THE GREAT CHRONICLE OF BUDDHAS
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would be made intoxicated and sent into the city.
Devadatta also left the palace, went to the elephant-shed and told the mahouts: ‚Men, we
are the King's teachers who can make the King's servants promoted or demoted in their
work. If you want to be promoted, then give the elephant sixteen pots of very potent liquor
early in the morning and when the Monk Gotama comes into the city, you incite and enrage
the animal with goads and spears. Let the elephant break open the shed, rush in the
opposite direction of the Monk Gotama and kill Him.‛ The mahouts agreed to follow his
instructions.
The news spread throughout the whole city. The Buddha's lay devotees who adored the
Triple Gem approached the Buddha and said: ‚Exalted Buddha, in collaboration with the
King, Devadatta will send the wild elephant, NÈÄÈgÊri, tomorrow along the same way by
which You are coming. So do not come into the city for alms tomorrow but stay here in
this VeÄuvana monastery. We will offer meals to You and the monks in the monastery.‛
The Buddha did not say that He would not go into the city for alms. But He decided to
teach the wild elephant the next day, perform the miracle (
PÈÔihÈriya
)
2
by teaching, subdue
the heretics, and without going about for alms in RÈjagaha, return to VeÄuvana with monks
from the city. The Buddha knew that the lay followers in RÈjagaha would bring many pots
and bowls of food and that He would have His meal in the monastery. For this reason the
Buddha accepted the invitation of the lay men.
Knowing very well the acceptance of their invitation by the Buddha, the lay men decided
to bring and offer food at the monastery and went away.
The Buddha preached to the monks in the first watch of the night and answered the
questions of devas and BrahmÈs in the second watch. The third watch was divided into
three periods. In the first period, the Buddha lay down on the right side like a lion-king. In
the second, He was absorbed in the Fruition of Arahatship. In the third, He was filled with
infinite compassion and after arising from that state, He surveyed the worthy beings, and
saw NÈÄÈgÊri. The Buddha saw clearly that when He preached to the elephant, eight
hundred and forty thousand beings would realize the Four Truths and become liberated. So,
after cleaning His body at dawn, He called Œnanda and said: ‚Œnanda, tell all the monks
who live in the eighteen monasteries around RÈjagaha to come along with Me into the
city.‛
Venerable Œnanda acted according to the instructions of the Buddha. All the monks
assembled in the VeÄuvana monastery. The Buddha entered RÈjagaha surrounded by many
monks.
Then the mahouts carried out the instructions of King AjÈtasattu and Devadatta. There
was a very large gathering of people. At the meeting those who had faith in the Buddha
said:
‚Today, there will be a battle between the two bull elephants, the Buddha and
NÈÄÈgÊri. We will witness clearly the admonition of the animal bull, NÈÄÈgÊri, by
the Buddha Bull.‛
So saying they climbed the turreted and unturreted mansions, house roofs, etc., to wait
and see the battle.
But as for the heretics, who had no faith in the Buddha, they said: ‚This NÈÄÈgÊri elephant
2.
PÈÔihÈriya
means removal of opposing evil deeds. There are three ways of removal: (1) removal
by preaching (
anusÈsÈni-pÈÔihÈriya
), (2) removal by performance of miracle such as creation of
different forms (
iddhi-pÈÔihÈriya
), (3) removal by knowing the listener's mental state (
ÈdesanÈ-
pÈÔihÈriya
).
Of these three ways, the third one is meant here. The second way belonged to MahÈthera
MoggallÈna and the first to MahÈthera SÈriputta. Though the Buddha adopted the third method, it
was usually preceded by either of the previous two in accordance with the mental inclinations of
the listener.