SAMMÆ PARIBBÆJANIYA SUTTA by VENERABLE MAHÆSI SAYÆDAW PART I (New Moon Day of Thadingyut, 1338 M.E.) Out of the six Mahæ Samaya Suttas, Purabheda Sutta has long since come out in book form. Tuvataka Sutta is now being printed at Kabæ-Aye Buddha Sæsana Press, and will soon come out in book form. Requests have been made for printing the discourses on the remaining four Suttas. There seems to be no occasion for delivering discourses on each of the four Suttas separately. It would serve the purpose if after granting søla to the audience a gæthæ (verse) each were dealt with on every sabbath day, as I am doing now. Each gæthæ will probably take fifteen to thirty minutes. Today we will start with Sammæ Paribbajæniyæ Sutta. This Sutta was delivered by the Buddha to the devas and brahmæs who still had the habit of ræga. In it he surrogate Buddha (Nimmita Buddha) with the wishes of the real Buddha. Pucchæmi munim pahutapæññaµ, tinnaµ päriñgataµ parinibbutaµ thitattaµ. Nikkhamma gharæ panujja kæme, kathaµ bhikkhu sammæ so loke paribbæ jeyya. “I pose this question to the Master who is fully endowed with great and all-embracing wisdom. I pose the question to the Buddha who has stable and peaceful mind, free from the fire of kilesæ”. These were words of adoration to the Buddha. The Buddha has great and large scope of wisdom, knowing all the dhamma. All the beings in the loka has been drifting in the current of kæma-ræga, and are being drowned in it. They are drifting and sinking in bhava-ræga, lust for life and also in di¥¥hi-ræga, erroneous beliefs. When the Buddha’s dhamma is shedding its light, the believers in the dhamma have a chance of swimming across the current of di¥¥hi-ræga. All the other beings are drifting and sinking; They are drifting and sinking in the current of avijjæ which blind them to the truth about anicca, dukkha and anatta. The Buddha has already swum across the four currents and arrived at the other shore-the state of nibbæna. The state of being free form all kinds of kilesæ after having arrived at the stage of arahatta magga is called sa-upædisesa nibbæna. The Buddha had peace form sa-upædisesa nibbanæ and His mind was stable. The above gæthæ is the adoration to the Budd-ha. The following is the text of the question: “Denying kæma in all its manifestations, the Bhikkhu has taken to the woods after discarding the society of laity who are building families. How is the bhikkhu to do to carry on the good work?” To this question the real Buddha gave an answer beginning with the following verse: Yassa ma³galæ
samuhatæse, The genuine Buddha said that bhikkhu had discarded all superstitions, called secular ma³galæ, by means of arahatta magga. Superstition consists in belief of bed luck, in regard to thunder stroke, mysterious outbreaks of fire, etc., and in belief of good luck, as well as bad luck, in dreams, peculiar marks in domestic animals and tools and appliances. The Buddha said that bhikkhu had discarded all superstitious beliefs and was able to practise the dhamma well. MA£GALÆS THAT SHOULD BE DISCARDED According to this gæthæ, the 38 ma³galæs which are the genuine ones, are those to be observed, not neglected. The ma³galæs which are to be discarded are the superstitious beliefs falling into three categories, namely, di¥¥ha ma³galæ, suta ma³galæ and muta ma³galæ. Di¥¥ha ma³galæ denotes the superstitious belief in good or bad luck according to good or bad sight. For instance, the sights of a swallow, a lark, a bird which speaks human words, a pregnant woman, an unmarried male or female, a pot full of water, a horse of äzani breed, a large bull, .... such sights are considered to bring good luck; this is good ma³galæ. Such superstitions prevail in India even today, and some in Myanmar, too. In ancient times, the sight of a beggar was taken to be a bad omen. A BRIEF STORY OF DI¿¿HA-MA£GALIKÆ In the story of Mäta³ga, the rich man’s daughter Di¥¥ha-ma³galikæ, carefully looked at the hands and feet of her many suitors and was displeased. She told each one of them that he was of a lower caste and drove him out. Then she washed her face for, she said, she had seen a bad sight. She was in the habit of putting persons to shame for their low caste; she drove them out, saying that they were a bad sight, a bad omen. It was because of this habit of screening people by sight labelling them generally as bad omen, that this daughter of the rich man was named Di¥¥hama³galikæ, the believer in omen by sight. At the time our Buddha-to be was born as a beggar and his name was Mæta³ga. Beggars were not allowed to live in the city; they have to live outside. One day Mæta³ga went into the city on some business. Beggars were required to put on rags when they were to go into the city. They were also required to make a sound so that others of higher castes were warned of their approach. Mæta³ga put on dark dress, carried a basket in one hand and a small bell in the other. The bell was to send out sounds of warning of his approach. He was also required to pay respects to the passers-by. The meaning of the sound of the bell was “I am a low caste beggar. Please avoid touching me.” While Mæta³ga was walking on the road, the rich man’s daughter Di¥¥ha ma³galikä, came riding on a horse-card to the bank of the river to take a bath and to picnic with her attendants. When she heard the bell, she looked and saw a man. “Who is this man?” she asked, and was told that the man was a beggar. Then the rich man’s daughter felt that it was a bad omen occuring at the time of going to the auspicious ceremony bathing and picnicking on the riverside. She turned back immediately and returned home to wash her face. Her attendants were angry with Mæta³ga for having spoilt the fun and beat him up. If you want to know the full story, please look up Mæta³ga Jætaka. Story No.20 of the 550 life stories of the Buddha-to-be. Di¥¥ha ma³galikæ’s story can be read also in Citta-Sambhuta Jætaka. Suta Ma³galæ is superstitions regarding hearing of sounds. Sounds of joy and laughter are taken to be good omens, and sounds of weeping and mourning taken to be bad omens. The cry of an owl, for instance, is good omen; the cry of a night bird is a bad omen. Muta Ma³galæ is superstition relating to smells and physical contacts. A sweet small or a pleasant touch is considered to be an omen for the good and conversely, a bad smell or an unpleasant touch means a bad omen. According to the caste system in India, physical contact, however slight with a beggar or a low-caste person is considered to be a bad omen. Once, a low-caste student had a slight touch with his high-caste teacher by mere accident, but the teacher could not forgive him and thrashed him soundly according to a paper I changed to have read. Included in such beliefs are superstitious reckoning of auspicious and inauspicious days, according to the movement of stars and other astrological calculations, when the occasion for alms-giving ceremony or a wedding is to be determined. Auspicious dates are chosen for the occasion of ceremonial laying of foundation-stones of a new building, such as a house or monastery. These are after all superstitious practices. It does not matter whether a certain time is auspicious or inauspicious so long as a construction can be carried out according to plan. If the construction is not done properly, it won’t be successfully done despite the fact that it has been started on an auspicious date. In the same way, a marriage contracted on an auspicious date may fail if the partners cannot maintain good relationship, and they will be separated. Such cases are many, just as some pagodas and monasteries remain uncompleted. CHOOSING AUSPICIOUS DAYS USELESS Personally, I regard this practice of choosing auspicious dates as useless. Nowadays, most people of Yangon don’t seem to care for auspicious days and usually choose Sundays to hold their ceremonies. That is quite a rational method. Sunday is an official holiday; so any ceremony held on any other day cannot attract as large an attendance as is desired. DISPELLING WRONG BELIEFS IS IMPORTANT According to this gæthæ, it is important to dispel beliefs regarding such secular ma³galæ or superstitions. In fact, good luck and bad luck are related to one’s merits and demerits of the past. They are also related to his good and bad deeds of the present. The benefits of one’s merits will engender good luck, or ma³galæ, and the effect of one’s demerits will continue bad luck, or ama³galæ. So we should believe unreservedly in our own kamma. That would then be the right belief in the workings of kamma, called in pæ¹i, kammassakatæ sammædi¥¥hi. Belief in superstitions is contradictory to it, and is a form of micchæ di¥¥hi. So the main thing is to dispel such micchæ di¥¥hi. All wrong beliefs can be dispelled by sotæpatti magga. Yet a sotæpanna retains possibility of cohabitation, so he cannot be completely rid of all the superstitious beliefs. Still living in human society, one feels obliged to conform to practices of secular ma³galæ to a certain extent. We don’t believe in auspicious or inauspicious days, but we feel obliged to permit religious ceremonies to be held on days chosen by lay disciples as auspicious. The same with foundation-laying ceremonies for new monasteries. We make such concessions because we don’t want to sow doubts in the minds of lay disciples if the construction doesn’t work out according to plan. As a matter of fact, there is no connection whatsoever between good results and auspicious time chosen after astrological calculations. Once, during the time of the Buddha, a certain man in Sævatthi city asked for the hand of the daughter of another man for his son and fixed the date of the wedding. Then only he approached his heretic master and asked if the date he had chosen was the right one. The master took offence against him for having failed to consult him before the date was chosen and said that the date was not the right one. “If you hold the wedding ceremony on that day, there will be great destruction,” the cunning master said. So the man did not go to the bride’s house on the appointed day. He went only the following day with his son. The bride’s parents were angry at the man’s failure and married off their daughter to another young man. When the man arrived the next day with his son, they were roundly abused and driven out. The news of this incident spread and reached the ears of the Buddha’s disciples who fell to discussing it. When the Buddha came upon the scene and asked what the topic of discussion was, He was told the story. The Buddha said that such an incident was not noble, for a precedent had occurred in the past. He then gave a sermon on it. The story under reference is called Nakkhatta Jætaka, No.49 of Ekaka Nipæta. The wise man in that story was reported to have said in following gæthæ;_ Failure can result from waitting for auspicious time Nakkhattaµ
patimænennataµ, “Benefits will approach and pass the fool who waits for a good time according to the planets. Getting the benefit desired is the same as getting it at an astrologically good time. How can planets do any good?” This gæthæ is a remarkable one. In the present time there are instances of failure to get good results from failing to get things done in good time or rather at a time when it is advisable to do the work. Two or three years ago, a certain woman from Mergui came to Yangon to get her eye disease treated, but she was a little late because she waited for an auspicious date for departure from her home-town. The doctors said that the disease could not be cured because they were consulted too late. I heard about this from a lay disciple. This is an incident to remember in the matter of waiting for an auspicious time. The bhikkhu who discarded all the beliefs of secular ma³galæ will not be disturbed any longer by then, and will thus attain the state of perpetual happiness. The Buddha said that as such a bhikkhu had rid himself of these undesirable beliefs and notions, he can carry out the good work in the loka or human society. And then, you should get rid of the superstitions relating to thunder-strokes or mysterious fires or similar disasters. Such disasters are seldom met with. Then superstitions about dreams must also be dispelled. The scriptures say that dreams occur to illustrious persons on the eve of some great events of good or bad effect. To the ordinary person, however, dreams are of no significance; they are mere reflections of their fears and fancies. Whatever they may be, all dreams are to be disregarded. When one reached the stage of Arahatta magga, one would not have any dream at all. We all should strive to reach that stage. Here, one may pause to reflect. This Sutta was delivered to an audience of devas and brahmæs, and these celestial beings have never had an occasion for a dream. So they wouldn’t have any notions connected with dreams, and wouldn’t ever be interested in the dream of human beings. We may wonder how the devas and brahmæs would understand about dreams. It is true that the devas and brahmæs living in extra-terrestrial regions would not have dreams, but there are quite many devas, such as guardian devas of a tree who are living on the earth. Their lives are so closely related to the lives of human beings that they may have occasions for dreams. The Buddha’s advice to dispel superstitious beliefs on dreams was appropriate for such terrestrial devas. And then, the Buddha’s advice on beliefs regarding the peculiar marks on the domestic animals and tools, appliances and other things in daily use, was probably meant for the devas living on the earth and having estates just like human beings. According to the masters of Veda, certain marks on the property or on servants are responsible for good or bad luck of the owners. All such beliefs constitute superstitions, and they must be completely discarded. Such beliefs presuppose lobha ræga, the desire for making headway in life, and they are usually held by those who have an excess of ræga (lust). There may been some such beings among the devas and branmæs whom the Buddha was addressing. When they heard the Buddha say that the bhikkhu who had discarded all these superstitions could remain in peaceful happiness, they would probably have greater confidence in the noble bhikkhu, and would at the same time strive to discard such superstitions of their own. They would, therefore, go in for meditational practice and make greater adoration for the bhikkhus and the dhamma. Thus, would they achieve pure joy and immeditately attain Ariyæ magga and phala. According to this sermon, all the monks in the Buddha Sæsanæ, who have taken the vows of monkhood should discard all the beliefs about secular Ma³galä. They should not encourage people to hold such beliefs. Yet there are some monks who have been giving lectures purporting to promote such beliefs; they have been teaching people how to make propitiations to ward off ill effects indicated by dreams on signs or other things; they have been giving instructions to do something, such as carrying about one’s person certain tokens of charm, amulets in order to gain prosperity in business or promotion in official positions. Those who want to be save form ill luck or to become rich or to get promotions approach such masters. Such monks are becoming powerful and prosperous. According to this gæthæ, such practices should be discontinued and attainment of søla, samædhi and paññæ should be striven for. If one can discard all these false beliefs, one can be free from all attachments and achieve the highest happiness. To sum up, the question was: “How does a bhikkhu who has gone into the woods after leaving the defilements of kæma do his religious work?” The answer was “The bhikkhu who has discarded all superstitious beliefs in secular ma³galæ has been doing good work.” We will conclude today’s session. May you all be able to strive to attain meditational insights leading to the achievement of the goal of nibbæna after discarding all the superstitious notions about secular ma³galæ. Sædhu! Sædhu! Sædhu! End of Part I
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