Wisdom arises from meditation, no wisdom without meditation
Dhammapada verse 282
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 (tipitaka).
- 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 or vaggas each with a particular heading. The twentieth chapter is named “Magga vagga” meaning the chapter on “The path”, which contains 17 verses said by the Buddha. The back ground story of the 282nd verse, which is the tenth verse of the Magga vagga is about a senior monk who knew the teaching well but through conceit did not practise.
Background story of verse 282
At one time, the Buddha was staying at the Jetavana monastery in Sāvatti which was donated to the Buddha by the chief benefactor named Anāthapindika.
At that time, there was a senior monk named Potthila who knew the Buddha’s teaching well and was teaching five hundred monks. However, because he knew the teaching so well, he had developed a pride about it and did not engage in any practice by himself. Because he was not meditating, he had not attained any deep mental absorptions (Jhana) or any path and fruit of the Buddhist spiritual path of liberation. The Buddha knew his weakness and through compassion for him, wanted to do something to help him so that he will correct his ways and start practising meditation. What the Buddha did was, whenever Venerable Potthila visited the Buddha to pay homage to the Buddha, the Buddha would address him as “useless Potthila”.
When he was called “useless Potthila” by the Buddha, he began thinking as to why the Buddha was addressing him with those words. He realised that the Buddha was addressing him like that as he was not making any effort to practise meditation and as a result has not attained any deep mental absorptions or any path and fruit of the Buddhist path. This realisation prompted him to leave the Jetavana monastery without informing anyone that he was leaving. He arrived at a monastery in a distant place twenty yojanas away from the Jetavana monastery.
There were thirty monks residing at that monastery at that time. He approached the senior most monk at the monastery and requested him to be the mentor for him. The senior most monk wished to help Ven. Potthila to give up his pride and become humble and with that intention, advised him to approach the next senior monk and request him to be the mentor. That senior monk too did the same and he was in turn sent from one monk to another monk until he approached a junior young monk who was only seven years old. Though only seven years old, this novice monk (sāmanera) has already gained enlightenment as an Arahant.
The seven year old monk agreed to become his mentor but only after establishing the fact that he is prepared to carry out all the instructions that he was given obediently and diligently. As agreed, Ven. Potthila followed the instructions on meditation that he was given, ardent and vigilant, and kept his mind firmly fixed on the real nature of the body. The Buddha who was at the Jetavana monastery saw Ven. Potthila in his vision through the Buddha’s supernormal power and making him feel the Buddha’s presence, encouraged him to continue to practise meditation ardent and vigilant. Then the Buddha recited to him the following verse which is recorded as the 282nd verse of the Dhammapada.
“Yogā ve jāyati bhūri – ayogā bhūrisankhayo,
etam dvedhā pathaṁ natvā – bhavāya vibhavāya ca,
tath attānaṁ niveseyya – yathā bhūri pavaddhati.”
“Indeed, wisdom arises from meditation,
and it wanes in the absence of meditation,
knowing this two-fold way of arising and waning,
one should conduct oneself,
in the way wisdom grows.”
It is said that after listening to the above verse recited by the Buddha, Ven. Potthila gained enlightenment as an Arahant.
References
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