mettavalokanaya_international_buddhist_magazine_january_2020

The Fifth
Week after
Enlightenment
all fetters. In the Dvayathanupassana
Sutra (contemplation of dualities)
Buddha said,
“With craving as his companion, a
man wanders on for a long, long time,
as in this state here and in that state or
anywhere else, and does not end this
inglorious Sansara.
To make people understand this,
Buddha dwelled under this Banyan tree,
whilst the thought arose in the mind of
Enlightened One that Four Foundations
of Mindfulness is the only path to
elimination of craving.
The mundane people who have not
attained the first state of stream entry
(Sothapaththi) needs to realize this and
ensure that they take full advantage of
being born human in this life by walking
on the path to purification. Buddha did
not dwell in 7 different places, a week at
each place for any cosmetic exercise, but
to tell us of the super-mundane meaning
so that we too walk that same path of
Four Foundations of Mindfulness.
Buddha spent the fifth week under
the Banyan tree named Ajapala.
In the traditional understanding
most claim that the meaning
of the word Ajapala is, Aja meaning
the Goat and Pala meaning the Goat
herder. Thus, most view this tree as
a place where goat herders came for
shelter after bringing their Goat herds
to graze the surrounding grassland. This
again is to look from an external and
somatic perspective and not from super
mundane perspective of Dhamma.
Buddha told Bhikkus, “while
dwelling under this Banyan tree on the
banks of river Neranjana in solitude
a thought came to me that this Four
Foundations of Mindfulness is the only
path for the purification of beings of all
defiling. What are these four? Here a
Bhikku having jettisoned craving and ill
will, will dwell mindful of this body, of
feelings, of mind and of things that arise
in mind.” (It is also important for Yogis to
know why Buddha the Enlightened One
Formerly Senior
Commercial Manager at
Sri Lankan Airlines and
presently Consultant to
Air India GSA in Sri Lanka.
Sugath Rajapakse
Sri Lanka
in Four Foundations of Mindfulness Sutra
expounded the Living contemplating the
body in the body as the first of the four
foundations.
Of the ten fetters, the first one is
false view that this body (Kaya) is true,
and the meditative Yogi in meditation
of breath observation will realize that
this body is of the four great elements,
and what is in this body is there in other
bodies and what is there in other bodies
is there in this body. Such Yogi will
jettison the first three fetters leading to
stream-entry. One may also refer Vijaya
Sutra. The Rupa in the Nama-Rupa is
form-perception. We have illustrated
our consciousness with trillions of such
form-perception in this life as well as
lives before. That is also why the Rupa
is explained as akin a mass of water
bubbles, seen from afar as solid, but
closer examination reveal it is a mass of
tiny bubbles. But we the mundane take it
as one and build the I syndrome Sakkaya
Ditti.)
Jappa in Magahi language means
craving, desire and Ajappa means not
having craving, desire. In the Ajita Sutra
in Sutta Nipatha, Parayana Vagga, the
ascetic Ajita asked Buddha a question,
“with what is the world shrouded,
Because of what doesn’t it express, with
what is it smeared of, to him what is the
great danger & fear”. Buddha replied,
“with ignorance the world is shrouded,
because of stinginess and heedlessness
it does not express, craving is the smear I
say & suffering is its great danger”.
Craving is the dhamma that binds
us to this samsara and to the world of
our six touch-agencies. The Banyan tree
as it germinated from the Banyan seed
and begins to grow bigger, will spread
out with many branches covering a large
ground area and from these branches
buttress roots will arise and go to the
earth binding the branches to earth.
Thus over a period of time the tree will
spread over a vast area with buttress
roots binding the branches to earth. This
is akin to craving binding us to this Loka
or our six-touch agencies, this body. So
the worldly mundane people ingrained
in craving bind themselves to the Loka,
while the Buddha dwelling among the
mundane humans and gods is free from
“Nama-Rupa
is formperception”….
42 l Mettavalokanaya l January l 2020 l www.mettavalokanaya.com www.mettavalokanaya.com l 2020 January l Mettavalokanaya l 43