Monday, 09/16/2024
Articles about Buddha
How did the Buddha behave himself when he was paid respect and offered foods to ?
Update: 31/03/2008
By means of his righteousness and generosity, the Buddha\r\neven converted so many lords, high-ranking mandarins and hundreds of families.\r\nThat is the reason why he was always respected by male and female bhiksus,\r\nkings, high-ranking mandarins, lay people who encircled him so as to pay their\r\nrespect to him and asked for the explanations of the Dharma, and offered foods\r\nto him.
The thing we want to know is that what kind of method(s) he\r\nused when he was in touch with those people of different social backgrounds\r\nthat he was able to keep his refined manners and attitude of a person who “has\r\nthe purity of mind, has ended all his natural endownments, has abolished his\r\nlove desire, has attained non-greediness, has left off everything worldly and a\r\nvow to reach Nirvana.†As he clearly said to us that he had stayed inner\r\n(the method called No soul or self within) and outer or external space\r\nwhile he sat still, as mentioned in the sutra named ‘Space, great and\r\nunattainable or immobilisation’ as presented in the volume numbered 122 in Majhima\r\nNikaya sutra.
In this volume the Buddha said to his disciple, Ananda, “These\r\nstays, hey Ananda, have been performed by Tathagata - that means that I have\r\ntotally enlightened or after I had not paid any attention of the mind to\r\nanything, attained the way and stayed in innermost space. And, hey Ananda,\r\nduring the time I stay in this space if there are any bhiksus, male or female,\r\nor lay people of both sexes, or kings, high-ranking mandarins, any heretic\r\ndisciples come and ask for being received ... and you already know that I have\r\noriented myself to stay far-away from people, to stay by myself and from all\r\nworldly desires. So, try to tell them, right on the spot, all the pure words\r\nthat may encourage them.†As such, the World’s Honoured One did want to\r\nstay with his innermost feelings only and thanks to this method of thinking, he\r\ncould perform this method much. And, accordingly, the Buddha did cautiously\r\nteach his disciples the method of inner thinking in detail so clearly as\r\nmentioned in the sutra named ‘The Great Space’.
Before staying in the method called ‘empty within’ (No soul\r\nor self within), any bhiksu needs to calm his inner feeling, that is the bhiksu\r\nmust cultivate himself with meditation. For this, he must go through and attain\r\nsuccessively the four phases of meditation. In short, the practitioner has to\r\nrely on the force of meditation. In other words, only with meditation force,\r\ncan practitioners with ‘empty within’ method get their desired results.
Then a practitioner has to observe himself to see whether\r\nduring the practice of the ‘empty within’ method he feels satisfaction and\r\nself-belief and whether such a practice of his has reached his innermost or\r\nouter feeling or not, then both, and whether he can keep himself calm or not.
If the practitioner still does not feel joyful, he should\r\ntry to stay himself or sit down in a calmness status and peacify his innermost\r\nfeeling in the above-mentioned way.
This practice should be ended only when the practitioner has\r\nalready recovered his pleasure, joyfulness and self-belief in his being\r\ndirected to his innermost space. That is, the practitioner can be in a status\r\nwhen he can easily change his feeling in any other way he wants to - inner or\r\nouter direction, and immobility - according to his clear consciousness.
While the practitioner is being in a stay that he desires,\r\nif he directs himself to perform a meditative walking with his thinking that, “While\r\nI am walking, greediness and sorrowfulness as well as bad methods must not\r\nenter my brain†The practitioner should have such a clear thought in his\r\nhead.
Likewise, when the practitioner is in any position -\r\nstanding, lying or sitting - these positions must be stately. That is to say,\r\nthough in any position, the practitioner must not let any bad method cut in\r\ndeliberately. And if the practitioner has to say something, he should not use\r\nany frivolous or useless words.
The practitioner should not say anything vile or words used\r\nby vulgar people which are not suitable to sages and saints, or words that are\r\nnot related to the purpose of the talk. In short, he should use words that lead\r\nto non-greediness, peace of mind, enlightenment or Nirvana, etc. On the\r\ncontrary, if the practitioner needs to say something, he should mention\r\nhardships, initiativeness, non-greediness, etc. that will lead to superiority,\r\nenlightenment or abolishment of greediness, anger and delusion, etc., like the\r\nwords found in the books named Meditation Aspiration essay, Knowledge\r\nessay, Living by-oneself essay, Non-assembly essay, Diligence essay,\r\nCompleteness essay, Former life essay, Precepts essay, Wisdom essay, Liberty (Enlightenment) essay,\r\nFreedom of knowledge essay. The practitioner thinks, “I will talk about\r\nsuch essays.†Here the practitioner has a clear thought.
In addition, in such a stay the practitioner may have\r\nVitakka (a Sanskrit word, meaning ‘Supreme wisdom’). He may not think of bad\r\nthings, vulgar, frivolous or bad words, or things that are not appropriate to\r\ndecent people. Instead, he may think, “I will have such a thought or brain.†In\r\nthis case the practitioner has a clear thought.
The practitioner may have Kamaguma (a Sanskrit word, meaning\r\n‘beauty, fine sound, fragrance, good taste and sweetness). If the practitioner\r\nsees that he still thinks of those five desires, he understands that he still sticks\r\nto worldly desires. Otherwise, while observing those five worldly desires and\r\nhe shows indiffrent to them, he knows that he has become indifferent to those\r\nfive worldly desires.
As for the five ‘skandhas’ or aggregates that make up a\r\nhuman being known as form, feeling, perception, mental formation and\r\nconsciousness - the practitioner should depend on the type of the masses\r\nhe is facing so as to decide which aggregate to be abolished - whether it is form, a\r\nbeginning form or an ending form;whether it is feeling, a beginning\r\nfeeling or an ending feeling; whether it is perception, a\r\nbeginning perception or an ending perception; whether it is mental\r\nformation, a beginning mental formation or an ending mental formation; and\r\nwhether it is consciousness, a beginning consciousness or an ending\r\nconsciousness.
While considering these five ‘skandhas’, if asmimana (a\r\nSanskrit word, meaning ‘pride of self’ is rising in himself, the practitioner\r\nhas to abolish it. The fact is that the practitioner should act after the\r\nBuddha’s advice, “If the aggregate called ‘pride of self’ arises in me, I’ll\r\nhave to abolish it.†This shows that the practitioner has a correct\r\nconsciousness.
Finally, the Buddha reminded Ananda those homogeneous\r\nmethods, and that they relate to the good, belonging to good saints,\r\nsupernatural and get out of the reach of evil spirits’. Those are the methods\r\nwhich lie in inside stay, outside stay or both, and motionless. It is thanked\r\nto the very methods that the practitioner can cultivate himself appropriately,\r\nand even he is well respected by everybody, he will not turn to debauchery or\r\nbeing exiled to Hell.
At the end of this sutra, the World’s Honoured One mentioned\r\nthree unfortunate things to Buddhist leaders or guides, to his disciples and to\r\nthose who cultivate themselves after the method called ‘pure living’.
What are the unfortunate things to Buddhist leaders or\r\nguides? Let’s take this example. There was a leader or guide (a heretic) who\r\nchose for himself a remote dwelling spot located in a forest and at the root of\r\na tree to live on, and although living in such an isolated spot, the leader was\r\nhelped by many Brahmins and the entire local city people, including farmers who\r\nsurrrounded, paid respect and offered foods to him. Being in such a comfortable\r\nsituation, the leader suddenly rose in himself a love desire and as living in a\r\nwell-to-do life, he intentionally returned to a luxurious life. Accordingly, it\r\nis clear to say that the leader has been led to wicked methods, and infected by\r\nmicellaneous methods. It can be said that unfortunate things were brought to a\r\nleader.
What are the unfortunate things to a disciple? Let’s take\r\nthe following example. A disciple immitated his teacher by also choosing a\r\nremote spot in a jungle as a dwelling place for him. While leading such a\r\nremote life, the disciple was also surrounded by Brahmins, local city people\r\nand farmers who supported him materailly. As living in such a well-to-do\r\nsituation, the disciple finally and unintentionally fell into a luxurious life!\r\nAs such, unfortunate things clearly do harm a disciple unintentionally.
What do unfortunate things harm those who cultivate\r\nthemselves in the method called ‘pure living’? Here Tathagata appeared as an\r\nArahat who had attained the title Perfect Universal Enlightenment. He lived\r\nalone in a remote spot and was surrounded, supported as well as respected and\r\nmaterially offered by many Brahmin followers, householders, city dwellers, and\r\nfarmers. But he was not infected by any bad habits or desires and was not\r\nfallen into bad practices.
Of these three unfortunate things, the most dangerous one is\r\nthe one that harms those who follow the method called ‘pure living’. For this\r\nmethod will have a direct relationship with the Church of Buddhist Monastic\r\nCommunity of our Original Teacher. Next is that the disciple here was a\r\ndisciple of our Original Teacher who did not obey the World’s Honoured One’s\r\nteachings and did not practise the methods calledinnermost space, outer space,\r\ninner-outer space, and immobility. Accordingly, his heart finally\r\ncontracted such bad consequences as greed and lust, and returned to the\r\naffluent life of a lay person. The effect of this disciple’s actions will not\r\nonly cause countless disasters to many other pure living method co-cultivators\r\nof his but to himself. Accordingly, the Buddha ultimately advised his disciples\r\nto behave themselves like his close friends instead of his enemies. The\r\nfriendship here stressed that it could be found only in Buddhist leaders’ heart\r\nwho, owing to their compassion, spreach and speak up the road to happiness for\r\nthe disciples, and disciples here means those who are willing to listen to\r\ntheir leader’s advice. In other words, the disciples do not digress too far\r\nfrom their leader’s teachings. In this sutra, behaving oneself kindly towards\r\nthe Buddha means using the method or dharma called ‘empty within’ that means\r\n‘No soul or self within one’s heart’, ‘outer space’ or ‘not having any\r\nrelations with the outer space’, or both or ‘neither this nor that’ and ‘immobility’.\r\nOnly in this situation may the disciple not be affected by any of the\r\nsurrounding people’s intentions (Bhradmins, householders, city dwellers, and\r\nfarmers who are surrounding, paying respect and offering things to the Buddha).\r\nThat is to say that even surrounded by a large number of indecent people, the\r\ndisciple does not change anything in himself or he is not fallen into bad\r\nhabits, and his heart has neither risen any bad things, such as desires nor\r\nunrestrained desires, nor returned to the secular life. Those examples clearly\r\nexplain how unfortunate things cause disasters to those who practise the method\r\ncalled ‘pure living’. For it may cause the followers to be attacked by the\r\nfour-step cycle of a human being known as birth, old age, sickness and\r\ndeath in the future. And it is not any thing that harms those with the\r\npure-living method?
And that means we have mastered the real meaning of the\r\nGreek word ‘Paramartharyajnana’ or ‘Emptiness of the highest degree’, in the\r\nsutra with the same name then.
Paramartharyajnana Sutra, central volume 122.
(Extracted from the selected works entitled ‘Do light up a\r\ntorch yourself and go on†published in Saigon, 1990).
Written by Superior Buddhist Monk ThÃch Minh Châu
Translated into English by Mr. Hoang Huan, layman