PRESENTED TO BUDDHA CENTER ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2015 AND ALSO TO THE NEW BUDDHA CENTRE, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2024 (REVISED).
The Discourse to the Great Govinda
Digha Niakaya 19
Country: Magadha
Locale: Vulture’s Peak, Rajagaha
Speakers: Pancasikha, the Buddha
Date of Composition: 3rd cent. BCE
In this discourse, the Buddha is staying at Vulture’s Peak in Rajagaha, the same place as at the opening of the Mahaparinibbana Sutta. Located near the village of Devrajgnagar, it consists of four caves and is unique in the world for the large number of vultures that gather there.
Shortly before sunrise, Pancasikha appears as a “splendid radiance.” This is the same Pancasikha as in the previous discourse, described as a young boy, beloved by the divine beings. Here we learn that he is an attendant of Dhrtarastra, the Guardian of the East and god of music, harmony, and compassion, in the realm of the Four Great Kings. Sanat Kumara chooses to appear to the divine beings of the realm of the Thirty-Three as the lowest rank of divine being. Pancasikha is also a messenger between the realm of the Thirty-Three and the Four Great Kings, who together monitor human affairs, and probably a musician too. Gandhabbas are aerial, musical, and associated with nature, rather like fairies. His name means ‘five top-knots,’ alluding to the style of his hair, which he wears in the same style as when he died as a young boy. Pancasikha has some of the characteristics of Mercury in the Greek pantheon.
Pancasikha comes to the Buddha in his capacity as messenger, conveying to him the same story that we heard in the previous sutta in which Sakra, the chief of the realm of the Thirty-Three, praises the Buddha in eight statements, in which he declares that the Buddha is supreme among teachers:
- in compassion for the world.
- for the quality of his teaching, described as “here and now, timeless, inviting inspection, leading onward, to be realized by the wise each one for himself” —a description that we encountered in the 18th discourse.
- for the quality of his moral and ethical teachings.
- for his explanation of Buddhist practice.
- for the quality of his order.
- for good reputation without conceit on his part.
- for the mutual coherence of his speech and his actions, a quality we noted in the 16th discourse, where King Ajatasattu attempts to use the Buddha as an oracle to divine the outcome of his proposed war with the Vajjians.
- for certainty of mind.
In response to such praise, some gods exclaim, “Oh, if only four fully enlightened buddhas were to arise in the world, and teach Dhamma just like the Blessed Lord.” I have suggested that the discourse which documents this assembly describes a previous age. However, this passage suggests that the Buddha of that time is in fact Kakusandha, who is succeeded by three buddhas—Konagamma, Kassapa, and Gotama—and who is to be followed by Maitreya, five buddhas in all. Such an age is both rare and fortunate.
Sakra sets forth an important principle of Buddhist cosmology: that only one Buddha can exist in a single “world-system” at any time. What this means in the context of modern cosmology is somewhat obscure. Is a “world-system” a dharma age, a planet, a solar system, a galaxy, or a universe? All of these are world-systems.
Sanat Kumara appears as in the previous discourse. This time, Sanat Kumara asks the thirty-three gods, “For how long has the Blessed Lord been one of mighty wisdom,” and proceeds to tell a tale based on that theme.
The story is that of King Disampati, whose religious advisor is called the Steward (Govinda, lit. ‘cowherd,’ an epithet of Krishna). Although this is a Brahmanic religious office, the Steward is also an expert in business and manages all of the king’s worldly affairs too. The king’s son’s name is Renu, and the Steward’s son is Jotipala. Together with six other warriors, they form a group of eight friends. The king is becoming something of a dissolute, and just when he begins to abandon himself to the pleasures of the senses the Steward dies, to the king’s regret. Renu advises Disampati to allow Jotipala to manage his affairs, to which the king agrees. Jotipala fulfils this royal function well, and becomes known as the Great Steward. As Disampati becomes decrepit with age and enters into his final dotage, Jotipala goes to the six friends and encourages them to approach Renu and suggest that he share the kingship with them after his father’s death. After Disampati dies, the warrior assembly (another sign of nascent democracy) appoints Renu as a constitutional king, after which, like his father, he gives himself up to pleasure. Jahampati sends the six nobles to remind King Renu of his duty. Therefore, King Renu has Jahampati divide his kingdom—which seems to have been identical with the Indian subcontinent—into seven parts, keeping the central part for himself, and giving the remaining six parts to the six nobles.
These are the seven Bharat kings, Bharata being the original term for India, after Bharata, the mythological emperor and founder of the Bharata dynasty. Thus, Jotipala becomes the Great Steward of the seven kings. He also teaches the mantras to seven notable Brahmans and seven hundred advanced students.
Jotipala himself becomes so notable that he acquires the reputation of conversing with God (Brahma). Although this is not in fact true, Jotipala decides to undertake the loving kindness meditation during the rains retreat to try to live up to his own reputation. The Buddha introduces the meditation on loving-kindness the Buddha introduces in the 13th discourse as the way to achieve Union with God, the religious goal of Brahmanism. Therefore, Jotipala takes leave of his forty wives and withdraws to a building that he builds east of the city to practise meditation; no one comes near him except to bring him food. However, at the end of this time, the Great Steward is disappointed that he has not experienced any success, whereupon Sanat Kumara appears before him in a vision, described as splendid, glorious, and divine. Jotipala offers a seat, water for the feet, and cakes to Sanat Kumara, who in return offers Jotipala a boon—an archetypal mythological motif that occurs worldwide, and which underlies the practice of mandala offering in Tibetan Buddhism too.
Jotipala asks Sanat Kumara how mortals can achieve the deathless Brahma world, noting that he asks both for himself and for others. This is the Brahmanic view of the Brahma world, not the Buddhist view, which holds that all worlds and their inhabitants are subject to mortality. Sanat Kumara replies that to reach the deathless Brahma world he must abandon his possessions and family; live alone in the forest, at the foot of a tree, in a mountain glen, in a rocky cave, in a charnel ground, in the jungle, or on a heap of grass in the open; develop concentration; love the whole world; and abandon anger, lying, fraud, cheating, avarice, pride, jealousy, coveting, doubt, harming others, greed, hatred, stupor, delusion, and lust.
Jotipala goes to the king and resigns his office as Steward, whereupon the king declares that he will follow Jotipala into the homeless state. He compares Jotipala to a beryl, a semi-precious stone that represents the Precious Jewel. Here it is a metaphor for awareness. The six nobles, however, try to bribe Jotipala, thinking that he is like other Brahmans of that time, first with money, then with women. When their attempts fail, they too declare that they will follow Jotipala into the homeless state if he is willing to wait seven years.
However, Jotipala refuses to wait, declaring that one wins wisdom by means of mantra (mantaya), which Walshe, following the commentary, glosses as “wisdom.” However, the literal meaning of this word is relevant here, because it reinforces other references to mantra yoga in the Pali Canon that clearly refer to the efficacy of mantra in addition to the salvific importance of wisdom. Finally, Jotipala agrees to wait seven days for the nobles to join him in the homeless state.
At the end of the seven days, Jotipala shaves his hair and beard, dons yellow robes, and enters into the homeless state. Note that putting on robes, which we associate with Buddhist monasticism, was in fact adopted by the Buddhists from the renunciants, and that such renunciation does not require any organizational approval but is a purely personal decision. This is exactly what the Buddha does when he abandons the householder life, there being no order for him to join. Therefore, the Buddha himself is never actually a monastic. Jotipala and Gotama are both self-ordained, which is the original form of ordination for the same reason that democracy is the original form of government in the Buddhist view. The seven kings, seven Brahmans, seven hundred advanced students, forty wives, several thousand kshatriyas, several thousand Brahmans, and several thousand householders, including some prostitutes, join him in this state.
Jotipala wanders the streets, begging for food and practising loving-kindness. Because of his fame and influence, many people are reborn in a higher state, ranging from the the realm of the Four Great Kings to the Brahma world itself.
Pancasikha asks the Buddha if he remembers this story. The Buddha affirms that he does, and that he was Jotipala in that life. Thus, the Mahagovinda Sutta is a past-life story of the Buddha, which may also be found in the Jatakas. However, he declares,
that holy life does not lead to disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation, to peace, to superknowledge, to enlightenment, to Nirvana, but only to birth in the Brahma-world, whereas my holy life leads unfailingly to disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation, to peace, to superknowledge, to enlightenment, to Nirvana. This is the Noble Eightfold Path, namely Right View, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration. (61)
Therefore, the Buddha reveals to Pancasikha the teaching that goes beyond Brahmanism and leads to the qualitatively ultimate attainment, transcendent emancipation from the whole world. The Buddha further declares that those followers have “fully mastered my teaching” who achieve “superknowledge” (gnosis), the destruction of the corruptions, and uncorrupted freedom of heart and mind, compassion and awareness. He then recapitulates the grades of attainment, including (1) rebirth as a divine being, (2) once-returners, and (3) stream enterers, achieved by the destruction of (1) the five lower fetters, (2) the three fetters and the reduction of greed, hatred, and delusion, and (3) the destruction of three fetters, respectively. The three fetters refer to belief in a self, doubt, and attachment to rites and rituals. Adding sensual desire and anger to these make the five lower fetters.
Buddha Centre, Saturday, November 30, 2024.
Dharmata 