Two Enlightened Buddhist Kings

Dhr. Seven, Ven. Chandananda, Wisdom Quarterly based on G.P. Malalasekera (aimwell.org), Dictionary of Pāli Proper Names (Pukkusati); Bhikkhu Bodhi (audio); Wirajhana-eka (art)

The Buddha teaching in the superior space world of Tusita, Kushan Dynasty carving, Gandhara, Pakistan (wikicommons)

 

At the time of the Buddha, far to the west, there lived a king in Afghanistan named Pukkusati or Pushkarasarin.

 

At that time what is now known as Afghanistan and Pakistan were part of India's frontier lands. Gandhara was located on the grand northern main road (Uttarapatha) and was a center of international commerce. It was an important channel of merchandise and communication with ancient Iran and Central Asia.

Pukkusati's story begins much, much earlier when, together with Bahiya of the Bark Cloth, he strove to gain enlightenment under a previous buddha named Kassapa.

A wealthy king in Gandhara in the middle of the sixth century BC, Pukkusati was a contemporary of another more famous Buddhist king to the east, a great patron of the Buddha: King Bimbisara of Magadha.

• [Along with Dr. Ranajit Pal, Wisdom Quarterly contends that Shakyamuni Buddha ("the Sage of the Shakya clan") was from ancient Afghanistan. The capital was Kapilavastu, part the rich Shakyan people's territorial holdings, on ancient India's northwest frontier. Others in the region -- Gandharas, Kurus, Kambojas, and Bahlikas -- were cognate people, and all had Iranian affinities.^{[Note 20]} According to Dr. T.L. Shah, Gandhara and Kamboja were two neighboring provinces of one empire.^[21] Gandhara was often linked politically with the neighboring regions of Kashmir and Kamboja (Wiki).]

Spiritual Quest

Why do good sons and daughters set out from home-life to homelessness? (K8rry/flickr)

  

The young spiritual seeker had been King of Takkasilā (Taxila, formerly India, now part of Pakistan) when King Bimbisāra ruled Magadha from Rajgir (Rajagaha) -- the site of Vultures Peak, where the Buddha frequently stayed -- having left his home country as Siddhartha the spiritual seeker from the vicinity of Gandhara.

 

A friendly alliance was established between the two kings by merchants who traveled between the two territories to trade. In time, although they had never met in person, there grew up between them a deep bond of affection. 

King Pukkusāti once sent to King Bimbisāra a gift of eight priceless garments in lacquered caskets. This gift was accepted at a special meeting of the king's entire court. Bimbisāra, who was a stream enterer devoted to the Buddha and therefore not nearly as materialistic as he had once been, wanted to send something precious to Pukkusāti. But what could possibly demonstrate his affection for his friend?

He conceived of an idea. What if he acquainted Pukkusāti with the appearance in the world of the Three Jewels: Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha? 

Bimbisara had a giant beaten golden plate. It was four cubits long and a span in breadth. Inscribed on it were descriptions of these Three Jewels and of various tenets of the Buddha’s teachings and meditation instructions such as the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, the Noble Eightfold Path, and the 37 Requisites of Enlightenment. 

The plate was placed in the innermost of several nested caskets made of various precious substances. It was taken in procession on the back of the state elephant to the frontier of Bimbisira’s kingdom. Similar honors were paid to it by the chiefs of other territories, through which lay the route to Takkasilā.

In the solitude of his chamber where by nature (owing to practice in past lives) he would resort to meditate in peace, Pukkusāti read the inscription on the plate. He was so filled with boundless joy that he decided to renounce the world. 

Like Prince Siddhartha before him, he cut off his hair, donned the saffron robes of a wandering ascetic, and left the palace alone amid his weeping subjects. He traveled the 192 leagues to the prosperous city of Sāvatthi, passing the gates of Jetavana. 

Having understood from Bimbisāra’s letter that the Buddha was at Rājagaha, he did not inquire about him in Jetavana. Instead he traveled on 45 leagues more to Rājagaha, only to find that the Buddha was all the time in Sāvatthi. 

It was evening, so he took lodging in the potter Bhaggava’s house. The Buddha, with his psychic eye, saw what was in store for Pukkusāti. So he traveled by foot from Sāvatthi and reached Bhaggava’s house at sundown. Waiting for his opportunity -- since Pukkusāti thought nothing of this young wanderer until he saw how well he meditated through the last watch of the night, far outstripping the king's advanced ability to attain absorption (jhana) -- the Buddha was silent.

Then when the fellow family clan member (kulaputta, M.iii.238; J.iv.180 and DhA.ii.35) Pukkusati was ready to listen and take it in, he taught him the CLASSIFICATION OF THE ELEMENTS.

• AUDIO: Dhātu-vibhanga Sutra (Bhikkhu Bodhi)

The wanderer Pukkusāti was already at Bhaggava's house occupying the guest quarters, the potter's shed or workshop. The Buddha asked to be allowed to share it, to which Pukkusāti agreed.

 

They sat together for some time meditating in silence. Only then did the Buddha teach the Dhātu-vibhaṅga Sutta, and it was only after it that Pukkusāti recognized the Buddha.

He begged pardon for not having paid him due honor; he then requested to have the higher ordination of a Buddhist monk conferred on him. 

The Buddha consented and sent him to procure a requisite alms bowl and robe. But like Bahiya of the Bark Cloth, on the way Pukkusāti was gored to death by a cow. [Cows do this and it frequently happens that they are protecting their young or possessed by some yakkha.]

• The cow is said to have been a yakkhinī who was a cow in one hundred rebirths. In her last birth as a cow, she also killed Bāhiya of the Bark Cloth, Tambadāthika, and Suppabuddha the leper (DhA.ii.35).

When this was reported to the Buddha, he explained that Pukkusāti was a non-returner (third stage of enlightenment) who had now been been reborn in the highest Pure Abode (aviha) never more to return (M.iii.237 47).

Commentarial literature

In his comments on the Dhātu-vibhaṅga Sutra, Buddhaghosa gives a long account of Pukkusāti (MA.ii.979 ff. Cp. the story of Tissa, King of Roruva, ThagA.i.199f.)

After his untimely death by cow, Pukkusāti was born in the Pure Abodes where, together with six others, he became fully enlightened right at the moment of his rebirth. (See S.i.35, 60 for the names of the others).

 

The commentary explains that Pukkhusāti was one of seven monks at the time of the former Buddha Kassapa who decided to abstain from eating until they attained enlightenment. To avoid being disturbed, they moved to the top of a mountain plateau and kicked down the ladder used to climb up.
 
The senior monk attained the final goal, the second became an non-returner, but the remaining five refused offerings of food from the two who attained, and they died of starvation. They were reborn in the space world known as Tusita, a superior Sense Sphere world.

In this age they became, respectively, Pukkusāti, Kumāra Kassapa, Bahiya Dārucīriya, Dabba Mallaputta, and Sabhiya (Ap.ii.473; DhA.ii.212; UdA.81; but see MA.i.335, where only three are mentioned Pukkusāti, Dārucīriya, and Kassapa).

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Enlightenment Fast (Part 2)

The Story of Bahiya of the Bark Cloth

Seven, Ashley Wells, Amber Dorrian, Wisdom Quaterly; C. de Saram (translator)*

Long preparation enabled this new disciple to grasp the Truth in the twinkling of an eye.
   
He was like Upatissa (who became the chief male disciple better known as Sariputra), who entered the first stage of sainthood by hearing only one line of a couplet. Bahiya of the Bark Cloth, on hearing a single stanza uttered by the Buddha, became enlightened.

  

But Bahiya had a great store of merit. After all, he was born during the dispensation and had the privilege of meeting the Buddha.
   
Long before that, however, it is said that he had been born during the latter part of the dispensation at the final nirvana of the Buddha Kassapa aeons earlier. At that time he failed to get a foothold on sainthood (as recounted in the "Life of Mallaputta Dabba," when five ascetics abandon society and meditate to the end with all but Bahiya succeeding).

Ancient Indian ascetic practices included wearing bark cloth, animal hides, and exposing oneself to the elements. Some still practice these forms of self-mortification in India (adolphus.nl).

  

Bahiya of the Bark Cloth was born during Shakyamuni's dispensation after aeons of celestial bliss. Bahiya was his clan's name. A trader, he was on a harmless trip to Suvanna-Bhumi (today's Burma). He was shipwrecked and left the sole survivor.

  

By clinging to a log, he was able to swim to a peninsula called Supparaka, which he mistook for an island. Since he had no clothes, he resolved to cover himself with bark and moss. Then arming himself with an earthen bowl, he eked out an existence begging.

  

In due course, he was idolized by the people there who mistook him for an enlightened forest ascetic. (People are frequently misled by appearances). Eventually when clothes were offered, he refused them, thinking he would lose his newfound caste status. But this only served to enhance his reputation. His garb consisted of pieces of bark fastened together -- hence the appellation Daruciriya ("of the Bark Cloth").

  

After passing for a saintly hermit, a previous companion (from the past life of the five ascetics referred to above) abiding in the Suddhavasa Brahma World who, in fact, was a saint, thought it was time to disillusion him.
  

A brahma can manifest any form it wishes even the form of a wise old man from space.

   
His friend instantaneously descended from that "pure abode," that peaceful celestial world, and stood before him in all the glory and majesty of a God (brahma).
  
Bahiya was startled and dazzled, unable to believe his eyes as he asked this brahma who he was.

  

The brahma unfolded the story of their past life and succeeded in convincing Bahiya that he should straight away head to Jetavana Grove monastery to meet the Buddha, learn the Dharma, and have a chance of finally attaining real enlightenment.
  
The very title "Buddha" was news to Bahiya of the Bark Cloth. So great was his enthusiasm that, legend has it, he traveled day and night without pausing (perhaps utilizing some psychic ability), covering a distance of 129 leagues (approximately 400 miles).

  

Having traveled so far so quickly, on arrival he was exhausted and disheartened to find that the Buddha had already set out on his daily alms round. He was invited to rest and await the Buddha's return from the village. But Bahiya was in no mood to wait.

Bahiya insisted he be instructed right away, and the Buddha gave him just what ne needed.

 
Instead, he followed the Buddha's route into the village in search of instruction. He accosted the Buddha on the road and fell to his feet pleading for advice.
   
The Buddha informed him that he had arrived most unseasonably since he and the monks had already commenced their alms round.

  

But Bahiya insisted. He reportedly asked:
  

How many meals has one missed
in the countless round of rebirths and deaths?

Who can know the day and hour that one might pass away
before they would meet again?

The second question turned out to be a prophetic utterance. The Buddha surprised the monks on alms round with him because he had never deviated from his schedule. Today he was making an exception for this odd ascetic dressed in bark cloth.
   
He looked into Bahiya's past then his present and saw that this was to be his last wish. He therefore uttered to very concise teaching -- the gist of which was to look at things as they truly are:

Ditthe ditthamattam bhavissati
sute sutamattam bhavissati
mute mutamattam bhavissati
vinnate vinnatamatam bhavissati
   

"In the seen there is only the seen,

in the heard, only the heard,

in the otherwise sensed, only the otherwise sensed

(In other words, concentrate on the present moment.)

 
Bahiya understood and asked for ordination. Normally, the Buddha would simply utter the phrase "Come, venerable!" (Eham, bhante!). That would bestow ordination. Instead, seeing that Bahiya had not developed enough generosity-perfection (dana parami) in the past to have accrued sufficient merit to be fortunate in receiving robes, the Buddha asked him if he had any robes (which are necessary for ordination).
  
Bahiya, of course, did not. So he immediately went in search of cloth in a dust heap to construct a proper patchwork robe.

 

While engaged in his search, an enemy of his -- now reborn as an "ogre" or "goblin" (yakkha) -- took possession of a cow and gored him to death.

 

On returning from alms round, the monks saw Bahiya of the Bark Cloth's lifeless body by the side of the road. The Buddha surprised them yet again by requesting that they formally cremate the remains in a manner befitting royalty and saints (arhats), neither of which they thought applied to Bahiya.

The Buddha explained that, in fact, Bahiya was a saint. "When," they asked, "had he become enlightened?" The Buddha replied that Bahiya of the Bark Cloth was "foremost in gaining sainthood by quickly comprehending a single sentence of the Dharma." What did the Buddha tell him?

  

In the seen, for you let there be only the seen.

In the heard, for you let there be only the heard.

In the otherwise sensed,
let there be for you only the otherwise sensed.
When you do, there will be no here,
no there, and no going between.
(In other words, Be here now.)

   

"Be Here Now"!

Wisdom Quarterly

What, then, did that single sentence mean? Ditthe ditthe matam bhavissati! It is traditionally explained as an exhortation to be perfectly mindful (once the mind/heart is prepped and purified by sufficient concentration, which generally means some level of absorption). Another way to explain it might be:

Do not look long, do not look short.

In the seen (heard, sensed), let there be only that.
Then there will be neither here, nor there,
Nor transiting between the two.

C. de Saram explains in a footnote that the sixth and seventh links in the formula of Dependent Origination are impression and feeling (contact and sensation). The Buddha was therefore telling Bahiya to stop at impression (at sense contact).

  

In other words, do not linger over what is seen. "Do not look long, do not look short." Instead, simply be aware of it without judgment, without disturbance. In this way, the eighth (craving) and ninth (clinging) links will not come into play.
   
The entire mass of suffering, the Wheel of Dependent Origination, which applies to all phenomena, could thereby be circumvented. One might momentarily glimpse nirvana and see the conditional nature of all composite things. The "Eye of the Dharma" or "Wisdom Eye," which purifies mind and heart, radically alters the individual. And knowing and seeing directly one is liberated from all defilements and bonds.

  

*The story of Bahiya Daruciriya appears in Pen Portraits: 93 Eminent Disciples of the Buddha by C. de Saram (Singapore Buddhist Meditation Centre, 1971, reprinted for free distribution by the Corporate Body of the Buddha Educational Foundation (Taiwan, R.O.C.): Budaedu.org

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