Session 020: When Even The Buddha Walks Away
When Even the Buddha Walks Away
Talk + Guided Meditation Session 020: May 20th, 2020, by Sophia Ojha Ensslin and Cristof Ensslin
Banner Photo by Nicolas Häns on Unsplash
Introduction
Over the last weeks and months, I’ve been hearing a particular Sutta being referred to on a few occasions. Sutta (in Pali) or Sutra (in Sanskrit) is a discourse of the Buddha, an original sermon if you will. While reading the suttas directly is mind blowingly inspiring to me, I feel lots of resistance to read them most of the times. I think that this is mostly because of the older language and rare words used.
So, fortunately, yesterday, for some reason unbeknownst to me, I felt inclined to dive right into this piece of scripture: the so called Upakkilesa Sutta. Upakkilesa is translated to English as fine defilements or corruptions of the mind. I also checked out the German translation, namely Geistestrübungen. That translates back into English as cloudiness or opacity or haziness of the mind. These words give me a good understanding of what is meant.
The sutta, by the way, is found in the Middle Length Discourses (Majjhima Nikāya in Pali, Majjhima meaning middle length and Nikāya meaning collection) as discourse number 128 (out of 150 in this collection of middle length discourses).
What had attracted me to it was that this Sutta describes how the Buddha teaches the way to get into the deepest states of meditation, the jhana states, states of meditative absorption.
What I found was utterly surprising and very uplifting. Read on below.
Talk
Guided Meditation
Q&A on Authenticity of Early Buddhist Texts
Handout
This week we have a 6-page handout. It is posted below as blog content for you. Plus, you can download it as PDF by clicking on the button below:
Two Parts of the Upakkilesa Sutta
The Upakkilesa Sutta starts off by telling a little story of how the Buddha came to teach this particular story. That’s about two and a half pages in Bhikkhu Bodhi’s book. Then it goes on for the rest of the sutta actually citing the teaching of what cloudy obstacles stand in the way between intermediate and deep states of meditation.
Today, I will only talk about the first part. One of the following sessions, we can then dive into more information regarding what to expect in meditation - kind of a sequel to the four-part series of talks about the Buddha’s instruction on how to meditate on the breath (Anapanasati Sutta, as talked about earlier this year in What to Expect from Meditation - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4).
Why and How Even the Buddha Walks Away
The first part of the Upakkilesa Sutta starts off by describing a monastic scene, where the Buddha is asked to step in as a mediator (not a meditator). Apparently, in Kosambī, where the Budda was residing at that particular moment of time, the order of monks had lost their monastic peace and were quarreling and verbally fighting with each other.
Reading this already surprised me as I have this idyllic, idealistic image in mind when I think of monks and nuns and monasteries. Nevertheless, this shows us that even monks and nuns are human beings with problems to deal with. And as long as they are not fully enlightened, they will tend to try to solve these problems with worldly approaches. While I’m not wishing neighborly conflicts to anyone, it is appeasing to hear that I’m not the only one who has ever faced something like that.
The Buddha is then asked by one of the monks to address the quarreling parties, out of compassion. He goes on doing it. Yet, upon all three times that he asks the monks to stop fighting and allay their dispute, he is met with the following response: “may you live in peace and let us do the arguing.”
How amazing, such a response! My jaw wouldn’t close in disbelief when I read this yesterday. It’s almost like saying “bugger off” to your most revered teacher.
So, the Buddha goes to his quarters and retires for the day. The next morning, he goes on alms round, eats, tidies up, packs his bag and speaks some well-thought-out words (copied from http://www.yellowrobe.com/component/content/article/120-majjhima-nikaya/302-upakkilesa-sutta-imperfections.html, who in turn quote Bhikkhu Bodhi’s and Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli’s translation of the sutta):
When many voices shout at once
None considers himself a fool;
Though the Sangha is being split
None thinks himself to be at fault.
They have forgotten thoughtful speech,
They talk obsessed by words alone.
Uncurbed their mouths, they bawl at will;
None knows what leads him so to act.
‘He abused me, he struck me,
He defeated me, he robbed me’―
In those who harbor thoughts like these
Hatred will never be allayed.
‘He abused me, he struck me,
He defeated me, he robbed me’―
In those who do not harbor thoughts like these
Hatred will readily be allayed.
For in this world hatred is never
Allayed by further acts of hate.
It is allayed by non-hatred:
That is the fixed and ageless law.
Those others do not recognize
That here we should restrain ourselves.
But those wise ones who realize this
At once end all their enmity.
Breakers of bones and murderers,
Those who steal cattle, horses, wealth,
Those who pillage the entire realm―
When even these can act togetherWhy can you not do so too?
If one can find a worthy friend,
A virtuous, steadfast companion,
Then overcome all threats of danger
And walk with him content and mindful.
But if one finds no worthy friend,
No virtuous, steadfast companion,
Then as a king leaves his conquered realm,
Walk like a tusker in the woods alone.
Better it is to walk alone,
There is no companionship with fools.
Walk alone and do no evil,
At ease like a tusker in the woods.
Bam! And then he walk off, with all his belongings in tow (probably just his alms bowl and nothing else). What a statement, what a decision, and what a way to execute this decision.
In no part of his speech do I detect anger or attitude. The previous night, he didn’t act reactively. Instead, the Buddha likely contemplated the right thing to day, decided to leave for good, came up with an explanation why he’d leave, presented it and then moved away.
Learning for Everyday Life, Straight from the Buddha
Can you see now why I said that reading this sutta was utterly surprising and very uplifting to me?
What I’m taking from this:
Try to help in problematic situations, the best you can.
If people choose not to take your help, that’s okay.
If your surroundings are getting too much to bear with, you may decide to walk away.
It’s better to be by yourself in peace than in company disharmoniously.
You may choose to explain your decision, but without anger or handing out accusations. (May I add: but don’t expect the people left behind to praise you for it!)
This teaching comes at a great time for me, as it gives me great solace about our own very recent decision to move away from a situation of neighborly disharmony. All remaining traces of doubts I can lay aside now.
How to reach such a composed state of mind like the Buddha had in this situation? By practicing acceptance, kindness, gentleness, and, of course, meditation. That trains the mind to deal with life in a peaceful way, so we can live and be well, no matter what life throws at us.
In one of the next sessions, we’ll go through the second part of the sutta, where the Buddha teaches us how to let go and get even deeper in meditation. The deeper we get in meditation, the deeper our insight about ourselves and life will be, and the more peaceful a life we can live.
I feel very blessed and fortunate to have access to these teachings. Thank you to all the people involved in writing them down, handing them down, preserving them, translating them, recording them, and manifold them in all the media available.
So now, let’s practice meditation together.
Resources Around the Upakkilesa Sutta
Online: Ajahn Brahm’s Sutta Class “MN 128 Upakkilesa Sutta (Imperfections)”: https://youtu.be/myY8aPvbdXI
Online: Bhikkhu Sujato’s English translation: https://suttacentral.net/mn128/en/sujato
Online: Bhikkhu Bodhi’s English translation: http://www.yellowrobe.com/component/content/article/120-majjhima-nikaya/302-upakkilesa-sutta-imperfections.html
Online: Mettiko Bhikkhu’s German translation: https://suttacentral.net/mn128/de/mettiko
Print: Majjhima Nikāya, translated by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi, Wisdom Publications, 1995
The book by Ajahn Brahmali and Ajahn Sujato we mentioned in the presentation can be found here: https://ocbs.org/the-authenticity-of-the-early-buddhist-texts-2/
Peace,
Sophia + Cristof
