Episode 52 – Subhuti and the Venerable Ananda
>> “All conditioned things are like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow, are like a dew drop or a flash of lightning. They should be contemplated as such.”
>> The day he was born, the treasures of his family vanished completely. His parents were shocked. Thus he was also named Empty-born. His nature was kind and good, he did not create conflicts over objects. After he became a monastic, he realized emptiness and attained the path. Subhuti was foremost in grasping the truth of emptiness.
>> Ananda’s name means Celebrating-Joy. He was the Buddha’s cousin, son of Dronodana, and younger brother of Devadatta. The Agama Sutra states: He was so knowledgeable about time and matters that he had no doubts. So Ananda was foremost in all that he heard and understood.
In life, what is real? What is illusory? We learn the Buddha’s teachings to recognize the truth and to see through illusions. This is what we need to understand. The Buddha-Dharma is perfect and complete. It tells us what is true and helps us understand emptiness. That is the essence of Buddha-Dharma. There is this phrase in the Diamond Sutra,
“All conditioned things are like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow, are like a dew drop or a flash of lightning. They should be contemplated as such.”
Is this world real? Unreal? “All conditioned things are like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow. Conditioned things” are contrived. These are the things we can see. For example, this house has not always existed. To protect ourselves from wind and rain, we want a house to live in. To build a house, we need to use sand, cement, rebar, bricks and many other things. We carefully build and assemble them so that they become a house. The materials come from the earth and then through manual labor, these things are created. In the past, they did not exist; now they do. But what about in the future? Will they exist forever?
We often hear about archaeologists continually digging and excavating in the desert. Several meters below the surface, they uncover cities from thousands of years ago. They also dig up palaces and historic relics of communal living from those time periods. Sometimes we get a sense that at some point in time, these sites must have been prosperous and well-populated places. The architecture was also magnificent. Why was it covered by sand? And not just by a thin layer, but buried several meters deep? How could this have happened? Over thousands of years, great changes take place. Even high mountains and deep valleys may erode into flat plains. These are all conditioned material objects, and “all conditioned things are like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow.”
Consider the events of yesterday and your dreams from last night’s sleep, are the things we may have dreamed real? Or are the people and matters we encountered yesterday real? If you want to say yesterday’s events are real, then show them to me. They have passed, they cannot be seen, just like what we dreamed last night. The dreams may seem distinct and clear, but if we want to bring them up and look at them, they are gone. The people, matters and objects we encountered yesterday are as real as the things we dreamt of. They are like dreams, illusions, bubbles and shadows. They are truly fragile and temporary. All things in this world are fragile. For example, bubbles
on the surface of water. When a wave is cresting, the bubbles form for just a brief moment. Then another wave arrives, and the bubbles are destroyed. Birth and death, arising and ceasing, are also like shadows. When we see a person’s shadow and step on it, he or she does not feel anything. It is just the image of the person; nothing happens when we step on it. But this shadow follows the person’s movement; it is not always in the same place. When a person walks by, we see a shadow. When that person leaves, the shadow is gone. The shadow does not obstruct the ground, and people do not obstruct the shadow, so this shadow is also an illusion. Isn’t life this way?
For example, when we walk, our feet do not take the road along with us. Living this human life is like walking. The soles of our feet are not glued to the road, and the road is not stuck to our feet. So, we simply leave traces in places where we have walked, but the traces disappear quickly,
“like a dew drop and a flash of lightning.” Actually, all living things need dew, need water. Living in this world, we truly receive the grace of all things. So we often say, we must be grateful for the grace of parents, of heaven and earth, of teachers [and of all sentient beings]. For our entire lifetime, we have received this grace and kindness. This is like how the grass and trees on earth also need the grace and kindness of the rain. Our lives are the same. We have to be grateful for all the grace and kindness that we have received, and repay them.
It is like the dew, which is moisture in the air that collects into dewdrops and returns to the earth. This is a cycle, and the cycle of life is similar to that of dew. Dew quickly dries up and evaporates but then also quickly returns. Life is similar to this phenomenon.
It is also like a flash of light. Shortly before dawn, we see faint sunlight appear. This is the result of the Earth’s rotation, When this side of the Earth faces the Sun, the Sun’s light hits this surface. Life is made up of a similar aggregate of actions. We are unaware that things keep moving very quickly in a continuity of single moments, like lightning or a flash of light, or like rain and dew. In our lives things are endlessly moving, endlessly cycling. We cannot see this, but this principle exists. We should understand these underlying principles.
Normally, we are not aware of this [movement], but the days keep passing by. We experience this endless cycle of birth, aging, illness and death, but we do not make an effort to be vigilant of this. Living in this world, how much of its truths and principles do we really understand? Are we being mindful? There is wondrous existence in true emptiness, and indeed, true emptiness in wondrous existence. If we can fully comprehend this, then we can truly transform ourselves and others. We must learn to be free of attachments and hindrances and to eliminate all afflictions.
Now let us talk about emptiness and the true principles behind it. Among the Buddha’s disciples, the one foremost in understanding emptiness was Subhuti. Subhuti, translated into Chinese, means good and auspicious. He was also called Empty-born.
Why was he called Empty-born? It is said that on the day this venerable one was born, all the treasures in his family’s home disappeared suddenly. Everyone in his family panicked. Why did all the precious jewels disappear at the time this child was born? What kind of omen was this? So, his parents quickly went to find a seer. In ancient India, when a child was born to a wealthy family, they sought a fortune-teller. The seer used the child’s birth date and time to forecast his fate.
When the fortune-teller arrived, he saw the child and learned what had happened so suddenly to his family. He told the child’s parents, “Congratulations! When your child was born, all the family treasures suddenly disappeared. Actually, this is an auspicious sign for him. He will be able to fully comprehend the truth. This is a very honorable sign.” Because of that, he was called good and auspicious. He was also named Empty-born because at his birth all the treasures disappeared.
Ever since he was a child, he was very pure in nature. He was also clever and hard-working. No matter what principles his tutors taught him, whether they were Brahmin teachings or other kinds of principles of the world, he instantly understood them. Not only that, he also realized the principle that all things can be broken down until nothing exists, just emptiness. So, he cherished all things but was not attached to them. He had no desire to own anything and saw through everything in this world. So after he became a monk, his heart was very pure. He did not seek to own anything. When there was conflict, he would take a step back. Therefore, his relationships were harmonious. So, he realized emptiness and attained the path, and abided in the Samadhi of no strife. He did not create conflicts with people or over matters. This is his perfect, harmonious intrinsic nature. So Subhuti was foremost in grasping the truth of emptiness.
The day he was born, the treasures of his family vanished completely. His parents were shocked. Thus he was also named Empty-born. His nature was kind and good, he did not create conflicts over objects. After he became a monastic, he realized emptiness and attained the path. Subhuti was foremost in grasping the truth of emptiness.
In the Diamond Sutra, the Buddha did not lecture Subhuti on the Dharma but rather interacted with him according to his abilities. When He explained the true principles of the world, only Subhuti could comprehend them and converse with Him about them. This conversation validated the principles of people, matters and objects. This was in the Diamond Sutra.
Next [we will discuss] Ananda; Ananda means Celebrating-Joy. We all know that the day Ananda was born was the day the Buddha attained enlightenment. When Ananda was born, the news came that the Buddha had attained enlightenment, so everyone in the palace was very joyous. Therefore, he was called Celebrating-Joy. In particular, Ananda was the Buddha’s cousin and also the younger brother of Devadatta. He was the son of King Suddhodhana’s younger brother, so he was royalty. He became a monastic when he was 20 and followed the Buddha. Everyone recommended that. Ananda become the Buddha’s attendant.
He inherently excelled at listening and memorizing. After he became a monastic, he not only listened to the Buddha teach, he felt that his heart was at ease and free. It was not defiled by the desires of this world. So, his heart was always very pure and he wholeheartedly listened to the Buddha. Therefore, the Buddha-Dharma was like an ocean that flowed into Ananda’s heart. He did not have discursive thoughts. So when he first became a monk, he attained the first fruit, but he did not realize the fourth fruit until the time of compiling [the Buddha’s teachings]. Why?
Does everyone remember? After the Buddha entered Parinirvana, the scriptures were to be compiled. Venerable Kasyapa pulled Ananda out of the assembly and said, “You still have not eliminated all afflictions. You have not attained the fourth fruit. So, you must quickly self-reflect and work hard.” Ananda said, “It is not that I can’t attain it. Because I was the Buddha’s attendant, I had to keep some traces of afflictions.” It was not that Ananda could not attain this, but that he had to deal with worldly matters and serve the Buddha. So when it came time to compile the scriptures, Venerable Kasyapa lent him a helping hand and gave him a period of time to review all the teachings of the Buddha. Then Ananda was able to eliminate all afflictions and attained the fourth fruit of Arhatship.
So the Agama Sutra also states that he was “so knowledgeable about time and objects that he had no doubts.” Ananda knew the Buddha’s routine very well and managed things very precisely. Also, when working with people, Ananda had an acute sense for what to do and when. No matter where the Buddha wanted to go, Ananda was very good at making the arrangements. He arranged their itinerary and clearly knew what needed to be done and when. In the Buddha’s lifetime, Ananda arranged things perfectly without a single misstep. When the Buddha spoke with people, [Ananda] never forgot a word He said. The Dharma entered his heart and he never forgot. Ananda was foremost in hearing everything, understanding and upholding all that he heard. Ananda was foremost in hearing all.
Ananda’s name means Celebrating-Joy. He was the Buddha’s cousin, son of Dronodana, and younger brother of Devadatta. The Agama Sutra states: He was so knowledgeable about time and matters that he had no doubts. So Ananda was foremost in never forgetting anything and reverently upholding all that he heard and understood.
Everyone, learning the Buddha’s teachings requires constant accumulation. We must not let the Dharma we hear leak away. If it leaks away after we hear it, then that is the same as not hearing it. So after hearing it, the Dharma must be applied to our daily living. So, we must always be mindful!