Mar Ngok Summer Teachings 2024: The Origins of Secret Mantra Day 8
10 August 2024
Following on from HH Karmapa’s previous teaching on the parinirvana of the Elder Mahakashyapa, he spoke from various accounts of the parinirvana of the Elder Ananda, enlivening the story with fascinating anecdotes as if recalling it from memory.
There were 3 circumstances involved with Ananda’s parinirvana.
1.Transmission of Teachings
For a certain period of time after the passing of Buddha Shakyamuni, there was a tradition of passing the teachings from one worthy disciple to the next. The Buddha passed the oral lineage to Mahakashyapa. who transmitted it to Ananda, who then transmitted the teachings to Shanavasin, the son of a merchant.
In ancient times it was the custom for merchants to go on ocean voyages in order to gather many different, types of precious stones and jewels, Similarly, Shanavasin went on an ocean voyage. Once he returned safely, he hid all his wealth in a treasury, and then came to the Bamboo Grove monastery near Rajagriha, historically the first monastery to be offered to the Sangha by King Bimbisara. At Bamboo Grove, he saw Ananda pacing back and forth in front of the temple without any particular focus. (Later, it became a type of walking meditation). When he saw Ananda, Shanavasin immediately prostrated at his feet.
In gratitude for his wealth and safe return he offered to sponsor a large annual dharma festival making offerings to the Sangha once a year for five years.
Then he asked,
“Where is the Buddha Bhagavan?” Ananda replied, “Bhagavan has passed into nirvana’’.
As soon as he heard that the Buddha Bhagavan had passed away, Shanavasin fainted. He asked the same question about Shariputra, Maudgalyayana and Mahakashyapa and to his great distress, they had all passed into nirvana.
After the five-year annual Dharma festivals were completed, the elder Ananda asked Shanavasin to become ordained in order to best serve the dharma. Before he passed into parinirvana, Mahakashyapa had predicted Shanavasin’s future role and had instructed Ananda to pass the teachings to him. This was the reason he asked Shanavasin to become a monk.
After Shanavasin had taken his vows, he said, “From today on until the end of my life, I shall wear robes made of hemp.” The Karmapa explained that hemp is a coarse fibre and so this was a vow of austerity.
Shanavasin was very intelligent with a clear mind and just by hearing something once, he could remember it (similar to a photographic memory but audible) so he was able to memorize all of the 84,000 teachings that Ananda had heard from the Buddha. He attained the three awarenesses and knew the Three Baskets of the Teachings, the Three Pitakas.
2. A Mistake in Recitation of a Verse
According to the Tibetan translation of the Finer Points of Discipline, which comes from the Mūlasarvāstivādin tradition, the circumstance that led to Ananda passing into parinirvana was that a bhikshu was reciting a verse incorrectly! The account is the same in the original Chinese text.
At that time, Ananda was staying at Bamboo Grove, and a bhikshu was reciting a verse. The stanza was:
Instead of living a hundred years and never seeing a white crane,
living a single day and seeing a white crane is far better.
When Ananda heard the bhikshu recite this verse, he said to him, “Son, the Bhagavan didn’t say that. You’re repeating it incorrectly. This is what the Bhagavan said:
Instead of living a hundred years
Without being freed from birth or perishing,
Living a single day and being freed
From birth and perishing is far better.
‘’It doesn’t mean “white crane.” It means “birth and perishing.”
The Karmapa explained that it may have been a recitation mistake because the words for ‘white crane’ and ‘birth’ and ‘perishing’ were similar in the Indian dialect at that time.
Ananda continued to point out that two types of people in the world will criticize the teachings of Buddhism. The first of these are people who are angry and have no faith. The other group are those people who have faith but misunderstand the teachings.
If you memorize the sutras incorrectly, it’s like an elephant getting into quicksand, you’ll destroy your own self, because you don’t have the intelligence to understand the teaching. It’s like eating poison. Therefore, the wise, based on their listening, behave properly in practice, eliminating afflictions and doubt, and reaching liberation.
When the bhikshu received Ananda’s advice, he went to the abbot and repeated it. But the abbot advised him not to listen to Ananda: “Ananda has grown old and bent over. He doesn’t have the capacity to remember things. He speaks nonsense and his memory is unreliable, so you cannot believe in him too much. Recite exactly as you did before.”
The Karmapa suggested that the abbot didn’t want to admit that he had been mistaken when teaching the monks and so blamed Ananda.
When Ananda checked on the bhikshu, he found him reciting the verse incorrectly, as he had before. “Son, didn’t I tell you that the Bhagavan didn’t say it like that? Why are you still reciting it the same way?” So, the bhikshu told him what the abbot had said. Ananda thought to himself, “If I speak to the bhikshu… he won’t listen to me if I say it directly to him, and there’s nothing else I can do.” He realised that even the great beings of the past probably would have been unable to do anything either, and so he thought to himself, “If I remain here, it’s not going to be of benefit, so I think I need to pass away.” And so he said,
“The old ones have all passed away, the new ones do not agree with them. I shall remain in solitude like a bird born from an egg.”
The Karmapa commented that Ananda was very sad. All his friends had passed away and he didn’t get along with the new students; he was alone. When a bird is born from an egg, it comes out all alone, and Ananda felt just like that bird; he needed to remain alone. These were the circumstances for him to decide that he needed to pass into parinirvana.
Ananda went to Shanavasin with his decision.
The Bhagavan entrusted the teachings to Mahakashyap and then passed away. Mahakashyapa then entrusted them to me, and now I have entrusted the teachings to you. You must always protect these teachings. Due to the power of the virtue of the Tathagata’s compassion, the true dharma will remain for one thousand years. Now I will pass into nirvana.
Ananda also shared two of the Buddha’s predictions with him. The first concerned two brothers who would sponsor and become patrons for a temple on a mountain called Murunda in Mathhura. The second was that in the land of Mathura was an incense seller, Gupta, who would have a son named Upagupta.
Ordain him, and one hundred years after my parinirvana, there will be a buddha without any signs. Thus, he will perform all the activities of the teachings.
In this way, Ananda actually entrusted the teachings to Shanavasin, and Shanavasin promised and committed to doing exactly as Ananda had said.
3. The Parinirvana of Ananda
After Ananda had entrusted the teachings to Shanavasin, he was in a dilemma. Where should he pass away? He didn’t want to create conflict between Vaishala and Magadha and was concerned that should he pass away in either territory, they would not be prepared to share his remains with the other territory. He decided not to pass away in Vaishala, nor to pass away in Magadha, but right in between Vaishala and Magadha, where the river Ganges runs between them. He said that he was going to pass away in the centre of the river Ganges.
After Ananda went to the Ganges, King Ajatashatru of Magadha had a dream. The staff of the royal parasol traditionally held over his head, broke. He immediately woke up in fright. As soon as he woke up, the doorkeeper came and said, “Elder Ananda sent a message that he will pass into parinirvana.” At this, Ajatashatru fainted. When he recovered consciousness, the king asked immediately, “Where will the Venerable Ananda pass into parinirvana?”
And Shanavasin said, “He’s gone in the direction of Vaishali.”
Immediately, King Ajatashatru, and all four divisions of his army put on their armour, got their weapons, and went to the banks of the Ganges River in the direction of Vaishali.
Now at the same time, the local protectors and deities of Vaishali told the people of Vaishali, the Licchavis, “Ananda has decided that he is to pass into parinirvana. He’s coming in the direction of Vaishali.”
They also prepared their armies, and came to the opposite bank of the Ganges. On the near side, there was King Ajatashatru with his army, and on the other side, there were the people of Vaishali with their army. Ananda was on a boat in the middle of the Ganges.
It can be surmised that King Ajatashatru took a boat to where Ananda was, prostrated to him and said, “If you think you need to pass away into parinirvana, then please leave your remains here for us, for our sake.”
The people of Vaishali also prostrated from afar, and they asked him, “Please leave your remains with us.”
And when they both asked, Ananda decided, “What I’m going to do is, I’m going to give half of my remains to King Ajatashatru, and half of it to the Licchavis of Vaishali then they’ll both have support for faith, and they’ll be able to make offerings to it.”
When Ananda was about to pass into Nirvana, the great earth shook in six ways, and at that point, just before he passed into Nirvana, suddenly a sage, with a retinue of 500 disciples, came to see him. Miraculously, he flew up into the air to Ananda, beseeching him, “Please send us forth. Please make us monks.”
Ananda accepted. The 500 disciples were still on the banks, and at that very moment, Ananda thought about the 500 disciples also. Though they didn’t have the miraculous power of their master, they were immediately able to come to the centre of the river, where Ananda emanated an island in the middle. Thus, it was that they all went forth and received the full ordination together.
At the very end of the ordination ceremony, one has to recite the text three times. During this recitation, the first time they all achieved the result of irreversibility, and the third time they abandoned all afflictions, and achieved the level of arhat. The place where they’d done it was in the middle of the river, and the time was the middle of the day. Thus, some of them were called ‘mid-river’, and some were called ‘mid-day’.
Just as in the past, the last monk the Bhagavan ordained, the wandering mendicant Subhadra, had passed away before the Buddha, similarly, the monks ordained last by Ananda, asked his permission to enter parinirvana first, before he did. ‘We don’t dare watch you pass into parinirvana. Before you pass away, we’re going to pass away first.’
Ananda replied, “The Bhagavan entrusted the teachings to Mahakashyapa before passing into parinirvana, and Mahakashyapa entrusted the teachings to me. Now I’m going to pass away into parinirvana soon, so you need to protect these teachings.”
The Buddha’s Prediction about Kashmir
In the past, the Buddha had prophesied that Kashmir would have the prerequisites of places that are easy to stay in to attain dhyana meditation. He had also predicted that 100 years after his passing a bhikshu named Madhyantin, or ‘The Middle of the Day’, would spread the teachings in Kashmir. ‘’So all of you have to go to Kashmir and spread the teachings there’’, said Ananda. ‘’Go to Kashmir.’’ The 500 new bhikshus made this commitment.
‘’I think that this is related to the Sarvāstivāda sect. And the reason for this is that the hub of the Sarvāstivāda teachings is in Kashmir,’’ the Karmapa explained.
After Ananda had made the prophecy about Madhyantin, his body displayed various miracles and, like water dousing fire, he passed into nirvana.
Half of his body was received by the people of Vaishali and half by King Ajatashatru. The Lacchavis placed these relics into a stupa built for them in Vaishali. King Ajatashatru also built a stupa for the relics in Pataliputra.
“Generally, our Northern traditions, scriptures, and the Tibetan tradition, agree with this account of the parinirvana of Ananda,” the Karmapa observed.
The Theravada tradition
Within the scriptures of the Southern tradition, the account of Ananda’s passing is included in the treatises where there is a commentary on the Dhammapada which includes a discussion of Ananda’s parinirvana.
First there is a quotation in the text from the Pali Jataka tales. The 166th of 547 Jataka tales is the Jataka tale of Upasalha which poses a question: is there any place where people have never died? And answers it: there is not, except for the place where Ananda passed into parinirvana. In the Pali tradition, it says that when Ananda passed into parinirvana, he was 120 years old. When Ananda reached the age of 120, he began examining how long he’d live and saw that he would soon pass into parinirvana. He announced publicly, “I shall pass into parinirvana in seven days.”
The account of his parinirvana in the Theravada tradition is very similar to that in the Northern tradition. There is a river, the Rohini, and two sets of people, one on each bank of the river, in competition with each other. Again, Ananda realised that his death might cause conflict as they would dispute over his relics, and so he acknowledged that both groups of people had sincerely venerated him and told them to wait on their respective sides of the river.
On the seventh day, he levitated into the middle of the river, and displayed supernatural power. He levitated seven palm trees above the river and sat there cross-legged. Then he taught the Dharma to the entire gathering.
After he had given the Dharma teaching, he said, “My remains will be split in two parts: may half fall on the far side of the river, and half on the near side.”
At the very moment he spoke these words of truth, while sitting cross-legged, he entered the absorption of all-possessive fire and immediately, without anyone setting it alight, it burst into flames. The fire arose naturally (spontaneous combustion) and consumed his body. The relics were then split into two parts, one falling on the far side, one falling on the near side.
So it was that Ananda passed into parinirvana, and his remains burned by this natural fire, so that the people on both sides of the river got the relics. They were all so very sad about this, they wailed not just for one day or one month but for four months. Everyone in all directions grieved. It felt like the earth was going to split in two. It was said that there weren’t even that many people wailing and lamenting at the time that the Buddha Bhagavan passed away.
“If there were any elders of the teachings like Ananda,” they said, “then like any regent of the teacher, it would be no different than if the teacher were still here. But now we’ve been separated from our teacher.”
The Great Tang Records on the Western Regions
During the 7th century Tang Xuanzang came to India,
He recorded everything he saw on his way to India and compiled the Great Tang Records on the Western Regions, called the Travel Logs of Xuanzang in Tibetan. The Karmapa then shared his translation of Xuanzang’s text where he mentions the place where local tradition said Ananda’s remains had been split into two and were divided between two stupas.
So, this is from the 7th volume, or the 7th fascicle of the Great Tang Records on the Western Regions. It says there’s a place over 30 li, (ie half kilometres) from the Shvetapura temple. On both sides of the Ganges, there’s a place where there’s a stupa on the north, and a stupa on the south. It is said these stupas are where the noble Ananda divided his remains into two parts.
Xuanzang then recounts who Ananda was:” He was the Buddha’s cousin on his father’s side. He was very learned and had achieved the dharani of never forgetting. His knowledge was vast in all areas of learning. After the Buddha’s parinirvana, he succeeded Mahakashyapa in protecting the teachings and the guidance of students.”
Xuanzang also gives an account of the circumstances surrounding Ananda’s parinirivana. Ananda was staying in Magadha and one day was walking through the forest when he heard a novice monk reciting sutras incorrectly, mixing up the order and mispronouncing words. When Ananda attempted to correct the monk’s mistakes, the monk laughed at him, claiming that his teacher was wise and one of the best scholars and had taught him the words directly. Ananda in contrast was old and talking nonsense. Ananda went away and reflected: “I am old. I am old, but I’d like to stay longer in the world for the sake of all sentient beings to uphold the true Dharma. But if sentient beings’ minds are so densely obscured that they won’t listen to the instructions, staying longer is futile. I should enter nirvana soon.”
He left Magadha for Vaishali.
When King Ajatashatru heard that Ananda had left, he mustered a large army and rushed towards Vaishali, where they camped on the south bank of the river Ganges. Meanwhile, the King of Vaishali, hearing that Ananda was on his way to Vaishali, went with his army to the north bank of the river.
Ananda was in a boat on the river. In order to prevent bloodshed between Magadha and Vaishali he levitated from the boat, displaying many supernatural powers, and entered nirvana. Immediately, his body was consumed by fire and his remains fell to earth, half on the south bank and half on the north bank. The two kings and their armies were consumed by grief. They built stupas and made offerings to Ananda.
“To summarise’’, the Karmapa said, ‘’I would like to give a conclusion to the account of Ananda’s parinirvana’’.
The parinirvana of noble Ananda is described in the Southern, in the Northern, and in the Tibetan traditions of Buddhism. It’s clear in the texts of all three traditions. the Northern tradition, which includes the Mūlasarvāstivādin Finer Points of Discipline, the Life of King Ashoka, likewise the Sutra of King Akshoka, and also, as I mentioned the other day, the Lives of the Elders, and lastly, the great Tang Records on the Western Regions,
In terms of the texts of the Southern tradition, as I mentioned before, it’s from the commentary on the Dhammapada. In the Tibetan tradition, the main source is the Mūlasarvāstivādin Finer Points of Discipline, and also Taranatha’s History of Buddhism in India.
Now, when we look at these texts, if you really compare the accounts in these different texts, then there are a couple of points that we can clearly understand. The first of these is that in the scriptures—the sources from the Northern and the Tibetan traditions—it says that the location of Ananda’s parinirvana is said to be the river Ganges, while in the southern tradition, it is the river Rohini. The river Rohini, these days, is near present-day Gorakhpur, but I’m not sure if that’s the right one. It’s generally accepted that it was the Ganges River.
When Tang Xuanzang travelled through India, it was accepted at that time that it was on the Ganges River. But it does say in the Southern tradition’s commentary on the Dhammapada that he passed away on the Rohini River. So, there’s a little bit of difference in terms of where he passed into parinirvana and where his relics were divided.
The second point is that according to the sources from the Northern and Tibetan traditions it mentions King Ajatashatru of Magadha and the people of Vaishala and how they were in conflict over the relics. The Southern tradition only says people on the near and far side of the river. It mentions the people on the far side and the near side of the river Rohini, but it doesn’t mention the king’s name. It doesn’t mention the people of Vaishali at all.
The similarity between the two is that they both speak about the two sides of rivers. In this respect, they are the same. But in the Southern tradition, other than that, it really doesn’t give any detail.
Now, the third point is that in the text from the Northern and Tibetan traditions, the division of his remains and the building of stupas and making offerings are all mentioned, whereas in the Southern tradition none of that is said.
The Southern tradition speaks about the grief after Ananda’s death. So, in terms of these different points, there are some differences between the Northern and the Southern traditions. The Northern and the Tibetan traditions are the same, but the Southern tradition is a bit different. However, the fundamentals of the account of Ananda’s parinirvana agree.
The differences between the paranirvanas of Mahakashyapa and Ananda
First, while Ananda was alive the populace at large considered him to be very important, and even when he passed into nirvana, there were many people who really wanted to watch his passing. Second, in order to fulfil many people’s wishes, Ananda divided his remains into two parts and gave them to both sides.
This is actually very particular. In the past, accounts say that the Buddha’s remains had been split into eight parts. These relics were left after his remains were cremated, divided into eight and given to the eight different Buddhist countries.
So, dividing the relics into parts is mentioned for the Buddha Bhagavan, but not for anyone else, except for Ananda. This reflects Ananda’s significance and how he was considered like the Buddha at the time. Everyone thought of him as the regent of the Buddha.
For Ananda’s parinirvana to resemble the Buddha’s, illustrates how he had taken on the great responsibility in leading the Sangha after the Buddha’s parinirvana.
Among the several different elders of the teachings, Mahakashyapa was, of course, extremely important. But Ananda was better known than Mahakashyapa. And there was a greater status in the fact that more people liked him in society.
The type of connection that Ananda had with society at that time was highly interactive. He got along with everyone. There are a lot of people who liked him within the sangha of bhikshus, within the sangha of bhikshunis; likewise, and also in terms of kings. There were men who liked him; women who really liked him. Basically, everyone really loved Ananda. From another perspective, he was very handsome, very charismatic, with very beautiful eyes. Whether you’re a man or a woman or whosoever, you’re going to like him. Everyone would say, “Ananda is coming,” and then they would get very happy. Whenever he taught the Dharma, no one was ever bored.
In this respect, Ananda was socially acceptable and very good at making connections between people.
Mahakashyapa’s parinirvana,
We can see that there’s actually a large distance between Mahakashyapa and the society of his time. There weren’t many people who were rushing to see him. Not even one.
When Mahakashyapa passed away, Ananda knew that he was going to pass away at the Kukkutapada Mountain, but no one else. He went to an empty, unpopulated place and passed away there.
“This shows a distance between him and the society of the time. And I think the reason for this,” the Karmapa commented, “is that he usually enjoyed being in solitude. He stayed in solitude and didn’t really seem to enjoy making connections with people.”
But in terms of the dharma, he was actually considered very highly. He went to the land of the Nagas, and to the land of the gods before he passed away. Shakra and the other gods showed him great respect. Likewise, the way he blessed his own remains, so that they would remain until the time that Maitreya and his disciples would come, is a formidable achievement.
In terms of the dharma, he was an extremely significant and a very important figure.
The account of Mahakashyapa’s parinirvana primarily teaches about the situation within the religion. It doesn’t really speak about the influence of that on the actual social conditions. It says nothing about the effect that it had on society, if you compare it to Ananda’s. It didn’t have as much of an effect on society as Ananda’s parinirvana.
In summary, the latter parts of Mahakashyapa and Ananda’s lives and their parinirvanas, show that for both of them these accounts are from a later time. They come from the period of the schools of Nikaya Buddhism. They were taught during that period and then passed down from then on. Nonetheless, they show us, to a certain degree, the actual internal situation of the Buddhist Sangha after the Buddha’s parinirvana. Likewise, the mutual connections within the Sangha. For example, you could say there’s Mahakashyapa and Mahakashyapa’s faction, as well as Ananda and Ananda’s faction. You can see the connection between the two, and you can understand a fair amount about it from these accounts.
The most important point is that the life of Ananda and his parinirvana illustrates how many people really liked him. In the end, they were almost ready to go to war over his relics. Both sides, whether from Magadha or from Vaishali, really loved Ananda. It shows how significant he was. Ananda was different from anyone else.
Mahakashyapa, on the other hand was a solitary figure, he liked living alone. He didn’t make a lot of connections to other people. He meditated on samadhi and remained alone practicing austerities.
When he passed into parinirvana, he went to an unpopulated, empty place and passed away there. He didn’t pass away in the middle of many people where everyone could see. People didn’t have a great feeling about him.
That’s the difference. It was just his true nature.
