(E07)-01-Birth-of-the-Buddha

Tonight the topic of the talk is the life story of Buddha Gautama. I like to talk about this topic because there are a lot of misconceptions about our Buddha. So that's why it's good to talk about this topic to know our teacher well. Now, our Buddha was born in a place north, in the northern part of India and nowadays generally people agree that it is a place called Lumbini in Nepal. A few years ago there was some dispute between India and Nepal because India claimed that Buddha was born in India, but Nepal claimed that Buddha was born in Nepal. Now they generally agree that it was in Nepal in a place called Lumbini, the foothills of the Himalayan range of mountains. And the Buddha's clan was the Sakyan clan. I think that most people know. And that was a warrior clan or what we call the nobility like blue blood. Now, a lot of people have been made to believe that the Buddha's father was a king. This is not true. The Buddha's father was not a king. The Buddha's father was one of the many people who belonged to the warrior caste or the warrior clan. Just like in Malaysia, there are a lot of Tungkus and Rajas, but not all of them are Sultans or Agong, right? Sometimes you can even find a Tungku or Raja who's poor. So our Buddha's father was one of the many who belonged to the warrior caste. His father's name was Suddhodana. Now, maybe I'd like to elaborate a bit on this. What evidence do we have that the Buddha's father was not a king? Now, in the Dhammacetiya Sutta of the Majjhima Nikaya, we find that the king of Kosala, by the name of Raja Pasenadi, He came to see the Buddha when the Buddha was 80 years old. And this king was also 80 years old. And he paid great homage to the Buddha by bowing down to the Buddha and kissing the Buddha's feet. And the Buddha asked him, why do you pay so much homage to this body? Then he praised the Buddha. And that was what the sutra was about. In that sutra it is mentioned that the Buddha was a citizen of Bhosala, just like this king. We know that in the country there's only one king. So the king of the Buddha's country was this Pasenadi king and not the Buddha's father. Sometimes people say the Buddha's father was the chief of the Sakyans. That also is not true because in the Vinaya books we find that the chief of the Sakyans was a man by the name of Bhadia. And he was persuaded to renounce by his good friend Anuruddha, the famous Arahant Anuruddha. And he renounced. And within one year of his renouncing, this person, Bhadia, became an Arahant. We showed that he was a person with great what we call san-ken, good roots, many perfections of character. Now, seven days after the Buddha was born, his mother died. And we have this famous story that the Buddha, when the Buddha was born, his mother was standing and he was delivered. And after he was born, immediately after he was born, he took seven steps. I took a few steps and he proclaimed that he was the chief in the world. Nobody was superior to him. Now this kind of story is a bit hard to believe. Even though it is found in the suttas, it is a bit hard to believe. Now, seven days after the Buddha was born, his mother died. And his auntie, that is the mother's sister, took care of him like her own son. And these two sisters were the wives of this Buddha's father. So, but this stepmother by the name of Mahapajapati also had her own son by the name of Nandiya. So she took care of our Buddha and took care of her own son, both just like her very own son.

(E07)-02-Before-renunciation

In the Vinaya, the Buddha said that he had a very good life when he was young because his father was rich and his father built three mansions for him to stay for the three seasons because in India there are three seasons, the rainy season which lasts four months, the winter season which lasts four months, and the summer season which lasts four months. On different seasons, he would live in different mansions. And he said during the Vassa or rains season, for four months he lived in this mansion without coming down. And he was served by women. All women served him without a single man in that mansion. So he had a very good life. And in the Vinaya books, the Buddha also said that he was delicately nurtured, very delicately nurtured, supremely delicately nurtured. In other words, what he was trying to say was He was not the kind of hero or macho that people tried to make him out to be later. People like to depict the Buddha as a great warrior who could fight, who could shoot, bow and arrow very well and all that, but that was not the case. So the Buddha said he was very delicate when he was young. And at a young age, he married and his wife was called Yasodhara. And the Buddha, because of his past cultivation, from young he was always unusual in the sense that he was different from other people in the sense that even though he had such a good life, had a beautiful wife, rich family, yet he was always troubled by this thought that the world is dukkha, the world is impermanent. And generally, There is this saying that the Buddha saw four things that made him renounce. He saw a very old man which made him think that one day also he will become old. He saw a very sick man by the roadside which also reminded him that one day he will be very sick. And he saw a dead man or a corpse which also reminded him that he was going to die one day. And the last one was he saw a monk And this monk looked so serene that inspired him to renounce. Whether he saw one old man or more, old man, sick man, dead man, it might possibly be more.

(E07)-03-Previous-life-of-the-Buddha

But anyway, he used to think about this subject of dukkha. And the reason why he used to think of it, we can find in a sutta in the Majjhima Nikaya or the Gatikara Sutta. Now in the Gatikara Sutta it is mentioned that in a previous life the Buddha was born as a Brahmin called Jotipala and he had a very good friend, a poor man by the name of Gatikara who was a pot maker. And this pot maker was a very strong supporter of the Buddha Kassapa. And Buddha Kassapa was the previous Buddha, one Buddha earlier than our Sakyamuni Buddha. So this Bhattacara, being the chief supporter of the Buddha Kassapa, was an anagami, a third fruit ariya. and he called his friend Jotipala, our Bodhisattva, to go and see the Buddha Kassapa many times, but this Jotipala refused until he had to pull him by the hair, drag him by the hair. Then only he decided to go. In fact, he was shocked that his friend dared to pull his hair because Gatikara was a low caste person and Dottipala as a Brahmin was a high caste person. So for a low caste person to pull a high caste person by the hair is really haram, not something that is allowed. In fact, if the Brahmin complained to his clan, probably they might kill this man. So he was shocked, so he asked his friend, you dare to do up to this stage? His friend said yes. Then he said, is it that important to see your teacher? And Gatikara said yes. So then only he went. So when he went to see the Buddha Kasapa, his friend Gatikara paid homage, bowed to the Buddha and sat one side, but he refused to bow. He just said, hello, hello, and sat down. This goes to show that this story about the Buddha making a vow in the past life has no basis. Because if he had actually made a vow, it is useless because he would have already forgotten, right? Just like in previous life we made any vow, do you remember? You don't remember a single thing about our previous life, how can you remember your vow? I even asked him to go and see a Buddha, so he refused to go. So it shows that this making a vow story has totally no basis. So after he saw the Buddha, his friend Gatikara told the Buddha Kasapa, he said, Bhagavan, this is my good friend Jatipala, and he's a Brahmin. Please teach him some Dhamma out of compassion. So the Buddha, out of compassion, taught some Dhamma to Jyotipala, our Bodhisatta. And after hearing the Dhamma, he changed completely. He understood the Dhamma. So when he left, he paid homage to the Buddha. And the right hand towards the Buddha, he left. Then after he left with his friend Gatikara, he asked his friend Gatikara, he said, Gatikara, now we have an arahant, Samasambuddha, in the world. Why don't you renounce? So Gatikara said, you know, my parents are old and blind. I have to take care of them. That's why I haven't renounced. Then Jyotipala said, in that case, I will renounce. So in that life, you see, just hearing the Dhamma, he turned in the opposite direction had so much faith in the Buddha Kassapa to the extent of immediately renouncing under the Buddha Kassapa. That kind of person is definitely a Sotapanna, a person who upon hearing the Dhamma has understood the Dhamma and in our Suttas and Vinaya the Buddha says that that kind of person has attained the vision of Dhamma. And this means attaining the first path, Arya. And the Buddha says that before he dies, he will definitely, first path, Arya, will definitely attain the first truth before he dies. So at that life, our Buddha, at that time of hearing the Dhamma, he must have attained the first path. As a monk, he practiced under the Buddha Kasapa and attained at least the first jhāna. Because we know from the suttas, after that lifetime, he died and passed away and was reborn in the Kusita heaven. And coming down from the Kusita heaven, he came as a last life before he became a Buddha. So, in the last life, the Buddha mentioned that when he was very young, and his father was supervising the workers in the field, he sat under the jambu tree and he attained the first jhana. Nobody taught him. He just sat under the jambu tree and attained the first jhana, which shows that in his previous life, as a human being, he had already attained at least the first jhana. So, it is very probable that in that life, as a monk under Buddha Kassapa, He should have become a Sakadagamin, a second fruit, Arya, because Sakadagamin, the meaning of the word Sakadagamin means once returner. He will come back only one more time as a human being and enter Nirvana. So that's why we can understand why When the Buddha in his last life, even though he had such a good life, yet he was always thinking of Dukkha, because he was a Sakadagamin. And a Sakadagamin is like a ripe durian, you know, doesn't need the wind to bring it down. No wind also. If it's ripe enough, it will fall by itself, the durian. So this kind of person is bound to enter Nibbana. Whether there is a teacher or there is no teacher, he will struggle and enter Nibbana. So we can understand from here why when the Buddha, his wife gave birth to a son, he said, what in Malaysians we say Alamak, son is born. So he called his son Rahula. Rahula is like a bond, something to tie him down.

(E07)-04-Renunciation

Soon after the son was born, he decided to leave because he thought if he stayed back he would have to carry out his duty as a father to bring up his son. So at that point he renounced. Now in the sutras, in the Majjhima Nikaya, it is stated that the Buddha renounced in front of his parents. Whereas the legend, the story about the Buddha is normally we know is that he took a last look at his wife and his sleeping child and then in the middle of the night he stole away. But that would have been like a coward, isn't it? But no, he, our Buddha, in front of his parents, he told them he was leaving. And then they cried and they pleaded with him to stay back. Then in front of them, he cut off his hair, put on a yellow cloth and walked away. So, after leaving, he looked for a teacher. And the first teacher he went to was a man called Alara Kalama. This was a very famous renunciant at that time because he could attain the highest arupajana, formless jhana, that means absorption, meditative absorption on a formless object. He had attained the base of nothingness and the Buddha learned under him and also attained this Arupajana. And after the Buddha attained this base of nothingness, this Arupajana, Alara Kalama offered our Bodhisatta to be co-leader with him, to share in teaching the others. But our Buddha realized that only jhana by itself is not going to attain enlightenment. So he decided to leave because he was looking for enlightenment, he was looking for the ultimate. because he was already a Sakadagamin, as I mentioned, so he was looking for a way to enter Nibbana. So since this teacher could not teach him how to enter and all his suffering, he left him. Then he went to another famous teacher by the name of Udaka Ramaputta. Udaka Ramaputra was another teacher who could attain formless jhana, arupa jhana. He attained the last, the highest formless jhana, which is the base of neither perception nor non-perception. That kind of state is where It's called neither perception nor non-perception because the perception is like a flame about to go off, like a candle. The flame is so small, about to go off. So sometimes there is perception, sometimes there is no perception. It's like sometimes there is consciousness, sometimes there is no consciousness. It's like the flame of consciousness about to blow off. After he attained this state, he told his teacher, and his teacher, being I suppose very old, told him to take over his place. His teacher wanted to retire, but he also was not interested to become a teacher, so he left him. Then after leaving these two famous teachers, he went about on his own, and he tried his own a way to find an end to all suffering. One of the ways was he thought, while we are living, we have this body and this body gives us a lot of suffering. So we are living because we continue to breathe. So he decided to stop breathing. So when he stopped breathing, slowly, slowly, the pain started to develop in his head, in his body. And the pain in his head, he continued to stop breathing. The pain was intense. He said like somebody put something very tight around his head and tighten this bone around his head until he felt the head drop and all that. And still he could stand it. Why was his will so strong? Because he had attained jhāna. If a person has attained jhāna, the mind is very strong. So he could force himself to stop breathing. Then the body started to hurt. He said his stomach was as though somebody took a knife and cut his stomach. And yet he continued to stop breathing. And then, you know, if you continue to stop breathing after some time, you are starting to die. So the devas, these heavenly beings, saw him, you know, so they came to see him. So one deva said, oh, this ascetic is dead. Then another deva said, oh this ascetic, he's not dead but he's dying. Then another asked this kind of comments. He's not dead but he's dying. Then another asked this kind of comments. Then another deva said, we are not going to allow him to die. If he continues like this, we are going to inject heavenly food into his body to make him live. So, because he had attained this Arupa Jhana, he could hear what they were saying, he could probably see them also. Because in the Suttas it is mentioned that if a person has attained the four Jhanas or any of the Arupa Jhanas, he can see Devas and can talk to Devas. Not all of them, but many of them. So when he heard that they were not going to allow him to die, then he stopped. He stopped this exercise. Then he thought of some other way. Then he thought, Much of our suffering is due to the thinking mind. If we continue to think, this mind gives us a lot of suffering. So he thought he's going to use his mind power to crush his mind, don't allow his mind to think at all. So because his mind was so strong, he used his mind power to bend his mind into not thinking. And even he tried to do that, he did not succeed. So he stopped it. But I suppose there are some people, ecstatics, who do this and succeed because there is a place in the fourth jhāna, heavens, a place where the beings are called āsānyāsatta, that means beings without perception. It also means that they are beings without consciousness, because consciousness and perception and feeling come together. So those beings have a big body, but no consciousness, and after a very, very long time, then they pass away from there. So maybe those are external ascetics who use their mind power. That means they have at least attained the four jhanas, that's why they are born in the four jhana plane, to crush their mind until they stop thinking completely, their consciousness stops. So after that, he saw a lot of ascetics practicing these austerities, these penances. So he also followed them, like going about naked. You know, India is a place, during the day it can be extremely hot, but during the night it is extremely cold. So he was suffering. He said that like in the night his teeth would be chattering and yet he continued this practice. Daytime he would expose himself to the hot sun. And then another aesthetic practice he did was plucking the hair. Instead of shaving the head, every time the hair grew up, he plucked. You pluck your hair, it's painful. One hair is so painful. Plucked all of his hair. And then sleeping on nails. This is like this yogi's practice, sleeping on a bed of nails. Then wearing different kinds of clothing, wearing bark skin, using the tree barks as a clothing, using feathers, bird feathers, etc. as a clothing, using hair, human hair. Where to get human hair? Probably must have taken off the corpses and knit them together to make a robe. But you see, using human hair, very susah. I say, why? It's very hot and then very smelly. And then he will do this practice of standing 24 hours, never lying down, never sitting, continue to stand. Imagine all your blood goes down to your feet, because your feet also will swell. He continued to do that. After that, he did one by one these ascetic practices, and then he found that it doesn't lead him to enlightenment. Then he would give it up, try another one, and find it doesn't lead him to enlightenment, throw it away, try another one. Then, because he was doing all these kinds of ascetic practices, sort of other people, lay people as well as other ascetics came to respect him, and slowly, slowly he gathered a group of five disciples around him. These were his disciples. And then he did things like eating only a particular type of food, like a particular type of grain or grass, or eating only fruits in the forest that have fallen down, or eating roots, tree roots. And he also ate like cow dung, cow dung and all that. Then he go into the away from people. During the Buddha's days, when somebody has passed away, they don't bury him, they don't burn him. They throw the corpse in the deep forest kind of cemetery, and then dead animals will come and eat. So he went to this kind of place. There's plenty of bones, isn't it? He'd gather all the bones together to use as a pillow and lie down and sleep on this pillow of bones. And then these cowboys, those boys who look after the cows, they come by and then they see him sleeping down there. They come and disturb him and urinate on him and then they take some twigs and poke his ears, poke his nose, but he didn't want his mind to be troubled. He was trying to cultivate Upekka equanimity, so he didn't let any anger arise. Then later, he wanted to avoid people, go into the deep forest. If he saw anybody coming, he'd run deeper into the forest, just like a wild deer. You see a wild deer, the wild deer will run deeper into the forest. So he was just like that, avoided people, kept going further and further into the deep forest. Then, going back to eating, he, just now I mentioned, he ate this cow dung. That means you have to follow the cow. Wherever the cow went, you eat wet cow dung, dry cow dung. to the extent of even eating his own shit, you know. So you can realize why the Buddha says women cannot become Buddha. So you're lucky women cannot become a Buddha. Women don't have to go through all that suffering like our Buddha. Then he ate less and less, you know, less and less until he said he ate one grain of rice a day. One sesame seed a day. So imagine he eats so little, he suffered from malnutrition, became so thin, he said his eyes sunk inside and his hair dropped. Then he said he was basically a fair person being from a noble family, but he said because of malnutrition his skin turned dark and when he rubbed his skin the hair also fell off. And he said his ribs stood out, and his stomach went inside. So when he touched his stomach, he could touch his spine. We try to touch our, we press our stomach also, we cannot touch our spine. Very good. And then he said he had no buttocks, sort of the, no flesh in his buttocks. So he said his buttocks was like a, what is it, camel's hoof or something. And his hands and his legs, he said, were like bamboo, you know. Bamboo, you know, you get a knot, a knot. So thin. So because of eating so little, he became extremely weak. So one day he went to the stream to wash himself. He fell into the stream. When he fell into the stream, he was drinking the water in the stream. Probably it's not very much water, maybe a foot of water or less, but he was so weak he couldn't push himself up, couldn't do one push-up. So he was drowning in that water until a girl who was looking after the cows passed by and saw this renunciant, struggling in the water, drowning in the water. Then she came and pulled him out of the water. Imagine, he was so thin that it was not very difficult to carry him out of the water. And she put him under a tree. And then this lady gave him some milk rice to take. After he took some milk rice, then he felt better. Then he thought to himself, just now he nearly died. Then he realized that if he had died, he would have come to nothing, all this effort, so many years of struggling, come to nothing. So he realized that was not the way to go. Then he thought very hard, you know, what is this way to get out of samsara, to get out of suffering, to be enlightened? Then he thought. Then he remembered when he was very young, Under the jambu tree he had attained jhāna. Then he asked himself, is this the way? Then because he was a person who had attained jhāna, his mind is rid of the five hindrances. So he could realize things just by contemplating. Then he realized that this was the way to get enlightenment was by using jhāna. Then he asked himself why didn't he use jhāna earlier? Then he realized that he didn't use jhāna earlier because jhāna is such a blissful state. And then he thought by enjoying yourself in bliss you cannot attain enlightenment. That's what a lot of people think. That's why they go and do penance and do all these austerities. Then he realized this is not worldly happiness. This is different from worldly happiness. very different state. So he realized that this was the way to go, go back to Jhana. Then he thought to himself, his body is so weak, he could not, was not able to enter Jhana. So he said, he realized that he had to take a meal every day. So he decided to take one solid meal every day. So when he did that, his five disciples Left him. They thought he was going soft. No more fighting spirit. Last time could eat one sesame seed a day. Now he takes one whole bowl of rice. To them, they thought this is luxury. So they all left him, took down on him. And he didn't bother with them. And he continued to struggle on.

(E07)-05-Enlightenment

Then he, after so six years of struggling, he decided that was enough. He was going to end it, either be enlightened or die trying. So he decided to sit. under this tree and not get up until he attains enlightenment or he dies. So he sat under the Bodhi tree and he struggled and he attained the first jhāna, then the second, then the third, then the fourth jhāna. The fourth jhāna is a state very difficult to attain. The first three jhānas the Buddha calls perturbable, still shakable, but the fourth jhāna the Buddha calls unperturbable. Cannot shake, cannot go young. So, because this 4th jhana is such a high state that the breathing stops. When the breathing stops, probably the heartbeat also is not detectable probably. So in that deep state then he used it to look into his past life because that state is so high psychic power can come. So he used his psychic power to look into his past life. He looked at the past life many, many lifetimes. He looked into very many lifetimes and then he realized who he was in the past and all the details. Then he realized that he was a monk before under Buddha Kassapa. So all the Dhamma that he had learned from Buddha Kassapa all came back to his mind. Then after that, that was the first watch of the night from about 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Then from 10 to 2 a.m., 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. which is called the middle watch of the night. He contemplated beings who died and passed on, died and passed on, because he had this heavenly psychic power, heavenly eye to look at beings dying and passing away, dying and passing away. Then he realized, understood the working of karma, how beings, because of the actions they do, they are reborn in whatever plane according to their karma. And then the last watch of the night from 2 to 6 a.m., he contemplated on the Four Noble Truths and attained enlightenment. And this enlightenment of a Buddha is the same as the enlightenment of an Arahant. Now what is enlightenment? Can any of you tell me what is enlightenment? What defines enlightenment? How is a person enlightened? Is it because he has great wisdom? This is what nowadays people practicing Vipassana like to say, but it's not. In the suttas, enlightenment is defined as the destruction of the asavas. In the six higher knowledges, abhinyas, five psychic powers, the last one, the most supreme, is called the destruction of the asavas. What are asavas? Asavas can be defined as uncontrolled mental outflows. That means the tendency of the mind to flow. And this tendency of the mind to flow is basically the flowing of consciousness. And when consciousness flows, you have the six types of consciousness, seeing, consciousness, hearing, smelling, taste, touch, and thinking. The first five, seeing, hearing, smelling, taste, and touch, when these five consciousness works, then you see the world, you hear the world, you smell, you taste, and you touch things in the world, right? So there is an external world because the five consciousnesses are working. The sixth consciousness is the mind and this is our inner world, our inner world. So the sixth consciousness gives you the outer and the inner world. So it is because of the flow of consciousness that this world is created. But when a person destroys the tendency of the mind to flow, then when he dies, when he passes away, the consciousness stops flowing. Because he's already, as an arahant, he's already able to stop it. So that is enlightenment. And enlightenment of arahant and Buddha is the same.

(E07)-06-After-enlightenment

After enlightenment, our Buddha, he was enlightened under the Bodhi tree. So he sat under the Bodhi tree, feeling the happiness of enlightenment. In the Vinaya book it's called Vimutti Sukha. Sukha is happiness, Vimutti is liberation or freedom. So he said seven days, that means he must have been experiencing that state of cessation of consciousness, which is called Nirodha Samapatti, or cessation of perception and feeling. Because when perception and feeling stops, then consciousness also stops, the normal six consciousness. So for seven days he was sitting under there experiencing this bliss. Then after that he got up and then out of gratitude to that Bodhi tree, he walked away from the Bodhi tree and looked at the Bodhi tree with gratitude, looking at this Bodhi tree which had been shading him for seven days and seven nights and helped him to become enlightened. Then after that, he contemplated dependent origination. He spent the whole night contemplating dependent origination until he understood The Buddha did not say that he knows everything, but the Buddha says that when he wants to know something, he has to contemplate that he will know. That's why he had to spend the whole night contemplating dependent origination until he understood. Then after that, he moved to another tree, a banyan tree, and he sat under the banyan tree also experiencing this bliss for for seven days. Then after that he moved to a Mucalinda tree and stayed under the Mucalinda tree for seven days or so experiencing this bliss of enlightenment. And during these seven days under the Mucalinda tree a great storm arose. Rain came and a storm came and this Naga or this snake spirit He realized that this was a holy man. So with this rain coming up, he wanted to protect the Buddha from the rain. So he used his big serpent body, the snake body, and coil around the Buddha. Coil around the Buddha and put his hood on top to shade the Buddha from the storm, the rain. Then when the rain stopped he went away. Then the Buddha woke up and then from his cessation then he went to the Rajayatana tree and stayed under the tree experiencing this bliss again for seven days. Then after that, That means you calculate 7, 7, 7, 7, 28 days he did not eat anything. Because a person like the Buddha, when he does not eat anything, he says that he feeds on happiness, the joy of meditation is enough to sort of energize his whole body. So he did not need to eat.

(E07)-07-Start-turning-the-Dhamma-Cakkara

Then after that, he contemplated whether he should teach what he had learned to human beings. Then he realized that most human beings are not interested in the Dhamma. So he thought it's a waste of time to try to teach human beings. Most of them are not inclined to struggle for enlightenment. We all tend to follow our tendencies, our natural tendencies. He decided not to teach but this Brahma Sahampatti, this Deva in the Brahma realm, he realized that here was a Buddha and it's very rare to meet a Buddha. So he came down and appealed to the Buddha to teach and he appealed to the Buddha three times and after appealing to the Buddha three times, the Buddha He told the Buddha, he said, it is true, most beings in the world are not interested to practice the Dharma, but there are some beings in this world with little dust in their eyes, and if we don't teach them, they will sort of, instead of progressing, they will regress. And then the Buddha contemplated, then he realized that there are some beings who had already practiced the spiritual path in the past life. and those who had attained jhana and all that, and it would be a waste if they don't hear the Dhamma. So the Buddha then decided to teach the Dhamma. Then he asked himself, who should he teach first? Then he thought about his earlier two teachers, Uddhaka Ramakuta and Alara Kalama. Okay, so our Buddha wanted to teach his two previous teachers and then the devas came to tell him that his teachers had passed away. One of them had died seven days ago and the other one had died just one night, the previous night. Then he thought it was such a waste. If he had taught them, they would have understood his Dhamma immediately because they had attained Jhana. Then he contemplated who he should teach next. Then he thought about his five disciples, the five bhikkhus under him. So he decided to go and teach them. So he had to walk a certain distance to teach them. And on the way he met an external ascetic by the name of Upaka. And this Upaka when he saw the Buddha he was struck by the serenity and by the glowing face of the Buddha and the Buddha's faculties were so clear. And he was very impressed, so he asked the Buddha, who is your teacher? Then the Buddha said, how can someone like me have a teacher? The Buddha said, he's basically saying that he was enlightened, that there's nobody superior to him. And then this guy, this Upaka, he shook his head. You know, Indians like to shake their head. So he shook his head and he thought, maybe, maybe. Then he walked away. So you see, it's so difficult to teach people. This guy had the great fortune to meet the Buddha and the Buddha was sort of all eager to teach somebody. This guy met the Buddha, was not fully convinced, just shook his head and walked away. Then the Buddha went to his five disciples. At first they agreed not to welcome him, but when he came nearer they saw he looked so radiant and so serene that They were immediately struck by it. So even though they made a pact not to welcome him, but they automatically, one went to get a seat for him, one went to get water for washing his feet, etc. So he sat down on the seat, washed his feet. Then they called him friend. Probably previously or so they called him friend or something. And he told them not to address him as friend. He said he was enlightened. But they were not convinced. They still called him friend. And even though he told them three times not to call him friend, they still called him friend. Then he asked them, They said, previously when you were doing all the austerities, all the ascetic practices, you were not enlightened. Now that you have reverted to luxury, eating one good meal a day, every day, how can you become enlightened? Then he tried to convince them. They were not convinced. Eventually he thought, He asked them, I said, have I ever spoken to you like this before? Then they said, no, you have never spoken to us like this before. Then he said, listen to him, he said he's enlightened and all that. Then they decided to listen to him. Then he taught them the Dhamma. The first teaching he gave them was called the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. And upon hearing this sutta, one of the five attained the first path. And then over a number of days, he just asked them to sit down and he continued to preach to them the Dhamma. And then when it came to mealtime, he said sometimes two of them will go Pindabad on alms round and come back with enough food to feed all six of them. Sometimes three of them will go alms round, bring back enough food to feed all of them. So for several days, he taught them the Dhamma until all five of them became arahants. So you see from here, even attaining the first path is just by listening to the Dhamma. Attaining arahanthood, also listening to the Dhamma. He never asked them to sit in meditation, no. He just asked them to listen to the Dhamma. He shows how important listening to the Dhamma is.

(E07)-08-Yasa-and-the-1st-60-Arahants

Then after that, the Buddha, with his psychic power, he looked for particular persons to teach. Then he looked for, the next person was Yasa, a very rich man's son, also like the Buddha as a layman. But this man had a few wives, not like the Buddha had only one wife. This man, I think, had four wives. And yet the Buddha made him come to the forest to see the Buddha in the middle of the night. Then the Buddha taught him the Dhamma and then he attained the first path. Then after that he didn't want to go home. He stayed with the Buddha. The next morning his father was worried, sick because his son was missing. So his father was a very rich man, probably the richest man in that town. So his father went looking for him all over the place until the father came to the forest. and then came to see the Buddha and asked the Buddha whether he had seen the son. So the Buddha asked him to sit down and said, maybe in a while you will see Yasa. Actually, Yasa was sitting next to the Buddha, but the Buddha used his psychic power to shield Yasa from the father so that the father could not see him. So then the Buddha preached to the father the same Dhamma that he had spoken to Yasa. And this dhamma that the Buddha preaches to a new person normally consists of nine things. The first one is dhāna, charity. The second one is sila, keeping the precepts. Then the third one is going to heaven. As a result of these two things you do, you go to heaven. Then the fourth one is the folly, the vanity, the depravity of sensual pleasures, all the sensual pleasures that we enjoy. It's actually all sort of never satisfying, and then it makes you more sort of greedy for sensual pleasures. So after that if a person realizes this then he renounces. So that's five things already. Then after that the Buddha will explain the Four Noble Truths. So altogether nine things. So after hearing the Four Noble Truths a person would attain Dhamma vision, that means the first path, Arya. So the Buddha spoke this to the father and the father became a first path attainer and Yassa hearing this a second time became an Arahant. The Buddha said that if a person has attained jhāna, either in this life or the previous life, then upon hearing the dhamma you can attain anagami, third fruition, or arahant, fourth fruition, or the path first. So Yasa became an arahant, that was the fifth, the sixth arahant. Then fifty-four of Yasa's good friends, they must have been his renunciant friends in the previous life. They were surprised that he had renounced. So one by one they came to see him and when they came to see him he brought them to see the Buddha and Buddha taught them the Dhamma and all 54 of them became Arahants. One by one they became Arahants. So Yasa and his friends, 55 of them plus the earlier 5 bhikkhus, that means there were 60 arahants at that time. And when there were 60 arahants, the Buddha asked them to walk and preach the Dhamma for the good of the many folk. And the Buddha asked them not to go by the same road. He said, don't two of you go by the same road, go by different roads. preach the Dhamma. So when they went around preaching the Dhamma, and people who understood the Dhamma wanted to renounce. And these 60 arahants would send them to the Buddha to get ordination. And slowly more and more people came for ordination. And the Buddha find that it was very troublesome to look for him to ordain. Then he gave his monk disciples the permission to ordain other monks. And the first time that this was allowed, they ordained somebody just by giving them the three refuges, like Pudang, Saranam Gacami, Damang, Saranam Gacami, etc., repeating that three times, and they would be considered as ordained.

(E07)-09-1000-Jatilas-become-Arahant

The Buddha wanted to go and teach these Jatilas, matted-haired ascetics, who lived in Uruvela by the banks of the Naranjara River, I think. They were matted-haired ascetics because they kept long hair and tied them around their head. They were fire worshippers. They prayed to fire. They also had the practice of submerging themselves in the river three times. in the morning before the sun rose and three times at night after the sun had set, they would submerge themselves fully in the river to cleanse away their sins, just like a Brahmin practice. But I suppose the reason why the Buddha wanted to go and teach them was because they practiced Samatha meditation. That means they had attained the Jhanas. The Buddha, when he wants to teach somebody, this is the best type of person to teach because when he teaches them the Dhamma, they will become arahant. So actually they were already quite famous because these monks had attained jhana and people thought that they were arahants. In fact, the leader himself thought that he was an arahant. So when the Buddha came, the Buddha had to show a lot of psychic power to convince them that the Buddha was on a higher spiritual level. And after showing them a lot of psychic power, then they were convinced. One of the incidents was because they were staying beside the river bank, one day the river overflowed, there was a big flood and the water level went up very high, maybe say for example 10 feet. So then they all sort of went to higher ground. Then they realized that they had forgotten about this Samana Gotama because he was known as Samana Gotama. Then they thought he probably, he might have drowned. So they decided to take a boat and look for him. So when they rowed the boat to where he was staying, they found that the water was all around him, but where the Buddha was standing, there was no water. In other words, the wall of water was all around the Buddha. So they were surprised. They took their boat up there and they asked him to come up. So he just went up. Then the water closed again. So, after convincing them by much display of psychic power, another one was, for example, this Brahma came to visit the Buddha in the middle of the night. When this deva comes to visit the Buddha, they will emit a lot of light. So they saw, but they didn't know who it was. Possibly an ordinary person would not be able to see that light, but because they had cultivated jhāna, they could see that light. So the next morning they asked the Buddha, who came to visit you at night? And then the Buddha said, Brahma. And they were shocked. They had to pray to Brahma, but Brahma comes to pay respect to the Buddha. So in that way, eventually they were convinced that the Buddha was very much superior to them. Then all of 1,000 of them shaved their hair and became disciples of the Buddha. And then after they became disciples of the Buddha, the Buddha taught them the Dhamma. And the Buddha gave them a discourse called the Aditapariyaya Sutta or the Fire Discourse. use fire to teach them because they worship the fire. The Buddha said the whole world is on fire. Why? Because the eye is on fire, the ear is on fire, the nose, the tongue, the body, the mind is on fire. What fire? The fire of greed, hatred and delusion going through the six sense doors. So, at the conclusion of this discourse, all 1,000 of them became Arahants. Then after that, the Buddha brought them 1,000 of Visarahan to Rajagaha. Because before the Buddha was enlightened, the Buddha had passed through Rajagaha and had met this King Bimbisara. And King Bimbisara was so impressed by the Buddha's looks that he tried to persuade the Buddha to stay in Rajagaha, to practice, cultivate in Rajagaha. And the king said, the king would support him. But because the Buddha was the great yearning for enlightenment, he did not want to be tied down in a place. He thought he could not practice well, be tied down in a place, so he left. But the king made him promise that if he was enlightened, he would come back and teach them the Dharma. So after the Buddha was enlightened, he decided to keep his promise. So he brought his 1,000 arahants to Rajagaha. And then the king made a great dāna, a great feast for the Buddha and his thousand former jatilas. and called all his people of the city of Rajagaha to come. So according to the Vinaya books, 12 Nahutas of people came, and one Nahuta is a huge number according to the Pali dictionary. According to the commentaries, one Nahuta can be said to be 10,000. So 120,000 people came. to see the Buddha and his 1,000 Arahants. So when they saw the Buddha and his Jatilas, former Jatilas, they were not sure who's the teacher, whether Samana Gautama is the teacher or the Jatilas head is the teacher. So the Buddha knew what they were thinking. So the Buddha purposely asked the former leader of the Jatilas, he said, what did you see? That means you shave off your hair and renounce. And then he understood what the Buddha wanted him to say. Then he explained that he saw the Dhamma. And then after that he said, the Buddha is my teacher. I'm his disciple. After he said that, he bowed to the Buddha. So he said that three times and bowed to the Buddha three times. So everybody knew that the Buddha was the leader of this group of ascetics. So after that, the Buddha preached the Dhamma, just now the nine-point Dhamma I told you, to the people of Rajagaha. And all 120,000 of them attained the Dhamma vision, all became the Svaha Arya. So you see, not so difficult to become an Arya. All listened to the Four Noble Truths and became an Arya. The Buddha never asked them to sit down and practice meditation. He just asked them to listen to the Dhamma. Then the King Bimbisara offered the bamboo grove to the Buddha and the Sangha as a monastery. It was just a bamboo grove. She find out that this King Bimbisara, he became a disciple of the Buddha. So he offered this bamboo grove. According to the Vinaya book, how he offered this grove to the Buddha was he brought the Buddha to this bamboo grove and told him that he was offering this whole bamboo grove, don't know how many acres. And then the Buddha accepted in the Indian tradition by cupping his hands and King Bimbisara poured water into his hands. Just like our Malay basanting ceremony, isn't it? The cold water. This is an old Indian custom. So you can see that a monk actually can accept a land for a monastery, but not for himself, for the Sangha. Now this bamboo grove, at that time there was no buildings, it was just a grove of bamboo trees, no buildings whatsoever. And initially the Buddha and his disciples, they just stayed under the trees. They did not have kutis or huts to stay in.

(E07)-10-Sariputta-and-Moggallana

So because the king became a disciple of the Buddha and he had so many Arahant disciples, slowly his reputation started to grow. And then this Sariputta and Moggallana came to become disciples of the Buddha. And how did they become disciples? At that time, before they followed the Buddha, they were renunciants under an external ascetic by the name of Sanjaya. And Sariputta was called Upatissa in his lay life, and Moggallana was called Kolinda. Now, remember this Sariputta, as an external ascetic, he was going on an alms round, and he met this member Asaji. Asaji was one of the earliest five bhikkhus under the Buddha. So remember Asaji was an arahant, and when Sariputta walked on an alms round, he met this member Asaji, First time he had seen an arahant, he was totally struck by the looks of Venerable Asaji. He didn't look like a normal person. His face was so serene and so bright and clear. He was so impressed. So the Buddha, this Venerable Sariputta, asked the Venerable Asaji in the middle of the street as he was going on alms round, he said, who is your teacher? What kind of dhamma does your teacher teach? Then Venerable Asaji said that his teacher was the Buddha. Then he said, as to the Dhamma, I am newly gone forth in this Dhamma Vinaya and I can't tell you, I cannot give you a very good explanation of the Dhamma, but I can only give you a brief teaching. Then the Venerable Sariputta said, a brief teaching is enough. So basically what he said to Venerable Sariputta was that all things in the world arise through conditions and they pass away through conditions. In Chinese they say, 出乏一年生,出乏一年灭. So, just listening to these few words, Sariputta realized that everything in the world arises through conditions and passes away through conditions. That means everything is impermanent. Just by that, he attained the Dhamma vision, attained the first path. basically makes a person a first path attainer is to understand that everything in the world is impermanent. Everything in the world comes about through conditions. Conditions, whatever it is, when you see it's a cup, This cup was not like this before. It was probably earth. And earth was not like that before. That earth probably came from trees and leaves that accumulated on the ground. And the trees and leaves that accumulated on the ground was not like that before. That probably was mineral from the ground. and all that, and the sunlight, and the oxygen, and all that, that made up this tree. And so it's a continuous process. Everything in the world continually changes. Like this body. This body, this flesh, comes from where? From all the food we take, yes or not? From the rice, from the vegetables, etc. And where did all this come from? From different sources again. So everything is energy that is constantly changing. Because energy is in constant motion, that's why there is no such thing as something that remains the same as it is. Everything is in a state of flux, constant change. And this constant change of energy can take many forms. Just like two conditions, you see a plant, coming up with a flower. And because the flower is beautiful, you like to look at the flower. You want to appreciate the flower. But because it is impermanent, after a few days, it will wither and pass away. And this energy will go somewhere else. It will make something else. So everything is a constant state of flux. And if you realize that nothing in the world You can hold on to, you can cling on to, then you realize that this is a very dangerous world because there is nothing at all you can hold on to. It's constantly changing, constantly changing. Anything that gives you happiness, Because it will change, it will go away. That is the source of dukkha. Because whatever gives you happiness, you want to cling to it. You want that happiness to last, but nothing lasts. And so this world is full of dukkha. So that is how Venerable Sariputta attained the first path. And then after that, he was so happy, he went to tell his best friend, Venerable Moggallana. And Venerable Moggallana asked him the Dhamma. And he said the same words that Venerable Asaji spoke to him. And Venerable Moggallana also attained the first path, also became an Arya. So the two of them left their teacher Sanjaya and went to become disciples of the Buddha. When the Buddha saw them coming, he told his other monk disciples, he looked at these two, this pair, they are going to be my chief disciples. So that was how the Buddha's disciples came. And Venerable Bhogulana, after he became a disciple of the Buddha, the Buddha taught him the Samatha meditation to attain the Jhanas, and he struggled very hard. And for seven days and seven nights, I imagine he didn't sleep. until he was so tired that even when he entered jhāna, he would fall out of the jhāna because he was like nodding in sleep. But because the Buddha had psychic power, the Buddha was supervising him all the time. When he dropped out of jhāna, the Buddha would come in a golden body. His body would come out of his body And the golden body will come and wake up our Venerable Moggallana and ask him to continue his practice. And because he struggled so hard, within seven days he became an arahant. So Venerable Sariputta also attained the jhanas. But after 14 days he was still not enlightened and then on the 14th day being a new disciple of the Buddha, Venerable Sariputta was fanning the Buddha and the Buddha was talking to an external ascetic and Venerable Sariputta just fanning the Buddha and listening to this conversation between the Buddha and the external ascetic He understood the Dharma and he became an arahant just by listening. So in 14 days our venerable Sariputta became an arahant. The Buddha's following of disciples started to grow quickly after that because his Arahant disciples taught other people and they also became Aryas and they also renounced and the number of people who renounced started to multiply.

(E07)-11-The-Buddha-returns-home

And the Buddha's father began to hear news that his son became famous. So he sent somebody to invite the Buddha to return to the Sakyan place. So the Buddha came back. And according to the later books, commentaries, that when the Buddha came back, the Sakyans being warrior caste, they were very proud, so they refused to bow to the Buddha. So according to the commentaries, the Buddha worked a twin miracle when he came back. This twin miracle was the Buddha's fire. emitted fire, but at the same time, water also came out. Water and fire came out of the body at the same time. And then when the people were shocked to see this twin miracle, and the people became subdued and paid respect to him, then he spoke to them the Vesantarajataka. He talked about the previous life, how he renounced his wife and children to a beggar. But this description of the twin miracle and the Jataka is not found in the Suttas and is also not found in the Vinaya books. So there is no basis for it. So it must have been added later because we know that these Jataka tales are like stories. Full of animals talking and then this Vesantara Jataka where he gave away the wife and the children to a poor beggar who mistreated them. This doesn't make sense at all. Because in the sutra, the Buddha said, a good man's dharma does not harm himself, he does not harm others. But by giving away the wife and children, he's harming them. It doesn't make sense at all. So the Buddha came back and taught the Dhamma to his father and his mother or stepmother and they also understood the Dhamma, also attained the Dhamma vision, first path. Then the wife, at that time his son was seven years old, so the Buddha's wife, or former wife, told the son, she said, told the son Rahula, said this is your father, and then he told the son to go and ask the Buddha for his inheritance. He thought the Buddha already renounced the one of his property already that he should give to the son. So the son went to approach the Buddha and then asked, then he was very happy to see his father. He said, he told the Buddha, he said, even your shadow pleases me. So then he kept asking the Buddha for the inheritance. So the Buddha walked back to the monastery in the forest and he kept following, asking for his inheritance. So when the Buddha went back to the monastery, told Sariputta to shave off his hair and make him a novice. The Buddha thought the spiritual inheritance is much better than the worldly inheritance. So made him a novice monk. So when the Buddha's father, before that, actually that was a few days later, But the first day when the Buddha came back to the house, his brother Nanda was getting married on that day. So, there was this celebration, he was getting married, so the Buddha accepted the dāna, and then the brother went to wash, probably went to wash his bowl, and was holding his bowl. And the Buddha did not take the bowl back from the brother. Instead, he started to walk back to the monastery in the forest, back to the forest. So his brother, holding his bowl, didn't know what to do. So he saw, probably he thought that the Buddha wanted him to carry the bowl all the way to the forest. So he carried the bowl, left the new bride, carried the bowl, followed the Buddha to the forest. Then when he was alone with the Buddha in the forest, the Buddha told him, why don't you become a monk? Then he got a shock. But here was his brother already invited, asking him to become a monk. How could he refuse? So he said, okay, okay. So Buddha got somebody to shave his head and then he became a monk. Then a few days later, as I told you just now, the Buddha's son was ordained as a novice. Turned out the Buddha's father was very hurt. Then the Buddha's father came to see the Buddha in the forest and told the Buddha, he said, Bhagavan, when you left the home, I was very pained, I was very hurt. And a few days ago when Nanda also renounced and became a monk, I was doubly hurt. And now Rahula has become a novice monk. He said that this pain goes deep into the flesh and into the bones itself. Then he told the Buddha, he said, next time if a young boy like this, you want him to renounce, you tell the guardians first, get the permission of the guardian, and then from there the Buddha made this rule, any young fellow who wants to renounce should get the permission of the parents, and later this was extended to even older people. Actually, it consists more of younger people. And then later the Buddha's mother renounced and became a nun and became an arahant also. And the Buddha's wife also later renounced and became an arahant also.

(E07)-12-Sakyan-royal-family-members

And then many Sakyans renounced because the Sakyan people, the clan, was very proud that one of the Sakyan clan had become a Buddha, Arahant Samasambuddha. So they sort of persuaded every Sakyan family to send at least one son to become a monk. So the Buddha's relations, cousins and all that also followed him and became monks. One of them was Anuruddha. And Anuruddha, when Anuruddha wanted to renounce, his mother was very reluctant to give permission. And then he kept pleading with the mother. Then the mother thought his best friend is Badia, the chief of the Sakyans. Then she told Anuradha, she said, if your friend Badia is willing to renounce, then I will give you permission. And then Anuradha went to pester his friend Badia until Badia agreed to renounce. Then the mother of Anuradha had to give permission. Ananda was another relation of the Buddha who renounced. And at that time when Anuruddha renounced, he went with I think about seven of them, Anuruddha, Padiya, Ananda, Bhagu, Kimbela, Devadatta and Upali. Upali was a barber. Within the first year of their renouncing, Baddhya became an arahant. Then Anuruddha attained the heavenly eye, psychic power, until he could see one thousand world systems so clearly like in the palm of his hand. Then Ananda attained the first path within that first year and Devadatta attained psychic power. Then three years after the Buddha's enlightenment, a rich man in Rajagaha offered to build kutis for the monks, and the Buddha accepted, and he built 60 kutis at one time. And then his relative, his relation by marriage was a man by the name of Anathapindika. And Anathapindika, on coming to know the Buddha, offered the Jeta Grove or Anathapindika's Park, a big monastery. to the Buddha. And initially, the Buddha's disciples, the type of robe they wore were called pangsekula robes. That means they had to go to the cemetery and other places to pick up pieces of cloth and sew them into a robe. And then only after about 20 years, the Buddha allowed his monks to wear robes offered by lay people. And the lifestyle of the monks under the Buddha was to move from monastery to monastery, their monasteries. And their daily routine was that early in the morning after waking up, when the sun comes up, they would go on alms round, go on alms round, and then they bring the food back, and then they would eat in the monastery. And then after that, they would find a quiet place in the forest to practice meditation the whole day. They will sit under some forest tree and meditate. And after the sun sets in the evening, they will come together. They meet where the most senior monk is and they will discuss Dhamma. They ask questions about the Dhamma and somebody will answer. And that was how they passed their day. Then when the Buddha was old, this Devadatta wanted to succeed the Buddha. He asked the Buddha to step aside and let him be the leader. And then the Buddha sort of put him down in front of all the other monks. and said, who do you think you are to succeed me, to take over my place? I have not even asked Sariputta or Moggallana to take my place and you dare to say you want to take my place. And the Buddha said, who are you? You are like spittle and people spit out. He was so angry that he decided to want to kill the Buddha. So he plotted to kill the Buddha. He tried several ways to kill the Buddha, but he was not successful. Because of that, the Buddha said that he was destined for hell. He would go to hell for a very, very long time.

(E07)-13-Parinibbana

And then at the age of 80, the Buddha passed away. And his last instructions to the monks, among his few last instructions, the most important one was that he said after he has passed away, that they should take the Dhamma Vinaya as their teacher. not to take any particular monk as the teacher, but the Dhamma Vinaya. And the Dhamma is explained in the suttas, as the suttas, the discourses of the Buddha. The Vinaya does not concern lay people, so that means lay people should take the suttas as your teacher. That is the most important instruction that the Buddha has left behind. So if you want to show some respect for the Buddha, instead of bowing down, the Buddha said the highest respect you can show to a Buddha is to understand his Dhamma and carry out the practice of the Dhamma according to what he has said in the suttas. So I think that's all I have to say for now.

(E07)-14-Vipassana-and-Samatha

This question about vipassana meditation and jhanas, the monks who teach vipassana, they teach it on the basis of later books like commentaries and Visuddhimagga, etc. and there is no, they don't follow the suttas strictly. Because in the commentaries it is stated that there are five types of arahants. The first type of arahant is the best type with all the four janas. because the Buddha has stated in the suttas that the right concentration is the four jhanas, right? So we say that the best type or the one type of the five types of arahants is one who has attained four jhanas. The second type is one who has attained three jhanas. The third type is one who has attained two jhanas. The fourth type is one who has attained one jhana. And the fifth type is one who has attained no jhana. And this last one we call the pure vipassana meditator or pure vipassana arahant. But unfortunately this contradicts the suttas and the reason why many people follow blindly this teaching is that because they are not familiar with the suttas. Because in the suttas it is stated very clearly that nobody can become an arahant without jhana. And where is it stated? In the Majjhima Nikaya. I think it is Sutta 64, I'm not sure of the exact number, where the Buddha has stated very clearly that there is a path leading to the destruction of the five lower factors. What does destruction of the five lower factors mean? Destruction of the five lower factors means the attainment of anagami or third fruition. But the arahant has destroyed ten, that means all the factors, ten factors. That means the arahant has also destroyed the five lower factors. So when you say A person who has destroyed the five lower factors, it means the anagami and the arahant, third and fourth fruit attainer. Now in the Sutta the Buddha said there is a path leading to the attainment of the disruption of the five lower factors, that means anagami and arahanthood. And the Buddha said without following this path it is impossible to destroy the five lower factors, that means it is impossible to attain anagami and arahanthood without following this particular path. Then he went on to explain what is that path. What is that path? First jhāna, second jhāna, third jhāna, fourth jhāna. So it is very clear from this sutta that it is impossible to become anagami and arahant without the jhānas. But it is possible without jhāna to become sotapanna and sakadagami. But the problem is nowadays they like to teach a type of samadhi or concentration called the momentary concentration. And this momentary concentration is putting your attention from one object to another object to another object. But actually this is just the ordinary mind. Because there is a sutra given for us to understand the ordinary mind and that sutra the Buddha gave the parable of the hunter who caught six animals. I think I've spoken this, I mentioned this before. This is about the hunter who caught six animals, the eagle, the monkey, the snake, the crocodile, the dog and the hyena. And then the Buddha said this hunter tied a rope to each of the six animals. And these six ropes, he tied them into a knot and he let them loose. And what happens? They will be tugging in six different directions. The eagle wants to fly into the air. The monkey wants to climb up the tree. The snake wants to go into a hole to hide. The crocodile wants to go to the river. The dog wants to go into town to look for food and the hyena wants to go up the hill. So these six are tugging in six different directions. At any one time, whichever animal is stronger, he will pull the others and the other five have to follow him. When he grows tired, another one will pull and the others have to follow him. This is what the Buddha calls an unrestrained mind. You can see that these six animals represent the six sense objects. Form wants to pull our attention to see. Sound wants to pull our attention to hear. Smell wants to pull our attention to smell. Flavor wants to pull our attention to taste. A contact wants to pull our attention to touch, and a thought wants to pull our attention to think. So these six sense objects are pulling in six different directions, and at any particular time, whichever one is the strongest, gets our attention. And after that, another one takes over. That means our attention is moving from object to object to object. And that's just an ordinary mind. And they call that the momentary concentration. But this teaching has no basis at all in the suttas. So unfortunately, This is happening nowadays and the Buddha gave a warning in the Samyutta Nikaya that the true Dhamma will disappear when people have disrespect for five things. First one is the Buddha, second one is the Dhamma, third is the Sangha, the fourth one is the training. And the last one is samadhi, concentration. This is what is happening now. People belittle jhāna, saying that jhāna is not necessary, that jhāna, in the state of jhāna there is no sati. This is not true at all. In the state of the jhāna, sati is very pure. In the description of the jhānas, the Buddha said in the fourth jhāna, The fourth jhāna is a state where sati is completely pure. You cannot have a stronger sati than in the fourth jhāna. And these people say that jhāna, you are like in a trance, as though you have fallen asleep, you don't know. That is not jhāna. In the jhāna, the mind is very clear.