"Meditators, there are three ways of making merit [11]. What are the three?
"There are ways of making merit by practicing giving, virtue, and meditation [12].
"One person has only to a small degree practiced the making of merit (good karma) by letting go and giving/sharing and, likewise, only to a small degree practiced making of merit by virtue (skillful conduct), but the making of merit by meditation (mental cultivation) that person has not undertaken at all [13].
"This person, after death, when the body breaks up, will be reborn among humans in unfavorable conditions [14].
"Another person has practiced to a high degree the making of merit by giving as well as by virtue, but the making of merit by meditation one has not undertaken at all. Such a person, after death, when the body breaks up, will be reborn among humans in favorable conditions.
"Or one will be reborn in the company of the deities (devas, lit. "shining ones") of the Four Great Divine (Sky) Regents. There, the Four Great Divine Regents who had practiced to a very high degree the making of merit by giving and by virtue surpass the deities of their realm in ten things:
divine lifespan,
divine beauty [radiance],
divine happiness,
divine power,
divine sights,
divine sounds,
divine smells,
divine tastes,
divine tangibles
[divine cognitions].
"Or one will be reborn in the company of the devas of the World of the Thirty-Three. There King of the Devas Sakka, who himself (when he was a human) practiced to a very high degree the making of merit by giving and virtue, surpasses...
(The same statements are made for rebirth among the Yama-world devas, Tusita-world devas, the devas delighting in creation, the devas controlling others' creations, and for the respective rulers of these celestial realms.)
"These, meditators, are the three ways of making merit" (AN 8.36).
Outcomes of Merit
The Bodhisatta experienced joy for aeons
"Meditators, there are eight outcomes of merit and skillfulness that are the nourishment of happiness and are extremely precious: They yield happiness, lead to rebirth in the [many] heavens, and bring about what is wished for, pleasing, agreeable, and enjoyable. What are these eight?
"Herein [within this Teaching and Training], meditators, a noble disciple goes for guidance to the Buddha (Teacher). This is the first outcome of merit and skillfulness that is a nourishment of happiness and is extremely precious: It yields happiness, leads to rebirth in the heavens, and brings about what is wished for, pleasing, agreeable, and enjoyable.
"Furthermore, there is a noble disciple who goes for guidance to the Dharma (Teaching)...
"Furthermore, there is a noble disciple who goes to the [Noble Community] (the successfully Taught)... This is the second outcome... This is the third outcome...
"There are further, meditators, these five gifts, known from early times, known from long ago, known by tradition, ancient and accepted -- not rejected before, not rejected now, not to be rejected in future -- they are unrepudiated by wise recluses (shramanas) and Brahmins (brahmanas). What are these five gifts?
"Herein [within this Doctrine and Discipline], meditators, a noble disciple gives up the taking of life and abstains from it. By abstaining from taking life, the noble disciple gives to immeasurable beings freedom from fear, gives to them freedom from hostility, gives to them freedom from oppression. By giving to immeasurable beings freedom from fear, hostility, and oppression, one will enjoy immeasurable freedom from fear, hostility, and oppression. This is the first of those great gifts and the fourth of the outcomes of merit (good karma).
"Furthermore, meditators, a noble disciple gives up the taking of what is not given and abstains from it. By abstaining from taking what is not given, the noble disciple gives to immeasurable beings freedom from fear... This is the second of those great gifts and the fifth of the outcomes of merit.
"Furthermore, meditators, a noble disciple gives up sexual misconduct and abstains from it. By abstaining from sexual misconduct, the noble disciple gives to immeasurable beings freedom from fear... This is the third of those great gifts and the sixth of the outcomes of merit.
"Furthermore, meditators, a noble disciple gives up wrong speech [bearing false witness, harsh speech, divisive speech, frivolous speech] and abstains from it. By abstaining from wrong speech, the noble disciple gives to immeasurable beings freedom from fear... This is the fourth of those great gifts and the seventh of the outcomes of merit.
"Furthermore, meditators, a noble disciple gives up intoxicating drinks and drugs that cause heedlessness and abstains from them. By abstaining from intoxicating drinks and drugs, the noble disciple gives to immeasurable beings freedom from fear, freedom from hostility, and freedom from oppression. By giving to immeasurable beings freedom from fear, hostility, and oppression, one will enjoy immeasurable freedom from fear, freedom, from hostility and freedom from oppression. This is the fifth of those great gifts and the eighth of the outcomes of merit.
"Meditators, these are the eight outcomes of merit and skillfulness that are the nourishment of happiness and are extremely precious: They yield happiness, lead to rebirth in the heavens, and bring about what is wished for, pleasing, agreeable, and enjoyable" (AN 8.39).
I pray you, please let us stay in the garden, Dad! - Get the hell out of here!
This post seeks to do far too much, explaining God and talking about prayer in observance of the National Day of Prayer and whether or not Buddhists "pray" since there is no necessity of believing in God if one is a Buddhist and there is no command to pray even if one does believe in God or gods. These two will eventually be parsed into two different articles. Enjoy the draft while they are interwoven.
(Buddha's Wisdom) Why Buddhists Don't Believe in GOD? | April 29, 2024: 🤔 Ever wonder why Buddhists don't seem to believe in a Creator-God? The answer might surprise you – and it's been sparking heated debates for centuries! 🔥 In this thought-provoking video, BW dives deep into the heart of Buddhist philosophy to explore one of the most controversial questions in religious history. 🧘♂️💭 Here's the thing – this isn't about convincing anyone to abandon any belief. Buddhism is all about free inquiry, questioning everything, even its own Teachings (the Dharma)! 🌈🔍 [This is why there is a Kalama Sutra, the invitation to free inquiry.] Whether one is a devout believer, skeptic, or just curious, this video challenges assumptions and opens minds to new possibilities. 🙏 Stay curious, stay compassionate, and remember – the truth is waiting to be discovered within you [so get wise]. Namaste, friends! 🌼 #Buddhism #God #Spirituality #Philosophy #Enlightenment #Wisdom #Meditation #Mindfulness #PersonalGrowth #Inspiration
Half the things said in this video are incorrect, but the whole of it is trending towards correct. Of course, many Buddhists believe in God. Which God? There are more than one. The One all-consuming GOD is Brahman, a Vedic, Brahminical, and Hindu concept, the impersonal reality behind all of the illusory (maya). The Buddha and Buddhists frequently talked about a creator god, whose name is Maha Brahma (the "Great Supremo"), who is neither male nor female, as the brahmas have transcended sexual dimorphism and are both and neither, just like the Abrahamic God (whom some scholars suggest is not related to Abraham but is A-Brahmanic, meaning "not related to Brahma or Brahman"). There are many gods in Buddhism, and one favorite deity (deva) is Sakka, King of the Gods, a favorite Zeus/Indra-type sky god of the Sakas of Scythia, popular among the horseback warrior princes of Scythia and Sakastan. There are countless other devas and brahmas, "light beings" (lit. "shining ones") in all directions of space and on earth. The more down-to-earth devas, even though the others visit the planet, are woodland fairies, nature spirits, spaceship (vimana) traveling godlings and deities that love to sport about, vain, beautiful, petty, obsessed with pleasure and beauty, exactly like the ancient Greek and Roman gods, well understood throughout ancient India and proto-India as well born fortunate beings with long lives, subtle senses, much delight, and often too distracted by the good times to seek for their enlightenment and release from rebirth. There is not a Buddhist God in the sense that all of the brahmas are, although very long-lived, impermanent as are all beings. Maha Brahma is special in that this deva (because all brahmas are a higher order of deva) is the first born at the renewal of another world cycle, at the big recurring bang in the endless cycles of time known as kalpas or aeons.
Today is also the National Day of Reason, not just the National Day of Prayer.
It often sounds to Western ears as if the Buddha did not know so remained silent. This is completely mistaken, an understandable misunderstanding. Often when the Buddha remained silent and someone stormed off dissatisfied with his response, Ananda would turn to the Buddha and ask him why he didn't answer. And the Buddha would explain. The most common reason was because whatever answer was given would lead to a misunderstanding in the questioner's mind. People often came to the Buddha holding wrong views, certain about their position. They were in no mood to learn what the Buddha knew and saw and taught. Not being answers sometimes chastened them to return and be more open. In this way when the Buddha spoke, they would understand, shed their wrong views (or give up clinging to their opinions, preferences, and pet theories), and become open to directly seeing what Truth is. One does not need the Buddha for that. The Buddha (this one and any other) points the way. It is for us to practice, cleanse our hearts and minds to prepare for directly seeing without a mediator. Foremost in this regard is the case of the obstinate monk Ven. Malunkyaputta. He had a lot of philosophical questions which the Buddha left unanswered. But he figured since he was a monk in this Doctrine and Discipline, he deserved answers from the Buddha about these very basic and ancient points of controversy: Is the world finite or infinite, does the fully enlightened person continue to exist or cease to exist when passing away, does rebirth go on forever or does it end, and so on and so on. Such questions never end. The Buddha dismissed these questions and left many things undeclared exactly as the video above suggests -- because they are not conducive to dispassion, disillusionment, and awakening to the unbelievable Truth. Why ask all that and demand answers before practicing to directly see for yourself without any teacher as your authority? The Buddha provides the path-and-practice, the Middle Way, that leads to direct knowledge, vision, and wisdom. In most religions, we hope it's true but only find out if we were wrong when we die. In Buddhism, it is not that way at all. Enlightenment, awakening, spiritual knowledge-and-vision are for this life, here and now. When we pass away, we will already know if we are liberated, on the right track, following a path-and-practice that does indeed lead to complete liberation. There is no need to wait. The time is now.
Famously, Ven. Malunkyaputta asked his questions anyway, and more foolishly demanded the Buddha answer him or he would quit being a monastic and quit practicing altogether.
He didn't like the Buddha's answer. The Buddha told him it was fine to quit, fine to not practice, fine to not accept that there was a good reason for those answers to remain undeclared. But he did Malunkyaputta a favor. He gave him a powerful simile to illustrate what he was doing by asking and insisting on an answer before proceeding towards Truth himself.
That simile, which is useful for all of us with a questioning and skeptical nature, lacking faith and confidence (saddha) in the Teacher, the Teaching, and the successfully Taught (the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha), runs like this:
Imagine a man shot by a poison arrow. A master physician offers to remove the arrow, stem the bleeding, and give an antidote to the fast acting poison, but that man -- wishing to know, wishing to understand, insisting someone explain to him -- will not accept the doctor's services, the cure, the antidote unless and until these questions are answered: Who shot me? Why did he shoot me? With what did he shoot me? What kind of wood was used for the shaft of the arrow? What kind of feather was used at the end of it? What kind of poison was dabbed on the tip? And so on and so forth. Any such person would much sooner die than any of those questions could be answered to his full satisfaction. Therefore, why not remain alive by accepting the master physician's advice to set them aside, get well, and pursue the answers himself. He would neither believe nor understand what answers he was given anyway.
Sister Tina Turner leads us in prayer (of the devotional Sokka Gakai branch of Japanese faith-based Nichiren Buddhism, which came into being long after the historical Buddha and in many ways is very unBuddhist if what the historical Buddha taught is any measure):
Q: Do Buddhists pray?
Yes, some. Some Buddhists pray, but not in the way the West does, not petitionary prayers to "Buddha" nor to the many deities recognized in Buddhism which, after all, is nontheistic but is not atheistic.
Buddhism could well be said to be polytheistic (except that, ultimately, just as the "self" is unreal so, too, are the gods). There is an impersonal force at play called Karma, and it seems to us that so much of what is said about the Christian, Muslim, Jewish God is really being said about Karma, as if God is doing it all, judging everybody, meting out rewards and punishments, being begged and giving in, being mocked and smiting the infidels and unbelievers. This omniscient creator god view is wrong in so many ways, but it is a reasonable simplification of how things work.
It's just like when a child asks, "Where does rain come from?" and, wishing to shut the kid up, the loving parent thinks he or she is doing the child a favor by offering an untrue but age-appropriate explanation wrapped around a moral lesson: "It's God crying because you didn't clean your room and respect your elders." "Oh, no!" the child thinks and feels much fear, nervousness, and develops no good view of God. But this is what we tell kids. This is level of nonsense we accept from our religions most of the time.
Were we wiser, wishing to know, we might be receptive to a social-scientifical answer: "Um, well, you see, Hun, when Mr. Cloud drinks too much, he's like Uncle Jerry going to the bathroom and flooding the commode, which spills over and ruins the party." "Oh, I get it."
Worshipping at the altar of Scientism, which is the only acceptable source of answers nowadays (even if they're wrong, at least they sound reasonable). This becomes the only source of answers we'll accept, just the facts, Ma'am, no metaphor, no simile, no mythology:
"When the barometric pressure rises in inverse proportion to aridity, humidity predominates and clusters of hydrogen molecules with two oxygen molecules attached, form and fall out of a gaseous state, condensing into soluble moisture, pooling in droplets that precipitate pooling on the ground with other attendant meteorological phenomena." "Huh, Professor? Maybe I should ask Mary Ann."
Nontheism means one is not obsessed with gods, God, or GOD (brahmas, Maha Brahma, and Brahman) because one's enlightenment (awakening to the ultimate truth) and even one's rebirth in any of the many heavens within the Three Spheres (Sensual, Fine Material, and Immaterial) does not depend on the gods.
One does not need to worry about the powers, lifestyles, or knowledge of God and gods (and there are many, no matter who the Abrahamic faiths have twisted their ancient polytheism into a monotheism in name only). As wise and psychic as gods may be, they are not enlightened, do not know the Dharma, do not practice the Dharma, and do not teach a path of liberation from rebirth. They are stuck in rebirth, in a good position, in an office, a station. And this is important because, the individual will fall from that, but the office will remain. How?
How? The universe very big, very very big. In it are many (countless) world-systems, and each has a God (a Maha Brahma), each has a Sakka (a kind of Archangel Michael, Maghavā or Magha of Macalagama when he was a human), Jesus in heaven figure, who tosses an Asura, a Lucifer character, out of heaven, leading to a war in the heavens, as those Titans or Asuras seek revenge and try to burn down that world of the devas they were thrown out of. Where were they thrown? The answer is the same as in the Abrahamic faiths, only no one in those seems to read their sacred texts to know that the answer is not "hell." It is earth. They were thrown out of that lowly heaven, two planes up, down to this platform at the base of the Axis Mundi, Mount Sumeru, a kind of Mt. Olympus). Moreover, there are many many devas, brahmas, and more devas above Maha Brahma. They are mapped in Buddhism on a chart called the 31 Planes of Existence, which mentions the karma that leads to rebirth in those worlds. So to become a god or God, follow that karma. The lifespans are enormous, the sensual and supersensual delights are delectable, and it feels like forever and ever until it ends. It might be possible to live 80,000 aeons in such rarefied worlds. But any amount of time less than infinity -- and remember, time is different everywhere, so what for us is a year is nothing for them -- means one is soon back, reaping the results of all their karma, good and bad, grinding on, treading the Wheel of Rebirth and Death such beings never actually got free from. The heavens may seem eternal, particularly the immaterial (arupa) ones, but they are not. If lifetimes there never came to an end, they would still be impermanent. How is that possible? It is possible because things, all things, are radically impermanent. That is, it is not that they will one day end but rather that from moment to moment they are always ending. This is the liberating vision of anicca, one of the Three Marks or Characteristics of Existence.
It depends on us (our intentional actions, which are based and motivated by the extent of our right view or confidence/faith in a teacher or the Teachings of the Buddha himself) and more importantly on our karma (our deeds of mind, word, and body).
Of course, there are two Buddhisms (Mahayana and Theravada) and they should not be confused because they are very different. The larger of the two, or 90% percent of Buddhists in the world, follows a kind of Hinduism and is called Mahayana or "Great Vehicle." The other much smaller school is a back-to-basics movement that is devoted to the historical Buddha. Mahayana worships "Cosmic Buddhas" and gives little attention to the founder of the Dharma in the world today, opting instead for a reformed approach and syncretism with Hinduism, Vedic Brahmanism, Taoism, Bon, Confucianism, and Shinto, which are hard to distinguish from the original teachings of Shakyamuni, the "Sage of the Scythians."
The other form of Buddhism is called Theravada, the "Teaching of the Elders," the theras being the enlightened immediate disciples of the historical Buddha Gautama. While neither tradition may pray in the sense of petitioning a deity very much (though asking things of the Goddess Kwan Yin, the Taras, Amitabha, Ksitigarbha, and other manifestations of what, for all intents and purposes, seems to be the same old Brahman (the Absolute or Ultimate Reality behind all Illusion or Maya) idea. Now, rather than personifying the Vedic and Indian gods like Hinduism does, Mahayana Buddhists imagine countless buddhas with all kinds of specialties, like Catholic saints. There's Medicine Buddha, the Goddess of Compassion who hears the cries of the world (Kwan Yin or Guanyin, a Mother Mary figure), and many others as needed. Mahayana Buddhism is mainly devoted to the worship of Amitabha, a Cosmic Buddha they see as a savior who will save all who call upon him. That calling could be imagined as a kind of prayer.
However, the real purpose of prayer beads, mantras ("thought instruments"), bowing, and chanting is to make the mind pliable so that one rules it rather than being ruled by it. The Isaiah Effect would be an excellent way to pray for Buddhists, full of gratitude for what they have and giving thanks in confidence of what they already have for having been grateful with all their body and emotions, as Braden explains.
There are devotional schools of Buddhism that arose long after the historical Buddha. They seem to ignore what the Buddha taught, opting instead for easy answers and instant solutions to life's problems. Foremost among these must be the Japanese devotional schools, explained by Westerner Alan Watts as being self-powered vs. other-powered (jiriki versus tariki).
We know that we cannot do it on our own, so many in recovery and the 12 steps rely on a "higher power," any higher power. And that is good, very good. The way the historical Buddha originally taught will sound very self-empowering, very jiriki, based on one's own strength. It is actually not because that does not tend to work. But it sounds like that's what he's saying: His final words, after all, were "Be a lamp/island (dipa) unto yourselves and work out your own salvation (liberation, awakening) with diligence." Elsewhere, however, he famously points something out to good Ananda, who is always questioning things for his benefit and the benefit of all of us who wish we had had the chance to ask the Buddha these sorts of things: One day Ananda realizes that having good friends in the Dharma and Discipline (Dhamma-Vinaya), in this path-of-practice, is a very good thing, very useful for one's enlightenment. Realizing this, he seeks out the Buddha for his validation. To his shock, the Buddha does not validate him. He tells him not to say such a thing. All Ananda said was that he thought that "noble friendship" (kalyanamittata) was half the path. The Buddha corrects him and points out that it is 100% of the path. Without noble friendship, people would not hear the Dharma, would not have a model of the practice, would not find encouragement, would not be corrected and set right when one strays, and ultimately would become enlightened anytime soon. That does not sound like "one's own power," does it? We must put forward our effort but never lose sight how much we're actually standing on the shoulders of giants, depending on a historical lineage of others who came before us, and serving as a bridge to the future from what we contribute to keeping the Dharma alive and making known the practice. There are Three Jewels in the world, not just one. The first is the Buddha who realized the Truth and made known the path to that same realization so that any ordinary person could strive to realize it and achieve it in this very life, depending on one's karma. The second is the Dharma, the Teaching he left behind in his stead; he did not elect another leader after him because the Dharma itself is what leads. The third is the one closest to us, the Community of Those Successfully Taught, the Noble Sangha. (Many people think this means anyone wearing robes, but that is very mistaken and harmful because many people in robes are not enlightened, not successful students, and many people not in robes are enlightened though they may not be able to teach others. So monastics should be seen as quite valuable, maintaining this tradition, but they are not one of the jewels, or in any case, they are a symbolic part of the actual jewel, the aryans, the noble ones, those who are stream-enterers, once returners, nonreturners, and arhats, and possibly two other kinds of people who will not pass away until they gain a "change of lineage" or gotrabhu and reach the first stage of awakening, but information on these two types is scarce. See Bhikkhu Bodhi).
We can either make progress by our own efforts (not likely) or by depending on a powerful other to do it for us. Having fallen so far away from the Teachings of the Buddha which produce calm and insight, Mahayana started to go astray and invent "new" ways to try to get enlightened. Great teachers arose, founders of schools, claiming to reveal esoteric secrets of the path. Let's read these words aloud and be sure to get into Amitabha's Western Paradise heaven and then make efforts for enlightenment there, and it'll be easy! This is one example of the kind of thinking that took over Mahayana Buddhism, pushing it in an increasingly devotional direction. Prayer makes sense in a devotional religion full of ritual.
It makes much less sense in a path-of-practice where one must depend on oneself to make the effort to overcome ignorance through mental calm (samatha and samadhi) and systematic mindfulness of four things (satipatthana and vipassana).
Another very beautiful and super popular form of Buddhism arose in Japan as well as part of this devotional deviation from the Buddha's Dharma, and that is the Nichiren Shoshu (Sokka Gakai) movement who say there is one prayer better than all others to get all you want (as in The Secret's Law of Attraction and teaching of Abraham-Hicks): Nam Myoho Renge Kyo
Kickstart a devotional Nichiren practice with two hours of Tina Turner
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
.
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.
If we were simply to be aware, that would be good. But we will not stay there because we will naturally go from what we're aware of to how we relate to it. When we fall into these customary habits of relating, judging, evaluating, measuring, and reckoning, we are far from being mindful. Rather, stay with the object, and don't go anywhere with it. Do not allow it to take us anywhere. Do not wander or wonder, think or figure. Just watch. Just be. And let it be. Keep watching, and nothing more. It will reveal itself. All we need to do is remain present, wakeful, open, radically accepting of what is, and vigilant (in the sense of staying awake for a vigil). Mindfulness is this bare awareness. It is not at all like our ordinary "awareness." But after a time, our ordinary awareness will become this way -- unentangled, undeluded, unswayed, undeceived. The habits of our greed, hatred, and delusion (passion, aversion, and ignorance) will not overtake us. And everything will be perfect just as it is.
Nowadays, pop psychologists use and abuse the word "mindfulness" (a handy translation of sati by a Western Theravada Buddhist monk Ven. Nyanaponika Thera, where previously it had been "vigilance" or "wakefulness"), having it mean simply "awareness."
A better translation would be "bare awareness," full wakefulness with detachment, dispassion, non-entanglement in all that is being perceived.
Mindfulness is NOT about thinking, evaluating, judging, measuring, or conjecturing about the field of perception. It is simply being aware of it -- as if for the first time, given that we judge and measure, evaluate and establish preferences the whole rest of the time.
[But thinking is good, right? Yes, it's good in waking life. It's good like talking is good. What's better than talking? Listening is better. Listening is about receptivity, whereas talking and thinking are active and attempting to explain what we ourselves do not yet understand. So watch rather than describe, listen rather than talk or forming vrittis (modifications and streams of mind, disturbances of consciousness, vibrations, distortions of clear seeing). To be mindful (full of presence of mind) is not to be thoughtful (full of thought). This will become sati-sampajjana or "watchful and clearly comprehending."]
When we can see in this way, we are free from it, in it, in the midst of it, standing right before it. It is no kind of escapism, but rather being fully with it, letting it be, radically accepting of it, not fixing it, not judging it, not ignoring it, not pushing it away. Instead, we are being with it, not sucked in by it, and seeing its true nature as it reveals itself under our withering watchfulness of it. What is "it"? All that is, all that is going on, all the contents of experience.
The Buddha divided all these contents into four categories of body, feelings, mind, and mind-objects.
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