THE GREAT CHRONICLE OF BUDDHAS
530
out His right hand and called out: ‚
Ehi bhikkhu, carabrahmacariyam samma dukkhassa
antakiriyaya
—— Come
bhikkhu
, (accept the monkhood that you wish) strive to take up the
three noble practices which form the moral training in my Disposition, in order to bring
about the end of round of suffering.‛ At that moment, Jambuka turned into a full-fledged
monk like a senior
thera
of sixty years, readily robed and equipped with the eight
requisites.
On the very day when Jambuka attained arahatship, people from Anga and Magadha
visited him with offering to pay homage. When they saw the Buddha, and began to wonder:
‚How is that? Is our teacher Jambuka superior to the great recluse Gotama or is the great
recluse Gotama superior to our teacher Jambuka?‛ Then they wrongly surmised that since
the great recluse had come to the presence of their teacher, their teacher Jambuka must be
superior to the recluse Gotama.
The Buddha knew what was in the minds of the people, and He told Jambuka: ‚Dear son
Jambuka, you might yourself remove the doubt from the minds of your followers.‛
Jambuka replied: ‚Most Exalted Buddha, it has also been my intention to do so,‛ and so
saying, he entered into the fourth
jhÈna.
Then rising up from his seat, he went up into the
air to the height of a palm tree from where he addressed the Buddha: ‚Glorious Buddha,
You, the Exalted Buddha, are my teacher, I am but a disciple of Yours.‛ Then he came
down to the earth and after paying homage to the Buddha, rose up in the air again. He
repeated the same performance seven times, going up higher and higher, to the height of
two palm trees, three palm trees, etc., up to the height of seven palm trees. In this manner,
he had made it very clear to the assembled crowd that he was just a disciple of the Buddha.
On seeing these strange phenomena, people were struck with wonder and said: ‚O
Buddhas are worthy of admiration by the snapping of fingers; they are glorious and there is
no equal to them.‛ The Buddha, being desirous of holding discussion with the masses on
Dhamma subjects addressed them:
‚O lay devotees, Jambuka has lived here for the last fifty-five years telling you
ostentatiously: ‘I have been exercising self-denial, eating only what is picked by the tip of a
blade of grass out of the whole lot of offering you have brought.’ Supposing, he continued
on with this practice of self-denial till it reached one hundred years, and certain amount of
merit accrued on that score. Such a measure of merit to his credit would not be worth even
1/256 part of the merit he would earn by refusing to take any food now as a noble
ariya
,
through having some doubt whether the food and the time it is offered is allowable or not
allowable.‛ Then the Buddha expounded the following Dhamma stanza which was pertinent
to what He had been telling the people:
Mase mase kusaggena
bÈlo bhuÒjeyya bhojanaÑ
na so sankhÈtadhammÈnaÑ
kalan agghati solasiÑ
Even though, month after month (or once a month) the fool (who does not
know the Four Noble Truths) bent on living in austerity, takes his food
sparingly by picking it up on the tip of a grass blade for one hundred years;
he is not even worth, one part out two hundred and fifty-sixth (1/256) part of
ariya
who have comprehended the Four Noble Truths.
The stanza was expounded with reference to a particular individual, namely Jambuka.
When considered in its generic sense:
(1) There is the volition (
cetana
), which arises when ignorant heretical recluse practises
self-sacrifice for as long as one hundred years.
(2) There is the volition (
cetana
), which arises when an
ariya
who comprehends the Four
Noble Truths, refuses an offer of food through having some doubt whether the food
and the time it is offered is allowable or not allowable.
Of the two types of
cetanas
mentioned above, the
cetanas
accumulated by the heretical
recluse for as long as one hundred years is not worth 1/256 part of the
cetana
that arose