One may wonder how very young samaneras or novices, some as young as seven or eight years, attain Sainthood while being shaved (in the case of Arahant Sivali) and so on. Here we must refer to rebirth. We all know of child prodigies like Beethoven and J.S. Mill who developed skills far beyond the capability of children of similar ages. Christian Heinecken who talked within a few hours of his birth at Lubec in 1721, could repeat passages from the Bible at one, answer any question on geography at two, speak French and Latin at three, and at four years of age was a student of philosophy. He died before he was five.
William James Sidis, wonder child of the United States, could read and write at two, spoke French, Russian, English, German with some Latin and Greek at eight, and at eleven, lectured on the fourth dimension to a gathering of professors.
In Buddhism this is explained as the individual having developed his potential over countless previous births, and like a young lotus bud which blooms as soon as it comes out of the water and feels the sun's energy, so too their potential is fully realised on being provided with the necessary stimulus for Sainthood. The attainment of Sainthood has nothing to do with physical maturity. It is a mental and spiritual process which is developed over countless rebirths.
Sudden Death After Spiritual Achievement
The perceptive reader may also wonder why people die soon after attaining Sainthood as recorded in some of the stories. This question was raised during the time of the Buddha himself. Again the explanation lies in the Buddha's supreme faculty of pre-knowledge and extra sensory perception.
Knowing that the end of some deserving being is approaching, the Compassionate One visits him to provide the opportunity for the attainment of Nibbana. These more dramatic events are of course better remembered, and having good 'story value', are recorded for posterity. There are nevertheless ordinary mortals like the Buddha's own father who took a longer time and who attained Arahanthood in a less dramatic manner.
Why doesn't the Buddha use his supernormal powers to prevent the apparently untimely deaths of some of the people in the stories? There are examples, as in the case of a child called Ayu Waddhana, when the Buddha did intervene to prevent death. But this happened only because the Buddha knew that there was sufficient Kammic energy to sustain the present existence, which was in danger of being prematurely cut off. But in all other cases, the Buddha knew that the kammic energy for survival is almost completely exhausted and in his compassion he provided the opportunity for the person to be released from repeated existence. Note that the Buddha does not release a person from Samsara. That can only be done by oneself; the Buddha only shows the way. In Buddhism, the continuance of existence is not the ideal; the attainment of Nibbana after the final death is considered the ultimate goal, hence dying after gaining full sanctity is not to be considered tragic or unfortunate.
Realising Dhamma Through Minor Incidents
One may also be justified in wondering why certain trivial incidents were recorded, like the monks who complained to the Buddha that some others were making a lot of noise wearing clogs. They even went to the Buddha to ask why the ropes attached to a sandfilled cart gave way when pulled by oxen. Characteristically, the Buddha used that incident as a teaching point to explain a much more difficult concept.
This shows the innocence of some of the monks and the Buddha's incomparable patience in listening to them and taking steps to remove the source of their irritation and ignorance. Further we see that many monks were very simple, unsophisticated people who genuinely wanted to find answers to problems that troubled them. These may sound trivial to the intelligent but they were certainly not trivial to the person who was troubled by the problem, and the Buddha was not one to ignore a genuine seeker after the truth. On the other hand, some intelligent monks also reported these trivial incidents to the Buddha because they knew how the Buddha would translate the incident to explain some profound truth in the Dhamma for the benefit of all.
Invisible Living Beings
Then there is the problem of references to cave-spirits,tree-spirits,goblins, gres, nagas, hungry ghosts and so on. Those of us brought up with a purely materialistic or secular education will doubtless tend to sneer at the 'supernatural' and deny the existence of invisible living beings. Here again we must be open minded and admit that science is today just beginning to admit there are 'more things in heaven and earth'. Until such phenomena can be completely proved or disproved 'scientifically' it may be best to accept that our knowledge of the Universe is meagre and is far from perfect.
Achema - 2005
No comments:
Post a Comment