20b: Ven. Nanda’s Story
[This story was originally after that of the Wealthy Man Anāthapiṇḍika, but as it continues the story of the Buddha’s relatives, has been moved to here.]
While the Buddha was residing at the Jetavana monastery, his younger brother, Ven. Nanda, being unhappy as a member of the Saṅgha, told his associates: “Friends, I am not happy living the life of a monastic in this Dispensation (Sāsana), I am practising the three training rules reluctantly. I am unable to continue observing these noble precepts. I intend to give up the practice and return to a layman’s life.”
When the Buddha heard the news, he sent for Ven. Nanda and asked: “Have you told your monastic companions: ‘Friends, I am not happy living the life of a monastic in this Dispensation (Sāsana), I am practising the three training rules reluctantly. I am unable to continue observing these precepts. I intend to give up the practice and return to a layman’s life.’ ” Whereupon, Ven. Nanda admitted: “It is true, my Lord.”
The Buddha then asked him again: “Dear younger brother Nanda, why have you been observing the three noble precepts against your will? Why can you not continue to observe these training rules? Why do you want to give up the life of a monastic and revert to that of a layman?”
Ven. Nanda said: “Most exalted elder brother, when I left the royal palace carrying your alms bowl on my shoulder, my sister and betrothed, the Sakyan Princess Janapadakalyāṇī came dashing to the window with her hair half-dressed, and said to me: “Your highness, please come back quickly.” I keep thinking of these words of my betrothed ever since I left the palace, and that is the reason why I have to practise the three training rules against my will and pleasure, and I am no longer capable of observing the precepts. I shall now give up the life of a monastic and revert to a layman’s life.” Nanda gave this simple and honest answer.
The Buddha then, taking along Ven. Nanda, went to the Tāvatiṁsa Realm by his supernormal powers as though lifting him by the arms. On the way, he showed Ven. Nanda an aged female monkey sitting on a burnt stump of a tree, with her ears, nose, tail and other parts of the body, big and small, burnt and tattered. On arrival at Tāvatiṁsa, he drew Ven. Nanda’s notice to 500 celestial maids whose feet were as tender-red as pigeons’ feet, who had come to wait upon Sakka and who were standing and worshipping him. He said: “Dear younger brother Nanda, what do you think of this question? Who looks prettier and lovelier when your sister, your fiancee, the Sakyan Princess Janapadakalyāṇī is judged in comparison with the 500 celestial maids whose feet are as tender-red as pigeons’ feet?”
The beautiful delicate feet of these maids, with the colour of pigeons’ feet, was the result of their offering of emollient oil for the feet of monastics who were disciples of the Buddha Kassapa.
A question might arise here as to why the Buddha had aroused the sensual passion of Ven. Nanda by showing him the celestial maids when his mind was already affected with lust.
The answer is: “The Buddha had done so with the object of easily removing the defilements from Ven. Nanda’s mind.” To explain further, a wise and experienced physician, in an attempt to cure a patient suffering from a disease caused by excessive phlegm, bile and wind, usually gives doses of oily medicine to enhance the existing symptoms; that is followed by an emetic to remove the phlegm with ease and speed, through the mouth or by purging with doses of purgative.
In the same way, the greatest of all the physicians, who has no equal
Whereupon, Ven. Nanda gave this reply: “Most exalted elder brother, the old female monkey which you have shown me on the way, with her ears, nose, tail tattered through being burnt, can in no way be considered as lovely and pretty. And likewise, my sister and fiancee, the Sakyan Princess Janapadakalyāṇī, too, when compared to the 500 fair maids of the celestial world, can no longer be regarded as a model of beauty; indeed the 500 celestial maids are far more pretty and lovely then the princess.”
Then the Buddha gave him this assurance: “Dear younger brother, Nanda, take delight in the practice of the three training rules; take delight in the holy practice of the precepts which are my instructions. If you actually take delight in the noble practice, I assure you of acquiring the 500 celestial maids whose dainty feet are as tender-red as pigeons’ feet.”
When the Buddha gave such an assurance, Ven. Nanda responded: “Most exalted elder brother, if you assure me of the 500 fair maids whose feet are as tender-red as pigeons’ feet, I shall undertake to observe the three noble training rules of the Dispensation (Sāsana) with delight.”
It might be asked here why the Buddha had assured Nanda of the 500 fair maids for the gratification of sensual pleasure, which is a mode of ignoble living (abrahma-cariya-vāsa) while he wanted Nanda to observe the three noble practices.
The answer is: Ven. Nanda’s carnal attachment to Princess Janapadakalyāṇī was intense; and the Buddha had therefore diverted his attention to the fair celestial maids as a measure of temporary relief before he could relieve him totally of the prime trouble by means of the noble path (ariya-magga); hence the use of the ploy of ignoble living.
Then the Buddha, together with Ven. Nanda, vanished from Tāvatiṁsa and appeared in the Jetavana monastery instantaneously. When Ven. Nanda took leave of him and had gone to his chamber to spend the time, the Buddha explained all that had transpired to the monastics who assembled to listen to his teaching.
Having informed the assembled monastics of what had happened, the Buddha gave the following instructions to them: “Go ye now, monastics, to rebuke Ven. Nanda, by calling out to him: “You big servant who wants something for his service. You are a great buyer who buys something at a fixed price in exchange.”
In giving these instructions the Buddha was making use of a practical method employed in the world. A skilful person extracts an old nail, left firmly fixed to a post or a plank, by hitting it with another nail but smaller to cause it to vibrate before it could be loosened by hand and removed. In the same way, Ven. Nanda’s intense attachment, deeply rooted in the person of Princess Janapadakalyāṇī, was first given a loosening jolt and then removed by the temporary diversion to the more attractive celestial maids. Then, in order to do away with the new object of sense-pleasure and put Ven. Nanda back on the path of noble practice, the Buddha gave the above instructions to the assembled monastics.
In obedience to the Buddha’s instructions, these monastics went about spreading the news that the son of step-mother Mahā Pajāpatī Gotamī, and younger brother of the Buddha, Ven. Nanda, had been observing the noble precepts out of desire for the 500 celestial maids, and that the Buddha had also assured him of acquiring the 500 celestial maids whose feet are as tender-red as pigeons’ feet. On hearing this, Ven. Nanda’s friends went and heaped reproaches on him.
“It is being said by the people: ‘Ven. Nanda is a big servant; Ven. Nanda is a great buyer.’ He has been observing the precepts because he desires the 500 fair maids of the Deva realm; and the Buddha has also assured him of getting the 500 maids whose feet are as tender-red as pigeons’ feet.”
Being called “big servant” and “great buyer” by his monastic associates, Ven. Nanda was filled with unbearable shame and disgust. He retired to a secluded place and strove with mindful and earnest diligence in the observance of the monastic training rules with his mind inclined towards Nibbāna and soon drained off all the pollutants (āsava), and attained full-fledged Awakening. He became recognised as one of the 80 great disciples (asīti-mahā-sāvaka).
Whereupon an Arahat Brahma approached the Buddha at night and, standing at a suitable distance, joyfully informed him of the Ven. Nanda’s attainment of Awakening. Immediately after hearing the tidings, the Buddha, on contemplating: “How fares he?” became aware of Ven. Nanda’s attainment of Awakening through his omniscience.
As stated above, because of reproaches and jeers heaped upon him by his associates, Ven. Nanda developed a sense of spiritual urgency through shame and remorse: “Having entered the Dispensation with a well-expounded teaching and disciplinary rules (Dhamma-Vinaya), I have held the Buddha responsible for assuring me of getting the 500 celestial maids; as such I have committed a grave misdeed.” Accordingly, he strove hard relentlessly until he became an Arahat.
He then considered that it would be well to go to the Buddha and relieve him from the responsibility of the assurance he had made. He therefore approached the Buddha early the following morning and made the following address: “Most exalted elder brother, you have assured me of the hands of 500 celestial maids with feet as tender-red as pigeons’ feet. Most exalted elder brother, I now absolve you from that responsibility.”
The Buddha said in reply: “Dear younger brother, Nanda, I have already known, by judging the state of your mind analytically with my own, that you have become an Arahat. An Arahat Brahma also informed me earlier of your attainment to the exalted state of an Arahat. I have been absolved from that responsibility from the very instant your mind became free of the pollutants (āsava).”
The Realised One was greatly pleased and made the following utterance of exultation (Ud 3.2):
Yassa nittiṇṇo paṅko, maddito kāma-kaṇṭako,
mohakkhayaṁ anuppatto, sukha-dukkhesu na vedhatī sa bhikkhu.
A noble one (ariya) has crossed the slough of wrong view, in other words, the slough of Saṁsāra, by way of the bridge of the noble path to the shore of Nibbāna. The thorn of sensual passion that pierced the heart of all sentient beings has been crushed to dust with the cudgel of wisdom. Such a noble person has traversed the fourfold path (magga) and reached Nibbāna, attaining Awakening, the point of the cessation of delusion (moha). That Arahat monk, who has thus destroyed the darkness of the defilements, is no longer affected by joy or sorrow. He remains unshaken and indifferent to worldly vicissitudes.
Soon afterwards, a number of monastics asked Ven. Nanda: “Friend Nanda, you said in the past that you were not happy within the Dispensation (Sāsana) as a monastic; what is the state of your mind these days?” Ven. Nanda replied: “Friends, at present, I have no mind at all to revert to the life of a layman.”
On hearing these words of Nanda, monastics rebuked him, saying,
They then went to report the matter to the Buddha, who explained to them: “Monastics, in the immediate past, Nanda’s corporeality was just like a badly roofed house, but now, it is like a house which is properly roofed. True, this Ven. Nanda strove for the highest level of attainment of a monastic after he had seen the fair maids of the world of the Devas, with the result that he has now reached that highest level of attainment and is an Arahat.”
The Buddha then gave a discourse by reciting the following two verses (Dhp 13-14):
Yathā agāraṁ ducchannaṁ, vuṭṭhī samati-vijjhati,
evaṁ abhāvitaṁ cittaṁ, rāgo samati-vijjhati.
Monastics, just as rain-water can penetrate and flood a badly roofed house, so the mind, which has not been trained through tranquillity and insight meditation, is liable to be inundated with defilements, that is, to be flooded with the rain waters of lust, malice, delusion, conceit, etc.
Yathā agāraṁ succhannaṁ, vuḍḍhī na samati-vijjhati,
evaṁ subhāvitaṁ cittaṁ, rāgo na samati-vijjhati.
Monastics, just as rain-water cannot penetrate and flood a properly roofed house, so the mind, which has been trained through tranquillity and insight meditation, cannot be inundated with defilements, that is, cannot be flooded with the rain waters of lust, malice, delusion and conceit, etc.
By the end of this discourse, a large number of monastics attained the fruition stage of Stream-entry (Sotāpatti-magga). Thus this discourse was of great benefit to many persons.
The Story of Kappaṭa
Some time after, the monastics were gathered at the Assembly Hall for discussion of the Dhamma and speaking in praise of the Buddha thus: “Friends, Buddhas are really great and worthy of praise with the snapping of fingers. Even Ven. Nanda, who had almost lost interest in the life of a monastic, has been disciplined by employing the fair Deva maids as an allurement.”
At that moment, the Buddha entered the hall and asked: “Monastics, what kind of discussion are you engaged in as I came into the hall?” – “We are assembled here, discussing the marvellous way in which the Buddha has disciplined Ven. Nanda.”
Whereupon the Buddha said: “Monastics, it is not only on this occasion that I have exhorted Ven. Nanda, by employing a female as an enticement, I also won him over by using the same tactic in the past,” and at the request of the monastics, he expounded the Birth Story about Kappaṭa (Kappaṭa-jātaka) that follows (from DhpA 1.9, Nandatthera-vatthu):
“Monastics, once upon a time, there was a trader by the name of Kappaṭa in the city of Bārāṇasī during the reign of King Brahmadatta. He had a donkey that could carry a load weighing one third of a cart load and could travel seven leagues in a day.
Once, he went to the city of Takkasilā accompanying a caravan of merchants
Female: Where do you come from?
Male: I come from Bārāṇasī.
Female: On what business have you come?
Male: I have come for trading purposes.
Female: What is the weight of the goods that you have to carry?
Male: I have to carry goods weighing one third of a cart load.
Female: How many leagues have you got to cover carrying such a load in a day?
Male: I have to cover seven leagues a day.
Female: Have you someone to look after you wherever you go?
Male: No, I haven’t anybody.
Female: It’s a pity you have to go about unattended. You must be undergoing great hardships, aren’t you?
She spoke with seductive insinuations to win his heart. On hearing these seductive words from the female donkey, the male donkey lost interest in his work and became listless.
After disposing of his merchandise, the trader, Kappaṭa, went to his donkey and said: “Come, dear son, let’s be off.” The animal replied: “You may go by yourself, I cannot follow.” When the trader had made several vain attempts to persuade the donkey to obey him, he decided to use threats to make him obey:
Patodaṁ te karissāmi, sāḷasaṅguli-kaṇṭakaṁ,
sañchindissāmi te kāyaṁ, evaṁ jānāhi gadrabha.
You mean and wicked donkey, I shall have to goad and beat you with a sixteen-inch long cane, tipped with iron spikes. I shall have to lacerate your body until it is broken and torn into tatters. Take heed of that.
When the donkey heard this threat, he retorted by saying: “If that should be the case I too, have to mind as to how I should retaliate.”
Patodaṁ me karissasi, soḷasaṅguli-kaṇṭakaṁ,
purato patiṭṭhahitvāna, uddharitvāna pacchato,
dantaṁ te pātayissāmi, evaṁ jānāhi Kappaṭa.
O merchant Kappaṭa, if you will actually goad and beat me with a sixteen-inch long cane, tipped with iron spikes, I shall stand firmly on my forelegs and raising my hind legs, kick you with all my strength to break and knock out your teeth. You might as well know that.
When the trader Kappaṭa heard this bold and aggressive retort of the donkey, he wondered what caused it, and looking round, he saw a maiden donkey nearby. Then he thought to himself: “This maiden donkey must have taught him to speak like this. It would be wise to allure him away and tell him: ‘My son, I will get you such a maiden donkey.’ ”
Catuppadiṁ saṅkha-mukhiṁ, nāriṁ sabbaṅga-sobhiniṁ,
bhariyaṁ te ānayissāmi, evaṁ jānāhi gadrabha.
My big son, I will find a young, beautiful, well-formed maiden donkey with a face as fair as a conch-shell to be your wife soon after our arrival back at Bārāṇasī. My son, you can take my word for it.
The donkey was very pleased with the encouraging words of his master and replied:
Catuppadiṁ saṅkha-mukhiṁ, nāriṁ sabbaṅga-sobhiniṁ,
bhariyaṁ me ānayissasi, evaṁ jānāhi Kappaṭa,
Kappaṭa bhiyyo gamissāmi, yojanāni catuddasa.
My benefactor and master, Kappaṭa, if it is really true that a beautiful well-formed youthful maiden donkey with a face as fair as a conch-shell will be obtained for me soon after we have returned to Bārāṇasī, I, your good son, am prepared to work with redoubled zeal, breaking a journey of fourteen leagues a day. You can take my word for it.
Trader Kappaṭa then took the donkey with him to his home town of Bārāṇasī. A few days after their arrival, the donkey went to Kappaṭa and asked him to fulfil his promise: “My benefactor and master, Kappaṭa, have you not promised me a beautiful, well-formed, youthful, maiden donkey as my wife?” Then trader Kappaṭa replied: “Yes, it is true I have said so; I will not fail to fulfil my promise. I will find you a beautiful, well-formed, youthful, maiden donkey; but I will be able to provide food for you only, not for your wife. It is up to you to think if the food that I offer you will or will not be sufficient for both of you. And another thing, I wish to emphasise is that, in due time, you will have offspring to look after, and here again, it is for you to consider whether the food which I provide you will be sufficient for your growing family. It is not my responsibility. Think about it, my son.” As the trader Kappaṭa was giving this sound advice, the donkey’s attachment to the female donkey was severed.
Recounting the Birth Story about Kappaṭa (Kappaṭa-jātaka) in his discourse, the Buddha revealed: “Monastics, the Sakyan Princess Janapadakalyāṇī then was the maiden donkey, Ven. Nanda then was the donkey, and I was then the trader Kappaṭa. I had thus, at a time long past, also disciplined Ven. Nanda with the lure of a female,” and he brought the discourse to a conclusion.