So, very briefly, just to recap where we were, we've been looking at the nibbāna sutta, the story of the last days of the Buddha, and in the, we saw that the particular discourse is largely informed or created not just by the circumstances of the Buddha's death, but also by the social and political circumstances surrounding him, namely, especially the the expansionism of vedanā sutta. But more generally, also the collapse of the social and political order that obtained during most of the Buddha's life. And so we saw, we've seen how the narrative of the moha paññā nibbāna sutta is sort of operating on these complex levels where on the one hand, you know, the primary narrative is telling the story of the journey of the Buddha towards the place where he's going to die. In full knowledge of that facts, are also telling the personal journey of Venerable Ananda as he journeys alongside of him as a Nanda is the teller of the story after the Buddha's death. So he's inserting himself into the story, while also having that broader context of the political changes, but also religious changes that are venerable was niganda, not to put either way, aka Mahavira, where the māna had also died just recently. So there were changes in the religious and spiritual environment going on at the same time. And so we also see the the diverse responses of the Buddhist community to the impending news, some responding with equanimity, some with distress, and how that informs the way that the different dimensions of the Buddha's community evolve in later years, which is a theme I'll return to a bit later on. So for today, we've drawn quite near to the time of the pony bhāvanā. And last time, I believe, we took we kind of came up as far as discussing the occasion when the Buddha got sick, and Ananda had to bring him a drink. And then he met Paul because the malop. And if we continue on from that narrative, the woodhorn now is going to approach the soul forest at because he Nara where he did ultimately pass away so let me just share screen. The Buddha said let's go to the far shore of the Golden River, the here on your Watier Nadia and onto the soul forest of the mullahs at River water not near because he naira. And I think I've mentioned this before, but I'll just say again, in passing, when I'm when I've been doing these translations, often it's conventional not to translate names of things, which often is, often is the right thing to do. But frequently and partly names also have a meaning. And that gives you something of the sense of what's going on around there. Now in this particular case, the golden river here on your Watier Nadia probably is called Golden presumably because it was golden it I mean, I'm assuming that's the obvious reason, which probably tells you something about the source of the economic prosperity of the peoples in this region. One of the sources was the gold that washed down the rivers from the Himalayas.
So the Buddha is now in the land of the mothers which we discussed last week as well. So the Buddha and that's where they went then the Buddha addressed Ananda saying please and under set up a cut for me between the twin soul trees with my head to the north I'm tired and we'll lay down yes sir apply the Nanda and did as he was asked, and the Buddha laid down in the lions posture on the right side placing one foot on top of the other mindful and aware now that time the twin South trees when full blossom with flowers out of season. And as I've mentioned before, I think this is one of the reasons why it seems likely that wood has passing away was not in May as is currently celebrated in the month away sack because at that time, the soul trees blossom it is the season for the soul trees to blossom. So here they're bossing out of season which would fit with the sky each one of them being in the cold season around December or January. They sprinkled and destroyed the blessing of the realize one's body in honor of the realized one. And the flowers of the heavenly flame tree fell from the sky. And they to sprinkle them to stay true to the real one realized one's body in honor of the realized one. And heavenly sandalwood powder also fell from the sky, and heavenly music played in the sky and heavenly choir sang in the sky. In honor the realized one, then the Buddha pointed out to Ananda, what was happening, adding, that's not the full extent of how the realized one is honored, respected, revered and distinct. Any monk or nun, or female or male or female lead, follow who practices in lines with a teaching and practicing properly living in line with the teachings they honor, respect, Revere, venerate and esteem the realized one with the highest honor. So Ananda, you should train like this, we should practice in line with the teachings practicing properly living in line with the teaching. And so again, we can see this as the very typical attitude of the Buddha to such miraculous events. We've seen a number of such cases already. And it's a very prominent in sutras like Majima 123, the Acharya Buddha sutta, our the Buddha wasn't sort of an aggressive kind of skeptic, he wasn't sort of out to prove everybody wrong and say these things were true, or these things were true. He just he just he was more like me, whatever. And saying that's not really the the Blanche and the the the terminology or the phrasing that he uses there is quite nice, nice in the sense of finely judged, because he says it's not a dava car, and not to this extent. And so he's not saying that there's anything wrong with paying homage to the Buddha with flowers, and scents and all of those kinds of things, right, so, so it's tempting to translate that passage as saying, Oh, that's not the real way to pay homage to the Buddha. But that's not really what the text says. The text says, that's not the full extent of how to pay homage to the word, Avatar. But rather, the homage that Buddha really respect is the one who is practicing in line with the teachings. And this is this is a kind of a theme and an attitude that you find right throughout the early Buddhist texts, and which has largely permeated most of the Buddhist traditions. And so there's this kind of balance when it comes to these elements, which we might consider to be supernatural or something like that. The Buddha, I don't think the Buddha wanted to get bogged down into discussions about the reality of these things. But it's more well, what is the point? Like? What is what is it that actually really kind of matters? So you know, when I see these things, I mean, as a tech scholar, I mean, all I can say is what's in the text, I can say, you know, I can we can look at parallels, and we can look at various things like that. But ultimately, we can't really say, what was happening and whether these things were real, or whether these things are not ultimately comes down to sales. But what is really apparent is this idea that the Buddha said, well, actually, the practice it goes beyond that is the practice of the dharma. And I think it's probably just worth noting this in kind of the context of current discussions around Buddhism and so on. I'll just sort of just briefly contextualize it because I'm not sure if people how much familiarity people have, but obviously, much. In most of the traditional forms of Buddhism, we find a strong emphasis on devotional practices. There's a very kind of obvious in pretty much any traditional Buddhist country. Now in modern one of the sort of basic theses of modernist Buddhism, so called Modern Buddhism, was that the Buddha taught a rational teaching of meditation ethics and so on, rather than teaching purely devotional and superstitious based practices. And this was a kind of new wave of Buddhism. It starts really in the 19th century, and dominated much of the 20th century. Towards the end of the 20th century, the winds shifted, certainly in terms of academic studies, and rather than trying to find a one true rational tradition, the emphasis much became much more on Buddhism's And so pretty much any kind of article in academic circles is for quite some decades now. You can't talk about Buddhism, you have to talk about Buddhism's and because acknowledging that there have always been these different kinds of Buddhism's and it's and it's, which is fair enough, right? There's there's many different kinds of Buddhism. And, you know, if that's your thing, then that's your thing. It's not a problem. But then, sometimes it goes too far. I think when people will will tend to kind of assume that if you say Are you know, if you say place meditation as more of a priority than say devotional practice, then people will say, you know, that's that's been colonialist, right, that's being Orientalist because you're dismissing practices that other people are doing. And I think it's really important to acknowledge that you find the Buddha himself doing this kind of thing all the time. I mean, it's it's not with the the modernist, we're not just making things up. Rather, we're just inventing the idea that the Buddha talked about meditation, and he talked about reason they talked about morality, and so on, all of this stuff is right there in the sutras, as has been acknowledged, right, throughout the Buddhist world. And again, it's not just that there are Western scholars who say this, but any knowledgeable Buddhist, Buddhist, in any Asian country will essentially tell you the same thing. I've been told the same thing countless times in Thailand or Sri Lanka, or Malaysia or wherever you go, that people will say, are here, everyone just does. puja, they just do devotion. Yeah. And you know, we should do more meditation, right? I mean, literally, everybody will say that. So this is not just a kind of Western Orientalist thing. It's something which is based in the sutras, which is not to say, of course, that it can't be framed in a western and oriental this way. And sometimes it's framed in a way, as if somehow Western Buddhists and secularized Buddhists had kind of discovered meditation, and were practicing the real dharma, whereas Asian borders are not practicing real dumb. And of course, that's a bit a bit racist. And it doesn't acknowledge the reality of the complexities of what is going on, in all of these different countries. Because in every single Buddha's country, there are all kinds of different people doing all kinds of different things. And so we can't really generalize on that basis. So this is just kind of a bit of a, you know, you see this same in a way, the same tension, which has been addressed by the Buddha here, and this passage, is still playing itself out today. And, and you know, you can see that, that somebody who's reading that passage, would tend to read it through that lens through which they practice today. So somebody who has a very devotional practice to Buddhism today would tend to see other gods are coming and sprinkling flowers and so on. And they say, Oh, that's so beautiful. It's so nice. And they take it very face value, because affirming their own practice. Whereas somebody who's maybe into meditation will look at that and think, ah, yeah, see, the Buddha said, this devotional practices, not really where it's at. So that's really affirming my practice. So anyway, I think it's interesting that, you know, those different tendencies are very much present in the days. And in this sutta. In particular, we're sort of starting to see a bit of that jockeying backwards and fourth in the community to sort of people positioning themselves, according to the kinds of practice that they're doing. Let's proceed. All right. Now, this next episode, very embarrassing for Paul upādāna. Now that time, Venerable upādāna was standing in front of the Buddha had standing him and oppo bhāvanā was a sort of a second attendant to the Buddha, if you like, supporter of Ananda. The Buddha made him move saying move over mendicant don't stand in front of me. I mean, how would you feel if the Buddha said that to you? Oh, my goodness. And under thought that's the venerable one who has been the Buddha's attendant for a long time close to him living in His presence. Yet in his final hour, the Buddha makes him move saying, move over mendicant don't stand in front of me, what's the cause? What is the reason?
And so we asked the Buddha and the Buddha said most of the deities from 10 solar systems have gathered to see the realized one for 12 leagues all around this South Grove, there's no spot not even a fraction of the hairs tip. It's not crowded full of illustrious deities. Those deities are complaining, we've come such a long way to see the realize one only rarely to realize once a rise in the world perfected one's fully awakened Buddha's and this very day, in the last watch of the night, the realized one will become fully extinguished and this illustrious mendicant is standing in front of the Buddha blocking the view. We won't get to see the realized one in his final hour. And so an under says, what kind of deities are you thinking of there are an under deities both in the sky and on the earth who are percipient of the earth. With their hair to shove on an arms race, they fall down like their feet were chopped off, rolling back and forth, lamenting to do soon, will bless them and become fully extinguished too soon. The Pāli one will become fully extinguished too soon that AI in the world will vanish. But the deities who are free from desire and do mindful and aware thinking conditions are impermanent, how could it possibly be otherwise come with that, love ha. So now nice little story there, the the 1000s of devas on the head of the skin on the head of a pin thing here going on, I'm gonna have to say this, because I'm just going to have to, so you're just gonna have to put up with me. But I was just the other day happened to having the Donna at House of one of the local Buddhist devotees and her husband was a physicist after a cosmologist having a nice little conversation about various things. And I mentioned that in the suitors. When the Buddha speaking of the davers, they have three physical differences from ordinary human beings that you might not might not imagine those three human differences, as we see here, number one is that their length has shrunk. You see how they're very small. So lengths has shrunk, number two, their mass has increased. They can't hold their mass up. And number three, time slows down. Shrinking length, increasing mass time, throat slowing down. These are the three principles I can see a few people get it. These are the three principles in the special theory of relativity, as you approach the speed of light. This is what happens. I don't know. It's weird, isn't it? I think it's strange because deva basically means of being in light. So there may be maybe maybe relativistic beings who are approaching the speed of light. And that's why that they are, I don't know. Anyway. Moving on. Okay, moving on. All right. Very good. So the Buddha, I won't read through this whole passage, but the Buddha goes on to, to recommend that after his past that people go to see the for inspiring places for some Reggiani to turn on you. And these are the places the Buddha was born. Placement would have been, of course in Lumbini. And this one particularly is notable because at Lumbini, there is an Ashoka Pillar. And on the Ashokan pillar, it says you'd have bhagavan dahati, which is basically exactly the same if you see the Pāli hear it at a target or JATO. So the it's essentially a direct quote from the suitors inscribed into the pillar at Lumbini. And it's probably the earliest direct quote from the sutras anywhere, in anywhere in existence. So when the Buddha became awakened, of course, both Gaia, where the Wheel of dharma was rolled forth, of course at saññā, left on the outskirts of Varanasi, and where the Buddha became fully extinguished, which is, of course, where we are right now, in cosi Nara. So if you haven't had the opportunity to go for pilgrimage to these places, it is highly recommended. Very, very inspiring. And if you go to those places, like it's one of those things that you can't really explain rationally. But when you go to those places where the Buddha went and where he lived, and so on, and then you see all of the other people on that pilgrimage and all the people of faith and devotion, it really changes you and it's really it's really profound, a very moving experience. So if you do get the chance to go on pilgrimage, I do highly recommend it. All right. Now, let's move on to now. So these are some of the last passages that the Buddha is now speaking. So the Buddha is now at cosi Nara. He's lying down between the soul tree and he is we're just coming up to the end of his life. And Nanda comes along with a few slightly odd questions. So first thing he says is and under. So he said, Sorry, analysis. So how do we proceed when it comes to females? So that's a kind of slightly odd question to ask. Now, there's been there's no real kind of context for it, it seems to be fairly abruptly inserted is not found in the parallels or at least in some of the parallels. So it seems pretty clear that it is a later insertion. There are also syntactical reasons For assuming that which I won't go into right now. But let me just talk a little bit about what we like, like why this is here or what it means. First thing is that when I'm translating market gamma, I translate my to gamma as female rather than woman. Pāli has two words for one, one is et, which is normally in opposition to presets. So put is a man at woman. And then they have monitor gamma. Now monitor gamma means woman, but it's usually used in contexts where it's it's contrasted with a bhikkhu. So Puri saññā is contrasted with an et a man and a woman. Whereas a bhikkhu is contrasted with a matter gamma as it is, indeed, in this particular case here. So this is why I think it's worthwhile trying to preserve that distinction by using the rendering females rather than women here. And if you think that, that using the word females has a slightly derogatory and slightly objectifying kind of sense, then that's kind of how Mater Garner feels also, maybe, maybe, anyway. So how do we proceed when it comes to females? See, here's the thing is that Ananda was very handsome, and a very much a favorite of the ladies. And there are many episodes, some of the quiet comic of what actually happened in his various adventures with various ladies who fell in love with him or the different kinds of circumstances that he got into or whatever. So we don't really have a narrative context for asking this question. But there is a kind of a context in terms of an undoes character, and his own perhaps doubts about his practice or doubts about his sexuality. But you know, that's all kind of inference, what we actually have is the just the kind of abrupt insertion of this. Now, the bouddhanath says that saññā Not seeing without looking and under. Okay. Now, this recommendation contradicts what the Buddha said elsewhere. Elsewhere, the Buddha said that you should have practice sensory stripe since restraint doesn't mean not looking. But it means being aware of how what you're seeing, provokes what kinds of response inside you. And being mindful of that. So this is kind of a different advice than the Buddha gives normally, let's not forget that this is advice for Ananda specifically, and not meant to be general advice. But also what sorry, that point is a little bit ambiguous, I should say. So the pronouns here are plural. So an under is using a way, but then that way is also quite commonly used in Pāli, in a kind of royal we sent so it's a little bit, it's a little bit ambiguous. But I really think this is mostly talking about just Ananda. Now, one interesting detail here, and I'm just going to stop sharing this, when we look at the party canon and look at the discourse that you have in the party canon. Okay, first of all, obviously, we're dealing with texts that are two and a half 1000 years old, okay? So we can't expect we have to, we have to take that into consideration as to how its framing itself and what it's saying. What I find is quite astonishing about the sutras is how rarely we find anything that's really problematic. And
not to say that you don't find anything. But you know, if we compare with other scriptures of the same time or a similar period, you know, 500 BCE, then, you know, not uncommonly, those kinds of scriptures will be like, not wishing to point to anyone in particular, but there'll be like, go and smite them with the sword and kill every man, woman and child and leave not a certain length, not a single person alone, that kind of thing, which is, you know, also much more problematic, I would imagine. So in the suitors, you find the only fun of very few things like this. And it's almost like they kind of stick out, because most of the things the Buddha says are so reasoned and so balanced. So one way of looking at it is the text historical ways to look at, well, maybe these things have been added later or something like that. So that's one way of looking at it. It's also possible to look at it in terms of the changing attitudes of the Buddhist community. Now, it's often said, and I think with some justification, that more sexist or misogynist attitudes crept into the Buddhist tradition over time, and without, again, wanting to sort of delve into that too deeply. Then there is certainly some things you can find in the Pāli commentarial tradition that are outrageously misogynistic. The Asad, Amantha, Jotika, for example, or the or the equinology, Artica. And various things like this are among the most horrendously misogynist texts that you'll find anywhere. So what their status in the Buddhist tradition is, well, I mean, the articles collect hundreds of texts from pretty much everywhere. So that's true on one hand, that there is that kind of movement towards, you know, towards more sexist or misogynistic texts. That's true. But this is always somewhat complicated. And it's never monolithic. Because traditions represent the views and ideas of people. And people I don't know, if you've ever noticed, are very weird. And they have all kinds of different views and ideas and having lived in a monastery, I can tell you that you do not there's not a single monastery in the world where there is one monk who sits next to another monk, and they agree about everything, this does not happen. Everybody disagrees about everything all the time. So tradition is anything but a monolithic thing. Now, in this particular case is quite interesting, because of what the commentary says. So there's a suit that just says, What should we do about women? Don't look at them. Okay? What does the commentary says the commentary says, or what this really means is if a monk is in his heart, and a woman comes up to the door of the heart, and is standing there trying to entice the man, then you shouldn't look at her. Interesting, isn't it? So the commentary is quite concerned, to restrict that whole thing down to one very specific case where it's clearly inappropriate response. And in that particular case, you know, it's a reasonable kind of piece of advice. And so in that instance, this is not alone. But this is one instance, where you can see the commentary is, is I think, giving a more kind of limited or more rational response to what seems to be quite a broad statement in the original text. So let's continue to see what else happens in this passage. Okay, so how should we proceed when it comes to females don't look and under fine, but when looking how to proceed, okay. Now, this cracks me up because Ananda like, immediately says to Buddha, well, I'm not going to do that. Right. Okay, you tell me, tell me to look okay, fine. But obviously, we're gonna look so then what do we do? Well, how do you proceed? Then we're chatting lapo okay. But when we are chatting, how do we proceed? Well be mindful and under. So you know, and under is not shy about letting the Buddha know that he has zero intention in actually keeping any of these recommendations. That last one, when chatting has proceed to be mindful also, is glossed quite in quite an interesting way by the commentary, which refers to a suitor in the gutter in the car. And that's certainly in good running higher. Somebody's asked Buddha say that that's right. So somebody's asked when are the monks how the monks managed to manage their sexuality without being overwhelmed by desire. And the first response that the Buddha gives is to say that they look at women who are their own age as their sisters, they look at women who are older than them as their mothers and they look at women who are younger than them as their daughters. And that's that's how they proceed mindfully. And so this is that's the text which is referred to by the commentary here. So again, I think this is a very interesting passage. I do think that it's arbitrarily inserted and it probably is a late passage, but I think it it it represents a kind of interesting said it's like an interesting response by the community to kind of evolving questions of monastics in their relation to women. So yeah, anyway. So the next one bit more straightforward. How do we proceed when it comes to the realized ones corpse so when I said don't get involved in the rights were venerating the realized ones corpse, you must strive and practice for your own goal, meditate, diligent, keen and resolute for your own goal. Again, this is this is another. Another area where it's a bit ambiguous about whether it's talking to ananda specifically remembering that he was not yet fully enlightened, or whether it's a more general recommendation. Of course, again, this this recommendation has not really been followed in the community. will certainly not today. And normally, when there are funerals especially great monks in the sangha does get involved in organizing the funerals. There are astute aristocratic Brahmins and householders who are devoted to the realize when they will perform the rites for venerating the realized ones corpse. So these days, it's pretty common in Theravadan countries and also in Buddhism as well, that monastics will be called upon to perform funeral rites, and to for perform chanting, and various ceremonies and so on for funerals, in fact, has become become so common that it is, it's something that really has to be dealt with, especially in any practice tradition, because otherwise, you're just spending all day going to one funeral after the next, you know, people will be asking like the monks to come and, you know, chat all night, every night for a week or something like that. And so it's not a small obligation. But you can see here from the Buddha's attitude, again, you know, not a kind of Orientalist imposition on it. But the Buddha is quite clearly saying that the monks shouldn't be so much involved in funeral ceremonies, but more involved with doing the practice and their meditation. So again, it's not something that we you know, I think we should be taking 100% But I think it needs to be there needs to be some some sort of balance and moderation then I just do one story about funeral rites, like how did the How was, how was, how was that? How did that come into the Buddhist tradition? How did it turn out that, that, you know, the Buddhist monks and nuns do spend a lot of their time doing funerals? It's a difficult question to ask to answer. And it would be kind of a long study to see exactly that. But one data point in that is a story, a background story. And one of the articles were venerable that was dying and who was large, who was widely regarded as being the most stupid monk in the sangha, was invited for a funeral. And when they came back from the funeral, the Buddha said to the monks, how was it How was how was the funeral? And everyone said, I was terrible. And the Buddha said, why is it and they said, well, when it came to time to recite the verses of sorrow, you know, we're supposed to recite that all things are impermanent and so on. And instead, he recited the verses of auspicious blessings saying, Oh, happy day Oh, wonderful day if only every day could be like today so this poor old would die and didn't get the chanting right for the funerals Anyway, moving on, moving on. Alright, so. So the Buddha gives the instructions for the preparing of the, the corpse, wrapper wheel turning monex corpse with unborn cloth, then with uncovered cotton then with Anwar, again, with unworn cloth in this way, they wrap the courts with 500, double layers, it's a lot and then they placed it in an iron case filled with oil and close it up with another case, having built a funeral pyre out of all kinds of fragrant substances they cremate the corpse. And so there's mentions of this kind of iron case, and one or two other places in the sorters as well. And it seems to be that was the method of creating a great king or somebody or royal lineage and also for the Buddha and so on.
And then they make a monument at the crossroads. So the Buddha's saying that his funeral should be done the same way as the wheel turning monarch and monument being a stupid Of course. And then when somebody lifts up garlands, or fragrance or power powder, or inspires confidence in their heart that will be for the lasting welfare and happiness. The Buddha goes on to say that the four people who are deserving of a stupa are the Buddha, independent Buddha, a Pacheco Buddha, and a Buddha's disciple and a wheel turning monarch. So these four are worthy of a stupa. Okay, so, next section and undoes incredible qualities. One of the favorite passages here about Amanda and I entered a dwelling and stood there leaning against the door jamb and crying. Oh, hi, I'm still only a trainee with work left to do to my teacher is about to become fully extinguished. He who is so kind to me. And so sad and I think You know he's a very relatable figure here Paul Ananda. Just to know that the dwelling he is we Hara. I mean remembering they were just in a Forest Grove. The commentary says this was a pavilion which was set up for the funeral. And, but one of the details about this, which is really interesting is that the Ananda cry is a little earlier in the sutta. from last week's readings, we noted that the Buddha, when he said he was going to quickly narrow appointed to the pay his past life as King Maha su darsena. And saying that this used to be a great city. Now, in that sutta, the moha Sudarshana sutra is in Exeter in the deacon Akkadian 17. And there when the Queen approaches the king, he's intent on going on retreat and meditating. And so because she misses him so much, then she also is leaning against the door jamb and crying and basically in the same way that Amanda is here, and it's quite deliberate like if you look at the narrative structure of it, the the sutta is quite a quite quite softly, but quite carefully framing it. So that Ananda is in the place of the queen in this particular instance, which I think is an interesting narrative device there. Anyway, poor old Ananda. So what is the Buddha do to this? A Buddha, the Buddha dressed a certain mark please mark in my name telling under that the teacher summons him. So he was summoned, went to the Buddha and the Buddha said enough and under do not grieve not lament did not prepare you for this when I explained that we must be parted and separated from all we hold dear and beloved, how could it possibly be so that what is born created, conditioned and liable to wear out should not wear out even the realized one's body for a long time. So to get noticed, and Buddha's response here, first of all, it's like an under okay enough, that's it, it's impermanent. So he's kind of, you know, checking him. But then once he doesn't just leave it with that he then gives him emotional support. For a long time and under you've treated the realized one with deeds body, speech and mind that a loving beneficial, pleasant, undivided and limitless you've done good deeds and under Get the boom Yossi twang, Ananda devote yourself to meditation, but the Hanuman unije, Kip Bunco, CC and anassa, as you'll soon be free of the farmers, and again, the emphasis on meditation is very clear here. You've done good deeds and under. So the Buddha has on the one hand restraining and checking and and his behavior, but also then giving him that kindness and those nice words, and that words of encouragement. The Buddha's of the past or the future have attendants are no better than Ananda is for me. And under is a steward. He's intelligent, he knows the time for monks, nuns, lay men, lay women, kings, ministers monastics of other religions and their disciples to visit the realized one. And of course, we see many examples of that wisdom and discernment through the sources. Now, then the Buddha then goes on the next bit is also I think, very interesting and very precise. The Buddha says there are these four incredible and amazing things about Ananda. You see, this is very personally and specifically phrased, because Ananda is the one who's always talking about the incredible and amazing things about the Buddha. And in the Majima, 123, Acharya, Buddha sutta, and various other places we see it's a Nanda who's saying, Oh, this is wonderful, this incredible thing about the Buddha. And he was always amazed by the Buddha's great qualities like this and found it so inspiring. And here, now the Buddha is turning that around and saying, Actually, and under you also have these incredible and amazing things. First, to me, it's such a moving and personal teaching method that the Buddha is using here, you know, if you didn't know about their relationship and the other passages like that, you would, you probably wouldn't quite notice that but when you see that you realize that the Buddha is actually framing this very, very specifically. If an assembly of monks goes to see an under the uplifted by hearing him uplifted, by seeing him and uplifted by hearing him speak and when he's forced silent, they've never had enough. And the same with an assembly of nuns or lay men lay women. They've never had enough listening to him. These are the or incredible and amazing things about Ananda. Then the Buddha goes on to compare it to four incredible and amazing things about a wheel turning monarch. And similarly for to start for assemblies of aristocratic Brahmins, householders and ascetics can't get enough of seeing them and listening to them in the same way. Sorry, I my mistake, I misunderstood I got the sequence wrong. That is the gutty manteau that's where an undo would never get that because he had the understood the sequence correctly. Bahasa does not is just coming up. It wasn't last week, it's this week, or it's right now. So after that, then the Buddha talks about my house at Asana. And under said to the Buddha, please don't become fully extinguished. In this little hamlet this jungle Hamlet, this branch Hamlet. There are other great cities such as jumper Raja Sabha TV cicada CO, some B and baronetcy, the Buddha become fully extinguished. There are many well to do aristocratic Brahmins and householders there who are diverted to the Buddha, they will perform the rites of venerating the realized ones corpse. So these cities encompass the main areas where the Buddha visited during his lifetime. And most of them are probably fairly familiar to people around us he of course has binaries because and B is still has the same name today. Psychiatry is just south of Saba t, which is in I think it's in Uttar Pradesh. Raja ha in in what was in magga, just south of the Ganges that partner and jump out to the east towards towards Bengal, the capital of hunger. So, the Buddha says Don't say that and under and goes on to say once upon a time there was a king named moha Sudan saññā, who was a wheel turning monarch, or just in principle king, his dominion extended to all four sides, he achieved stability in the country, and he possessed the seven treasures. His capital was this cool scenario, which at the time was named kusala sati. It stretched for 12 leagues from east to west and seven leagues from north to south. The Royal Capital of cassava, it was successful, prosperous, populous, full of people with plenty of food. It was just like Alec Amanda, the Royal Capital of the gods, which is successful, prosperous, populous, and full of spirits with plenty of food. Cassava was never free of 10 sounds by night or day, the sounds of elephants, horses, chariots, drums, Clay drums, arched harps, singing horns, gongs and handbells, in the cry, eat, drink, be merry as the 10th. So the Buddha is trying to depict this as a, such a prosperous and beautiful city, but I can't help getting the feeling that he probably would have hated it there with all of the noise going on. But anyway, one little detail that I have been sort of coming across in my research on these texts again, and again, which I just sort of mentioned for your interest is, why is the prefix cookie here, we have various kinds of cookies, you have cookie Naira, kusala sati.
Perhaps co somebody might be included in that perhaps kusala also might be included in that. And there various other cases we have these kinds of similar names. I believe that all of these come from the same root which is kusala, which is the name of kind of grass. Why were all of the cities named by a kind of grass because kusa grass was one of the essential ingredients in Vedic rituals, specifically in the Vedic rituals of coronation. So in those days, the Brahmins, one of the primary ways they established their influence was by convincing everybody essentially that they needed to have Brahmin priests, they call it put Rohita to perform the investiture or the coronation of the kings and to legitimize the power of their realm. And I believe that this kusala Of course, he derives from that, but it's essentially a sign that these are harmonized kingdoms or brahman eyes realms, whose royal family was established through this means. Other places as well you find it like the Kusa, Jotika and so on, I won't go into the whole argument about that. But just to let you know, that's, I think, where those names come from. And undergoing because Inara and inform the mullahs this very deva setters in the last watch of the night they realized one will become fully extinguished. And this is another good example of exactly the thing I was talking about the mothers is the tribal name while setters is the name of the pooled Rohita of the mother's clan. So when the mothers are crowned as kin with a put Rohita as the priest who's officiating the ceremony, they adopt the Brahmanical lineage of the priest hence the name by scepter which is an romantical lineage name for the Catia clan the mullahs, also the same as the Gautama for the succulents. So come forth for centers come forth don't regret it later thinking the realized one became fully extinguished in our own village district but we didn't get a chance to see him in his final hour. Okay, so the mothers are Christine Ira was sitting together at the meeting hall on some business can actually deva currently Anna. And so it seems like similar to the, to the literature, easing of the Virgin Federation that they were having frequent meetings as the Buddha recommended, and and recommends, ask them to come and see the Buddha and so they come, many of them stricken, stricken by grief. I'm going to summarize this next passage as I go on. Then, then there was a wonderous, who had that residing near cosi Nara. And so he was a wonderful party Belgica in the Brahmanical tradition, he refers to his brahman teachers of the past here. And he wants to ask a Buddha question because he knows that Buddha is going to die soon. So he goes to see the word and under says Don't trouble him because he's not well, so the number is now probably being a bit over protective after his little faux par with the the getting the glass of the drink of water. And now he's wants to make sure the body gets his wrist. But then the Buddha says, Okay, it's alright let him come. And the question of Su bahagia. Master, Gautama. There are those ascetics and Brahmins who lead an order and a community and teacher community. They're well known that famous religious founders the untold holy by many by many people, namely Purana Kassapa. The bamboo stuffed aesthetic goes along, agita of the hair blanket pakoda, China sent Jaya Bella ke Buddha and the Jain aesthetic of the new Artica clan. According to their own claims, did all of them have direct knowledge or none of them or only some. So these are the famous six ascetics, the six leading summoners of the time of the Buddha, who we meet in the famously in diga nicaya. Number two, the samanupassati sutta, where their teachings are described in some detail and refer to a number of other places in the sutras as well. Now of these six, the only one who is fairly well known is the one who partly takes called niganda. Now to put down and who is the Jain leader, moha vihāra, Māra, dhamma māna. And the Pāli translators, I think, have so far not quite noticed, that and I think partly tradition has has not quite noticed the actual meaning of what's going on with the name Diganta. Now to put that it's not a personal name at all, and Uganda is simply a word that is used for the Jain ascetics, just as bhikkhu is used for Buddhist mendicants. And now the Buddha is a variant spelling of the Niantic of Buddha, that is to say a member of the Niantic clan, and we have met the Niantic as earlier as the Buddha went to their hometown of naughty car. And so niganda not to put isn't a personal name, but it's a reference the Jane aesthetic of the of the Niantic clan in exactly the same way as others might refer to the Buddha for example, as someone I go to MMA, meaning the aesthetic of the go to my clan, and so on. So in the summon your palace sutta. So apart so apart from Mahavira the others are fairly obscure makkelijk ghosts, Allah, the bamboo stuff to set it goes Allah was the founder of the idea because we know something about him. And some of the others we really know very little about it or apart from what we find in the Buddhist texts. Now according to their own claims, did all of them have direct knowledge or none of them or some of them. Now in the suitors Mahavira and Purana did claim to have that kind of direct knowledge. Whereas others, such as a dedicated kimberleigh denied that direct knowledge was was oops, that's right. That's a typo in my note, they're denied that such knowledge was possible, not denied that it was impossible to know that it was possible.
So, of course, this is still a question that comes up a lot, right? People still want to know, you know, what was this person enlightened was that person enlightened and, you know, is my teacher as enlightened as your teacher, my teacher must be more enlightened than your teacher, because it says so on his Facebook page. And my teacher, you know, says he's in our hearts. So, therefore, he must be in our heart and all of these kinds of things. So, these are still things which people kind of debate in the Buddhist tradition, and not only about Buddhist teachers, but also about non Buddhist teachers, and people will look at, you know, great sages, like Maharishi in India, or most iconic in the German tradition, and various other sages and people and say, Well look, they sound like they're enlightened, maybe maybe these people were enlightened as well. So, of course, not easy right not easy to say, what the state of a person is, and the Buddha had generally speaking was not how to put this not a fan or haha of people who will not enlightened themselves, speculating about the enlightenment of others. And after about that, let that be I shall teach you the dharma. So by the end, whatever teaching and training the Noble Eightfold Path is not found, there is no ascetic found no second ascetic, no third ascetic and no fourth ascetic, is of course being the four stages of realization stream entry once return, non return and arahants. In whatever teaching and training the Noble Eightfold Path is found, there is an ascetic found a second ascetic, a third ascetic and a fourth ascetic. In this teaching and training, the Noble Eightfold Path is found only here is there an aesthetic here a second aesthetic, here, a third aesthetic, and here a fourth aesthetic, other sects are empty of aesthetics, were these mannequins to practice well, the world would not be empty of perfected ones of arahants. So he noticed again, the Buddha is always very finely judged in what he says and what he doesn't say, he, what he what he, what he does say, is that to become enlightened, and really any as high as any of these stages, you have to practice a noble eightfold path, fine. That's exactly what he's been teaching his whole life. Then he also says, Well, you can't find that teachings of the Noble Eightfold Path anywhere outside of Buddhism. And as far as I'm aware, that's demonstrably true. And you can certainly find aspects of the Noble Eightfold Path in other teachings that were around at the time and the Buddha was, you know, very happy to acknowledge that, but there were none, not in the Jains, not in the Brahmins, and not apparently anywhere else, where you would find the full eightfold path as taught by the Buddha. But the Buddha does not say, however, is that it's impossible for there to be someone outside of Buddhism that will practice and realize enlightenment, because of course, maybe sitch maybe times will change, maybe maybe people will adopt the Eightfold Path? Yeah, we can look at just to pick one example, the yoga sutra, which was written by Patanjali, probably two or 300 years after the word Hmm. Maybe longer than that. I think the latest estimates are and clearly influenced by Buddhism, I could adopt a lot of Buddhist terminology and so on. And, you know, were you to ask, well, if someone practicing according to the yoga sutra, I mean, can you find all of the factors of the Noble Eightfold Path in there? I look, I don't know. Arguably. I mean, it's certainly a lot of it there. And would this same statement apply in that case? Again, I mean, I think that there's a discussion to be had about that. But I think the main point is that the Buddhist not-self denying the possibility, it's not the point is not that you get enlightened because you declare your faith in the Buddha, but you get invited into by practicing the Noble Eightfold Path. This is the main point here. So the Buddha then says I was 29 years of age. So but I don't when I went forth to discover what is skillful. And I think this is the only place in the sutras where the Buddha actually identifies that he was 29 when he went forth and now it's Only over 50 years since I went forth the teacher of the references for the systematic teaching outside of here there is no ascetic. Now these verses are, I think, certainly corrupt, and almost incomprehensible as they stand. The first four lines are fine. And then it suddenly implements here nyassa dharma saddhā de sati. It overheated samanupassati. But in this case, the Sanskrit text is very helpful, because in the Sanskrit if you translate what the Sanskrit says, that last verse would be ethics, immersion, conduct and knowledge and unification of mind have been developed by me, the teacher of the references of for the noble teaching. And so that then makes perfect sense. So the Buddha's saying that these practices which essentially cover the same ground as the Noble Eightfold Path had been developed by me. And then his teacher, the references the noble teaching a the former Harper de Souza, I think this is a callback to the the moha per day, so which he has taught earlier. So he's not only taught these things, but then he's given us a guideline for understanding them as well. Were these men deacons to practice? Well, the world would not be empty, of perfected ones. And I think in this statement image, so Bahadur dukkhu, he's actually pointing to the mendicants, the bakers and bikinis who aren't the president at the time. And so, so bad, transpired, who wants to go forth, the Buddhist says, As you standard, he says, he put him on probation, but he says that's fine. So he ended up giving him the going forth, and he became ultimately an enlightened disciple as the last disciple of the Buddha. Okay. Now, we've finally come up to the Buddha's last words. So, let us see what the Buddha has to say here on this very solemn occasion. The Buddha addressed the Venerable Ananda now and under some of you might think, the teachers dispensation has passed. Now we have no teacher, but you should not see it like this, the teaching and training that I've taught and pointed out to you shall be my teacher, after my passing, okay, so here the Buddha is making his major statement right beginning with making this major saying this is how the teeth this is how the Sasana continues. And this is how this is how it proceeds in line with everything that we've seen previously throughout this chapter. Then, a much some more minor details, but interesting that these are introduced here, after my passing men to consultant address each other as Reverend as also as they do today. And we'll see Amanda can auto dress in Virginia Mandy can by name or clan or by saying Reverend, more junior mendicant ought to address the most senior mendicant using sir or venerable. So the word either so often translated as friend, but in fact, I was I was from the IU meaning elder, and it is a respectful term, although not as respectful as an asthma as you can see here. So I use Reverend for ABA, so and venerable for a asthma. And so this kind of establishing terms of the dress by which the monks are different levels of seniority should refer to each other. And I think this is sort of by way of establishing that respect for seniors and that respect for elders, which the Buddha had already spoken about earlier. And notice that again, this is this is about decorum and respect. It's not about command, the Buddha isn't saying Junior monks, you have to do everything the senior monks telling you to do. He's not saying senior monks, I bless you with the power and authority to get the juniors to just do whatever you want. No, no, he's just saying, let's treat this have that respect for seniority and the respect for the elders in the community. And
also notice that these things are very simple. The junior mendicant order addressing or senior senior using, sir, that's Monday. And Monday, of course, is what everyone would refer to the Buddha with. And so the terms of address at this time, pretty simple, not really very kind of fancy or very exalted. I had discussed this once with a Sri Lankan monk, we were talking about trinite translations of soldiers into Sri Lankan. And we discussed the point that in modern Sri Lankan translations that they use very fancy terms to talk about the Buddha Same thing true in Thai as well. So you know you when when the suit is say by go bar in Thai, you'll say, prior pull me powerpack down, which I'm not even going to sort of try to sort of translate that literally. But basically a sort of takes the word and then wraps it in layer after layer of exalted Venus, and in the sutras. And it's quite simple. And so anyway, when I was talking with this Sri Lankan monk, and we discussed this point, he said, Yeah, you're right in the sutras. It's quite simple. But in modern Sinhala, we can't do that we have to make it super fancy. So I know that deva uPAR, is wanting to do translation to the sutta. So this is something that she'll have to figure out for herself of exactly how fancy we're going to make the words there. Anyway, if he wishes after my passing the Buddha, the sangha may abolish the lesser and minor training rules. Now, we've already seen from the beginning, how this narrative arc of the rules, and the keeping or getting rid of the rules is shaping this whole thing that begins with the veggies, you know, don't let go of your old rules, and then the sangha also shouldn't let go of your own rules. And then now, the Buddha is saying, Oh, you can let go of the rules. If you like, Oh, these lists are minor ones, don't worry about them. Famously and undid and asked him what the lesser minor training rules were. Now, actually, in the Pali canon, the lessor training was the critical rules, consistently referred to as the PA citta rules, which would make the patty designare rules the minor ones. But regardless, the sangha ultimately decided not to abolish any rules. Why would the Buddha do this? I think the point of it is that it shows that the reason that we keep the rules is not because we were told to keep them. The reason that we keep the rules is because we chose to keep them. And it's a way of empowering the sangha, if you want to keep them you keep them if not, don't, but it's something which is done by the sangha, and not by individual monks or individual nuns. And after my passing, give the divine punishment Bahama addenda, to the mendicant channel, but what is the divine punishment channel, he says he likes but men deacons should not correct advice or instruct him. Again, the resolution of that is taught in the the end of the narrative of the first council, but basically Chumba had been kind of systematically obnoxious. And so yes. I mean, just trying to imagine how it'd be field to be portal channel, I have the buddho, one of the last things the buddho ever says in his life, anyway. Okay. Then next passage, also very famous. So the Buddhist sort of dealt with a couple of minor procedural matters, and now returns to the major principles if there's a single one has doubt or uncertainty concerning the Buddha, the teaching the sangha, the powerful the practice, Ask, Don't regret it later thinking. We were in the teacher's presence and we weren't able to ask the Buddha a question. When this was said, the mannequins kept silent for a second and a third time, they would ask them for a third time they stayed silent. And the Buddha said to the mannequins, mannequins, please, perhaps you don't ask out of respect for the teacher. So let a friend tell a friend. And when this was said, the men deacons kept silent. And Venerable Ananda said to the word Ha, it's incredible. So it's amazing. I'm quite confident that there's not even a single mendicant in this sangha, who has doubt or uncertainty regarding the Buddha, the teaching the sangha, the path or the practice. And the Buddha said, Ananda, you speak from faith, but the realized one knows that there's not even a single mendicant in the sangha, who has doubt or uncertainty regarding the Buddha, the teaching the sangha, the path or the practice, even the last of these 500 mendicants is a stream mantra, not liable to be reborn in the underworld and bound for awakening. Then the Buddha has said to the mendicants, come now mendicants I say to you, all conditions fall apart, persist with diligence. Why are the Hamas and Cara upper Medina, somebody is with the realized ones last words. I'm going to finish there and come back. And I'd like to I think we've got about 15 minutes left. And maybe we'll get a chance sorry to leave you on a cliffhanger there. But you can come back next week to find out what happens. So I'd like to get a check in the chat and see if anyone has any questions. Or you can ask online if you like. Let's so do you, Pa comments, feel for him presumably, and under a dharma friend and I were crying buckets, when we thought have never ever seen a teacher again in our next lives? Well, well, you know what I have to say for that there you it's impermanent we can, how can it be that we should not be separated from those that are dear beloved, it cannot happen? It is not possible. So anyway, moving on. Okay, so Wayne asks question about the language usage. What's the difference between the fully enlightened one fully awakened, one realized one, the interchangeable? Ah, well, my goodness, well, we could do a whole session on epithets of the Buddha, but very briefly, so the Buddha word Buddha means awakened, sometimes also enlightened, but more literal rendering is actually awakened. So either awakened or enlightened, sometimes it's translated either way. So then then you have you have the phrases, some, some would have, which is kind of an intensified form of a Buddha, so often, like the fully awakened one or something like that, but basically has the same meaning. And you can sort of draw out the implications if you like, but basically, they're both words, we're referring to the word ha. The realized one is my translation of the word to targeter. And to target I literally means like the one who has become such, and usually used in a context that emphasizes the integrity and truthfulness of the word heart. So as he says, so he does, as he does so he says, and so that a targeter is one who speaks and acts with integrity. And so it said is this translated as a realized one or the other common epithets of Buddha is the Bagua, which is kind of a very idiomatic Indian term, but essentially usually translated as the Blessed One or gracious wound or exalted one or something like that. So guitars another one. So there's many other terms that are used to describe the Buddha. And yeah, so the the, the Indic languages are very rich in these kinds of epithets. Alright, so, Gita says, Thanks for sharing this sutta with everyone. Well, my pleasure, Geeta, my absolute pleasure. There's no more questions there in the chat. So I don't know if anybody has any questions at this point. How are we going? Okay, and I've got a couple more appearing there. Okay. Very good. So Wei Chang
says it's strange, the Buddha instructed the monks to stop addressing each other using avocado, but not while he was alive. Why didn't he said that rule when he was alive? I mean, it's a bit hard to say because, you know, it's just speculation, because the text doesn't really say why. But I presume I presume that it's because while the Buddha was alive, there was that focus in the sangha, that people would look to Him for leadership. And then there's a perhaps like a bit of a fear that after he's gone, things are kind of going to devolve into chaos. And so the Buddha sort of introduced this as a method that has a very light touch. Right? So again, you're gonna notice what he's doing. He's not saying, we have to set up a whole new system, right? We're not saying we have to have councils and then we have to do this, we have to do that. And all of these kinds of things. It's a very light touch. You just say make sure that you when you talk to your elders, that you talk to them respectfully. And I think that that is really what he's doing there. And there are some there are some sort of stories that revolve around that later. Like there's a very kind of sad story that poor old and under About 2030 years after the Buddha died, and he's walking, going for a walk through the monastery, and he hears a young monk reciting a verse in Pali, and he's just got all have the words wrong and it's in reciting this nonsensical worst in Pāli and an under says i Excuse me venerable you know just so you know that this supposed to go like this and he recites the verse, And the young man just looks at him things. What does this old fools know? He's doddering old. Seen Oh, God. So I think this is really why that's what introduced. Yeah. All right, very good, Kaz says, How's it going Kas. It's very important to just listen to the important message from the Buddha, which is devote to meditation, the Noble Eightfold path leads to nibbāna. And to practice diligently. Exactly. And so I think that like one of the things which is really had our put this, like, it's really kind of inspiring about this narrative is that, you know, it's a very empowering narrative. You know, the Buddha had full confidence in people to keep on going and practicing. And he's constantly bringing that back to them, not making it all about him. And so this is also why, you know, I think to sort of moderate that kind of cult of personality and Guru worship and everything like that, actually, it has to come down to us and to our practice. And so yes, the Buddha is inspiring and isn't as an example, but ultimately, we're the ones. Okay, so Peter says, or Pete says, PGM says, it's been very helpful to me to hear your pronunciation of so many terms that are commonly mispronounced, but thank you, P. I appreciate that. I put a quite a lot of effort into learning how to pronounce Pāli correctly, and I'm happy that people notice. Do you do you have a shortcut of common terms that practitioners often mispronounce? Not really, the way that people mispronounce things, often is quite culturally determined, depending on how people are used to hearing it in their own language. So I, no, but I did put a bit of a guide to Pāli in the thinking the introductory essay, I can think I can share that with you now actually, I can give you a bit my guide towards pronouncing Pāli If you want to have a look at it. But there's some really good ones on YouTube now as well actually, if you want to learn more about how to how to do it.
Okay, so I'm going to put this in the chat. And so that's my short guide to pronouncing carne. And I don't have necessarily a list of words. But I'll tell you what, though, as several people on this chat can attest, if I do find you mispronouncing things, I will call you out on it.
All right. So now asks, Does persist with diligence, I'll put my dāna Somebody data means something specific, I suppose it means practicing the path and reaching enlightenment. Exactly. And so in those two phrases, why a dharma sankhāra dhamma dāna samsāra data for words, encapsulating the whole of the Four Noble Truths, encapsulating the whole of the Buddha's teachings, also encapsulating the theme of this moha paññā nibbāna sutta. On the one hand, the inevitability of everything, passing that sad, calamitous inevitability, but at the same time, do something about it. You're not the victim of old age and death, you know, we are agents, we get to choose our lives. And the whole point of the Buddha's teaching is that there is something meaningful that you can do elsewhere in the Sutras, the Buddha said, even if you breathe in, and then you think, Ah, I might breathe, I might die before I breathe out. But there is much that you can do. In that interval between breathing in and breathing out, there is much that you can do and if you do that with mindfulness, then that is what makes your life well lived and lived in accordance with dhamma. Darius is I can't even pronounce my own name properly Pāli wise, D here, you pa D here, Yuba.
To pronunciation they usually say to you, okay, the link, sorry I sent the link on foot I sent the link to Gita as a direct message and said Sending to everyone my mistake. Let me just do it again to send it to everyone now
very good. So I'll just by the way, if you do want a party name, you can let me know. And I'll choose a fun one for you. Because most of the time when people have party names, they choose really boring ones. And so I'm kind of on a mission to have people have more fun party names. So okay, good.
Excellent. Any more questions before we wrap up for today?
So Wayne says he's up for a party name if you want. If you're serious about it, then messages, contact Rob, and then send me an email or you can contact me on as soon as central forum and ask, but I'm going to want to know some biographical details first, because I want to make sure that it's personal and specific for you. I'm not just gonna give you any old random name alright.
So Jeff, asks, he'd heard that in the ancient kingdom, of course, he Naga would have described to ananda. So that's in the Master darsena reference that we saw in them, apparently bhāvanā sutta. And then in more detail in diga, 19, that the Buddhist scopes, and under Buddha had seen a wheel turning monarch there in a previous life. That's correct. The Buddha had not just seen one, but he had been seen. That's right. Yes, what you said, Yes, he had been a wheel turning monarch and a previous life. And so that is one of the I mean, it's an interesting sort of, from a kind of, sort of Buddha logical point of view. Because it talks about this kind of idealized city and this idealized realm that the Buddha was in. And it's like, it kind of it amplifies these narratives, you know, that that, that the Buddha had everything before he went forth, you know, so we know the Buddha came from a noble background and so on. And he had to renounce a lot to go forth. And then my husband doesn't have such a, then that's kind of amplified to these kind of cities made of gold and crystal, and all of these kinds of things. And so he still went for, but one of the things that's interesting about that sutta, and which is sort of specific, I should not misrepresent this, because that would be bad. Let me just double check
might be somewhere else to think about it.
So at the end of that, enter the hustler does to the Buddha identifies himself with moha, saddhā saññā, making it one of the few Jotika stories found in the early texts. So there's three such Jotika stories in the Degani car, and about, I think, four or five elsewhere in the sitter's. And so these were the obviously they're kind of the template on which the Jotika collection was formed. And so yes, so the Buddha then uses that as that, to emphasize that teaching of impermanence. And as the king in that time he had gone forth. Well knock on fourth, but he had got retreated to his palace, and just spent the rest of his life in meditation, developing a meditation on karunā on that karunā Johanna, and so and getting them reborn in a Brahma realm. So yeah, that's the teaching. That's the mahasiddha saññā sutta. But really, it's really it's a it's a it's a few paragraphs in the Māra in the moha, paññā nibbāna sutta, which in the Pāli, were blown up to be a complete sutta but which you find in the Sanskrit is just there in a sort of much more sort of smaller form within the map r&d banner sukha. So I mentioned at the beginning that the moha apparently banner is part of a much wider cycle. I have a number of different texts, which are sometimes organized in different ways. So for example, in some cases, the accounts of these, the first council tacked on directly to the end of them heartburn nibbāna sutta. Whereas in the party, they're separated out, one in the suitors and one in the Vinaya. And so you find these differences in the way things were organized. But the content itself, you know, there was a kind of a mass of shared content, which is organized in these different ways in the different schools. All right, I think we should probably finish up there.
