Shakya Sutra: Money and Happiness

Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly based on translation by Ven. Thanissaro (Geoffrey DeGraff), Sakka Sutta: "To the Shakyans" (AN 10.46); Wiki; Sirimunasiha

Golden face of Afghan Buddha excavated from 2,600-year-old Mes Aynak ("Copper Well") temple complex, one of the first and possibly the largest monastic complexes in the world.

Bamiyan, Afghanistan (ancient Sakka, Scythia), at the Himalayan foothills of the Hindu Kush, was a wealthy East-West crossroads on the Silk Route beyond India into Central Asia (wiki).

 

Cultivated land in Bamiyan

On one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Kapilavatthu [Sanskrit Kapilavastu, Bamiyan or Kabul/Kapil, Afghanistan, among his family, the Scythians] at the Banyan Park.

Then many Shakyan lay followers, on the lunar observance day, went to see him, bowed, and sat respectfully to one side. While sitting there, the Blessed One said, "Shakyans, do you observe the eightfold lunar observance?"

• 

  First anthropomorphic images of the Buddha

  [The weekly observance days (according to the moon phases), called uposatha days, are a time of intensive effort to practice the Dharma. Its eight factors (anga) are the Eight Precepts observed for that whole day and night.]

"Sometimes we do, venerable sir," they answered, "and sometimes we do not." 

"It is no gain for you, Shakyans. It is ill-gotten, that in this life so threatened by grief, in this life so threatened by death, you only sometimes observe the eight-factored lunar observance and sometimes do not.
 
"What do you think, Shakyans? Suppose a person, through some profession or other, without encountering a wasted (unskillful) day, were to earn half a gold coin.

• [See discussion of the gold, silver, and copper kahapana below.]

The first Buddhas were Indo-Greco (Boonlieng/flickr)

"Would that person deserve to be called a capable person, full of initiative?"

 

"Yes, venerable sir."

 

"Suppose a person, through some profession or other, without encountering a wasted day, were to earn a whole coin... two coins... three... four... five... six... seven... eight... nine... ten... 20... 30... 40... 50... 100 coins. Would that person deserve to be called a capable person, full of initiative?"

 

"Yes, venerable sir."

 

"Now what do you think, earning 100 or 1,000 coins a day, saving up one's gains, and living for 100 years, would a person arrive at a great mass of wealth?"

 

"Yes, venerable sir."

  

Massive Bamiyan Buddha, Kapilavastu (grand-bazaar)

"Now what do you think, would that person, on account of that wealth, because of that wealth, with that wealth as the cause, live enjoying unalloyed bliss for a day, a night, half a day, or half a night?"

 
"No, venerable sir. And why is that? Sensual pleasures are inconstant (unstable, undependable, fickle, impermanent), hollow, false, and deceptive by nature."

"Now, Shakyans, a disciple of mine, spending ten years practicing as I have instructed, would live enjoying unalloyed bliss for 100 years, 100 centuries, even 100 millennia.

• [One reason for this is jhana (meditative absorption) and its astounding karmic aftereffects. It is on account of attaining to one of the eight jhanas, re-entering it frequently, or mastering it completely that one, going no further to cultivate liberating insight in this life, is reborn in superior planes of existence, heavens (worlds in space or other dimensions), with lifespans that last aeons. See Large Chart in 31 Planes of Existence.]

"And that person would be a once-returner, a non-returner, or at the very least a stream-winner.

  

Kapilavastu? Sakastan (SCMP.com)

"Let alone ten years, a disciple of mine, spending nine years... eight years... seven... six... five... four... three... two years... one year practicing as I have instructed, would live enjoying unalloyed bliss for 100 years, 100 centuries, even 100 millennia.

"And that person would be a once-returner, a non-returner, or at the very least a stream-winner [the first three stages of enlightenment]."

• [In a more famous sutra (MN 10), the Buddha uses this cascading description of time to emphasize that while it might take as many as seven years to reach enlightenment, it might actually only take as few as seven days of mindful application (on a foundation of powerful concentration). See the Greater Four Foundations of Mindfulness Discourse.]

Gandhara-style Buddha, Bactria (Boonlieng/flickr)

"Let alone one year, a disciple of mine, spending ten months... nine months... eight months... seven... six... five... four... three... two months... one month... half a month practicing as I have instructed, would live enjoying unalloyed bliss for 100 years, 100 centuries, even 100 millennia.

"And that person would be a once-returner, a non-returner, or at the very least a stream-winner.
 
"Let alone half a month, a disciple of mine, spending ten days and nights... nine days and nights... eight... seven... six... five... four... three... two days and nights... one day and night [the expression "one day and night" suggests one full uposatha day] practicing as I have instructed, would live enjoying unalloyed bliss for 100 years, 100 centuries, even 100 millennia.

"And that person would be a once-returner, a non-returner, or at the very least a stream-winner.
 

Did the Shakyans listen and benefit?

"It is no gain for you, Shakyans. It is ill-gotten, that in this life so threatened by grief, in this life so threatened by death, you only sometimes observe the eightfold lunar observance and sometimes do not."
 
"Venerable sir, in that case from this day forward we will observe the eightfold lunar observance!"
 

NOTES

Gold kahapanas, ancient coins used in Central Asia (Afghanistan), India, Sri Lanka (Siri)

.

Later kahapana with the Buddha

• India did not have anthropomorphic (human-like) representations of the Buddha or the "gods" (devas and brahmas) until Buddhists outside of India -- in Hellenized Afghanistan, Gandhara, and Central Asia (Bactria, Scythia, Sodgdia, etc.) -- made the first graven  images.
• Interestingly, maps of the area in ancient times show a Sakastan in the vicinity of modern Afghanistan. More interestingly, the main "god" (deva) of earthly relevance in Buddhism, particularly at the Buddha's time -- the "King of the Devas" -- is called Sakka just like the Sakas/Shakyans/Scythians.



Greco-Buddhist art (Bimaran casket)

• This discourse, "Sutra to the Shakyans" (Sakka Sutta) is not called the Sakya or Shakya Sutra but the Sakka Sutta, suggesting that they were called the Sakkas -- Scythians or Sakas, one of the settled wandering "tribes" (clans) relying on horses (like Siddhartha's white pony Kanthaka), rich with gold derived from controlling commerce and land along the Silk Route of traveled by merchants taking riches between East and West. See discussion in the Pali Dictionary of Names.
• See also AN 3.70; AN 8.43; Ud 2.10; MN 10

Ancient money: the kahapana

Wisdom Quarterly English translation from German-Wiki

Modern minor excavation at Mes Aynak, Afghanistan shows gold and jewellery treasure. This hoard was dated from 500 AD to 700 AD (Kadir Salamviking)

Kahapana was the name of an ancient Indian coin. It was either copper, silver, or gold. Its shape was round or rectangular. In Sanskrit it was called purana, in British English a "crown." Kahapanas are mentioned in early Buddhist literature, where their role was as a means of payment on the Indian subcontinent of antiquity. It is also in evidence in excavations. More

Set of kalandas of corresponding weight -Type I -Chank over Vase or Pot (Sirimunasiha).