Before
I talk any further about how the law of kamma works, I would like you to have
some idea about the concept of time in Buddhism. It will give you some picture
of how long you have been travelling in this hideous roundabout of samsara or
the cycle of rebirth. You will subsequently know how significant it is for the
world to welcome the birth of a Buddha. By the time I finish with you, you will
realise that physical death is really nothing compared to samsara. Samsara is
indeed much more frightening. This is a very complicated chapter so, please
take your time and follow carefully.
Time
in Buddhism is yet another unthinkable topic that is beyond normal people’s
comprehension. This is another subject that I could not understand before until
the recent years when my practice had reached certain state. My humble
gratitude and many thanks to Phra Promamolee[1]
who managed to explain the length of time in Buddhism in a language that I can
relate to. I don’t think I could manage to understand this topic all by myself
if I had to read through the Pali canon. Nevertheless, I am still quite
reluctant to pass all this knowledge on to you because it is very complex to
talk about regarding the terminology and concepts. I also find that the use of
tenses in this chapter is also very confusing. I therefore tend to stick with
the present tense when I am not sure which one is to be used. Somehow I will do
my best because this might be the only chance that I will have to talk about it.
Time
is always an intriguing subject. The Buddhists are very familiar with the time
scales called Kappa and Asankheyya which basically mean incalculable or
unthinkable lengths of time. That is because whenever we read the story of the
Buddha and the effort he put in in his previous lives until he reached ultimate
enlightenment, the time scales of Kappa and Asankheyya were always referred to.
Even the Buddhists can be quite sceptical about all these facts. If you are a
western sceptic towards the cycle of rebirth, you will find it impossible to
digest this piece of knowledge. The trouble is, before I can convince you
further about the law of kamma, it is inevitable that you have to have some
idea about the length of time I am talking about first. If not, you will not
understand why it is so important to listen to a Knower like the Buddha and his
enlightened followers and why you must get yourself out of samsara.
If you read the Bible and
the Pali canon, it was mentioned that people in those days lived very long
lives, the average of over a hundred years. The Buddha and his personal
attendant (Upatthaka), Pra Ananda, who was also a cousin, were the same age. He
looked after the Buddha until the Buddha entered Parinibbana at the age of 80.
Three months after that just before the date due for the first Buddhist council
(Sangiti), Pra Ananda became a Pra Arahant. He was responsible for presenting
all the sutras, the discourses of the Buddha in this first Buddhist council.
After the meeting, Pra Ananda travelled all over India to pass on the Buddha’s
teaching and entered Parinibbana at the age of 120. There were a number of
monks mentioned during the Buddha’s time who lived around 120 –140 years old
too. The life span of some people mentioned in the Bible also sounds very
fictional and incomprehensible.
Before
I tell you about the life span the Buddha explained to us, I want you to be
aware of this following fact first. Just recently, I watched a programme about
girls reaching puberty as early as 8 years old. According to research, one girl
in six is reaching puberty before the age of 8. Forty years ago the figure was
just one in 100. Boys, too, are experiencing the onset of puberty much earlier
than their fathers, with one in 14 showing signs by the same age. Back in 1962
that figure was one in 150. This raises fundamental questions about the nature
of childhood and the frightening prospect of girls being mothers at primary
school age. It means that sex education might have to be taught to children as
young as 7 years old. It is also a fact that the number of early teenage
pregnancies is on the increase.
There
was also another more shocking report in the Daily Mail on Monday November
20,2000. It told a story of a little girl name Rosie who was facing all the
agonies of puberty at the age of four. Rosie who has just started her first
term at primary school, has a rare condition called precocious puberty – the
onset of adolescence at a much earlier age than normal. Once a month, she
suffer all the hormonal symptoms associated with puberty. Doctors predict that
by the age of six or seven, she will be having proper periods, and would, in
theory, be able to conceive. Dr. Mehul Dattani, senior lecturer and honorary
consultant at Great Ormond Street Hospital in Central London said “Precocious
puberty can be caused by brain damage or a brain tumour, but in most cases the
cause is unknown. It remains rare. We get only about two cases a month at Great
Ormond Street Hospital.”
I
was really taken aback by this finding and it has taken away my last tiny bit
of doubt about what the Buddha told us regarding time and life span. So, please
do bear in mind about this piece of fact that is truly happening in our time
and age. The more I go into Buddhism, the more I realise how narrow our
perceptions are. Our temporary knowledge and technology can only manage to take
us back as far as 5000 years. Even so, we still struggle to piece all the facts
together. So, please be very humble and open minded and do not quickly shun
this whole thing because it sounds ridiculous to you. Don’t forget that I, too,
thought so in the past but now I see it totally differently. To be able to
understand or not depends entirely on your practice of the four foundations of
awareness.
There
are a few terminologies that I would like to introduce to you regarding the
length of time mentioned in Buddhism.
asankheyya year
Before
I explain this terminology, I must warn you that this term and this scale of
time has nothing to do with the terminology I will talk about a while later on
even though the word is spelt exactly the same. To avoid the confusion, I will
write this one with a lower case all the way through while for the other I will
use a capital letter to begin with.
I
don’t know when was the beginning of all this but it was when the people could
live in harmony and at peace. There was no fighting and destruction. Just let’s
say that people in the past (I don’t know how far in the past) lived as long as
one asankheyya year. This is the length of time that we can still identify with
by portraying it with numbers. So, at an estimation one asankheyya year is
equivalent to 1 followed by 140 zeros. It looks like this
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 00
I
am afraid this is the easiest concept to begin with as far as the Buddhist time
scale is concerned. It will get very complicated after this; please follow
closely.
Through
ignorance, greed and anger, people fought and destroyed one another. Due to the
law of impermanence, the human life span dwindled as time moved on. The
reduction has been one year in every one hundred years. In other words every
one hundred years, people have one year shorter to live. The reduction of a
human’s life keeps on in this proportion. Humans will procreate at an earlier
age, live and die younger and younger until the human life span reduces to 10
years of age.
The
author I mentioned above gave the example of the life span of people during the
Buddha’s time which was 100 years on average. Whatever the average life span
is, there are always people who manage to live 10 or 20 years beyond or under
that average age. Now, the Buddha passed away 2543 years ago. This means that
the human life span has dwindled roughly by 25 years which makes our average
life span now 75 years of age compared to 100 years during the Buddha’s time.
As I said, there are always people who manage to live 10 or 20 years above that
average. So, it still sounds rather logical.
I
must admit I cannot imagine how a life span can last only 10 years. If so, a
woman will procreate at what age? I have no idea. This is beyond my
comprehension now. That’s why I was absolutely dumbfounded when I heard about
girls reaching puberty as early as 8 years old and early teenage pregnancy is
on the increase. I might have deliberately put the two together without any
proof. The point is that our life span is just too short to talk about this
kind of issue let alone proving it. We have no ability whatsoever to prove such
a thing because our perceptions are so limited. We know very little as I keep
on saying. The cycle of rebirth and this unthinkable scale of time have to be
reflected by extremely sharp wisdom like the Buddha’s. That’s why we just have
to take the Buddha’s word for it.
Let’s
come back to talk about the time scale where I left off. Once human life has
been shortened down to ten years of age, people will begin to see that there
are not many people left in this world. People will come to their senses and
work out that they should live together in harmony and at peace instead of
destroying one another. Once peace comes back to a handful of people on earth,
the age of humans begins to rise steadily. That is they live one year longer in
every one hundred years until it reaches the age of one asankheyya year again
which is the number of 1 followed by 140 zeros. This event is called one cycle
of asankheyya years or one antarakappa.
So,
1 cycle of asankheyya years or 1 antarakappa equals the length of time from
people living
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 00 years and dwindling gradually to 10
years. Then from 10 years of age
it will increase gradually to
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 00 years again. This is the length of
time of 1 antarakappa. Now, the number that I want you to bear in mind is 64
antarakappa. That is, the cycle of time above happens repeatedly for 64 times
over.
The
next time scale is asankheyya kappa. One asankheyya kappa equals 64
antarakappa. The Buddha explained the nature of the universe by separating it
into four periods of time. Each period of time lasts one asankheyya kappa or 64
antarakappa. I begin to find it extremely difficult to use the terminology. So,
what I will do is I will stick with the name I read from this book written by
the author. I will spell exactly of how I read in the Thai version because I
don’t think I am able to research and write down all the Pali terms.
Through
the law of impermanence which governs the whole of the universe, the universe
constantly changes. The Buddha could see this fact about the changing of the
universe. He therefore separated the changes into four different periods of
time. They are as follows:
1) Sangwat-asankheyya kappa; this is the
period of time when the universe is destroying itself. Everything is in a
turbulent state. This event lasts one asankheyya kappa.
2) Sangwat-tathayee-asankheyya kappa; this
is the period of time when the universe has finished destroying itself. It
comes to a complete standstill. Nothing happens but a complete stillness. This
event lasts another one asankheyya kappa.
3) Wiwat-asankheyya kappa; this is the
period of time when the universe begins to move and develop itself. Something
is moving in terms of developing. It lasts yet another one asankheyya kappa.
4) Wiwat-tathayee asankheyya kappa; this
is the period of time when the universe has finished its development. The
environment becomes more suitable for life forms. This is the only period of
time that plants, animals and humans are able to appear in the world. This event
lasts yet another one asankheyya kappa.
Now,
each one asankheyya kappa equals 64 antarakappa. So, we have 64 time 4 equal
256 antarakappa. This is the length of time from the moment that the universe
is destroying itself and then develops until the earth becomes a habitable
place for plants, animals and humans. Now, these 4 asankheyya kappas or 256
antarakappa equal one maha kappa.
To
make it easier for you to see, I will write down again as follows:
1
cycle of asankheyya year
= 1 antarakappa
64 antarakappa
= 1 asankheyya kappa
4
asankheyya kappa
= 1 maha kappa
one maha kappa
Now,
how long is 1 maha kappa? This length of time is far beyond our human
comprehension. Therefore, the Buddha gave us some idea of this time scale.
Think of a mountain 16 kilometres in height and 16 kilometres in width and a
deity who is in charge of looking after this mountain. Every 100 years, this
deity has to come down from heaven and use his thin silky handkerchief to wipe
the side of the mountain just one time. Then, he goes back to heaven. Another
100 years later, he comes down again and gives the mountain another wipe and
goes back until another 100 years after, he comes down to do the same again.
This deity keeps on wiping the mountain with his silky handkerchief every 100
years until the mountain is reduced to nothing. That is indeed the length of
time of one maha kappa.
There
is another comparison. Think of a pond 16 kilometres in depth and width and a
deity with his little job to do. Every 100 years, the deity comes down to this
pond and he puts one mustard seed in it and then he flies back to heaven. Then
another 100 years after, he comes down again and puts another one mustard seed
in the pond. He keeps on doing this every 100 years until the pond is full with
mustard seeds. That is the length of time of one maha kappa.
At this point, I would like
to link this unthinkable time scale with something that you can relate to and
identify with such as the problem of global warming. In recent years, we have
heard a great deal of geological findings, which confirm the massive change of
the global climate. Indeed global warming has begun to make its mark on the
planet. I let you read the report written by the science correspondent, James
Chapman, published in Daily Mail 20 Feb 2001. Here are some extracts.
“Mountain
glaciers around the world are melting fast because of global warming and many
will have disappeared within 15 years, a climate expert warned. Ice cores from
Tibetan glaciers, which act as records of climate over thousands of years, show
that the last 50 years were the warmest in history. In Britain, scientists now
accept that spring is coming earlier each year. Studies of bird nests and
satellite pictures of vegetation have shown it beginning eight days earlier
than in the early 1970s.
A panel of 700 scientists said that famine, epidemics and other disasters could hit rich and poor countries around the world in the coming decades if the current rate of global warming continues. It says that in the next 100 years, Northern Europe will be prone to increased flooding from heavier winter rainfall and higher sea levels, while rising temperature in southern Europe are likely to reduce agricultural productivity. Rising temperatures will bring increased risk of tropical diseases to Britain and the north of Europe – with malaria returning after nearly 300 years. Changing rainfall patterns couples with population growth would lead to huge pressure on water supplies. The report said that at present 1.7 billion people live in areas where water resources are tight. This is likely to increase to around 5.4 billion in the next 25 years. Even more serious is the risk from flooding as a result of rising sea levels in densely populated coastal areas ranging from Egypt to Poland to Vietnam. Tens of millions of people could be forced to migrate as their homes are destroyed. The world’s poorest countries would bear the brunt of devastating climate change.”
What do you think? It sounds very much like the apocalypse is just right on our doorsteps, isn’t it? We have been asking what we could do to slow down the global warming for over a decade now and the first step to the answer is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions which is the main cause of the green house effect.
It seems like we know the
answer as what to do regarding this huge problem as global warming but please
take another closer look. As far as I am concerned, the study of the universe
and the earth story which reveal the geological and climate change ranging back
hundreds and thousands of millions of years ago merely represent one little
tiny scratch along this unthinkable time scale mentioned by the Buddha. Is it
not? Whilst Christianity with rigid belief in God as a creator cannot go hand
in hand with the scientific discovery, Buddhism is quite the contrary. In fact,
the geological record, the report of the changing of the climate, the theory of
evolution and so on all help to enhance the Buddha’s knowledge as regard the
unthinkable time scale above. To me, I see global warming and its subsequent
catastrophic change as a very natural process of mother nature. To us, human,
who love our lives so dearly, we call this huge event of change as ‘big
problem’ but to mother nature, who has been here since day one, is merely
natural. Indeed, this is the way nature is. This changing process of the
universe and of the earth has been an on-going event from day one whenever that
day one began. I am sure that this has everything to do with the unthinkable
time scale and the four period of change that the Buddha talked about. Human’s
greed, anger and delusion are also part of this natural process, which
contribute to global and universal change. That is because we are also one tiny
part that constitutes the whole picture of the universe.
Good Lord…what do we think
we can do to save the glaciers from melting and all the subsequent problems?
It’s true that trying to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions is a very good and
kind gesture in having concern for our children even though the United State
and Japan do not think so. If this is the best solution, indeed, we must do by
all means. But we must admit that
human effort has become very puny compares to the powerful grip of
mother-nature. Thanks to scientific discovery, we have witnessed with our own
eyes that animals the size like dinosaurs did exist on this planet and they
also disappeared from the surface of the earth. Look at the size of us now, we
tend to think that it is because we have our precious brain and we can conquer
everything. This is when we are very wrong. We hardly know anything at all and
that’s why I keep on saying that we must listen to the one who knows like the
Buddha. The time scale which describe the length of time of the four different
periods above may seems like a joke to you. But I must warn you not to laugh at
it too quickly. Compare to the unthinkable time scale and the age of the
universe, the existence of our life span is equivalent to the existence of a
single dewdrop on a leaf in the early morning, which disappear into thin air by
sunrise. Another comparison to prove how short our civilisation is thinking of
the age of the universe is equivalent to the length from our shoulder to the
end of our middle finger nail, our human civilisation is equivalent to the
dust from a single filing of our
middle finger nail. This is all the time we last in this world. Our whole
civilisation will definitely be reduced to mere artefacts trapped in the thin
layer of crust for the study of the distant future civilisation yet to come
just like we are studying the past civilisation now. And in this little tiny
period of time that we quickly pass through this world, we think that we can
understand mother nature, the making of the universe, the history of the earth
and try to do something about it to prevent the change so that we can all live
a bit longer. For how long exactly do we want to live? May I ask? We must be
kidding ourselves. To the enlightened ones, this is indeed a laughable matter.
In not knowing this truth is pure ignorant.
A recent documentary program
on BBC called The Earth Story revealed
that according to the geological record, it looked like earth climate remained
reasonably steady for one thousand years at a time and then some drastic change
happened. If that was the case, it is very likely that we are indeed witnessing
or right in the middle of this natural changing process, which is due to happen
anyway. We can consider ourselves as being extremely fortunate or unfortunate
depending on how you want to look at it. The question that you should ask is
not about what and how we human can do to stop this turbulent change, which
will cause the catastrophe to the whole of our present civilisation. What you must ask is how you can live
through this global change with greater understanding and not to be affected by
it. This is the question that you must ask very seriously and do your best to
find the answer. Can you understand why the enlightenment of the Buddha is
so important to humanity? That is because the Buddha gives us exactly the
answer we need – learn how to live in peace and learn how to die in peace. This
is indeed what Buddhism is all about. You may also understand why I need to
talk about the enlightened culture in A
Handful of Leaves. Trying to resolve the climate change by thinking of all
kinds of solutions as we are doing now is very much like fighting in the wrong
battlefield. I am saying this not because I am in favour of the selfish and
arrogant of the US attitude in ignoring the problem of the global warming.
Indeed, we must work on the solution as best as we can. What I am trying to say
is that we must be realistic and realise that we are dealing with a no win
situation or a losing battle. However, if we can create the enlightened
culture, at least individuals can lead a peaceful way of life. This is the most
and the best we can do for ourselves as we are passing very briefly through
this green planet. We all have to die somehow and sometime. Why don’t we choose
to die in peace? As a matter of fact, the enlightened culture is indeed the
first domino that can dismantle all the following problems. That is because
every problem caused by human is the result of our own greed, selfishness,
anger, arrogance, ignorance and so on. Because of these bad habits, we have
turned the world into a highly consuming one and use up the limited natural
resources far too quickly and wrongly.
The enlightened culture can help to get rid of all these bad qualities
in human’s mind. Once we have good quality people, we won’t mess up the planet
too quickly. When death inevitably arrives, we can also die in peace and
without much struggling.
Now, I am bringing the
Buddha’s knowledge to you in the language that you can understand. Please do
not quickly shrug this chapter away as some silly nonsense. You may not
understand now but later on as your practice is progressing, I am sure you will
understand. In the mean time, just try to read through this chapter with great
patience.
I
have told you the above time scales because I want to show you how long each
Buddha has to spend travelling in samsara so that he can accumulate the parami,
reach ultimate enlightenment in his final life and help sentient beings to be
free from this dreadful roundabout of rebirth. You may wonder what parami is
because I will have to mention the term quite often. So, I will spend a bit of
time talking about parami first so that you can have a clear idea how difficult
it is for one to become a Buddha. Any one of you can be a Buddha in your future
life if you wish to but please have a look first at what you have to do to
become one.
Parami
or perfections are basically the wholesome deeds or kamma which are the main
factors that will boost a person to ultimate enlightenment and be free from
samsara. Ordinary people cannot be self-enlightened. We have to be taught by a
Buddha, follow his teaching, practise and cultivate until we can reach ultimate
enlightenment. If there was no Buddha to tell us the path to the final
destination, we wouldn’t have known that there was a way to be free from the
roundabout of rebirth. If you are still sceptical about reincarnation, it means
that you are still very much in the darkness of ignorance and will travel along
this ring road of samsara for a much longer time than those who have the
belief. I can assure you that by the time I finish this chapter with you, it
isn’t the physical death that you will be afraid of, something else is much
more shocking than a mere physical death.
So,
we have the Buddha to tell us the path to the end result, but who taught the
Buddha? No one, of course. This is the reason why we have to talk about parami.
Whoever wants to be a Buddha, he has to be self-enlightened. He has to know by
himself that this is the destination and this is the way to it. But before the
self-enlightenment can take place, that person has to work staggeringly hard.
The works are so difficult, intense and enduring that we normal people cannot
understand how that extraordinary person can make it. Now, that extremely hard
work is call parami. It means that a Buddha-to-be[2]
has to cultivate those difficult tasks until they reach perfection. This is about
accumulating the parami. So, what kind of tasks are there for a Buddha-to-be to
carry out? There are ten different types of works that a Buddha-to-be has to
do. In other words, they are called the ten parami or ten perfections. They are
as follows:
1) Dana, which means giving, generosity,
charity;
2) Sila, which means morality, good
conduct;
3) Nekkhamma, which means renunciation by
leading an ascetic life or renouncing material values;
4) Panna, which means insight, wisdom by
finding knowledge;
5) Viriya, which means effort, endeavour
by using energy and carrying the task through without giving up;
6) Khanti, which means tolerance,
endurance and forbearance;
7) Sacca, which means truthfulness,
honesty and integrity;
8) Adhitthana, which means resolution,
self determination, setting a clear goal and going for it without fail;
9) Metta, which means loving-kindness and
friendliness;
10) Upekkha, which means equanimity by
practising indifference to praise and blame in the performance of duty, not to
be over-joyed or saddened by any event.
Any
one of us can practice the ten parami but a Buddha-to-be has to practise many
million fold more than normal people. The Buddha Gotama has told us how he
practised those ten parami or perfections in his ten previous lives just before
he was born as a young prince Siddhartha in his final life. They were recorded
in the book called the Jataka which is the tenth division of the Khuddaka
Nikaya in the Pali canon. The stories about the ten previous lives of the
Buddha have been repeatedly told, written, and acted out in all Buddhist
countries. People, especially children, learn about them through story books or
screen plays.
The
most popular one has to be the tenth life when the Buddha-to-be was born as Pra
Wedsandorn, a prince who loved giving and charity. This was the life when he
had to practise the dana parami or giving perfection. Pra Wedsandorn gave away
whatever people asked for. While he was a prince, he gave away a pair of white
elephants to his father’s enemies. White elephants are supposed to be symbols
of luck and great fortune and should stay in the country. This offended the
people in the kingdom and he was chased away from town along with his wife
Matsee and two children Ganha (a girl) and Charlie (a boy). They ended up
living in a forest. Choochoke, the old, ugly and crooked back beggar with a
young beautiful wife wanted Ganha and Charlie to serve as his servants so that
he could please his wife. Pra Wedsandorn agreed to Choochoke and waited till
his wife, Matsee, went to collect fruits in the forest, then he gave Ganha and
Charlie away to Choochoke. There was a great deal of suffering and tragedy
especially when the two children were ill treated by Choochke and his young
wife and the grief that Matsee had to go through in losing her children into
the hands of some wicked people. However, the story had a happy ending when the
whole family was finally reunited.
Whenever
I have a chance to tell people this story in the west, including to my own
children, somehow people feel offended by the dramatic giving which is
unnatural to normal people. No one can do that, which makes the story sound
totally unrealistic. Nevertheless, this is the whole point. We are using our own
standards to judge a person who wanted to be a Buddha, which is not right. And
please don’t be too quick to interpret Pra Wedsandorn’s action as being
selfish. A Buddha-to-be or Bodhisattva has to do far more than us even though
it means giving away his own children to be servants for other people. He has
to make his own sacrifices for the sake of his enlightenment, which means the
chance of helping many others in the future. The ultimate self-enlightenment is
the most precious event and is most difficult to come by. Whoever wants to
achieve this goal has to invest everything they have into it. If we compare the
ultimate enlightenment of a Buddha to a priceless jewel, to own that object
means that you have to give away every single bit of money and wealth that you
have. It is the same for all Buddhas-to-be. The ultimate enlightenment cannot
come easily without involving self sacrifice time after time. There was one
previous life when our Buddha-to-be threw himself off a cliff so that he could
give his flesh to a hungry nursing tiger who had just given birth to her cubs.
He could see that the hungry and frustrated mother was about to eat her own
babies had she not had any food for herself. By sacrificing his own life, the
Buddha-to-be saved both the mother and the cubs. Such dramatic sacrifices are
something a Buddha-to-be has to do so that he can achieve ultimate
enlightenment in the end.
And
this is what building or accumulating the parami is all about. A Buddha-to-be
does not have the same qualities as us normal people; he has to be far better.
To know how much better than us, you have to read the ten life stories in the
Jataka. But that is not it yet. The Jataka is the ten lives of the Buddha
Gotama before he was born as a prince in India. In fact, there are many Buddhas
and they all have to spend a much longer time to accumulate their parami, which
you will find out later.
Now
that you know what parami is all about, I can use the word without worrying
that you might not understand. The non Buddhists or even the Buddhists
themselves if they do not study Buddhism, would not know that there were in
fact many Buddhas in the past apart from the Buddha Gotama who was born in
India over 2500 years ago. So, you must understand the connection between
ultimate truth and a Buddha.
Ultimate
truth or ultimate reality in nature is always there from day one whenever that
is or if there is any day one at all. Now, this is the part that you should not
spend too much time thinking about because it won’t make you become richer,
poorer, wiser or duller but it will certainly drive you round the bend and go
mad. So, the Buddha told us not to waste any time thinking about it. Just admit
that there is indeed a state that is absolute, ultimate and that everyone must
know about it. To know that absolute state in nature is the same as being free
from samsara which is the end of all suffering.
Although
the ultimate truth is always there, it doesn’t mean that people know about it,
because it is extremely difficult to find that truth out. So, the one who has
the ability to know ultimate truth by oneself is indeed a Buddha. The word
Buddha means the knower, the awakened and the joyous. So, Buddha means the one
who knows the ultimate truth. All through the history of time and this samsara,
there have been a number of Buddhas who have come along and revealed ultimate
truth to sentient beings. Every time that a Buddha comes along, Buddhism is
established, the path to the truth is passed on, the teaching stays for a while
and finally vanishes due to the law of impermanence. People go back to live in
the darkness of ignorance again because ultimate wisdom has disappeared. Time
passes for as long as it takes and then another Buddha comes. Ultimate truth is
revealed again and this goes on and on.
However,
compared to the length of time I have talked about above, the number of Buddhas
who have actually arrived is merely a few. The proportion is very much like one
grain of sand to the rest of the sand in the whole world. You might think that
this is exaggerating. I still think what I said was an understatement. Some maha-kappa have no Buddha come to
be born at all but some have as many as five Buddhas at the most which is
classed as the most fertile maha kappa. Please go back to read again how long
one maha kappa is. You will realise how difficult it is for the world to
welcome the birth of a Buddha and how fortunate we are just to have the chance
to hear the word Buddha. Not to mention those who have the chance to practise
the dhamma, they are extremely lucky which once again is a great
understatement. I just don’t know how to find the right and sufficient words to
describe that great fortune.
So
now you know the relationship between ultimate reality and Buddha. Ultimate
truth remains always in eternity and Buddha comes along to reveal that truth
and tell people about it.
There
are three types of Buddha and each type has to spend a different length of time
building and saving up his parami so that he can reach ultimate enlightenment
in his final lifetime. The three types of Buddha are:
1) The Buddha who emphasises using wisdom
to help people has to spend 20 Asankheyya and 100,000 maha kappa to accumulate
his parami before he can reach ultimate enlightenment. The Buddha Gotama who
was born in India 2500 years ago is classed as this type of Buddha.
2) The Buddha who emphasises using faith
to help people has to spend 40 Asankheyya and 100,000 maha kappa to accumulate
his parami before he can reach ultimate enlightenment.
3) The Buddha who emphasises using effort
to help people has to spend 80 Asankheyya and 100,000 maha kappa to accumulate
his parami before he can reach enlightenment and help people. The future Buddha
Maitreya is classed as this type of Buddha. So, at the moment, he is still a
Bodhisattva – a Buddha-to-be. He is still travelling in the different realms of
samsara so that he can accumulate the required parami until he is ready in the
far future. He will live up to 80,000 years and help a great number of beings
to be free from samsara. The number of beings that the Buddha Maitreya will
help will be far greater than the Buddha Gotama who from now on I will refer to
as our Buddha.
Now,
please notice the length of time that I put down above about how long each type
of Buddha has to spend to accumulate the parami. I want you to notice that the number that you can relate to
is the last bit of 100,000 maha kappa. It means that there are 100,000
mountains for the deity to wipe until they disappear, one mountain at a time,
of course. Or there are 100,000 ponds for the deity to fill with mustard seed
and one pond to fill at a time. That is the length of time of those 100,000
maha kappa which are only the left over of the whole number. It is a long long
time indeed and there is no point trying to imagine how long it is.
However,
I haven’t yet told you the first part of the time scale, that is 20, 40 and 80
Asankheyya. First of all, forget all those asankheyya years I told you about
above because this one is totally different now and has nothing related to the
asankheyya years I talked about earlier. That’s why I gave you a warning when I
first talked about them. I will use the capital letter for this Asankheyya all
the way through so that you know they are different. However, the time scales I
told you at the beginning of this chapter were meant for you to understand how
long the 100,000 maha kappa is. That’s all there is to it.
The length of time that the
different types of Buddha have to spend to accumulate their parami is counted
in Asankheyya again. It looks like the numbers 20, 40 and 80 do not seem that
many to you. Now, let’s come to see how long just one Asankheyya year is first.
The Buddha tells us to imagine a deity again who has magical power in counting
raindrops. Let’s suppose it has been raining for three years non-stop until
water floods the highest mountain on earth. From the moment that it begins to
rain, this most extraordinary deity also begins his job in counting raindrops.
He not only counts the big raindrops, but he also counts all the tiny drops
including all the spray of rain too. Every single drop of water that
contributes to the flood on earth is all accounted for. Because it rains for
three years non-stop so, this incredible deity keeps on counting raindrops for
three whole years non-stop either. Now, the number of raindrops that can be
counted for the period of three years is the length of time of 1 Asankheyya
year.
Our
Buddha Gotama who came to be born in our time and whom we can still relate to,
had spent 20 Asankheyya years plus another 100,000 maha kappa to accumulate his
parami with the hope that in his last lifetime, he could reach the ultimate
enlightenment and help all beings to get free of samsara. The future Buddha
Maitreya will have to spend an even longer time – 80 Asankheyya years and the
extra 100,000 maha kappa – to accumulate his parami so that he can reach
ultimate enlightenment in his last life and help people to get free of samsara.
Can you see why there are not many Buddhas come to be born at all because there
are not many brave people around who are willing to make such an extraordinary
commitment? I will tell you later about the process of becoming a Buddha, how
it begins and so on.
I
told you earlier about how the universe changes and can be separated into four
different periods of time, and each stage lasts one asankheyya kappa or 64
antarakappa. It is only during the last stage (Wiwat-tathayee asankheyya kappa)
that the environment of earth is suitable enough for any life form to take
place. This is the only period of time that a Buddha can come to the world and
help beings. So, I can also say that a Buddha can come to the world in one of
any maha-kappa. Don’t forget the fact that each one maha kappa is made up of
four different stages of change in the universe. This pattern (4 different
stages) keeps on rolling time after time endlessly due to the law of
impermanence. It means that some maha-kappa have a Buddha come along to help
people but some don’t.
The
maha-kappa during which no Buddha comes along is called soon-kappa meaning
void, useless, worthless or fruitless kappa. It is because there is no wisdom,
no knowledge, no light as to how to be free from samsara and thus no help from
an enlightened one. This is the most unfortunate maha-kappa. The maha kappa
that is void of a Buddha can go on for hundreds and thousands and many many
thousands of maha kappa.
Now,
the maha-kappa when a Buddha does come to help people be free from samsara is
called a-soon-kappa meaning voidless, useful, fruitful or worthwhile kappa
because there is a Buddha who comes along and shines the light of wisdom which
can help all sentient beings to be free from the darkness of ignorance and
samsara. Sentient beings who are born as humans during this maha kappa are
extremely lucky.
It
was recorded that on the night of the enlightenment of the Buddha Gotama, the
three worlds, heaven, human and hell trembled with great joy and excitement
that a Buddha had finally arrived. It is believed that the hell called Lokanta
which was the darkest place of all where there had never been any light get
through was lit up briefly on the night of the enlightenment. That was when
hellish beings could see and remember one another through that light after
being together for so long. All hellish beings had a brief moment to be free
from suffering on that night too.
The
maha kappa when a Buddha comes along is considered very rich indeed. This most significant
event also invites the birth of individual Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, saints-to-be
and great emperors too.
The
voidless or fruitful kappa sometimes has more than one Buddha who comes to be
born but the number never exceeds five Buddhas. Therefore, there are different
names which indicate the number of Buddhas come to be born in each maha kappa.
Sara-kappa is
the voidless kappa that bears the birth of just one Buddha.
Mantha-kappa
is the fruitful kappa that bears the birth of two Buddhas.
Wara-kappa
is the worthwhile kappa that bears the birth of three Buddhas.
Sara-mantha-kappa
is the voidless kappa that bears the births of four Buddhas.
Patara-kappa
is the most fertile kappa that bears the birth of five Buddhas.
The
period that we are living in right now is called a Patara kappa which is the
most fertile period of all because it gives birth to five Buddhas. Who are
those five Buddhas? They are as follows:
1) the Buddha Gagusantha
2) the Buddha Gonakamana
3) the Buddha Kassapa
4) the Buddha Gotama
5) the Buddha Maitreya
There
is no other fruitful kappa that can be richer than this Patara kappa. Sentient
beings such as human and deities who are born in this period of time have the
golden chance to listen to the teaching of the Buddhas from the past, present
and the future. It gives the beings the chance to accumulate their parami so
that they can reach ultimate enlightenment and get out of samsara.
You
can see exactly where we are all standing now, can’t you? We are living in the maha kappa that
welcomes the birth of the fourth Buddha – our Buddha Gotama.
Many
people like to think that the Buddha is just another great saint like Jesus or
any other saints we know of. I have no intention to offend the Christian faith,
not in the slightest. I merely state the truth, no more and no less. I am
afraid I have to say that Jesus is indeed a great saint but he is no Buddha.
The Buddha said it himself when his disciples were worried for his safety that
he would not be harmed by any form of violence or die by any form of sharp
weapons.
The
difference also lies in the clarity of teaching. The Buddha chose his own time
to leave this world when he was absolutely certain that his religion was well
established. It means that there were four orders which made up the Buddhist
community, which are Bhikkhu (monk), Bhikkhuni (nun), male supporters and
female supporters. Besides, he was certain and had no doubt whatsoever that his
disciples knew the path to ultimate enlightenment well enough both in the
theory and the practice. On top of that the Buddha was also very sure that his
disciples could handle the tough questions and arguments brought up by people
both within and outside the Buddhist orders. This last one is very significant.
That is because quite often when the teacher has passed away, the followers can
be swayed by the influence of other doctrines if their understanding and the
practice are not well rooted. It was obvious that the Buddha was very thorough
about the requirements of his establishment before he left them behind. He said
that if he was not sure, he would not have left his disciples yet, he would
have certainly worked a bit longer until he was very sure that his teaching was
well rooted. When the Buddha was absolutely sure about all those events, he
then decided to enter Parinibbana – the final and overall extinction. Having
said all that, Buddhism is still governed by the law of impermanence. No matter
how trusting the Buddha was towards his disciples when he left them behind, the
Buddha still said that his teaching would last only 5000 years.
Those
were the events that did not happen to Christ nor any other great saint in the
world. Nevertheless, Christ and other great saints in the past were indeed the
products of this fertile maha kappa. Jesus Christ was quite an extraordinary
saint because he sacrificed his own life for the sake of the people. This is
the kind of sacrifice which is extremely difficult to come by. Although Lao Tzu
left the Tao Te Ching which confirmed the ultimate truth in nature, he had no
inclination to teach and therefore, there is no real establishment which can
help people to know the truth.
However, those saints all brought joy, light and wisdom to humanity to a
high degree.
We
have been travelling through the different realms of samsara for an unthinkable
period of time. Each birth causes us to do the kamma that gives results which
feed us back into this most hideous roundabout of rebirth endlessly. At last,
we are lucky to be born as a human in the period of time that Buddhism is well
established even though its time is already half gone. The Buddha said that
Buddhism would deteriorate once it had gone past the half time which is exactly
the period we are in now. The Buddha passed away 2543 years ago and indeed the
signs of deterioration are showing. Nevertheless, there are still people who
can truly benefit from the Buddha’s teaching and are seriously walking the path
hoping to get themselves out of samsara. Those who have already brought with
them some parami from their past lives will understand the significance of this
great event in getting to know the Buddha and his teaching.
Nevertheless,
this doesn’t mean that human beings born in the period of the Buddha Gotama’s
establishment can all get out of samsara. The truth is far from that. The
Buddha said that those who could reach Nirvana were only a handful, most beings
were happy to run around samsara. It is because Nirvana is such a difficult
place to get to that many devout Buddhists may want to get out of samsara as
quickly as possible but if they cannot make it during the reign of our Buddha
Gotama, they are taught to make wishes to come back and reborn in the same
period of the future Buddha or Buddha Maitreya.
Indeed,
we are born in a maha kappa when we can still hear of the birth of the next
Buddha. This coming Buddha will be reputed for his great loving-kindness and
compassion. At the moment, he is still in the process of building and
accumulating his parami. He is the type of Buddha who uses effort to help
people and therefore has to spend as long as 80 Asankheyya years and 100,000
maha kappa to reach ultimate enlightenment. Consequently, Buddha Maitreya will
live as long as 80,000 years of age and will have the ability to help bigger
numbers of sentient beings out of samsara compared to Buddha Gotama . At that
time, people will live very long lives and there will be peace.
You
might wonder who told us about all these Buddhas in the past and future. Of
course, our Buddha Gotama told us about them. All these have been recorded in
the Pali canon. Otherwise, there is no way we would know had not the Buddha
told us. The Chinese believe that Buddha Maitreya will be born in China and
they have made images of the Maitreya Buddha for a long time. He is the one
with a big tummy and a happy face.
I
cannot remember whether or not I mentioned the conflict with my mother in my
first book. As far back as when I was 6 years old, I knew that my mother had
found a new spiritual belief. I did not understand what her belief was but I
knew that to her it was the best and better than the mainstream Buddhism. The
first temple I went to with her was a normal house, clean, tidy, no clutter,
and many chairs all stacked up. As my mom took me upstairs, I noticed that
there was no furniture but a platform at one end of the room where they put a
table in the middle and two chairs on both sides. Above the table was another
taller shelf where three medium size statues were placed. The middle one was
the image of a happy smiling man with a big tummy. The one on the right hand
side was a beautiful woman in her Chinese white long gown and the one on the
left was wearing old torn clothes carrying a paper fan in his hand also
smiling. There were some Chinese scrolls hanging on the wall just behind the
statues. There were many cushions in front of the shrine. As a little girl, I
found the whole place very intimidating because it was nothing like the
glittering temples in Bangkok. I could not see a single monk in saffron robes
but only a group of ladies mainly middle to old age some of whom were wearing
the traditional Chinese dress or Gi Pao but with plain light blue material.
They all wore black thin shoes like my Tai Chi ones but much smarter. They all
talked in Chinese. My mom took me to a lady who looked radiant with very fine
complexion and in her late 30’s at the most. She patted me on the head and told
my mom how lucky I was to come on that day. When the ceremony started, I had to
kneel on the cushion while two ladies on both sides of the table called out the
names and every time each name was called, I had to bow with both my hands
palms in a round shape. There was a long talk by that refined lady afterwards;
people sat in rows of chairs listening attentively; I squeezed up by my mom and
nearly fell off the chairs because I nodded off to sleep. My mom finally sat me
on her lap.
From
that day on, my whole life revolved around my mom’s temple. When she was in her
late 50’s, she became the leader of one temple (a house) herself and preached.
As we grew up, my mom spent more and more time in her temple until she lived
there in the end and only came home when she needed to for a few days. I spent
a big part of my life with her in her temple environment. March 11 1997, my mom
passed away very peacefully without any illnesses at the age of 80 in her
temple too.
I
feel rather sad that I could never understand my mom’s belief at that time
because the whole establishment which they call Taoism was totally alien to the
mainstream spiritual culture. This Taoism didn't refer to Lao Tzu, nor the Tao
Te Ching. I was told that the headquarters was in Hong Kong and there were many
branches dotted around the world wherever there was a Chinese community. What I
really could not understand was that my mom told us that what they did had to
be kept secret. We could not tell anyone who was not a member about what we did
in the temple which I found very strange. If she said that her religion was
very good, why couldn't they let more people know? When I was a student and
went deeper into mainstream Buddhism, I began to rebel because my mom had
always wanted me to be active in her temple, helping to find more members so
that they could pass on the responsibility to the younger generation whom they
desperately needed. I was the ideal candidate for her but I could never be
taken in by her establishment. She was quite disappointed that I could not
share the belief with her but somehow we compromised. She tried to tell me that
the reign of the Buddha Gotama had finished and it was the time of the new
Buddha, the Maitreya, but I could not understand because I did not know much
about the Buddha Maitreya and all her texts were in Chinese which I could not
read.
Now,
I can understand what was happening. Having gathered what my mom told me in the
past, this new Taoist establishment has been working on the process of
welcoming the future Buddha Maitreya. They truly believed that the Bodhisattva
Maitreya had come to be born in China as an ordinary man and had let people
know about his arrival in the far future. There was a name in Chinese that they
referred to with great respect which I assume was the Maitreya Bodhisattva. He
had lived in secret and passed on his teaching in secret for fear that ignorant
people might be against it and destroy the teaching. He died over one hundred
years ago but the establishment has been carrying on up till now and spread
among the Chinese community. However, it is not much of a secret anymore
because the members have grown into a vast number. It is still very much among
the Chinese though.
I
have also found out from the papers the other day that a plan to build a bronze
Maitreya Buddha in Bodh Gaya, India has already been implemented. This construction
will be the biggest that has ever attempted in this day and age. The size is
three times more than the Statue of Liberty. They have already reckoned that
this statue will be hailed as the eighth wonder of the world. I welcome this
news with great joy. We have had enough of tall buildings and domes! Such a
statue will at least remind people of spirituality.
Now
I want to give you some clear idea of how difficult it is to be born as a human
being and have a chance to meet Buddhism. Please think of a turtle swimming in the vast ocean. This turtle
will emerge to the surface of the water once in every 500 years, then, he will
dive back into the sea and return again 500 years later. Now, the Buddha and
his teaching can be compared to a small flower garland thrown and floating in
the vast ocean. This garland drifts to wherever the current goes. Now, what is
the chance of both things meeting up? I wish I could have a statistician work
out this odd chance for me. You can see that the chance that the turtle, which
surfaces once in every 500 years, and the flower garland floating in the sea
will meet up is very rare indeed. But how rare it is in statistics, I cannot
tell. However, this extremely odd chance is the same possibility as we have an
opportunity to bump into Buddhism. That’s why I cannot stress often enough to
you that you are extremely lucky to meet Buddhism, listen to the teaching and
be involved in the practice of the four foundations of awareness.
I
promised you earlier to talk about the process of how one can become a Buddha.
You will later on understand why there are so very few Buddhas who come along
to help beings out of samsara.
First of all, you have to understand the meaning of two words.
Buddha-bhumi is the ground of being a Buddha and Arahanta-bhumi is the ground
of being a Pra Arahant. These two words state the different grounds that you
want to claim for or make a wish to achieve in the future.
Fundamentally
speaking, it has to begin from the moment you know Buddhism and its practice.
After you have heard and studied Buddhism, both the theory and practice, you
are inspired so much that you want to achieve that supreme idealism. That is to
reach Nirvana or ultimate enlightenment, or become a Pra Arahant. If you wish
to be a Pra Arahant, it means that you have made a wish or a vow to claim
Arahanta-bhumi. To claim this ground, you just have to follow the teaching of
the Buddha who has already worked it out for you of how to walk the path and
how you can recognise the destination once you have reached it.
Comparatively
speaking, you just have to follow the map that someone else has written out for
you so that you can get to the destination that you want to go to. It can also
be compared to someone else doing the process of growing rice, vegetables,
raising animals etc., bringing all those ingredients together, cooking a
delicious meal with several dishes and even placing them right in front of you.
What you need to do is pick up a spoon and feed yourself; you will have all the
benefit you need. According to the comparison, it is quite easy in the sense
that someone else does the difficult job for you. That is writing down the map
or going through the process of growing food and cooking it into a ready meal.
Without the map writer, you would not have known how to begin your journey.
Without the meal provider, you would not have any food to eat.
Although
becoming a Pra Arahant is not at all an easy task; it is indeed the most
difficult task on earth, it is nevertheless still comparatively easy in the
sense that you can follow the teaching that the Buddha has mapped out for you.
So, if you are quite happy in just following the life map that the Buddha has
done for you, fine, go for it. You will quickly practise the four foundations
of awareness and get yourself out of samsara as quickly as possible. This is
about claiming the ground of the Arahanta-bhumi. Indeed, there are many devout
Buddhists making such an exceptional wish. If you cannot reach the goal in this
life time, you will make the wish to be born again as a human being in positive
circumstances which will give you the opportunity to practise the dharma
further until you can attain the final goal and leave samsara (the cycle of
rebirth) for good. If you keep on making such a wish, there will be one of your
future lives, no matter how long it takes, when you will succeed.
As
a matter of fact, the Buddha said it himself that if you practise the four foundations
of awareness or vipassana, you will get out of samsara very quickly. As long as
you get the practice right, the result is guaranteed. You will become a Pra
Arahant within 7 lifetimes at the most or it can be as quick as doing the
practice tonight and achieving it in the morning or doing it in the morning and
attaining Aranhantship at night time. This is indeed a guarantee from the
Buddha and I can also confirm this fact to you. The only problem is that you
must get the practice exactly correct which is the most difficult part of this
life journey.[3]
You
might wonder that if there are many Buddhists who make such an ideal wish,
there must be people who talk about it every day. No, I don’t think you can
find this topic popping up in a day to day conversation like wishing to win the
national lottery, having good weather or going away for a fantastic holiday.
This kind of wish is extremely private and personal. Only the owner of the wish
knows. This is not something that one will share with others no matter how
close or how trusted that person is towards the owner of the wish. If it is
wrongly interpreted, the owner of the wish can be looked at as boasting which
becomes very damaging. That is because being a Pra Arahant is the best thing
that humans can ever achieve, it isn’t a matter that can be handled too lightly
and therefore one has to treat it with great respect.
So,
this is about if you want to claim the ground of Arahanta-bhumi. Nothing else
in life is better than this supreme idealism unless you are very ambitious and
want to be a Buddha so that you can help more sentient beings. I will tell you
what you need to do to become a Buddha
If
you however are very ambitious in the positive way, you may want to make a wish
to become a Buddha rather than a mere Pra Arahant. That is because you want to
be able to help many more sentient beings out of samsara and not just yourself.
This still begins with the same principle as wishing to be a Pra Arahant. It
can be any one of you right now who are reading this book or any of your
favourite Buddhist texts until you know Buddhism well enough to know about the
path, the fruit and Nirvana. It is very likely that you are engaging in the
practice of the four foundations of awareness or vipassana too. Otherwise, you
would not have felt so intense that you want to make any wish at all. Those who
know nothing about Buddhism especially never engage in the vipassana practice
will not have a clue what all these words mean, not to mention making either of
those two wishes.
Once
you thoroughly understand the practice and experience the peaceful nature, you
then develop loving-kindness and compassion and wish your family, friends and
loved ones would share that peace with you. That loving-kindness gradually
grows in your heart and spreads its branches farther and farther. As the
loving-kindness tree spreads its branches, you naturally want to help even
those who are not related to you. Then, it reaches as far as the whole of
humanity; you wish every single human being on earth to be at peace and you do
your best to tell them about Buddhism and persuade them into the dhamma
practice so that they can be at peace like you. And of course, you know that
there is nothing else better than this.
You
also keep on with your own practice and gradually develop further along the
path yourself. The more you understand the Buddha’s teaching, the more you can
see the harm and great danger of samsara. You want to warn people even more and
tell them not to enjoy their rebirths because it is the most frightening event.
Your loving-kindness and compassion does not stop at humanity any longer, it
goes farther than that. It spreads to other sentient beings in other realms too
from animals who share the same world with you to those in heavens and hells.
You begin to feel very sad for them because you know the fact that they have to
be trapped in samsara and bear immense suffering because of endless rebirths.
Yet, they don’t know the truth and even enjoy being trapped in the fearful
roundabout of rebirth. Your compassion towards those sentient beings becomes so
overwhelming and intense that you want to help as many beings as possible to be
free from samsara. Despite the strong feelings you are experiencing, you never
utter a word to anyone, even to your loved ones. You keep your supreme idealism
very closely in your heart and only you know about it. Your loving-kindness and
compassion keep on growing inside your heart at a steady speed as you
understand more and more about this path. It reaches a point when your feeling
is so staggeringly powerful and extreme that you make a quiet wish to yourself:
“I wish I could be a Buddha in the future and help all beings to be free
from samsara.”
That
is indeed the beginning of claiming the Buddha-bhumi, the ground to be a Buddha
in the future. This is the kind of feeling that an extraordinarily devout
Buddhist can relate to.
Since
you have that first wish about being a Buddha helping all sentient beings to be
free from samsara, you never change your mind, you are very determined to stick
to that vow. Yet, you never spill a bean or leak this top secret wish to anyone
but yourself. Nevertheless, even though there is no one who knows about your
extraordinary holy vow and no one nominates you to that holy status, you
automatically have given yourself a new holy title as being a Bodhisattva or a
Buddha-to-be or a great saint. That is your natural title whether you like it
or not. If you happened to make yourself known in the very far future, people
will call you Bodhisattva. It is the same as we call our Buddha Gotama in his
previous lives when he travelled to different realms of samsara and collected
his ten paramis, we refer to him as Bodhisattva.
Although
you have your new holy title, it will not appear on your name card as being a
priest, a vicar, a minister, a pope or adding to the extension of your
scholastic achievements for example as Mr John Smith, BSc, MSc, D.Phil,
Bodhisattva!!!
7, 14 and 28 Asankheyya
Once
you have secretly made that first wish and you never change your mind, you live
till your old age and you die from this life. Before you die, you are still
quite definite about your wish. You don’t know where your previous kamma will
take you or to what realm in samsara but you will tell yourself that no matter
what state you are going to, you will stick to that secret vow of being a
Buddha in your far future life and helping sentient beings in mass numbers.
This strong intention is your present kamma that will have a high potential to
give effect in your future life. So, no matter what state you are going to
after this lifetime, you will always have the seedling of that wish with you in
your potential effect due to the kamma you have made. This in return will condition
your future action.
Therefore,
if you think carefully, your holy intention right now in this lifetime could
well be the potential effect of your previous kamma. It is because we have
travelled through samsara for many aeons and we don’t know what we have done.
You can only judge from your life circumstance now. Why are you drawn towards
the Buddhist practice and so on and why do other people still not have much of
a clue about this good news, etc.?
Now,
the point is that from the moment you make this secret wish, you will travel
through samsara for a long length of time. At every birth, you will keep on
making this secret wish without uttering a word to anyone. Now, the length of
time that you will keep this secret holy vow going varies depending on what
type of Buddha you will become in the future.
It
takes 7 Asankheyya for the Buddha who emphasises using wisdom to help people.
Our Buddha Gotama is this type of Buddha, he spent 7 Asankheyya in samsara just
to keep this secret vow going. The Buddha who emphasises using faith to help
people will have to spend a longer time and that is 14 Asankheyya. As for the
Buddha who emphasises using effort as a means to help people, they will have to
spend an even longer time which is 28 Asankheyya. The Buddha Maitreya is indeed
this type of Buddha.
This
1 Asankheyya is the length of time when a deity counts the raindrops for three
years non stop. So, please imagine how long is the length of time of 7, 14 and
28 Asankheyya.
9, 18 and 36 Asankheyya
After
making a secret holy vow without uttering a word to anyone for all that length
of time, the Bodhisattva will reach the second stage of being the future
Buddha. There will be a day that he brings himself in front of the shrine of
the Buddha of his time and he admits to the image of the Buddha. He literally
utters the words out loud to the Buddha image.
“I
wish I could be a Buddha like you in one of my future lives so that I could
help sentient beings be free from samsara.”
When
this happens, it is the beginning of the second stage of claiming a
Buddha-bhumi. This stage will go on again for another 9 Asankheyya for the
Buddha who emphasises using wisdom, 18 Asankheyya for the Buddha who stresses
using faith and 36 Asankheyya for the Buddha who focusses on using effort in
helping beings. The Bodhisattva will travel through samsara for that length of
time and every birth, he will utter his words out loud to the Buddha image of
his time about his supreme wish.
4, 8, 16 Asankheyya and 100,000 maha kappa
After
the Bodhisattva has done the second stage for that length of time, he is still
quite definite about his holy vow and has no wish to withdraw from that
intention yet, he will then reach the third stage which is the last period of
claiming the Buddha-bhumi. That is in one of his future lives, he will
definitely have a chance to be born as a human-being at the same period of time
as a Buddha. Not only that, he will also have a chance to be present in front
of that Buddha. The Buddha will look at the Bodhisattva and be able to see
through his future. Then, the Buddha will give him a prediction about his
future whether he will or will not succeed in being a Buddha. Not every
Bodhisattva will have a positive response from the Buddha with a guarantee that
he will succeed to be a Buddha in the far future. However, as for the one who
has been granted that wish from the Buddha, he will still travel through
samsara for yet more aeons until he reaches his final life of being a Buddha.
Now
the length of time from the period of being granted the wish by the Buddha till
the Bodhisattva reaches his final lifetime and attain his ultimate
enlightenment and becomes a Buddha himself varies again according to the
different types of Buddha. That is
4 Asankheyya for the Buddha who uses wisdom, 8 Asankheyya for the Buddha
who uses faith and 16 Asankheyya for the Buddha who uses effort. That is not
all: every type of Buddha will still need to spend yet another extra 100,000
maha kappa on top of those 4, 8 and 16 Asankheyya. Those are the lengths of
time of this last stage before ultimate enlightenment. The Bodhisattva will
have to work very hard to accumulate his ten parami so that he can reach
ultimate enlightenment.
I
will summarise the three stages of claiming the ground of the Buddha-bhumi of
the three types of Buddha again. The three types of Buddha will always be in
the order of the Buddha who uses wisdom, faith and effort accordingly.
1) From the first secret wish to the point
of uttering the first word in front of a Buddha image are 7, 14 and 28
Asankheyya.
2) From the point of first admitting to
the Buddha image about the secret vow to the point of literally being present
in front of a living Buddha and having a prediction from him is another 9, 18
and 36 Asankheyya.
3) From the point of having the prediction
from a living Buddha to the final life when the Bodhisattva attains his
ultimate enlightenment and become a Buddha himself is yet another 4, 8, 16
Asankheyya plus the extra of 100,000 maha kappa.
Then,
you have the grand total of 20, 40, 80 Asankheyya and the extra 100,000 maha
kappa.
To
give you some idea of what is really happening during those lengths of time and
why I say claiming the Arahanta-bhumi is relatively easy compared to claiming
the Buddha-bhumi, I will explain in simile. The analogy of food is very
effective and you will see that being a Pra Arahant is indeed a pinch of salt
compared to being a Buddha.
Claiming
the ground of Arahanta-bhumi can be compared to having someone who has already
ploughed the land, grown all the food and gathered the necessary ingredients,
cooked a superb meal and even placed it right in front of you with a spoon,
knife and fork for you to help and feed yourself. How easy this can be for you
who sit right in front of that ready cooked meal!! If you don’t want to eat
that meal and still complain that you are hungry, who can help you? Of course,
no one can help you. And how do you want to describe such types of people?
Indeed, you want to call them stupid and ignorant, don’t you? Unfortunately,
the world is full of them!!! Such people are exactly the same as those who bump
into Buddhism but take no notice whatsoever.
I
am sorry I have to use strong language because people need to be woken up from
their deep sleep of ignorance. I have seen enough people both surrounding me
and throughout our modern age whose lives are a long string of one problem
after another which is the obvious sign of being hungry for food. But because
of ignorance they don’t want to admit it and deny the food right in front of
them. They fight and argue till their faces turn blue that they are not hungry
and they don’t need the delicious meal in front of them. As far as Buddhist
concepts are concerned, people’s ignorance is often disguised in the form of
intellectuals who seem to know what they are talking but deep down, they don’t
have a clue. To the enlightened one or anyone who knows exactly what Buddhism
is about, they can’t help but to look at these people with great pity and wish
they would stop and listen. My role right now is indeed to try to get people to
listen. It is a great pity and very sad because your chance to know something
worthwhile is so near yet so far away because you choose to ignore it. If you think that eating the cooked
meal in front of you is difficult, now look at what a Buddha-to-be has to do.
The
Bodhisattva who is claiming the ground of Buddha-bhumi has to refuse the food
in front of him too but of course for a different reason. A Bodhisattva once
born in a human form will always be born in a Buddhist country and engage in
vipassana practice. What I am about to say might be too complicated but it
doesn’t matter if you cannot understand fully. I have to explain according to
the fact and reason.
When
vipassana practice is proceeding, the practitioner will gain the different
levels of knowledge or insight. There are 16 levels of knowledge to be found
and experienced as you progress in your vipassana. They are called Solasa-nana.
I mentioned this in the first chapter of A Handful of Leaves. It can be
compared to walking along a stretch of road 16 miles long. Every distance of
each milestone has a different view for you to see. The further you walk down,
the more view you can see and experience. The 13th milestone of vipassana
practice is called Gotrabhu-nana. This is the moment of the change of lineage
or the frontier of transformation from an ordinary person to a holy person. I
made the comparison at the beginning of changing from a tiger into a human
being, and the transformation keeps on going until it reaches the perfection
which is the 16th milestone of vipassana practice when one attains ultimate
enlightenment and becomes a Pra Arahant.
To
cut the story short, if you practise the four foundations of awareness or
vipassana, you naturally walk along the 16 milestones or the 16 levels of
knowledge or experience until you reach the end of that path when you become a
Pra Arahant. That is if you want
to claim the ground of Arahanta-bhumi.
If
you nevertheless do not want to claim the Arahanta-bhumi and aim for the
Buddha-bhumi instead, for some reason, your vipassana practice will not
progress. You will come to a standstill when you reach the 12th milestone of
the 16 levels of knowledge. The 12th milestone is Anuloma-nana. Your knowledge
reaches a point when you can see the three characteristics of nature, dukkhata
– suffering, unsatisfactory; aniccata – changing, impermanent; and anattata –
selfless, void. Once you can see the three characteristics of nature, you gain
wisdom and you subsequently withdraw your attachment from all things. Your mind
at this point will settle down to equanimity, neutrality or Upekkha which is so
close to seeing the state of Nirvana, the ultimate reality, the kingdom of God
or the innocent world. If you want to claim the ground of the Buddha-bhumi,
your wisdom will be blocked at this point, at the 12th milestone of knowledge.
Your mind will simply reach the equanimity but can no longer gain more wisdom
so as to know the ultimate state of nature or Nirvana. You are so close to
knowing the ultimate truth but you have no ability to know it. The experience
of the confirmation of the ultimate truth will not happen. Once you stand still
at the 12th milestone and stop walking any further down the path, you therefore
cannot reach the end of that path. Alternatively speaking, you cannot enter
Nirvana and become Pra Arahant which is the exact purpose you have chosen. You
do not want to be a mere Pra Arahant, you want to be a Buddha.
If
you ask me whether it is a deliberate standstill at the 12th milestone or not,
I really cannot answer and cannot understand why you come to a standstill. I
can only say that this is the cultural practice or the tradition of those who
want to claim the ground of Buddha-bhumi. Although I cannot understand who set
that particular condition for the Buddha-bhumi candidate, I can understand the
essence of being held back. That is because the candidate has to build up or
accumulate as much parami as possible not for himself but for others too. The
analogy of a bomb might be effective although it is not quite suitable. Let’s
compare the enlightenment of a Pra Arahant and a Buddha to the different size
of a bomb. The ultimate enlightenment of a Pra Arahant is equivalent to a 1000
pound bomb whilst that of a Buddha is equivalent to a nuclear bomb. Instead of
looking at the result as being destructive, we are going to look at it as being
constructive. According to the analogy, the ultimate enlightenment of a Pra
Arahant is not as powerful in terms of helping people to get free from samsara
as that of a Buddha. The ultimate enlightenment of a Buddha is as powerful as a
nuclear reaction which affects beings in the three worlds. So, in terms of
putting all that energy together to create that powerful result, a Buddha-to-be
has to accumulate many more factors than a Pra Arahant-to-be.
This
is the reason why a Buddha-bhumi candidate is held back at the 12th milestone.
This will give him a chance to accumulate all the factors he needs to boost him
to ultimate enlightenment in his final life. By then, the effect of his
enlightenment will be so powerful that he can help beings in mass numbers.
I
shall go back the analogy of food again and you can see a much clearer picture
of what a Bodhisattva has to go through. Being held back at the 12th milestone
and stopping the chance of going all the way through to ultimate enlightenment
means that a Bodhisattva is very hungry for some food but he cannot eat it. The
ready cooked meal is already placed right in front of him and he badly wants to
eat it but he cannot eat because of his duty in the far future. No matter how
hungry he is, he has to leave that ready cooked meal behind him, get up, go to
plough the land from scratch, sow rice seeds, let them grow, harvest the crops
and cook those grains of rice. He has to do the same with all the other
ingredients to cook a meal. That is to start everything from scratch and go
through the growing process until harvest and cooking. Only then, will he allow
himself to sit down and eat.
Now,
you can begin to understand why a Buddha-bhumi candidate has to spend the
length of time of 20, 40, 80 and the extra 100,000 maha kappa in samsara. This
length of time will give him a chance to collect as much parami (factors for
enlightenment) as possible. You can also begin to understand why Pra Wedsandorn
had to give away his two children Ganha and Charlie to Choochoke, the old
beggar to be used as his servants. Such a dramatic sacrifice is the culture of
all the Buddha-bhumi candidates or Bodhisattva.
Nevertheless,
if any Bodhisattva finds it far too difficult to go through the whole term of
claiming the Buddha-bhumi, he can resign by withdrawing his holy wish. Then,
his practice will progress and move on from the 12th milestone to the 16th
milestone when he enters Nirvana and gets out of samsara for good. So, there
are certainly large numbers of Bodhisattvas going around samsara helping beings
but not Buddhas.
We
certainly don’t know much about other Buddhas in the past. We only know about
our Buddha Gotama because he told us a great deal about when he was a
Bodhisattva travelling through the different realms of samsara. Even when he
was born as an animal, he was exceptional and unlike other animals. Our Buddha
told us about when he was born as the leader of 500 monkeys. He had to go through
a great deal of suffering to save his fellow monkeys. When he was born as an
elephant, he looked after his blind parents. When he was born as a bird, he
flew to find food for his parents and old neighbours first and he missed out. I
advise you to read those stories in the Jataka so that you have an idea of what
our Buddha has gone through before his final life.
Now,
you can understand why I said claiming the Arahanta-bhumi is a pinch of salt
compared to the Buddha-bhumi and also why there are so a few Buddhas who come
to help beings. We are extremely lucky to be born during the most fertile maha
kappa which welcomes the birth of five Buddhas. If you cannot reach ultimate
enlightenment during the establishment of this Buddha or our Buddha Gotama, you
can still make a wish to be born at the time of the future Buddha Maitreya in
the far future.
This
following story has everything to do with claiming the ground of Buddha-bhunmi
and Arahanta-bhumi.
Once
there was a teacher and a young novice. As they were heading back to the
monastery at the edge of the wood, the master walked in front and the novice
walked behind in single file. The novice let his thoughts drift away and he
tried to work out what he should aim for as his ambition.
“I think I’ll
be a Pra Arahant. I can free myself from the bondage of rebirth…on second
thoughts…it is a bit selfish though…being a Pra Arahant…how many people could I
help? Maybe none at all. If I could be a Buddha, I could help many more people.
Yes, I think I will aim to be a Buddha.”
The
master suddenly came to a stop, he stepped aside and said to the novice: “Go,
walk in front of me.”
The
young monk did what his master told him without questioning. He walked in front
of his master as he was told. Then, he drifted again.
“Now, if I set my aim to be a Buddha, I must be mad because it is
extremely difficult as master has said. I have to go through samsara for a very
long time. I don’t think I am capable of going through such suffering and
sacrifice to be a Buddha. Maybe it is better just to stick with being a Pra
Arahant. Yes, I think I will do that.”
The master came to a sharp stop again, stepped over to the side and said
sternly to the novice: “Go, walk behind me.”
Once again,
the young monk obediently did exactly what his master had told him to do. He
carried on walking behind his master but his mind was still preoccupied with
his ambition.
“Then
again, as soon as I imagine myself as a Pra Arahant, I can’t help thinking that
I am selfish because there are so many people who need help in this world. And
how about those in other realms of samsara, who is going to help them? Only a
Buddha could help those beings to be free. And there are so very few Buddhas.
If I make my vow to be a Buddha now, I might be able to be of some use for
beings in the far future. No, I think it is better to be a Buddha than just a
Pra Arahant, I can help more beings. Yes, I will be a Buddha,” the young monk
said loudly in his mind.
The master
stopped sharply again, stepped to the side and said: “Go, walk in front of me.”
The
young monk began to feel puzzled by his master’s sudden change of action but he
still didn’t ask anything. This went on a few more times. The master either
said “Go, walk in front of me” or “Go, walk behind me.” It reached a point when
the novice felt a bit annoyed at his teacher’s indecisiveness. After the
teacher told him to walk in front of him, the young monk refused to do as
before. He stopped and asked his master:
“Your venerable sir, could you please tell me why you keep on stopping
and telling me to either walk in front or behind you?”
The
master then explained calmly to his novice:
“Well, if you wish to be a Pra Arahant, your wish and mine are equal.
And because I am your teacher, you have to walk behind me. However, you also
wish to be a Buddha. Whenever you have that wish, you are at that moment better
than me because I have no wish to be a Buddha. So, it was only right that you
walk in front of me. And it was because you kept on changing your mind; one
minute you wanted to be a Pra Arahant and the next minute you wanted to be a
Buddha. Your mind was up and down like a yo yo. That’s why I kept on stopping
for you to be in the right place.”
Only then did the young monk realise that his master could read his
mind!!!
I
have no idea what is going through your mind right now by the end of this
chapter. My aim however was for you to have less fear of your physical death
because samsara is much more frightening. If you don’t get out of samsara as
quickly as you can, you will have to bear the fear of your physical death over
and over endlessly. If you think your life is troublesome enough so far, can
you imagine the repeated worrying and upsets that life will bring you time
after time continually and eternally. As a matter of fact, if you can see that
life is troublesome, your view towards life is far better than those who think
that life is fun and enjoyable and it is not about suffering all the time as
the Buddha claimed.
The
Buddha once pointed to Pra Ananda, his private attendant and said:
“Ananda, can you see that mountain over there? That mountain is still very
small compared to the bones of a single human being who has died time after
time in samsara.”
He
also said that the water in the ocean was still far less than the tears that
one being has shed during the endless births in samsara.
My
purpose is also for you to appreciate what you have learnt so far about
Buddhism and take extra notice of the four foundations of awareness.
[1] Wimutiratanamalee written by Phra
Prommolee (Wiraj Yannawaro)
[2] Wherever I use the term Buddha-to-be, please understand that it has the same meaning as Bodhisattva. So, both words can be replaced by each other.
[3] Please
keep on referring back to the four foundations of awareness in A Handful of
Leaves and follow those guidelines carefully. The second part of this book is
however aimed to help you to have a clearer access to this crucial practice. I
intend to draw a much more detailed life map to aid you to walk the path to
Nirvana.