Chapter 11. Old Age; Jarāvaggo (Dhp.146-156), Parallel Reading (paragraph granularity) of The Buddha's Path of Wisdom-- Dhammapada (Dhp.)

(Ven. Nārada 11-05) These two verses, the first paean of joy (udāna) uttered by the Buddha immediately after His Enlightenment, are not found elsewhere. As the Venerable Ananda heard them from the lips of the Buddha they have been inserted here.

Here the Buddha admits his past wanderings in existence which entails suffering, a fact which evidently proves the belief in rebirth. He was compelled to wander and consequently to suffer, as long as be could not discover the architect who built this house, the body. In His final birth He discovered by His own intuitive wisdom the elusive architect dwelling not outside but within the recesses of His own heart. The architect was Craving or Attachment (taṇhā), a self-created force a mental element latent in all. The discovery of the architect is the eradication of craving by attaining Arahantship which, in this utterance, is alluded to as the end of craving.

The rafters of this self-created house are the defilements (kilesa). The ridge-pole that supports the rafters is ignorance (avijjā), the root cause of all defilements. The shattering of the ridge-pole of ignorance by wisdom results in the complete demolition of the house. The ridge-pole and the rafters are the material with which the architect builds this undesired house. With their destruction the architect is deprived of the wherewithal to rebuild the house which is not wanted. With the demolition of the house the mind attains the unconditioned which is Nibbāna.

(Ven. Thanissaro V. 153-154) DhpA: These verses were the Buddha's first utterance after his full Awakening. For some reason, they are not reported in any of the other canonical accounts of the events following on the Awakening.

DhpA: "House" = selfhood; house-builder = craving. "House" may also refer to the nine abodes of beings — the seven stations of consciousness and two spheres (see Khp 4 and DN 15).

The word anibbisam in 153 can be read either as the negative gerund of nibbisati ("earning, gaining a reward") or as the negative gerund of nivisati, altered to fit the meter, meaning "coming to a rest, settled, situated." Both readings make sense in the context of the verse, so the word is probably intended to have a double meaning: without reward, without rest.

(DLMBS Commentary V146) Visākhā was one of the most famous female lay disciples. She was very devoted and generous. Once, some men from Sāvatthi asked Visākhā to be a companion to their wives, who were frivolous and liked to drink alcohol. Their husband hoped that Visākhā could have positive influence on them.

Once, the group of women went to the garden. The wives secretly brought some liquor and got drunk. When Visākhā found out about it, she was angry and reprimanded them.

At another occasion, the women wanted to go to the garden again. Visākhā refused, remembering what happened the last time. So they requested to go to the Jetavana monastery to pay respect to the Buddha.

After arriving at the monastery, the ladies again got drunk from the liquor they brought secretly along. Māra further influenced their minds and the women started to behave shamelessly: they were dancing, singing and jumping about.

When the Buddha saw this, he used his supernormal powers. He let the room get dark and illuminated the sky with rays of strong light. The women were frightened and awed at the same time. They got sober quickly.

The Buddha admonished them for their behavior and for getting drunk. He told them that drinking alcohol brings pain and unhappiness, it clouds our minds and then we are more likely to get under influence of evil passions.

At the end of the discourse, all the ladies were firmly established in the path and returned home mindfully and peacefully.

(DLMBS Commentary V147) In Rājagaha there lived a beautiful courtesan named Sirimā. She was a devoted disciple of the Buddha and used to offer almsfood to the monks every day. One monk mentioned to his friends how generous and beautiful she was, how delicious the food offered by her was. One young monk heard this and fell in love with Sirimā without even seeing her.

The next day he joined the monks who went to her house. Although Sirimā was sick, she still paid her respects to the monks and gave them almsfood. After seeing her, the young monk desired her even more.

But that night Sirimā died. The Buddha wanted to teach the young monk a lesson, so asked the king to keep the corpse for few days without burying it. On the fourth day the dead body was put to the cemetery ground. It was no longer beautiful, it was bloated, stinky and full of worms. The Buddha told the young monk if he wanted to go to see Sirimā. The monk has not heard about her death so he was very happy to agree. How terrible his shock was when they got to the cemetery and he saw Sirimā’s corpse!

The Buddha then asked the king to announce, that anybody who paid one thousand coins, could spend the night with Sirimā. But nobody wanted to do so. The price went gradually down, until she was available for free. But even then there was nobody willing to spend the night with the corpse.

The Buddha then told the monks to realize, that few days ago many men would willing to pay even more than one thousand for a night with the courtesan, but now nobody wants her even for free. He further spoke on the subject of non-attachment to the body. The young monk gained insight into the true nature of the body and his love for Sirimā disappeared.

(DLMBS Commentary V148) Uttarā was a very old nun - she was one hundred and twenty years old. But se was very generous and respectful. Many times she shared her almsfood with monks, just out of her kindness.

Once, while going on her almsround, she met the Buddha. Reverentially, she stepped out of his way and paid her homage. While she was doing that, she accidentally stepped on her own robe and fell down.

The Buddha consoled her and told her to understand the condition of her body. She was very old and her body frail and sick - she should practice diligently to perfect her mind.

Uttarā reflected on the Buddha's words and attained the first stage of Awakenment.

(DLMBS Commentary V149) A group of monks once went to the forest to practice meditation. They were very diligent and very soon they attained very deep mental absorption (jhāna). They mistook this attainment for the Arahantship. Happily they returned to the Buddha and intended to tell him about their achievements.

When they were about to approach, the Buddha asked Venerable Ānanda to send them to the cemetery first. Buddha knew about their mistaking jhāna for Awakenment and had an idea how to make them realize this mistake.

The monks went to the cemetery and saw different corpses there. When they saw old decaying bodies and bones, they were able to perceive them with equanimity. But when they saw some fresh corpses, they realized they still had some sensual desires left in them! The Buddha exhorted them with this verse. The monks finally understood how little had they achieved so far.

(DLMBS Commentary V150) Rūpanandā was the Buddha's stepsister and the fiancee of his cousin. She was very beautiful, so she was also known as Janapada Kalyāni ("Beauty of the area"). Because all of her relatives became monks and nuns, she decided to go to the monastery herself. But she did so only because of attachment to her family; she was not really devoted to the idea.

As she knew that the Buddha often talked about impermanency and non-attachment to the body, she did not dare to go to see him. She thought he would scold her for her beauty. But one day she finally decided to go and listen to one of the Buddha's discourses.

The Buddha knew that Rūpanandā is very attached to her body and conscious of her beauty. So he created a vision of a female form (visible only to Rūpanandā) to sit near him on the stage, where he was delivering his speech and to fan him. The girl was very young and extremely beautiful. Rūpanandā saw her and realized that compared to this girl she herself looked like a monkey.

While she was looking, the girl began to grow older. She became a young woman, then a grown up woman, middle aged, old - and finally she became a very old woman. Rūpanandā realized that the change of the body is a continuing process and she found out that this beautiful young girl changed into an old ugly woman. Then the woman on stage, no longer able to control her body, was lying there, dying and finally she died. Her body got swollen and worms were all over it.

Rūpanandā thus finally realized that also her beauty is very impermanent - it is a subject to illness, old age and death. The Buddha further instructed her with this verse and at the end Rūpanandā attained Arahantship.

(DLMBS Commentary V151) Queen Mallikā was the wife of King Pasenadi. Once she went to the bathroom to wash herself and her dog entered with her. While she bent over to wash her feet, the dog started to misbehave with her and the queen did not stop it. When she came out, the king told her he saw everything through the window and scolded her for her behavior. But Mallikā denied doing anything and suggested that the bathroom was enchanted - whoever went inside could be seen doing strange things through the window. She sent the king inside and when he came out, she told him she saw him misbehaving with a goat. The king, not being very smart accepted this as an explanation.

But the queen felt very bad about lying to the king for many years. When she was dying, this moment kept coming to her consciousness over and over again. Because our dying thoughts determine our next birth, she was born in a state of suffering. The king wanted to ask the Buddha where Mallikā was reborn, but Buddha was not willing to tell him, because he did not want to hurt Pasenadi's feelings.

Only after seven days in the state of suffering, the queen was reborn in Tusita heaven as a result of her great meritorious deeds. Only then did the Buddha reply to the king's question. The king was happy to hear that, but at the same time he felt sad for her death. The Buddha replied with this verse, saying that everything is subject to old age and death; therefore we must practice the Dhamma diligently.

(DLMBS Commentary V152) There was a monk named Lāludāyi. He was not very bright. He was never able to say things, which were appropriate for the occasion. On happy occasions he would talk about suffering and sorrow and on sorrowful occasions he would talk about happiness and joy. He was also never able to understand that he did and said something inappropriate in these cases. The Buddha spoke this verse in reference to Lāludāyi.

He also revealed the following story: in one of his former lives, Lāludāyi had been a farmer. He had two oxen to plow the fields. Suddenly one of them died. The farmer asked his son to go to the king and request another ox. But the son told him to go himself and taught him a verse to say in front of the king.

But the farmer made a mistake and instead of "My ox died, please give me another one", he said "My ox died, please take the other one away from me".

Fortunately, the king was very wise and understood that Lāludāyi just made a mistake and gave him sixteen oxen to help him with his farming.

(DLMBS Commentary V155) There was a rich man, named Mahādhana. He had a son. The boy had not studied anything while young, so he remained quite ignorant. Later he married a daughter of another rich man, who had no education at all. When their parents died, the young couple inherited immense riches. But since they knew only how to spend, and not how to earn and look after the money, they became poor very quickly. They lost all of their property and had to become beggars.

The Buddha saw them and commented the situation with this verse. He further said that had the young people study worldly wisdom, they would learn how to increase their riches, had they renounced the household life, they both could have attained Arahantship. But since they just wasted their youth away, they lost every opportunity - both material and spiritual.

(DLMBS Commentary V156) The story for this verse is identical with the story for the previous one (DhP 155).

If we want to accomplish something in our lives, we have to start working early, in the young age. Be it material or spiritual goals, we should not waste our time and diligently learn the necessary skills and then apply them on the road to the goal we want to achieve. If we do nothing in our young age, all the opportunities will be lost and we will grow old, without ever accomplishing anything.