Mãgha Pũjã 15th February, 1976

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

15 November 2023

Mãgha Pũjã
15th February, 1976

Today is Mãgha Pũjã day. It is the day when the Lord Buddha declared his intention to let go of life, taking leave of the world of saṁsãra and the prison of the cycle of birth and death. 

He chose to abandon his body and discard the very heavy burden he carried for eighty years. He had borne this extremely oppressive load during all that time, and it was never anything but a burden. Such is the nature of the human body (dhãtu khandha).

By contrast, other things are sometimes heavy and sometimes light, allowing us to occasionally catch a breath. For example, food and water are heavy when we have to carry them, but as we steadily use them, they become lighter and lighter. But we have been bearing the load of our body since birth, and it never gets lighter. It’s always heavy. As we advance in years and our strength declines, it seems increasingly heavy. That is why the Buddha declared: “Bhãrã have pañcakhandhã” – these five groups are an extremely heavy load.

Apart from shouldering the heavy load of this body, we also have painful feeling, memory, thought and consciousness to put up with – all burdensome and piercing to the heart. Not only are they oppressive, but they are also sharp-pointed, so they pierce through the body and the heart.

The Lord Buddha put up with this body until he was eighty years old. To put it simply, he must have said: “Oh! This body is beyond bearing. It is time to leave it!” Thus he declared that in three months' time he would abandon life and lay down the burden. He made the decision on the full moon day of the third lunar month.

On that very same day, twelve hundred and fifty noble disciples (Ariya Sãvakas) assembled together, spontaneously, without invitation, each coming his own initiative. The Lord Buddha then expounded the teaching to the Arahant disciples, delighting them with the bliss of the Buddha Dhamma. This gathering thus became the Pure Assembly (Visuddhi Uposatha). Here is a brief outline of what was said on that day.

Sabbapãpassa akaranaṁ      kusalassūpasampadã

Sacitta parlyodapanaṁ        etaṁ Buddhãnasãsanaṁ

Anūpavãdo anūpaghãto       pãṭimokkhe ca saṁvaro

Mattaññutã ca bhattasmiṁ pantañca sayanãsanaṁ

Adhicitte ca ãyogo,                 etaṁ Buddhãnasãsanaṁ

The Buddha gave this teaching to the twelve hundred and fifty Arahants as a form of diversion on that afternoon. For those Arahants, it was more of an enjoyment than an exhortation, because all of them were already Pure Ones, no longer needing instruction to cleanse the kilesas and ãsavas from their hearts. That is why they were called the Pure Assembly. In the history of Buddhism, this was the sole occasion that the Lord Buddha expounded his teaching to a gathering of 1250 Arahant disciples. During the Lord Buddha’s lifetime up until his final passing away (Parinibbãna), it never occurred again.

We commemorate the Buddhas and Arahants because of their rare brilliance. They were figures of wonder among all people throughout the world, for worldly people's hearts are corrupted by the stain of kilesas, so none of them could be considered pure like the Arahants.

Sabbapãpassa akaranaṁ - to refrain from unwholesome actions which give rise to all kinds of dukkha. 

The evil nature of the heart is critically important. We can act unwholesomely all the time. The bad actions of body and speech have their limitations, but the evil of the citta, which depresses and dulls itself, is prompted by our own thinking and imagining. The agents that push and compel the citta into sadness and depression are those things in the citta which are already murky and defiled. The Lord Buddha called them kilesas. They are those factors which maneuver saññã and sankhãra into functioning. They cause the citta to become gloomy and disconsolate.

Evil acts of wrongdoing are not merely actions like robbery, looting and plundering. 

That is evil on a gross level. But our tendency is to continually generate the intermediate and more subtle evils in our hearts all the time, and this automatically brings feelings of depression. The heart that is downcast will be downcast wherever we go because we constantly create that condition in our hearts. 

Walking, standing, sitting or reclining – our hearts always imagine and contrive, thus we become miserable in every posture. The Lord Buddha urged us not to produce gloom and misery for ourselves. 

This is one aspect of his teaching.

What method will prevent the heart from being gloomy and depressed? 

Kusalassūpasampadã – we must develop enough wisdom to be capable of correcting this depression. By cleaning out the gloom-makers and the evils, we will then have 

Sacitta pariyodapanaṁ – a bright and cheerful heart. When our cleverness – which is our satipaññã – has cleaned out all the filth and gloom from the heart, it becomes 

Sacitta pariyodapanaṁ – bright and clear. Evils, great and small, then gradually fade away as the citta becomes purified.

The teaching of all the Buddhas is like this. 

They all say: “Do it this way. There is no alternative.” Any easier way would be known by the wisest of all, the Lord Buddha. He would have woven us all a hammock to lounge around in as we progressively eliminate the kilesas. This would accord with his reputation as a teacher full of love and compassion, ministering to a world full of frail and grumbling beings. In fact, the Lord Buddha had already used his superior skill and ability to establish the shortest and most direct path.

Each of the Buddhas had to cultivate the Perfections (pãramï) before realizing Buddhahood. They used the Dhamma in their hearts to drive out the kilesas and then taught this as the true and correct way. They tested and selected with the maximum power of their minds before discovering and teaching Dhamma suitable for all living beings. ‘Suitable’ here does not mean suitable to people’s liking; it refers to a practice suited to overcoming the kilesas.

Dhamma that is right and suitable has just this one purpose. No other dhammas can surpass the Middle Way of practice passed on by the Lord Buddha. The kilesas are not frightened by any other means or methods. 

Nothing else can eject them from the heart, or even scratch their skins.

Anūpavãdo – Don’t slander other people.

Anūpaghãto – Don’t harm or kill human beings or animals.

Pãṭimokkhe ca saṁvaro – Keep your behavior within the bounds of Dhamma, which is the means of uprooting the kilesas.

Mattaññutã ca bhattasmiṁ – Know the right measure in using food and living frugally. 

Don’t indulge and exceed what is reasonable for a practitioner. Know the right amount in whatever you’re involved with.

Pantañca sayanãsanaṁ – Look for seclusion, and use this solitude to deal with the kilesas.

Adhicitte ca ãyogo – Develop the citta to excel in Dhamma, employing satipaññã, step by step.

Etaṁ Buddhãnasãsanaṁ – This is the essence of the teaching of all the Buddhas.

This was the Dhamma with which the Lord Buddha delighted all the Sãvakas. To those Sãvakas who were not yet Arahants, he also taught Sabbapãpassa akaranaṁ. This is a practice necessary for us to follow, the only way we can gradually destroy the kilesas in our hearts. But do we genuinely feel this to be true, or is it merely that hammock that takes our fancy?

The essence of the pure Dhamma, imparted by each Buddha, is directly drawn from each of their hearts. 

But have we received it into ours? The Lord Buddha shared it with his utmost love (mettã). Do we receive it with full devotion and trust? With total mind and heart? If we merely feign acceptance of the Dhamma and later discard it, then it will have no value for us at all, and that would go against the Buddha’s original intention.

The Lord Buddha decided to relinquish his body on the full moon day of the sixth lunar month. He had announced this on the third month's full moon – which is today. From that moment on, the elements (dhãtu) and khandhas – with all their oppressive and irritating affects –vanished from the Lord. 

This is Anupãdisesa Nibbãna (complete passing away without remainder). No more worries, no more responsibilities to any sammuti (mundane convention). Nothing remained. 

This is the Dhamma that transcends the world. The ultimate Dhamma.

“Amata Dhamma”

By Ajaan Mahā Boowa Ňāṇasampanno

Translated by Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto

By Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

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