What is the Buddha's awakening secret?

I'd like to connect with Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal. I have a BIG question.

 

Never mind her. I have a fast question first.

Q: What was the Buddha's secret, you know, to be able to wake up when he did? I want to awaken now, to experience enlightenment. I'm ready.

A: Your question, if you reflect, carries an assumption. Would you like to reword it?

Q: No, there's no assumption. I'm completely open to his secret. What is it?

WQ: Ah, then, in that case, which one?

Q: Which one what?

WQ: Which secret?

Q: There's more than one?

Stop wasting time. I just want the secret!

WQ: Did you assume there was only one, that you had everything but that one thing? We understood that you were "completely open," not closedminded to the Truth he made known. Moreover, what if we were to give it just like that, you really think you could bite it off in one chunk, chew it, digest it? Nearly everyone else needed a process, but you [like Bahiya of the Barkcloth] are ready to just get it and assimilate it with no practice beyond a moment's reflection?

I prefer to work with koan-riddles.

Q: Uh. I just want the shortcut, the Teaching in brief, a koan maybe.

WQ: Oh, why didn't you say so? In that case, if we understand you correctly, you want THE answer to life, the universe, and everything?

Q: Yes, that's it!

WQ: "It" again, like there's just one thing, in that case here is the answer. Are you ready?

Q: YES!

WQ: 42.

Q: Forty-two what?

C'mon, tell me! I'm in a hurry.

WQ: Well, may we suggest you begin with the Five Precepts. Then, once you're settled into that and have made it a basic mode of living, without deviating, without wobbling or wavering, take up the 37 Requisites of Enlightenment.

Q: What are those?

WQ: Which?

Q: Those 37!

WQ: You mean you aren't going to ask about the first five?

Q: Which 5?

WQ: The basic five that when added to the other 37 (add up to 42 and) produce enlightenment, bodhi, awakening here and now, in this very life, of course.

Q: No, I want the secret.

WQ: And when given the secret, "42," you ignore the first portion, the foremost, the most basic division, and just want the juicier part?

I'm not a blank slate, you know? I'm smart.

Q: No, I want it all!

WQ: Ah, now we understand. You're like a Zen student, too eager. You know what they do to someone in Zen who comes asking?

Q: What?

WQ: So you don't know?

Q: No.

WQ: It would be helpful if you answered the questions we ask as asked and not change or reword them. They're asked with precision. We know where we're going with them. You, as yet, do not.

Q: I just want The Secret!

WQ: You keep saying THE secret, but when it is given, you fail to ask about the first part of it, and you fail to answer when asked a follow-up question.

Q: What question?

WQ: What happens to a Zen student wishing to learn?

Q: I don't know, what?

WQ: She is told no, and the door of the temple is slammed in her face. And if she persists and doesn't go away, she is made to sweep. Now, why do you suppose that is?

Q: I don't know. The Buddha wouldn't do that, would he?

WQ: No, he wasn't Zen. In his original way of teaching, the Buddha would give a gradual instruction -- assuming the recipient were ready to hear it, respectful, sitting, attentive, open, evincing a good heart and not holding an agenda or ulterior motive.

Is this Zen? Why are you avoiding my question?

Q: Gimme the gradual instruction!!!

WQ: Did you ever hear of Me First and the Gimme Gimmes?

Q: What the heck's that?

WQ: A punk band.

Q: Huh? A punk koan?

WQ: No, punk band. No, you aren't ready. And we aren't the Buddha. But just look at this dusty floor!

Q: Floor? What does the floor have to do with anything?

WQ: We can't imagine. Have you seen the porch? It's really nice.

Q: What?

WQ: Would you mind helping us test the door lock?

Q: I'm not a locksmith!

WQ: No, you needn't be. Just stand on that side and see if it opens.

Q: See if what opens?

WQ: The lock keeping the door closed.

Q: Which, the door or lock?

Hey! C'mon, I asked nicely.

WQ: Either. You've been given the secret. Develop it (both parts) and come back, maybe with a softened, malleable, pliable attitude that wants to know and will do whatever it takes to be handed wisdom.

Q: I am willing to do whatever it takes.

WQ: What if what it takes is to calm down?

Q: I'm in a hurry.

WQ: We can see that. We hate to keep you. We handed you the secret. Develop confidence (conviction, faith, saddha) in a teacher so that when that teacher speaks, his or her words will not be wasted on a skeptic, a spiritual shopper going around collecting doctrines, or a moody junior psychic seeing who or what strikes her fancy.

Q: Just convince me.

WQ: It isn't the job of a teacher to make the Path to Awakening more enticing than it already is, only to make it known, or to remind others that it is available for now. There are aeons when it is not available, when it is lost to history, when the human world wonders in darkness until no one can explain, and no one knows what to practice at all.

Q: Oh, I get it!

WQ: You do?

Q: Yeah, you want me to sweep!

WQ: No, we want you to be amenable to instruction. You ask for someone else's hard-won wisdom. If you had a sensible follow-up question, we would explain. But you only want "a secret," the whole thing. When given it, you fumble. That's not a surprise. Most people would. But when asked to pick it up, not change it, and follow it step by step, you over-eagerly leap ahead. You ignore the most basic component, those first 5 things and grasp only at the 37.

Q: OK, OK, OK, what are the five?

WQ: Is that any way to ask? You've already been told, and you were even told what the other 37 are. You have it all. There's the secret to life, the universe, and everything.

Q: Wait, that's it? I want the answer not the map to finding the answer. I don't want to have to go look!

The Gateless Gate? The temple door

WQ: Exactly. We still need help with the door lock.

Q: I'll help. Just don't lock me out.

WQ: What else is a door lock for?

Q: To lock things in?

WQ: Ah, then, the latch wouldn't be on the inside, would it?

Ananda: Okay, she's gone now. What are the first five things?

WQ: Good question, Ananda. They are the very foundation of Buddhist practice. The Buddha taught a path-and-practice, a Dhamma-Vinaya (Doctrine and Discipline) that leads to awakening for those who practice it.

Ananda: Did he give a shortcut?

Venerable sir. - Yes, Ananda?

WQ: Yes, as for a "shortcut," this is the shortcut. We don't need to reinvent the (Dharma-) wheel, because supreme buddhas make it known. We only need to learn the Dharma of a Supremely Awakened Buddha, usually from the Noble (Awakened) Sangha, the collective of enlightened disciple practitioners, who are not always in robes. It's easier to find them in robes, but from the time of the Buddha, most were not in robes. Many awakened when he taught, almost every time he gave a sutra. For those who did not immediately awaken and gain the "eye of the Dharma" at the end of it, his words stayed in their hearts and came to fruition later. It was not lost, except that they lost time and the opportunity to advance to the tipping point right then and there. When they entered the stream, not all of them abandoned the lay life to join the monastic community.

Ananda: Why not?

WQ: It's not clear. Maybe they had already done that and so could hear and benefit from the Teaching or had other obstructing karma to work through.

Ananda: I see. So one begins with basic morality to still the mind and heart, right?

WQ: Yes, right. The first 5 are the Five Precepts, the foundation of a Buddhist pyramid we are going to build. Central to it is to refrain from killing. The four other corners of the foundation are to abstain from stealing, sexual misconduct, deception, and intoxicants that occasion the breaking of these five.

Ananda: Aren't there more precepts?

WQ: Yes, they're wrapped up in these basic five. Avoid intoxicants.

Ananda: Even good intoxicants, like medicines?

WQ: Avoid the bad ones that do harm to oneself and others. Imagine a substance that when used, what one would not do sober, one might do intoxicated. Avoid that kind. Alcohol is that kind.

Ananda: But in a tincture sometimes there's alcohol as a preservative or solvent.

WQ: And taking it, will are you likely to do what you wouldn't do sober?

Ananda: No, it's just a trivial amount to get at the medicine.

WQ: So as long as you aren't fooling yourself and behaving foolishly, heedlessly, recklessly. View intoxication as possibly worse than all the other unskillful deeds. Look at intoxicated people around you. Is that any way to be? Some say lying is the worst of these five, worse than killing, because a person who readily lies and cover up unskillful deeds, what wouldn't that person do?

Ananda: It seems like commonsense.

WQ: Yes but, you know, commonsense has become uncommon now. These were just commonsense. After a while, they become commonsense again. Just do unto others as you wish others to do unto you. It's a common golden rule, fundamental, an ABC lesson. The Buddha said there was nothing about these five that he was saying new. They are agreed on from way back, spoken of by many wise people and traditions. With these established, we need the second layer before crowning our internal-monument with liberating-insight.

Ananda: That sounds like the good part, the unknown part that only the Buddha taught.

WQ: The teaching that all things are impersonal (anatta) is the unique teaching of buddhas. No other teacher was teaching the other 37 Requisites or "things pertaining to enlightenment" (bodhi-pakkhiya-dhammā).

The Buddha spoke of them in seven clusters to make them easier to digest as seven sets of factors. They comprise all of the important doctrines the Buddha taught for what it might take to wake up. (I say might because I have never seen a sutra or case where anyone systematically developed all of them then woke up. That might happen in good monastic training, as with Pa Auk Sayadaw, but even then, I do not imagine it would be explicit. It could be though).

One successful American student of the Sayadaw, who became a once-returner without being a monastic in this life, told me about stacks of notes that had to be studied and memorized overnight. What exactly these notes said or why there would be 50 pages of them I was not told in detail. The person said a book would have to be written about it and that would come later. So far as I know that book still has not come and is less likely as time passes. The point in being told this as I pried to understand what "work" was being done that took so much time or effort in doing. How could one have to hurry up to finish if the "doing" was enjoying the absorptions (jhanas). What else did this sayadaw teacher, after all? He teaches so much more. The image of him as teaching the jhanas is wrong; he doesn't really teach even the first one. The first one happens with practice as stated in the sutras (particularly the Maha Satipatthana Sutta). When the first one happens to a person, which is how they will report it rather than saying they "did" it, then the Sayadaw has much to teach to develop it and move on to the next seven or eight (depending how one is counting them, by the sutra method or the Abhidhamma commentarial method). Let's stick with the sutras and say there are eight because the ninth is a technicality of factors present; they're present either way. The point was that it's impossible to memorize 50 pages of notes in a day. Except it isn't -- it becomes possible due to strong mindfulness (Pali sati, Sanskrit smirti = "memory").

Even I noticed in my retreat practice that I could put my mind on a question to bring something up that I knew long ago, and it would come. I hadn't been able to remember in years. But asking a memory question and then leaving it, it would come. How? Not by force, I think it was due to the cleansing of the mind that practice produces. As the mind calms and gains coherence, it puts itself in order, then we regain our memory like Ven. Ananda had all the time, if just for a moment.

Here are the 37 in seven sets:

1. The 4 Foundations of Mindfulness (satipatthāna)
2. The 4 Right Efforts (see padhāna),
3. The 4 Roads to Power (iddhi-pāda),
4. The 5 Spiritual Faculties (indriya, see bala),
5. The 5 Spiritual Powers (bala),
6. The 7 Factors of Enlightenment (bojjhanga)
7. The 8 Ennobling Path Factors (see magga).

According to German Theravada scholar-monk Ven. Nyanatiloka (Buddhist Dictionary via palikanon.com), in MN 77 all 37 of them are enumerated and explained though not called by this name.

A detailed explanation of these factors is given in The Path of Purification (Vis.M. XXII). In S.XLVII, 51, 67, only the Five Spiritual Faculties (indriya) are calle bodhi-pakkhiya-dhammā and in the Jhāna-Vibhanga, only the Seven Factors of Enlightenment (bojjhanga).

• See The Requisites of Enlightenment by Ledi Sayadaw (BPS.lk, Wheel No. 169/172).
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• Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Jen Bradford, Wisdom Quarterly

Enlightened nun "Beautiful Curly-Hair"

G.P. Malalasekera (Pali Proper Names); Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Black and Buddhist (Faith Adiele)

Ven. Bhaddā-Kundalakesā was an enlightened elder nun or 

therī (one who has gone forth for at least ten rains retreats).

She was deemed "foremost in swift intuition" among the nuns (comparable to Bahiya of the Barkcloth among the monks).

She was reborn in the family of a treasurer of wealthy Rājagaha, the royal city ringed by seven hills where the Buddha frequently stayed at Vulture's Peak.

On the same day as she was born, a son was born to the king's chaplain under an astrological constellation favorable to highway robbers, who was therefore called Sattuka.

One day, through her balcony lattice, beautiful Bhaddā saw Sattuka being led by the city guard to execution on a charge of robbery. She at once fell in love with him and refused to live without him.

Her father, out of his love for her, bribed the guard to release Sattuka. He ordered him bathed in perfumed water, and brought him home, where Bhaddā, decked in jewels, waited upon him.

Sattuka soon began to covet her expensive jewels and conceived of a lie to steal them. He told her that he had made a vow to the deity of Robbers' Cliff that, should he escape execution, he would bring the deity an offering in thanks.

She trusted him and, and putting together an offering, went with him arrayed in all her lovely ornaments. On arriving at the top of the cliff, he told her of his real purpose. She, undaunted, begged him to let her embrace him just one more time. He agreed to this. Then, pretending to embrace him from behind, she pushed him over the cliff.

The deity of the mountain praised her presence of mind, saying that men were not in all cases wiser than women. Unwilling to return home after what had happened, she joined the Order of the White Clad Niganthas [Jains, as the founder Mahavira allowed female ascetics before the Buddha accepted nuns].

As she wished to practice extreme austerities (tapas) as penance, they yanked her hair out with a palmyra wood comb. Her hair grew back in close curls, so they called her Kundala-kesā ("Curly-hair").

Can I put clear Neosporin on dark skin or on an open wound? (verywellhealth.com)

.

Unsatisfied with the doctrine (dharma) of the Niganthas, she left them, and going for guidance to various teachers, she became very proficient in philosophical discussion and eager to debate.

She would enter a village and, making a heap of sand at the gate, set up a tree branch of rose apple saying, "Whoever wishes to debate me, let him trample on this branch."

One day, Sāriputra -- the Buddha's chief disciple declared "foremost in wisdom" -- seeing the branch outside of Sāvatthi's gate, asked some children to trample it.

Bhaddā then went to Jetavana accompanied by a large crowd of spectators she invited to be present at the debate.

Sāriputra suggested that Bhaddā should first ask him questions. To all of these he replied skillfully until she fell silent.

Would that there were a teacher so wise as me.

It was then his turn, and he asked her, "One, what is that?" (The meaning of this was probably, "State any one fact that is true for everyone.")

Unable to answer, she asked him to be her teacher. But Sāriputra sent her to the Buddha, who taught her. He added verses, stating that it were better to know one single stanza bringing calm and peace than 1,000 verses bringing no profit.

At the end of this sutra, Bhaddā attained full enlightenment, and the Buddha himself ordained her as a nun afterward.

In the time of Padumuttara Buddha, she had heard him teach and declare as foremost among nuns one whose intuition was swift (khippābhiññā). She vowed that this rank should one day be hers.

Later, when Kassapa was Buddha, she was one of the seven daughters of Kikī, King of Benares, and was named Bhikkhadāyikā (v.l. Bhikkhudāsikā).

For 20,000 years she remained celibate and built a dwelling for the Monastic Order (A.i.25; AA.i.200ff.; ThigA.99ff.; Ap.ii.560ff).

The DhA. account (ii. 217 ff.) differs in various details. There Bhaddā is shut up by her parents at the top of a seven storied building with only a single woman to wait on her, for "girls when young, burn for men!"

It was thus that she saw the robber. In the "Verses of the Enlightened Nuns or Therīgāthā (Thig.vss.107-11) are included several verses spoken by her when she had been a wandering ascetic Jain nun for 50 years, wandering about in Anga, Magadha, Kāsi, and Kosala, living on the people's alms.

Bark Cloth Bahiya's sudden enlightenment

Ven. Ānandajoti (trans.), Bāhiya Suttaṃ (Ud. 1.10) Dhr. Seven, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The Sutra about Bāhiya—

Thus have I heard. At one time the Awakened One [the Buddha] was dwelling near Sāvatthī, in Jeta’s Wood, in Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery.

At that time Bark Cloth Bāhiya was living near Suppāraka, on the edge of the ocean, being venerated, respected, revered, honored, esteemed, and receiving requisites of cloth, alms-food, dwellings, and medicinals.

When Bark Cloth Bāhiya had gone into seclusion, a reflection arose in his mind: “Among those in the world who are arhats [enlightened ones, awakened ones, lit. "worthy ones," who are worthy of support, gifts, and offerings] or have entered the path to enlightenment, I am one of them.”

Then a devatā (a "shining one," a light being), who was formerly a close relation of Bark Cloth Bāhiya, out of compassion and wishing for his welfare, knowing with his mind the reflection in the mind of Bark Cloth Bāhiya, went to him and said:

“You are certainly not enlightened, Bāhiya, nor have you even entered upon the path to enlightenment. This practice of yours is not one whereby you could already be enlightened or one that will ever lead to enlightenment.”

“Then who now, in this world with its devas and arhats, is enlightened or has entered upon the path to enlightenment?”

“There is, Bāhiya, in the northern territories a city by the name of Sāvatthī. There the Awakened One dwells at this time. He is a worthy one, a perfectly awakened teacher. Bāhiya, the Awakened One is certainly a worthy one, who teaches the Dharma (the path of practice) that leads those who practice it to enlightenment.”

Then Bark Cloth Bāhiya, being greatly stirred by that devatā, immediately left Suppāraka, and staying for only one night in every place along the way, walked to Sāvatthī, into Jeta’s Wood, up to Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery.

At that time many wandering ascetics (Buddhist monastics) were meditating while walking in the open air. Bark Cloth Bāhiya went yo to them and asked:

“Where, venerable sirs, is the Awakened One staying at present, that worthy one, that perfectly enlightened teacher? We wish to see him.”

“The Awakened One, Bāhiya, has entered among the houses for alms.”

Early image (Gandhara)

Bark Cloth Bāhiya hurried and left Jeta’s Wood into Sāvatthī, where he saw the Awakened One on alms-round, confident and inspiring confidence, with his sense faculties at peace, his mind at peace, having attained supreme self-control and calm, tamed, well guarded, with restrained faculties, a true nāga [mighty one, like a noble elephant].

Seeing him, Bark Cloth Bahiya went right up to him and prostrated with his head at the Buddha’s feet and said, “Let the Awakened One teach me the Dharma, venerable sir. Let the Fortunate One teach Dharma that will be for my benefit and happiness for a long time.”

The Buddha responded, “It is the wrong time, Bāhiya, for we have entered among the houses for alms.”

For a second time Bark Cloth Bāhiya pleaded, “But it is hard to know, venerable sir, the dangers to the Awakened One’s life, or the dangers to my life! Let the Awakened One teach the Dharma to me, venerable sir. Let the Fortunate One teach the Dharma that will be for my benefit and happiness for a long time.”

For a second time the Buddha responed, “It is the wrong time, Bāhiya, for we have entered among the houses for alms.”

For a third time Bark Cloth Bāhiya said, “But it is hard to know, venerable sir, the dangers to the Awakened One’s life, or the dangers to my life! Let the Awakened One teach the Dharma to me, venerable sir. Let the Fortunate One teach the Dharma that will be for my benefit and happiness for a long time.”

“In that case, Bāhiya, train yourself thus: In what is seen there must be only the seen. In what is heard there must be only the heard. In what is [otherwise] sensed there must be only the sensed. In what is cognized there must be only the cognized. This is the way, Bāhiya, to train yourself.

“And since for you, Bāhiya, in what is seen there will be only the seen, in what is heard there will be only the heard, in what is [otherwise] sensed there will be only the sensed, in what is cognized there will be only the cognized, Bāhiya, you will not be with that.

And since, Bāhiya, you will not be with that, therefore, Bāhiya, you will not be in that. And since, Bāhiya, you will not be in that, therefore, Bāhiya, you will not be here nor hereafter nor in between the two. —Just this is the end of suffering here and now.”

Through the Awakened One’s brief teaching of this Dharma, Bark Cloth Bāhiya’s mind was immediately freed from the defilements and was free of clinging. Then the Awakened One, having advised Bark Cloth Bāhiya with this brief advice, went away.

Then not long after the Awakened One had gone, a cow with a young calf, attacked Bark Cloth Bāhiya and deprived him of life.

Then the Buddha after walking for alms in Sāvatthī, while returning from the alms-round after the meal, after going out from the city with many monastics, saw that Bark Cloth Bāhiya had died. Seeing him, he addressed the monastics, saying:

“Meditators, take up the body of Bark Cloth Bāhiya on a bier, carry it away, cremate it, and make a memorial mound (sacred stupa) for him, our fellow in the spiritual life, who has died.”

“Yes, venerable sir,” said those monastics and put Bark Cloth Bāhiya’s body on a bier, carried it away, burned it, and made a mound for him. Then they went to the Buddha, paid their respects, and sat down to one side.

While they were sitting to one side, they said: “Cremated, venerable sir, is the body of Bark Cloth Bāhiya, and a mound for him has been made. What is his destination? What is his future rebirth?”

“A wise man, meditators, was Bark Cloth Bāhiya, who practiced Dharma in accordance with the Dharma, and did not trouble me on account of the Dharma. Completely liberated, meditators, is Bark Cloth Bāhiya.” Then the Buddha, having understood the significance of the occasion, made this exalted utterance:

“In the place where the water, earth, fire, and wind find no footing,

There the stars do not shine, nor does the sun give light,

There the moon does not glow, there darkness is not found.

And when the sage, the Brahmin, has experienced nirvana through wisdom,

Then from both form and formlessness, happiness and suffering, one is free.”

This exalted utterance was also spoken by the Awakened One. Thus have I heard.

To Bless a Pandemic World (Ratana Sutra)

Ven. Akaliko, Ven. Anandajoti (ancient-buddhist-texts.net), Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Poverty Death says to Covid-19 Death, "You ain't seen nothing yet." (creators.com)

Ratana Sutta: "Precious Jewel Sutra"

The backstory of Bahiya of the Barkcloth

(May 18, 2020) The "Precious Jewel Sutra" was originally uttered or chanted by the Buddha and Ven. Ananda as a protection (paritta) for a city ravaged by a pandemic and haunted by the unclean spirits of those who had died as a result. Here two Western Theravada monks in the Thai Forest Tradition, Ven. Sujato and Ven. Akaliko, chant the abridged version for 2020 Vesak celebrations organized by the Federation of Australian Buddhist Councils, an online event held during the pandemic.

CHANT: Ratana Sutta (Sn2.1)

Whatever riches there are -- here, elsewhere, or in the celestial realm -- that excellent treasure
Yaṁ kiñci vittaṁ -- idha vā huraṁ vā saggesu vā -- yaṁ ratanaṁ paṇītaṁ

cannot rival the Awakened One. This excellent treasure in [the world] is the Buddha:
na no samaṁ atthi Tathāgatena, idam-pi Buddhe ratanaṁ paṇītaṁ:

[Pollutants’] end, dispassion, deathlessness, excellence: which the concentrated Scythian sage attained,
Khayaṁ virāgaṁ amataṁ paṇītaṁ, yad-ajjhagā Sakyamunī samāhito,

By virtue of this truth may there be safety!
Etena saccena suvatthi hotu!

There is nothing that is equal to that state. This excellent treasure in [the world] is the Dharma:
Na tena dhammena samatthi kiñci, idam-pi Dhamme ratanaṁ paṇītaṁ:

By virtue of this truth may there be safety!
Etena saccena suvatthi hotu!

That which the Buddha, the Great One, praised as pure, the concentration said to have immediate result,
Yam-Buddhaseṭṭho parivaṇṇayī suciṁ, samādhim-ānantarikañ-ñam-āhu,

no equal to that concentration is to be found. This excellent treasure is in the Dharma:
samādhinā tena samo na vijjati, idam-pi Dhamme ratanaṁ paṇītaṁ:

By virtue of this truth may there be safety!
Etena saccena suvatthi hotu!

Those eight individuals praised by the noble ones, there are these four pairs (of individuals),
Ye puggalā aṭṭha sataṁ pasatthā, cattāri etāni yugāni honti,

those disciples of the Happy One are worthy of gifts, for things given to them have great fruit,
te dakkhiṇeyyā Sugatassa sāvakā, etesu dinnāni mahapphalāni,

this excellent treasure is in the Saṅgha:
idam-pi Saṅghe ratanaṁ paṇītaṁ:

By virtue of this truth may there be safety!
Etena saccena suvatthi hotu!

Those who have firm and devoted minds, without sense desire in Gotama’s dispensation,
te pattipattā amataṁ vigayha, laddhā mudhā nibbutiṁ bhuñjamānā,

those who have attained, and entered the deathless state, are enjoying liberation, gained for free,
Ye suppayuttā manasā daḷhena, nikkāmino Gotamasāsanamhi,

this excellent treasure in [the world] is the Saṅgha: by virtue of this truth may there be safety!...
idam-pi Saṅghe ratanaṁ paṇītaṁ: etena saccena suvatthi hotu!

The old is destroyed, and nothing new is produced, (their) minds are dispassionate about any future rebirth,
Khīṇaṁ purāṇaṁ navaṁ natthi sambhavaṁ, virattacittā āyatike bhavasmiṁ,

they have neutralized the seeds, and are dispassionate about growth, the wise are still, just as this lamp (is still),
te khīṇabījā avirūḷhicchandā, nibbanti dhīrā yathāyam-padīpo,

this excellent treasure in[the world] is the Saṅgha:
idam-pi Saṅghe ratanaṁ paṇītaṁ:

By virtue of this truth may there be safety!
Etena saccena suvatthi hotu!

Backstory: Bahiya's sudden enlightenment

G.P. Malalasekera, encyclopedia entry in Dictionary of Pali Proper Names (and PTS) derived from the Commentaries; Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

But, Bahiya, this is the time for gathering alms.

Bāhiya Dārucīriya or "Bahiya of the Barkcloth" suddenly reached full enlightenment. How? The Commentaries (tika) give the backstory.

Bahiya was born in a householder's family Bāhiya (identified as Bhārukaccha in AP.ii.476), which led to his name.

He engaged in trade, voyaging by ship. Seven times he sailed down the Indus River and across the sea, and seven time returned home safely.

On his eighth trip, however, while on his way to the "Golden Land," Suvannabhūmi, he was shipwrecked. He saved his life by floating ashore on a plank of wood, reaching what he thought was an island which was in fact peninsular Suppāraka.

Having lost all his clothes, he made himself a bark garment (daruciriya), and went about, alms bowl in hand, in Suppāraka.

People, seeing his austere garment and struck by his ascetic demeanor, paid him great honor. They offered him costly robes and many other luxuries, and when he refused them his fame increased. Because of his bark garment, he was known as Dārucīriya.

He came to believe that he had attained full enlightenment, but a devata (a "shining one," said to be a brahma from the Pure Abodes or Suddhāvāsa, who had been a celibate companion in the supreme life during the time of Kassapa Buddha, according to the Commentary, MA.i.340), reading his thoughts and wishing him well, pointed out to him his error.

What is the road to nirvana? (NG)

The devata advised him to go see the Buddha in Sāvatthi. By the power of that devatā, Bāhiya reached Sāvatthi in one night, a distance of 120 leagues. But he was told that the Buddha was in the city on alms round.

Bāhiya followed him and pleaded to be taught something for gaining enlightenment. Twice he asked, and twice the Buddha refused, saying that it was not the time for teaching. But Bāhiya insisted, saying that life is uncertain and that the Buddha or he might pass away before it was time for teaching.

The Commentaries say that Bāhiya was too excited by his meeting with the Buddha and that the Buddha wished to give him time to regain his composure, hence his refusal.

But then the Buddha came to know of Bahiya's impending death and also of his potential (upanissaya) for full enlightenment. He was to attain in this very life due to his past karma (a pacchimabhavika).

Map showing ancient western trade routes serviced by this historical ancient Indian port. The gateway city of Bharakuccha is named on the map as Barigaza on the Gulf of Khambhat. The inhospitable mountains and deserts to the north of the Erythraean Sea suggests its importance in trade with ancient Axum, Egypt, Arabia, and the sea-land trade routes via the Tigris-Euphrates Valley and Ancient Rome. More

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Oh yeah, first to reach...eat my dust, ladies!

The Buddha then taught him the optimal method of regarding all sen
se experiences -- namely, as mere (impersonal, disappointing, impermanent) experiences and nothing more.

Even as he listened, Bāhiya became an arhat, and the Buddha seeing this went on his way. Shortly after, Bāhiya was gored to death by a cow with a calf (like the story of Pukkusāti and the others*).

The Buddha on his way back, seeing Bahiya's body lying on the dung heap, directed the monastics to prepare it, cremate it, and erect a sacred burial mound (tope, thūpa, stupa) over the relics.

In the assembly he declared Bāhiya to be "foremost among those who instantly comprehend the truth" (khippābhiññānam) (A.i.24; Ud.i.10).

Let's climb this rock to practice or die trying.

Bāhiya's resolution to attain to this eminence was made in the time of Padumuttara Buddha when he heard the Buddha declare a wandering ascetic foremost in instantaneous comprehension.

In the time of Kassapa Buddha, when the Buddha's teachings were fading from the minds of humans, Bāhiya was one of seven wandering ascetics who climbed a massive rock and determined not to leave it until they had attained their goal of spiritual liberation.

Their leader became an arhat, and the second a non-returner (anāgāmī) -- passing away to rebirth in the Pure Abodes (Suddhāvāsa). The rest were reborn in this age as Pukkusāti, Kumāra Kassapa, Dabba-Mallaputta, Sabhiya, and Bāhiya.

Although Bāhiya had kept the precepts in previous rebirths, he had never given a bowl or a robe to a monk. For this reason the Buddha did not, at the end of his instruction, ordain Bahiya by saying "ehi bhikkhu pabbajā" to him.

The Buddha knew that Bāhiya had insufficient merit to obtain divine robes (from devas). Some say that he was once a brigand and had shot a non-teaching fully self-enlightened one (pacceka buddha) with an arrow and had taken possession of that pacceka buddha's alms bowl and robe.

Bāhiya was killed while searching for a proper robe to receive ordination (UdA.77ff.; AA.i.156ff.; DhA.ii.209ff.; Ap.ii.475ff).

*The violent cow that gored Bāhiya was the same one that murdered Pukkusāti, Tambadāthika the Public Executioner, and Suppabuddha (2). (It is said that the cow was possessed by a yakkhini or yakshi, a female-ogre or inimical spirit; see her story at DhA.ii.35f). Source

• The Fast Way to Enlightenment: Bahiya of the Barkcloth

The Fast Way to Enlightenment: Bahiya Sutra

John D. Ireland translation, Bahiya Sutra: "About Bahiya" (Verses of Uplift, Udana 1.10, PTS: Ud 6); G.P. Malalasekera; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Samsara is long and wearisome. Wake up.

Thus have I heard. At one time the Blessed One (the Buddha) was staying near Savatthi in the Jeta Wood at Anathapindika's monastery.

At that time Bahiya of the Barkcloth (Bahiya Daruciriya) was living by the seashore at Supparaka. He was respected, revered, honored, venerated, given homage, and provided with the requisites of a wandering ascetic.

Now while he was in seclusion, this reflection arose in the mind of Bahiya of the Barkcloth: "Am I one of those in the world who are arhats (full enlightenment) or who have entered the path to arhatship?"

Then a deva who was a former blood relative of Bahiya of the Barkcloth understood that reflection in Bahiya's mind. Being compassionate and wishing to benefit him, he approached and said:

"Bahiya, you are neither an arhat nor have you entered the path to arhatship. You do not follow that practice whereby you could be an arhat or enter the path to arhatship."

"Then who in the world, including the devas, are arhats or have entered the path to arhatship?"

"There is, Bahiya, in a far country a town called Savatthi. There the Blessed One now lives who is the Arhat, the Fully Enlightened One. That venerable, Bahiya, is indeed an arhat and teaches Dharma for the realization of arhatship."

Bahiya of the Barkcloth, profoundly stirred by the words of that deva, then and there departed from Supparaka. Stopping only for one night everywhere (along the way), he made it to Savatthi where the Blessed One was staying in the Jeta Wood.

At that time a number of wandering ascetics were walking up and down in the open air. Bahiya of the Barkcloth approached them and said: "Where, reverend sirs, is the Blessed One now living, the Arhat, the Fully Enlightened One? We wish to see that venerable who is the Arhat, the Fully Enlightened One."

"The Blessed One, Bahiya, has gone for almsfood among the houses."

The Buddha had golden skin and a bright aura

Then Bahiya hurriedly left Jeta Wood. Entering Savatthi, he saw the Blessed One on alms round [with a company of monks] in Savatthi — pleasing, lovely to see, with serene senses and tranquil mind, attained to perfect poise and calm, controlled, a perfected one, watchful with restrained senses.

On seeing the Blessed One, Bahiya approached, fell down with his head at the Blessed One's feet, and said:

"Teach me Dharma, venerable sir! Teach me Dharma, Sugata, for my good and happiness for a long time."

Upon being spoken to in this way, the Buddha responded: "It is an unsuitable time, Bahiya. We have entered among the houses for almsfood."

But a second time Bahiya said: "It is difficult to know for certain, revered sir, how long the Blessed One will live or how long I will live. Teach me Dharma, venerable sir! Teach me Dharma, Sugata, so that it will be for my good and happiness for a long time!"

A second time the Buddha responded: "It is an unsuitable time, Bahiya. We have entered among the houses for almsfood."

But a third time Bahiya insisted: "It is difficult to know for certain... Teach me Dharma, Sugata, so that it will be for my good and happiness for a long time!"

[The Buddha relented and for the only time in his 45 year teaching career deviated from his schedule to instruct someone on alms round:] "Herein [here within this Teaching], Bahiya, train yourself thus:

• 'In the seen will be merely what is seen;
• in the heard will be merely what is heard;
• in the sensed will be merely what is sensed;
• in the cognized will be merely what is cognized.'

In the seen, Bahiya, let there be only the seen.

"In this way train yourself. When, Bahiya, for you in the seen is merely what is seen, in the heard merely what is heard, in the sensed merely what is sensed, in the cognized is merely what is cognized then, Bahiya, you will not be 'with that.'

"When, Bahiya, you are not 'with that' then you will not be 'in that.' When, Bahiya, you are not 'in that' then you will be neither here nor there (beyond) nor in between the two. Just this is the end of all suffering."

Now through this brief teaching of the Dharma of the Blessed One, the mind of Bahiya of the Barkcloth was immediately freed from the taints without grasping. Then the Buddha, having taught Bahiya with this brief instruction, went on his way.

Not long after the Blessed One's departure, a mother cow with a young calf mauled Bahiya of the Barkcloth and killed him. When the Blessed One, having walked in Savatthi, was departing the town and returning from alms round with a number of monastics, he saw Bahiya of the Barkcloth dead on the road.

A stupa for the Buddha, Topdara, Afghanistan

Seeing this he said to them: "Monastics, take Bahiya's body, put it on a litter, carry it away, cremate it, and make a sacred mound (stupa) for it. Your companion in the supreme life has passed away."

"Very well, revered sir," they replied to the Blessed One. And taking Bahiya's body, they put it on a litter, carried it away, cremated it, and made a sacred mound for it.

Then they returned to the Blessed One, bowed, sat respectfully to one side, and said: "Bahiya's body has been cremated, revered sir, and a sacred mound has been made for it. What is his destiny, what is his future birth?"

"Monastics, Bahiya of the Barkcloth was wise. He practiced according to Dharma and did not trouble me by disputing about Dharma. Monastics, Bahiya of the Barkcloth has attained final nirvana [final liberation following full enlightenment]."

Then, on realizing its significance, the Buddha pronounced this inspired utterance:

Where neither water nor earth

Nor fire nor air can gain a foothold,

There gleam no stars, no sun sheds light,

There shines no moon, yet there no darkness reigns.

When one, a sage, has come to know this

With certainty through one's own wisdom, one is

Freed from [worlds of] form and formlessness and is

Freed from pleasure and from pain.

This inspired utterance was spoken by the Blessed One, so I did hear.