To Prince Bodhi

MN 85

This is what I heard.

One time the Buddha was staying in the land of the Bhaggas on Crocodile Hill, in the deer park at Bhesakala’s Wood.

At that time, Prince Bodhi’s longhouse called ‘Pink Lotus’ had just been finished. The prince sent the brahmin student Sañjikaputta to see the Buddha and invite him to a meal. After the Buddha had agreed, Prince Bodhi ordered a delicious meal prepared and had a white cloth spread on the stairs of the longhouse. When the Buddha arrived, the prince was waiting outside. He greeted the Buddha, bowed and invited him inside. However, the Buddha stopped near the stairs covered with cloth.

Three times the Prince asked the Buddha to step on the white cloth because he thought it would lead to good fortune, but the Buddha stayed silent. Then the Buddha looked at Ananda and Ananda said to the prince,

“Fold up the cloth, Prince. The Buddha won’t step on it because he cares for future generations.”

So the Prince had the cloth removed. The Buddha went up the longhouse and sat down with the community of seekers. Then the Prince served them with his own hands. When the Buddha had eaten and washed, Prince Bodhi sat down and said,

“Sir, this is what I think: Pleasure isn’t gained through pleasure, but through pain.”

The Buddha said,

“Prince, when I was a seeker of awakening, I used to think like this too.
Then, when I was a black haired youth in my prime, I shaved off hair and beard, put on orange robes and went into the homeless life. Even though my parents cried and asked me not to do it, I left to discover the supreme, wholesome state of sublime peace.

I went to see the spiritual teacher called Alara Kalama and said, ‘Sir, I want to learn and train in the spiritual life.’

He said, ‘Stay here then, a clever person who follows this teaching will soon experience what their teacher has experienced.’

Soon enough I learnt his teaching so that I could easily repeat it. I claimed authority as someone who could know and see. Then I thought, ‘Alara Kalama does not just base his teaching on trust, he must also meditate to experience this teaching.’

So I asked him, ‘Sir, how far have you developed your own spiritual experience?’

He said, ‘Up to the dimension of nothingness’.

Then I thought, ‘I have confidence, energy, mindfulness and lucid unification just like Alara Kalama. I should try to realize the same level of spirituality he has reached.’ So I did.

When I told Alara Kalama I had reached his level, he said,

‘How lucky we are to have someone like you as a spiritual friend! We’ve both reached the same spiritual level. Let us lead this community together as equals.’

But then I thought, ‘This teaching doesn’t actually lead to disenchantment, dispassion, ending, peace, insight, awakening and nirvana. This just leads to the dimension of nothingness.’ When realized that the teaching was lacking, I left.

Then I went to see Uddaka, son of Rama, so I could train under him. I also learned everything he had to teach as I had done under my previous teacher. I experienced directly the insight of his father Rama, reaching the same spiritual level as him. This was called the ‘dimension of neither perception nor non-perception.’

Uddaka was very happy to have a spiritual friend who had reached his father’s spiritual experience and invited me to lead his community. But then I realized that this teaching also does not lead to dispassion, awakening or nirvana. It just leads to the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception. When I realized this, I left.

And so I traveled throughout Magadha, in north India. When I had reached Senanigama near Uruvela, I saw a beautiful park grove with a very nice river that was clean and had smooth banks. There was also a village nearby where I could go begging for food. When I saw that this was a good place to meditate, I sat down right there.

Then Prince, at that moment, I thought of three brand new similes for meditation:
Imagine there was a wet sappy log sitting in water and someone wanted to start a fire with it. Do you think they would be able to light a fire with this wet log and some fire tool?”

The Prince said, “no sir, because that log is sappy and it’s sitting in the water. A person would just get tired and frustrated doing this.”

“Just like this,” said the Buddha “there are ascetics and brahmins who live obsessed with sensual pleasures of body and mind. They haven’t given up or calmed their inner desire, thirst and passion for sensual pleasures. Whether or not they perform painful ascetic practices, they are incapable of knowledge and vision, incapable of supreme awakening.”

“Now, imagine there was a wet sappy log on dry land, away from water. Would someone be able to start a fire with it?”

“No sir,” said the Prince “because it’s still wet, even though it is on dry land. That would person would just get tired and frustrated.”

“Just like this,” said the Buddha “there are ascetics and brahmins who have withdrawn body and mind from sensual pleasures. However, they have not yet given up the inner desire, thirst and passion for sensual pleasures. Whether or not they perform painful ascetic practices, they are incapable of knowledge and vision, incapable of supreme awakening.”

“Finally, imagine there was dry log on dry land, away from water. Would someone be able to start a fire with it?”

“Yes sir,”

“Just like this,” said the Buddha “there are ascetics and brahmins who have withdrawn body and mind from sensual pleasures. They have also let go of the inner desire, thirst and passion for sensual pleasures. Whether or not they perform painful ascetic practices, they are capable of knowledge and vision, of supreme awakening.”

“Then I thought, ‘Let me meditate with teeth clenched and tongue pressed against the roof of my mouth. I will squeeze, crush and force down mind with mind.’ It was like if a strong man dominated a weaker one and crushed him. I meditated like this, forcing and crushing mind with mind, until I was sweating. Even though I was fully energized and my mindfulness was strong, by body felt anxious because I was pushing way too hard.

Then I thought, ‘Why don’t I practice the breathless meditation?’ So I stopped breathing. But then I would hear the loud noise of winds in my ears, like the sound of a blacksmith’s bellows. I felt strong winds in my head, like if someone was drilling into my head. I had a bad headache, like a strap tightening around my head. I also had winds in my belly and they felt as if a butcher was carving it up. My body felt like it was burning, as if I had been thrown into a pit of hot coals. And even though I was fully energized and my mindfulness was strong, by body felt anxious because I was pushing way too hard.

The gods were watching this. Some gods thought I was dead, others thought I was dying and still others thought I had become an enlightened Worthy Being.
Then I thought, ‘I should totally stop eating.’ But some gods came to me and said, ‘sir, if you do this, we will put divine nectar into your pores so you can live on that.’ If I claimed to be fasting while this was happening, it would be a lie, so I told them there was no need.

Then I thought, ‘I will live on very little food, just a cup of bean or pea broth at a time.’ So that’s what I did until my body became extremely weak and thin. I ate so little that my limbs became like that of a corpse, my bottom became like a camel’s hoof, my vertebrae were like beads on a string, and my ribs looked like the broken rafters of an old barn. I ate so little that my eyes sank deep into their sockets, like water in a deep well. My scalp shriveled up like a bitter gourd withered by the sun. I ate so little that the skin of my belly touched my backbone.

Whenever I tried to pee or defecate I would fall down. I ate so little that wherever I rubbed my body the hairs would fall out. My skin lost its clear complexion and people who saw me thought that I had black or brown skin.

Then I thought, ‘I have reached the highest extreme of asceticism, it is impossible for anyone to do more than this. And yet, I have not reached any superhuman knowledge worthy of the noble ones through all this pain. Could there be another path to awakening?’

Then I remembered that one time I was sitting in the cool shade of a rose-apple tree, while my father the Sakyan was working. Then, secluded from sensual pleasures and unwholesome qualities, I entered into the first meditation, which has these qualities: bliss and happiness born of seclusion, thinking and evaluating. Then, I realized, ‘This is the path to awakening!’

Then at that moment, I realized there was no need to be afraid of that pleasure, since it has nothing to do with sensuality or any unwholesome qualities. Also, I realized that I could not achieve that meditation with a body that was so weak. So I decided I would eat some rice and porridge.

Now, at that time, five seekers were following me, thinking I would teach them any truth that I realized. But when they saw me eat solid food, they left me, saying, ‘the ascetic Gotama has gone soft. He has drifted away from the struggle and has become decadent.’

After I had eaten and regained my strength, secluded from sensual pleasures and unwholesome qualities, I entered and remained in the first meditation, which has these qualities: bliss and happiness born of solitude, thinking and evaluating.
Then, with the stilling of thinking and evaluating, I entered into the second meditation which consists of: bliss and happiness born of unification, inner clarity, confidence and oneness.

Then, by letting go of bliss, I entered into the third meditation, where I was equanimous, mindful and aware. The noble ones state that this is a peaceful and happy state.

Then I gave up all pleasure and pain, happiness and sadness, and so I entered into the fourth meditation. Here there is just pure mindful equanimity.

When my mind had become immersed in lucid unification and was purified, flawless, without corruptions, pliable, workable, and steady, I used it to remember my past lives. I remembered hundreds of thousands of rebirths, and many eons of universal expansion and contraction. I remembered the details from many previous lives, like different names, families, foods, different forms of sadness and happiness, different deaths.

This was the first knowledge I achieved during the first part of the night. Ignorance and darkness were destroyed. Light arose in me as I meditated with carefulness, intensity and determination.

And so, with my mind immersed in lucid unification, purified and so on, I used it to gain knowledge of the birth and death of sentient beings. I saw beings dying and being born. I saw inferior and superior beings, beautiful and ugly ones, I saw beings in good and bad places. I understood how beings are reborn according to their actions and views.

This was the second knowledge I achieved in the middle of the night. Ignorance and darkness were destroyed. Light continued to grow in me as I meditated with carefulness, intensity and determination.

And so, with my mind immersed in lucid unification, I used it to gain knowledge of the poisons. I truly knew suffering, the origin of suffering, the ending of suffering and the practice that leads to its end. I truly knew the poisons, their origin, their ending and the practice that leads to their end.

Knowing and seeing like this, I was freed from the poisons of sensuality, desire for existence and ignorance. When my mind was freed, I knew it. I also knew that birth had ended. My spiritual journey was over. I had done what I had to do and there was no going back. This was the third knowledge I achieved. Ignorance and darkness were destroyed and light grew in me as I meditated with carefulness, intensity and determination.

Then I thought, ‘This Dharma I have discovered is deep, hard to see and understand. This Dharma is peaceful, sublime, beyond reason, subtle and for the learned.

But people love and enjoy being attached. It is hard for them to see conditionality and dependent arising. It’s hard for them to see the stilling of all activities, the letting go of all attachments, the ending of craving, dispassion, ending, nirvana. If I were to teach the Dharma, people might not get it and this would be tiring and troublesome.

And then I was inspired to recite these brand new verses:

This was difficult to gain,
there’s no point in teaching it.
Those filled with greed and hate,
will not wake up, 
to this subtle Dharma,
which is fine and deep,
hard to see, against the stream.
For they’re covered in darkness.
So I considered,
and inclined to inactivity, 
to not teaching Dharma.

Then the great god Sahampati, hearing this, thought, ‘Oh no, if the Worthy One, the Transcendent, fully awakened Buddha remains passive, the world will be lost, it will be finished!’

And then Sahampati teleported in front of the Buddha, knelt down and raised his joined palms saying,

‘Sir, let the Blessed Holy One teach Dharma! There are beings with little dust in their eyes who are lost because they haven’t heard Dharma. There will be beings who understand it!’ Then he said,

Long ago in Magadha,
an impure Dharma appeared, 
made up by the vile.
Open the door to the deathless!
Let them hear the Dharma of the pure one. 
Like standing on a mountain peak,
seeing beings all around.
Just like this, may the wise seer of all,
climb the fortress of Dharma.
May the one free of grief, 
look after these beings,
overwhelmed with sorrow, 
oppressed by birth and death.
Arise, hero! Victor in battle, 
leader of the caravan!
Wander the world without debts. 
May the Blessed One teach the Dharma!
Some beings will understand!

Hearing this invitation, I looked over the world with the Buddha eye, caring for all sentient beings. I saw those with little dust in their eyes and those with much dust. I saw beings with good habits and beings with bad habits. I saw beings who were smart, or slow, easy to teach and hard to teach. Some saw the danger of the next world, some did not.

It was like seeing a pool of lotuses. Some grow underwater without rising above it. Some grow up to the surface of the water. Some rise above the water, standing untouched by the water.

After seeing all this, I recited this verse,

The doors to the deathless are open!
Let those who can hear have trust 
I did not preach, 
thinking it would be trouble,
I did not teach the subtle, 
sublime Dharma to humans.

Then the great god Sahampati knew I had decided to teach the Dharma. He bowed and circled around me, then he vanished.

Then I thought about who I should teach the Dharma to first. And I decided that I should first teach Alara Kalama, who was smart and with little dust in his eyes.

But then a god came to me and told me he had died seven days ago. I thought, ‘what a loss for him, he would have understood this Dharma quickly.’ Then I decided to teach Uddaka, son of Rama. But a god came to me and told me he had died last night. What a sad loss for him.

Then I decided to teach the group of five seekers who had taken care of me before. I used my superhuman psychic powers and saw that they were staying near Benares, in the deer park at Isipatana, so I headed out to meet them.

Along the road between Gaya and Bodhgaya, the Ajivaka ascetic Upaka saw me and said, ‘Sir, you seem so calm, your skin so pure and bright. Who is your teacher, whose teaching do you believe in?’

Then I said,

I am the victor, the all knower
untainted while in the middle of it.
I’ve let go of all,  
being freed from craving.
Since I know by myself, 
why follow anyone? 
I have no teacher. 
There is no-one like me 
in this world of gods.
I am the Worthy One,
the supreme teacher,
the only fully awakened one.
I’ve become cool, 
having attained Nirvana.
I travel to Kasi, 
to turn the Dharma wheel.
I will beat the drum of the deathless,
in this blind world.

Upaka said, ‘If this is true, then you must be an infinite victor.’

Then I said,

The victors are those, 
who have ended the poisons.
I have conquered these evils, Upaka,
that’s why I am a victor.

Then Upaka said: ‘If you say so, sir.’ And shaking his head, he left by another path.

Then after traveling some more I reached Benares and went to see the five seekers at the deer park. As they saw me coming, they said to themselves,

‘Gotama the lazy has drifted away from the struggle and has become decadent. We will not bow for him or carry his robe and bowl, but he can sit with us if he wants.’

Yet, as I got closer, some of them could not stick to this plan and came over to greet me, and take my things. Some even prepared a seat for me and water for washing my feet. However, they would still only called me ‘friend’.

So I said, ‘Seekers, you do not just refer to the Transcendent One, the Worthy One, the fully awakened Buddha as “friend”. I have achieved the Deathless! I will teach you the Dharma. If you practice it, you will realize the supreme goal of spirituality here and now. You will live to see the goal which so many good persons seek through homelessness.

But they said to me, ‘Friend, you did not achieve superhuman knowledge and vision through all of that hard work you put in before. Now that you have gone back to a life of laziness and excess, so how can you claim to have reached that noble superhuman knowledge?’

So then I said, ‘The Transcendent one is not lazy or decadent, he is a Worthy One, a fully awakened Buddha…’

Three times we went back and forth like this. Afterwards I asked them, ‘have you ever heard me speak like this before?’

‘No sir,’ they said.

Eventually, I was able to convince them and teach them the Dharma. Sometimes some of them would go begging for food while I taught the others. When I was finished teaching them, they all realized the supreme goal.”

Then Prince Bodhi asked, “Sir, if a seeker is trained by the Transcendent One, how soon can they reach the end of the spiritual path?”

“Prince, I will answer your question with a question. Are you a skilled elephant rider?”

“Yes, sir”

“Suppose someone were to come to you wishing to train as an elephant rider. Imagine they were unhealthy, dishonest, lazy, stupid and had no trust. Would they be able to train under you and learn the art of elephant riding?”

“Even if he only had just one of these bad qualities, he would not be able to learn from me.”

“What about if they were healthy, honest, hardworking, smart, and trusting?”

“Yes, just one of those qualities would be helpful and all five would be great.”

“Prince, in the same way, there are five qualities useful on the path.

First, one must have trust in the Transcendent One’s awakening. One thinks,

‘He is a Worthy One, a fully awakened Buddha. He has knowledge and good conduct. He is a knower of worlds and a supreme holy guide for those who wish to train. He is a blessed teacher of gods and humans.’

Also, one is healthy and rarely get sick. One’s digestion is good and their temperature remains balanced. One is honest and truthful. One is open with their teacher and spiritual friends. One is energetic and strong in giving up the unwholesome and in embracing the wholesome. One has the noble wisdom of arising and passing away which is deep and leads to the total end of suffering.

If a seeker has these factors and trains under the Transcendent One, they could reach the supreme end of the spiritual path in seven years. They might also reach it in a year, or in a few months, or even in several days. They could even do it in just one day. Someone could even learn it in the morning and realize it in the evening.”

Then Prince Bodhi said, “Oh Buddha, What a great Teaching this is! Imagine that someone could master this in just part of a day! Amazing!”

But Sañjikaputta said, “And yet, the Prince has yet to go for refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and the community of seekers…”

The Prince said, “Don’t say that, dear Sañjikaputta, don’t say that! Once my mother told me that when she was pregnant she met the Buddha, bowed and said, ‘Sir, the prince or princess in my womb goes for refuge to the Buddha, the Dharma and the community of seekers as a life long lay follower.’

And another time, when the Buddha was staying in this very land, my nurse carried me up to the Buddha, letting him know that I would take refuge for life.
And right now, for a third time, I go for refuge to the Buddha, to the Dharma and to the community of seekers. Remember me as a lay follower for life.”