Part 4 - Kāḷa Buddha Rakkhita Thera

Natural Bent

The Buddha expounded Cula Saccaka Sutta and Mahā Saccaka Sutta. The former is as long as a section for recitation at the Buddhist Council while Mahā Saccaka Sutta is as long as one and a half section for recitation at the Buddhist Council. In spite of these long discourses and exhortation by the Buddha, Saccaka did not attain any stage of the Path and Fruition nor did he receive ordination. He did not take refuge in the three Jewels either. A question might be asked as to why then the Buddha had preached him such exhaustive suttas?

The Buddha preached the discourses to sow the seed of the Noble Truths in him so as to reap the harvest of the Path and Fruition, in due course. This is an explanation in detail: The Buddha perceived that Saccaka lacked sufficing conditions for the attainment of the Path and Fruition during his life time. But he was destined to attain arahatship two hundred years after the Buddha’s Parinibbāna when the sāsana would be in full bloom at Sihala (Sri Lanka). He would be born to the family of a minister of a king. When he became of age, he would become a bhikkhu and after learning the Tipiṭaka and practising the Vipassanā meditation attains arahatta-phala, endowed with paṭisaṃbhida-ñāṇa. He would be popularly known as Kāḷa Buddha Rakkhita Thera. Perceiving thus his future destiny through His knowledge of the future, anagata-ñāṇa, the Buddha had instilled into his heart a spark of Truth so that it might develop into a natural tendency in due time.

When the sāsana was in full bloom at Sihala, he would pass away from the celestial plane and was reborn to the family of a minister at a village that was responsible for the provision of food for a Great Monastery known as Dakkhinagiri. He would receive ordination when he came of age and studied the Tipiṭaka. He eventually rose to the status of a senior bhikkhu in charge of a section of the Sangha. He would go to pay homage, in the company of his numerous disciples, to his preceptor, who was responsible for his ordination.

The preceptor would decide to censure his own disciple, Buddha Rakkhita, for neglecting the practices for liberation, though he had studied the Tipiṭaka. The teacher then decided therefore, not to sit face to face with the disciple.

Going to his master’s monastery on the following day, Kāḷa Buddha Rakkhita Thera would ask his teacher: “Revered Sir... now that I have come to see you after completion of the full course of learning the scriptures, I find that you do not seem to have the desire to see me. May I know if there is anything wrong I have done?”

His teacher would answer: “Buddha Rakkhita... do you think that you have accomplished all the tasks incumbent on a bhikkhu just because you have studied the five Nikāyas and the Tipiṭaka?” Whereupon, he would seek for instructions by asking: “Revered Sir... if so, what should I do?” His preceptor would give the following instructions: “You must give up all the obligations to your followers (ganapatibodha) which obstruct your progress, and cut off all the remaining defilement by repairing to Cetīya Mountain Monastery and devote entirely to the bhikkhu-dhamma, i.e. meditation.

Kāḷa Buddha Rakkhita Mahāthera would do as he was advised by his old master and in due course he attained the Exalted State of Patisambhida arahat. He would continue to reside at the Cetīya Mountain Monastery amidst many disciples, and became well-known as the Master of the King and the commoners, as well.

King Tissa Listened to The Discourses

At one time, King Tissa was keeping his religious practice in a cave known as Raja on the hill of the Cetīya. He left words with a bhikkhu who was attending upon the Kāḷa Buddha Rakkhita Mahāthera: “Revered Sir... Kindly let me know when the Venerable Kāḷa Buddha Rakkhita attends to questions or preaches Dhamma.” On a day fixed for preaching, Kāḷa Buddha Rakkhita went to the precincts of Kandhaka stupa and sat on the Dhamma throne prepared at the base of an ebony tree.

Kāḷa Buddha Rakkhita recited the introductory stanza and started to preach the Kāḷa Karama Sutta as laid down in Catukka nipatta Aṅguttara Pail Text. The bhikkhu attendant to the Mahāthera went to King Tissa and informed him of the preaching of the Dhamma by the Mahāthera.

King Tissa reached the site of Dhamma teaching while the Mahāthera was still reciting the introductory stanza. He stood listening the discourse on the fringe of the big audience, in the guise of a commoner, throughout the three watches of the night. He said: “Sādhu, Sādhu” at the conclusion of the discourse. The Mahāthera recognized him to be the King and asked: “How long have you been here?” “Revered Sir... from the outset of the discourse,” was his reply. When the Mahāthera said: “Your Majesty... you have done a difficult thing indeed.” To this, the King made this solemn reply: “Revered Sir... this is not a difficult thing at all for me to keep standing and listening the discourse for a night. In fact, I had been taking note of every word and following the discourse without my mind being led astray at any moment, from start to finish. I swear that this statement of mine is true. Had I told a lie, I might be stripped off my sovereignty over this island of Sihala, without having any more authority even over a tiny spot of land the size of the tip of a whip.” He thus made a solemn vow very boldly.

Infinite Attributes of The Buddha

Kāḷa Karama Sutta illustrates the attributes of the Buddha, and therefore King Tissa asked the Mahāthera: “Revered Sir... should we take it that you have described all the attributes of the Buddha in full or are there any more besides these?” The Mahāthera replied: “Your Majesty... attributes of the Buddha are infinitely incalculable, many times more than what I have just described.”

(1) The King then requested: “Revered Sir... kindly explain to us with an example.” The Mahāthera gave an example in response to the King’s request. “Your Majesty... suppose there is a state paddy field measuring one thousand pais^[1]. The amount of seeds present in an ear or spike of corn is infinitesimal compared with the number of seeds borne by the rest of corn spikes in the whole field; even so the attributes of the Buddha that remain undescribed by me are innumerable times greater than what I have just described.”

(2) The King said: “Revered Sir... please give us another example.” The Mahāthera said: “Just as the amount of water that would pass through the eye of a needle, which is dipped in alignment with the current of the river Ganges, is negligible when compared with the remaining volume of water that flows down the mighty river, even so the attributes of the Buddha that I have described is negligible compared to those that still remain undescribed.”

(3) The King said: “Revered Sir... please give us some more example.” The Mahāthera said: “A tiny bird of sky-lark species can be seen flying merrily about the sky. Just compare the area of space that is covered by its spread-out wings with the remaining open space, and, tell me which portion of the space is greater?” The King readily responded: “Revered Sir, how can you have said it to me... it goes without saying that the amount of space occupied by the spreading wing of the bird is negligible when compared to the remaining infinite portion of the space (sky).” The Mahāthera told the King: “Your Majesty, even so, the attributes of the Buddha that remain unrevealed by me are far greater than what I have just described.”

The King then addressed the Mahāthera: “Revered Sir... you have taught well by comparing the infinity of attributes of the Buddha with the infinity of the space. May I express my profound respect and deep sense of gratitude to you. We are incapable of making a fitting homage to you. May I therefore offer you kingship and sovereign power over the island of Sihala with an area of three hundred yojanas! This is an humble offer of a poor man.” (The King had evaluated his kingship vis-a-vis the invaluable discourses on the Attributes of the Buddha; hence he likened the offering of his kingship as a poor man’s gift.)

Kāḷa Buddha Rakkhita Mahāthera made this remark in response to the King’s offer: “Your Royal Highness... you have, indeed, shown your profound respect and deep sense of gratitude to me, and I now return the kingship, which you have offered to me with all its glories, to you with my blessings: my sincere wish is that you rule the people of the Sihala and govern them with righteousness.”

(This Kāḷa Buddha Rakkhita, the arahant, had set an example to the members of the Order. The kingship and regalia or emblems of royalty, offered out of deep devotional faith and reverence to bhikkhus are not to be accepted since they are appurtenances and luxurious belongings of worldly people. They should be returned to the donors.)

During the fifth vassa, the Buddha had made the first and second visit to Sihala to give exhortations to the dragon King Culodara and his nephew Mahodara. But as the Buddha made a third visit to the island during the eighth vassa, we have deferred inclusion of the first two visits in order to give a combined account of the three visits when we describe the events of the eighth vassa.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

one pai equals to 1.75 acres covered by five baskets of seed paddy scattered.