MN 12 Greater Discourse on the Lion's Roar- Sunday Sutta Session

All right, so today we're going to be doing the 12th Sutta in the Majjhima Nikaya, and that is known as Mahasihanada Sutta. So last time you were doing the Cula Sihanada Sutta, which is the smaller or the lesser. But maha, of course, here means great or big. So this is the greater discourse on the lion's roar. Thus have I heard, on one occasion the Blessed One was living at Vesali in the grove outside the city to the west. dharma and discipline.

So you will actually encounter Sunakkhatta later in another sutta in the Majjhima Nikaya. And Sunakkhatta is one of these problematic students we sometimes have who are looking for psychic powers, who consider full awakening to be, you know, a person who can fly in the air, who can walk on water, who can do all these things, and they're never satisfied.

So this is pretty ironic, and the Buddha actually points this out. analysis. He doesn't have any distinction in knowledge and vision worthy of the noble ones. And he doesn't have any superhuman states. Well, we know that by virtue of reading other suttas, the Buddha sometimes does display superhuman states or describes them from his experience. But it's so interesting. He says here, and when he teaches the Dhamma to anyone, it leads him, when he practices it, to the complete destruction of suffering.

As if the complete destruction of suffering were lesser than being able to walk on water or fly in the air or do all these parlor tricks. Then when it was morning, the Venerable Sariputta, dressed and taking his bowl and outer robe, went into Vesali for alms. Then he heard Sunakkhatta of the Lichavis making this statement before the Vesali assembly, returned from his alms round. After his meal, he went to the Blessed One. And after paying homage to him, he sat down to one side, and told the Blessed One what Sunakkhatta was saying.

The Blessed One said, Sariputta, the misguided man. Here we go. Misguided. Moghapurisa. Somebody who is not in alignment with the Dhamma. Somebody who is seeing with wrong view. The misguided man, Sunakkhatta, is angry, and his words are spoken out of anger. Thinking to discredit the Tathagata, he actually praises him. See, this is what the Buddha is pointing out. For it is praise of the Tathagata to say of him, when he teaches the Dhamma to anyone, it leads him, when he practices it, to the complete destruction of suffering. Sariputta, this misguided man, Sunakkhatta, will never infer of me, according to Dhamma, that the Blessed One is accomplished, fully enlightened, perfect in true knowledge and conduct, sublime, knower of worlds, incomparable leader of persons to be tamed, teacher of gods and humans, enlightened and blessed.

And he will never infer of me, according to the Dhamma, that he enjoys the various kinds of supernormal power. Having been one, he becomes many. Having been many, he becomes one. He appears and vanishes. He goes unhindered through a wall, through an enclosure, through a mountain, as though through space. He dives in and out of earth as though it were water. He walks on water without sinking as though it were earth.

Seated cross-legged, he travels in space like a bird. With his hands he touches and strokes the moon and sun, so powerful and mighty. He wields bodily mastery even as far as the Brahma world. And he will never infer of me, according to Dhamma, with the divine ear element, which is purified and surpasses the human, that the Blessed One hears both kinds of sounds, the heavenly and the human, those that are far as well as near. And he will never infer of me, according to Dhamma, with his own mind, the minds of other beings, other persons.

He understands a mind affected by lust as affected by lust, and a mind unaffected by lust as unaffected by lust. He understands a mind affected by hate as affected by hate, and a mind unaffected by hate as unaffected by hate. He understands a mind affected by delusion as affected by delusion, and a mind unaffected by delusion as unaffected by delusion.

He understands a contracted mind as contracted, and a distracted mind as distracted. He understands an exalted mind as exalted, and an unexalted mind as unexalted. He understands a surpassed mind as surpassed, and an unsurpassed mind as unsurpassed. He understands a collected mind as collected, and an uncollected mind as uncollected. He understands a liberated mind as liberated, and an unliberated mind as unliberated.

So these understandings we see in the Satipatthana Sutta, where for oneself, one is able to see the qualities of mind that are present and not present in one's own mind. But here the Buddha is saying if one is able to read the minds of others, one can detect what the other person's mind has or doesn't have. So the wheel of Brahma is interchangeable with the wheel of Dhamma. He understands as it actually is the possible as possible and the impossible as impossible.

That it is difficult or nearly impossible. Actually, it is impossible for one to fully understand the full scope of karma, for example. interacts with other beings, karmas, and so on. So there are some things that are impossible for one to know, like what was the beginning of samsara. The Buddha had concluded that samsara is beginningless. We can't see a first cause for this whole samsara to arise.

There are other things that are impossible to know. And these are the things that the spiritual toddlers are toddling about trying to find. They come and they look for, oh, what is my purpose in this life? What is the origin of the universe? Is there consciousness that is the substrate of the world? These are all childish questions when you think about it. They don't deal with spiritual maturity and realization, which is essentially, let's get out of here, right? How do we get out of here? We know what suffering is. We want to get out of suffering.

Again, the Tathagata understands as it actually is the results of actions undertaken past, future and present by way of possibilities and causes. That too is a Tathagata's power. So here he's talking about karma. Only the Buddha really is able to see the full scope of karma. He's able to understand the different threads that come together in the past.

Possibilities that might arise in the present due to those causes and conditions from the past. What are the possibilities of what could happen in the future based on the actions that are currently being taken? Because the thing about the future is it is unwritten. There are only potentialities, and only a Buddha can see to the very end of a potentiality and see if it is possible. That's why when the Buddha, as a Bodhisattva before he took the vow of being a sattva, went to a certain Buddha and asked, May I take the vow so that I may become a fully awakened Buddha in another eon? That particular Buddha saw into the myriad karmic repercussions of his many lifetimes and said, This is possible, and said to him, Indeed yes, this can happen.

So is that something that we need to do? No, not at all. All we need to do in terms of karma is understand what is going on in the present, how to deal with what's going on in the present, so that the future isn't laden with further propagation of the same patterns of behavior and thought and karma that we are suffering through in this moment.

Again, the Tathagata understands as it actually is the ways leading to all destinations. That is a Tathagata's power, and the arupa brahmalokas. So he knows what are the ways, what is the behavior that leads to these destinations. And he explains that in many different ways: that when somebody is violent, when somebody is jealous, when somebody is animalistic, what kind of awareness are they imbibing and developing and cultivating?

And what sort of destination can it possibly lead to? Again, the Tathagata understands as it actually is the world with its many and different elements. That too is a Tathagata's power. So you know, we can kind of see what this means on one level, which is to understand that there are these different elements in the world. Now when he says the world, he's not talking about just this world in terms of our planet or earth and its physics and so on, but he's talking about any element anywhere in any part of the universe, and any place and dimension in which physics might be different. He understands that scope. He understands the different elements in terms of the earth element, the water element, the fire element, the air element, the space element, the consciousness element, and the element of time. He understands the world as it's made up of these different degrees of elements. And he understands the causes and conditionality for these elements to arise.

He knows and sees when these elements go away what happens to that particular form or that particular being or that particular world. Again, the Tathagata understands as it actually is how beings have different inclinations. That too is the Tathagata's power. The person's different behaviors lead to certain kinds of patterns, the inclinations that they may have.

This is why when we look in some of the suttas, the Buddha is doing what is known as mahakaruna samapatti, the great attainment of compassion, where with his mind's eye he's able to scope out the different parts of the world around him, who is ripe enough in this time to experience the fulfillment and understanding of the Dhamma. One example is being able to see that there is potentiality in Angulimala.

And yet, Angulimala is about to go and kill his parents, I think his mother specifically. And the Buddha says if he does that, then it's too late for him. So what does he do? He goes out into the world, finds Angulimala and is history. He shows Angulimala the way and Angulimala takes refuge in the triple gem. So he's able to do this. He's able to see who is ripe and who is not yet ripe. He's able to see, and this is why sometimes the Buddha doesn't speak to some people, because he knows that it's like casting pearls before the swine. Not everybody is going to be able to get this nuanced and subtle Dhamma.

Again, the Tathagata understands as it actually is the disposition of the faculties of other beings and other persons. That too is the Tathagata's power. So the disposition of the faculties of other beings and other persons, very similar to the inclinations. But here we're talking about the sense-based faculties, we're talking about the faculties of intention, of attention, of feeling and perception.

We are talking about basically one's mentality, materiality. What kind of disposition a person has? So what do we mean by disposition? Really, what kind of behavioral tendencies, habitual tendencies? And on a deeper level, what kind of sankharas or formations are present in that person's mind? Do they have the capacity to practice? Do they have the capacity to be ethical? Do they have the capacity to actually practice meditation? Do they have the capacity to attain to wisdom?

Or do they have the capacity to attain to the psychic faculties or have certain kinds of powers present in them with regards to faith or mindfulness or wisdom or collectiveness and so on. Again, the Tathagata understands as it actually is the defilement, the cleansing, the emergence in regard to the jhanas, liberations, concentrations and attainments. That too is the Tathagata's power.

The only reason why we know so much about the jhanas in accordance with the suttas is because of the way the Tathagata, the Buddha, is able to expound on what these jhanas are. What are the defilements of the jhanas? Well, jhanas in of themselves are considered to be temporary liberations. However, the defilements leading up to the jhanas are hindrances.

And within the jhana, there can be the tendency where the mind can identify with the jhana. There is a sense of "I am a meditator meditating" rather than observing meditation happening, observing the jhanas happening, right? The cleansing, how the jhana lets go of certain things. In this case, the first jhana lets go of the hindrances. The second jhana lets go of discursive thought, applying an intention and, you know, staying with an object. The third jhana lets go of the joy, which can be too overpowering at that point. The fourth jhana lets go of all conceptual dualities of pain and pleasure, with equanimity present.

And the liberations, what do the liberations have and what don't they have? What do the liberations cleanse and what happens when you come out from those liberations? Specifically, we're talking about the four stages, right? Before the first stage, we still have doubt in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. We still have an inability to stay with the path because there might be attachment to rites and rituals. We may still have this even intellectual idea that there is an underlying self. These are the spiritual toddlers who think that there is a universal substrate that's known as consciousness or anything like that. The Tathagata understands the cleansing that happens. One lets go of those fetters and then the emergence of what happens there.

There is the path and the fruition where one is able to see the emptiness of self and the realization of dependent origination. Likewise, when one is a once-returner, where the attenuation of craving and aversion happens. Likewise, with the once-come-back or non-returner, where one eradicates fully any kind of sensual craving and aversion. And finally, with arahatship, which happens when one is able to see through ignorance and when ignorance is destroyed, so is restlessness and conceit and attachment to jhanas and formless jhanas. So he's able to see this. He's able to see what is the defilement still present, what is the defilement that's let go, what is cleansed and what happens when you come out of it. What do we mean by concentrations? We might talk about these as objects, we may talk about these as certain objects of meditation.

But also, he talks about the different ways in which the mind is able to see the beautiful in the ugly and the ugly in the beautiful and so on. And attainments can mean, you know, powers, it can mean psychic faculties, it can mean liberations of the mind as well. Again, the Tathagata recollects his manifold past lives, that is one birth and two births and so on. Thus, with their aspects and particulars, he recollects his manifold past lives. That too is the Tathagata's power.

So in this case, a person can do this. They can look into their past lives and they can see this was the kamma that arose that led to this particular kamma, and that's why there is this particular behavioral pattern in this life. And so what you are really seeing is the thread of dependent origination running through these lives. So here we're talking about the second knowledge, the threefold knowledge. The first is to see one's past lives. The second is to see the arising and passing away of beings in accordance with their kamma. So now we have a deeper understanding that kamma is universal, it's not just for your own life but the life of every being that arises and passes away. And again, by realizing for himself with direct knowledge, the Tathagata now enters upon and abides in the deliverance of mind and deliverance by wisdom,

And attaining wisdom or liberating insight from that, that are taintless with the destruction of the taints. So the knowledge that there is no longer any rebirth present for this being, for this mind. That is to say, one has let go of the kamasava. One has let go of the virus that has that sort of inclination to possess and to want and want and want, the desire to be and be and be, always looking to the future, so to speak, that I need this now, and I need this now, and I need this now.

So this is a pretty strong statement the Buddha is saying. And what he's saying is, don't talk about something you don't know about. Right? You're only saying things based on what you might see or hear or compare, but the reality might be something else. And if you continue to hold on to that particular view, you know, because if we want to have stream entry, we need to have the full conviction in the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha. So the Buddha here, the realization that the Tathagata indeed possessed these powers, that the Tathagata indeed was able to do these things, and the Tathagata indeed has or had when he was alive, in general, is someone who has awakened the path, who has discovered the path, and knows the way to the end of suffering.

And if we deny that, the mind has wrong view. And through that wrong view, there's agitation. And through that agitation, it would be as if he were in hell. Or it can be just as a bhikkhu possessed of virtue, concentration and wisdom, that is sila, the ethics, concentration, that is samadhi, the practice, and wisdom, that is panna, the liberating insight, would here and now enjoy final knowledge. So it will happen in this case, I say, that unless he abandons that assertion and that state of mind and relinquishes that view, then as surely as if he had been carried off and put there, he will wind up in hell. Again, you know, the emphasis on that strong statement, he's saying, just as somebody who continues to practice sila, samadhi and panna would be able to enjoy full and final knowledge.

It is as sure as that that somebody who holds on to that view about the Tathagata will basically end up in an unhappy destination. Sariputta, the Tathagata has these four kinds of intrepidity, intrepidity, however you pronounce it, possessing which he claims the herd leader's place. So that's one ground. He says that's not possible. Intrepidity. I see no ground on which any recluse or anyone at all could accuse me thus: while you claim to be one who has destroyed the taints, you have not destroyed these taints. And seeing no ground for that, I abide in safety, fearlessness, and intrepidity. So he's confident. He knows. He has seen with his experience and conviction.

I see no ground on which any recluse or anyone at all could accuse me thus. Those things called obstructions by you are not to obstruct you are not able to obstruct one who engages in them. What does this mean? Those things called obstructions by you are not able to obstruct one who engages in them. This is a very interesting one. This is really talking about in the context of the monastics, these obstructions are sexual actions. So there was a person who we will see later on in the simile, I think in the simile of the snake, if I'm not mistaken, He believes that if I indulge in sexual pleasures as a monastic, they're not going to affect me.

The Dhamma, in the way the Buddha may teach the Dhamma, that one who does that and somebody is saying, well, this person or the Buddha in this case teaches it but it doesn't lead to this, the destruction of suffering. Well, the only reason it would not is because they're not properly following the right conduct, they're not properly following the right instructions, they're not properly following the right way to liberating wisdom. And so if one were to practice in accordance with what the Buddha has instructed, then one will surely experience the complete destruction of suffering. Tathagata has these four kinds of intrepidity, possessing which he claims the herd leader's place, roars his lion's roar in the assemblies, and sets rolling the wheel of Brahma.

Sariputta, when I know and see thus, should anyone say of me, any of these things, he will wind up in hell. Now he talks about the eight assemblies. So these are the different kinds of assemblies that the Buddha may go to and teach in. It's very interesting to know about, but it's not a big deal for us to kind of memorize or remember. It's just a way of understanding that there is more than just this world. Sariputta, there are these eight assemblies. What are the eight? An assembly of nobles, an assembly of Brahmins, an assembly of gods of the heaven of the four great kings, an assembly of gods of the heaven of the 33, an assembly of Mara's retinue, an assembly of Brahma's.

Possessing these four kinds of intrepidity, the Tathagata approaches and enters these eight assemblies. I recall having approached many hundred assemblies of nobles, of Brahmins, of householders, of recluses, of gods. In other words, he goes wherever he pleases and teaches how he pleases without any kind of fear that he might be caught in something because he knows what he's talking about. He's seen it for himself. Now, the four kinds of generation. So we talk about the four kinds of ways in which a being comes to be. So I put that there are these four kinds of generation. What are the four? Egg-born generation, womb-born generation. Now the Buddha is just talking about these things to show that he understands the way in which the world works.

What is egg-borne generation? There are these beings born by breaking out of the shell of an egg. This is called egg-borne generation. What is womb-borne generation? There are these beings born by breaking out from the womb. This is called womb-borne generation. What is moisture-borne generation? Fish, in a rotten corpse, in a rotten porridge, in a cesspit, or in a sewer. This is called moisture-borne generation. What is spontaneous generation? There are gods and denizens of hell and certain human beings, and some beings in the lower realms. This is called spontaneous generation. These are the four kinds of generation. Sariputta, when I know and see thus, should anyone say of me that I don't, then he will wind up in hell.

Sariputta, there are these five destinations. What are the five? Hell, the animal, the realm of ghosts, human beings, and the gods. So here there are five, but sometimes there are six, which include the Asura realms. But in any case, this is what the Buddha is talking about. I understand hell and the path and way leading to hell. And I also understand how one who has entered this path will, on the dissolution of the body after death, reappear in a state of deprivation. So when he's talking about this path, he's saying the path that leads to hell, the way in which one behaves in an unhappy destination, in perdition, in hell. I understand the animal realm and the path and way leading to the animal realm.

So how can somebody experience the animal realm or be in the animal realm upon the dissolution of the body? Well, at the time of the Buddha, it was interesting. or act like dogs or act like sheep. They would go around on all fours and just act like that. And that was part of their practice. And a person who does that continues to behave like a dog, continues to behave like a cow. And when they die, they will have those kinds of inclinations, those kinds of thoughts that lead to that destination. But then more generally, there are people who are very animalistic, desires they're only about food and sex, they're only about the gratification of the biological drive to do this or that, and in doing that they may break precepts, they may do things that harm oneself and harm others, and this can lead to an animal realm. And then later on, with the divine eye, which is purified and surpasses the human, I see that on the dissolution of the body after death, he has reappeared in the animal realm and is experiencing painful, wracking, piercing feelings.

He comes to this same mansion, and then later on he sees that he is sitting or lying in that upper chamber in that mansion, experiencing exclusively pleasant feelings. So too, by encompassing mind with mind, the Buddha is able to see what behavior, what actions, what path, what way a person follows that leads them to a heavenly realm. By encompassing mind with mind, I understand a certain person thus. This person so behaves, conducts himself, has taken such a path that by realizing for himself with direct knowledge, he here and now will enter upon and abide in the deliverance of mind and deliverance by wisdom that are taintless with the destruction of the taints. So he's talking about the Eightfold Path.

And then later on, I see that by realizing for himself with direct knowledge, he here and now enters upon and abides in the deliverance of mind that are taintless and with the destruction of the taints, and is experiencing exclusively pleasant feelings. That space is exclusively pleasant because there's no condition present. So it means that there's no... the most pleasant state, as Sariputta would say, is the state or the feeling of no feeling.

What a way to describe Nibbana, right? You experience it, you experience so much relief, so much bliss, so much joy, that you're just floating in it, so to speak. Encompassing mind with mind. Exclusively pleasant. I see the exclusively pleasant feelings for a person who has the path, who follows that path to Nibbana. These are the five destinations.

Now he talks about the austerities that he took. So there are certain kinds of things that the Bodhisattva had to go through, due to his own karma, in order to attain Nibbana in this final life. Sariputta, I recall having lived a holy life possessing four factors. I have been an ascetic, a supreme ascetic. I have been coarse, supremely coarse. I have been scrupulous, supremely scrupulous. I have been secluded, supremely secluded.

Such was my asceticism that I went naked. You'll see this now, even now in India, people who are sadhus, who are ascetics, that they're fully naked and they might just be smeared with the ash from the funeral pyres. Rejecting conventions. They are aghoris. They don't do anything that, you know, that's normal in society. They're transgressive. They're subversive. Advertised to be distributed from where a dog was waiting, from where flies were buzzing. I accepted no fish or meat. I drank no liquor, wine, or fermented brew. I kept to one house, to one morsel. I kept to two houses, to two morsels. I kept to seven houses, to seven morsels. I lived on one saucerful a day, on two saucerfuls a day, on seven saucers.

So he's talking about going to only so many houses or having only so many morsels. I took food once a day, once every two days, once every seven days. You know, people come on retreat sometimes, the spiritual toddlers, and they'll say, I feel like I should be fasting. But that is not going to help you in any way. That's going to actually heighten your sensitivity to such an extent that you're not going to get the fruits of the practice. You need to have a more balanced approach. You need to have the right amount of sleep, enough sleep. You need to have the right amount of food, enough food. You need to have the right amount of water, enough water.

Whatever it is that you need to keep the mind and body comfortable, that you need to do. Thus, even up to once every fourth night, I dwelt pursuing the practice of taking food at stated intervals. It's like, I will only eat this time. I was an eater of greens or millet or wild rice or hide parings or moss, or rice bread or rice scum or sesame flour or grass or cow dung. You see this sometimes still in India. It's so weird. I lived on forest roots and fruits. I fed on fallen fruits. I clothed myself in hemp and hemp mixed cloth and shrouds and refuse rags and tree bark and antelope hide and strips of antelope hide and kusa grass fabric and bark fabric and wood shavings fabric and head hair wool.

In animal wool, in owl's wings. I was one who pulled out hair and beard. They do this in the Jain tradition. When you want to become a monastic in the Jain tradition, you have to shave off your hair and beard, but you don't do it by just shaving it off. You pluck one hair, one by one. You pluck one hair from your face, one by one.

I was one who stood continuously rejecting seats. You see these sadhus who would never sit down. I was one who squatted continuously, devoted to maintaining the squatting position. I was one who used a mattress of spikes. You see this still now. I made a mattress of spikes my bed. I dwelt pursuing the practice of bathing in water three times daily, including the evening. Thus in such a variety of ways. So why does he talk about that? He's talking about the Sandhya's.

The morning time, the afternoon time, and the evening time. You go to the Ganga and you take a bath in the Ganga, and that's a way of purification. Thus in such a variety of ways I dwelt, pursuing the practice of tormenting and mortifying the body. Such was my asceticism. Such was my coarseness, Sariputta, that such as the bowl of a tinduka tree accumulating over the years cakes and flakes off, so too dust and dirt accumulating over the years caked off my body and flaked off. never occurred to me or let me rub this dust and dirt off with my hand or let another rub this dust or dirt off with this hand. It never occurred to me that such was my coarseness.

Such was my scrupulousness, Sariputta, that I was always mindful in stepping forwards and stepping backwards. I was full of pity even in regard to a drop of water, thus: Let me not hurt the tiny creatures in the crevices of the ground. Such was my scrupulousness. This you see some people on retreat or practicing: "Oh, what if I do this? Or what if I do that? I shouldn't do this. Like, if I just do that, am I harming this? Am I harming that?"

That leads to further agitation. There is the story of the man who just stood in one place because he was afraid of harming those beings under the ground. And the Buddha said, "That's foolish. You can't live a life where you're just fully in no harm." The Jains try it as much as they can, the Jain monastics.

Such was my seclusion, Sariputta, that I would plunge into some forest and dwell there. And when I saw a cowherd or a shepherd or someone gathering sticks or grass or woodsmen, I would flee from grove to grove, from thicket to thicket, from hollow to hollow, from hillock to hillock. Why was that? So that they should not see me or I them.

Just as a forest-bred deer on seeing human beings flees from grove to grove, from thicket to thicket, from hollow to hollow, from hillock to hillock, so too when I saw a cowherd or a shepherd, or someone gathering grass or sticks or a woodsman, I would flee. Such was my seclusion. So he was that kind of ascetic or practitioner that goes deep into the caves and avoids people, or goes up into the snowy mountains where people don't go, or goes to different forests very deep where people may not tread. And when somebody does tread, that sadhu or siddha will go away. You may see this in places like the Himalayas or you may see this in places like the forests of South India.

Here's what he does then. I would range into some awe-inspiring grove and dwell there. A grove so awe-inspiring that it would make most of a man's hair stand up as if he were not freed from lust. When those cold wintry nights came during the eight days period of snowfall, I would dwell by night in the open and by day in the grove. And in the last month of the hot season, I would dwell by day in the open and by night in the grove. And there came to me spontaneously this stanza never heard before. This is a udana.

Inspired saying: Chill by night and scorched by day, alone and in awe-inspiring groves, naked, no fire to sit beside, the sage yet pursues his quest. This is again, the spiritual toddlers, they feel like I need to go here and I need to go there and I need seclusion and I need to do that. But they go there and what are they taking with them? A mind that's still agitated. They go with the dependence on the idea that only if I take a seat, this pacific sage, I will be well and I will have enlightenment. Much to their disappointment, I will make my bed in a charnel ground with the bones of the dead for a pillow. And cowherd boys came up and spat on me, urinated on me, threw dirt at me and poked sticks into my ears. Yet I do not recall that I ever aroused an evil mind of hate against them. Such was my abiding in equanimity.

Because of eating so little, my backside became like a camel's hoof. Because of eating so little, the projections of my spine stood forth like corded beads. Because of eating so little, my ribs stuck out as gaunt as the crazy rafters of an old, ruthless barn. Because of eating so little, the gleam of my eyes sank further down in their sockets, looking like a gleam of water that has sunk far down in a deep well. Because of eating so little, my scalp shriveled and withered as a bitter gourd shrivels and withers in the wind and sun. Because of eating so little, my belly skin adhered to my backbone. And if I wanted to touch my backbone, I encountered my belly skin.

Because of eating so little, if I wanted to urinate or defecate, I fell over on my face right there. Because of eating so little, if I tried to ease my body by rubbing my limbs with my hands, the hair rotted at its roots fell from my body as I rubbed. Now, as I say, there are again people who take this so seriously. There are people who are crazy enough to think, well, if the Buddha had to go through all of this to attain it, then I should be doing this. They don't realize what the Buddha is doing. He's showing himself as an example of what you shouldn't be doing.

Sometimes we as teachers may say certain things that we've done in the past, and those people, ignorant and foolish as they are, will say, oh, I should do those same things. talking about what the teacher might be talking about as things that you should not do. Things that did not lead to a happy destination. Things that didn't lead to a mind that's free of suffering.

The rice grain was then at most the same size as it is now. For feeding on a single rice grain a day, my body reached a state of extreme emaciation. Because of eating so little, this is what happened. Yet, Sariputta, by such conduct, "by such practice, by such performance of austerities, I did not attain any superhuman states, any distinction in knowledge and vision worthy of noble ones." Why was that? "Because I did not attain that noble wisdom which, when attained, is noble and emancipating, and leads the one who practices in accordance with it to the complete destruction of suffering."

Sariputta, there are certain recluses and Brahmins whose doctrines and views are this. Purification comes about through rounds of rebirth. But it is not easy to find a realm in the round that I have not already passed through in this long journey, except for the pure abodes, because only anagamis are there. And had I passed through the round as a god in the pure abodes, I would have never returned to this world. So this is what he's saying.

Now there are certain recluses and Brahmins whose view and doctrine is this, purification comes about through some particular kind of rebirth. ready in this long journey except for the gods of the pure abodes. There are certain recluses and brahmins whose doctrine and view is this, purification comes about through some particular abode. But it is not easy to find a kind of abode that I have not already dwelt in except for the gods of the pure abodes.

There are certain Brahmins and recluses whose doctrine is this: as long as this good man is still young, a black-haired man endowed with blessings of youth in the prime of his life, so long is he in his lucid wisdom, perfect in his lucid wisdom. But when this good man is in old age, burdened with years, advanced in life, and come to the last stage, being 80, 90, or 100 years old, the lucidity of his wisdom is lost. But it should not be regarded so. I am now old, aged, burdened with years, advanced in life, at the last stage, my years have turned 80. So now we know when this sutta was spoken: just around the time when the Buddha was about to attain his parinibbana, just in that year. Now suppose that I had four disciples with a hundred years lifespan, perfect in mindfulness, retentiveness, memory and lucidity of wisdom, just as a skilled archer, trained, practiced and tested, could easily shoot a light arrow across the shadow of a palm tree.

Suppose that they were even to that extent perfect in mindfulness, retentiveness, memory and lucidity of wisdom. Suppose that they continuously ask me about the four foundations of mindfulness and that I answered them when asked and that they remembered each answer of mine and never asked a subsidiary question or paused except to eat or drink or consume food or taste or urinate or defecate or rest in order to remove sleepiness and tiredness. The Dhamma, his explanations of factors of the Dhamma and his replies to questions will not yet come to an end, but meanwhile those four disciples of mine with their hundred years lifespan would have died at the end of those hundred years. Sariputta, even if you have to carry me on a bed, still there will be no change in the lucidity of the Tathagata's wisdom. So that's an interesting thing, right? The ability to have that level of lucidity, that even if one were

physically incapacitated, that one's lucidity still remains. Rightly speaking, word to be said of anyone, of being not subject to delusion as appeared in the world for the welfare and happiness of many, out of compassion for the world, for the good welfare and happiness of gods and humans, it is of me indeed that rightly speaking this should be said. Now, on that occasion, the Venerable Naga Samala was standing behind the Blessed One fanning him. And he said to the Blessed One, "It is wonderful, Venerable Sir, it is marvelous. As I listened to this discourse on the Dhamma, the hairs on my body stood up. Venerable Sir, what is the name of this discourse on the Dhamma?"

As to that Naga Samala, he may remember this discourse on the Dhamma as the hair-raising discourse. That is what the Blessed One said. The Venerable Naga Samala was satisfied and delighted in the Blessed One's words. So that was quite a big sutta, but you can see it is really about talking about the Tathagata. It's to bring further faith in the Buddha and what he did and what he didn't do in order to get to Buddhahood and open up the path for future generations. Suffering free and the fear struck fearless me. May the grieving shed all grief and may all beings find relief. May all beings share this merit that we have thus acquired with the acquisition of all kinds of happiness. May beings inhabiting space and earth, devas and nagas of mighty power share this merit of ours. May they long protect the Buddha's dispensation. Thank you everyone. I'll see you next week. Thank you.