THE POWER OF THE TRIPLE GEM Samyutta Nikàya Division I Ý Sagàtha Book 6 Ý Brahma Saüyutta (Chapter 1 Ý Pathamo (Kokàlika) Vaggo Namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammàsambuddhassa 6. 1. 1. (1) âyacanaü Ý Entreaty 1. I heard thus. Soon after enlightenment, the Blessed One was living in Sàvatthi on the bank of river Nera¤jara, at the root of the Ajapàla banyan tree. 2. When the Blessed One was in seclusion this thought and thought process arose to him: 3. The Teaching I have realized is deep, difficult to see and understand, is peaceful, exalted, not logically attained, is subtle and it is for the wise to realize. People at large, are fond of settling, attached to it and risen from settling. By the populace fond of settling, attached to it and risen from settling, this point is difficult to be seen. That is, how there is an arising because of this, this too is difficult to be seen. That is the appeasement of all determinations, the giving up of all endearments, destruction of craving, fading, cessation and extinction. If I was to preach this, others would not know what I say. I will be fatigued and it would be annoyance to me. 4. To the Blessed One these stanzas never heard before, occurred at that time. ßI attained this with difficulty, why should I preach By those overcome by greed and hate, this is not easy to realize. It's clever, deep, difficult to see, subtle and goes against the stream. The passionate do not see it, covered by a mass of darkness.û 5. When the Blessed One reflected in this manner, his mind bent to living at ease and not preaching. 6. Then it occurred to Brahma Sahampathy who knew the thought process in the Blessed One's mind. `Indeed the world is going to be destroyed if the worthy, rightfully enlightened, Thus Gone One's mind, bends to living at ease and not preaching. 7..Then Brahma Sahampathy as quickly as a strong man would stretch his bent arm or bend his stretched arm, disappeared from the world of brahma and appeared before the Blessed One 8. Then Brahma Sahampathy arranging his robe on one shoulder, put the right knee on the ground and clasping his hands towards the Blessed One said: ßVenerable sir, Blessed One, well gone one, preach the Teaching, there are beings with few defilements, they would deteriorate not hearing the Teaching. There will be those who understand the Teaching. 9. Brahma Sahampathy further said thus: ßIn Magadha, in the past the impure teaching was present erroneously thought out. Open the door to deathlessness! May the pure Teaching be heard! As one standing on a rock, at the top of a mountain, could see the populace on all sides, Wise one, I compare you there, ascend the mansion and relieve the grieving. Look at those overcome with birth and decay. Hero steady and win the battle Be the caravan leader and tour the world without a debt. Blessed One, proclaim the Teaching. There will be those who understand!û 10. The Blessed One, knowing Brahma's entreaty and out of compassion for the world, looked at the world with the eye of an enlightened one. 11. The blessed One saw beings with few defilements, many defilement, sharp mental faculties, weak mental faculties, with good dispositions and bad dispositions, beings who could grasp quickly and slowly and some others living with fear, to do wrong, conscious of the next world. 12. Just as out of blue lotuses, red lotuses and white lotuses, a few are born, nourish, grow and bloom, in the water. A few come up to the level of the water and bloom and a few others stand above the water and bloom without touching the water. In the same manner the blessed One saw, beings with few defilements, many defilement, sharp mental faculties, weak mental faculties, with good dispositions and bad dispositions, beings who could grasp quickly and slowly and some others living with fear, to do wrong, conscious of the next world. 13. Then the Blessed One replied to Brahma Sahampathy with this stanza: ßThe door to deathlessness is open. May those who have ears be released out of faith! My perception is not hurting and will not speak straightforward words Brahma, the exalted Teaching is available to humans.û 14. Then Brahma Sahampathy, knowing that the Teaching of the Blessed One would be available, worshipped and circumambulated the Blessed One and vanished from there. SN 5:1.2. Then Màra the evil one desiring to frighten bhikkhuni âlavika approached her and said this stanza: ßIn the world, there is no refuge, what could seclusion do to you. Partake sensual passion, do not have remorse later.û 3. Then it occurred to bhikkhuni âlavika, ßWho is it that says a stanza, is it a human or non-human?û 4. Then it occurred to bhikkhuni âlavika, it is Màra the evil one, desiring to frighten me and disturb me in my seclusion that has said this stanza. 5. And bhikkhuni âlavika knowing it is Màra the evil One, replied with this stanaza ßThere is a refuge in the world, I have realized it wisely. Relation of negligence, you do not know that! Sensuality is like the blade of a sword, The masses are like the executing block, You talk of sensual passion, I have become passionless. A poor wretch begged to be admitted among the bhikshus. But the grave Sariputra, in charge of the community during one of Sakyamunis absences, refuses, after investigation, to accept him. Moreover, the monks rebuff him and vy with one another in jeering at him. They maintain that, as far back as one goes in his past existences, he has never done the slightest good action. He must be lost forever and ever.   However, see how Sakyamuni returning notices the wretch weeping.   Why do you weep?    No bhikshu wants to accept me . . .   The head of them all, Sariputra himself, above every other in intelligence, has rejected me.  Then, Buddha sounding like thunder far off, comforted him thus: Sariputras sagacity is not penetrating enough. For innumerable aeons I have practised repentance and cultivated intelligence; I can help you. Sariputra has not sifted your case thoroughly, He cannot take it back far enough to solve The subtle principle of karmas. Tale of the rejected devotee. His faith put him on the path to liberation. More precisely, a few centuries after Sakyamunis death, round about the (beginning of the) Christian era, the belief existed in certain circles that liberation could be attained by means of a simple calling to (invocation of) the Buddha. This is shown to us, for example, by a narrative dating from Kanishka (first or second century AD?) 26 and garnered by Asvaghosa, the great forerunner of the Mahayanist teachings, in his collection of prose tales mingled with verse which is called Sutralamkara, the Embellishment of the Sayings of Buddha. Sariputra has not sifted your case thoroughly, He cannot take it back far enough to solve The subtle principle of karmas. Then, Buddha sounding like thunder far off, comforted him thus: Sariputras sagacity is not penetrating enough. For innumerable aeons I have practised repentance and cultivated intelligence; I can help you. Then he added: You have my permission to abandon the world. I desire to purchase in the bazaar of the Law a man full of faith like you. by means of the Law, I am going to obtain your salvation without losing a moment.Placing his gentle hand, bearing on it the emblem of the wheel, on the candidates shoulder, he led him into the great hall of the community. There he questioned Sariputra who could only say: I did not see worthy qualities in this man.Buddha replied: Do not say so, Sariputra! Worthy qualities I consider to be A subject by no means easy to discern. The ores of the mountain, When smelted, give gold. so I shall use dhyana and intelligence by way of a bellows Blowing fullness of true worthiness into him, Producing pure gold from him Thus is it with this man Whose hidden worth is like this gold. (No matter how bad a mans karma, if we could go back far enough&- to his origin - we would discover & pure gold& hidden in the seemingly unprofitable gravel.) In fact, in the course of a previous life, he had been attacked one day by a tiger, while looking for wood in the forest, and cried out: Adoration to Buddha! This cry of faith (reliance), which at that time saved his body, had now put him in the way of final liberation. Asvaghosa concludes: This single invocation of the Buddha Has something in it not easy to discern: By it this man has broken his evil circuit, By it displayed his worthiness, Whole-heartedly took his refuge in the Buddha, and so must attain at last to liberation. 28 The teaching which traces its way through such praises and narratives could well go back at least to the first century B.C. It finds expression indeed in the Sutra of Nagasena (in Chinese: Nasien King), a Chinese version of the Milinda-panha which is cited earlier. There is encountered an expression metaphor, earnestly commented upon, which the Chinese authors loved to quote, and which is found likewise in the Japanese Ginshin and Honen. King Milinda, the Menander of the Greeks, still sceptical, questions the old monk Nagasena:   You say: Men who in one existence have done evil for up to a hundred years, if they think of the Buddha at the moment of death 33 will all obtain after death rebirth in Heaven above. I cant accept that.   You say furthermore: Let one kill a single living being, and at death he must go to hell (niraya). I cant accept that. Then Nagasena asked the Kind: If you take a little pebble, and lay it on the surface of the water, O King, will it float or sink? The King replied: The pebble will sink. Nagasena went on: If you take a hundred boulders, and lay them on a boat, O King, will the boat sink? It will not, the king said. Nagasena explained: On account of the boat, the hundred boulders laid on it do not sink. Although a man have a thoroughly bad karma, let him think once of the Buddha, and on account of this thought he will not go to hell, but will be reborn in Heaven. The little pebble which sinks to the bottom is like a man doing evil and ignorant of Buddhas sutra: after death, he will go to hell.   He himself declared, according to the Majjhina nikaya: Monks, whoever utters with regard to me a simple sentiment of faith or affection, will go to paradise, nirvana and progress in the way of nirvana being reserved for those who apply themselves to the teaching.    Certainly a relatively modest promise, since it is a question there again only of a wholly worldly (?heavenly) reward; a decided benefit, nevertheless, for the common herd of mortals, and the principle was laid down of this;other power, the idea of which Amidism will develop to the limit. The Digha nikaya says likewise: He who dies on a pilgrimage, and with a thought calmed in the Buddha, will obtain a good destiny after death. And the Dhammapada: He who takes refuge in the Buddha will not depart to a bad destiny; when he gives up his body, he will go to the assembly of the gods.The Abhidharma writings agree that the Buddhas pity differs from the pity of other pitiful beings (compassionate): the pity of non-Buddhas is like that of a man lamenting, beside the river, the unfortunate person drowning; the Buddhas pity is like that of a man who jumps into the water and saves this unfortunate. Each disciple was a little like the good Ananda, of whom the Sutta Nipata relates that, at the sight of his Master, appearing one day as a prince bright as a flame, shining like the stars and unobscured like the clear autumnal sun, he was ;overcome by joy and in ecstasy. In one way or another, each school held forth concerning his nature. many held him to be a supernatural being (lokottara), a super-god (devatideva). Declarations were attributed to him which magnified him. It was felt too that his presence gave protection. Wherever the ascetic Gautama shows himself, no spirit of evil can approach him; therefore, invite him here, and all these demons which torment us will flee.Even without the idea of obtaining some benefit, the desire to see him, to become personally attached to him, pierces through certain narratives, as in this request addressed by Srona Kotikarna to his master mahakatyayana, in the Divyavadana &Thanks to my Master I have seen the Blessed One insofar as the teaching is his body (= I have seen the body of the Law, dhammakaya), but I wish now to see him in his visible body. Other analogous stories were told. During his lifetime Sakyamuni had, it was said, protested several times against the futility of such a desire. He had said for example to Vaikkali: What good would it do you to see this body of corruption (putikaya)? He who beholds the Dharma (the Law) beholds me; and again, to a nun (bhikshuni) who, more loving or more curious than the Bhikshu Subhuti left her meditation to go and greet him: Subhuti greeted me first, no you. What do I mean? Subhuti, contemplating the emptiness of all the elements (dhammas), has seen the Buddhas Body of the Law (dhammakaya); he has discovered the true worship (puja), that above all others, to render him. To come to greet by birth-body (jammakaya) is not to honour me.The Ittivuttaka attributes to him these words: The bhikshu who follows me by shaping the hem of my garment is far from me, and I am far from him. Why? Because seeing the Dharma he sees me. Kumasajiva (1906), chapter IX, tale 57. Buddha disavows Sariputra; pp. 283 - 287. The latest conclusion, in prose, is more vulgar: So one sees that a huge reward is given in return for the slightest good intentions shown towards the Sublime, how much more so if we erect divine images and build stupas. At the very beginning, as he does so often, Asvaghosa introduces the story by a short moral: Even if you possess no more than a grain of worthiness, you must look to Buddha for your salvation. A man of little merit appealing to Buddha receives ambrosia from him. hence, let us wholeheartedly take refuge in the Buddha. For another text attributed to Asvaghosa, CB Hobogirin, I. p. 25. They agreed well with the notion of the Buddha which little by little emerged from his new biographies such as the Buddhacarita of Asvaghosa, or the Lalitavistara. They found a favourable soil in the new type of the bodhisattva, this being filled with compassion who is no longer, like the arhat, holy for himself who does not stop his thought at nirvana but who, free from every tie wishes;to watch over the world and devote himself to the salvation of all beings. 44 It can be seen cropping out on several occasions, in the second century, in the works of Nagarjuna, the great doctor who gave a second turn to the Wheel of the Law the selfsame one who earlier reminded us of the implacable law of karma. \Plant your merits in the field of the Buddha\says for example, the Mahaprajnaparamita-sastra, and the reward that you will reap from it will be like these lotuses which fill innumerable earths, etc\And the Dasabhumivibhasa- sastra, in a passage which the Amidists will be fond of quoting: \Among the ways of this world, there are easy ones and hard ones. To walk on the way of the land is arduous, to steer by the way of the water is pleasant. So it is with the ways of the Bodhisattvas: some jealously practice the spiritual energy; others, by the easy practice of the means of faith rapidly arrive at the avaivarti\ A little further on, Nagarjuna writes again, using an image analogous to that of the Sutra of Nagasena By getting into the boat of the Eightfold Way, one can cross the sea difficult to cross over, cross it oneself and cause others to cross it. smallest roots of good related to Buddha spring up as great Trees of Blessing. I earn merit by virtue. I transfer this merit, and in so doing earn more merit, which I transfer and so on \to infinity\ Name Amitabha Buddha. The efficacy of this formula of homage derives from the powers of the Buddha which exist as product of this perfection. The efficacy is communicated, so the formula is the line of communication, the telegraph wire between the Buddha and the devotee. believe in Me with serene thoughts should there be any difference between gods and men Thinking of the merits of the Buddha. He is the surest refuge. His name is the seed of deliverance. Jataka, 491: A misdeed seven thousand years old suddenly rises up like a cobraCB Acschylus, Agememnon, v. 764-768: Jeremiah IV, B: Your conduct and your actions have designed that! It is the business of the evil you have done which strikes you to the heart. I, 142, Mahaparinibbana-sutta, XVI, 5, 8: All those who die with a believing heart while on pilgrimage to holy places, will be reborn after death, the body being dissolved, in the blessed heaven. 288. CB Jakata, I, 97. Ekottara Agama, 32: He who has sinned in deed, word or thought, if at the hour of his death he thinks of the merits of the Tathagata, he will be preserved from the three bad destinies, and though most vile, will be reborn in heaven  The Mahakarmavibhanga will go further; narrating the legend of the young and poor Malini, it says: She gave a garland of straw to the monument of Sugata, and she gained the best of garlands of gold and precious stones, the garland of the Members of the Illumination  (translated Sylvain Lévi, pp. 148 - 149)

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