The body is impermanent like froth and insubstantial like a mirage
Dhammapada verse 46
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 fourth chapter is named “Puppha vagga” meaning the chapter of “Flowers”, which contains 16 verses said by the Buddha. The back ground story of the 46th verse, which is the 3rd verse of the Puppha vagga is about a monk who became an Arahant by contemplating on the impermanence of the body.
Background story of verse 46
At one time the Buddha was staying at the Jetavana monastery in Sāvatti which was donated to the Buddha by the chief benefactor Anāthapindika.
At that time, a certain monk obtained instruction from the Buddha on a suitable meditation object and went to the forest to practise meditation. While living in the forest, he meditated with a lot of effort, but however hard he meditated he was unable to make any progress in his meditation. Then he decided that he should return to the Buddha to explain his situation and obtain further instruction on meditation from the Buddha.
While on his way back to Savatti to see the Buddha, he saw a mirage which was only an illusion of a sheet of water. At that moment, he realised that his body was also insubstantial just like a mirage. Thus contemplating on the insubstantiality of the body in his mind, he arrived at the bank of the River Aciravati and sat down under a tree close to the river. While sitting down there, he could witness big froths appearing and breaking up in the river. This again helped him to realise the impermanent nature of the body.
At that time, the Buddha noticed his thinking and appeared in his vision saying to him:
“My son, just as you have realised, this body is impermanent like froth and insubstantial like a mirage.”
Then the Buddha recited the following verse which is recorded as the 46th verse of the Dhammapada.
“Phepnūpamaṁ kāyamimaṁ viditvā,
marīcidhammaṁ abhisambudhāno,
chetvāna mārassa papupphakāni,
adassanaṁ maccurājassa gacche.”
“Knowing that this body is like froth,
understanding that it is like a mirage,
cutting the flowers of the Mara,
one should go pass the sight of the King of Death.”
It is recorded that at the end of the Buddha’s discourse, the monk gained enlightenment as an Arahant.
References
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