I could of course go on for several more sessions, but what I had thought of doing is talking some first about what an arhant is and reading little passages about it. And then have a brief section on women, stories about women, and then read about Buddha as an old man. uh... going towards his death so that's that's actually quite a lot but i think it will be nice uh... so we were talking last time about the conversion of the first fifty or so armies they're taking the refuges and uh... removing all the roots of their hindrances. And I'd just like to read something.

[01:11]

This is this book, Wings to Awakening by Biko Thanissar. Bhikkhu Thanissaro, and I'd just like to read something first, a little commentary of his, and then something from the Dharmapada. Bhikkhu Thanissaro says, as one progresses further on the path, and as the process of developing skillfulness in and of itself comes more and more to take center stage in one's awareness, The actual results of one's developing skillfulness should give greater and greater reason for the conviction in the principle of karma. Except in cases where people fall into the trap of heedlessness or complacencies, these results can spur and inspire one to hold the principle of karma with increasing levels of firmness, focus and refinement needed for awakening.

[02:12]

So, a major principle for our dharma development and the development of the arahant, now this is from the Dharmapada, about karma. Phenomena are preceded by the heart, ruled by the heart, fashioned by the heart. If one speaks or acts with a corrupted heart, suffering follows one as the wheel of a chariot follows the foot of the animal drawing it. Phenomena are preceded by the heart, ruled by the heart, fashioned of the heart. If one speaks or acts with a bright heart, happiness follows one like a shadow that never leaves. So, talked a lot about the Four Noble Truths.

[03:21]

What was that a translation of? The section of the Dhammapada. And how the Four Noble Truths are this mode of perception that as we become more confident in the practice we use more and more as just a way of seeing things, just a way of meeting experience and noticing how experience always falls into one of the four truths and how that process is always going on and that process is the karmic process. So that's kind of the basis of the Arhant's position. And as Tani Saro said, the more that we notice this karma, the way phenomena are preceded by the heart and ruled by the heart and so on, the more we notice that, the more faith we have in it and that our faith muscle in the teaching just gets stronger and stronger.

[04:37]

So, talking about the Arhats is really talking, another way of talking about our development in the Dharma. And how the understanding, we talked the third section, was it? When we talked about what is self. That this process of karma can be thought of as describing life to life to life, and it is also more immediately the process of moment to moment to moment. And the point about the Buddha is that the Buddha completely knows his mind. Just completely knows what's going on. And everybody else's. And everybody else's. That's right. What's the difference? So there's no, he doesn't produce any karma.

[05:41]

But we're always leaving our tracks. So is that development of faith what helps us not fall into complacency? In the beginning you read something about complacency. I don't remember that. Just at the beginning of that passage. Uh-huh. Yes, except in cases where people fall into the trap of heedlessness and complacency. So it does. the process of karma, if you notice it, it blasts out complacency. Because it sometimes seems to me that, you know, practice, well we only know these times, but practice could serve as a way to sort of cope with the times in which we live. And one could become complacent if one looked at practice in that way.

[06:44]

Yeah, I mean if one looks at practice as a way of just becoming a better adjusted person, it sort of works that way. So it sounds like what you're saying though is that our insight into, or our relationship to how we look at karma is what really keeps us on the path. On the path, exactly, exactly, exactly, yeah, yeah. that we may fairly quickly get the benefits of practice and feel better adjusted in life, but that's not it. And we learn that if we keep eyes open. What page is that? Well, it's in this wing... It's a rare book that is hard to find? This book is put out by the IMS, the Vipassana group in Barry, Massachusetts, and they don't sell their Dharma books.

[07:54]

It's a matter of principle. So you can order it. You can write to Barry and order it, but you can't buy it for money. Except the library doesn't have it. That was a really great passage and I only probably got one-tenth of it. That's true. Okay, it's a beautiful passage. Phenomena are preceded by the heart. What does that mean? Preceded? Preceded by the heart. What does that mean? Codetermination. The heart determines everything. Yeah. Well... It's codetermination. Yeah, feeling. I mean, if you want to really get technical about that wheel, that every time something comes up, we have these aggregate reactions to it.

[08:58]

And heart here, it could be intention, you know, it's hard to know what the translation of the word is, but it's nice in English is heart, but whatever comes up, we meet it with our constructions. It's just another way of saying that. Phenomena are preceded by the heart, ruled by the heart, fashioned of the heart. If one speaks or acts with a corrupted heart, suffering follows one, as the wheel of the chariot follows the foot of the animal drawing it. Phenomena are preceded by the heart, ruled by the heart, fashioned of the heart. If one speaks or acts with a bright heart, happiness follows one like a shadow that never leaves. Bright heart. Bright heart. Yeah.

[09:59]

Or it could be clear thinking. Yes. Accurate perception. Yes. Yes. The Bright Heart is such a nice translator. The Bright Heart, somehow. I've never heard that anywhere else before. I know. Bright Heart. I know, and this is a very famous passage which is often translated, but he's a good, he's a gifted translator, I think. So now I want to read another passage that is talking about old and new karma. So again, I'm talking about arhants and how we develop in practice. What, monks, is old karma? The I is to be seen as old karma, fabricated and willed, capable of being felt.

[11:05]

The ear, and so on, the nose, the tongue, the body, the intellect, is to be seen as old karma, fabricated and willed, capable of being felt. This is called old karma. And what is new karma? Whatever karma does now with the body, with speech, or with the intellect, this is called new karma. And what is a cessation of karma? Whoever touches the release that comes from the cessation of bodily karma, verbal karma and mental karma, this is called the cessation of karma. And what is the path of practice leading to the cessation of karma? This is the Noble Eightfold Path. This is called the path of practice leading to the cessation of karma. Can you say that first one again? Okay, so, you know, this is again a different statement of the Four Noble Truths. what monks is old karma. The eye is to be seen as old karma and the nose and the eyes and the ears.

[12:11]

The senses. The given, what you're given, the body you're given. That's right. How you're thrown into the world. That's right. That's right. And you know in the Heart Sutra we say no eyes, no ears, no nose. That's The end of karma. That's using this clear, the bare attention. The mind is no hindrance. Right. Right. That really is describing the Third Noble Truth. Right. So this old karma which is the embedded way with which we see and hear You know, it's just so, we're just so used to it and it's so programmed in. You know, the way we see and the way we hear, very, very programmed. And what is new karma? Whatever karma does now with body speech or the intellect, this is called new karma.

[13:15]

It's interesting, we were sitting Zazen the other night and Alan was sitting in the front seat and I guess people were kind of dozing off. Snoring. Next to me was snoring. Well that was worthy of a comment in the front seat. So Alan said, open your eyes. What's past is past. What will come will come. And all you've got is right now. Be awake. Don't miss it. Don't miss it. That's what karma is. Yeah. So that's the instruction. New karma. It was beautifully done. It was, yeah, it was really a very nice instruction. So that's the, the, the arhant and, and we are just always, our progress is always to, little by little, be aware of this old karma that's going on and to wake up.

[14:21]

There's one more passage about this I wanted to read, I think. But I think I won't. Yes, I do want to read this. This is a long section about talking about arhants. And then finally, Ananda says, So it is with an arhant whose mental effluents are ended.

[15:39]

who doesn't leak, who is just in the present, who is in just new karma, moment by moment. So it is with an arhant whose mental effluents are ended, who has reached fulfillment, done the task, laid down the burden, attained the true goal, totally destroyed the fetter of becoming, and who is released through right gnosis or prajna. Whatever desire he first had for the attainment of arhatship, on attaining arhatship that particular desire is allayed. Now this is how an arhant begins to sound extremely like a bodhisattva. Whatever persistence he first had for the attainment of arhatship, on attaining arhatship that particular persistence is allayed. Whatever intent he had for the first attainment of arhatship, on attaining arhatship that particular intention is allayed.

[16:42]

Whatever discrimination he had for the attainment of arhatship on attaining arhatship that particular discrimination is allayed. So what do you think, Brahman? Is this an endless path or one with an end? And the monk says, you're right, sir. This is a path with an end and not an endless path. So, you know, when you think about the Bodhisattva, this person who leaves no trace, or the effortless effort, that the desire to attain Ah, is gone, and no trace is left. But for the Arhat, this is a path with an end, and for the Bodhisattva, it's endless because the bodhisattva still is having the is attached to the vow of saving all beings and the arhant is unattached but the roots of suffering are ended and the change has been radical

[18:07]

Yes. Well, I'm surprised by that. As Soto-Sense students, wouldn't we say that it's both an endless path and a path with an end? Probably. I mean, that's... Wouldn't there still be effort? Is there one or the other? Well, I don't... I don't know. I'm sure any position could be argued, but it seems to me that we say a Bodhisattva path is endless, because a Bodhisattva path does not want to leave the suffering of beings. That. Exactly that. I suppose the arhant enjoys his blissful peace. I suppose. Except Mel talks about a lot, and I really appreciate it. He talks about saving all sentient beings as being an inside job.

[19:11]

That the beings we're saving are the beings in our own minds. That's right, that's the sixth ancestor. We save ourselves, we save everyone. That's part of our teaching also. Is it really possible to enjoy when others are still suffering? Well, you know, Buddha did after his awakening. He thought for a bit, he didn't want to teach. Well, they did. But he did. I don't know how a Theravadan, Peter, would address that. Is that a Theravadan question? No, but I mean, we probably feel a little superior thinking that the Bodhisattva path is an endless path and the Bodhisattva really just wants to go on and on saving sentient beings even though she knows there's no such thing as a being or knows there's no such thing as saving. I mean, that just seems... But are Bodhisattvas not leaving a path? Are they now... Are they at the end of living?

[20:12]

No. Bodhisattvas still have karma and leave it. Probably. And it's a different... So it's not a superior thing. You're still adding to the world's weight with this desire to save sentient beings. Perhaps. Perhaps. Well... They're sort of lovely questions. Well, you can choose. Either path is quite noble. So now I would like to go on to a much juicier topic, which is women. But less exalted. Yeah. Yeah. Ancestress? She's the first.

[21:13]

She's the first ancestress. Right. All right. So we're going to hear the story about how Shakyamuni Buddha's aunt, who raised him for the time he was one week old, applied to become a nun and was turned down. So I'm not going to... So Mahapajapati went to him and she paid homage and stood at one side. Then she said, Lord, it would be good if women could obtain the going forth from the house into homelessness in the Dharma and the discipline declared by the perfect one. Enough could Tommy, that's what he calls her, do not ask for the going forth from the house of life into homelessness for women. She asked a second and third time and was refused. And then she thought, the blessed one will not allow it, and she was sad and unhappy.

[22:18]

She paid homage to the blessed one and departed, keeping him on her right. Meanwhile, and then the Blessed One goes off and does some more teaching. Meanwhile, Mahapajapati had her hair cut off and put on the yellow robe. With a number of Shakyan women, she set out for Vaisali. On her arrival, she went to the hall with a pointed roof in the great wood, and she stood outside the porch. Her feet were swollen, her limbs covered with dust, and she was sad and unhappy, with tears in her face and sobbing. As she stood thus, the Venerable Ananda saw her, and he said, Gautami, why are you standing outside the porch like this? Lord Ananda, it is because the Blessed One does not allow the going forth for women. Then Gautami, wait here, I will ask the blessed one about this. So the venerable Ananda went to the blessed one and told him what happened. And he said, Lord, it would be good if women might obtain the going forth from the house into homelessness.

[23:23]

Enough, Ananda, do not ask for the going forth from the house of life into homelessness for women. He asked a second and a third time and was refused. Then he thought, the Blessed One does not allow it, but suppose I ask the Blessed One in another way. And then he said, Lord, are women capable after going forth from the house life into homelessness in the dharma and discipline declared by the Outperfect One, are women capable of realizing the fruit of stream entry, or once return, or non-return, or arhantship? They are, Ananda. If that is so, Lord, then since the Mahapajapati has been exceedingly helpful to the Blessed One, when as his mother's sister she was his nurse, his foster mother, his giver of milk, she suckled the Blessed One when his own mother died, since that is so, Lord, it would be good if women could obtain the going forth. Ananda, if Mahapajapati accepts the eight capital points, that will count as her full admission.

[24:30]

And these are eight points. A bikuni nun who has been admitted even a hundred years must pay homage to, get up for, reverentially salute and respectfully greet a biku admitted that day. Two, a bikuni must not spend the rains in a place where there are no bikus. And so on. these eight conditions. This is the same Mahapajapati that we know? Yes, she is the woman regarded as the first ancestor. Yes, right. When the Venerable Ananda had learned these eight capital points from the Blessed One, he went to Mahapajapati and told her what the Blessed One had said. And she says that she will. And then Ananda returns to the Blessed One and says she's accepted the eight capital points. And then the Blessed One says, Ananda, if women had not obtained the going forth from the house into homelessness in the Dharma and discipline declared by the Perfect One, the holy life would have lasted long.

[25:46]

The holy life would have lasted a thousand years. But now, since women have obtained it, the holy life will not last long. The holy life will last only 500 years. Is that good or bad? I don't quite understand what this point is. I think it's regrettable. I see. So it's said that this is the only time that Buddha publicly changed his mind on allowing women in. It doesn't seem to be too prescient about history. No, no, he made it, no. And then he goes on, just as clans with many women and few men are easily ruined by robbers and bandits, so too in the dharma and discipline in which women obtain the going forth, the holy life does not last long. Just as the blight called grey mildew falls in a field of ripening rice, that field of ripening rice does not last long. so on, just as the light called red rust folds in a ripening sugar cane.

[26:48]

The field of ripening sugar cane does not last long. And numerous other metaphors. What is it with the indignant, and they wanted to introduce men. And they won. It's so different. Yes, it is. It's very different. It's entirely different. You think so? Yes, absolutely. Because who has the power? It's because the men had the power and weren't willing to share it with the women, whereas the women wanted a space where they could, they believed, have a better opportunity for for education and they didn't want the influence of men.

[27:54]

But the power is what makes it different. Men with power exclude women and think that women are going to corrupt the whole enterprise. And then women decide, oh well, then we'll get together and make a place for ourselves. All of a sudden the men want into that too. And they're probably both right, with many, many explanations. Well, let me read, now this, here's another possible explanation in another little tale. There is, Sudina was the son of a rich merchant. He was married but without children. He heard the Buddha preach in Visali and as a result he asked for the going forth. But he was told he must get his parents' consent. There was a protracted struggle with them, and it was only after he refused to eat that they gave in.

[28:59]

Later on, after he had gone into homelessness, there was a famine, and he thought, suppose I lived supported by my families. Relatives will provide the gifts for my support, and in that way they will earn merit, and the bhikkhus will benefit, and I shall not go short of alms food. His relatives at Vasali bought him plenty of offerings. Then one day he went to Calanda with his bowl and he came to his father's house, however, announcing himself. A servant girl recognized him and told his father, who pressed him to come for the next day's meal. When he came the next day, his parents used all their arts to persuade him to return to the lay life. His mother told him, Sedina, our family is rich with vast possessions. For this reason, you must beget an heir. Do not let the Lichaves, take over our airless property." I believe Chavez, of course, were a Buddhist family. He answered, that I can do, mother. So his mother brought his former wife to him in the great wood.

[30:02]

He took her into the wood. Seeing no harm, since no training rule had been made known, he had intercourse with her three times. As a result, she conceived. Then the earth deity set up a clamor. Good sirs, though the Sangha of Bhikkhus has hitherto been free from infection and free from dangers, yet infection and danger are being sown in it by Sudina and the Klanadian. And the cry was taken up all through the heavens till it reached the Brahma world. Then the venerable Sudina's former wife gave birth to a son. And later on, the son and his mother both left home and went forth into homelessness. But the venerable Sudina grew remorseful. This is also a story about how the rules are made for the Sangha. Because of his bad conscience, he became thin and wretched.

[31:04]

When the Bhikkhus asked him what was wrong, he confessed. They rebuked him, and the matter was brought before the Blessed One. The Blessed One said, Misguided man, it is unfitting, unseemly, improper, and unworthy of a monk. It is unrighteous and must not be done. How can you not live out the holy life in complete perfection and purity after going forth into homelessness? Misguided man, have I not taught the Dharma in various ways? And so on. The Dharma is thus taught for me by dispassion, unfetishment, relinquishment, and so on. Misguided men, it were better for you as one gone forth that your member should enter the mouth of a hideous venomous viper or cobra than it should enter a woman. It were better for you that your member should enter a pit of coals

[32:05]

burning, blazing and glowing that it should enter a woman. Why is that? For the former reason you should risk death or deadly suffering but you would not on the dissolution of your body after death reappear in a state of privation and unhappy Destination or perdition, even in hell, for that reason you should do so. Therefore, misguided man, by this act you should pursue the Dharma's opposite. You would pursue the low, vulgar, ideal, and so on, and so on. And when he had rebuked Siddhina, who was not expelled since no rule had yet been made, After giving an appropriate talk on the Dharma, he addressed the bhikkhus thus, Bhikkhus, because of this, I shall constitute a training rule for bhikkhus. I shall do so for ten reasons.

[33:08]

And so on. And then the rule is, any bhikkhu who indulges in sexual intercourse is defeated. He is no more in communion. And this was how the training rule was made known, by the Blessed One. That means that he was thrown out of the song? He wasn't, because he hadn't broken a rule, because the rule had been made. But after that, the rule became that if the bhikkhu had sexual intercourse, he was thrown out of the song. Yeah, after that. Right. Right. I just find it interesting that you tell me why I find it interesting. that I don't consider this at all an attack on women. And it would seem to me the Buddha might have had a separate monastic order for women. But I'm pretty sure just as a woman at Mills College that he's considering the most efficient way to achieve a certain desired result, namely to keep the distractions and the turmoil of what happens just

[34:14]

when you're not quite prepared for the turbulence of what goes on in your body and in your mind. And I'm pretty sure he must have been considering that. Anyhow, that's all, just to add that little thought. And I'm sure the students at Mills College can achieve certain ambitions more directly and And clearly without the introduction of all those things that go on when young men and women get together. Not alone sometimes old men and women. But mostly young. That's all I was suggesting. But there wasn't a separate monastic order for women. There wasn't a separate monastic. So it isn't separate. That's rather surprising. And the comparison to the cobra, the snake, when you're bitten by a snake, it's over with.

[35:27]

You're either dead or you get cured, but nothing much lingers. So I think that, again, isn't a vituforous statement about women at all. It's just the complexity of women as against the simplicity of being bitten by a snake. It's a temporary thing. But the other part of it is that it's always that women have to be put under control because men can't control themselves. That's the other part that really irritates women, is that it's by and large men who have the control problem, not women who get distracted. But in order that men have fewer distractions, you have to varying degrees lock up the women. I mean, it's the women who have to wear the chador. It's the women who have to stay indoors or whatever. Well, that's another issue. And so then it becomes the question of, well, whose life is more important?

[36:28]

And that gets back to what I said before about the power thing. So it isn't really that simple. It isn't. It's in the process of freeing the one group from distracting influences, what Christ are you exacting? from women, and that's where it begins to feel real unfair to women, despite the noble intention. And the extra 8 or 10 points that women have to agree to. Oh, it's more, it's now far more than 8 or 10. And the monks and sisters are there, even if a sister was just ordained, or whatever they call it, or had been there for 10 years and a monk was just ordained. The freshly arrived monk has seniority over a sister who's been around and is a senior monastic for many years.

[37:40]

And I wonder how that plays out in their lives, if that's very good for the monks, you know, the new monk to have women bowing. I just wonder how that works out for them. What, Charlie? Well, we'll just have to wait for the Masterpiece Theater episode on that one. I mean, we just don't know. We can only let our imagination go wild. Well, you know, we could develop something for Skit Night, perhaps. Well, you know, there are... But this isn't this Theravadan history here. No, it's present. Or myth we're talking about. It's present, yes. And there are Theravadan institutions in England where men, monks and nuns live together and there is considerable dynamic. But it was just a mirror of what went on in society anyway, because, you know, the girls, no matter how old they were, were undoubtedly in a subservient position to their new baby brother.

[38:49]

I mean, and, you know, if there were 15 girls in the family and then one boy is born, he'd probably inherited it all, and, you know, I think it's just a reflection. I guess I just had the idea that the perfect one should have bought a viewpoint, and I'm disappointed about that. But I thought Peter's point was really interesting. And we never discussed that. That? Which was that it wasn't intended as a put-down of women, that what he was saying was, better you should experience all this horrible pain than that you should have pleasure. And I thought that was it. Better that you should have all this horrible pain than you should lose your life. Your integrity or something. that you should have a terrible next birth. Well, no, by saying better, you know, you should put your member into the head of a viper than a woman, he's saying... Oh, oh, I see what you mean.

[39:50]

Yeah. Yeah. Well... Yeah. Yeah. If you put your member into the head of a viper, you probably won't do it again. That's the whole point. Whereas if you put it into a woman, you're going to be hooked and you're going to lose your practice. Yeah. I think even separating the men and the women doesn't really solve the problem. From my own background, you know that in the Catholic Church we have so many problems with with clergy, you know, and the separation, and what good is it to do? The problems are still there. Well, I'd like to read another story which will lead into the last year that's a little bit on the other side of this issue.

[40:54]

And we do need to remember that Buddha acknowledges that women's spiritual attainment can be just as high as men's, which is interesting, that they can be stream-winners and stream-enterers and so on and so on. So, this part of the Dharma which is not gender-bound. Can I just go to a question? Yeah. In the precepts, do different precepts hold more weight in other precepts, or are they supposed to be all equal in terms of breaking the precepts? Well, I think that the precepts are all facets of one precept. So they're all related. But they're minor and major. In that passage, there was something you said about that the person could never come back if they broke that precept. You know, if you broke another precept, they wouldn't... Oh, I don't... I'm sure there's a very elaborate scheme for punishments of particular precepts.

[42:05]

I'm sure it's all worked out. So, probably yes. Probably yes. Yeah, there are minor and major precepts. Yes. I'm sure I've heard of those. That's right. And they warrant different things for everyone. Yes, they do. Like the worst one is to kill a Buddha. So, anyway, I'd like to read another story about a courtesan. Ampabali, the courtesan, heard that the Blessed One had come to Vesali and was living in her mango grove. So she had a number of stake coaches made ready. And she mounted one of them and drove with them out to Vesali, towards her own mango grove, going as far as possible in a carriage. And then she lighted and went on foot to where the Blessed One was. She paid homage to him and sat down at one side. When she had done so, the Blessed One urged, roused, and encouraged her with talk of the Dharma. And then she said, Lord, let the Blessed One, together with the Sangha of Bhikkhus, accept tomorrow's meal from me.

[43:09]

And the Blessed One consented in silence. When she saw that he had consented, she rose from her seat, and after paying homage to him, departed, keeping him on her right. But the Licchavis of Vesali also heard that the Blessed One was living in Ampabali's mango grove. And they, too, had a number of stake coaches made ready. And mounting them, they drove out of Vesali. Some were in blue, painted blue, clothed in blue with blue ornaments. Some were yellow, painted yellow, clothed in yellow with yellow ornaments. Some were in red, painted red, clothed in red with red ornaments, and so on. Ampabali the courtesan met the young Licchavis head on Axel to Axel, wheel to wheel, yoke to yoke. Then they said to her, hey, Ampa Bali, why are you meeting the young Luchavis head on? Axel to Axel, wheel to wheel, yoke to yoke. Sir, I have just invited the Sangha of Bhikkhus headed by the Blessed One for tomorrow's meal.

[44:13]

Hey, Ampabali, hand over that meal to us for a hundred thousand. Sirs, I would not hand over tomorrow's meal, even if you gave me Masali with all its lambs. Then the Lechavis snapped their fingers. Oh, the mango girl has beaten us. The mango girl has outwitted us. And they drove on towards Amapali Grove. And then the Blessed One saw them coming in the distance, and He told the Bhikkhus, Well, I'm going to... And the bhikkhus say that they are going to give him a meal the next day. But Buddha says, I've already accepted tomorrow's meal from the Ampabali, the courtesan. And then the chavis snapped their fingers again. So I'd say the mango girl has beaten us. The mango girl has outwitted us. And so... That's what happened.

[45:17]

The courtesan ended up giving him the meal. So... Why didn't they just offer to give him the next day's meal? Well... Because he could only take one at a time. I don't know. Well, tomorrow's another day. So then that leads into, now we're in the last year of Buddha's life, and he's 80, and four. What, for 50 plus years he's been going from place to place on foot teaching. And he's an old man. So after they had stayed in Ampabali's grove, they journeyed on. They get to another place. After the Blessed One had taken up residence in the rains, a severe sickness attacked him with violent and deadly pains.

[46:24]

He bore them without complaint, mindful and fully aware. Then he fought It is not right for me to attain final nirvana without being addressed by my attendants and taking leave of the Sangha of Bhikkhus. Suppose I forcibly suppressed this sickness by prolonging the will to live. He did so, and the sickness abated. The Blessed One recovered from that sickness. Soon afterwards, he came out from the sick room and sat in a seat made ready at the back of the dwelling. The Venerable Ananda went to him and said, I have been used to seeing the Blessed One in comfort and health, Lord. Indeed, with the Blessed One's sickness, I felt as if my own body were quite rigid. I could not see straight. My ideas were all unclear. Ananda, my years have just turned 80. Just as an old cart is made to carry on with the help of makeshifts, so too, it seems to me, the Perfect One's body is made to carry on with the help of makeshifts.

[47:28]

For the perfect one's body is only at ease when with non-attention to all signs and with cessation of certain kinds of feelings he enters upon and dwells in the signlessness heart deliverance." You know, that sort of reminds me of my aged mother. That when people get very old, you know, the body is only at ease when you're kind of just tuned out somewhat. You're just Moving along. So Ananda, so he's, in these next pages, he's just, he's preparing, he's setting out to prepare the Sangha. So Ananda, each of you should make an island, should make himself his island, himself and no other his refuge. Each of you should make the Dharma his island, the Dharma and no other refuge. How does Abhiku do that? Here Abhiku abides contemplating the body is body, ardent, mindfully aware,

[48:32]

having put away covetousness and grief of the world. In other words, he's giving now the Satipatthana Sutra, the four foundations of mindfulness instruction, which he's done before. So he's preparing them for his end and he's giving them the last teachings. Either now or when I am gone, it is those, whoever may be, who make themselves their island, remembering themselves and no other their refuge, who make the Dharma their island, the Dharma and no other their refuge, who will be the foremost among my bhikkhus, of those, that is, who want to train." And then he moved again and he learns of the deaths of his two most senior disciples Shariputra and Shariputra and Moggallana and

[49:48]

Ananda grieves for them and Buddha reminds Ananda, have I not already told you that there is separation, parting and division from all that is dear and beloved? How could it be that what is born come to being formed and subject to fall should not fall? That is not possible. It is as if a main branch of a great tree standing firm and solid had fallen. So too, Shariputra attained final nirvana in a great community that stands firm and solid. How could it be that what is born come to being formed and bound to fall should not fall? That is not possible. Therefore, Ananda, each of you should make himself his island, himself and no other his refuge. Each of you should make the Dharma his island, the refuge, and no other his refuge. I think that's so lovely that the Buddha's message to his followers was that they should take refuge in themselves.

[51:07]

I mean, we say I take refuge in Buddha, and the understanding, I assume, is that we're all Buddha, so we are actually doing that, but we don't say, I take refuge in myself. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And what he couldn't say at that moment. Yeah. Some of us aren't prepared quite yet to take refuge in ourselves. Well, but it's never just yourself. It's always take refuge in yourself in the Dharma. There's a passage, I think it must come at the end, after Buddha dies, about Maha Kasapa and Ananda.

[52:10]

It probably is. And I loved it so much. It was such an, to me, the example of this, what I guess would be sort of a Theravadan view. Maha Kasapa is, again, repeating just what the Buddha is saying, and Ananda's grieving for the Buddha's death. And he said, you know, what goes up must come down, or whatever that is. And Ananda's just this being very human and grieving. And it was just very sweet. And he was correcting I'm not sure if it was after Buddha died or before, but Mahakassaka is correcting Ananda's, I would call Ananda's humanness. Yeah, Ananda is very human throughout this.

[53:15]

And so now, this next passage is sort of about It's curious. Ananda and the Blessed One are talking. And Ananda and the Blessed One says, Basali is agreeable, Ananda, and so are other places agreeable. And when anyone has maintained in being and developed the four bases for success, made them the vehicle, made them the foundation, established, consolidated, and properly undertaken them, if he could, he could, if he wished, live out the age or what remains of the age.

[54:18]

Ananda, the Perfect One has done all that. He could, if he wished, live out the age or what remains of the age. Even when such a broad hint, such a plain sign was given by the Blessed One, still the Venerable Ananda did not understand it. He did not beg the Blessed One, Lord let the Blessed One live out the age, let the Sublime One live out the age for the welfare and happiness of many out of compassion for the world. So much was in, so much was his mind under Mara's influence. A second and a third time, the Blessed One said the same thing, and the Venerable Ananda's mind remained under Mara's influence. Then the Blessed One told the Venerable Ananda, you may go, Ananda, now it is time for you to do as you like. Even so, Lord, he replied, and rising from his seat, he paid homage to the Blessed One.

[55:20]

Then, keeping him on his right, he went away to sit under the root of a nearby tree. Now, actually, a momentous thing has happened now, but we don't quite know it. Soon after he had gone, Mara, the evil one, came to the Blessed One and stood at his side. After all these years, Mara is still around. He said, let the Blessed One attain final nirvana now. Let the Supreme One, Sublime One, attain final nirvana now. Now is the time for the Blessed One to attain final nirvana. But these words were spoken by the Blessed One. I will not attain final nirvana, evil one, until the bhikkhunis, laymen followers and laywomen followers, my disciples, are wise, disciplined, perfectly confident and learned. Until they remember the Dharma properly, practice the way of the Dharma, practice the true way, walk in the Dharma. Until after learning from their own teachers, they announce and teach and declare and establish and reveal and expound and explain.

[56:23]

until they can reasonably confute the theories and orders that arise and can teach the Dharma with its marvels. But now all that has been accomplished. Let the Blessed One attain final nirvana now. These words were spoken by the Blessed One. I will not attain final nirvana, evil one, until this holy life has become successful, prosperous, widespread, disseminated among many, until it is well exemplified by men. But all that has been accomplished. Let the Blessed One attain final nirvana now." And when this was said, the Blessed One replied, you may rest, evil one. Soon the Perfect One's attainment of final nirvana will take place. Three months from now, the Perfect One will attain final nirvana. So, it's like two old men negotiating it out. We say, give it a rest. That's right, three months it'll happen, just be a little patient.

[57:28]

And then, it was then, at a certain shrine, that the Blessed One, mindful and fully aware, relinquished the will to live. When he did so, there was a great earthquake, fearful and hair-raising, and the drums of heaven resounded. Knowing the meaning of this, the Blessed One then uttered this exclamation, the sage renounced the life-affirming will, both measurable and immeasurable, and concentrated inwardly and happy too, he shed his self-becoming like a coat of mail. Then the venerable Ananda thought, it is wonderful, it is marvelous, this earthquake. There was a very great earthquake. It was fearful and hair-raising and the drums of heaven resounded. What was the cause? What was the reason for the manifestation of that great earthquake? And then Buddha teaches him that there are eight causes, Ananda, for the manifestation of great earthquakes.

[58:40]

What are the eight? Well, they're all to do with the Buddhist life. When a bodhisattva, mindful and fully aware, passes away from heaven of the contented and descends into his mother's womb, then the earth rocks and quakes. And when a bodhisattva, mindful and aware, comes forth from his mother's womb, then the earth rocks. When the Perfect One discovers the supreme full enlightenment, the Earth rocks. When a Perfect One sets the matchless wheel of the Dharma rolling, then the Earth rocks. Perfect One, mindfully and fully aware, relinquishes the will to live, then the Earth rocks. And when the Perfect One attains final nirvana, the Earth rocks. And then there's another conversation with Ananda and the Blessed One.

[59:52]

Is there a time for a comment? Yes, any time. or Moses, but in response to, oh, in his dialogue with Ananda and then the devil, the Buddha, declared a sort of rudimentary bodhisattva to all of his followers to achieve this notable state, which would take all of three months. And one assumes that his reasoning was that this would give Buddhism such a rooted foundation that it would persist and just proliferate.

[61:05]

and shows the kind of innocence about human nature and the refractory and Mara and the presence of Mara, that in fact Buddhism suffered enormous periods of, arid periods of droughts. But there was no the potential of human beings for evil or just for ignorance. Wouldn't you say that? It seems like a fairy tale, really. Yeah, it is. I think it was. In three months. Yeah. What might you be saying? Yeah, innocent. And it's inconsistent with The supreme wisdom. Because again, if the Buddha had realized what was going to happen, he would have taken a fuller bodhisattva vow and not made a time limit.

[62:19]

I will stick around to all sentient beings. Well, then... But he could have stayed. What? But he could have stayed. He could have stayed and there's been a lot and there's a lot of speculation. The speculation goes on and on about whether he could have stayed because he had all his miraculous powers and it goes on and then in the Lotus Sutra there's a section, there's quite a lot about he could have stayed and if he was a real Buddha wouldn't he have stayed and there's the whole story about a good doctor and A good doctor really has to teach, doesn't just, isn't there so that anybody who wants to come and get a cure can do it. A good doctor teaches his patients how to take care of themselves and that's why he left.

[63:25]

But it's an unending cycle. true reality knows that everyone else is also enlightened and that they're really not suffering they just think they're suffering that the Buddha mind doesn't there's no suffering in the Buddha mind that we all are Buddha mind so that really you know what I'm saying I think there's an there's an understanding And the teaching is, you know, be true to yourself. And then, goodbye. That's all. And Susan, if you're watching... a teacher.

[64:55]

Well, so Ananda and the Lord are having another discussion, and Ananda is saying that he would like the Lord to stay on forever. And then the Lord says, well, Ananda, the wrongdoing is yours. The fault is yours. For even when a broad hint, such a plain sign, was given by the Perfect One, you could not understand it. And you did not beg the Perfect One to live out the age for the good, the welfare, and the happiness of gods and men. If you had done so, the perfect one would have refused you twice and then at the third time he would have consented. So Ananda, the wrongdoing is yours, the fault is yours. And this is repeated three times. Now, well, yes, yes, that for most of us would be the ultimate guilt trip. And it goes on and on and finally The Perfect One says, so, soon the Perfect One's final attainment of nirvana will take place.

[66:02]

Three months from now, the Perfect One will attain nirvana, and so on. Even so, Lord, the venerable Ananda replied, and then they were out. And there's no guilt. Ananda was not Jewish. There was no guilt and I talked to a couple... It was just that's clear. I did that. That's the consequence. Buddha leaves and I did it. That's just the way it works. It's like gravity. Right. Right. But the Buddha is never confronted, is necessary to address a really team penetrating mind with another point of view, or challenges them severely.

[67:22]

Never, you see. I'm not sure about that. I don't agree either. Yeah. Well, but those are the only adversaries we really have. Well, I'm really not sure of that. I mean, the sutras, you know, there are volumes of sutras that I have not read. Ah, well, this is a tiny little excerpt. Yeah, yeah. Now, I'm sure that... I suspect that they're very close and... I'm not sure of what you're saying. There's just so much literature that isn't here.

[68:23]

But it's true of what's been read. Yeah, that's true. Well, and the Buddhist literature is not going to probably make the best case possible against Buddhism. Yeah, yeah. I mean, this is... He comes out well. Right. He always will come out well. Yeah, but it may be that he's closely challenged. I'm just not sure. Well, now the plot moves along. and the assembly goes to Kunda's grove. When the night was over, Kunda had good food of various kinds prepared at his house, and plenty of hog's mincemeat. After which he had announced, it is time, Lord, the meal is ready. Then, it being morning, the Blessed One dressed, and taking His bowl and outer robe, He went with the Sangha of Bhikkhus to Kunda the goldsmith's son's house.

[69:32]

He sat down in the prepared seat. Then He told Kunda, Serve the hogs mincemeat that you have prepared for Me, Kunda. But serve any other food you have prepared to the Sangha of Bhikkhus. So, in other words, Buddha is telling Kunda to serve the hog's mincemeat only to him, to Buddha. Even so, Lord, Kunda replied, and so he did. Then the Blessed One told him, Kunda, if any hog's mincemeat is left over, bury it in a hole. I do not see anyone other than the Perfect One in this world with its deities, its Maras and its Brahmins in this generation, with its monks and princes and men who could digest it if he ate it. Even so, Lord," Kunda replied, and he buried the leftover hog's mincemeat in a hole. And then he went to the Blessed One, and after paying him homage, he sat down at one side, and the Blessed One instructed him with a talk on the Dharma, after which he got up from his seat and departed.

[70:38]

It was after the Blessed One had eaten the food provided by Kunda, the goldsmith's son, that a severe sickness attacked him with a flux of blood accompanied by violent, deadly pains. He bore it without complaint, mindful and fully aware. And then he said to the Venerable Ananda, come Ananda, let us go to Kusinara. Even so, Lord, the Venerable Ananda replied. On the way, the Blessed One left the road and went to the root of a tree. He said to the Venerable Ananda, Ananda, please fold my outer robe in four and laid it down. I am tired and I will sit down. Even so, Lord, the Venerable Ananda replied. And the Blessed One sat down in the seat made ready. Now he's going to test Ananda's faith a little. This is sort of a famous story. And he said, Ananda, please fetch me some water. I am thirsty and I will drink. The venerable Ananda said, Lord, some 500 carts have just gone by.

[71:44]

The water has been churned up by the wheels. It is flowing poorly and is thick and cloudy. The river Kachuka is not far off with clear, pleasant, cool water and smooth banks, and it is delightful. The Blessed One can drink there and cool His limbs." A second time the Blessed One asked and received the same reply. A third time the Blessed One said, "'Ananda, please fetch me some water. I am thirsty and I will drink.' "'Even so, Lord,' the Venerable Ananda replied. He took a bowl and went to the stream. Then the stream, which had been churned up by the wheels and was flowing poorly, thick and cloudy, flowed clear and limpid and clean as soon as the venerable Ananda came to it. He was astonished. Then he took the water for drinking in the bowl, and he returned to the Blessed One and told what had happened at it. Adding, Lord, let the blessed one drink the water. Let the sublime one drink the water.

[72:44]

And the blessed one drank the water. It was. And at some point, I'm skipping a lot because of our time. He knew it was going to happen and he prevented it from killing anybody else and at some point he even makes sure that Kunda doesn't have any evil consequences from it. But again, he could have prevented it. well then a lot of things happen and he's continually preparing and things are happening to prepare

[74:00]

He gives funeral instructions about how a perfect one's body should be treated. And Ananda keeps getting emotional. And then he's comforted. Then the very venerable Ananda went inside a dwelling and he stood leaning against the door bar and wept. I am still only a learner whose task is yet to be completed. My teacher is about to attain final nirvana. My teacher who has compassion on me. And then the blessed ones ask the bhikkhus, bhikkhus where is Ananda? And he's told he's inside weeping. And the blessed one calls for Ananda. And Ananda goes and pays him homage and the Blessed One says, enough Ananda, do not sorrow, do not lament.

[75:11]

Have I not repeatedly told you that there is separating, parting and division from all that is dear and beloved? How could it be that what is born come to being formed and bound to fall should not fall? That is not possible. Ananda, you have long and constantly attended on the Perfect One with bodily acts of loving kindness, helpfully, gladly, sincerely, and without reserve. And so too with verbal acts and mental acts. You have made merit, Ananda. Keep on endeavoring and you will soon be free from taints. And then, again, he says there are four wonderful, marvelous things in a universal monarch. And what for? If an assembly of warriors should come, or monks, or anybody should come to see him, the assembly is glad to see him. If he speaks there, the assembly is glad at his speech. But when he is silent again, the assembly is still unsated.

[76:14]

So too there are four wonderful and marvelous things in Ananda. What four? The same four. So he's just really not only comforting, but appreciating the person, the things that Ananda has done. And now it's coming to be the last day. And Ananda says, Lord, let the Blessed One not attain final nirvana in this little mud wall town, this backwards town, this branch township. There are great cities. Please let's go to a great place. And the Blessed One says, no, don't worry. Everyone will come to me. And they do. And they do. No, because it's extremely grand instructions.

[77:37]

500 rows. Oh, it's not a burial house. No, it's huge instructions. And you know, it is sort of reminiscent of Maizumi Roshi's death. The Maizumi Roshi... of course had no idea that he was going to die. It was a stroke or a heart attack or something. But he wanted terribly for there to be a last session which was at Green Gulch for the convening of the whole Soto Zen group, community, both here and in Japan. And he bullied his Dharma heirs into coming. They didn't want to come for a week, I guess, that was going to be heavy Soto Zen ceremony. But he really, he made a personal pitch to everybody to come and to be there. And one of the big things that he taught was the funeral of a Zen, of a Zen Roshi. And then within couple of weeks and then he went to Japan and he died.

[78:39]

Yeah. He got what he asked for. He got what he asked for, too. Right. Okay, and then we have the very last. Then the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus. Bhikkhus, it may be that some bhikkhu has a doubt or a problem concerning the Buddha or the Dharma or the Sangha or the path or the way of progress. Ask, bhikkhus, so that you may not regret it afterwards. Thus, the teacher was face to face with us, but we could not bring ourselves to ask in the Blessed One's presence. And when this was said, the bhikkhus were silent. A second and third time, the Blessed One spoke the words, and each time they were silent. And then He addressed them thus, Bhikkhus, perhaps you do not ask because you are in awe of the Teacher. Let a friend tell it to the friend. When this was said, they were silent. And then the Venerable Ananda said to the Blessed One, It is wonderful, Lord.

[79:45]

It is marvelous. I have such confidence in the Sangha of Bhikkhus that I believe there is not one Bhikkhu with a doubt or a problem concerning the Buddha or the Dharma or the Sangha or the path or the way of progress. You, Ananda, speak out of confidence, but the Perfect One has knowledge that here in the Sangha of Bhikkhus there is not one Bhikkhu who has any doubt concerning the Buddha or Dharma or Sangha or the path. or the way of progress. The most backward of these 500 bhikkhus is a stream-enterer, no more subject to perdition, certain of rightness, and destined to enlightenment. And then the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus thus, Indeed, bhikkhus, I declare this to you. It is in the nature of all formations to dissolve, attain perfection through diligence. And this was the Perfect One's last utterance. So, in a certain way, he did the requirement that everybody understand everything was fulfilled in the community, since nobody had any question.

[81:03]

And Ananda said, well, you see how good your teaching is? And Buddha says, yes, I know. So then he could go, and he did. And then he enters these meditations. He goes through the meditations, and then he comes back, and on the fifth level of something, he leaves forever. And then there was an earthquake. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then there are all the responses. But that's enough. So, that's the main lines of the story.

[82:09]

The part about that he could have stayed and didn't, and why did he die? I mean, it almost sounds like they're trying to answer in their own mind the criticism they get from people of other religions or non-believers or whatever. You know, if he was so great, why didn't he live forever? Why didn't he promise eternal life? Or why didn't he do something other than what he did? And the story grows up. I mean, it sort of grows up around that question, maybe. Yeah. But it isn't very satisfying somehow. It isn't explained. I don't know. It just isn't explained well enough. Maybe there's something I'm missing.

[83:15]

Doesn't explain what? You mean why he died? It doesn't, yeah. I mean, you can understand that he says, well, my work here is done and goodbye. That would be understandable, but it's got this whole overlay of, well, do you want me to stay? Well, you didn't ask, right? And so I'm going, but I could have. I could have stayed. You know, it's artistic license. The main teaching is that here is this human being. who became enlightened through his own efforts. You know? Nothing extra, nothing special. And he ate bad meat and died? And he ate bad meat and died. Right. And he had no teacher either.

[84:17]

Right. Well, that's, yeah. He did have teachers. Very special. But essentially he didn't go to a teacher. But we don't know their names. Yeah. And if he did stay forever, it would be something other than what it is. Even though he was other, he wasn't other. It's a middle way solution, which has its ragged aspects. It would be almost a disappointment were he to say, well, I don't have to die.

[85:26]

One almost wants him to die. That's a dramatic ending to this drama. That's an ending to this drama. the kind of curious fusion of his kind of touching humanity, a person born and going through all the suffering that we all go through and dying, but touching something else, something else which we all share with him. It wouldn't seem right to have him survive beyond normal life. I agree. I just wonder why there's that funny business with Ananda about, well, you could ask me to stay forever. Was it forever? Yeah, if you asked me three times, I'd do it. And if you had just understood what I was saying, I would have stayed.

[86:28]

It's like the teacher poking you. And how you don't get it because you're asleep. Your mind is clouded and look what you might be missing. Yeah, well it's certainly open to a lot of interpretation.

[87:43]

Well, it's nine o'clock, so thank you very much for your very loyal Thank you. You're so smart. Great, great.

[88:06]

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