Magha Puja

In Thailand, the traditional teachings about the day say that it is when four special events occur simultaneously in what is called a Caturangasanipata:  

1. 1,250 bhikkhus gathered before the Buddha without any convening.
2. They were all ordained by the Buddha himself.
3. They were all arahants with the highest jhana and abhinnas [the knowledge of how to perform ‘miracles’or how to control rupas]
4. It was the full moon night of the Magha month.  On such special occasion the Buddha taught them the ‘Ovadapatimokkha’ , which has come to be regarded as the first basic rules of the sangha.

What do Buddhas teach arahants who also have the highest mental powers of miracle making?  Sammasambuddhas know what the people before them need to hear for maximum benefits, even arahants.  These arahants were the 1000 jatilas he had just converted and helped to become arahants with the ‘Fire Sermon’, and the former Brahmins Sariputta [Sariputta’s mother was the Brahminii Sarii] and Moggallana and their 250 followers.  The full moon night of the third month is an important day in their former tradition, called in Thai ‘Sivaaraatrii’ and automatically they gathered before the Buddha, head of the 9 month old religion, their new mission in life, Buddhism.

The Buddha had already taught 60 other arahants, 5 being the Pancavaggiyas who had followed him all their lives since he was predicted at birth to reach Buddhahood.  He taught them for days until all had reached arahantship.  The next were Yasa and his 54 friends and followers, who were laity.  All were probably excited and eager to share their new knowledge of release from samsara, the way we all are when we discover something supremely beneficial which has made us extremely happy.  The Buddha told them to proceed to spread the knowledge, and the obvious result is that the venerable Asajji taught the then Brahmin Sariputta the one sentence that illuminated his highly accumulated panna so that he reached sotapanna.  By the way, the Venerable Sariputta had just attained arahantship that day while fanning the Buddha as the great teacher taught the dhamma.

These 1250 new Buddhist arahants gathered that night for their first ‘Sivaaraatrii’ without Siva [the God Shiva].  What did the Buddha teach them?  A very short sermon:

Ovaada-paa.timokkha Gaathaa

Khantii parama.m tapo tiitikkhaa
 Nibbaana.m parama.m vadanti buddhaa,
Na hi pabbajito paruupaghaatii
 Sama.no hoti para.m vihe.thayanto
Patient forbearance is the foremost austerity.
 Liberation is foremost: that's what the Buddhas say.
He is no monk who injures another;
 nor a contemplative, he who mistreats another.
Sabba-paapassa akara.na.m,
 Kusalassuupasampadaa,
Sacitta-pariyodapana.m:
 Eta.m buddhaana-saasana.m.
The non-doing of any evil,
 The performance of what's skillful,
The cleansing of one's own mind:
 This is the Buddhas' teaching.
Anuupavaado anuupaghaato
 Paa.timokkhe ca sa.mvaro
Mattaññutaa ca bhattasmi.m
 Pantañca sayan'aasana.m.
Adhicitte ca aayogo:
 Eta.m buddhaana-saasananti.
Not disparaging, not injuring,
 Restraint in line with the monastic code,
Moderation in food,
 Dwelling in seclusion,
Commitment to the heightened mind:
 This is the Buddhas' teaching.

[This translation taken for convinience’s sake from http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/dhammayut/chanting.html,
with much gratitude to the translators and website owners.]
 

 

Why were these arahants taught not to punish others but to bring only knowledge and release?  I think, and this is only my understanding of the texts, any mistakes are entirely my responsibility; that like in many religions these Brahmins traditionally inflict punishment on those who do not agree with their beliefs, or those who disobey their rules.  Witness the way the fire worshippers tested the Buddha by having him pass the night in their fire temple with a snake [sometimes translated as a highly poisonous and sometimes a fire breathing one] that would have killed anyone but the Buddha.  This while the head of the Jatilas thought he was already an arahant, when he opened the temple to find that the Buddha alive and well, with the tamed snake peaceful in his bowl.  The point is that Uruvelakassapa fully expected the Buddha to be dead.  This would not have been against their beliefs, inflicting punishment ‘justly’.  We see to this day that some religions teach that if one kills an infidel one not only is not doing wrong but deserves reward.  The laity as well as the religious officer are punished physically ‘for their own good’ in many religions, both physically and verbally, but not in Buddhism according to the Buddhas’ teachings, the only way to teach is to use reason, logic, and of course the truth, the Dhamma: what the Buddha[s] taught.  Here the subtle way that the Buddha refers to the former Buddhas [and therefore their impossibly ancient teachings, more than any earthly Brahmin ones] is wonderful to see.

When these new arahants go forth to spread the Dhamma:

Patient forbearance is the foremost austerity.
 Liberation is foremost: that's what the Buddhas say.
He is no monk who injures another;
 nor a contemplative, he who mistreats another.
The non-doing of any evil,
 The performance of what's skillful,
The cleansing of one's own mind:
 This is the Buddhas' teaching.
Not disparaging, not injuring,
 Restraint in line with the monastic code,
Moderation in food,
 Dwelling in seclusion,
Commitment to the heightened mind:
 This is the Buddhas' teaching.

The final reference to moderation is also a great reminder, the rich Brahmins had floated most of their possessions downriver on becoming ordained, and now the four requisites were all they had, like the rest of the sangha.  They still needed these to survive and teach the Dhamma, and people would be most eager to support them like all arahants, once their realized the great merit of ministering to such ‘fields of merit’.  One can’t stop people from trying to offer dana, but the arahants could be moderate in the usage of the requisites, since they are completely free from kilesas.

Therefore this was what the Buddha taught the first professional ‘Dhammadhutas’ of the world, and why Buddhism as a religion can never be the excuse for any wars or contentions, not even verbal violence.  Indeed if there ever was a day for ‘world peace’ among religions as well as the individual peaceful happiness the Dhamma brings, this should have been the one, to my thinking.

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