one can distract and delude oneself that one is being "spiritual," or that one's friends are on the right track and on the verge of a breakthrough in insight or understanding. But continued asinine behavior when they return to the suburbs and the big city proves that was just a "pipe dream," of the sort for which Alice in Wonderland was famous.
One parties, one explores hedonism with great zeal, one claims to be a "seeker," an atheist or agnostic, but something eats away at one, and it can't just be what parents and society inculcated.
Humans have an innate drive to make sense of things: Who am I? What am I? What is my purpose? WTF is the meaning of it all? Inquiring minds want to know.
Another year, another giant West Coast Woodstock festival
As has been pointed out in the past, we are neither Faith Quarterly nor Easy Answers Digest. We are on a quest, as many readers must be, to know things directly: What's the meaning of all this? Why do things happen? What's really going on in the human world? We know the mainstream media has been lying and filling our heads full of BS, and it's been going on our whole lives.
As members of The Empire, we have a far better chance of figuring things out than the victims of our American imperialism and its hegemony. It, therefore, behooves us to speak out, to protest, to speak truth to power, to stand up for the powerless, to point out our own U.S. hypocrisy and not just comfort ourselves at others' expense. That reminds us to say, the emperor has no clothes. He's totally naked and no one has said anything about it. The nominal left (our side) is little better than the nominal right (their side). We prefer Purple in the Red vs. Blue, Bloods vs. Crips Battle that is our sorry excuse for a political system. We oppose the wars of our endless war economy. ("Fight war, not wars.")
What d'you like most? The beat, the beat, the beat
So, living in luxury, we get to go to music festivals and enjoy a lot of leisure time, eat well and exercise, do yoga and meditate. We're spoiled. And this kind of privilege leads to a kind of pre-awakening the motivated Siddhartha to leave the palace and find reality. It's not just psychonauts who are searching and seeking, questioning and questing.
We're on a quest. Who else was on an ancient quest? Two friends who became the Buddha's chief male disciples foremost in wisdom and psychic powers, respectively. This "sutra," more a portion of their life stories than a discourse, speaks of what happened when two young guys and all their friends went to ancient multiday music festival to see performers, enjoy art, meet new people, date, eat, and above all be entertained!
Nevertheless, what in the Avici does Coachella have to do with Buddhism?
What if we could go back to the Hill Festival?
By a strange synchronicity, I was traveling through Buddhist India, on the circuit, in search of a teacher or temple really following the Buddha's ancient path.
I came to the royal city of Rajgir, thinking this ancient citadel more important than world-famous "Enlightenment Grove" (Bodh Gaya, Bihar) because so many things had happened here. Not the least of which, this is the site of Vulture's Peak and Pipphali Cave and even the Squirrel's Feeding Ground at Bamboo Grove (Veluvana). It's unclear that this is the exact location of the squirrels, but there is a large pond (tank).
I stayed at a monastery run by an Asian Buddhist monk (Japanese, Korean, it's unclear), who seemed devoid of any spiritual motivations and was just running a hostel in the pre-season. It was nice except for the noise. What was that noise? Day and night, I could not sleep. Finally, upset and wanting to get to the bottom of it, I set out in the direction of the racket. Imagine my surprise that the 24-hour disturbance was The Hill Festival!
It still happens. I was offered a couch, but I recoiled. Who would waste time on such worldly distractions in the most spiritual place on the face of the planet? There really are seven big hills ringing this ancient capital on the Gangetic plains.
I sat atop Vulture's Peak. There's a redstone deck for viewing, just as the Buddha once looked upon the forested valley below. One can see Isigili Hill (Eater of Seers, Swallower of Sages), where the Buddha questioned Jains (Niganthas) about severe asceticism (Isigili Sutra), where Maha Moggallana was killed, where many pacceka buddhas gathered. There have never been any vultures here. The peak gets its name from the shape of the stones, which resemble eagles and vultures (like we have in LA, where California condors and bald velociraptors share the skies) in the morning and evening. To the side of the platform Tibetan Buddhists place or discard hundreds of white scarves. Under the platform is a small cave in which to meditate, as someone famously did at the time of the Buddha. It is even the setting of a very famous apocryphal Mahayana discourse (the Heart Sutra).
Vulture's peak platform looking at Isigili Hill
I entered the small cave where the First Buddhist Council was held. (There's no way 500 could ever have fit in it, but "500" only means "a large number" in the ancient Pali vernacular).
There's a gondola to a peak where a Japanese Buddhist temple sits. This was off season, so there were no crowds. But one could see where the crowds must be. There's another Japanese temple with "Zen" drawings of the great disciples down in the valley by the river (which has leeches).
Sacred Buddhist pilgrimage sites in Rajgir, India
There are in Rajgir natural hot springs and mini ghats to walk down and bathe in them. I must have wandered here in past lives. It's just a sense. What proof could one evince of that being the case other than testifying about resonating with the place so powerfully that nothing else makes sense to explain why, as an American, I would gravitate to the Dharmic traditions and recognize Buddhism as the ultimate?
Some of the nicer ancient temples are set high near the entrance of the city next to the Bamboo Grove. I could not help but admire the meticulous of the ancient Buddhist artisans who built them, carving beautiful sculptures of the naked Buddha, only to find those were Jain buildings and sculptures of Mahavira, the founding Jina, a great spiritual contemporary of the Buddha.
Showing up at the Hill Festival is not so different than taking a trip to Coachella, which was originally billed as a "Woodstock" for California.
Coachella is seductive. Coachella is an ordeal. Coachella is a vacuum that often sucks: walking around on lawns (polo grounds) and dirt in the heat, dust blowing, a mad crush all around the stage, a dusty, sweaty, unruly mosh pit and, worst of all, an early curfew. It's an expensive disappointment, but the people-watching and all the circus tents with different shows going on, providing little darkness for midday EDM in the desert. It's a mixed bag, and it's overkill.
That time at the ancient art and music festival
Hellmuth Hecker and Ven. Nyanaponika Thera, edited and updated by Wisdom Quarterly
Those old legends and folk comedies will make great fodder for art festival entertainments.
Upatissa (the future Ven. Sariputta) was a pioneer type, daring and enterprising, while Kolita (the future Ven. Maha Moggallana) had a different way, which was to preserve, cultivate, and enrich what he had gained.
Their places within their rich and privileged families were different. Kolita was an only child, but Upatissa had three brothers and three sisters.
For both, their friendship meant so much that it filled their daily lives. It filled it to such an extent that as young males, they had little interest in girls compared to other boys. They were not quite free from the indulgences of their youthful age and its lightheartedness.
Each led a group of friends with whom they undertook many kinds of sport and play in high spirits.
Lifestyles of the rich and famous Brahmins
When they visited the river, Kolita's companions galloped in on horseback and those of Upatissa arrived in rich, fancy vehicles like celebrity royals.
It was similar with Francis of Assisi (the future San Francisco): He, too, had been the leader of a group of playboys, and like him, both friends, too, had been enamored by the intoxications of youth, health and life.
In Rajagaha (now Rajgir, India, a royal city encircled by seven hills where "Buddhism" was born with the First Council), the capital of the ancient Kingdom of Magadha, there was a great festival with popular entertainments and amusements called "the Hill Festival."
Partying for days at the Hill Festival
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Dance like there's no tomorrow because one day...
The rich and privileged friends, living in luxury, went to enjoy it. They had great seats reserved, where they could easily see the entertainments. [When the music was good, one imagines they must have tapped their feet, sang along, danced, and enjoyed the sight of provocatively dressed dancing girls]. When there was something to laugh at, they joined in the laughter. When there was something fascinating, they got excited.
They enjoyed the entertainments so much, they returned for a second day. They were keen to watch the dramatic performances, a mixture of folk comedies and great legends. However, attend as much as they did, the heightening of their mood that they expected failed to come.
Kolita (Ven. Maha Moggallana) had very dark skin
However, they reserved a third day, too, with a new program of entertainers announced in glowing terms. They slept poorly at night as the impressions of the day haunted their minds.
Suffering insomnia, Kolita thought: "What's the use of all this for us? Is any of this really worthwhile? What benefit does it give? After a few years, these glamorous performers will be old, frail, and feeble; they will leave the stage of life and carry on their wanderings through samsara existence after existence, driven by their cravings. It's the same with us. These actors cannot help themselves to solve the problem of existence. How, then, can they help us? We're just wasting our time here instead of working out our spiritual liberation!"
Upatissa also had a restless night, and similar thoughts occurred to him. He reflected on how the ancient legends and myths dramatized in these performances actually concerned the reality of rebirth. The jokes and frolicking that overlay the ideas in the plays pretended that there was only this present life one needed be concerned with. Was this not an artificial suppression and habitual repression of the truth with vain illusions?
When, on the morning of the third day, they got to the festival, Kolita asked his friend Upatissa, "What's the matter with you? You are not as merry as you have been. What depresses you?"
His friend Upatissa replied, "Tell me, what is the use to us of all these pleasures of eye and ear? It is absolutely useless and worthless! I would rather seek a way to escape from the devastating law of impermanence, a way to find liberation from the fleeting illusions of life that are alluringly and haunting and just leave us empty. That is what went through my mind and made me think.
Hey, c'mon, why don't you enjoy the party?
"You, friend Kolita, look anything but cheerful!"
Kolita replied: "I have felt the same as you. Why should we stay any longer in this vanity show? We ought to seek a way to real freedom!"
When Upatissa heard his friend had the same wish, he happily exclaimed: "That is a good thought that came to us independent from one another! We've wasted our lives and time long enough with all these unprofitable things. But if one earnestly seeks a teaching of freedom, one has to give up one's home and possessions and go forth into the left-home life as a seeker, free of worldly and sensual bonds, rising above them like a feathered bird."
What got into them as they grew disillusioned and dispassionate towards these frivolous sensual pursuits? A "sense of urgency" called samvega
The two friends decided to adopt the life of yogis and wandering ascetics who at that time, like now, wander in large numbers along the roads of Asia in search of a spiritual teacher, a guru or guide, who can show them the path to freedom.
When they announced their decision to their friends, the other young men were so impressed that most of them joined in this spiritual quest. All of them gave up home life, removed the sacred Brahmin's thread, cut their hair and beard and put on the pale earth-colored garments of religious wanderers. Discarding all distinguishing marks and privileges of their caste, they entered the classless society of ascetics. More: The Life of Maha-Moggallana
From birth to attainment of enlightenment
Ven. Sariputta became "foremost in wisdom"
The story begins at two ancient Brahmin villages in Magadha, near Rajagaha, where Upatissa and Kolita were born. Before the Buddha appeared in the world, a wealthy Brahmin lady named Sari, living in Upatissa Village [1] conceived. On the same day, in Kolita Village, another rich Brahmin lady named Moggalli did, too.
The two families were connected, friends with one another for seven generations. From the first day of their pregnancies, the families gave due care to the mothers-to-be. After ten [lunar] months, the women gave birth to boys on the very same day.
On the name-giving day, Sari's son (Sari-putta or -putra meaning "Sari's son") received the name Upatissa, as he was a son of the foremost family of the village. For the same reason, Moggalli's son (Moggallana) was named Kolita.
When the boys grew up, they were educated and mastered their lessons. Each had a large following of Brahmin youths. And when they went to a park or to the river for sports and recreation, Upatissa used to be carried their on fancy palanquins (vehicles), whereas Kolita arrived on horse-drawn carriages.
One day Rajagaha was having its annual Hilltop Festival [an ancient version of the Coachella Festival]. Entrance was arranged for the youths who sat together with all their friends.
When there was something funny, they laughed. When the spectacles were exciting, they became excited. They liked it so much that they paid the fees for extra shows.
In this way they enjoyed the festival for a second day. But by the third day, their understanding was awakened, and they could no longer laugh nor get very excited. They didn't feel inclined to pay for extra shows as they had at the beginning of the festival.
They will be my chief male disciples.
Each had the same thought: "What is there to see here? Before any of these people reach a 100-years, they'll all be dead. What we ought to do is to seek for a teaching of liberation [from this Wheel of Birth and Death]."
With such thoughts in mind, they took their seats at the festival. Then Kolita said to Upatissa: "How are you doing, friend Upatissa? You seem not as happy and joyous as on previous days. Your mood seems discontented. What's on your mind?"
"Friend Kolita, to look at these things here is of no benefit at all. Watching this is utterly worthless! I ought to seek a doctrine of deliverance for myself. That, Kolita, is what I was thinking seated here. But you, Kolita, seem to be discontented, too."
Kolita replied: "It is just as you have said. I feel the same way."
When he heard that his friend had the same inclination, Upatissa said: "That was a good thought of ours. For those who seek a teaching for their spiritual liberation, there is only one thing to do: leave home and become wandering ascetics. But under whom shall we live the ascetic life?" More: The Life of Sariputta (accesstoinsight.org)
How the Buddha awakened beautiful Khema
It would be a while before they met the Buddha. They all went and ordained under the Yogi Sañjaya, who taught them all he could. They were not satisfied with his doctrine or dhamma. They scoured the countryside, each promising the other that if he found a real enlightened teacher, he would tell the other. The story of how the Buddha's two extremely beautiful chief female disciples, Ven. Khema and Ven. Uppalavanna, is equally interesting. It was no accident that these four were chosen to help the Buddha awaken a great many hearers.
Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Rajagaha (Rajgir) at the Bamboo Grove in the Squirrels' Feeding Ground.
On that occasion Ven. Sariputra and Ven. Maha Moggallana were staying in Pigeon Cave. On a moonlit night, Sariputra with his head newly shaven was sitting outside in the open air, absorbed in concentration (samadhi).
I want to beat on his bald head. - No, friend!
Just then two companion ogres (yakkhas, maras, asuras, jinn) were flying north to south for one reason or another. They saw Sariputra with his head newly shaven. And seeing him, one ogre said, "I'm inspired to give this wandering ascetic a blow on the head."
When this was said, the other ogre replied, "Enough, friend! Do not lay a hand on that wandering ascetic, who is outstanding, of great power and might."
A second time and third time, the ogre repeated his wish, and a second and third time, the other replied, "Enough, friend! Do not lay a hand on that wandering ascetic, who is outstanding, of great power and might."
I'm an ogre, so I do what I want when I want.
The ogre, ignoring his friend, gave Sariputra a severe blow on the head. That blow might have knocked over an elephant of seven or eight cubits (the length between elbow and fingertips) tall, or split a great rocky crag. Right there and then the ogre -- crying out, "I'm burning!" -- fell into the Waveless Deep (Great Hell).
Now, Maha Moggallana -- using his psychic powers, the purified divine eye that surpasses the human -- saw the ogre strike Sariputra on the head. Seeing this, he went to Sariputra then said to him, "I hope you're well, friend Sariputra. I hope you're comfortable and free of pain."
"I'm well, friend Moggallana, and comfortable. But I do have a slight headache."
"How amazing, friend Sariputra, how astounding, how great your power and might! Just now I saw an ogre give you a blow on the head. So great was that blow that it might have knocked over a tall elephant or split a rocky crag. But all you say is, 'I'm well, friend Moggallana, and comfortable. But I do have a slight headache.'"
"How amazing, friend Moggallana, how astounding, how great your power and might! Where you saw an ogre just now, I saw not even a whirlwind!"
The Blessed One -- with his purified divine ear that surpasses the human -- heard his two great male disciples (counterparts to the great Buddhist nuns Ven. Khema and Ven. Uppalavanna) conversing. And realizing the significance of what they were saying, he exclaimed:
Whose mind, standing like a rock, shakes not
With dispassion toward things that ignite passion,
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How Sariputra and Moggallana became ascetics
Nyanaponika Thera (trans.), The Life of Sariputta (edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly)
Maha Moggallana and Sariputra, the Buddha's two chief male disciples (dhammawheel.com)
Sariputra, foremost in wisdom
The story begins at two Brahmin villages in India called Upatissa and Kolita, which lay not far from the royal mountain-ringed city of Rajagaha.
Before the Buddha appeared in the world a Brahmin lady named Sari, living in the village of Upatissa, conceived.
[According to the Cunda Sutta (in the Satipatthana Samyutta) and its Commentary, the name of Sariputra's birthplace was Nalaka, or Nalagama, which may be an alternative name. It was probably quite close to the more famous Nalanda. Sariputta's father was a Brahmin named Vaganta. (Commentary to Dhammapada, v. 75).]
On the same day, in the village of Kolita, another Brahmin lady named Moggalli also conceived. The two families were closely connected, friends for seven generations. From the first day of their pregnancy the families gave due care to the mothers-to-be, and after ten [lunar] months both women gave birth to boys on the same day.
Later on the celebratory name-giving day, the child of Sari received the name Upatissa, as he was a son of the foremost family of the village. For the same reason Moggalli's son was named Kolita. When the boys grew up they were well educated, acquiring mastery of all the arts and sciences of the day. Each of them had a large following ("500") of Brahmin youths. Whenever they went to the river or park for sport and recreation, Upatissa used to go with a large number of palanquins, and Kolita with a large number of carriages.
Ancient Comedy Music Festival
"India" was once a vast empire.
Now at Rajagaha there was an annual event called the Hilltop Festival [which is still held in modern Rajgir]. Seats were arranged for both youths and they sat together to witness the celebrations. When there was occasion for laughter, they laughed. When the spectacles were exciting, they were excited. And they paid fees for extra shows.
In this way they enjoyed the festival for a second day, but on the third day their understanding was awakened and they could no longer laugh or get excited, nor did they feel inclined to pay for extra shows as they had done on the first two days.
Each of them had the same thought: "What is there to look at here? Before these people have reached 100 years, they will all have come to death. What we ought to do is to seek for a teaching [dharma] of liberation [from samsara, the round of rebirth and disappointment]."
It was with such thoughts in mind that they took their seats at the festival. Then Kolita said to Upatissa: "How is this, dear Upatissa, that you are not as happy and joyous as you were on the other days? You seem now to be in a discontented mood. What is on your mind?"
"Dear Kolita, to look at these things here is of no benefit at all. It is utterly worthless! I ought to seek a teaching of liberation for myself. That, Kolita, is what I was thinking seated here. But you, Kolita, seem to be discontented, too." Kolita replied: "Just as you have explained, I also feel."
When he knew that his friend had the same inclinations, Upatissa said: "That was a good thought of ours! But for those who seek a teaching of liberation there is only one thing to do: leave home and become ascetics. But under whom shall we live the ascetic life?"
Seeking a Teacher
The Brahmin wanderers meet the Buddha
At that time, there lived in Rajagaha an ascetic of the sect of wanderers (paribbajaka) called Sañjaya, who had a great following of pupils. Deciding to get ordination under him, Upatissa and Kolita went to him, each with his own following of many Brahmin youths. All of them received ordination from Sañjaya. And from the time of their ordination under him, Sañjaya's reputation and support increased abundantly.
Within a short time the two friends learned Sañjaya's entire doctrine (dharma) and asked him: "Master, does your doctrine go only so far, or is there something beyond?"
Sañjaya replied: "Only so far does it go. You now know it all."
Hearing this, they thought to themselves: "If that is the case, it is useless to continue the ascetic life under this teacher. We have gone forth from home to seek a teaching of liberation. Under Sañjaya we cannot find it. But India is vast! If we wander through villages, towns, and cities, we shall certainly find a master who can show us the teaching of liberation."
After that, whenever they heard that there were wise wandering ascetics or Brahmins at this or that place, they went and discussed with them. But there was none who was able to answer their questions, yet they were able to reply to anyone who questioned them. Having traveled through the whole of [the portion of] India they turned back, and arriving at their old place they agreed between them that he who should attain to deathlessness [enlightenment, liberation from samsara] first should quickly inform the other.
The Buddha, who was younger than Sariputra and Maha Moggallana, is depicted here on alms round in ancient India, which enjoyed a wonderfuldana system of hospitality (WQ)
It was a pact born of the deep friendship between the two. Some time after they had made that agreement, the Buddha, [at that time referred to as] the Blessed One, came to Rajagaha. For it was when he had delivered the "Fire Sermon" at Gaya Peak that the Buddha remembered his promise, given before his enlightenment to King Bimbisara: He had promised the king that he would come to Rajagaha again when he had attained his goal.
So in stages the Blessed One journeyed from Gaya to Rajagaha, and having received from King Bimbisara the Bamboo Grove Monastery (Veluvana, just outside the main entrance to Rajagaha) he resided there.
Among the 61 arhats (enlightened disciples) whom the Buddha had sent forth (as missionaries) to proclaim to the world the virtues of the Triple Gem, there was the "Elder" (Thera) Assaji, who belonged to the original group of five ascetics, the Buddha's erstwhile companions before his enlightenment, who afterwards became his first monastic disciples.
Assaji returned to Rajagaha from his missionary wanderings. One morning, as he was going for alms in the city, Upatissa saw him. Upatissa was on his way to the monastery of his school of wandering ascetics. But struck by Assaji's serene and dignified appearance, Upatissa thought: "Never before have I seen such a ascetic! He must be an arhat or at the very least on the way to arhatship.
"I should approach him and ask, 'Under whom have you been ordained? Who is your teacher, and what teaching do you profess?'" But then he thought: "It is not the proper time for putting questions to this venerable, as he is going for alms through the streets. I had better follow behind him, after the manner of supplicants." And he did so.
Buddha, Kabul, National Museum (Ninara)
Then, when the elder had gathered his alms food and Upatissa saw him going to another place intending to sit down and eat his meal, he prepared for him his own ascetic's seat which he carried with him and offered it to the elder.
Elder Assaji took his meal, after which Upatissa served him water from his own water-container, and in that way performed towards Assaji the duties of an Indian pupil to a teacher. After they had exchanged courteous greetings, Upatissa said: "Serene are your features, friend. Pure and bright is your complexion. Friend, under whom have you gone forth as an ascetic? Who is your teacher, and what teaching do you profess?"
Assaji replied: "There is, O friend, the Great Recluse, the son of the Sakyas [a family clan far to the northwest], who has gone forth from the Sakya clan. Under that Blessed One I have gone forth. That Blessed One is my teacher, and it is his Dharma that I profess."
"What does the venerable one's master teach, what does he proclaim?"
Questioned thus, Assaji thought to himself: "These wandering ascetics are opposed to the Buddha's dispensation. But I shall show him how profound this dispensation is." So he said: "I am but new to the training, friend. It is not long since I went forth from home, and I came but recently to this teaching and discipline. I cannot explain the Dharma in detail to you."
The wanderer replied: "I am called Upatissa [the future Sariputra], friend. Please tell me according to your ability, be it much or little. It will be my task to penetrate its meaning by way of a hundred or a thousand methods." He added:
"Be it little or much that you can tell,
The meaning only, please proclaim to me!
To know the meaning is my sole desire;
Of no avail to me are many words."
In response, Elder Assaji uttered this stanza:
"Of all those things that arise from a cause,
The Tathagata [Buddha] the cause thereof has told;
And how they cease to be, that too he tells,
This is the doctrine of the Great Recluse."
[The exact ancient Pali words recorded are: "Ye dhamma hetuppabhava tesam hetum tathagato aha, tesañca yo nirodho evamvadi mahasamano 'ti." This verse was later to become one of the best-known and most widely spread Buddhist stanzas, standing as a reminder of Sariputra's first contact with the Dharma and also as a worthy memorial to Assaji, his great arahat teacher. Spoken at a time when the principle of karmic causality was not accorded the prominence it enjoys today in philosophical thought, its impact on the minds of early Buddhists must have been revolutionary.]
EDITORIAL NOTE: How could these few lines ever lead anyone to stream entry? Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw explained to us that implicit in this brief statement of the Buddha's teaching are the Four Noble Truths, the Dharma in a nutshell. Sariputra (Upatissa) was of such brightness, quickness, sharpness, and clear perception that he immediately cut through to the heart of the teaching. For he, like Maha Moggallana (Kolita) and the Buddha's two chief female disciples, Khema Theri andUppalavanna Theri, had been cultivating and waiting for a buddha to arise so as to be his chief disciples for aeons. First truth: there is this. Second truth: it has a cause. Third truth: there is liberation (fromsuffering). Fourth truth: that, too, has a cause -- namely one to be developed with the Noble Eightfold Path.
Upon hearing the first two lines, Upatissa became established in the path of stream-entry [the first of the various stages of enlightenment], and hearing the ending of the last two lines he listened in the fruition of a stream-winner. More
So remember, kids, you too can become disenchanted and set off on a quest for truth and liberation. It all starts with Festival Supreme! Ask your parents for money.
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