Part 22 - Eight Categories of Assemblies

When the Buddha discoursed on the eight causes of great earthquakes, Venerable Ānanda, being of great wisdom, rightly concluded that the Buddha had relinquished the life-maintaining mental process that very day. The fact of Ānanda’s appraisal of the situation was known by the Buddha but He did not allow Ānanda to disrupt the discourse and continued with other topics, such as the eight categories of assemblies, the eight abhibhāyatanas, and the eight vimokkha.

(There are certain commentators who explain this action, on the part of the Buddha, as His strategy of alleviating the sorrow that would arise in Ānanda, if the fact of the relinquishing the life-maintaining mental process were to be allowed to surface itself. The fresh topics that the Buddha takes up without interrupting are thus meant to occupy Ānanda’s mind with matters other than the Buddha’s oncoming death.)

“Ānanda,” said the Buddha, “there are eight categories of assemblies. There are: assembly of nobles, assembly of brahmins, assembly of householders, assembly of bhikkhus, assembly of the devas of the realm of the Four Great Kings, assembly of the devas of the realm of the Tāvatiṃsa Deva realm, assembly of the devas led by Māra, and assembly of Brahmās.

“Ānanda, I remember having attended hundreds of assemblies of nobles. (p:) In those assemblies, I sat together with them, conversed with them, and had discussions with them. While I was among them, My appearance was like their appearance and My voice was like their voice. In My discourses to them, I pointed out to them the benefits of the Doctrine, exhorted them to get established in the practice of the Dhamma, and gladdened them in the practice. While I was thus discoursing to them, they did not know Me: they wondered: “Who is this one discoursing? Is He, a deva or a man?” After I had, by My discourse, pointed out to them the benefits of the Dhamma, and gladdened them in the practice, I vanished from there. When I vanished too, they did not know Me; and wondered: ‘Who was that one who has vanished now? Was He a deva or a man?’”

“Ānanda, I remember having attended hundreds of:... assemblies of brahmins...(repeat p: above).

... assemblies of householders...(repeat p: above)... assemblies of bhikkhus...(repeat p: above)

... assemblies of devas of the realm of the Four Great Kings...(repeat p: above)

... assemblies of devas of the realm of Tāvatiṃsa devas...(repeat p: above)

... assemblies of devas led by Māra...(repeat p: above)

“Ānanda, I remember having attended hundreds of assemblies of Brahmā. In those assemblies, I sat together with them, conversed with them, and had discussion with them. While I was among them, My appearance was like their appearance, and My voice was like their voice. In My discourses to them I pointed out to them the benefits of the Doctrine, exhorted them to get established in the practice of the Dhamma, and gladdened them in the practice. While I was thus discoursing to them, they did not know Me; they wondered, who is this one discoursing? Is He, a deva or a man? After I had, by My discourse, pointed out to them the benefits of the Doctrine, exhorted them to get established in the practice of the Dhamma, and gladdened them in the practice, I vanished from there. When I vanished too, they did not know Me, they wondered: “Who was that one that has vanished now? Was He a deva or a man?”

“Ānanda, these are the categories of assemblies.”

(the discourse is not ended yet).

(Herein: some examples of the great many assemblies of nobles are: the first meeting with King Bimbisāra after the Buddha had attained Enlightenment (Refer to Chapter 24), the Buddha’s first visit to Kapilavatthu and meeting with His kinsmen (Refer to Chapter 26), the Buddha’s meeting with Licchavī princes as told in the Sunakkhatta vatthu, Saccaka vatthu (Refer to Chapter 32). Such meetings with nobles took place also in the other worldsystems, it should be presumed.

“My appearance was like their appearance” means not the colour of the skin, but the form, for nobles had various colours in skin, some white, some black, some dark tan like the bed bug. As regards the form, the Buddha did not assume any particular guise, but remained His ownself. Only the onlookers, the nobles, regarded them as one of them. (This reminds one the traditional presentation of the Buddha image in royal attire with reference to the His taming of Jambupati.)

“My voice was like their voice” means the language that the Buddha used in speaking at the particular assembly. Regarding the voice itself, the Buddha had a voice like that of the Lord of Brahmas, a voice replete with eight marvellous qualities. When the Buddha happened to be seated on a throne, the audience would think that their king was speaking in a sweet voice. Only after He had finished the discourse and left the assembly, then the audience could see their real king and they were left wondering: “Who was there sitting on the throne, who talked to us in Magadhī on the Dhamma in such a sweet voice, and who is gone now? Was He a deva or was He a man?” They did not know that it was the Buddha.

It might be asked: “Why did the Buddha discoursed on the Dhamma to those who did not recognize Him? What benefit did He see there?” The answer is: the Buddha preached to them to prepare the ground for their enlightenment later. Here’s the explanation: Although those hearers of the Dhamma did not recognize the Buddha and did not take real, interest in the Dhamma, since the Dhamma is replete with the excellent qualities such as “welldelivered” (savakhāto), hearing it will serve as a necessary condition for enlightenment in future to gain magga-phala.

As regards the great many assemblies of brahmins, we have examples in the Buddha’s encounters with Sonadanta, Kūṭadanta, etc. Similar assemblies of brahmins in the other world-systems may also be presumed to have taken place.

It might be asked: “What benefit did the Bhagavā see in discoursing on the eight categories of assemblies?” The answer is: The Buddha discoursed on the eight categories of assemblies to illustrate the fact that He was fearless. Here’s the explanation: After describing the eight categories of assemblies, the Buddha continued: “Ānanda, in going among those eight assemblies, the Tathāgata had no fear. That being so, how could anyone say that the Tathāgata was afraid of Māra who came to Him alone? Ānanda, in relinquishing the life-maintaining mental process, the Tathāgata did so fearlessly, with mindfulness and clear comprehension.”

(These words are contained in the Pakiṇṇaka Dhamma Desanā Pāli which was not recited at the Great Council but was quoted by the Commentaries.)