Great Disciples Of The Buddha

[camerata]

Great Disciples of the Buddha - Their Lives, Their Works, Their Legacy by Nyanaponika Thera and Hellmuth Hecker (edited by Bhikkhu Bodhi) is a good read. It's a compilation of twenty-four life stories of the closest and most eminent of the Buddha's personal disciples.

The authors' intent was to put together an inspiring book, so they haven't tried to separate fact from legend and a lot of the material comes from the Pali commentaries. There's even a little from the Mahayana commentaries.

I've always been pretty sceptical of the idea of "kammic bonds" tying people together from lifetime to lifetime, but these stories are full of them. Typically, the stories go way back to the time of one of the early buddhas when the disciple-to-be makes an aspiration to become a chief disciple of a buddha in the future (i.e. Gotama) , and the buddha of that time looks into the future and sees that this will in fact come about. The disciple-to-be then spends aeons perfecting himself, during which time he frequently has a relationship with other disciples and Gotama-to-be. The aeons of practice are then used as the justification as to how this particular individual manages to become an arahant only weeks after meeting Gotama.

Occasionally, these guys sound like they have a big ego. When he starts out, Kassapa says: "Why should I be satisfied simply with arahantship? I will make an aspiration to become the foremost disciple among the practitioners of the ascetic practices under a buddha in the future." On the other hand, the aeons of suffering could be seen as a monumental sacrifice. It's easy to see where the early Mahayanists might have got their bodhisattva ideas from.

I feel pretty ambivalent about all this. On the one hand the Buddha wanted us to see things as they really are, but on the other hand the authors of the Pali commentaries seem to be making this stuff up to illustrate or enhance the original teachings.

Apparently, Kassapa's death is not recorded in any of the Pali scriptures, which is strange since he was the head of the Sangha after the Buddha's death. The book includes an account from Sanskrit scriptures which has him climbing to the top of a mountain and meditating in a cave with the determination that his body will hold together until the coming of the next buddha (Maitreya). This is almost identical to what many Japanese believe about Kukai, the founder of Shingon, who is in a mausoleum on top of Mount Koya still waiting for Maitreya.

Edited May 11, 2006 by camerata

[sabaijai]

I have a copy, have read a few of the tales. As you say, inspirational.

[camerata]

Have you read Bhikkhu Bodhi's In the Buddha's Words? I was wondering if it was worth buying from Amazon since I haven't seen it locally.

[sabaijai]

Have you read Bhikkhu Bodhi's In the Buddha's Words? I was wondering if it was worth buying from Amazon since I haven't seen it locally.

No I haven't read it, looks interesting.

[camerata]

Any idea why, when the Buddha and his senior disciples were about to die, they all meditated through the jhanas up to the highest level of meditative absorbtion, then back down to the first jhana and back up to the fourth? There must be a reason but it isn't explained in Great Disciples of the Buddha.

And a related question: Why did the Buddha and other arahants meditate? If they have already attained nibbana, do they need to meditate? After nibbana, I wonder if there is any objective to meditation - any more of reality to be discovered?

[sabaijai]

Any idea why, when the Buddha and his senior disciples were about to die, they all meditated through the jhanas up to the highest level of meditative absorbtion, then back down to the first jhana and back up to the fourth? There must be a reason but it isn't explained in Great Disciples of the Buddha.

And a related question: Why did the Buddha and other arahants meditate? If they have already attained nibbana, do they need to meditate? After nibbana, I wonder if there is any objective to meditation - any more of reality to be discovered?

Nothing like a couple of easy questions, Camerata!

I can think of a couple of people in Thailand who would have ready answers, Luang Ta Maha Bua and PA Payutto, if you have access to either one (I don't).

On your first question, is this practice something mention in Great Disciples of the Buddha or elsewhere?

[camerata]

On your first question, is this practice something mention in Great Disciples of the Buddha or elsewhere?

Yes, it's described in the Ananda section (page 177), the Sariputta section and possibly the Mahamogallana section.

[sabaijai]

Interesting, never heard of this before.

[camerata]

Here's something else that may relate to the second question. Speaking of Mahakaccana, the book says: "Thereafter he would regularly adopt the same approach in order to enter the fruition attainment of arahantship (arahattaphalasamapatti), the special meditative absorbtion, exclusive to the arahant, in which the bliss of Nibbana is experienced even in this very life."

Is this a standard view in Theravada - that an arahant has to work up to a special meditation to experience nibbana, rather than experiencing it continuously?

Another part of the book I found interesting is where the Buddha, shortly before his parinibbana, hints to Ananda three times that if asked he would remain in the world to the end of the aeon, but Ananda misses the hint. What a guilt-trip that would be! knowing you had the chance to keep the Buddha here teaching the Dhamma for an aeon and you blew it. And then later when he does ask the Buddha to stay, the Buddha says it's too late. I wonder, though, if a stream-enterer like Ananda is capable of feeling guilt, or at least regret?

Apparently, he was blamed for this later by other disciples and gave the rather lame excuse that Mara was messing with his mind at the time. The book describes this incident as one of the great mysteries of the Pali Cannon.

[OldSarge]

Any idea why, when the Buddha and his senior disciples were about to die, they all meditated through the jhanas up to the highest level of meditative absorbtion, then back down to the first jhana and back up to the fourth? There must be a reason but it isn't explained in Great Disciples of the Buddha.

And a related question: Why did the Buddha and other arahants meditate? If they have already attained nibbana, do they need to meditate? After nibbana, I wonder if there is any objective to meditation - any more of reality to be discovered?

I believe the answer to the first question is simply that doing so is the completion of unbinding. That is to say, it is like a golf swing's follow-through. Is that a simplistic explanation? Well, yes, but it is my belief that is what is going on in those events.

As to the second, I suspect that it is because an understanding and knowledge of all of reality is not the object of meditation and so therefore I believe that there is more of "reality" to be discovered. The properly trained heart can enjoy more, which is not physically present around a person, in meditation.

Both simplistic answers, but if you look through the Theraveda tradition, you will find that the simple answers are preferred to more complex and "theological" answers.

[camerata]

Have you read Bhikkhu Bodhi's In the Buddha's Words? I was wondering if it was worth buying from Amazon since I haven't seen it locally.

No I haven't read it, looks interesting.

My copy arrived today. The author/editor says that he is attempting to provide the underlying structure for the Buddha's formulation of the Dhamma. It's divided into three sections representing the types of benefits to which the practice of the Dhamma leads: (1) welfare and happiness visible in this present life (2) welfare and happiness pertaining to future lives (3) the ulimate good, Nibbana. There's lots of good stuff in this one.

I also got Nyanaponika Thera's The Heart of Buddhist Meditation, which is basically answering the question, "Why meditate?" It's an old one, but very clearly written.

[sabaijai]

I also got Nyanaponika Thera's The Heart of Buddhist Meditation, which is basically answering the question, "Why meditate?" It's an old one, but very clearly written.

I have a very old copy of that book, good one.