The Buddha's encounter with darkness: the serial killer Aṅgulimāla
(Asangoham) The life of Siddhartha Gautama, who later became known as the Buddha or the "Enlightened One," is full of stories.
They offer profound insights into the ethical (sila) teachings of Buddhism.
These stories, passed down through generations, serve as parables that elucidate the core principles of Buddhist thought, philosophy, and ethics.
Among these tales, the story of a serial killer in the Buddha's time named Angulimala [not a name but a title to remember him by like everyone else in Buddhism] stands out, not just for its dramatic elements but for its deep philosophical and ethical implications.
This narrative not only underscores the transformative power of compassion and understanding but also offers a unique lens through which we can explore and contrast Buddhist ethics with Western ethical systems.
Siddhartha Gautama: The Man Behind the Legend
Before we begin the tale of Angulimala, it's essential to understand the man who would become the Buddha.
Born into royalty, Siddhartha Gautama's life was one of luxury and privilege [in the land of Scythians].
However, a series of encounters with the harsh realities of life – old age, sickness, death, and wandering asceticism – led him to renounce his life as a prince to search for answers to the suffering inherent in human existence.
After years of meditation and rigorous ascetic practices, he attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree, thereby becoming the Buddha, the "Awakened One."
His teachings, known as the Dharma (Dhamma), are packed into the Four Ennobling Truths and the Ennobling Eightfold Path [noble = enlightened]. These, as we shall see, lay the groundwork for Buddhist ethics.
The Buddha came to help him awaken.
[FURTHER EXPLANATION: The Buddha did not meet Angulimala by accident. The Buddha went to find Angulimala because on that day, being in need of the 1,000th finger for his trophy collection, which he had been gathering because of a jealous teacher from Taxila University who set him on this perilous course of killing to destroy his reputation, as he was brighter than his teachers, he was going to take the life of his mother. Had he done that, he would have been doomed, as it is one of the Five Heinous Deeds with immediate result in the very next rebirth. The Buddha, however, saw that Angulimala -- in spite of being a killer, who already had done so much harm -- was ripe for awakening. His past store of good karma made him ready for awakening, so long as he did not fall into the bad karma of the heinous deed he was heading toward. To save him, the Buddha put himself in danger by going through the woods where Angulimala hunted his victims. He used his spiritual powers to evade being killed, and to guide Angulimala away from his mother, who out of love had also entered the woods to try to reason with him, until he became frustrated as to why he could not catch up to the Buddha, who looked like an ordinary wandering ascetic in the forest. The Buddha was able to find Angulimala in the first place because it was his custom to wake up early in the morning and scan the world or at least his region for those he could help bring to enlightenment. He converted Angulimala to peace and brought him out of the woods. The king and his men wanted to seize him and put him to death, but the Buddha intervened, vouched for him, and said Angulimala would no longer harm anyone. He became a monk, but every time he went on alms round, people attacked him by throwing rocks and other things at him, bloodying him. The Buddha told him to persevere and never mind the sticks and stone. He was told he should constantly reflect on what was going to happen to him in the future when his karma ripened and how it would have trapped him if he had carried out the heinous deed of matricide he was on the verge of committing. This humbled Angulimala, who instead of becoming angry at those angry with him, radiated loving kindness, compassion, joy in their joy, and equanimity until he awakened in this very life, thereby sparing himself the doom of subhuman rebirths in accordance with his karma. What people should take away from this is that karma (stored up actions, deeds, need not of necessity come to fruition. We do not need to exhaust all previous karma before liberation, awakening, enlightenment. With just normal faculties as human beings we have the potential to realize the Truth and escape woeful states of rebirth inferior to the human world, which are wiped away at stream entry. There is no time to waste. The results of karma come upon us. What can be done must be done today, now, taking advantage of the existence of three remarkable treasures currently in the world that are almost never found in the world: a Buddha, the Dharma, and a Noble Sangha. So the question may arise, what will become of Angulimala's bad karma? The results will not be experienced by Angulimala in subsequent rebirths. Like seeds thrown on barren land, they will not come to fruit. This is the natural order of things, the miracle of the Dharma that leads to the end of karma, the end of ignorance, the end of rebirth, and the end of all suffering. If it could not do this, the Buddha would not have declared it as "awakening" and "nirvana." Other traditions that try to call their goal, their sunnum bonum, "nirvana" or "enlightenment" in a generic sense are very mistaken and should choose other terms because what the Buddha discovered and taught are radically different from Vedic Brahmanism, Hinduism, Jainism, and Christianity, for all their superficial similarities.]
#angulimala #buddha #spirituality #buddhism
Script: Matt Mackane. Edit: Harsh. Voiceover: Matt Mackane. Score: Epidemic Music.
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What if "salvation" had nothing to do with our own karma (intentional actions) and understanding? What if were just the whim of some guy, some creator god, in a big simulation? Is life a test as a Big Bang Being looks down from some extraterrestrial home?
If it were then we'd have to worry, "Did I pick the right denomination?" like South Park points out:
We choose to follow the religion we think is best, but we don't choose which one to believe. That's dictated to us by relatives and society. Why think for myself? Even though others choose for me, it's incumbent on me to question and understand that religion, rather than just taking it for granted.
All religions have something good, and all religions have real problems to be aware of so we don't get sucked in. It's a fact of life:
You take the good, you take the bad, you take it all, and there you have...no salvation at all.
The Buddha awakened in the world. So it doesn't need to be any way other than it is for us to awaken. He pointed out the path he followed to emancipation, liberation, salvation, freedom from all suffering:
Salvation depends on what we do and think and understand. Otherwise, the teachings of religion can be twisted by others to mean what it never meant, things others tell us to control us and mislead us. Who saves? Who could save? We ourselves have to use our heart, our head, and our purified-intuition that is able to directly know.
(April 2 update) April Fools. Does Jesus save? In a sense, if he shops at Walmart and Geico or listens to Slayer, but actually it's not a joke. True believers should know, as Christian scholar Reza Aslan takes pains to document in Zealot, there are two Christian figureheads, Jesus of Nazareth the historical figure, son of man (manusya-putra) and would-be messiah versus "Jesus Christ," son of Zeus, son of god (deva-putra) the Nordic Nazi "Aryan-ideal" lord of astrotheological the West's conception. They are very different persons. Jesus of Nazareth spent his "lost" 18 years in India as a yogi, Buddhist monk at Hemis Gompa, Ladakh/Tibet, who studied Eastern philosophy with various Dharmic religions, as documented by Nicolas Notovitch, Kirsten Holger, Swami Abedananda, and others.
TRIVENIGANJ, India -- In the two weeks since a monsoon-swollen river burst its banks, ancient prejudices have run just as deep as the floodwaters. India's "untouchables" are the last to be rescued — if at all — from a deluge that has killed dozens and made 1.2 million homeless.
Dalits, the social outcasts at the bottom of the Hindu caste ladder, have borne the brunt of the devastation as the rampaging Kosi River swamped hundreds of square miles in northern India after it overflowed and shifted its course dozens of miles to the east.
On Sunday, one Dalit, Mohan Parwan ran up and down a half destroyed bridge that has become the headquarters for rescue operations in this town near the border with Nepal, desperately scanning arriving boats for signs of his family.
Dozens came in but each time he was disappointed.
Parwan, 43, is from a Dalit village just 2 miles away but completely cut off by a deep lake created by the swirling waters. As the village headman, he was put on the first rescue boat that came and was promised his wife, four children and the rest of the community would follow.
"It's been six days and since then no boat has come from the village," he said, tears welling in is eyes.
Dalits have long been shunned, holding a status so low they are considered outside the complex caste system that is all pervasive in India, dividing people into hundreds of groups defined by livelihood, class and ethnicity.
Even India's emergence as a global force — fueled by it's economic growth and high-tech hubs — has failed to break down the barriers and stigmas that hold them down.
When it comes to rescue operations, it appears Dalits are at the bottom, too.
In Triveniganj, Dalits huddled together in a small group at the end of the bridge away from everyone else. They said rescuers were saving the upper castes and the rich first, leaving their people to suffer without food and clean water.
"We are 200 people on a roof for days. Two children fell in and drowned. No one is coming to help us," said Kishore Ram, 22, who got out on one of the few boats to visit his village.
"The officials don't listen to us little people. We can't offer bribes and influence, I'm just a poor student," Ram said.
Hearing about the flood, Prithvi Chand Baswan, a 38-year-old Dalit, rushed home from the neighboring state of Punjab where he works as a farm laborer, searching for his wife and six children, ages 3 to 12. Four miles from home, he was stopped by flooding.
"People from the village say they are sheltering in the temple, but I can't get to them and they won't send a boat for a Dalit village," he said, holding his head in despair.
Ravindra Prasad Singh, a state government official coordinating rescue work in Triveniganj, about 875 miles east of New Delhi, the capital, denied that Dalits were being ignored.
"It's ridiculous. They are lying," he said, but he could not explain why only a single boat of Dalits had come in during all of Sunday afternoon even though they make up more than half the region's people.
On Monday, other government officials acknowledged there was a serious problem with Dalits being ignored, but said they were working to fix it.
"We are aware of these complaints," said Prataya Amrit, a top disaster management official in Bihar state, the scene of the flooding.
Amrit said greater resources were being sent to Dalit majority areas like Triveniganj and army and navy officers were now handling rescues to ensure less abuses.
The military "presence will instill a lot of confidence," he said. "In an operation of this magnitude you can't distinguish between rich and poor."
Officials also commandeered private boats in an effort to prevent richer and higher castes from monopolizing the vessels.
India's treatment of Dalits is a long and bitter history of good intentions and little progress.
Caste discrimination has been outlawed for more than a half century, and a quota system was established with the aim of giving Dalits a fair share of government jobs and places in schools. But their plight remains dire.
Most Dalits, like Parwan, live in destitute villages of rickety mud and thatch huts with no electricity or running water, kept down by ancient prejudice and caste-based politics.
In much of rural India, people from lower castes are barred from using upper-caste drinking wells, kept out of temples and denied spots in village. Ignoring the prohibitions is often met with violence.
In times of calamity, their situation is no better.
"Caste hierarchy is a source of deep emotions in India. In the face of these emotions it is difficult for the law or the army to do anything," said Chandrabhan Prasad, a New Delhi-based caste expert. "The rescuers have their caste loyalty and will try rescue their own first."
Faced with indifference and even hostility from many officials, one group of Dalits gave up waiting for help and waded into the neck-deep water in search of their kin.
"What can we do?" Parwan said, after being angrily shooed away by Singh for again asking to be given a boat to help his village.
"I'm just a Harijan," Parwan added, using a euphemism for Dalits coined by Indian pacifist icon Mohandas K. Gandhi. It means "child of God."
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