The Minister who became an Arahant as a lay person
Dhammapada Verse 142
By Dr. Ari Ubeysekara
Introduction
Lord Gautama Buddha lived and preached in India during the sixth and fifth centuries BC. Throughout the ministry of forty five years from enlightenment at the age of thirty five to passing away at the age of eighty, Lord Gautama Buddha, through compassion for other beings, travelled from place to place mainly in North Eastern India, teaching the path out of suffering to a diverse range of people. Since the first Buddhist council that was held three months after the passing away of the Buddha, the Buddha’s teachings were categorised into the now well-known Pāli Canon consisting of the three baskets. The teaching of the Gautama Buddha which is believed to consist of around 84,000 items is contained in the three baskets (tripitaka).
- Basket of the disciplinary rules for the monastic community (vinaya pitaka)
- Basket of the discourses (sutta pitaka)
- Basket of the Buddha’s higher teaching (abhidhamma pitaka)
The basket of the discourses (sutta pitaka) consists of:
- Collection of long discourses (dīgha nikāya)
- Collection of middle length discourses (majjhima nikāya)
- Collection of connected discourses (samyutta nikāya)
- Collection of numerical discourses (anguttara nikāya)
- Collection of minor discourses (khuddaka nikāya)
Collection of minor discourses (khuddaka nikāya) consist of 15 divisions of a variety of small discourses and others. The second division is the Dhammapada, the other divisions being Khuddaka pātha, udāna, itivuttaka, sutta nipātha, vimānavatthu, petavatthu, thera-gāthā, theri-gāthā, jātaka stories, niddesa, patisambhidā magga, apadāna, Buddhavamsa and cariya pitaka.
The Pāli word “Dhamma” seems to have several meanings such as the natural law, natural phenomena, objects of the mind, religious doctrines and specifically the Lord Gautama Buddha’s teachings. The word “Pada” means path, step, word or the foot. So, the word Dhammapada has been described as the “Path of Righteousness”. The Dhammapada containing a collection of the sayings of the Buddha in verse form, is one of the best known books in Buddhism familiar to almost all of the practising Buddhist disciples universally as well as to others who study the teachings of the Buddha.
Dhammapada contains 423 verses said by the Buddha in different contexts. Most of the verses have been taken from the discourses of the Buddha. It has been noted that more than two thirds of the verses are taken from the discourses contained in the two collections of the Buddha’s discourses known as the Samyutta Nikāya and Anguttara Nikāya. The 423 verses are divided into 26 chapters (Vagga) each with a particular heading. The tenth chapter is named “Danda vagga” meaning the chapter on “Punishment”, which contains 17 verses said by the Buddha. The background story to the 14th verse of the Danda vagga is about a minister who listened to a discourse by the Buddha and gained enlightenment as an Arahant while still dressed in the regalia of a king’s minister.
Background story of verse 142
At one time the Buddha was staying at the Jetavana monastery in Sāvatti, which was donated to the Buddha by the Buddha’s chief benefactor Anāthapindika.
King Pasenadi of Kosala, the ruler of the Kosala Kingdom with Sāvatti as it’s capital, had a minister named Santati. Once there was a rebellion in one of the border regions of the kingdom and the king sent minister Santati to go and quell the rebellion. The minister went and quelled the rebellion and established law and order very quickly. When the minister returned having successfully quelled the rebellion, the king was so pleased with him that the king gave the kingdom over to the minister for seven days so that he could enjoy all the glory and the pleasures of a ruler. The king also gave him a beautiful woman to sing and dance for him.
For seven days, minister Santati enjoyed the royal pleasures getting intoxicated with alcohol and enjoying the singing and dancing by the dancing girl with whom he became infatuated. On the seventh day, fully adorned in the royal regalia, he was going to the riverside on the back of the ornamented royal elephant to have a bath. On his way to the riverside, he met the Buddha who was on the daily alms round. As he was already intoxicated, while still seated on the back of the elephant, he just bowed casually to show his respect to the Buddha and carried on with his journey. On seeing the minister Santati, the Buddha smiled and Venerable Ānanda who was with the Buddha asked why the Buddha smiled. In response, the Buddha said to Venerable Ānanda: “Ānanda, this minister will come to see me this very day and after I give him a short discourse, he will become an Arahant. Soon after becoming an Arahant he will pass away”.
The minister enjoyed himself at the riverside, bathing, eating and drinking and in the evening he went to the garden to have more drinks and to be entertained by the beautiful dancer. The dancer has been having a reduced diet during the seven days in order to keep herself trim and beautiful. When she came on the stage and started dancing, she collapsed and died with her eyes and mouth wide open. Having seen his favourite dancer falling dead right in front of him, minister Santati was shocked and deeply distressed and quicky became sober. In his acute grief and immense sorrow, he was thinking of a refuge and remembered the Buddha. He went to the Buddha along with his followers and said to the Buddha about his acute grief and immense sorrow due to the sudden death of his favourite dancing girl. He sought the Buddha’s help to get over his sorrow and to have the peace of mind.
In response, the Buddha said: “Rest assured my son, you have come to One who could help you; One who could be a constant solace to you and who will be your refuge. The tears that you have shed due to the death of this dancer throughout the cycle of birth and death is more than the waters of all the oceans”. The Buddha then recited the following verse:
“In the past there has been clinging in you due to craving, get rid of it.
in the future, do not let such clinging occur in you,
do not harbour any clinging in the present,
craving and passion will be calmed in you, and you will realize Nibbāna.”
After hearing the above verse, minister Santati gained enlightenment as an Arahant with supernormal powers. Then Arahant Santati realized that his life span has reached it’s end and said to the Buddha: “Venerable Sir, please permit me to pass into Nibbāna, for my time has come”. The Buddha gave permission and also asked Arahant Santati to rise into the air through his supernormal power and to tell the story of his past life to the assembled people. Arahant Santati paid homage to the Buddha and rose into air rising to a height of seven palm trees. Sitting cross legged in the air, he related a meritorious deed that he has performed in a previous existence during the dispensation of a previous Samma Sambuddha named Vipassi.
Having related his previous meritorious deed, Arahant Santati, while sitting cross legged in the air, practised meditation on the element of fire and straightaway passed into Nibbāna. His body went up in flames and the bone relics floated down on to a clean piece of cloth which had been spread by the monks as instructed by the Buddha. The relics were enshrined in a stupa built at a crossing of four highways.
Then a discussion began among the monks about the king’s minister Santati, who attained Arahantship after listening to one verse from the Buddha while still dressed in the royal regalia and sitting cross legged in the air passed into Nibbāna. They wondered whether one should speak of him as a ‘hermit’ or as a ‘brahmana’. Later, when they told the Buddha about what they have been discussing, the Buddha declared: “Monks, it is proper to speak of my son as a ‘hermit’; and it is also proper to speak of him as a ‘brahmana’. Then the Buddha recited the following verse which is recorded as verse 142 of the Dhammapada.
“Alañkato ce pi samaṁ careyya,
santo danto niyato brahmacārī,
sabbasu bhūtesu nidhāya dandaṁ,
so brāhmano so samano sa bhikkhu.”
“Though one is dressed in beautiful garments,
if he is calm, trained, settled, spiritual,
has laid aside the stick towards all beings,
he is a brahmana, an ascetic, a monastic.”
References
End.
drarisworld 
Thank you very much for this inspiring story Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu 🙏🏿
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