(Bloke Box, June 10, 2022) 💗 The title is self-explanatory. Except, what in the world is a "sigma male"? He's no alpha, just a strong opponent neither easily dismissed nor overcome. Enjoy!
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🎞️ Everything to Know About SIGMA MALES ▶️ youtu.be/lIe903nkhXo
🎞️ Why Sigma Males WIN in life ▶️ youtu.be/cEHBEQV1t4o.
10 reasons why sigma males IGNORE you (alpha males won't like it!)
If he feels the need, a sigma male won’t hesitate to ghost you or ignore you. People often perceive his indifferent attitude as arrogance -- and sometimes they’re right. But a sigma could be ignoring you for a variety of reasons. It might be nothing personal, so before you jump to conclusions, consider these 10 reasons why sigma males ignore you. A little warning: Alphas don’t want to stay till Number One.
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Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly; Hellmuth Hecker, Maha-Moggallana, The Wheel Publication No. 263/264 (Buddhist Publication Society), German original Wissen und Wandel (magazine, XXII, 9/10),
Bradford Griffith and Robert Bussewitz (transcribers)
DharmaNet
The Buddha and his black chief male disciple, diverse representations (Wisdom Quarterly)
The Buddha may have had as many as 80,000 monastic human disciples (savakas, "hearers") during his 45 years of teaching with countless more devas who were able to attain liberating insight. But he only singled out four "chief disciples," two monks (Great Moggallāna and Sariputra) and two nuns (Uppalavanna and Khema). Great Moggallana had very dark black skin described as being the "color of a rain cloud." He was not African, of course, but Dravidian, from a wealthy and privileged Brahmin family in ancient north India. He may have been Indo-Ariyan nevertheless with very dark skin, usually depicted as blue as is customary in India. It is explained in Sri Lankan commentaries as being due to the residual effects of weighty past karma. But whatever the case, he was joyfully welcomed by the Buddha, ordained, and immediately singled out as a chief disciple. His special ability was helping bring new monks to full enlightenment after the Buddha attracted them to the Dharma and Sariputra aided them to stream entry (the first stage of enlightenment). Presumably, Upalavanna and Khema helped the Buddha in the same way with nuns. Great Moggallana was also singled out as "foremost in psychic powers." There are many stories of his putting them to good use, which is interesting because the Buddha -- who also possessed great supernormal abilities -- saw danger in them and normally discouraged their display.
3. Finding the Teaching
Without knowing anything of the Buddha, Great Moggallana (born as Kolita) and Sariputra (born as Upatissa) gave up their life as
wandering ascetics and, after many years, returned to their home country
of Magadha. This happened not long after the Buddha had delivered his first sutra setting in motion the
Wheel of the Dharma at Benares (Varanasi, India).
But the two friends still had not given up hope, and they decided now
to search separately, for doubling their chances. They agreed
among themselves that if one first learned about a convincing path
to liberation (the deathless, nirvana), he would quickly inform the other.
Black Ven. Sivali(109060883@N02/flickr)
At that time, when both were about 40 years old, the Buddha had
sent out the first batch of enlightened missionary disciples, 61 in number, to proclaim the Teaching (Dharma) for the
well-being and happiness of humans and devas. The Buddha himself had gone to Rajagaha, the capital of Magadha,
where the great king of Magadha soon became his follower and donated the Bamboo Grove Monastery (Jetavana). At that monastery the Buddha was residing
when Kolita and Upatissa returned to Rajagaha, staying at their teacher Sanjaya's
place.
One day Upatissa went to town while Kolita stayed
back at their dwelling. Kolita saw his friend returning. Never had he
seen him like that: his entire being seemed to be transformed, his
appearance was buoyant and radiant. Eagerly Kolita asked him:
"Your features are serene, dear friend, and your complexion is bright and clear. Did it happen that you have found the road
to enlightenement, the path to liberation from all suffering?"
Upatissa replied: "It is so, dear friend, the path to the deathless has
been found!" He then reported how it happened....
Of things arisen from conditions
the Wayfarer the condition told
and what is their cessation,
that, too, the Great Ascetic proclaimed.
When Upatissa heard this stanza, the vision of Truth (the
"Dharma-eye") arose in him on the spot, and the very same happened to
Kolita when he listened to the stanza retold by his friend. He, too,
realized: Whatever arises is bound to pass away.
The realization that was
evoked by this stanza, may be called a truly mystical event. For us,
these four lines do not contain an explanation explicit enough for a
full understanding. The deeper and wider meaning of the stanza reveals
itself only to those who have trained themselves [and can discern the Four Noble Truths in it] for a long time in wisdom and
renunciation and have reflected long upon the impermanent and thed eathless, the conditioned and the unconditioned.....
After Kolita listened to that powerful stanza, he asked at once
where the Great Ascetic, the Perfected One, the Buddha was staying. Hearing that he
was dwelling nearby at the Bamboo Grove Monastery, he wished to go
there immediately....
4. The Struggle for Realization
The Buddha teaching monastic disciples, bas relief, Songkla, Thailand, rooftop pyramid
Now the two friends, at the head of the 250 fellow
ascetics, approached the Bamboo Grove. There the Buddha was just
teaching Dharma to his disciples. And when he saw the two friends
approaching, the Enlightened One said: "Here, disciples, they are coming, the
two friends Kolita and Upatissa. They will be my chief (male) disciples, a
blessed pair!"
Having arrived, all respectfully saluted the Buddha,
raising their folded palms to the forehead and bowing at the feet of the meditation
Master. Then the two friends spoke: "May we be permitted, O venerable sir, to
obtain under the Blessed One the going-forth and the full admission?"
Then the Blessed One responded: "Come, monks! Well proclaimed is the
Teaching. Live now the life of purity for making an end of suffering!"
These brief words served to bestow ordination on the two friends and
their following.
From then on Upatissa was called Sariputta ("the son of
Sari," his mother) and Kolita was called
Maha-Moggallana ("the Great One of the Moggallana clan") to distinguish
him from other Buddhist monks from that same clan.
After all of them had obtained ordination, the Buddha addressed the 250 disciples and explained to them the Teaching in
such a way that before long they attained to the first stage of
enlightenment, stream-entry, and in due course became fully enlightened. Sariputra
and Great Moggallana, however, went into solitude, but this time separate
from each other.
Sariputta remained in the vicinity of Rajagaha and went to meditate
in a cave called "Bear's Den." From there he walked to the city for his
alms, which afforded him the opportunity to listen often to the Buddha's
discourses. What he had heard he independently worked
over on his own and methodically penetrated to a clear
understanding of the mind and its laws. He needed 14 days to reach full enlightenment, the utter destruction of all defilement (asavas).
Great Moggallana, however, for reasons not known to us, chose as his abode
the forests near the village of Kallavalaputta in Magadha. With great
zeal, he meditated there while sitting or walking up and down. But in
these efforts, he was often overcome by sleepiness. Though he did not
wish to fall asleep, he was unable to keep his body erect and his head
upright. There were times when he had to keep his eyes open even by
force of will.
The tropical heat, the strain of
long years of a wandering life, and the inner tensions he had gone
through perhaps explain how now, at the end of his quest, his
body reacted with fatigue.
But the Awakened One, with a great teacher's care for his
disciples, did not lose sight of him. With his supernormal vision he
perceived the difficulties of the new monk, and by magic power he
appeared before him. When Moggallana saw the Buddha standing before him,
a good part of his fatigue had already vanished. Now the Awakened One
asked him:
"Are you nodding, Moggallana, are you nodding?"
"Yes, venerable sir."
1. "Well then, Moggallana, at whatever thought drowsiness befalls
you, to that thought you should not give attention and not dwell on that
thought. Then, by doing so, it is possible that your drowsiness will
vanish. (The Buddha gave many more step-by-step instructions for staying awake). More
"Nay, not for this that you may slumber long,
Comes the night, in starry garlands wreathed.
For vigils by the wise this night is here."
— Theragatha, Verse 193 (trans. by C.A.F. Rhys Davids)
One who does harm with weapons to those who are harmless and should therefore not be harmed will soon come to one or more of these ten consequences (Verse 137):
One will be subject to severe pain, impoverishment, injury to the body (i.e., loss of limbs), serious illness (e.g., leprosy), lunacy, misfortunes following the wrath of a ruler, wrongful and serious accusations, loss of relatives, destruction of wealth, or the loss of home by fire or lightning. After the dissolution of the body, the foolish perpetrator will be reborn in the plane of continuous suffering (niraya) (Vv. 138-140).
The Story of Elder Maha Moggallana Tipitaka.net (Dhammapada Story, Maha Moggallanatthera Vatthu)
While residing at Jetavana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verses 137-140 of this book with reference to Ven. Maha Moggallana.
Once, the Nigantha [Jain] ascetics planned to have the great chief disciple assassinated. They thought that by doing away with him, the fame and fortune of the Buddha would be diminished. So [it is said] they hired some men to kill Maha Moggallana, age 84, who was then staying at Kalasila near Rajagaha.
The assassins surrounded his quarters. But Maha Moggallana, with his supernormal power [of bodily mastery], escaped through a keyhole and then through the roof. The would-be killers could not get hold of the elder for two months. When the assassins again surrounded him on the third month, Maha Moggallana, recollecting that he had yet to exhaust the woeful karma for an unwholesome deeds done by him during one of his past births, did not exercise his supernormal power.
He was caught. The assassins beat him until his bones were pulverized and left his body for dead in a bush. But the great elder, through his jhanic power, revived himself and went to see the Buddha at Jetavana. When he informed the Buddha that he would soon realize parinirvana (the final passing of an enlightened being) at Kalasila, the Buddha told him to go only after expounding the Dharma to the congregation of monastics, as that would be the last time they would see him. So Maha Moggallana expounded the Dharma and left after paying obeisance seven times to his beloved teacher the Buddha.
The news of Maha Moggallana's passing at the hands of assassins spread like wildfire. King Ajatasattu ordered his men to investigate and apprehend the culprits. The assassins were caught and burned to death.
The monastics felt great sorrow over the death and could not understand why such an exalted personage as a chief disciple of the Buddha should die at the hands of assassins.
The Buddha explained, "Monastics! Considering that Moggallana had lived a noble life in this birth, he should not have met with such a death. But in one of his past births, he had done a great wrong to his own parents, who were both blind: In the beginning, he was a very dutiful son. But after his marriage, his wife began to make trouble and suggested that he should get rid of his parents.
"He took his blind parents in a cart into a forest. And there he killed them by beating them and making them believe that it was some thief who was beating them. For that evil deed he suffered in niraya for a long time. And in this birth, his last, he has died at the hands of assassins. Indeed, by doing wrong to those who should not be wronged, one is sure to suffer for it." Then the Buddha spoke in verse (Dhp. Vv. 137-140).
The Death of Maha Moggallana in detail Hellmuth Hecker (information gathered from various canonical sources)
The Buddha, surrounded by many of his disciples, passed away peacefully during a series of meditative absorptions, which he entered with perfect mastery. Sariputra's death in his parental home, likewise with his disciples in attendance, was similarly serene, though...he had been ill before his end. Ananda died at the age of 120, before which he entered with meditative skill the fire element so that his body vanished in a blaze, as he did not wish to burden anyone by his funeral.
Considering the serene death of the Buddha and these two disciples, one would have expected that, in the case of Maha Moggallana too, the final dissolution of the body at death would take place in external circumstances of a similarly peaceful nature. But in Moggallana's case it was very different, though the gruesome nature of his death did not shake his firm and serene mind.
He passed away two weeks after his friend Sariputra, on the new moon day of the month Kattika (October/November). The Great Demise of the Buddha took place in the full-moon night of the month Vesakha (May), six months after the death of his two chief male disciples. The Buddha was in his 80th year when he passed away, while both Sariputra and Maha Moggallana died at 84. These were the circumstances of Moggallana's death.
After the death of Nathaputta [Mahavira, the founder of Jainism], the leader of the ascetic Order of the Jains [Note 10], there arose among the Jains bitter contentions about his teaching, and consequently there was a loss of devoted adherents and of support. The Jains had also learned what Moggallana reported from his celestial travels: that virtuous devotees of the Buddha were seen to have a heavenly rebirth, while followers of other sects lacking moral conduct, had fallen into miserable, subhuman states of existence. This, too, contributed to the decline in the reputation of other sects, including the Jains.
Particularly the very lowest type of Jains in Magadha were so enraged about that loss of public esteem and support that they wanted to get rid of Maha Moggallana. Without investigating the causes in themselves, they projected blame externally and concentrated their envy and hate on Maha Moggallana. Hesitating to commit murder themselves, they conceived another plan. Even in those days there were professional criminals ready to kill for a fee. There are always unscrupulous men willing to do anything for money. So some wrong-minded Jains hired such a gang and ordered them to kill Maha Moggallana.
At that time, Maha Moggallana lived alone in a forest hut at Kalasila. After his encounter with Mara [MN 50] he knew that the end of his days was near. Having enjoyed the bliss of liberation, he now felt the body to be just an obstruction and burden. Hence he had no desire to make use of his faculties and keep the body alive for the rest of the [kappa, the life expectancy, which was then 120]. Yet, when he saw the assassins approaching, he just absented himself by using his supernormal powers. The gangsters arrived at an empty hut, and though they searched everywhere, they could not find him.
They left disappointed but returned on the following day. On six consecutive days Maha Moggallana escaped from them in the same way. His motivation was not the protection of his own body, but saving them from the fearsome karmic consequences of such a murderous deed, necessarily leading to rebirth in the dismalest of hells. He wanted to spare them such a fate by giving them time to reconsider and abstain from their crime.
But their greed for the promised money was so great that they persisted and returned even on the seventh day. Their persistence was "rewarded," for on that seventh day Maha Moggallana suddenly lost the magic control over his body. A heinous deed committed in days long past (by causing the death of his own parents) had not yet been expiated, and the ripening of that old karma confronted him now, just as others are suddenly confronted by a grave illness.
Maha Moggallana realized that he was now unable to escape. The assassins entered, knocked him down, smashed all his limbs, and left him lying in his blood. Being keen on quickly getting their reward and also somewhat ill as ease about their dastardly deed, they left at once, without a further look.
But Mah Moggallana's great physical and mental strength was such that his vital energies had not yet succumbed. He regained consciousness and was able to drag himself to the Buddha. There, in the Buddha's presence...at the source of the deepest peace, Maha Moggallana breathed his last (Jat. 522E). The inner peace in which he dwelt since he attained to sainthood never left him. It did not leave him even in the last seven days of his life, which had been so turbulent. But the threat of doom was only external.
This is the way of those who are finally "healed" and holy and are in control of the mind. Whatever karma of the past had been able to produce a result in his present life, nevertheless, it could affect only his body, but no longer "him," because "he" no longer identified himself with anything existing only impermanently. This last episode of Maha Moggallana's life, however, showed that the law of moral causality (karma) has even greater power than the supernormal feats of this master of magic. Only a Buddha can control the karmic consequences acting upon his body to such an extent that nothing might cause his premature death.
Sariputra and Maha Moggallana were such wonderful disciples that the Buddha said the assembly of monastis appeared empty to him after their death. It was marvelous, he said, that such an excellent pair of disciples existed. But it was marvelous, too, that, in spite of their excellence, there was no grief, no lamentation on the part of the Buddha, when the two had passed away [Note 11].
Śāriputra (Pāli, "Sāriputta"; Chinese "Sheli Fu") was, like the female chief disciple of the Buddha, designated "foremost in wisdom." He became an Arhat (fully enlightened) renowned for his wisdom and explaining the Dharma.
He is depicted in the Theravada tradition as one of the most important disciples of the Buddha. Śāriputra came from a brahmin family and had already embarked on life as a spiritual ascetic when he encountered the teachings of the Buddha. Śāriputra had a close friend, Maha Moggallana (Sanskrit "Mahamaudgalyayana"), a Black disciple who was also a wandering ascetic. They both renounced the world on the same day and became disciples of the sceptic Sañjaya Belatthiputta before converting to Buddhism. (Read the story of their conversion).
After hearing of the Dharma from a monk named Assaji, Śāriputra sought out the Buddha and became an adherent to his teachings. The two male chief disciples are often depicted together with the Buddha, and several sutras regard interactions between Śāriputra and Moggallana (who became renowned among the early Buddhists for his mastery of supernatural powers and was designated by the Buddha as "foremost in psychic ability"). Their relics were lost and not recovered until 1851.
Sariputra, Indonesian wall depiction (ariaristides)
In one somewhat comical scene involving the two friends, a mischievous yakkha decides that it will attempt to irritate Śāriputra by striking him on the head. Moggallana sees this occurring with his "divine eye" (a clairvoyant faculty often attributed to powerful Buddhist monks, as well as other South and Southeast Asian ascetics). He unsuccessfully attempts to warn Śāriputra.
However, due to his own great spiritual mastery, Śāriputra perceives the terrible blow that the yakkha delivers as merely a light breeze. Moggallana approaches and expresses his amazement that Śāriputra barely noticed the terrible blow. Śāriputra replies in kind, amazed at the fact that Moggallana was able to perceive the invisible creature that dealt the blow.
Śāriputra was older than the Buddha and died shortly before him, an event that apparently caused great distress to Ananda (the most famous of the Buddha's disciples), the Buddha's cousin and personal attendant, who made Buddhism possible by memorizing every discourse and reciting them after the Buddha's nirvana). The Buddha gave a eulogy, noting his chief disciple for his compassion, patience and humility.
Śāriputra often preached with the Buddha's express approval. Thus, he was eventually awarded the title of "Marshal of the Dharma" (Pāli, Dhammasenāpati) for his propagation of Buddhism. Furthermore, he is regarded the founder of the Abhidharma tradition (the higher or abstract-metaphysical teaching).
While depictions of Śāriputra in the Pali Canon are uniformly positive -- showing Śāriputra as a wise and able Arhat, second only to the Buddha -- his depiction in Mahayana ("great vehicle") Buddhist sources has often been much less flattering.
In the Vimalakirti-nirdesa Sutra and the Lotus Sutra, Śāriputra is depicted as the voice of the less sophisticated Hinayana or sravaka (ascetic) tradition. He is unable to readily grasp the Mahayana doctrines presented by Vimalakirti and others. And he is rebuked or defeated in debate by a number of interlocutors, including a female deity (deva) who frustrates Śāriputra's Hinayana ("lesser vehicle") assumptions regarding gender and form.
A dialogue between Śāriputra and the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara inspired the Heart Sutra, a brief but essential text in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition as practiced in Tibet, Mongolia, China, Korea, and Japan.
The central figure on these Tibetan thangkas is the historical Gautama Buddha (a.k.a., Shakyamuni), seated center. He is samyak-sambuddha, "enlightened and enlightening." He has an ornate nimbus of animals, and Dharmachakra, topping them, which represent paramitas ("perfections"). Flanking Shakyamuni are his two chief disciples, Sariputra and Maudgalyayana (http://www.exoticindiaart.com/).
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