So the real Buddhist saint should be understood, or the real accomplishment of wisdom should be understood, by the realisation and the practice of four noble truths, originally taught in Buddhism. The sutta is hard to understand in one go. However, if studied carefully, the sutta helps us develop the idea that the modern-day concept of comparing Buddhism with other religions is not theoretically correct. Every religion has its unique features, and so has Buddhism: four noble truths, for one.
During his brief stay in the island, Arahant Mahinda made use of five works of the Pali Canons: Cullahatthipadopama Sutta (Majjhima Nikaya I, 3. 7), Peta Vatthu and Vimana Vatthu, two books of Khuddaka Nikaya (short volume) on celestial and ghostly mansions, Devaduta Sutta (on Heavenly Messengers - Majjhima Nikaya III 3. 10) and Balapandita Sutta (on Wise and Fool - Majjhima Nikaya III, 3. 9.).
The whole royal family of King Devanampiyatissa is said to have become Buddhists following these sermons; some family members, in fact, attained the first stage of sainthood, Sotapanna.
Confirmed confidence
Sotapanna is the stream-winner, which literally means entering the stream. He eradicates the first three fetters: belief in an individual self (sakkaya diṭṭhi), doubt or uncertainty, especially about the teachings (vicikiccha) and attachment to rites and rituals (silabbata paramaso). The rest goes as sensual desire (kamacchando), ill-will (vyapada), lust for material existence and rebirth, (ruparago), lust for immaterial existence and rebirth in a formless realm (aruparago), conceit (mano), restlessness (uddhacca) and ignorance (avijja). The sotapanna is named after a simile that compares attaining Nibbana with crossing a stream and reaching the farthest shore. Sotapanna, hence, is the first followed by three stages: sakurdagami (once-returner), anagami (non-returner) and arahant (totally awakened).
One sublime reason for the solid establishment of Buddhism in Sri Lanka is Arahant Mahinda’s skilful choice of works from the Pali Canons. His mission in sailing for Sri Lanka was more than just converting another royal clan into Buddhism.
This fact is clearly corroborated, as the arahant did not get to the conversion business right away; his first requirement was inquiring intellectual capacity of the chief of state with the history’s first recorded famous Intelligence Quotient on trees and relatives.
Elephant footprint
With this in the setting, Culla Hatthipadopama Sutta (Majjhima Nikaya: Sutta 27), a minor discourse on the simile of elephant footprints, is an interesting study. Linguistically, Hatthi, Pada and Opama mean elephant, foot and simile respectively in Pali.
The source is based on a conversation between two Brahmins (non-Buddhists): Pilotika and Janussoni. Pilotika, though not a perfect Buddhist convert, describes his pleasant feelings about Buddhist philosophy and its followers to Janussoni, making the latter get fascinated in a follow-up. An inquiring-minded Janussoni raises the issue of Buddha’s claim to be an Enlightened Being. Simply put, the learned Brahmin questions Buddha’s feat of wisdom, to which Pilotika brings out a simile of an elephant. “… Suppose a wise elephant woodsman were to enter an elephant wood and were to see in the elephant wood a big elephant’s footprint, long in extent and broad across. He would come to the conclusion: ‘Indeed, this is a bi bull elephant.’ So too, when I saw four footprints of the recluse Gotam, I came to the conclusion: ‘The Blessed One is fully enlightened, the Dhamma is well proclaimed by the Blessed One, the Sangha is practising the good way.’”
(Translation by Venerables Nanamoli and Bodhi)
Rebuttals
The Buddha’s footprints, Pilotika notices, involve the non-Buddhist scholars thinking about raising a particular set of questions and getting armed with rebuttals for obvious answers. Pilotika joyously explains how he sees the same scholars becoming the Buddha’s disciples. Pilotika’s argument is that he has the capacity to measure Buddha’s accomplishment of wisdom by seeing his disciples. Janussoni could be made satisfied by Pilotika’s explanations, but it reflects the modern-day misunderstanding of Buddhism.
Buddhism is generally understood as the fact that the true Buddhist stays away from basic sins such as slaughter, stealth, non-celibacy, false speech and alcohol consumption. The core of the teachings, however, is far deeper.
Saintly choice
Arahant Mahinda’s choice shows the clear difference he wanted to point out between a normal saint and a Buddhist saint. The best way to see the truth is walking from darkness up into the light. Janussoni was enlightened when he heard the Buddha’s expanded version of elephant footprint simile. Just because the footprint was large in length and breadth, it does not help picture the big elephant. There can be dwarf female elephants with feet large in length and breadth.
Likewise, there can be other non-Buddhist saints who stay away from the sins; most sins are listed in the sutta. A big elephant if fathomed only by seeing the whole being. So the real Buddhist saint should be understood, or the real accomplishment of wisdom should be understood, by the realisation and the practice of four noble truths, originally taught in Buddhism. The sutta is hard to understand in one go. However, if studied carefully, the sutta helps us develop the idea that the modern-day concept of comparing Buddhism with other religions is not theoretically correct. Every religion has its unique features, and so has Buddhism: four noble truths, for one.
Although the message seems simple and clear, it is hard to convince it to a run-of-the-mill. It is this background that led, or forced, arahant Mahinda to inquire the intellectual capacity of King Devanampiyatissa to get the message.
Many scholars, especially Westerners, entertain the theory that Buddhism encourages only the saintly life. Arahant Mahinda gives the lie to this famous misconception with his subsequent sermons of Peta Vatthu, Vimana Vatthu, Devaduta Sutta and Balapandita Sutta, which mostly discuss the way a Buddhist should behave as a layperson. For instance, Peta Vatthu illustrates the fate of evil-doers and Vimana Vatthu focuses on what the virtuous can await. 05
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