Blessing Four:
Living in an Amenable Location
Living in an Amenable Location
D. ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES
D.1 Metaphor: Bonsai Bodhi Tree
It is said that if you plant a tree in fertile soil, it will grow until it is many metres in diameter. If you take the same tree and plant it in a flower pot or a barrel, it will end up as a root-bound bonsai tree instead. Even if it is watered and carefully tended for several generations it will never grow higher than a few inches. Asked why a thousand-year old tree reaches only a few inches in height, we come back to the conclusion that it has been planted in an unamenable location. Even though it doesn’t grow tall, it doesn’t die.
D.2 Ex. Establishing Saketu (DhA.i.386)
When King Pasenadi built the new city of Saketu in the time of the Lord Buddha, he sent a letter to King Bimbāsara to ask for permission to move one of the patrons from that kingdom to live in the new city. King Bimbasāra sent Visākhā’s father as patron to the new city. Before long, the patron got all the finances of the city properly organized and Saketu became one of the most prosperous citystates in India at that time. This goes to show that an amenable city doesn’t just consist of buildings but it needs the presence of amenable neighbours such as benefactors and patrons.
D.3 Ex. Ariya the fisherman (DhA.iii.396ff.)
Even though some people in the time of the Lord Buddha had no worldly knowledge — they were completely illiterate and were of the lowest trades — but they had the good fortune to be born in an amenable location (i.e. in the same time and place as the Buddha) and because of this fact alone, were able to attain enlightenment to level of a stream enterer [sotāpana].
There was a fisherman called “Ariya” (lit. “noble one”) who lived during the time of the Buddha. As a fisherman, he caught and killed fish every day. One day in meditation, the Buddha saw Ariya’s potential to attain the fruit of stream-entry [sotāpattiphala] and went, with a number of other monks to where Ariya was fishing. Seeing the Buddha approaching, Ariya became ashamed of his action and hid his fishing line. When the Buddha arrived, while standing in front of the man, he asked Sāriputta his name. “Sāriputta”, replied Sāriputta. The Buddha then proceeded to ask the name of each of the monks and overhearing, the man wondered whether after asking all the monks’ names, the Buddha would ask his. The Buddha knew what he was thinking and asked the man his name. “Ariya” replied the man. In fact, the Buddha didn’t need to be told the man’s name. The Buddha gave Ariya a teaching that anyone who still harmed other living beings could not be called ‘noble’ on account of his actions. He said that one’s nobility comes from not harming other living beings. Hearing the Buddha’s teaching, Ariya attained stream-entry and from that day onwards never killed a living being again, having transcended the very intention to kill — in spite of the fact that he was illiterate. He lived in the depths of poverty, but he had one auspicious advantage in his life, and that was to live in a time and place where there was the opportunity to come face-to-face with the Lord Buddha — and this alone allowed him to become enlightened to the level of a stream-enterer.
D.4 Ex. Ghosaka’s lifetime as a dog(DhA.i.169, PsA.504ff.)
Another example of a similar phenomenon happened in a time before the Lord Buddha. At that time, the only Buddhas in existence were paccekabuddhas who although enlightened, were unable to teach for the benefit of the many folk. These paccekabuddhas came on almsround in the city. Having collected alms, they would return to the forest to take their meal. This would be his normal daily routine. Seeing that the paccekabuddha had to walk such a long way each day, one of the more faithful supporters invited the paccekabuddha to dwell nearby his own house and would bring food for the paccekabuddha every for every morning and midday meal.
Any day when the householder was not free to make the offering himself, he would send his well-trained dog to carry a tiffin set of food to offer to the paccekabuddha at his place. As the dog grew more familiar with the paccekabuddha it took a liking to Him because the deportment and manner of the paccekabuddha was so gentle. If the dog was at home and failed to mind firewood for its master it would be beaten. However, in the dwelling of the paccekabuddha it was a different story. When the dog came close he could listen to the chanting of the paccekabuddha. There was no risk of being beaten and the paccekabuddha would even divide part of the food to give to the dog as well. The dog became more and more familiar with the gentle manner of the paccekabuddha.
At the end of the rainy season, the paccekabuddha bid the householder farewell and returned to the forest. The paccekabuddha made his journey by floating through the air. The dog watched the paccekabuddha go with regret and howled as loudly as it could because there was nothing else for it to do. It was a sad farewell for the dog that still had the paccekabuddha on its mind. The dog was so sad that as it came to the end of its howling, it dropped dead. However, as the result of the faith of this dog in the paccekabuddha and from howling at the departure of the paccekabuddha, the dog was reborn immediately as an angel called Ghosaka — whose duty was to be a spokesman for the rest of the angels.
In the time of the Lord Buddha, Ghosaka was reborn in the human realm as Ghosaka the Millionnaire and was one of the greatest patrons of Buddhism. The result of living in an amenable location and taking the chance to be an attendant to a paccekabuddha led him to become an angel on dying from rebirth as a dog and from his rebirth as an angel to be reborn as an important patron of Buddhism.
D.5 Ex. Monk and Five-Hundred Bats (Vagguli Vatthu SadS. 81ff.)
Another example comes from the time of a previous Buddha. There was a monk who had retired to a cave in order to train himself. The monk would rise early each morning and chant the Abhidhamma. The monk shared the cave with five-hundred bats. During the day the bats would return to the cave but at night they would fly outside to feed. Thus the bats would hear the chanting of the Abhidhamma every day. Even though the bats had no way of knowing the meaning of the chanting, they became familiar with the sound of the monk’s chanting and became inspired with faith.
When it came to time for the bats to pass away, they died with faith in their hearts and were all reborn as angels. Passing away from their existence as angels, they were reborn as men in the time of the present Buddha. All five hundred men became ordained as monks and hearing the chanting of the Abhidhamma only once, unlike normal people who might remain indifferent to the chanting, could remember the words of the Abhidhamma which were still impressed in their minds from that previous lifetime, and recollecting the words of the Abhidhamma were soon able to become enlightened as arahants.
Thus, it is easy to see that simply living in an amenable location is not just advantageous for people — even lowly animals can experience the benefits!
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