Khuddaka Nikaya - Buddhavamsa - The Story of the Rich Man Anathapindika

Khuddaka Nikaya - Buddhavamsa - The Story of the Rich Man Anathapindika

The Great Chronicle of The Buddhas
by Mingun Sayadaw

Edited and Translated by
U Ko Lay and U Tin Lwin
Yangon, Myanmar

(a) The past aspiration of the rich man.

The Future-Anathapindika. was born into a wealthy family in the city of Hamsavati during the time of Padumuttara Buddha. When he was attending to a sermon by the Buddha he saw a lay disciple being designated as the foremost lay disciple among those who delight in charity. He had a strong desire to become such a distinguished disciple and after making an extra-ordinary offering to the Buddha he expressed his aspiration before the Buddha.

(b) His last existence as a Rich Man.

That worthy man fared in fortunate destinations for the whole hundred thousand world-cycles and during the time of Gotama Buddha he was born as the son of Sumana, the Rich Man of Savatthi. His name given by his parents was Sudattha.

How he came to be known as 'Anathapindika'

Sudattha in time became the head of a family. He earned the reputation of 'one who gives food to the destitute' which in Pali means. (Anatha, (destitutes) + pindika (rice-giver), hence Anathapindika.) For more details about this remarkable man, consult The Great Chronicle, Volume Three. Here only a brief sketch will be given as described in the Commentary on the Anguttara Nikaya.)

One day Anathapindika got to Rajagaha on a trading trip where he visited his friend the Rich Man of Rajagaha. There he learned the great news that the Buddha had arisen in the world. He could not wait till the city gates of Rajagaha were open in the next morning, such was his zeal to meet the Buddha. So he left the city at dawn with the devas helping him to have the gate open for his passage. He saw the Buddha, got the benefit of a discourse by the Buddha, and was established in the Fruition of Stream Entry-Knowledge. On the next day he made a great offering to the Buddha and the Samgha and got the Buddha's consent to come to Savatthi. He returned to Savatthi. On the way he made arrangements with his friends providing them with one lakh of money at each place to have a monastery built for the temporary residence of the Buddha and his company of bhikkhus, at intervals of one yojana. The distance between Rhjagaha and Savatthi being forty-five Yojanas, he spent forty five lakhs on the forty-five temporary transit monasteries. At Savatthi he acquired a wide park, the pleasure garden of Prince Jeta for a sum of money measured in the number of gold coins spread over the entire piece of property with their rims touching one another. It amounted to eighteen crores. On that piece of land he built a (golden) monastery costing another eighteen crores. At the formal dedication ceremony of the Jetavana monastery (meaning monastery built on Jeta's garden') which lasted for three months (some say five months, some even nine months), a lavish feast was thrown where guests were provided with every need both in the mornings and in the daytime It cost him a further eighteen crores

(c) Anathapindika the foremost giver.

The Jetavana monastery alone accounted for fifty-four crores. The regular donations to the Buddha and the Samgha consisted of the following offerings:

five hundred bhikkhus were offered with alms-food every day by the ticket system. (Salaka bhatta — drawing lots)
five hundred bhikkhus were offered with alms-food once during the waxing period, of the month and once during the waning period.
five hundred bhikkhus were offered with rice gruel every day by the ticket system.
five hundred bhikkhus were offered with rice gruel once during the waxing period of the month and once during the waning period.
daily offerings of alms-food were made to,

a) five hundred bhikkhus who had arrived in Savatthi recently and who had not acquainted themselves with the daily route for collecting alms-food,

b) five hundred bhikkhus who were about to go on a journey;

c) five hundred bhikkhus who were sick;

d) five hundred bhikkhus who tended the sick bhikkhus;

there was always seating place for five hundred bhikkhus at any time at Anathapindika's house.

Hence, on another occasion when the Buddha, while residing at the Jetavana monastery was conferring titles to lay disciples according to their merit, he declared. "Bhikkhus, among my lay disciples who delight in giving, Sudattha, the householder, known as Anathapindika is the foremost"

The Anathapindikovada sutta, the favourite discourse of Anathapindika.

(Here we shall give a condensed account of the Anathapindikovada sutta which Anathapindika liked very much. A full account of this discourse is contained in Uparipannasa.)

During the Buddha's residence at the Jetavana monastery in Savatthi, Anathapindika, the Householder, was sick in pain, and gravely ill. Then Anathapindika the householder, called an attendant and said to him, "O man, go to the Bhagava and approach him prostrating yourself at his feet carrying my words. Say to the Bhagava, 'Venerable Sir, Anathapindika, the householder, is sick in pain, and gravely ill. He pays homage with his head at the feet of the Bhagava' (Further,) go to the Venerable Sariputta, and approach him, prostrating yourself at his feet, carrying my words. Say to the Venerable Sariputta, 'Venerable Sir, Anathapindika the householder, is sick in pain, and gravely ill. He pays homage with his feet at the feet of the Venerable Sariputta ' And also say thus. 'Venerable Sir, may the Venerable Sariputta, out of compassion, come to the house of Anathapindika.

(When Anathapindika was in good health, he usually paid a visit to the Buddha at least once a day, and twice or three if he could manage it. But now that he was on his death bed he was sending an attendant as messenger.)

"Very well, Sir, "replied the attendant to Anathapindika, and went to the Bhagava. He paid homage to the Bhagava prostrating himself at his feet, and said to the Bhagava as instructed by his master. Then it was nearly sundown. He next went to the Venerable Sariputta, approached him prostrating himself at his feet, and said to the Venerable one as instructed by his master, requesting the Venerable one to come to Anathapindika's house. The Venerable Sariputta signified his acceptance by remaining silent.

Then, the Venerable Sariputta, re-robing himself carrying his alms-bowl and great robe, went to the house of Anathapindika the householder, accompanied by the Venerable Ananda as his attendant (in place of another bhikkhu which was the custom); and there, after taking the seat prepared for him, asked Anathapindika, the householder "Householder, are you feeling well? Are you feeling better? Is your pain decreasing and not increasing? Does it appear to be decreasing and not increasing?"

Anathapindika, the householder, replied to the Venerable Sariputta how he was feeling unwell, how he was not feeling any better, how his pain was increasing and not decreasing, and how it appeared to be increasing and not decreasing, giving four examples.

The Venerable Sariputta knew that the illness of the Householder was not controllable but that it would end only with this death. So he considered it important not to talk about anything but to give a discourse that would be of benefit to him. He gave the following discourse in a comprehensive manner. Since there is no possibility of checking an ailment which will end only with the death of the sufferer who, being under the influence of craving, conceit and wrong view, is attached to the six sense-doors, the six sense-objects, the six kinds of consciousness, the six kinds of contact, the six kinds of sensation, etc.) He said, "Householder, you should practise thus;

'I will have no attachment, by way of either Craving or Conceit or Wrong view, for the eye, which is corporeality with sensitivity of seeing, then the consciousness which is dependent on the eye (through a subtle fondness nikanti tanha for the eye) will not arise in me! Householder, you should practise the Threefold Training in this way.

(Herein. "You should practise thus 'I will have no attachment to the eye' is said to exhort the Householder to view the eye as impermanent, woeful (dukkha) and unsubstantial. This is so because if one views the eye as impermanent, Conceit cannot have any foothold, i.e., it cannot arise, if one views the eye as woeful (dukkha) . Craving attachment to the eye as 'my eye' cannot arise; if one views that eye as unsubstantial, the Wrong View of a personal identity or the ego as 'my Self cannot arise. Hence to be free of the misconceptions through Conceit, Craving and Wrong View, one should repeatedly view the eye as impermanent, woeful (dukkha) and unsubstantial.

The three misconceptions of Conceit, Craving and Wrong View are crude mental States. Even when those misconceptions may disappear there is a subtle fondness (nikanti) for the eye that tends to persist in one. The Venerable Sariputta exhorts the Householder to have his consciousness to be free of this subtle fondness

The same applies to the five other sense bases such as ear, nose, etc. and also to sense-objects, etc.)

Having exhorted Anathapindika to train himself to be free of attachment to the eye through Conceit, Craving and Wrong View, and also to have no lingering fondness for the eye, the Venerable Sariputta further exhorted him as follows,

"That beings so, Householder, you should practise thus 'I will have no attachment for the ear .. . p.. the nose . . . p. ., the tongue .. . p . for the mind, the mind-base; (not even a subtle fondness for the mind)' (1)

"That being so, Householder, you should practise thus; 'I will have no attachment for visual objects .. . p... sounds . . . p .. odours . . . p... tangible objects ... p... mind-objects (not even a subtle fondness for mind-objects).' (2)

"That being so, Householder, you should practise thus: 'I will have no attachment for eye-consciousness ... p ... ear-consciousness ... p... nose consciousness ... p . body-consciousness ... p ... mind consciousness (not even a subtle fondness for mind-consciousness.) (3)

"That being so, Householder, you should practise thus" 'I will have no attachment for eye-contact ... p ... ear-contact ... p... nose-contact ... tongue-contact ... p ... body-contact ... p ... mind-contact (not even a subtle fondness mind-contact) ' (4)

"That being so, Householder, you should practise thus: 'I will have no attachment for sensation arising out of eye-contact ... p... sensation arising out of ear-contact sensation arising out of nose-contact ... p ...sensation arising out of tongue-contact ... p ... sensation arising out of body-contact ... p ... sensation arising out of mind-contact (not even a subtle fondness for sensation arising out of mind-contact).' (5)

"That being so, Householder, you should practise thus: 'I will have no attachment for the Element of solidity ... p ... the Element of cohesion ... p ... the Element of heat ... p ... the Element of motion ... p .. the Element of Space ... p ... the Element of consciousness (not even a subtle fondness for the element of consciousness.)' (6)

"That being so, Householder, you should practise thus: 'I will have no attachment for corporeality ... p ... sensation ... p... perception ... p ... volitional activities consciousness (not even subtle fondness for consciousness).' (7)

"That being so, Householder, you should practise thus: 'I will have no attachment for the Jhana of infinity of Space ... the Jhana of infinity of consciousness ... p ... the Jhana of Nothingness ... p ... the Jhana of Neither-consciousness-nor-non consciousness (not even a subtle fondness for the Jhana of Neither-consciousness-nor-non-consciousness).' (8)

"That being so, Householder, you should practise thus. 'I will have no attachment for the present world; then the consciousness which is dependent on the present world (through a subtle fondness for the present world) will not arise in me.' Householder, you should practise the Threefold Training in this way.

"That being so, Householder, you should practise thus: 'I will have no attachment for the hereafter; then the consciousness which is dependent on the hereafter (through a subtle fondness for the hereafter will not arise in me. Householder, you should practise the Threefold Training in this way.

(From the first to eight rounds of exposition the sentient world is being referred to. In the last (ninth) round, 'the present world' refers to volitional activities related to dwelling, food and raiment and other possessions; 'the hereafter' means all forms of existence beyond the human existence. The Venerable Sariputta, by mentioning the hereafter, hints that the Householder should not crave for grand mansions, gorgeous food and raiment, etc., in any of the celestial world.)

Thus the Venerable Sariputta give a comprehensive discourse in nine turns (on the same theme). It may be noted that the three roots, Craving, Conceit and Wrong View, are completely eliminated out on attainment of Arahatta phala. Of the three, Wrong View is eradicated when Stream-Entry Knowledge in gained. The Venerable Sariputta repeatedly exhorted Anathapindika to practise so that no attachment to anything arises in the mind through any of these misconceptions. This connotes that Arahattaphala should be the goal. This theme he impressed on the Householder by nine different factors, viz. Sense-doors, Sense-objects, Consciousness, Contact, Sensation, Dhatu Elements, Khandha aggregates, Jhana of the Non-material Sphere, and all things knowable, sabba dhamma. The voidness, the emptiness, the unreality of these phenomena is comprehended when one attains Arahattaphala.)

When the discourse had ended, Anathapindika the Householder wept bitterly. Then the Venerable Ananda said to Anathapindika, the Householder: "Householder, are you attached to your possessions? Householder, are you wavering about the meritorious deeds?"

"Venerable Sir," replied Anathapindika, "I am not attached to my possessions. Nor am I wavering. I have indeed for a long time attended upon the Bhagava. I have also attended upon the bhikkhus who are worthy of respect. But, I have never heard such words of the Dhamma before.

"Householder, the laity who wear white cloths cannot understand clearly this word of the Dhamma. (For lay persons it is not easy to follow the exhortation to break away from the dear ones such as wife and children, and various other possessions such as valued attendants, fertile fields, etc..) Householder, this word of the Dhamma can be understood only by bhikkhus (Only bhikkhu can appreciate such admonition )"

"Venerable Sariputta, I beg of you. Let this word of the Dhamma be made clear to the laity who wear white cloths. Venerable Sir, there are many worthy men whose understanding is not clouded by the dust of defilements. For them it is a great loss in not being able to see the Supramundane for not having heard the Dhamma. There are likely to be people who will be able to fully understand the Dhamma and win Arahatship only if you expound the Dhamma to them."

("I have never heard such words of the Dhamma before." These words spoken by Anathapindika needs to be explained. It is not that the Householder was never before admonished by the Buddha using words of the same profound meaning. But the Doctrine leading to Arahattaphala expounded by means of such a comprehensive arrangement involving nine different turns (or rounds) as the six sense-doors, the six sense-objects, the six kinds of Consciousness, the six Elements, the Aggregates, the four jhanas of the Non-material Sphere, the present world and the hereafter, through all manner of knowing them, i.e., seeing, hearing, attaining, cognizing, has never been discoursed to him before.

Explained in another way: Charity and the delight in giving away is the hallmark of Anathapindika's character. Never would he pay a visit to the Buddha or to bhikkhus worthy of respect empty-handed: in the mornings he would take gruel and eatables to them, in the afternoons, ghee, honey or molasses, etc.. Even on some rare occasions when he had no offering to make to them he would take his attendants along, carrying fine sand with them which he let them spread about the monastic compound. At the monastery he would make his offering, observe the precepts, and then go home. His noble behaviour was reputed to be one worthy of a Buddha-to-be. The Buddha, during the twenty-four years of association with Anathapindika, mostly praised him for his charity. "I had practised charity over four incalculable period and a hundred thousand world-cycles. You are following my footsteps." The great disciples like the Venerable Sariputta usually discoursed to Anathapindika on the benefits of giving in charity. That is why the Venerable Ananda said to him. "Householder, the laity who wear white clothes cannot understand clearly this word of the Dhamma" with reference to the present discourse by the Venerable Sariputta.

This should not be taken to mean that the Buddha never discoursed to Anathapindika on the cultivating of Insight leading to Path-Knowledge and its Fruition. In fact the Householder had heard the need for Insight-development. Only that he had never listened to such an elaborate discussion running to nine turns (round) as in the present discourse. As the Sub-Commentary on Anathathapindikovada sutta has pointed out: "As a matter of fact, the Bhagava had discoursed to him (Anathapindika) on the subject of Insight development as the straight course to the attainment of the Ariya Path.")

Anathapindika passes away and is reborn in the Tusita Deva Realm.

After admonishing Anathapindika the Householder, the Venerable Sariputta and Ananda departed. Not long after they had left, Anathapindika passed away and was reborn in the Tusita deva realm.

Then, around the middle watch of the night the deva Anathapindika approached the Buddha, made obeisance to the Bagava in verse thus:

(Herein, before mentioning the verses the reason for the deva Anathapindika's visit to the Buddha should be noted. Being reborn in the Tusita deva realm, Anathapindika found out, was a great thing full of sense pleasure. His body, three gavutas long, was shining like a mass of gold. His mansion, pleasure gardens, the Wish Tree where he could get anything by mere wishing, etc. were indeed alluring. The deva reviews his past existence and saw that his devotion to the Triple Gem had been the causes of this resplendent fresh existence. He considered his new deva life. It was full of ease and comfort which could easily make him drowned in sense pleasures, forgetting the Good Doctrine. "I must now go to the human world and sing in praise of the Jetavana monastery (my past deed of merit), the Samgha, the Buddha, the Ariya Path, the Venerable Sariputta; only on returning from the human world will I start enjoying this freshly acquired life". Thus be decided.)

Four Stanzas address to the Bahagava

1. "(Venerable Sir,) this Jetavana monastery as the resort by day and by night, of the Samgha (Comprising bhikkhus who are Arahats as well as those training themselves for Arahatship.) It is the residence of the Bhagava, King of the Dhamma (That is why) it is source of delight to me.

(The Jetavana monastery was a monastic complex comprising the Buddha's Private (Scented) chamber, the square Pinnacled monastery, a number of monastic dwellings with exquisite ornate designs with fruit trees, flowering trees and shrubbery and restful seats. It was a religious premise of rare elegance, a visitor's delight. However, the real attraction of the Jetavana monastery lay in its residents, the taint-free ariyas such as the Buddha and his noble disciples. And it was that spiritual beauty of the place rather than the sensual attraction that appealed to an ariya like Anathapindika.)

2. "It is through action (i.e., volitional activities associated with magga), Knowledge (i.e., Right View and Right Thinking), Dhamma (i.e., Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration), and virtuous living based on morality (i.e., Right Speech, Right Action and Right Livelihood) that beings are purified; they are not purified through lineage or wealth.

(In this stanza Anathapindika extols the Ariya Path of eight constituents.)

3. "That being so, the wise person, discerning his own welfare (culminating in Nibbana), should contemplate with right perception the impermanence, the woefulness and the unsubstantiality of five aggregates (i.e., this body) which are the object of Clinging. Contemplating thus, that person is purified through realising the Four Ariya Truths.

(This body, the mind-body complex which one clings to as oneself, when brought to its ultimate analysis by means of Insight-development, is revealed as to its true nature. As Insight fully develops into Path-Knowledge, The Truth of Dukkha or woefulness of repeated existences, is seen through by the frill understanding of phenomena. The Truth of the origin of dukkha is seen through and discarded. The Truth of cessation dukkha is realized by direct experience. The Truth of the Path is penetratingly understood by developing it. Then the yogi is free from of the defilements and purity is achieved. In this stanza Anathapindika extols the development of Insight and the realization of the Path-Knowledge)

4. A certain bhikkhu reaches the other shore (that is Nibbana). In this respect he is equal to Sariputta. But Sariputta with his knowledge, morality and calm (pacification of asava) panna, sila, upasama, is the noblest among those bhikkhus who reach the other shore (that is Nibbana)"

(In this stanza Anathapindika extols the virtues of the Venerable Sariputta.)

The deva Anathapindika addressed those four stanzas to the Buddha. The Buddha listened to them without making any interruption, thus showing his approval. Then the deva Anathapindika gladly thinking, "The Teacher is pleased with these words, of mine," made obeisance to Bhagava and vanished there and then.

Then, when the night passed and morning came, the Buddha addressed the bhikkhus thus: "Bhikkhus, last night, about the middle watch of the night, a certain deva approached me, made obeisance to me, and stood in a suitable place. Then he addressed to me with these stanzas. The Buddha recited to the bhikkhus the verses spoken by the deva Anathapindika.

(Here, the Buddha did not mention the name of Anathapindika because he wanted the intuition of Ananda to be brought to the fore.)

Accordingly, as soon as the Buddha had spoken, the Venerable Ananda, without hesitating a moment, said, "Venerable Sir, that deva must have been the deva Anathapidika. Venerable Sir, Anathapindika the Householder had much devotion to the Venerable Sariputta."

"Well said, Ananda, well said. Ananda, you do have the right intuition, Ananda, that deva is indeed the deva Anathapindika." Thus said the Buddha.

(Here ends the story of Anathapindika the Householder.)

Khuddaka Nikaya - Buddhavamsa - The Story of the Brothers Tapussa and Bhallika

Khuddaka Nikaya - Buddhavamsa - The Story of the Brothers Tapussa and Bhallika

The Great Chronicle of The Buddhas
by Mingun Sayadaw

Edited and Translated by
U Ko Lay and U Tin Lwin
Yangon, Myanmar

(a) The past aspirations of the two lay male disciples.

(I shall describe the story of the brothers Tapussa and Bhallika based on the Commentary on the Anguttara Nikaya and the Commentary on the Theragatha, the Ekaka nipata.)

The Future-Tapussa and Future-Bhallika were born into a worthy family in the city of Hamsavati during the time of Padumuttara Buddha. When they were attending to a discourse by the Buddha, they saw two disciples designated as the foremost disciples in being the first of the Buddha's disciples who were established in the Three Refuges. The two brothers aspired to that distinction and after making an extraordinary offering, wished for that goal. (Anguttara Commentary)

Other past existences in the intervening period.

The two brothers lived a life full of meritorious deeds and after passing away from that memorable existence they never fell to the miserable states of apaya but were reborn only in the deva world and the human world. The Future-Bhallika was reborn, thirty-one world- cycles previous to the present world-cycle, in a period which was devoid of any Buddha, as a man who offered all kinds of fruit to a Paccekabuddha named Sumana. For that good deed he fared only in the good destinations. During the time of Sikhi Buddha he was born into a brahmin family in the city of Arunavati. He heard the news that the two merchant brothers, Ujita and Ojita, had opportunity of offering first alms-food to Sikhi Buddha who had arisen from the seventh seven-day abiding in the attainment in Cessation and who was about to begin his eight seven-day abiding in the attainment of Cessation He went to see Sikhi Buddha together with his friend, (the Future-Tapussa), and after paying homage to the Buddha, requested him to accept their alms-food offering the next day. On the next day they made an extra-ordinary offering to the Buddha and said, "Venerable Sir, for this good deed, let both of us get the opportunity of making the first alms-food to the Buddha in the future.

The two friends fared in various existences during which they performed meritorious deeds together, resulting in rebirth at the fortunate destinations. During the time of Kassapa Buddha they were born into the family of a cattle merchant. For a long period of life lasting many years they offered milk-food to the Samgha. (These events are described in the Commentary on the Theragattha.)

(b) Discipleship in their last existence.

The two friends fared in the fortunate destinations for the infinite years that constituted the interim period between the two Buddhas. During the time of Gotama Buddha before the Buddha won Perfect Enlightenment, they were reborn as two sons of a travelling merchant who carried on their trade using a big caravan for carrying the goods from place to place. Their native town was called Asitancana (the Commentary on Theragattharefers to it as Pokkharavati). The elder brother was named Tapussa; the younger, Bhallika.

They became householders and carried on trading together using a caravan of five hundred bullock carts. It was at that time Gotama Buddha had won Perfect Enlightenment, had passed seven times seven days of abiding in the attainment of Cessation, and was about to enter into the eighth seven-days period of abiding in the attainment of Cessation at the foot of a 'Linlun' tree, (the Sapium baccatum).

The caravan of the two merchant brothers were then not far from the tree. At that time the deva who had been mother to the merchant brothers in the immediately previous existence saw the dire need of the Buddha for sustenance who, after staying for forty-nine days (having last taken Sujata's milk-rice in forty-nine morsels), must eat that day for his survival. She thought her two sons should very well provide the food just in time. So she made the bullocks unable to go using her powers.

The two brothers inspected the bullocks, the carts, and all relevant conditions that made the carts immobile. They were at their wit's end to find the reason. The deva mother of the previous existence, seeing them disheartened, possessed a man in the caravan and said to them, "Dear sons, you are not harassed by any demon or peta or naga but it is me, a deva of the terrestrial realm, who was your mother in your last existence, who have done this. (Now, sons,) the Buddha who is endowed with Ten Powers, is staying at the foot of a 'Linlun' tree. Go and offer alms-food to the Buddha which will be the first food he takes after attainment of Buddhahood"

The two brothers were delighted by the deva's word. And thinking that if they were to cook alms-food it would take too much time, they took some of their choicest preserved food, put it in a gold salver, and going near the Buddha, said, "Venerable Sir, may you out of compassion, accept this victual." The Buddha reviewed the situation and considered what course the previous Buddha followed in such a case. The four Great Deva Kings then came to the Buddha and offered an alms-bowl each, which was of granite having the colour of the green gram. The Buddha considered the great benefit that would accrue to the four devas, and so accepted all the four bowls, and (placing them one a top the other,) willed that the four bowls become one, and accordingly, the four granite bowls became a single alms-bowl with four rims.

The two brothers put their alms-food into the Buddha's alms-bowl. (The Buddha ate the food.) After the Buddha finished eating it the brothers offered water for drinking and washing. Then they made obeisance to the Buddha and sat in a suitable place. The Buddha gave them a discourse at the end of which both the two brothers were established in the 'Two Refuges' (The story of the establishment of the two brothers in the Two Refuges (dve vacika saranagamana) has been described in the Great Chronicle, Volume Two.)

After having established in the Two Refuges, before departing the two brothers said to the Buddha, "Venerable Sir, may the Bhagava, out of compassion, bestow on us something which we may revere every day" The Buddha passed his right hand on the head and gave them eight hairs as relics. The brothers put the hairs in a gold casket and took them home. Back at their town they put up a shrine at the entrance of the town of Asitancana where the eight relics from the living Buddha were enshrined. On uposatha (sabbath) days the shrine used to emit Buddha-rays.

(c) The two brothers designated as foremost lay disciples.

On another occasion when the Buddha was residing at the Jetavana monastery and conferred titles of distinction on lay disciples accordingly to their merit, he declared "Bhikkhus, among my lay disciples who have taken refuge earliest in the Buddha and the Dhamma the merchant brothers Tapussa and Bhallika are the foremost."

The attainment of Path-Knowledge.

Tapussa and Bhallika were the earliest of the Buddha's lay disciples who took refuge in the Buddha and the Dhamma. Later the Buddha made his first discourse, the Dhammacakka at the Migadavana forest near Baranasi. After that he went and resided in Rajagaha. The two brothers got to Rajagaha on a trading trip They visited the Buddha, made obeisance and sat in a suitable place. The Buddha gave discourse to them at the end of which the elder brother Tapussa was established in Stream-Entry Knowledge and its Fruition. The younger brother turned bhikkhu and in due course attained Arahatship endowed with the six Supernormal Powers. (Commentary on the Theragattha, Book 1).

Khuddaka Nikaya - Buddhavamsa - The Story of Patacara Theri

Khuddaka Nikaya - Buddhavamsa - The Story of Patacara Theri

The Great Chronicle of The Buddhas
by Mingun Sayadaw

Edited and Translated by
U Ko Lay and U Tin Lwin
Yangon, Myanmar

(a) Her past aspiration.

The future Patacara Theri was born into a rich man's family in the city of Hansavati during the time of Padumuttara Buddha. On one occasion while she was attending to a sermon by the Buddha she saw a bhikkhuni being designated as the foremost bhikkhuni among those who were most learned in the Vinaya Rules. She aspired to that honour in her own time and after making an extraordinary offering to the Buddha, expressed her desire for the honour of being designated as the foremost bhikkhu in the matter of Vinaya learning. Padumuttara Buddha prophesied that her wish would be fulfilled.

In her existence as one of the seven daughters of King Kiki

After filling her whole life with meritorious deeds, the Rich man's daughter passed away and was reborn in the deva world and then the human world and the deva world in turns. During the time of Kassapa Buddha she was born as the third of the seven illustrious daughters of King Kiki (of Baranasi) about whom we have said earlier on, her name was Bhikkhuni; she and the six sisters remained spinsters, lived a life of chastity for the whole life span of twenty thousand years and donated a big monastic complex together.

(b) Taking up the life of a Bhikkhuni in her last existence.

The king's daughter, after passing away from that existence, was reborn in the deva world. For the innumerable years of the intervening period between the two Buddhas she enjoyed celestial pleasures. During the time of Gotama Buddha she was reborn as the daughter of the rich man of Savatthi.

When she came of age she fell in love with a servant of her fathers' household. When her parents arranged for her betrothal with the son of another rich man, she warned her lover on the day before the day of betrothal that unless he was prepared to elope her forthwith, their love affair would be ended. The man was true to her. He eloped with her, taking whatever little savings he had set aside, the two lovers ran away stealthily and took shelter at a small village three or four yojanas away from Savatthi.

In due course the rich mans daughter became pregnant and said to her husband 'My Lord, this is a desolate place for us to give birth to my child. Let us go back to my fathers house. The husband was a timid man. He dared not face the consequences of returning to his master's house and procrastinated. The wife then decided that her husband was not going to send her back to her house and chose the absence of her husband to step away alone towards her father's house.

When the husband came back from his short trip and learnt that his wife had gone back to her parents' house he felt pity for her 'She has to suffer because of me,' he repented and he went after her without delay. He caught up with her on the way but by then she had delivered the child. Then they agreed between them that since the purpose of her returning to her parents was for safe delivery of her child, and now that the child had been delivered safely there "'is no point in going there. So they went back to their small village.

Another child arrived. The wife asked her husband to take her to her parents place. The husband procrastinated as before, and getting impatient, she went alone. On the way she delivered her second child safely when her husband caught up with her. At that time there came heavy rains on all the four quarters. The wife asked her husband to put up some shelter from the rains for the night. He made a rickety shelter from whatever faggots he could find. He then went in search of some tufts of grass to build an embankment around the little hut. He started pulling out grass from a mound, not noticing it as such.

The cobra that lay inside the mound got annoyed and struck the man who fell dead on the spot. The wife who was kept waiting in the rickety hut, after awaiting the whole night, thought that her husband had deserted her. She went to look for him and found him lying dead near the mound 'Oh, me! my husband met his death all on account of me!" She wailed. And holding the bigger child by the hand and putting the infant on her waist, she took the road to Savatthi. In front of her she had to cross a shallow stream (which seemed deep). She thought she might not be able to cross it with both the children together. So she left the elder boy on this side of the stream and after crossing it, placed the infant on the other side, wrapped up snugly. She waded the stream back to the elder boy. Just as she got half-way in the stream a kite swooped down on the infant baby taking it for its prey. The mother became excited and tried to shoo away the kite but her throwing up the hands in the air was mistaken as beckoning to him by the elder child who now ran into the stream. He slipped and was carried away by the swift current. Before the mother could get to her infant child the kite had got it and was lost. She wailed her fate in half a stanza thus:

'Both my two sons are dead and gone!

And my husband too had died on the way!'

Wailing in those desperate words, she proceeded along her way to Savatthi.

When she arrived in Savatthi, she was unable to find her parents' place. It was partly due to her intense grief but there was a substantial reason for her failure to recognize her own childhood home. For as she asked the people where the Rich Man's house which used to be somewhere there had gone, they answered, "What use is there if you find the house." It has been destroyed by last nights' gale. All the inmates of the house died inside the house that fell down. They all were cremated on a single pyre. And that is the place of their burial," the people showed her the thin smoke from the burnt up pyre.

"What, what did you say?" Those were the only words she could say and she collapsed. When she came round, she was not in her own wits. She could not care about decency with no cloths on, her hands raised in the air wildly, she went near the burnt-up pyre and wailed:

"Both my two sons are dead and gone!

And my husband too has died on the way!

My mother, my father and my brother, (Having perished together,)

Have been cremated on a single pyre"

The meaning of the word 'Patacara

The Rich Man's daughter went about the city naked. When other people tried to cover up her body she tore off the clothes. Thus wherever she went she was surrounded by astonished crowds. She came to be referred to as 'The naked woman' Patacara (Or in another sense of the Pali word, 'the shameless woman') As she went absentmindedly wailing in that tragic stanza people would say "Hey go away, mad woman!" Some would throw dirt and refuse on her head, some would throw stones at her.

Patacara finds peace

The Buddha saw Patacara roaming about aimlessly while he was making a discourse to an audience at the Jetavana monastery. Seeing that her faculties had now ripened, the Buddha willed that Patacara come to him at the monastery . People tried to prevent her coming to the monastery but the Buddha said to them. 'Don't try to stop her. When she came nearer the Buddha said to her, 'Patacara be mindful.'

As soon as she heard the Buddha's words, thanks to the Buddha's powers, Patacara regained her senses. Knowing her nakedness she sat down on her closed knees and remained with her body bent, and trying her best to cover up her naked body with her hands. Someone then threw down to her a piece of garment which she took up, cloaked herself in, and drew near the Buddha. In worshipping posture, she related the tragic story thus:

"Venerable Sir, may you be my refuge! My younger son was swooped away by a kite. My elder son was drowned in the current of a stream. My husband died on the way. My parents and my brothers were killed in the house that collapsed and they were cremated on a single pyre."

The Buddha said to her:

"Patacara, do not vacillate. You have now come to one in whom you can take refuge. Just as you have shed tears for the loss of your sons, husband, mother, father and brother, so also had you shed much tears, even greater than the waters of the four great oceans, throughout the beginningless round of existences."

The Bhagava also spoke in verse as follows:

"Patacara, the waters of the four great oceans are little when compared to the amount of tears shed by one person on account of the grief suffered for loss of his or her beloved ones. Now, my daughter, why are you so negligent? Be careful."

On hearing the Buddha's discourse containing the perspective of Samsara, grief abated in the mind of Patacara . The Bhagava, knowing that Patacara had been able to control her sorrow, discoursed further thus:

"Patacara, neither son nor husband can protect one on the journey through after life, nor are they one's refuge. That being so, even though sons or husband may be living, they are as good as non-existent for a wayfarer in samsara. Therefore a wise person should purify his morality and get himself or herself established on the Noble Practice leading to Nibbana."

Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:

"Patacara, when one falls victim to Death neither one's sons nor parents nor close relations can protect one, one's kith and kin have no power to give protection " - Dhammapada V-288

"Knowing this lack of protection against Death, the wise person restrained by morality should make haste to clear the Ariya Path that leads to Nibbana"

At the end of the discourse Patacara burnt up the infinite defilements by means of Stream Entry Knowledge and was established in Sotapatti Magga.

After becoming a Stream-Enterer, Patacara requested the Buddha that she be admitted into the Order of bhikkhuni. The Buddha caused her to be taken to the bhikkhunis and be admitted as a bhikkhuni.

How Patacara attained Arahatship

One day bhikkhuni Patacara was washing her feet. As she poured down the water on her feet the water flowed to a short distance and then stopped there. When a second cup was poured the water flowed to a place slightly farther away than the first stream and then stopped. When a third cup was poured the water flowed to a place slightly farther away than the second stream. Patacara, already a Stream Enterer, meditated on this phenomenon of the three streams of water, and applied it to the three periods of life thus:

"Just as the first stream of water stopped at a short place, sentient beings are liable to die during their first period of life.

Just as the second stream flowed slightly farther than the first stream and stopped, so also sentient beings are liable to die during their middle age.

And just as the third stream flowed farther than the second stream and stopped, so also sentient being are liable to die in their last period of life."

She reflected further that just as all the three streams must end up and disappear so also living beings must give up their tenure of life and perish. Thus the impermanence of things gave her insight into all conditioned phenomena. From that insight into impermanence, the characteristic of the woefulness (dukkha) of all conditioned phenomena dawned on her conditioned mind, and hence the insubstantiality, the emptiness of all and conditioned phenomena also was then perceived.

Pondering deeply on the three characteristics, she went into her monastic dwelling for a suitable change in the temperature. There she placed the lighted lamp at its usual place and, wishing to extinguish it, she pulled down the wick into oil with a pointed needle.

Just at that moment the Buddha while sitting in his private chamber sent Buddha-rays to Patacara making himself visible to her and said:

"Patacara, you are thinking rightly all sentient beings are subject to death. Therefore it is in vain to be living for a hundred years without the right perception of the five aggregates of their arising and dissolution, whereas it is really worthwhile to live even for a day with a full understanding of the five aggregates"

The Buddha put this point in verse as follows:

"Patacara even if one were to live a hundred years without perceiving (with Insight) the arising and perishing of conditioned phenomena (i.e. , mind and body), yet more worthwhile indeed is a single day's life of one who perceives the arising and perishing of mind and body." Dhammapada, V - 13)

At the end of the discourse Patacara attained arahatship together with the four Discriminative Knowledges.

After attaining Arahatship Patacara learnt the Vinaya from the Buddha extensively and made wise judgments on matters concerning the Vinaya. Therefore on another occasion when the Buddha honoured distinguished bhikkhunis in a congregation at the Jetavana monastery he declared:

'Bhikkhus among my bhikkhunis disciples who are wise (adept) in the Vinaya, Bhikkhuni Patacara is the foremost.'

(Here ends the story of Patacara Theri)

Khuddaka Nikaya - Buddhavamsa - The Story of Uppalavanna Theri

Khuddaka Nikaya - Buddhavamsa - The Story of Uppalavanna Theri

The Great Chronicle of The Buddhas
by Mingun Sayadaw

Edited and Translated by
U Ko Lay and U Tin Lwin
Yangon, Myanmar

(a) The past aspiration of the Theri

The Future-Uppalavanna Theri was born into a worthy family in the city of Hamsavati during the time of Padumutara Buddha. On one occasion she listened to a discourse by the Buddha in the midst of a big audience, where she saw the Buddha name a Bhikkhuni as the foremost Bhikkhuni among those endowed with supernormal powers. She

aspired to become such a great bhikkhuni in the future and she made an extraordinary offering to the Buddha and the Samgha for seven days. At the end of seven days she placed seven bunches of lotus flowers at the feet of the Buddha as her tribute and expressed her aspiration for the title of the foremost Bhikkhuni among those endowed with supernormal powers. Padumuttara Buddha prophesied that her aspiration would be fulfilled.

Offering of Lotus Flowers to a Paccekabuddha.

After passing away from that existence which was marked by a lifelong dedication to the Buddha and the Samgha, she was reborn in the Tavatimsa deva realm. Next she was reborn in the human world when she offered lotus flowers and alms-food to a Paccekabuddha.

In her existence as the daughter of a rich man

Ninety-one world-cycles previous to the present world-cycle there arose Vipassi Buddha during which period the Future-Uppalavanna Theri was born into a Rich Man's family in Baranasi. She invited the Buddha and the Samgha to her place, made an extraordinary offering, and making a gift of lotus flowers to Vipassi Buddha, she mentally wished for personal charm in her future existences.

In her existence as a daughter of King Kiki

After passing away from that existence which too was marked by meritorious deeds, the rich man's daughter was reborn as a deva, and she alternated between deva and human existence. During the time of Kassapa Buddha. in the present world-cycle, she became the second of the seven daughters of King kiki in Baranasi by the name of Princess Samanagutta. In that existence she, like her second eldest sister, the future Khema Theri remained a spinster for life which lasted twenty- thousand years. They donated a monastic complex for the Samgha. At her death she was reborn in the deva realm again.

In her existence as Ummadanti

After passing away from the deva realm she was born into a worthy family in the human world. During that existence she donated a gold-coloured piece of cloth to an Arahat, bhikkhu disciple of Kassapa Buddha (For details see Ummadanti Jataka)

She passed away from that existence to be reborn as Ummadanti, the exquisitely beautiful daughter of a rich Brahmin named Tiritivaccha in Aritthapura in the Province of Sivi (For details see Ummadani Jataka, pannasa nipata).

In her existence as a watch woman in the field.

Her next existence was as the daughter of a farmer in a small village. Early one morning, as she went to the farm house she found in a pond on her way a freshly blooming lotus-flower. She went into the pond and plucked it. At the farm house she gathered some ears of rice and roasted the rice into pop corn which she counted up to five hundred. She put the pop corn in a lotus leaf gathered from the pond.

At that moment a Paccekabuddha, after rising from his dwelling in the attainment of cessation, came by way of the air and stood not far away from the farmer's daughter. The girl saw him, Went to the farm house to get the pop corn and the lotus flowers, and then she put the pop corn into the Paccekabuddha's alms-bowel, covered it with the lotus flower, and offered it to the Paccekabuddha.

After the Paccekabuddha had gone awhile, she thought, a Paccekabuddha has no use with a flower; perhaps I should get it back and wear it."She made a few steps towards the Paccekabuddha on his way and then asked back the lotus flower. But then she pondered. "Well, if the Paccekabuddha did not want my gift of the flower he would have refused to accept it at the beginning. Now that he allowed me to put it on his alms-bowl he must have liked it as a gift." So thinking, she placed the flower back to the alms-bowl again. (For this wavering act her future existences, as we shall see, were marked by mixed fortunes.)

Having thus made a gift; again, of the lotus flower, and admitting her fault for taking it back earlier, she expressed her wish, "Venerable Sir, for offering this pop corn my I be blessed with five hundred sons in my future existence, the number of pop-corn flowers that make up my gift.

Further, for my gift of the lotus flower may lotus flowers rise up from the earth to receive every step I make in my future existence!"

(According to the life history of Uppalavana, while the farmer's daughter was making her offerings to the Paccekabuddha, five hundred farm workers watching the field offered some honey to the Paccekabuddha and made their wish that in their future existence they be reborn as the sons (five hundred of them all) of the young lady.)

The Paccekabuddha then rose to the sky even while the girl was watching him and returned to Gandamadana mountain. There he placed the lotus flowers at the entrance to Nandamula Cave for use by all Paccekabuddhas as a door-mat at the foot of the flight of steps.

In the existence as Queen Padumadevi

As the result of that good deed when the girl passed away from that existence she was reborn, by instantaneous full-grown birth, as a deva. There in her own existence a lotus flower arose from the earth at her foot at every step she made. When she passed away from the deva existence she was reborn in the human world from a lotus flower in a big lake of lotus flowers at the foot of a mountain. A recluse made his dwelling nearby. Early one morning he went to the lake to wash his face and saw a lotus flower in bud which was already bigger than other buds but while the other buds had opened up their petals into full bloom this bud remained in bud. He thought it strange and so went into the water and plucked it.

In his hand the big bud opened up its petals and inside there he saw a female child lying. He felt a curious sense of paternal love for the child. He took her to the hermitage along with the lotus flower, and put her on a small cot. Thanks to the past merits of the girl, milk oozed out from the big thumb of the recluse with which he nursed her. When the first lotus flower that she lay on became withered a new lotus flower was placed underneath her.

When the young girl could walk and romp about there arose from the earth a lotus flower under her feet wherever she went. She had a saffron-coloured complexion. Her personal charm was super-human and would nearly equal that of a celestial maiden. Since she was gotten from the lotus her foster father, the good recluse, named her Padumavati (Miss Lotus). When the recluse went out in search of fruit she was left-alone at the hermitage.

Padumavatr becomes a Queen

When Padumavati came of age, one day during the absence of the recluse, out on fruit gathering, a hunter who happened to come to the hermitage saw her and thought, "There is no human being on earth as beautiful as this girl. I must find out what she is." And so he awaited the return of the recluse. When the recluse was seen coming the girl went out to meet him, took the yoke (laden with fruits) and the water pot from him, got her foster father seated, and attended on him lovingly.

The hunter was now sure that the girl was in fact a human being, and after paying homage to the recluse sat there. The recluse gave him fruits and water, then asked him, "Are you going to stay in the forest or, are you going back to your home?"

The hunter said, "I have no business in the future, Sir, I am going back to my home."

"Could you keep this experience of your meeting with the girl to yourself without letting anyone know about it?"

"If you would rather not let others know about this, Sir, why should I tell others?" But he said this merely to please his kind host. On his return after paying respect to the recluse, he carefully carved out the trees and arranged some branches along his way to the hermitage so as to recognize his path.

And back at the city, he went to see the king who asked the purpose of his visit. He said, "Great King, I am your humble servant, a hunter. I come to report to you the presence of a most remarkable woman in the forest at the foot of the mountain who would surely be an asset for Your Majesty." He explained the circumstance of his discovery to the king. The king was deeply interested. He marched for the foot of the mountain without losing time. Having encamped at a place not far away from the hermitage, he awaited till the recluse had finished his meal and went to see the recluse accompanied by a few courtiers. The recluse was then sitting in his hermitage where the king greeted him, exchanged courteous words and sat in a suitable place.

The king made offering to the recluse articles used by recluse. And then as a 'feeler' he said, "Venerable Sir, what is the use of living here? Let us go to the city." "I am not going, Great King, said the recluse. "You may go" To which the king said, "Very well, Venerable Sir, but I am given to understand that there is a woman in your company. It is not proper for a woman to be living in the company of a recluse. I would request that the woman be allowed to go with me.

To this direct request made by the king the recluse replied, "It is not easy for one to please many people. How could my daughter fit in with the court life with its many queens and ladies in waiting?"

The king allayed the fears of the recluse, saying, "Venerable Sir, if I (am allowed to marry her and) have given my love to her I will make her my Chief Queen."

Thereupon the recluse called to his child, as he usually addressed her since childhood, Padumavati, my little girl!" Young Padumavati promptly responded, she came out of the hermitage and, saluting her father, stood before him, who said, "Dear girl, you have come of age. From the moment the king has cast his eyes on you, you should not stay here any longer. Go along with the king, my little girl."

"Very well, dear father," she said, weeping, and still standing.

The King of Baranasi wishing to prove his sincerity, showered Padumavati with gold, silver and jewellery and anointed her as his Chief Queen there and then.

Queen Padumavati dominates the King's heart and becomes a victim of Court Intrigue.

At the court of Baranasi the King's heart was captivated by the Chief Queen so much so that since her arrival there all the other queens and ladies-in-waiting were totally neglected by the King. The women folk felt bitter about it and they tried to undermine the King's affection for the Chief Queen, saying, "Great King, Padumavati is not a human being. Where on earth have you ever seen a human being whose every step is received by a lotus flower arising from the earth? She is a demon, for sure. She is dangerous. She ought to be banished forthwith." The King did not say anything.

At another time when the king was called away by duty to suppress a rising at the remote part of the kingdom he had to leave behind Padumavati at the palace, knowing that she was pregnant. The women folk at court seized this opportunity to strike. They bribed Padumavati's attendant into a wicked plot. She was instructed to remove the infant when the Chief Queen gave birth to her child and replace it with a piece of wood smeared with blood.

When Padumavati delivered the child Prince Maha Paduma was the real offspring that she gave birth to as he was the only child conceived in her womb. The other sons, four hundred and ninety-nine of them, arose from the drops of her blood splattered about at child birth. The attendant duly carried out her instruction and informed the news of the Chief Queen's delivery to the other queens. The five hundred women folk at the court stole one child each while their mother was still asleep after her labour. Then they ordered five hundred wooden caskets made by turners to put each child. They placed them inside the caskets, and put seals on each.

When Queen Padumavati woke up and asked her assistant about her child, the latter frowned and retorted, "Where did you ever get a child'? This is what you have delivered," and produced the piece of wood smeared with blood. The Queen was very unhappy and asked her to put it away quickly. The woman quickly complied as if eager to safeguard the Queen's honour by splitting up the piece of wood and throwing it into the fireplace in the kitchen.

The King returned from his expedition and was camping outside the city awaiting the auspicious time according to astrological calculation. The women folk went to greet the king there and pressed their case for banishing Queen Padumavati. "Great King, you did not believe our word about the Chief Queen But now ask the assistant of Queen Padumavati who had given birth to a block of wood!" The King, without investigating about the matter, believed that Padumavati was a demon and ordered her banishment.

Padumavati's star was now on the wane. As she was banished from the palace no lotus flowers appeared underneath her feet. Her good looks left her. She took the road, feeling forlorn. When an old woman saw her she had an instinctive affection for her and said. "Where are you going, my daughter?" Padumavati replied, "O mother, I am looking for some place for shelter" The old woman said, "In that case: my daughter, come with me to my house," and taking her home, fed her and put her up there.

The Court intrigue comes to light

When Padumavati was staying at the old woman's house the women folk at the court said to the king in one voice "O Great King, when you were on your military expedition we had invoked the guardian spirit of the Ganga river for your success and promised him to make offerings on your victorious return. So let the king and all of us go to the Ganga river, make offerings to the river spirit and have fun bathing in the river."; the king gladly consented and they all went to the river.

The five hundred women of the court secretly carried the caskets with babies in them and went into the water with their garments on, underneath which were the hidden caskets. Once in the river, they floated down the caskets in the river. The five hundred caskets collected together in the current, floated down together, and were caught in fishermen's net cast at down-stream. After the king had finished bathing in the river the fishermen raised up their net from the water and to their great surprise found the five hundred caskets, which they presented to the king. The king asked them "What do the caskets contain'?" And they answered, "We do not know what is inside them, Great King, we only believed them to be something strange." When the five hundred caskets were opened under the king's orders, the first one to be opened happened to contain Prince Mahapaduma.

The past merit of the five hundred princelings was such that from the day of their confinement in the caskets, milk flowed from their thumbs to nourish them. Sakka also cleared the doubts in the king's mind by inscribing inside the caskets the message.

"These babies are born of Queen Padumavati and are the sons of the King of Baranasi. They have been put inside the caskets by the five hundred queens and their accomplices who bore a grudge against the Chief Queen and have been thrown into the river. Let the king of Baranasi know these facts.

The king, being thus enlightened, took up Prince Mahapaduma, and ordered, O men, harness the chariots and dress up the horses quickly! I shall now go into the city and show my love to some women folk." So saying, he rode post haste into the city, entered his palace, and ordered the royal elephant fitted out for a tour of the land with (a velvet bag of) a thousand ticals tied at the neck of the elephant, and ordered the proclamation read aloud to all the people announcing that whoever has seen Queen Padumavati may take the king's award of one thousand ticals.

Padumavati, on hearing the proclamation, said to the old women, "Mother, take that one thousand from the neck of the royal elephant!" The old women said, "O daughter, I dare not do it " Padumavati urged her twice, thrice to do so. Then the old lady said, "O daughter, what should I say in taking the award? Just say, mother, 'I have seen Queen Padumavati?" The old lady then made herself bold to claim the award. The king's men asked her, "Have you actually seen Queen Padumavati" "I have not seen her myself, " she said, "but my daughter has."

"Where is your daughter now?" the men asked. And they were let to her house by the old lady. They recognized their queen and prostrated themselves before her. The old lady, seeing only now the real identity of the young woman, affectionately chided her "This noble lady has been so reckless. Notwithstanding her eminent position as the Chief Queen she had chosen to live unattended in such a lowly place,"

The king's men then made an enclosure of white cloth around the humble house she was staying, posted guards around it, and reported their discovery of the Chief Queen to the king. The king sent a golden palanquin to her. Padumavati however insisted that she deserved more ceremony on returning to the palace. She had a canopied walk decorated with gold stars set up all along her way to the palace with exquisite carpets. She also demanded that her regal paraphernalia be sent to her. "I am walking there," she said, "Let my greatness be seen by all the citizens." The king ordered every wish of the Chief Queen complied with. Then Queen Padumavati outfitted with full regalia, announced. "I am now going to the palace." Thereupon every step she made was greeted by a lotus flower which arose from the earth through the exquisite carpets. Thus letting all the people witness her greatness, she entered the palace. After that she gave the rich carpets to the old lady as taken of the gratitude she owed to her.

The Magnanimity of Queen Padumavati

The king summoned the five hundred women folk at court and said to Queen Padumavati, "My Queen, I give these five hundred women as slaves to you " The Queen said, "O King let the whole city know about this giving of the five hundred ladies to me." The king had the fact of this assignment of the five hundred women to Queen Padumavati proclaimed throughout the city by the beat of the gong. Having been satisfied with the public knowledge of the assignment, Queen Padumavati said to the king, "Great King, do I have the authority of emancipating my own slaves?" To which the king replied, "O Queen, you have the right to do whatever you wish with them." "In that case, O King," she said, "Let those men who had made the proclamation of the assignment made another round of the proclamation to the effect that all the five hundred slaves assigned to Queen Padumavati are hereby granted their freedom by the Queen." Then the Queen entrusted the 499 princelings to the care of the emancipated women, she took charge of looking after Prince Mahapaduma.

The five hundred Princess become Paccekabuddhas.

When the five hundred princelings were of playing age the King provided all sort of things in the royal gardens for the boys to play with. When they were of sixteen years of age, one day while they were playing in the royal lakes, where the paduma lotus were growing in profusion they observed the opening up of the lotus flowers as well as the withering away and dropping off of old flowers which, thanks to their acquisition of sufficient merit, struck their young hearts as a phenomenon worth reflecting on And this was how they reflected.

"Even these lotus flowers dependent only on temperature and nutrient are subject to ageing, how could our bodies, dependent on four factors (kamma, mind, temperature and nutrient) escape the same fate (i.e., we are likewise subject to ageing and death.)"

They reflected deeply on that phenomena (of impermanence of conditioned existence), gained insight into the nature of mind and body, and won Enlightenment on their own, without being taught by any other one. This is called Paccekabodhi Nana leading to the four Ariya Path-Knowledge. In other words, they became Paccekabuddhas. Then rising from their original seats, they each sat cross-legged on a lotus flower by means of their supernormal powers.

Late in the evening the attendants of the princelings reminded them, "O Lords, it is time to go home." The five Paccekabuddhas did not say anything. So the men went to the palace and reported the matter to the king - how the princess remained silent, all of them sitting on the lotus flowers. The king merely said, "Let my sons remain as they wish."

The five hundred Paccekabuddhas were placed under guard during the whole night, as they remained sitting on the flowers. It now dawned. And the attendants went near them and said to them, "O princes, it is time to go home" Then the princess who were Paccekabuddhas said, "We are no more princes; we are called Paccekabuddhas." The men were sceptical, and said, "You say in an irresponsible way. Paccekabuddhas are not like you. They have only two finger-breadths of hair and moustache or beard, they have recluse's paraphernalia on them. But you have your princely garb on, with long hair and moustaches, and with regal paraphernalia on you. How could you say you are Paccekabuddhas?" (The attendants were describing the Paccekabuddha as they knew it to be.) Thereupon the princes passed their hands on their heads, and lo! their appearance turned into Paccekabuddhas fully equipped with the eight essential pieces of equipment of a bhikkhu (Paccekabuddha). And while the people were looking at them they rose to the air and went in the direction of Gandamadana mountain.

The Future-Uppalavanna Theri in her existence as a farm hand.

Queen Padumavati, after enjoying deep satisfaction on regaining her five hundred sons, was now shocked for her sudden loss of the beloved youths. She did not survive the shock. After passing away from that existence she was reborn as a woman into a family of labourers in a village near a city gate in Rajagaha. She got married, and went to live with her husband's family. One day while she was carrying some gruel for her husband who was working in the field she saw eight of the five hundred Paccekabuddhas travelling by way of the air. She went quickly to her husband and said, "O Lord, look at those Paccekabuddhas! Let us invite them to an offering of alms food." But the husband who was a simpleton did not know what a Paccekabuddha meant. He said to her, "Dear wife, they are called flying bhikkhus (lit, 'bhikkhu-birds') They are also found in other places (at other times also, Sri Lankan version) flying about. They are not Paccekabuddhas they are just (strange) birds."

As the couple were discussing thus, the eight Paccekabuddhas descended to the ground not far away from them. The wife offered her share of the meal for the day to the eight Paccekabuddhas and invited them for the next days offerings. The Paccekabuddhas said, "Very well, lay female supporter, let your offerings be for eight donees only. And let your accommodation be for eight invitees only. When you see many other Paccekabuddhas besides ourselves your devotion will grow even greater." And the woman (who in her previous existence had been the mother of the Paccekabuddhas,) prepared eight seats and offerings for eight Paccekabuddhas.

The eight invitees said to the remaining Paccekabuddhas, "Do not go elsewhere today for alms-food, but bestow welfare to your mother of previous existence " Those other Paccekabuddhas agreed, and all the five hundred of them went through the sky to their former mothers' place. The mother in her past existence who had got an inkling of seeing all the five hundred sons, now Paccekabuddhas, did not have any worry about the insufficiency of her offerings. She invited all the five hundred into her house and offered eight seats. When the eight had taken their seats the ninth Paccekabuddha created through his supernormal powers another eight seats and sat there, and so on to the last of the five hundred who got seats, the house having been expanded through their supernormal powers.

The farm labourer, the mother in the previous existence, who had prepared alms food for eight donees went on serving it to all the five hundred as much as needed by them. Then she brought eight stalks of lotus flowers, and placing them before the original eight invitees, offered them, saying, "Venerable Sirs, for this act of merit, may I be born with a complexion like the colour of the inside of the pollen chamber of this brown lotus." The five hundred Paccekabuddhas said complimentary words for her good deed, and went back to Gandamadana mountain by way of the sky.

(b) Taking up the life of a Bhikkhuni in her last existence

The farm hand lived a life full of meritorious deeds and at the end of her life span was reborn in the deva world. During the time of Gotama Buddha she was born into the family of a rich man in Savatthi. She was born with a complexion like the inner side of the pollen chamber of the brown lotus and hence was named Uppalavanna. When she came of age all the worthy families - Rich men and Princes of the whole of the Southern Island Continent asked her father to give Uppalavanna in marriage to their sons.

The Rich man was in a quandary. He did not know how to reply to the great many proposals of all those worthy men. He did not wish to disappoint them. So, as a possible way of escape from the insoluble problem, he asked his daughter, Dear daughter, would you become a Bhikkhuni." Now, Uppalavanna, being the bearer of the last burden of sentient existence, was extremely delighted to hear those words, just as rarefied scented oil refined a hundred times over were poured down her head. "Yes, father, I would become a Bhikkhuni," she replied gladly.

The Rich man sent her daughter Uppalavanna to the bhikkhunis' monastery after paying great honour to her. Uppalavanna became a bhikkhuni. Not soon after she got her turn at the monastery to tidy up and light up the outside of the Sima, the congregation hall. There she observed the flame arising in a lamp which she used as her subject of meditation. She concentrated on the element of Heat in that flame, and achieved concentration (Jhana). Basing that concentration as object of insight meditation, (through contemplating the three characteristics of physical and mental phenomena she gained insight into conditioned phenomena) and soon attained Arahatship. As the result of her past aspiration to be outstanding in supernormal powers, she became endowed with facility in jhanic practice which is the essential asset in bringing into effect supernormal powers.

Uppalavanna Theri was the Foremost Bhikkhuni

On the day when Uppalavanna Theri displayed her miraculous powers during the year of the Buddha's seventh year of Enlightenment. Before doing so, she first said to the Buddha, "Venerable Sir, may the Bhagava allow me to display my miraculous powers," (For details of this bold undertaking on her part, see the great Chronicle Volume Three) Referring to this, the Buddha, on another occasion when outstanding Bhikkhunis were honoured at a congregation, declared,

"Bhikkhus, among my bhikkhuni disciples endowed with supernormal powers, bhikkhuni Uppalavanna is the foremost

(Here ends the story of Uppalavanna Theri)

Khuddaka Nikaya - Buddhavamsa - The Story of Khema Theri

Khuddaka Nikaya - Buddhavamsa - The Story of Khema Theri

The Great Chronicle of The Buddhas
by Mingun Sayadaw

Edited and Translated by
U Ko Lay and U Tin Lwin
Yangon, Myanmar

(The story of Khema Theri is treated briefly in the Commentary on the Anguttara Nikaya, the Commentary on the Therigatha and the Commentary on Dhammapada. In the Apadana Pali it is related in detail by the great Theri herself. What follows is mainly based on the Apadana with selections from the three Commentaries.)

(a) The past aspiration of the Theri.

The Future Khema Theri was born into a worthy family in the city of Hamavata during the time of Padumuttara Buddha, a hundred thousand world-cycles previous to the present world-cycle One day she had occasion to listen to the Buddha's sermon and became a devotee of the Buddha, being established in the Three Refuges.

Then she got her parents approval to offer an extraordinary feast to the Buddha and the Samgha. At the end of seven days of the great offering she saw Sujata Theri whom the Buddha designated as the foremost Bhikkhuni in the matter of Knowledge. She was inspired by that example. She gave an extraordinary offering again before expressing her wish to become such a foremost bhikkhuni in her own time later. Padumuttara Buddha prophesied that a hundred thousand world-cycles hence she would become the foremost bhikkhuni in the matter of Knowledge in the Teaching of Gotama Buddha.

Repeated existences as Deva Queen or Human Queen.

That rich man's daughter on passing away from that existence was reborn in the five deva realms, namely, Tavatimsa, Tusita Nimmanarati, Paranimmitavasavati successively as queen of the devas. When she passed away from there she was reborn as queen of the Universal Monarch or as queen of a great king. Thus, wherever she was reborn she was born as queen. She enjoyed the most glorious state in the deva world and the human world for many many world-cycles.

Existence as a Bhikkhuni leading a life of purity.

After faring in the fortunate existences only, during the time of Vipassi Buddha, ninety-one world-cycles previous to the present world-cycle, she was reborn into a worthy family. She had opportunity of hearing the Buddha's Dhamma which made her solely devoted to the Pure Life and she became a bhikkhuni learned in the Doctrine, skilful in the knowledge of Paticcasamuppada, a bold exponent of the four Ariya Truths, a persuasive preacher, besides being a diligent one in the practice of the Dhamma. Thus she was a model of those who took up the Threefold Training under the Buddha's Teaching. She spent this life of Purity for her lifetime of then thousand years.

Passing away from there, she was reborn in Tusita deva realm. After that, wherever she was reborn the great merit acquired in her existence during Vipassi Buddha's Teaching endowed her with the best that that particular existence could offer, making her talented, pure in morality, rich in resources attended by wise following, well provided with ease and comfort. Further, the religious practices observed in that existence led to superior social status, making her a queen, whether in deva existence or human existence, loved and respected by the king.

Her existence as donor of a monastic complex.

During the time of Konagamana Buddha, in the present world-cycle, she was reborn into a rich family in Baranasi and in association with two other rich ladies by the name of Dhananjani and Sumedha (her own name being unknown but may be referred to as Khema), built a monastic complex for use by the Samgha as a whole. At their death the three of them were reborn in the Tavatimsa deva realm, and after that existence too they were reborn in the human world and the deva world enjoying superior status.

Her existence as the eldest of the seven daughters of King Kiki

During the time of Kassapa Buddha, in the present world-cycle, King Kiki of Baranasi in the province of Kasi was a supporter of the Buddha tending closely on the Buddha. He had seven daughters by the names of (1) Princess Samani (2) Princess Samanagutta (3) Princess Bhikkhuni (4) Princess Bhikkhadayika (5) Princess Dhamma, (6) Princess Sudhamma and (7) Princess Samghadayika. - who were later, during Gotama Buddha's Teaching to become (1) Khema Theri (2) Uppalavanna Theri, (3) Patacara Theri, (4) Kundalakesi Theri, (5) Kisagotami Theri (6) Dhammadinna Theri and (7) Visakha, donor of Pubbarama Monastery.

The Future-Khema Theri Princess Samani on hearing a Sermon by Kassapa Buddha, was very keen to become a Bhikkhuni but her father would not give her permission to do so. So she as the eldest of the seven daughters made a common resolve not to marry and remained spinsters throughout their lives which lasted twenty-thousand years. They supported Kassapa Buddha with the four bhikkhu requisites for life.

On one occasion the Buddha made a marvellous discourse entitled Mahanidana sutta, (which is recorded as the second sutta in Mahavagga of Digha Nikaya). Princess Samani was so absorbed in hearing it that she learnt it by heart, and recited it often.

As the result of those good deeds on her death she became the Chief Queen (of Sakka) in the Tavatimsa,

(b) Taking up Bhikkhunihood in her last existence.

During the time of Gotama Buddha, she was reborn as her last existence as the daughter of King Maddaraja of Sagala. Since her birth brought peace to the land she was named 'Khema' (peace). When she came of age she became the Queen of King Bimbisara and was adored by her husband. She was conceited with her beauty.

The Buddha was then residing at the Veluvana monastery in Rajagaha Queen Khema had heard people saying that the Buddha always made discourses pointing out the faults of physical beauty, so she never went to see the Buddha for fear that her beauty might as well come under the Buddha's censure.

King Bimbisara's clever manoeuvre.

King Bimbisara thought: "While I am the most important lay supporter to the Buddha it is inconceivable that my queen has never visited the Buddha." He contrived a plan: he had a song composed by an able poet in praise of the Veluvana monastery which he ordered songsters to sing within earshot of the Queen.

A Four - Stanza Eulogy on the Veluvana Monastery.

1. Anyone who is not fortunate enough to see the Veluvana monastery, the Bamboo grove residence of the Buddha, we consider him or her as one who has never seen the Nandavana Park of the celestial realm.

2. He or she who has seen the Veluvana Grove which is so much cherished by King Bimbisara of Rajagaha, the people's favourite ruler, the cynosure of the whole world, has truly seen the Nandavana Park, the favourite resort of Sakka, King of devas.

3. Many of the Tavatimsa devas, having abandoned the Nandavana Park and descended to the earth (the southern Island Continent) and cast their eyes on the Veluvana Grove, are astonished and all their cares forgotten, they are never satisfied with seeing it

4. That Veluvana Grove has appeared due to the King's past merit and is adorned by the Buddha's majesty; hat poet could adequately describe its endless merits?"

When Queen Khema heard that song, although she had been to the Veluvana Grove on a pleasure visit with the King, her interest in the Grove was aroused afresh. She was very keen to visit the place She asked the King's permission to go there and went there with a big retinue. She chose the hour of the day that she presumed the Buddha was surely not there, i.e., during the morning when the Buddha usually went to the city for collecting alms-food. She roamed about the Bamboo Grove which was full of all kinds of flowering trees, fruit trees, where bees and bumble bees busied themselves collecting honey, and where the koels sang and the peacocks preened their feathers in the quiet seclusion of the park. She also visited the monastic dwellings of the religiously bent men, their meeting halls, rest-houses and walks.

She came across a youthful bhikkhu sitting in meditation at the foot of a tree and thought that young man ought to be enjoying the pleasures of life and should take up the religious life only in his old age. Feeling sure that the Buddha was not there in his private chamber, she went near it. The Buddha knew that she would come and remained in his private chamber. He had created by his powers a young maiden whose beauty surpassed that of queen Khema fanning the Buddha.

When Queen Khema saw that lovely maiden she abandoned attachment to her own good looks but become fascinated and enamoured of the strange beauty in front of her. But even as she was gazing at the girl, due to the Buddha's powers, the beauty of the girl diminished perceptibly and within a few moments she turned old and decrepit with wrinkled skin, gray hair, nursing teeth, black spots all over the skin, floppy breasts, bony, joints protruding, veins twining about the body, bent double, and soon the old woman was trembling and breathing hard, struggling for life; and then she gasped and collapsed. She was dead.

This vivid sight caused emotional religious awakening. samvega, in Queen Khema She realized thus:

"Oh, this form (body) is impure It is indeed loathsome Foolish women relish this impure, loathsome body"

Then the Buddha spoke to Queen Khema in these verses.

1. Khema, look at the body that is afflicted with pain, impure, putrid, discharging impurities upwards and downwards, which foolish persons take so much delight in.

2. "Cultivate the mind to get fixed on an object of meditation, so as to be able to perceive the loathsomeness of the body. Let you be mindful of the thirty-two aspects (constituent parts) of the body, let there be weariness about them.

3. "(Khema), just as the body of this woman by my side breaks up, so too will your body break up. Just as your body seem attractive for a while before death, so too the body of this woman by my side looked attractive before she died: (therefore) give up attachment to the body both internally and externally.

4. "Cultivate a perception of unsubstaintiality noting closely the rising and falling of phenomena. Give up the notion of a self; by doing so you will quell the eleven fires burning in you and reach Nibbana.

5. "Just as the spider follows the web of its own making, so also sentient beings who have attachment follow the stream of defilements that are of their own making. The wise do not have any desire or regard for sense pleasures, but cut off the stream of defilements and go forth to Nibbana."

The Buddha knew that after listening to the discourse the mind of Queen Khema had become delighted and receptive, he continued with another discourse entitled Mahanidana Sutta (which very sutta Queen Khema had heard and learnt by heart from Kassapa Buddha in her previous existence as Princess Samani). Queen Khema remembered the Sutta and she won Stream-Entry knowledge there and then.

After becoming an Ariya as a Stream-Enterer, she wanted to make amends for her mistaken conceit about her beauty. She prostrated before the Buddha and submitted her apology in these five stanzas:

1. "The all-knowing One, I pay homage to you.

The Embodiment of Compassion, I pay homage to you.

Buddha who has crossed over the flood of Samsara, I pay homage to you.

Giver of the Deathless, I pay homage to you.

2. "I had been befuddled and led astray by attachment to sensuality, thus springing forward into the thicket of wrong view. By means of an appropriate device, you, the Bhagava, have tamed me (who had been befuddled) and made me happy in being so tamed.

3. "Lacking an opportunity of meeting such a great One as yourself, endowed with morality, Concentration, etc., sentient beings suffer enormous dukkha in the ocean of Samsara

4. "Even though the Pure One who has reached the Purity of Nibbana, had been staying at the Veluvana monastery, I had failed to come and pay homage to the Lord of the three worlds. That failure on my part I (now) admit to the Bhagava as my fault.

5. "I had a mistaken idea about the Great Benefactor to the three worlds, the Bestower of the Ultimate Boon (Magga, phala Nibbana) as one who is unprofitably censorious because I had been too fond of my beauty. My fault in having entertained such foolish thoughts and my failure to come and pay homage to you earlier, I (now) admit to the Bhagava as my fault.(The Myanmar renderings are by the late Mahavisuddharama Sayadaw in his Chiddapidhanani).

Upon admission by Queen Khema of her previous fault, the Buddha said, "Let it be Khema, which cooled her heart as though ambrosial water were poured onto her person. Then Queen Khema made obeisance to the Buddha and respectfully left his presence. Back at the royal palace, she saw King Bimbisara and addressed him thus:

1. O great conqueror with golden complexion you had employed a most apt strategy to persuade me to go and visit the Veluvana monastery. Marvellous indeed was your idea! For I had become keenly desirous of seeing the Veluvana Park, (with the consequence that) I have seen (with both my physical eye and the eye of wisdom) the Buddha, the great sage.

2. O King! If you would agree I would take up bhikkhuhood in the Teaching (which is replete with eight marvels) of the Buddha of unrivalled wisdom, of the embodiment of the highest virtues. Thanks to the wise words of the Buddha, I have gained insight into the tiresome nature of my body.

On hearing the two stanzas spoken by Queen Khema, King Bimbisara who had even from her mien been recognizable as an Ariya, one who had won Path-knowledge, raised his joined palm to his forehead and said to his Queen: "My dear queen, I allow you to become a bhikkhuni. May your renouncing the world come to its fulfilment (i.e., may you attain Arahatship). (These words were spoken in half a stanza.) Thereupon the King put Queen Khema on a golden Palanquin and sent her to the Bhikkhuni monastery in great state.

Khema Theri gains Arahatship.

On the fifteenth day of her bhikkhuhood Khema Thera while observing the uposatha contemplated on the lamp in front of her, how the flame arose and how it went out. A keen emotional religious awakening took place in her mind. Applying the insight into the nature of the rise and fall of the flame to all conditioned phenomena, i.e., the mind-body complex that constituted her present existence, she gained Arahatship together with the four Discriminations and the six supernormal Powers. (This account of Khema Theri attainment of Arahatship is as described in the Khema Theri Apadana Pali. The Commentary on the Anguttara Nikaya and the Commentary on the Dhammapada tell this event in a somewhat different manner. We have refrained from discussing them here test it would confuse the reader).

Khema Theri was devoted both to the learning and the practice of the Doctrine and so she was most proficient in the seven stages of Purity, and was unrivalled in the exposition of the Ten Subjects of Discussion (Kathavatthu), most erudite in the application of the Abhidhamma method, outstanding both in learning and practice. The veracity of these statements may be gauged from Khema Sutta, the first Sutta in the Abyakata Samgutta of Salayatana Samyutta.

Khema Theri makes a subtle discourse to the Kosalan King.

At one time when the Bhagava was staying at the Jetavana monastery in Savatthi, Khema Theri was making a tour of the Kosalan country, and was sojourning at Torana which lay between Savatthi and Saketa. At that time King Pasenadi of Kosala was camping for the night at Torana. Then the King said to a courtier, "So, man, make inquires in this place which samana or brahmana should be fit for my spiritual guide for today." The courtier made thorough inquires in Torana but could find no samana or brahmana whom the king should go to for spiritual guidance. He only saw Khema theri who happened to be sojourning there. He went back to the king and said, "There is no samana or brahmana in this place. But there is a bhikkhuni named Khema Theri a disciple of the Buddha. She is reported to be wise, skillful, learned, an expounder of the Doctrine in a fascinating way, endowed with a remarkable perspicacity. I would humbly suggest that your Majesty go to her for advice and guidance" The king accepted the advice and went to where Khema Theri was staying. He made obeisance to her and sitting in a suitable place, addressed Khema Theri thus:

"Venerable One, does a sentient being exist after death?"

"Great King", replied Khema Theri, the Buddha does not say that a sentient being exists after death."

"If so, Venerable One, does a sentient being not exist after deaths"

"Great King, the Buddha does not say that a sentient being does not exist after death.".

"Venerable One, does a sentient being exist as well as does not exist after death?"

"Great King, the Buddha' does not say that a sentient being exist as well as does not exist after death."

"If so, Venerable One, does a sentient being not exist after death?"

"Great King, the Buddha does not say that a sentient being neither exists nor does not exist after deaths"

The King was at his wit's end He further put questions which were replied as follows.

"Venerable One, When I asked. Does a sentient being exist after death?" you replied, 'Great King, the Buddha does not say that a sentient being exists after death!' (1) When I asked, If so, Venerable One, does a sentient being not exist after death?' you replied. 'Great King, the Buddha does not say that a sentient being does not exist after death.' (2) When I asked. 'Venerable One, does a sentient being exist as well as does not exist after death?' you replied, 'Great King, the Buddha does not say that a sentient being exists as well as does not exist after death.' (3) When I asked, 'If so, Venerable Sir, does a sentient being neither exists nor does not exist after death?' you replied, 'Great King, the Buddha does not say that a sentient being neither exists nor does not exist after death' (4) Now, Venerable One, why does the Buddha not say anything regarding these four questions. Why is the reason for the Buddha's refusal to answer these four questions?"

Khema Theri then said. "Great King, in that case let me put you a question. You may answer it as you wish. What do you think of what I am going to say now? Do you have within your dominion any man who can practically count things or an arithmetician who can say, 'There are such and such number of grains of sand in the Ganga river? Or who can say, 'There are so many hundreds, so many thousands, so many hundred thousand grains of sand in the Ganga river?"

No, Venerable One, there is none."

"Great King, do you have any man who can practically count things or an arithmetician who can say, 'There are so many vessels or bowls of water in the great ocean "' Or who can say, "There, are so many hundred, so many thousands, so many hundred thousands of bowls of Water in the great ocean?"

"No, Venerable One, This is because the great ocean is too deep, beyond measure, incomprehensible."

· "Even so Great King. The Buddha has given up materiality (corporeality) which may be referred to as sentient being;. he has eradicated it completely. He has made it like an uprooted palm tree, has rendered it incapable of coming into being again, and has made it impossible to arise in the future"

The Buddha who is liberated from being called the aggregate of corporeality or the phenomenon of materiality is endowed with atributes and disposition or intention which are great as the great ocean beyond measure, incomprehensible. As for the Buddha the statement, 'a sentient being exists after death' is irrelevant; statement, 'a sentient being does not exist after death' is equally irrelevant; the statement, 'a sentient being exists as well as does not exist after death is' equally irrelevant; the statement, 'a sentient being neither exists nor does not exist after death' is equally irrelevant."

(It is not proper for the Buddha to say 'that a sentient being exists after death; or a sentient being does not exist after death; or that a sentient being exists as well as does not exist after death, or that a sentient being neither exists nor does not exist after death. This is a very profound matter.)

The Buddha has given up Sensation . . . p... Perception . . p... Volitional activities . . . p... Consciousness which may be referred to as a sentient being; has eradicated it completely, has made it like a palm tree stump, has rendered it incapable of coming into being again; and has made it impossible to arise in the future.

· The Buddha who is liberated from being called the aggregate of Consciousness or the 'phenomenon of Consciousness is endowed with attributes and disposition or intention which are as great as the great ocean, beyond measure, incomprehensible. As for the Buddha the statement, 'a sentient being exists after death' is irrelevant p... the statement, 'a sentient being neither exists nor does not exist after death' 'is equally irrelevant.''

(That was the discussion that took place between the Kosalan king and Khema Theri for the second round. Explanations on this will be given later.)

King Pasenadi of Kosala was delighted with the words of Khema Thera. He made obeisance to her and respectfully departed. Later on, the king visited the Buddha and put the same questions as he did to Khema Theri The Buddha answered them just as Khema Theri did. (These questions and answers may be gleaned from the text.)

When the king found that the Buddha's answers and those of Khema Theri were exactly the same, down to the letter, he was greatly astonished and exclaimed, "Marvellous it is, Venerable Sir! Astounding it is!" The Buddha's exposition is exactly the same as that of the Buddha's disciple, both in meaning and in words. They are in full agreement without any discrepancy. Venerable Sir, I had once put these questions to Khema Theri and she had answered to me in exactly the same way both in essence and in words. Marvellous it is, Venerable Sir! Astounding it is! The Buddha's exposition is exactly the same with that of the Buddha's disciple both in meaning and in words. They are in full agreement without any discrepancy." Then he begged leave of the Buddha to go. He was greatly delighted with the Buddha's answers. He rose, made obeisance to the Buddha and"respectfully departed.

This is a gist of Khema sutta

Explanation:

Why did the Buddha not give any reply to the questions which are so framed; 'that a sentient being exists after death', 'that a sentient being does not exist after death;' 'that a sentient being exists as well as does not exist after death; 'that a sentient being neither exists nor doesn't exist after death'?

1. There is in truth and reality nothing in the sentient world other than the five aggregates. There is nothing in the ultimate sense such a thing as a sentient being. Therefore whether a 'sentient being' exist or not is not for the Buddha to say. (Abyakata Samyutta; the third sutta therein)

2. Only to one who does not understand the nature of the five aggregates according to the four Ariya Truths there arises the problem of a sentient being and its existence or non existence, in the said four questions, which occur to him due to Wrong View. To one who understands the four Ariya Truths, there is no Wrong View that gives rise to those four questions. Since the Buddha has the most complete understanding of the four Truths there do not arise in him those four questions. That is why he does not say anything about them. (Ibid, the fourth sutta.)

3. Such questions based on wrong view arise only in, one who has not got rid of attachment to, or craving for the five aggregates. To one who has no craving for the five aggregates they do not occur. The Buddha who has got rid of Craving for the five aggregates together with any trace of acquired habit does not have those wrong concept. Therefore he remains silent when those questions are asked of him (Ibid., the fifth sutta). (In the sixth sutta of the same Samyutta the four questions are dealt with adequately.)

In Khema Sutta Khema Theri's answer is somewhat different; it has the undercurrent of reference to the Buddha. This is because she knows that the questioner (Kosalan King) had the Buddha also in mind in putting the four questions. So Khema Theri's answer in essence is this:

The Buddha has, (by getting rid of the cause of the five aggregates) got rid of the five aggregates so that what is usually called a sentient being is not coming into being after his death. He is freed from a future set of five aggregates, therefore there is nothing that may be referred to as a being or a person. Since the Buddha knows this, a 'sentient being' after death is irrelevant for him to speak of. Therefore he remains silent about the four questions.

One might argue thus: since the Buddha is not to acquire a fresh set of the five aggregates it is understandable that he refuses to answer the first question ('Does sentient being exist after death'). But why does the Buddha refuse to answer the second question: 'Does a sentient being not exist after death') ' Should the Buddha say, 'No, it does not'? The Buddha refuses to answer this question too because a 'sentient being' is not a real thing in the ultimate sense. (This is the explanation given in the Sub-Commentary.) Khema Theri Sutta is profound in Dhamma. It is a matter for further inquiring for the virtuous.

(c) Khema Theri is designated as the Foremost Bhikkhuni

The discourse to the Kosalan King at Torana was the immediate cause of Khema Theri being designated by the Buddha as the foremost Bhikkhuni in the possession of deep Knowledge. For on another occasion when the Buddha was residing at the Jetavana monastery, at a bhikkhu congregation for announcing outstanding bhikkhunis as foremost bhikkhunis in their own areas (of proficiency), the Buddha declared:

"Bhikkhus, among my bhikkhuni disciples who have profound Knowledge Khema Theri is the foremost."

This designation accorded her by the Buddha also has been happily recorded by Khema Theri herself in the following stanzas in her own life history:

1. "After I had become a Bhikkhuni I had explained to King Pasenadi of Kosala in accordance with the Doctrine on the profound questions he put to me at a place called Torana (which was between Savatthi and Saketa.)

2. "Later the King approached and put those questions to the Buddha, and the Buddha answered to those propound questions exactly as I had answered.

3. "The Conqueror of the five Maras, the Supreme One among all men, being satisfied with my excellence in expounding the Dhamma, has designated me as the foremost Bhikkhuni among the eminently wise"

(Here ends the story Khema Theri)