Exploring the Path - Pāli Course

The Catutthavaggo¹ is one more selection from the Aṅguttaranikāyo as found in the chapter of Ekakanipātapāḷi – the collection of ‘one thing’—Ekadhammapāḷi. This chapter is also termed Jambudīpapeyyālo because based on the first paragraph (appamattakaṃ imasmiṃ jambudīpe – to – khāṇukaṇṭakaṭṭhānaṃ pabbatavisamaṃ²) it provides various different similes by comparing the few really delightful groves found in Jambudīpa with allegories that are likewise extremely seldom. They all once again point to the rarity of those exceptionally few beings —appakā te sattā— that are being born as human and not only encounter the teaching but also walk the path. Literally Jambudīpa refers to India: ‘land, country, island’—‘dīpa’—of the ‘rose-apple-tree’—‘jambu’. It is considered a great privilege to be born in Jambudīpa, where all the Buddha’s of the past and likewise Gotama the Buddha have arisen. Another name for India in the past was: ’majjhima janapada’ or ‘majjhimadesa’— the middle land, located probably in today’s Indian northern states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and parts of Nepal.

When one of the images portrayed in this lesson refers to the minority of beings who encounter the teaching and further actually ‘practise in accordance with the Dhamma’ the term ‘dhammānudhammaṃ paṭipajjanti’ is used. If literally translated it means: ‘following’—‘anu’— the ‘Dhamma in the Dhamma’: ‘practising and developing Dhamma according to Dhamma within’. According to the Buddha this is the accurate way of expressing one’s respect and veneration for the Enlightened One: ‘Imāya dhammānudhamma paṭipattiyā buddham pūjemi’—‘By following the Dhamma in the Dhamma I pay homage to the Buddha’

The very question, why the Buddha in spite of his aspiration and arduous work over many aeons did not immediately decide to help many others crossing the shore but hesitated, still distressed King Milinda five hundred years later. King Milinda is identified with the renowned and righteous Bactrian King Menander, who continued the dominion founded by Alexander the Great³:

“Bhante nāgasena, tumhe bhaṇatha ‘tathāgatena catūhi ca asaṅkhyeyyehi kappānaṃ⁴ satasahassena ca etthantare sabbaññutañāṇaṃ paripācitaṃ mahato janakāyassa samuddharaṇāyā’ti⁵. Puna ca ‘sabbaññutaṃ pattassa appossukkatāya⁶ cittaṃ nami, no dhammadesanāyā’ti. Ayampi ubhato koṭiko pañho gambhīro dunnibbeṭho⁷ tavānuppatto, so tayā nibbāhitabbo⁸”ti.

“Venerable Nāgasena, you say on the one hand, that the Tathāgata worked for four asaṅkhyeyye and hundred thousand kappā to realize omniscient wisdom in order to take a great number of beings safely across the shore. But on the other hand, you say, that after having realized omniscient wisdom he was reluctant to teach Dhamma. Either the one or the other must be false, not both can be true. This is a double-edged question for you, profound, difficult to unravel, that you will now have to solve!”

“Yathā, mahārāja, bhisakko sallakatto anekabyādhiparipīḷitaṃ⁹ naraṃ upasaṅkamitvā evaṃ cintayati ‘kena nu kho upakkamena katamena vā bhesajjena imassa byādhi vūpasameyyā’ti, evameva kho, mahārāja, tathāgatassa sabbakilesabyādhiparipīḷitaṃ¹⁰ janaṃ dhammassa ca gambhīranipuṇaduddasaduranubodhasukhumaduppaṭivedhataṃ¹¹ disvā ‘kiṃ nu kho, kathaṃ nu kho’ti appossukkatāya cittaṃ nami, no dhammadesanāya, sattānaṃ paṭivedhacintanamānasaṃ yevetaṃ.¹²

“Just, great king, as a skilful physician having been called to a man suffering from manifold diseases will consider well, how to ease and treat those illnesses, in the same way, great king, the Tathāgata, considering on the one hand how profound, obscure subtle, intricate to grasp and difficult to penetrate the Dhamma was and on the other hand perceiving the beings, oppressed by suffering due to manifold impurities wonders: ‘Why should I? How should I?’ Reflecting on the mental ability of beings for deeper penetration, he was reluctant to teach Dhamma.”