lindseyandhaley: fruits of recluseship

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Sunday, 27 April 2014

The Fruits of Recluseship (sutra)

Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; Tipitaka Network (Digha Nikaya 2)

Golden Buddha cloth hanging on city street (Georgie_girl/flickr.com)

The Samannaphala Sutta [samana = recluse, shaman, hermit, wandering ascetic, Buddhist monastic; phala=fruit; sutta=sutra, discourse] is second among the Long Discourses of the Buddha.

This sutra gives the background and explains how an ancient Indian royal, King Ajatasattu, became a Buddhist lay disciple. It starts with the king in his palace seeking advice from his Brahmin ministers about which wandering ascetic or Brahmin to go see.

Ignoring the recommendations of those six ministers, the king turns to the royal physician Jivaka Komarabhacca for advice. Jivaka informs him that the Buddha is staying at a Mango Grove in Rajagaha, the capital of Magadha, and suggests visiting him there.

Monks and novices in Theravada Thailand (T.O. Johnson/T.O.OtisPhoto/flickr.com)

Accepting this suggestion, Ajatasattu sets out on his royal mount together with Jivaka, a large number of women on elephants, and a procession of torch-bearing attendants.

Later, we learn that the king had already spoken to the other six ascetics his ministers recommended and was not pleased with their teachings.

According to the Buddha, on hearing the Dharma (the Buddha's teaching), King Ajatasattu would have become a stream-winner -- if it were not for his "heinous" karma, patricide, as he had recently killed and deposed his father, the beloved Buddhist King Bimbisara, who was himself a stream-winner. Such action is especially weighty karma with results that are certain to ripen in the very next rebirth. (Killing a stream-enterer is also very heavy karma to bear but is not among the Five Heinous Actions: harming a buddha, killing one's mother, killing one's father, killing an arhat, or creating a schism in the Sangha).

Japanese Zen (Arashiyama)

It is the night of Komudi, the full-moon day in the month of Kattika, at a time after Ajatasattu has already deposed his father Bimbisara, former king of Magadha, who was a devoted noble disciple of the Buddha (a stream enterer, the first stage of sainthood).

The dialogue is mainly between the Buddha and young Ajatasattu. Other personalities mentioned are Queen Vedehi, his mother, Prince Udayibhadda, his newborn son, and the six rival ascetic teachers of the Buddha's day. The six includes the founder of Jainism, Mahavira, who is known in Buddhist texts as the Nigantha Nataputta ["Possessionless Son-of-Nata"], whose family name is Aggivessana.

The Six Rival Teachers

The rival teachers mentioned are characterized as representative of various Indian philosophical movements at that time. They are Purana Kassapa, Makkhali Gosala, Ajita Kesakambala, Pakudha Kaccayana, Sancaya Belatthaputta, and Nigantha Nataputta (Mahavira, which like the name "the Buddha" is simply a title meaning "Great Hero," an epithet used for the Buddha in earlier times).

This discourse opens a window into their individual teachings, as reported by King Ajatasattu to the Buddha. Unfortunately, each of these accounts is very brief.

Respect of Ascetics

Novice with candle in Shwe Yan Pyay, Burma (UrsulasWeeklyWanders.com)

Indian culture respects ascetics. Here an "ascetic" (samana) refers to a person who has given up his or her family and social life to search for greater happiness by finding answers to the ultimate questions: Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? What is the meaning of life?

This goal of asceticism was later expanded in Buddhism to include the greater happiness of the world. King Ajatasattu, one of the most powerful royals of the day in India, expressed his respect for recluses, even if that person was formerly his servant.

Prior to Mahavira and the Buddha accepting female disciples into their wandering ascetic orders (sanghas), all samanaswere male. Mahavira was first to admit them. But the Buddha, whose mission was to establish the Dharma with male and female monastics and male and female lay disciples, was the first to do so as a world-religion, a universal teaching that spread all around the world.

Jainism, on the other hand, though slightly older, never traveled beyond India to become a universal teaching. Jains did travel and therefore there are communities elsewhere but not Mahavira's teaching itself.

Females were given the same duties and responsibilities as their male counterparts in the Buddhist monastic order. (The widespread belief that the Buddha imposed eight additional rules on his stepmother, the first Buddhist nun, is not the case, as a textual analysis of the Bhikkhuni Vinaya reveals, according to Ven. Ayya Tathaaloka).

Fruits of becoming a Buddhist recluse

Theravada Buddhist nuns of California, with Ayya Tathaaloka, fourth on the right (AFB)

The title of the sutra literally means "recluseship-fruits," the benefits of becoming an wandering ascetic, a Buddhist monk or nun.

Basic rewards

When asked what these fruits are, the Buddha provides the king with satisfactory answers on the many rewards of practicing in accordance with the Buddha's Dharma and (Monastic) Discipline.

One is respected even by kings, as well as being provided with one's basic necessities, safety, and protection.
One is endowed with restraint and virtue (as explained in the The Net of All-Embracing Views).
One remains with guarded sense faculties.
One is mindful and clearly aware (sati-sampajana).
One is contented.

Intermediate rewards

Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhist nuns with prayer wheel and beads (colunas.epoca.globo.com)

By withdrawing and detaching from the Five Hindrances, further spiritual benefits arise as one succeeds in the practice of "meditation" (bhavana, jhana, jhaneti, kammathana):

the first four meditative absorptions (rupa-jhanas),
insight-knowledges (vipassanā-ñāṇa),
advanced capacities.

The Highest reward

The highest reward, which is the ultimate goal of the Buddhist path, is the realization and full penetration of the Four Noble Truths, which leads to enlightenment and NIRVANA, which is complete freedom from samsara (the otherwise endless round of death and rebirth and suffering).

Bodhi Bytes and Campus News

The title of this sutra is from Bhikkhu Bodhi's translation. Other translations are "The Fruits of the Homeless Life" (Maurice Walshe), "The Fruits of the Life of a Recluse" (Rhys Davis), "The Fruits of the Life of a Samana" (BPA), and "The Rewards of Spiritual Practice" (by Ayya Khema in German as Die Früchte des spirituellen Lebens and Visible Here and Now in English), another German version is available from Pali Kanon.

Saturday, 26 April 2014

Do I need a penis? (Buddhist Monastic Code)

Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly; Abbot Thanissaro (Metta)

Young novices in Tergar home to 150 from Tibet, Nepal, AP and UP India (Groobo/flickr)

Self-mutilation

Buddhist Monastic Code II

A male monastic (bhikkhu) who cuts off his own genitalia [is in violation of the Disciplinary Code and] incurs a thullaccaya ["grave offense"].

Now at that time a certain monastic, tormented by dissatisfaction, cut off his own penis. The others reported this matter to the Blessed One (who said), “When one thing should have been cut off, that foolish man cut off something else.”

The “thing that should have been cut off,” the Sub-commentary notes, was the obsession for [sensual] passion. The Commentary adds that cutting off any other part of one’s body -- such as an ear, nose, or finger -- out of spite [is also a violation and] entails a dukkata ["misconduct" or "wrongdoing").

However, one is allowed to cut or cut off any part of one’s body for a medical purpose (as in an amputation); or to let blood, for example, when bitten by a snake or an insect, or to treat a disease that calls for blood-letting (see Chapter 5; Mv.VI.14.4).

Disciplinary Code
Wisdom Quarterly (COMMENTARY)

Older translations exist (i.e., Rhys Davids)

While Wisdom Quarterly is pro-sex, we are also pro-monasticism, which entails submitting oneself temporarily to celibacy of mind and body. Why would that ever be a good idea?

One can make excellent progress on the path to enlightenment in a very short time living as the Buddha prescribed the "high life," the "holy life," the "supreme life" (brahmacharya) -- or teaching that leads to the "supreme" attainment -- IF one enters into it with the right view and motivation rather than because of delusion, guilt, debt, aversion, with an aim to win fame and gain, or to be in the constant company of men or women (if gay), and so on.

High morals and even higher ideals have a strong tendency to lead to hypocrisy. The Buddha set out a path that works and that has worked for thousands of years. One must find it, rediscover it, and practice it to get ahead. Most Vinayas are corrupted and misinterpreted in practice, but the books remain. Enter with eyes wide open.

Does one need a penis?

Bush, okay, but who really needs Dick?

That is, Does a male intending to become a Buddhist monk need a penis? Absolutely, yes. One will not be allowed in without one, which may be due to the banning of pandakas [a term we have attempted to explain in many posts], a difficult term that has long been mistranslated as "eunuch." Another explanation is that what one needs to overcome is not the physical member but the mental motivation behind it, and to do that a penis is necessary.

Monastic Life
The Buddhist monastic life, at least in the older and stricter Theravada school (and particularly the revivalist super strict Thai forest Thammayut sect Ven. Thanissaro is a part of), is circumscribed on all sides.

The Buddha laid out a Disciplinary Code (Vinaya), a Path-to-Moksha or Liberation (Patimokkha), with explanations for each rule.

The hundreds of self-imposed guidelines for fully ordained monastics -- 227 for monks, 311 for nuns -- living supported by the generosity of donors are divided into sections based on their seriousness.

Why "extra rules" (garu-dhammas) for nuns?

The largest body of guidelines, which are in addition to these rules, concern etiquette and make for the relative peace of communal living in a monastic setting for monks and nuns, who dwell separately.

In contrast the smallest, most serious, and most important group of rules are called defeat-offenses (parajikas). They are strict prohibitions on killing, stealing, sexual contact, and falsely claiming attainments (such as the stages of enlightenment or magical powers).

Sexual indiscretion is perhaps the most common problem faced in a celibate order of ascetics trying to live as a community in a monastery, caves, or a forest hermitage (aranya). It is easy to control if one does not come into contact with temptations, but the Buddha ensured that one would constantly be in contact with the lay community, who visit to provide food and hear the Dharma.

Why did the Buddha have to make rules?

People often lose sight of the three reasons for a formal Disciplinary Code:

to provide a speedy vehicle to enlightenment, a direct path, a prati-moksha (path-to-supreme-liberation),
to encourage new meditators and comfort those who have already attained (enlightenment stages, absorptions, etc.),
to preserve the Dharma as a living tradition with "saints" (arhats) for many generations.

Wouldn't it be so much better for me, as a monastic, not to tell you what to do and not do -- and, conversely, have you not tell me what to do and not to do? No, no, no. One can live on one's own with that kind of attitude. The Buddha set up a system dependent on lay people, dependent on others, dependent on the Doctrine-and-Disciples (Dhamma-Vinaya)

Being a recluse (bhikkhu/bhikkhuni) or wandering ascetic (samana) usually means mental rather than physical seclusion. There is plenty of good company in kalyana-mittas ("noble friends"), but one withdraws to contemplate and meditate successfully -- progressing through the stages of absorption and insight that make Buddhist monasticism a delight with many fruits. (See "The Fruits of Recluseship Discourse," Samanaphala Sutta where the Buddha outlines the advantages of monasticism over living an ordinary household life).

Buddhist Monastic Code I

Wisdom Quarterly is in no way fond of Ven. Thanissaro (Geoffrey DeGraff)'s eccentric and misleading translations, interpretations, grammar, style, or general deportment as a person and monk pushed out of Thailand. But he has done a great service to the English-speaking world in at least one way: He long ago translated the Vinaya (Buddhist Monastic Code I and II), which most lay Buddhists are completely unfamiliar with, and he has freely provided his strained and oddly interpreted version of the Dhamma through many translations from Thai and Pali available through accesstoinsight.org. We speak from years of knowing him personally and his few American disciples not from merely trying to read his free works.

Destructive behavior

The Vibhanga to Pr 2 states that a monastic who breaks, scatters, burns, or otherwise renders unusable the property of another person incurs a dukkata. Cv.V.32.1 adds that a monastic is not allowed to burn underbrush. However, if a brush fire is burning, a counter-fire may be lit and protection (paritta) made. This last phrase apparently means reciting a protective charm [mantra-like chanting of Buddhist sutras], such as...