13.3 The Story about 500 Bhikkhus with Insight
Pañcasatavipassakabhikkhuvatthu

“One should see it as a bubble,” {3.165} this Dhamma teaching was given by the Teacher while he was in residence at Jetavana with reference to five hundred bhikkhus who obtained insight.

It appears that five hundred bhikkhus obtained a subject of meditation from the Teacher, went forth to the forest, and devoted themselves to meditation. But although they strove and struggled with might and main, they were unable to develop distinction. Thereupon they thought to themselves: “We will obtain a subject of meditation better suited to our needs.” With this thought in mind, they set out to return to the Teacher.

On the way to the Teacher they saw a mirage, and meditated on that subject. {3.166} The moment they entered the precincts of the monastery, it began to rain. Standing here and there on the terraces, they watched the bubbles formed by the force of the downpour, rising and bursting. Thereupon the following thought occurred to them: “Even as a bubble, so also does this individuality of ours rise and burst.” Immediately they concentrated their attention on this thought.

The Teacher, sitting in the Perfumed Chamber, sent forth a radiant image of himself, and, as it were, looking into the faces of those bhikkhus, spoke with them, and pronounced the following verse:

170. Yathā bubbulakaṁ passe, yathā passe marīcikaṁ,
evaṁ lokaṁ avekkhantaṁ Maccurājā na passati.

One should see it as a bubble,
one should see it as a mirage,
looking on the world in this way
the King of Death does not see one.

At the end of the teaching those bhikkhus, even as they stood in that place, reached Arahatship.

last updated: August 2024