Chapter 40
that one who has vanished now? Was He a deva or a man?’‛
‚Œnanda, I remember having attended hundreds of:
... assemblies of
brahmins
...(
repeat p: above
).
... assemblies of householders...(
repeat p: above
)
... assemblies of
bhikkhus
...(
repeat p: above
)
... assemblies of devas of the realm of the Four Great Kings...(
repeat p: above
)
... assemblies of devas of the realm of TÈvatiÑsa devas...(
repeat p: above
)
... assemblies of devas led by MÈra...(
repeat p: above
)
‚Œnanda, I remember having attended hundreds of assemblies of BrahmÈ. In those
assemblies, I sat together with them, conversed with them, and had discussion with
them. While I was among them, My appearance was like their appearance, and My
voice was like their voice. In My discourses to them I pointed out to them the
benefits of the Doctrine, exhorted them to get established in the practice of the
Dhamma, and gladdened them in the practice. While I was thus discoursing to
them, they did not know Me; they wondered, who is this one discoursing? Is He, a
deva or a man? After I had, by My discourse, pointed out to them the benefits of
the Doctrine, exhorted them to get established in the practice of the Dhamma, and
gladdened them in the practice, I vanished from there. When I vanished too, they
did not know Me, they wondered: ‚Who was that one that has vanished now? Was
He a deva or a man?‛
‚Œnanda, these are the categories of assemblies.‛
(the discourse is not ended yet).
(Herein: some examples of the great many assemblies of nobles are: the first meeting with
King BimbisÈra after the Buddha had attained Enlightenment (Refer to Chapter 24), the
Buddha's first visit to Kapilavatthu and meeting with His kinsmen (Refer to Chapter 26),
the Buddha's meeting with LicchavÊ princes as told in the
Sunakkhatta vatthu, Saccaka
vatthu
(Refer to Chapter 32). Such meetings with nobles took place also in the other world-
systems, it should be presumed.
‚
My appearance was like their appearance
‛ means not the colour of the skin, but the form,
for nobles had various colours in skin, some white, some black, some dark tan like the bed
bug. As regards the form, the Buddha did not assume any particular guise, but remained
His ownself. Only the onlookers, the nobles, regarded them as one of them. (This reminds
one the traditional presentation of the Buddha image in royal attire with reference to the
His taming of Jambupati.)
‚
My voice was like their voice
‛ means the language that the Buddha used in speaking at the
particular assembly. Regarding the voice itself, the Buddha had a voice like that of the
Lord of Brahmas, a voice replete with eight marvellous qualities. When the Buddha
happened to be seated on a throne, the audience would think that their king was speaking in
a sweet voice. Only after He had finished the discourse and left the assembly, then the
audience could see their real king and they were left wondering: ‚Who was there sitting on
the throne, who talked to us in MagadhÊ on the Dhamma in such a sweet voice, and who is
gone now? Was He a deva or was He a man?‛ They did not know that it was the Buddha.
It might be asked: ‚Why did the Buddha discoursed on the Dhamma to those who did not
recognize Him? What benefit did He see there?‛ The answer is: the Buddha preached to
them to prepare the ground for their enlightenment later. Here’s the explanation: Although
those hearers of the Dhamma did not recognize the Buddha and did not take real, interest in
the Dhamma, since the Dhamma is replete with the excellent qualities such as ‚well-
delivered‛ (
savakhÈto
), hearing it will serve as a necessary condition for enlightenment in
future to gain
magga-phala
.
As regards the great many assemblies of
brahmins
, we have examples in the Buddha's
encounters with Sonadanta, K|Ôadanta, etc. Similar assemblies of
brahmins
in the other