33a: The 15^th Rains Retreat (Sakyans)

After staying in Sāvatthī for the fourteenth Rains Retreat (Vassa), the Buddha remained in that city, after the end of the Rains Retreat, for as long as there were beings worthy of teaching. Thereafter, he set out to administer the medicinal Dhamma to all beings: humans, Devas and Brahmas, and he eventually arrived in the city of Kapilavatthu and observed, together with a host of monks, the 15^th Rains Retreat at Nigrodhārāma, which was built and given to him on his first visit by the Sakyan Prince Nigrodha, and which had been named after him as Nigrodhārāma.

The Discourse to Mahānāma

While the Buddha was thus staying at Nigrodhārāma of Kapilavatthu in the Sakyan country, Prince Mahānāma paid a visit to him, did obeisance and sat down at a proper place. Then the prince asked the Buddha: “By doing what, exalted Buddha, does one become a lay devotee (upāsaka)?”

Buddha: “Mahānāma, taking refuge (saraṇa-gamana) in the Buddha; taking refuge in the Dhamma and taking refuge in the Saṅgha. By doing so, Mahānāma, one becomes a lay devotee.”

Prince: “By doing what, exalted Buddha, is a lay devotee endowed with morality (sīla)?”

Buddha: “Mahānāma, abstaining from taking life, abstaining from taking what is not given, abstaining from wrong sexual acts, abstaining from telling lies and abstaining from taking strong drink, a cause of unmindfulness. By doing so, Mahānāma, a lay devotee is endowed with morality.”

Prince: “By doing what, exalted Buddha, is a lay devotee endowed with faith (saddhā)?”

Buddha: “In this Dispensation, Mahānāma, a lay devotee believes that the Buddha is an Arahat because he is worthy of extraordinary homage, that he is a Fortunate One because he has great glory in the sense of Awakening. By believing so, Mahānāma, a lay devotee is endowed with faith.”

Prince: “By doing what, Exalted Buddha, is a lay devotee endowed with charity (cāga)?”

Buddha: “In this Dispensation, Mahānāma, a lay devotee abides at home with his mind freed from the impurity of stinginess (macchera), he gives away with full detachment; he washes his hand to give with while his hand is wet; he takes delight in giving; he is pleasing to alms seekers as he shuns wearing a grim face; he delights in offering and distributing things. By doing so, Mahānāma, a lay devotee is endowed with generosity.” [766]

Prince: “By what, Exalted Buddha, is a lay devotee endowed with wisdom (paññā)?”

Buddha: “In this Dispensation, Mahānāma, a lay devotee is wise; he has wisdom which is pure and noble, which destroys moral defilement, which leads to Nibbāna, the end of suffering, and which helps him understand the rise and fall (udayabbaya-ñāṇa) of mind and matter. All this makes him endowed with wisdom.”

Prince Suppabuddha

While staying at Nigrodhārāma, Kapilavatthu, in the country of Sakka, the Buddha spoke a verse beginning with: “Monks, he who stands in the air cannot escape from death …” (Dhp 128) in connection with his uncle and father-in-law Suppabuddha, a Sakyan Prince.

Elaboration: the Buddha’s uncle, Prince Suppabuddha, bore a grudge against the Buddha for two reasons. He thought: “This nephew and son-in-law of mine, Prince Siddhattha, Buddha Gotama, has abandoned my daughter Mahā Pajāpatī Gotamī and renounced the world. And having ordained my son Devadatta into the monkhood he treats him as an enemy.” One day, thinking: “I should not give him a chance to have his meal,” he blocked the Buddha’s way, by standing in the middle of the road and preventing him from passing.

At that time, when the Buddha came in a company of monks to that place, the prince’s men informed him of the Buddha’s visit. “Men,” said the prince bitterly, “tell Prince Siddhattha, my nephew, to take another road. He is not older than I am. Therefore I cannot make way for him.” Despite his men’s repeated plea, the prince said the same thing and kept on standing in the road and drinking.

Failing to get permission from his uncle, the Buddha turned back from that place. Suppabuddha then sent a spy with these words: “Go, man, take note of what my nephew has to say, and come back.”

While turning back, the Buddha smiled and Ven. Ānanda asked him about the reason for his smile. “Dear Ānanda,” the Buddha asked in return, “Did you see my uncle Suppabuddha?” – “Yes, exalted Buddha,” replied Ven. Ānanda. The Buddha then foretold the following: “Dear Ānanda, my uncle Suppabuddha, who refused to make way for me, has made a very serious mistake. Seven days from now, he will be swallowed up by the earth at the bottom of the stairs leading down from the upper terrace.”

Having overheard these words, the spy went back to Suppabuddha who asked: “What did my nephew, who has turned back, say?” The man told him of all he had heard. The prince then conceived an idea: “What my nephew has said cannot go wrong. Whatever he says comes true. Despite this I will accuse him of falsehood now. He said that I would be swallowed up by the earth on the seventh day. He said it without mentioning the place, but he did say I was to be swallowed by the earth at the foot of the stairs. From now on I will never go anywhere near the foot of the stairs. If I do not go there, I shall not be swallowed by the earth there! On not being swallowed at the end of seven days, I shall accuse my nephew, the Buddha, of false speech.”

After getting this idea, Prince Suppabuddha had his belongings taken up to the top of the residence and had the stairway removed and the doors locked; at each doorway he placed a couple of wrestlers, whom he ordered: “In case I try to descend absent-mindedly, you must prevent me.” So he remained in his cosy chamber on the seventh and top terrace of his residence.

Hearing of the matter, the Buddha said: “Monks, the word of a Buddha is never ambiguous, it is only of one meaning that is truthful no matter whether my uncle Prince Suppabuddha stays only on the terrace, or takes flight and remains in the sky, or comes down and abides in a boat in the ocean, or dwells inside a mountain. On the very spot I [767] have mentioned, at the foot of the stairs, he will be swallowed by the earth.” Being desirous of teaching by connecting the former speech with the latter, the Buddha uttered the following verse (Dhp 128):

Na antalikkhe na samudda-majjhe,
na pabbatānaṁ vivaraṁ pavissa,
na vijjatī so jagatippadeso,
yatthaṭṭhitaṁ nappasaheyya maccu.

Monks, he who stands in the air cannot escape from death; nor can he who lies in the middle of the ocean; he who enters a hole or a cleft in a mountain and lives there still cannot escape from death; there is no space on the ground, not even that of a hair’s breath, that is not plagued by death.

By the end of this verse, innumerable persons attained Stream-entry (Sotāpatti-phala) and so on.

On the seventh day, while the road leading to the palace where the Buddha would take his meal was being blocked, Suppabuddha’s state horse, which was kept under the mansion, got away from the ropes with which he was tied to a post, kicking the walls around and neighing forcefully. Nobody was able to control or capture him. While up on the terrace of the mansion, Suppabuddha heard the cries of his state horse and asked what it was all about. His servants then replied that the prince’s charger had broken loose.

As soon as he saw the prince, the state horse stood quietly. Suppabuddha could not help trying to catch the horse, he then rose from his seat and went up to the door which opened by itself. The stairway that had been removed previously stood at its original place. The wrestlers who were on guard caught hold of the prince by the neck and, instead of pushing him back into the mansion, threw him down the stairs. The doors on all seven floors opened up of their own accord. The stairways were reinstated by themselves. The guards on each floor threw him down successively by catching hold of him by the neck.

After that, when he got down to the foot of the stairs leading to the ground, the great earth opened, making a roaring sound, and received Suppabuddha, the Sakyan Prince. Having entered the earth, the prince fell into the Avīci hell.