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+ | ====== Maha Kaccana: Meister der lehrgemäßen Darstellung ====== | ||
+ | <span hide> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Summary: | ||
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+ | <div navigation></ | ||
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+ | </ | ||
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+ | <span # | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Contents ===== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <ul> | ||
+ | * [[#ch1|1. Introduction]] | ||
+ | * [[#ch2|2. The Samsaric Background]] | ||
+ | * [[#ch3|3. Kaccana' | ||
+ | * [[#ch4|4. Various Incidents]] | ||
+ | * [[#ch5|5. The Elaborator of Brief Statements]] | ||
+ | * [[#ch6|6. Other Teachings of Maha Kaccana]] | ||
+ | * [[#ch7|7. The Theragatha Verses]] | ||
+ | * [[#ch8|8. The Exegetical Treatises]] | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Abbreviations ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | AN .... Anguttara Nikaya (by nipata and sutta)\\ | ||
+ | Ap. .... Apadana (i = Therapadana)\\ | ||
+ | Comy. .... Commentary\\ | ||
+ | Dhp. .... Dhammapada\\ | ||
+ | DN .... Digha Nikaya (by sutta)\\ | ||
+ | MN .... Majjhima Nikaya (by sutta)\\ | ||
+ | SN .... Samyutta Nikaya (by samyutta and sutta)\\ | ||
+ | Thag. .... Theragatha\\ | ||
+ | Ud. .... Udana (by chapter and sutta)\\ | ||
+ | Vin. .... Vinayapitaka (by volume and page, PTS ed.) | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== 1. Introduction ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | As a skilled and versatile teacher with mastery over pedagogic technique, the Buddha adopted different styles of presentation to communicate the Dhamma to his disciples. Often he would explain a teaching in detail // | ||
+ | |||
+ | On other occasions, however, the Buddha would not teach in detail. Instead, he would present the Dhamma briefly // | ||
+ | |||
+ | While such brief teachings would escape the understanding of the great majority of the monks, the mature disciples with sharp faculties of wisdom could readily fathom their meaning. Under such circumstances the ordinary monks, reluctant to trouble their Master with requests for explanation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | After his ordination as a bhikkhu, the Venerable Maha Kaccana usually resided in his homeland of Avanti, a remote region to the southwest of the Middle Country where the Buddha dwelt, and thus he did not spend as much time in the Blessed One's presence as some of the other great disciples did, such as Sariputta, Maha Moggallana, and Ananda. For this reason we do not find, in the records of the Sutta Pitaka, that the Venerable Maha Kaccana figured as prominently in Sangha affairs and in the Buddha' | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== 2. The Samsaric Background ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | As in the case of all the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | But to attain such a lofty status in the Dispensation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then Lord Padumuttara, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The //Apadana// relates that in this same past life, Kaccana had built for the Buddha Padumuttara a stupa with a stone seat, which he had covered with gold; he had the stupa embellished with a jewelled parasol and an ornamental fan.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | A later section of the //Apadana// gives a somewhat different account of Maha Kaccana' | ||
+ | |||
+ | In this same series of verses Maha Kaccana states that as a result of his offering to the Buddha he never took rebirth thereafter in the nether world — in the hells, the animal realm, or the sphere of ghosts — but was always reborn either in the world of gods or in the human realm. Also, when he took rebirth as a human being, he was always reborn into the upper two social classes — among nobles or brahmans — and never into low-class families. | ||
+ | |||
+ | One important incident, which determined a particular feature of the great disciple' | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== 3. Kaccana' | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | In his last existence, when the Buddha Gotama appeared in the world, Kaccana was born as the son of the chaplain // | ||
+ | |||
+ | The king of Avanti at the time that Kaccana became chaplain was Candappajjota, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Kaccana set out accompanied by seven other courtiers. When they met the Master, he taught them the Dhamma, and at the end of the discourse Kaccana and his seven companions all attained arahantship together with the four analytical knowledges // | ||
+ | |||
+ | The new bhikkhu, now the Venerable Maha Kaccana, then began to praise the splendors of Ujjeni to the Buddha. The Master realized that his new disciple wanted him to travel to his native land, but he replied that it would be sufficient for Kaccana to go himself, as he was already capable of teaching the Dhamma and of inspiring confidence in King Candappajjota. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the course of their return journey the party of monks arrived at a town named Telapanali, where they stopped to gather alms. In that town lived two maidens, merchants' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now, when the poor girl saw the Venerable Maha Kaccana and his fellow monks walking for alms, their bowls as empty as if they had just been washed, she felt a sudden surge of faith and devotion arise in her towards the elder, and she decided to offer alms to the party of bhikkhus. However, as she had no wealth, the only way she could obtain money to buy provisions was to sell her hair to the rich girl. This time, as the hair came to the rich girl already cut, she paid only eight coins for it. With these eight coins the poor girl had almsfood prepared for the eight bhikkhus, using one coin for each portion. After she had presented the alms, as an immediate fruit of the meritorious deed, her full head of hair instantly grew back to its original length. | ||
+ | |||
+ | When the Venerable Maha Kaccana arrived back in Ujjeni, he reported this incident to King Candappajjota. The king had the girl conveyed to his palace and at once appointed her his chief queen. From that time onwards the king greatly honored Maha Kaccana. Many people of Ujjeni who heard the elder preach gained faith in the Dhamma and went forth under him as monks. Thus the entire city became (in the words of the commentary) "a single blaze of saffron robes, a blowing back and forth of the banner of sages." | ||
+ | |||
+ | So says the Anguttara Commentary, but the Pali canon itself suggests that the Sangha was not as well established in Avanti as the commentator would lead us to believe. This fact can be discerned from a story involving the Venerable Maha Kaccana that is reported in the Mahavagga of the Vinaya Pitaka.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | When this story unfolds, the elder was dwelling in Avanti at his favorite residence, the Osprey' | ||
+ | |||
+ | With these words Sona's enthusiasm for ordination subsided. Some time later, however, the urge was rekindled, and he approached the Venerable Maha Kaccana with the same request. A second time the elder discouraged him, and a second time Sona's desire for ordination abated. When Sona approached him for the third time and asked for ordination, Maha Kaccana gave him the "going forth" // | ||
+ | |||
+ | During the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | When the Venerable Sona had completed his first rains retreat as a bhikkhu, the wish arose in him to pay a visit to the Buddha. He had heard many times the highest praise of the Blessed One, his lord and refuge, yet he had never seen the Master face to face, and now the desire to do so had become irresistible. He went to his preceptor to ask for his permission to make the long journey to Savatthi, where the Buddha was residing. Not only did the Venerable Maha Kaccana applaud his disciple' | ||
+ | |||
+ | When the Venerable Sona came to the Buddha and explained his preceptor' | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== 4. Various Incidents ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Neither the suttas nor the commentaries offer us abundant biographical information about the Venerable Maha Kaccana' | ||
+ | |||
+ | We do not find in the texts indications that Maha Kaccana entered into close friendships with the other leading monks, as for instance Sariputta, Maha Moggallana, and Ananda did with one another. He seems to be one who generally lived aloof, though he did not place a strict emphasis on seclusion in the manner of one like the Venerable Maha Kassapa, nor did he seem especially stern in his asceticism.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | Maha Kaccana did grant ordination, as we saw above in the case of Sona, though his pupils were probably not very numerous, despite the words of the Anguttara Commentary. One of his pupils was the bhikkhu Isidatta, who even while very young had impressed many of the older monks with his incisive replies to difficult questions on the Dhamma.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | On one occasion when the Venerable Maha Kaccana visited the Buddha he received special homage from Sakka, the king of the gods.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | On this occasion Sakka, along with his celestial retinue, drew near to the holy assembly and prostrated himself before the Blessed One. Since he did not see the Venerable Maha Kaccana, he thought to himself: "It would be good indeed if the noble elder would arrive." | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | " | ||
+ | Whose senses are subdued\\ | ||
+ | Like horses trained well by a charioteer, | ||
+ | Whose pride is destroyed, | ||
+ | And who is free from corruptions." | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | That the Venerable Maha Kaccana was actually one who devoted much attention to the mastery of the sense faculties is borne out by his discourses, which (as we shall see below) often emphasize the need for guarding "the doors of the senses." | ||
+ | |||
+ | The commentaries record two curious series of events, both of which stemmed from the impression that the elder' | ||
+ | |||
+ | At the very moment this thought passed through his mind, Soreyya was instantly transformed from a man into a woman. Startled by this inexplicable change of sex, he jumped out of the carriage and fled before the others could notice what had occurred. Gradually he made his way to the city of Takkasila. His companions searched for him in vain and reported his strange disappearance to his parents. When all attempts to trace him proved futile, his parents concluded that he had died and they had the funeral rites performed. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Meanwhile the woman Soreyya, on reaching Takkasila, met the son of the city's treasurer, who fell in love with her and took her as his wife. In the first years of their marriage she gave birth to two sons. Previously, while a man, Soreyya had fathered two sons through his wife in his native city. Thus he was the parent of four children, two as a father and two as a mother. | ||
+ | |||
+ | One day the former intimate friend of Soreyya came to Takkasila on some personal business. Lady Soreyya saw him in the street and recognized him. She called him into her house and revealed to him the secret of her mysterious metamorphosis from a man into a woman. The friend proposed that Soreyya should offer alms to the Venerable Maha Kaccana, who was living close by, and then beg pardon from him for having given rise to such a lewd thought. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The friend then went to the elder and invited him to come to the lady's house for alms on the following day. When the Venerable Maha Kaccana arrived, the friend brought Lady Soreyya into his presence, informed him of what had happened long ago, and asked him to pardon her for that transgression. As soon as the elder uttered the words "I pardon you," Lady Soreyya was transformed back into a man. Shaken out of all worldly complacency by this double metamorphosis, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Vassakara, the chief minister of Magadha under the parricide King Ajatasattu, was less fortunate, though his misfortune sprang entirely from his own pride and obstinacy and not from some force outside his control. The commentary to the Majjhima Nikaya reports that one day, when Vassakara saw the Venerable Maha Kaccana coming down from the mountain Vulture Peak, he exclaimed: "He looks just like a monkey!"< | ||
+ | |||
+ | The circumstances of the Venerable Maha Kaccana' | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== 5. The Elaborator of Brief Statements ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha honored the Venerable Maha Kaccana by naming him his foremost disciple in the ability to provide detailed expositions of his own brief statements. Maha Kaccana earned this distinguished title principally because of eight suttas found in the Nikayas: three in the Majjhima, three in the Samyutta, and two in the Anguttara. Besides these, we find in the Nikayas several other discourses that the Venerable Maha Kaccana spoke without basing himself upon a brief utterance of the Buddha as his text. All these discourses, taken together, have a uniform and distinctive flavor, revealing the qualities of the mind from which they sprang. They are thorough, balanced, careful and cautious, substantial in content, meticulous in expression, incisive, well conceived, and well rounded. They are also, admittedly, a little dry — unemotional and unsentimental — but with no wastage of words they never fail to lead us straight to the heart of the Dhamma. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The discourses of Maha Kaccana are bare of the rhetorical devices utilized by other renowned exponents of the Dhamma: we find in them no similes, parables, or stories; their language is plain but impeccably precise. In this respect his sermons contrast with those of the Buddha, the Venerable Sariputta, and the Venerable Ananda, all of whom were skilled in devising striking similes that impress the formal message of the discourse indelibly on the auditor' | ||
+ | |||
+ | As an analyst of the Dhamma, the Venerable Maha Kaccana most closely approximates to the Venerable Sariputta, and indeed the discourses of both exhibit similar traits. The difference between them is principally a matter of emphasis rather than of substance. Sariputta' | ||
+ | |||
+ | For this reason, no doubt, within the Theravada tradition each has come to be regarded as the father of a particular methodology for interpreting the Dhamma, exegetical systems that rose to prominence in the early centuries of Buddhist intellectual history. Sariputta is, of course, viewed as the original systematizer of the Abhidhamma, which (according to tradition) he elaborated in detail based on the outlines that the Buddha taught him during his periodic visits to the human realm while expounding the Abhidhamma to the devas in the Tavatimsa heaven.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== (1) The Majjhima Nikaya ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | The first sutta in the Majjhima Nikaya in which the Venerable Maha Kaccana plays a prominent role is the // | ||
+ | |||
+ | The sutta opens on an occasion when the Buddha is dwelling at the city of Kapilavatthu in his native land, the Sakyan republic. One day, while the Buddha is sitting in meditation in Nigrodha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | " | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | The reply is utterly incomprehensible to Dandapani, who raises his eyebrows in bewilderment and departs. Later, in the evening, the Buddha informs the bhikkhus what had transpired. One monk inquires: "What exactly is the teaching that the Blessed One proclaims whereby one can avoid all quarrels and, at the same time, be free from the pernicious influence of craving?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | " | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Having said this, before the monks even have time to ask for an explanation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | After the Buddha has retired, the bhikkhus ponder his statement, and realizing that they cannot understand it on their own, they consider: "The Venerable Maha Kaccana is praised by the Teacher and esteemed by his wise companions in the holy life. He is capable of expounding the detailed meaning. Suppose we went to him and asked him the meaning of this." | ||
+ | |||
+ | When they approach Maha Kaccana and make their request, he first chides them for coming to him rather than asking the Buddha to clarify it. To come to him when the Blessed One is present, he says, is like seeking heartwood among the branches and leaves of a great tree after passing over the trunk. The Blessed One is the one who knows and sees; he is vision, he is knowledge, he has become the Dhamma, become the holy one; he is the sayer, the proclaimer, the elucidator of meaning, the giver of the Deathless, the Lord of the Dhamma, the Tathagata. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The bhikkhus, however, while admitting that the elder' | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | " | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | The same pattern is repeated for each of the other sense bases. The elder then connects the entire exposition with the principle of conditionality, | ||
+ | |||
+ | This passage, rich in implications, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The underlying springs of this conceptual proliferation are three defilements: | ||
+ | |||
+ | Such was the explanation of the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Just then the Venerable Ananda, standing nearby, added a memorable simile to highlight the beauty of Maha Kaccana' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The other two Majjhima Nikaya suttas featuring Maha Kaccana, and one in the Anguttara Nikaya, conform to this same stereotyped pattern: the Buddha makes a brief statement, gets up, and enters his dwelling; the monks approach the Venerable Maha Kaccana to ask for an explanation of the meaning; he reprimands them for coming to him rather than asking the Lord himself, but finally he complies with their request and elucidates the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The //Maha Kaccana Bhaddekaratta Sutta// (MN 133) centers around the famous Bhaddekaratta poem, a set of verses spoken by the Buddha that had been circulating within the Sangha. The poem stresses the need to abandon longing for the past and anticipation of the future; it calls instead for urgent effort to marshal one's energies for penetrating with insight the present reality itself. Many of the monks had learned the poem by heart, along with the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | One bhikkhu named Samiddhi, however, did not know even the poem, let alone its exegesis. One day a benevolent deity, taking compassion on him, came to him in the early morning and urged him to learn the Bhaddekaratta poem and exposition. The Venerable Samiddhi went to the Buddha and asked him to teach him the Bhaddekaratta summary and its analysis. The Buddha recited the poem: | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | " | ||
+ | Or on the future build his hopes,\\ | ||
+ | For the past has been left behind\\ | ||
+ | And the future has not been reached | ||
+ | |||
+ | Instead with insight let him see\\ | ||
+ | Each presently arisen state;\\ | ||
+ | Let him know that and be sure of it,\\ | ||
+ | | ||
+ | |||
+ | Today the effort must be made;\\ | ||
+ | | ||
+ | No bargain with Mortality\\ | ||
+ | Can keep him and his hoards away. | ||
+ | |||
+ | But one who dwells thus ardently,\\ | ||
+ | | ||
+ | It is he, the Peaceful Sage has said,\\ | ||
+ | Who has one fortunate attachment." | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then the Blessed One rose from his seat and entered his dwelling. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Samiddhi, and the other monks present at the time, went to the Venerable Maha Kaccana in search of an explanation. As in the prelude to the Madhupindika Sutta, Maha Kaccana at first remonstrates with them, but then agrees to share his understanding of the poem. Taking up the first two lines as the theme of his exposition, he explicates each by way of the six sense bases. | ||
+ | |||
+ | One " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Again, the monks return to the Buddha, who says "if you had asked me the meaning of this, I would have explained it to you in the same way that Maha Kaccana has explained it." | ||
+ | |||
+ | The third Majjhima sutta, the // | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | " | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then, as on prior occasions, he rises from his seat and retires, without giving the exposition — a strange omission, as he had announced that he would teach the exposition! But the monks do not feel lost, for the Venerable Maha Kaccana is in their midst, and after his usual protest, he begins his analysis. | ||
+ | |||
+ | He proceeds by taking up each phrase in the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | His mind is "stuck internally" | ||
+ | |||
+ | There is " | ||
+ | |||
+ | This, the elder states, is how he understands in detail the summary stated in brief by the Blessed One, and when the monks report to the Master, he endorses his disciple' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== (2) The Samyutta Nikaya ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Samyutta Nikaya contains three suttas in which the Venerable Maha Kaccana displays his ingenuity in elaborating upon brief utterances of the Buddha: SN 22:3, SN 22:4, and SN 35:130. These suttas are different both in setting and character from the three analytical discourses of the Majjhima Nikaya. In all three Maha Kaccana is not dwelling in the midst of the Sangha in close proximity to the Buddha, but in Avanti, at the Osprey' | ||
+ | |||
+ | In SN 22:3, Haliddikani asks the elder to explain in detail the meaning of a verse from "The Questions of Magandiya," | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | " | ||
+ | In the village the sage is intimate with none;\\ | ||
+ | Rid of sensual pleasures, without preference, | ||
+ | He would not engage people in dispute." | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | In responding to the lay devotee' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Taking up first the expression " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Next the elder explicates the phrase "to roam without abode" // | ||
+ | |||
+ | The remaining sections of the exposition proceed more literally, and simply explicate, with straightforward definition, the meaning of the phrases used in the verse, always in terms of contrasting pairs. One who is " | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the next sutta (SN 22:4) Haliddikani asks how one should understand in detail the following brief statement of the Buddha, found in "The Questions of Sakka":< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Thus, householder, | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | In a third sutta (SN 35:130) Haliddikani begins a query with a quotation from the Buddha, but this time he does not ask: "how should the meaning of this brief statement be understood in detail?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha himself had explained this assertion by showing how the different kinds of elements condition their corresponding kinds of contact and feeling: "In dependence on the eye element there arises eye-contact; | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | " | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | The same analysis is applied to each of the other sense faculties. Thus, while the Buddha merely differentiates the contact and feeling by way of the sense faculty, the Venerable Maha Kaccana distinguishes within each sense sphere three qualities of the object — agreeable, disagreeable, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== (3) The Anguttara Nikaya ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Anguttara Nikaya offers two further examples of Maha Kaccana' | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | " | ||
+ | | ||
+ | The attainment of the goal, the peace of the heart.\\ | ||
+ | | ||
+ | Nor does intimacy with anyone flourish for me." | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | It is this verse that Kali asks the Venerable Maha Kaccana to elucidate. The elder explicates the verse in a way that does not appear to be derivable from the words themselves. His interpretation contrasts the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Interpreted by way of its apparent meaning, the verse seems to be extolling the bliss of secluded meditation above the pleasures of sensual and social contact — the very enjoyments with which Mara's daughters have been trying to tempt the Enlightened One. But the Venerable Maha Kaccana gives a different twist to the meaning. For him, the contrast is not merely between sensual pleasure and meditative bliss but between two different attitudes to advanced stages of meditative absorption. The ordinary recluses and brahmans understand the jhanas and other extraordinary states of consciousness attainable through the //kasina// meditations to be the final goal of spiritual endeavor. By doing so, they remain caught in the trap of craving for becoming and thus fail to find the way to final deliverance. Because they become attached to the exalted bliss and quiet serenity of the jhanas, they cannot see that these states too are conditioned and transient, and thus they cannot relinquish their attachment to them. They therefore remain within Mara's domain, vanquished by his army of " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Finally, towards the end of the massive Anguttara Nikaya, we find one more sutta constructed on the same pattern as the three Majjhima Nikaya suttas. This sutta (AN 10:172) opens with a short statement of the Buddha: | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | " | ||
+ | | ||
+ | | ||
+ | | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Having said this, the Blessed One rose from his seat and entered his dwelling. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The monks then approach the Venerable Maha Kaccana to request an explanation. Following the stock formulas of protest and insistence, Maha Kaccana interprets the Buddha' | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== 6. Other Teachings of Maha Kaccana ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Not all the discourses spoken by the Venerable Maha Kaccana take the form of commentaries on brief statements by the Buddha. He also delivered Dhamma talks that unfold along independent lines, and he was skilled too in resolving the doubts of inquirers and fellow monks with his own original insights into the Teaching. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Majjhima Nikaya contains a full-length dialogue between the great elder and King Avantiputta of Madhura, who was (according to the commentary) the grandson of King Candappajjota of Avanti. Once, when the Venerable Maha Kaccana was dwelling at Madhura, the king heard the favorable report that was circulating about him: "He is wise, discerning, sagacious, learned, articulate, and perspicacious; | ||
+ | |||
+ | The question with which the king opened this dialogue did not concern a profound problem about the nature of reality or the deeper realizations of insight meditation. It revolved around a practical issue that must have been weighing heavily on the minds of many of the noble-caste rulers of the time: the attempts of the brahmans to establish their own hegemony over the entire Indian social system. The brahmans tried to justify this drive for power by appeal to their divinely ordained status. King Avantiputta relates to Maha Kaccana the claim that they had been putting forth: "The brahmans are the highest caste, those of any other caste are inferior; brahmans are the fairest caste, those of any other caste are dark; only brahmans are purified, not non-brahmans; | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Venerable Maha Kaccana, though of pedigree brahman stock himself, is well aware of the presumption and arrogance that lay behind this proclamation. He replies that the claim of the brahmans is "just a saying in the world," | ||
+ | |||
+ | At the end of the discussion, after expressing his appreciation of Master Kaccana' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Samyutta Nikaya includes a sutta (SN 35:132) that shows how the Venerable Maha Kaccana' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Venerable Maha Kaccana came out from the hut and addressed the boys with verses in which he reminded them of the ancient brahmanical ideals, so badly neglected by the brahmans of that day: | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | " | ||
+ | Those brahmans who recalled the ancient rules,\\ | ||
+ | Their sense doors guarded, well protected, | ||
+ | Dwelt having vanquished wrath within.\\ | ||
+ | They took delight in Dhamma and meditation, | ||
+ | Those brahmans who recalled the ancient rules | ||
+ | |||
+ | But these have fallen, claiming 'We recite' | ||
+ | While puffed up on account of their descent.\\ | ||
+ | They conduct themselves in unrighteous ways;\\ | ||
+ | | ||
+ | They transgress against both weak and strong. | ||
+ | |||
+ | For one who does not guard the sense doors\\ | ||
+ | (All the vows he undertakes) are vain\\ | ||
+ | Just like the wealth a man gains in a dream:\\ | ||
+ | | ||
+ | | ||
+ | Rough hides, matted locks, and dirt;\\ | ||
+ | | ||
+ | | ||
+ | These are the emblems of the brahmans\\ | ||
+ | | ||
+ | |||
+ | A mind that is well concentrated, | ||
+ | | ||
+ | | ||
+ | That is the path for reaching Brahma." | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | On hearing this, the brahman boys were angry and displeased. On returning to their teacher, the brahman Lohicca, they reported that the recluse Maha Kaccana was denigrating and scorning the sacred brahman hymns. After his first flush of anger had subsided, Lohicca, being a man of sense, realized that he should not rush to conclusions merely on the basis of hearsay reported by youngsters, but should first inquire from Maha Kaccana himself whether there was any truth in their accusation. When Lohicca went to the Venerable Maha Kaccana and asked him about the conversation he had with the boys, Maha Kaccana reported everything as it occurred. Lohicca was deeply impressed by Maha Kaccana' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Venerable Maha Kaccana seems to have had a particularly deep insight into the causal basis of human quarrels and disputes. We have already seen how he traces out the causal roots of conflict in his exposition in the Madhupindika Sutta and his skill in transforming Lohicca' | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the next sutta (AN 2:4:7) a brahman named Kandarayana reproaches Maha Kaccana for not showing proper respect towards aged brahmans. The elder defends himself by distinguishing the conventional usage of the words " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Once the Venerable Maha Kaccana gave the monks a discourse on the six recollections //(cha anussati)// — the contemplations of the Buddha, the Dhamma, the Sangha, virtue, generosity, and the devas (AN 6:26). He declared that it is wonderful and marvellous how the Blessed One has discovered these six recollections as the way to freedom for those still trapped in the confines of the world. He describes the six recollections in exactly the same terms that the Buddha himself has used to describe the four foundations of mindfulness. They are the means "for the purification of beings, for the overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | On another occasion (AN 6:28) some elder bhikkhus were holding a discussion about the right time to approach "a monk worthy of esteem" | ||
+ | |||
+ | It was not always with words that the Venerable Maha Kaccana taught, but also by silent example. On one such occasion the Buddha was moved to extol Maha Kaccana in an //udana// — an inspired utterance — preserved for us in the canonical collection of that name (Ud. 7:8). One evening the Buddha was seated in his cottage at Jeta's Grove in Savatthi when he saw the Venerable Maha Kaccana nearby " | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | " | ||
+ | | ||
+ | ' | ||
+ | There will not be, so there will not be for me,'\\ | ||
+ | If he dwell therein in graded steps\\ | ||
+ | In time he will pass beyond attachment." | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | In its explanation of this sutta, the Udana Commentary helps shed light on the approach that the Venerable Maha Kaccana adopted to reach arahantship. While this explanation conflicts with the account of the elder' | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== 7. The Theragatha Verses ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Theragatha, the verses of the ancient elders, includes eight verses ascribed to the Venerable Maha Kaccana (vv.494-501). These verses are in no way exceptional and merely express, in verse form, injunctions to proper discipline for monks and practical advice for householders. Although Maha Kaccana' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The first two verses (vv.494-95), | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | " | ||
+ | One should avoid people,\\ | ||
+ | One should not bustle (to obtain gifts).\\ | ||
+ | One who is eager and greedy for flavors\\ | ||
+ | | ||
+ | |||
+ | They knew as a bog this homage and veneration\\ | ||
+ | | ||
+ | A subtle dart, difficult to extract,\\ | ||
+ | Honor is hard for a vile man to discard." | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | The other six verses, again according to the commentary, were spoken as exhortations to King Candappajjota. The king, it is said, placed faith in the brahmans and at their behest performed animal sacrifices; he also would impose penalties and confer favors arbitrarily, | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | " | ||
+ | That a mortal' | ||
+ | On one's own accord one should not resort to evil,\\ | ||
+ | For mortals have kamma as their kinsmen | ||
+ | |||
+ | One is not a thief by another' | ||
+ | One is not a sage by another' | ||
+ | It is as one knows oneself\\ | ||
+ | That the devas also know one. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Others do not understand\\ | ||
+ | That we all come to an end here.\\ | ||
+ | But those wise ones who understand this\\ | ||
+ | | ||
+ | |||
+ | The wise man lives indeed\\ | ||
+ | Even despite the loss of his wealth.\\ | ||
+ | But if one does not obtain wisdom,\\ | ||
+ | Then even though rich one is not alive." | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | The last two stanzas (500-501) were spoken by the elder when the king came to him one day and informed him of a disturbing dream he had seen the previous night: | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | " | ||
+ | One sees all with the eye,\\ | ||
+ | The wise man should not reject\\ | ||
+ | | ||
+ | |||
+ | One with eyes should be as if blind,\\ | ||
+ | One with ears as if deaf,\\ | ||
+ | One with wisdom as if mute,\\ | ||
+ | One with strength as if feeble.\\ | ||
+ | Then, when the goal has been attained,\\ | ||
+ | One may lie upon one's death bed." | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | The commentary explains the purport of the verses thus: A wise person should not reject everything, but should first investigate virtues and faults and then should reject whatever should be rejected and accept whatever is acceptable. Therefore, in regard to what should be rejected, though one possesses vision one should be as if blind, and though able to hear, one should be as if deaf. One who is intelligent, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The last line is ambiguous, in the Pali as well, and is interpreted in two different ways by the commentary: (1) When a task that should be done has arisen, one should investigate it and not neglect it even if one is lying on one's death bed. (2) Or alternatively, | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== 8. The Exegetical Treatises ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Before concluding this survey of the Venerable Maha Kaccana' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Bhikkhu Ñanamoli, who translated both treatises into English, holds that the //Netti// is a later, more refined version of the // | ||
+ | |||
+ | The //Netti// sets up its methodology under two main headings, the phrasing // | ||
+ | |||
+ | The colophons of both exegetical treatises — the // | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ven. Ñanamoli proposes that we distinguish between the authorship of the // | ||
+ | |||
+ | While such propositions must remain conjectural, | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== Notes ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <div notes> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <dl> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: The Buddha assigns Maha Kaccana to this position at AN 1: Chap. 14, Etadagga Vagga. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: The biographical sketch of Maha Kaccana is taken from the commentary to AN 1: Chap.14, Etadagga Vagga; this is partly paralleled by commentary to Thag., Atthakanipata. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: Ap. i,4:3. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: Ap. i,54:1. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: The offering of the golden brick is mentioned in commentary to AN, Etadagga Vagga. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: The account here resumes as in commentary to AN. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: His parents' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: According to commentary, at the moment the Buddha invited them to join the Order, their hair and beards disappeared and they were spontaneously provided with bowls and robes, created by the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: Vin.i, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: At Vin.ii,299, in describing the preparations for the Second Council, it is said that eighty-eight arahants from Avanti gathered on the Ahoganga mountain slope. They are described as " | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: Isidatta is mentioned at SN 41:1, 2. In the first sutta he answers a question on the diversity of elements, a topic that Maha Kaccana also discusses (see below, pp. 29-30); in the second, on speculative views. To escape the fame and admiration which came to him on account of these replies, he disappeared into obscurity. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: Dhp. Comy. (to v.94). See E.W. Burlingame, //Buddhist Legends// (PTS 1969), 2:202-3. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: Dhp. Comy. (to v.43). See //Buddhist Legends,// 2:23-28. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: MN Comy. (to MN 108). | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: Sammaditthi Sutta (MN 9); see //Die Lehrrede über Rechte Ansicht// (BPS Wheel No. 377/379). Mahahatthipadopama Sutta (MN 28); see //The Greater Discourse on the Elephant' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: // | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: For a detailed study of the term // | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: MN contains four suttas dealing with the Bhaddekaratta verses, Nos. 131-134. The title phrase is itself a riddle: Ven. Ñanamoli has rendered it "one fortunate attachment," | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: The four // | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: DN 21/ii,283. See // | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: See // | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: Sinhala script and PTS eds. read here //adi,// though the Burmese script ed. reads //assada.// The latter reading may be the result of the assimilation of an uncommon reading to the standard formula, in which //assada// appears in the first place. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: This translation is based on K.R. Norman' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: This verse occurs also as Dhp. 6. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: Bhikkhu Ñanamoli' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: For a discussion of the // | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: For a translation of the //Netti// analysis of the first sutta of the Digha Nikaya, see Bhikkhu Bodhi, //The Discourse on the All-Embracing Net of View: The Brahmajala Sutta and Its Commentaries// | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: //The Guide,// pp.xxvi-xxviii. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: G.P. Malalasekera, | ||
+ | |||
+ | </dl> | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div showmore> | ||
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+ | Die [[http:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | Seit ihrer Gründung im Jahre 1958 hat die BPS eine große Auswahl an Büchern und Broschüren über eine weite Themenpalette veröffentlicht. Unter den Veröffentlichungen finden sich sowohl sorgfältige, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Buddhist Publication Society\\ | ||
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