The Bodhisatta in Theravada Buddhism, Nico Moonen [christmas read aloud .txt] 📗

will have a large retinue. He will be surrounded by monks and nuns, male and female lay followers, devas and humans. All his followers will be well disposed to him. He will receive their loyalty. He will be obeyed by them. He will be a master of doctrine, and all the folk will flock to hear the teaching that he will proclaim. He will have a persuasive voice. All his followers will take his words to heart. His followers will be pure. For he drives out from their hearts evil and corrupting states. His followers will not be divided among themselves. All will be delighted by his words and follow him in Dhamma’s great and lesser ways. He will gain unsurpassed wealth, namely faith, morality, moral shame, moral dread, learning, renunciation and wisdom. He cannot lose anything: faith, morality, learning, renunciation or wisdom. He will succeed in all things. As a Buddha he cannot be impeded by any enemy or adversary from within or without, from greed, hatred or delusion, nor by any ascetic or Brahmin, any deva, māra or Brahmā, or any being in the world. Peerless, never more will he be reborn.[156] The Pāramīs

 

    The Buddhavamsa mentiones 10 bodhi-pācana dhammā i.e. qualities that lead to the ripening of Perfect Enlightenment.[157] These qualities are the ten perfections (pāramīs) or ten transcendental virtues. Every Bodhisatta practises these pāramīs in order to gain Supreme Enlightenment. The pāramīs are:

1. generosity (dāna);

2. morality (sīla);

3. renunciation (nekkhamma);

4. wisdom (paññā);

5. energy (viriya);

6. patience, forbearance (khanti);

7. truthfulness (sacca);

8. determination (adhitthāna);

9. loving-kindness (mettā);

10. equanimity (upekkhā).

 

    According to the Cariyā pitaka Commentary, pāramīs are those virtues which are cultivated with compassion, guided by reason, uninfluenced by selfish motives, and unsullied by misbelief and all feelings of self-conceit.[158]

    Buddhahood is no sudden attainment. There are no shortcuts to this spiritual peak. It is to be reached only by prolonged, persistent and painful endeavour spread through countless lives in a enormously long period of time. It results from the fulfilment of the ten perfections (pāramīs). To become a Buddha these pāramīs have to be perfected three times, some have argued.[159] In that way there are through analysis thirty pāramīs: ten basic perfections (hīna pāramī), ten higher (upapāramī) or middle perfections (majjhimapāramī), and ten ultimate (paramattha pāramī) or superior perfections (panīta pāramī). The last is the case when the mind is set on the deed alone, not on its consequences.[160]

    The difference between the three types of pāramīs may be illustrated thus: dāna pāramī means the ability to joyously give away all one's worldly possessions, (wealth, kingdom); dāna upapārami means giving parts of one's own body, such as eyes, limb, flesh, blood, etc.; and dāna-paramattha pārami means the sacrifice of one's own life. The Bodhisatta's acts, in fulfilment of the higher pāramīs, are great heroic deeds of absolute self-sacrifice, compassion and wisdom.[161]

    My view is that this illustration is based on Mahāyāna. To be for the benefit of others, one has to have a healthy body. In the Lakkhana Sutta acts like giving parts of the body are not mentioned. In de Pāli Canon self-mutilation is not recommended as a way to holiness nor is it considered as a meritorious action.[162] It is much better to devote one’s whole life to the Dhamma. The teaching of the Buddha is the middle way and not a way of extremes. This applies also to a Bodhisatta.

    One who can fulfil only the basic perfections is said to attain the state of Sāvakabodhi, the Enlightenment of a Noble Disciple.[163] I showed earlier that this statement need not be true. Holiness is attained as a disciple of a living Buddha or when his teaching still exists. It is not known what duration of time is needed to reach Arahantship, the state of Sāvakabodhi. Some attain the high goal within a few weeks; some need many years or a whole life. And not everybody has then practised the pāramīs to perfection.[164]

    By fulfilling the ten basic perfections for a period of 100,000 kappas one can attain the Enlightenment of a Great Disciple (mahāsāvaka). And by fulfilling the ten basic perfections for a period of one asankheyya and 100,000 kappas one can attain the Enlightenment of a Chief Disciple (aggasāvaka).

    One who can fulfil the basic and the higher perfections, attains Paccekabodhi, the Enlightenment of a Paccekabuddha. And one who can fulfil both basic, higher and ultimate perfections attains Sabbaññu-bodhi, Supreme Self-Enlightenment with one’s own effort.[165]

    Illustrations of the perfections are given in the Cariyāpitaka. Some say that this book is a small collection of jātakas and considered to be post-Asokan. It arranges stories to illustrate how the Bodhisatta gradually matured and mastered the perfections.[166] Those stories must not be taken literally. There are inconsistencies in them and I will not enter into further details about them.

    The statement about perfecting the pāramīs three times is not found in the Pāli Canon and probably originates from the Mahāyāna. Ven. Wimalaratana has pointed out that the ethical norms in the Lakkhana Sutta can be compared with the ten pāramīs in the Theravāda tradition. By providing an ethical foundation for the 32 marks of the great man, the scope is made in the Lakkhana Sutta for the conceptual importance  of the pāramīs. In this sutta the emphasis is put on the altruistic aspect of the Bodhisatta. We have seen that obtaining these 32 marks is the result of the accumulation of merit in the course of his former lives. The process undergone to gain those marks is nearly the same as the career of the Bodhisatta practising the perfections. For the Great Man who possesses the 32 marks, and the Buddha who is the final product of the Bodhisatta career, is one and the same.[167]

    All the pāramīs, without exception, have as their characteristic the benefiting of others. They have as their function the rendering of help to others. They have as their manifestation the wish for the welfare of others, or Buddhahood. And they have as their proximate cause great compassion, or compassion and skilful means.[168] These virtues are explained in chapter 5.

Spheres of existence of Bodhisattas

 

    According to Venerable Nārada the Bodhisatta is reborn in various spheres of existence during his career.[169] Now he is a mighty god, now he is a man or an animal, until he finally is reborn in the Tusita heaven. There he waits for the correct time to be reborn, for the last time, as a human being, in order to become a perfect Buddha. Those rebirths in various spheres of existence are the results of the law of kamma-vipāka, action and its moral results.[170] However, if the Bodhisatta is reborn in a heavenly sphere where the life span usually lasts innumerable aeons, then he is able by his own willpower to shorten his life span, it is said. In that case he is reborn in another suitable place where he can serve the world and can practise the pāramīs.[171]

    However, the Commentary on the Buddhavamsa mentiones eighteen states in which Bodhisattas are never reborn.[172]

1. They do not arise in the Avîci-hell.

2. They are not departed beings consumed by constant craving and tormented by hunger and thirst.

3. They are not tiny creatures arising in a bad existence.

4-7. When born among men, they are not born blind. They have no deficiency in hearing. They are not dumb or paralysed.

8-10. They are not born as women nor as hermaphrodites or eunuchs.

11-14. They are released from offences which bring immediate results. That means they are unable to commit anyone of the heinous deeds, namely: killing an Arahant; physically injuring a Buddha with intention; creating schism in the Sangha; killing father or mother.

15. The suitable places for them to visit are pure in every respect.

16. Beholding the efficacy of kamma they do not follow false views.

17. Even though dwelling in the heavens they will not arise in a non-conscious state.

18. They will not be reborn among the devas of the Pure Abodes; only non-returners are born there.

   

    What can be said about the nature of the truth embodied in these statements? Does the Bodhisatta really have special powers through which he is able to shorten his life span? And can he also be reborn as an animal? Why will he never be reborn as a woman? The Jātakas on which probably many of these statements are based, cannot be adduced as proof . They are best interpreted as educational stories intended to exemplify particular moral qualities.

    Venerable Moggaliputta Tissa Thera wrote that the Bodhisatta cannot go to an evil doom.[173] This means that he will neither be reborn in the worlds of hell nor as an unhappy spirit, demon or animal. When making the aspiration to Buddhahood, the Bodhisatta must be of male sex to be successful. And in his last existence he is a man as well. About the sex in his earlier career nothing is mentioned. There is no statement in the Pāli Canon to the effect that Bodhisattas must be male throughout their careers. The ancient brahmin attitude towards women was that women are subordinate to men and nuns subordinate to monks. Many monks in the early Sangha came from brahmin family backgrounds and, no doubt, would have tended to maintain the traditional attitude towards women. The Theravādins appeared to have maintained a negative attitude towards women. The gap between men and women that was reduced by the Buddha when he gave equality of social and religious status to women, was then widened again.[174] But whether the Bodhisatta is able to shorten his life span in a heaven, is not referred to in the Pāli Canon. 

The four resolutions

 

    Further, four resolutions must be fulfilled by the Bodhisatta. They are: truth, liberality, peace and wisdom. They are fulfilled by the ten