Hello and welcome back to our study of the Dhammapada.
Today we continue on with verse number 94, which reads as follows.
Yasindriyani Samathangatani Asayatha Sarathina Sudanta Pahinamanasa Anasawasa Devapitasa Pihayantita Dinu
which means whose faculties have become tranquil, samatangatani, who have gone to tranquility, like a horse tamed by a sarati, a charioteer.
a mind that is dedicated for one whose mind is dedicated who is without again we have this taints without these outflowings or these streams of defilement or of attachment even angels are pleased or hold dear such a one
basically.
Even the angels find such a one to be dear.
It's quite a poetic verse.
We've got the nice imagery of the horse trained by the charioteer, a person who trains their faculties.
So this was taught, we are told, in regards to Mahakachayana.
Maha Kacchayana, one of the 80 great disciples of the Buddha.
And he lived much of his life in Avanti, we are told, which is significant in this story, but it's also significant if we want to know who Kacchayana was.
Kacchayana is supposed to be the monk who sort of founded the study of Pali.
Because when he went to this country of Awandi, which is, I understand, outside of the area where they spoke the Magadan, or what we now often refer to as Pali language, he had to translate the teachings, because people didn't understand the teachings.
So he had to...
first translate them into other people's language, but then he had to also teach people Pali so they could learn the Buddha's words for themselves, so they could help with translations, rather than having to translate, so they could read the original text.
So we have what is now called kachayana, which is a grammar.
It's the kachayana, which means the book that's supposed to have been written by or been handed down by the tradition of Mahakachayana himself.
And it begins, Ato Akarasanyato, which is, according to tradition, supposed to be the words of the Buddha.
And the Buddha remarked upon a monk who was sitting by the bank of a lake, and he was thinking of the arising and ceasing of phenomena, which is Udayabhaya.
And so he was repeating this to himself and then he started to doze off.
And he started mixing things up in his head.
He was an elderly fellow, I think.
And there was a swan out on the lake or some bird out on the lake.
And so he started saying to himself, because it sounded like what he was saying sounded like udaka pakka, which means bird on the lake.
So he started saying instead, Uddhaka-paka, Uddhaka-paka, instead of Udayabhaya.
And the Buddha noticed what he was doing and kind of shook his head and said,
which means the meaning is known by the agra, the letters or the words.
So the wording is important, is what he was saying.
And that's supposed to have been heard by Mahakachayana, who thought, yes, it's important that people get this language right, and so he started teaching Pali in the places where they didn't speak Pali, or in Avanti.
But what all this meant is that he was living far away from the Buddha.
And even though he was living far away, because he was so well respected, and because he often apparently returned to hear the Buddha's words and to bring them back and translate them and share them with the people in Avanti, he would often travel great distances.
just to hear the Buddha talk.
So they would always leave a seat out for Mahakachayana in expectation that he might show up.
And the story goes that Saka, who's this Buddhist angel, supposed to be the king of the angels up in heaven, kind of like, I guess, a medieval Christian idea of concept of God up on a throne.
And he would come down and listen to the Buddha's teaching.
But he would also look out for the monks, and he was apparently quite fond of Mahakachayana, and would wait and see whether Mahakachayana was coming.
And so he was thinking to himself, oh, it would be great if he showed up.
And one time he suddenly saw that Mahakachayana had come and he immediately went over to Mahakachayana and bowed down to him and grasped his feet and bowed down with his head at his feet and then stood respectfully and gave him flowers and perfumes and whatever they would do in India.
It was a common thing to put flowers on people's feet in respect for them.
Why?
Because the feet are the lowest part of the body and the head is the highest.
So the greatest way of paying the most ultimate symbolic respect is to put your head at someone else's feet.
So that's become a tradition from olden times.
And again, as usual, we've got these troublemaker monks who have nothing better to do than to criticize other people's good deeds, or other people's deeds, let's say, who are intent upon criticism.
And more on criticism later, because criticism can be a good thing, and it's important to be critical.
But these guys seem to have been overcritical, and this was what was going on in the earlier... We've had this in this... It seems to be a theme in this chapter.
Because we're talking... This is the...
This is the Arahantavagga.
So it's about Arahants.
It's talking about people who are enlightened.
And the theme seems to be, even though other people don't get that, or don't get how awesome that is, or try to discount that.
So these other monks were saying, what's going on with these two?
Why is Saka...
paying respect only to Mahakachayana.
Why doesn't he show that kind of respect to all the great disciples?
So they're kind of criticizing Saka and not Mahakachayana, but it's indirect criticism because they're saying, what's so special about him?
Why should he pay respect to this one monk?
He's just another one of the 80 great disciples.
What's so special?
And the Buddha heard what they were saying, silenced them by saying, Monks, those monks who like my son, Kachayana the Great, keep the doors of their senses guarded, are beloved both of gods and men.
And then he taught this verse.
So it's not actually an answer to the question of why he singled out Mahakajayana, but it's indirectly, the implication here is that
Mahākacāyana is worth the respect.
Why do you care if it's irrelevant as to whether someone only does it to him or does it to all of the great monks?
It's worth doing.
This paying respect is a good thing because of the qualities of Mahākacāyana that are worthy of respect.
So,
It's funny, you often get this in monasteries by jealous monks.
They'll say, why did that monk get this?
Sometimes you become obsessed because when your world is simplified to such an extent where the biggest sensual pleasure of the day is a bowl of food, that bowl of food can become quite an attachment.
And if your bowl of food has better food than mine, gosh, some of the problems that come up in monasteries.
So this idea of favoritism, somehow some people revert to childhood and he got more than me and so on and so on.
But all the Buddha is saying, as I can see, is that it's worth doing.
How can you criticize when people pay respect to someone worthy of respect?
It's funny because people often, it seems in modern times, especially in the West, have problems with paying respect in general.
This idea that anyone should put their head at anyone else's feet.
Why should we hold someone else above ourselves?
I don't know that the Buddha particularly pushed this sort of thing.
I mean, he did talk about how it's a good thing to be humble and to be respectful.
And he seems to have followed it.
But it doesn't seem to be a huge deal.
It's sort of one of those things that the Buddha would more often do this kind of thing and say, why wouldn't he?
What's to be surprised about?
Because here's someone who has tamed their mind, who has become free from all asava, who has a mind that is fixed and focused and well bent on good things.
Someone whose faculties are tranquilized.
Yasindriyanisamathangatani.
It's a nice phrase.
So, what does this have to do with us?
Well, this is the sort of thing we wish to emulate.
We don't have to be arahants ourselves, not today, that's the ultimate goal.
But even though we aren't arahants, we can emulate them.
My teacher always said, ying, he used this word ying, it's a Thai word.
When we have certain qualities, we are like them, we emulate them, ying.
We emulate the arahants.
Iyam pra-arahan.
We emulate the arahants.
Yasindriyani samatangatani.
Because that's an important quality to emulate.
It's something you should affect, in a sense.
It can be dangerous because it can just be a pretense where you just appear to be, you know, people can appear to be very calm and tranquil, but inside their minds are a raging mess.
But guarding your faculties is a huge part of morality.
It's something that protects your fragile mind as you cultivate it, as you're developing it.
So when monks go into the city, they're careful to look down, look at the floor, not get caught up in the world around them because it's too easy to lose track of your meditation subject.
And so for all of us, this is a great reminder.
on even a superficial level, to guard our faculties.
It's also sort of a way of gauging our practice.
How tranquil are our faculties?
When we see something with the eye, are we immediately incensed with lust and desire or anger and aversion?
When we hear sounds, when we smell smells, are we immediately disgusted or attracted?
When we have tastes, are we partially obsessed with good food and good tastes?
This is a great way to judge your practice, based on the faculties.
We often miss this one, the senses.
We miss how fundamental the senses are to experience.
So with food, we might be clear on the chewing part, right?
Okay, I can do eating meditation, chewing, chewing, swallowing.
But we're not clear on the taste, and we miss the fact that
that taste plays such an important role in enlightenment, really.
People wonder, there was a question in regards to food, how should we overcome our desire for food?
Well, here it is, it's what's going on.
You understand what's happening, that's how you deal with it, how you overcome it.
You see the process of tasting something and being incensed with desire, lust, sensual lust for that taste.
And you'll do anything to get that taste.
Even just the thought of that taste inflames the mind.
This is the Buddha said, Jiha Adita, the tongue is on fire.
Ganha, Ganha, Ganha, no, that's the Pali.
Chakku, Chakku Adi, Chakkung Aditang.
The grammar I can't remember.
The eye is on fire, the ear is on fire.
On fire with greed, on fire with anger, on fire with passion, on fire with anger, on fire with delusion.
And delusion is like arrogance, conceit.
It's conceit just to say, I like this, or I prefer onions, I prefer carrots, I prefer salty food, sweet food.
It's ego, because we get very kind of proud in a sense, proud of having a preference.
It's kind of like expressing our preference has some meaning.
If someone says, oh, I'm partial to this, it's almost as though it's an important part of who they are, right?
And Buddhists just shake their heads.
Who you are is not important.
So guarding the senses, but more tranquilizing the senses.
So guarding is the first part, but this is talking about samatangatani, having gone to tranquility, means putting out the fires.
It's really a reference to that, the idea of quenching the fires, cooling the senses, so that seeing is just seeing, a huge part of the Buddhist teaching.
You remember the teaching to Bahiya, deep te, deep tamatang bhavisati, let seeing just be seeing.
That's the goal.
Brilliant.
Very hard for a non-meditator to understand, for a newcomer to Buddhism.
Seeing is just seeing.
Well, isn't that all it is?
It's the problem.
That's what we think it is.
And we don't realize it's on fire.
Our eye is on fire.
The ear is on fire.
So this is the powerful teachings of the Buddha in regards to the senses.
It's a very powerful, important, useful part of the Buddha's teaching.
It's why the Buddha again and again talked about the senses.
The indriya, seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling and thinking.
So, Asayata Saratina Sudanta, this is well-trained like a horse.
No, like the meditator is the, not the horse, the meditator is the cart person, the person riding the cart, Sarati, charioteer we often translate it as.
So you tame them like you tame a horse.
And often the way you would tame a horse is by tying it up or fencing it up or getting on its back and letting it wear itself out.
Just wearing itself out.
You can't tie it down or you can't beat it into submission.
Usually, I think, you just have to outlast it and show it that you've got more patience than it does.
So it might buck and jump and run around, but eventually it will get tired.
The mind is sort of the same.
It's a fairly good analogy because eventually the mind starts to notice that its behavior is hurting itself.
If you're objective and alert, you start to see that you're causing yourself suffering.
Oh yeah, this obsession with sights and sounds and smells and tastes is like a ping-pong match.
Everything I'm just reacting and bouncing back and forth like a ping-pong ball.
So you slowly overcome that and your senses calm down.
Your mind becomes pahina.
Pahina means sent or like bent in the right direction or focused or fixed in the right direction.
Anasawa, we had that yesterday, right?
without taints, without the outflowings or without streams of defilements, without any connection, attachment to the world.
Such a person is near even to angels.
So we've got a lot of
Well, throughout this we've had a lot of talk about angels and I think that turns a lot of people off the Dhammapada stories.
That's fine.
It's not really important whether Saka actually came down and paid respect to Mahakachayana.
The story is not really that important.
They're kind of fun to read and they often have at least a good moral to them.
And they present an interesting framework.
So if you don't want to believe them, that's fine.
If you want to scoff and say, angels, who's ever seen an angel, huh?
I've never seen an angel.
Then fine, that's fine.
I like the stories.
I think a lot of people do.
And if you just put that aside, it's not important.
What's important is whether the teaching is sound.
And we can argue and debate about that.
And so some people want to argue and debate as to whether paying respect is a good thing.
In Buddhism it is because it leads to humility.
Humility is a good thing.
Not being proud leads to gratitude, a sense of gratitude when other people have done something for you, who have lifted you up.
They've done something for you that you couldn't do for them.
So you respect them for that and you honor and revere them for that.
That's fairly standard, not just in Buddhism, not just in religion, but amongst people who have this sort of sense.
I think having been in a society that values that sort of thing, it changes you.
And having been involved in Buddhism, it changes you.
I think people have it in the West, they've kind of lost it.
You know the whole apple for the teacher thing?
Eventually people started to scoff and say it was the people who were buttering up the teacher, or the brown nosers.
That's such an awful saying, right?
But our Latin professor, his desk, the guy before us uses the chalkboard, old school mathematician guy.
And he leaves the eraser on the desk and there's a huge amount of chalk.
He's just kind of ignorant about it.
And there's a huge amount of chalk left on the desk for our art teacher who uses a MacBook that then gets all clogged up.
And so the first thing he does when he comes in is he blows the dust off and tries to get rid of as much dust as he can.
And I've kept meaning to bring in a cloth to wipe it down for him beforehand.
And finally today, yesterday, yesterday, I wiped it down for him before he got there, just with some toilet paper because I forgot to bring a cloth again.
But it's just a feeling like that's a good thing to do because this is a person who I respect and who is doing a good thing for us.
And as a student, I just feel moved to make his job easier.
It helps me as well, but it's just like respect and gratitude.
But we can argue about that, and that's a valid point of argument.
We shouldn't argue about whether Saka came down and paid respect to Mahakachayana.
What else can we argue about?
We can argue about whether these monks were good to criticize or whether criticism is any good.
And I think we have to have a little bit of a discussion about criticism, but I'll save that for the rest of the live session.
So that's all for the Dhammapada for today.
Thank you for tuning in.
Keep practicing and wishing you all the best.