THE GREAT CHRONICLE OF BUDDHAS
1056
attachment, hatred and bewilderment whereas at the time He ate Cunda's food-offering, He
was free from attachment, hatred and bewilderment. Thus the offeree's state of purity being
not equal, how could merit in the offering be equal?‛
The answer is this: the equal factors in both are:
(a)
both the meals lead to ParinibbÈna.
(b)
both enable the Buddha to dwell in the attainment of
jhÈna
.
(c)
both led to the same mode of contemplation, by the two donors.
Now to expand this:
(a) After eating SujÈta’s milk-rice, the Buddha extinguished the defilements and attained
Buddhahood which is the ‚
parinibbÈna
of
kilesas
,‛ realization of NibbÈna with the five
aggregates remaining.
After eating Cunda's tender pork, the Buddha extinguished the re-arising of the five
aggregates, which is the ‚
parinibbÈna
of
khandha
,‛ realization of NibbÈna with no
aggregates remaining. Thanks to SujÈta's milk-rice, there arose in the Buddha's physical
system superior corporeality (
paÓÊta-r|paÑ
). This gave strength to the mental system
so that the Dhamma body, comprising the arising of Insight, the arising of
magga
, and
the arising of
phala
, was able to destroy the defilements without difficulty, thus
leading to
kilesa-parinibbÈna
.
Cunda's food-offering, likewise provided proper sustenance to the Buddha and enabled
Him to renounce the five aggregates without difficulty, thus leading to
khandha-
parinibbÈna
.
(b) On the day of Enlightenment, the Buddha, after eating the milk-rice offered by SujÈtÈ,
had the strength to dwell in the attainment of concentration comprising 2.4 million
crores of absorptions (
devasikavaÄaÒjana-samÈpatti
) which was to become His daily
routine. After eating Cunda's food offering, the Buddha was (in spite of His severe
dysentery) also able to keep up the daily routine of dwelling in the attainment of
concentration comprising 2.4 million crores of absorptions.
(c) SujÈtÈ offered her milk-rice to the Buddha-to-be thinking him to be the guardian spirit
of the great banyan tree (later to be called MahÈbodhi tree). But when she knew that it
was the Buddha whom she made her offering and that He attained Buddhahood after
having her meal of milk-rice and that the Buddha got sustenance for forty-nine days
from her food-offering, she was intensely happy. ‚What a great fortune for me, what a
great gain to me!‛ She contemplated repeatedly, thus increasing her meritorious
thoughts of delightful satisfaction and joy. Similarly, when Cunda learnt that his food-
offering was the Buddha's last meal, after which, He realized the Ultimate Peace after
passing away, leaving no remaining aggregates, he was overjoyed. ‚What a great
fortune for me, what a great gain to me!‛ he contemplated repeatedly, thus increasing
his meritorious thoughts of delightful satisfaction and joy.
On The Daily Routine of The Buddha in dwelling in The 2.4 million crores of Sustained
Absorptions
As discussed in SaÑyutta Tika, Volume I (SagÈthÈ Vagga SaÑyutta Tika; BrahmÈ
SaÑyutta, 2: Dutiya Vagga, 5. ParinibbÈna Sutta, pp 251-252)
According to some teachers (
Keci
vÈda
):
The Buddha, as of daily routine, dwelled in the absorptions of Great Compassion
numbering 12 million crores of times, and the Arahatta-phala Absorptions numbering the
same; thus dwelled in a total of 2.4 million crores known as
Deva-sikavaÄaÒjana samÈpatti
.
(Another explanation:) With the Buddhas, the return to life-continuum thought-moment
(
bhava~ga-citta
) is very swift. Entering into and dwelling in a certain type of absorption as
from one to another is an accomplished feat. To enter into absorption and to emerge from
absorption, the Buddha needs just two or three thought-moments. That being so, it is
routine for the Buddha to dwell in: 5 types of fine-material absorptions, 4 types of non-
material absorptions,
appamaÒÒÈ-samÈpatti
,
nirodha-samÈpatti
and
arahatta-phala-