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Chapter Forty-Nine
Earth’s Lessons
Svasti listened with great interest to all that Assaji and Ananda recounted about the Buddha’s efforts to spread the Dharma. Bhikkhuni
Gotami and Rahula listened intently too. Ananda’s memory was truly phenomenal. He filled in many details that Assaji forgot to mention.
Svasti was grateful to both bhikkhus, and to Bhikkhuni Gotami and novice Rahula. Thanks to them he learned much about the Buddha’s life
he could never have learned otherwise. Svasti hoped that he would always be able to live close by the Buddha in order to witness his life
and receive his teachings directly.
Thanks to Sujata, even though Svasti was an untouchable buffalo boy, he had learned the basics of a young man’s education. But his
lessons with her had ended several years ago when she left Uruvela to marry a man in the village of Nadika. Svasti knew that he could learn
a great deal from Rahula. He found Rahula’s bearing full of gentle dignity. Not only was Rahula from a noble caste, but he had spent the
past eight years living in the serene and concentrated atmosphere of the sangha. Compared to Rahula, Svasti felt rough and awkward. But
his feelings caused him to devote great efforts to his practice. Sariputta asked Rahula to show Svasti basic practices such as putting on the
robe, holding the begging bowl, walking, standing, lying down, sitting, eating, washing, listening to Dharma talks, all in mindfulness. A
bhikkhu memorized and paid diligent attention to forty-five practices, all of which helped to deepen his focus and serenity.
In principle, Rahula was still only a novice, a samanera. He had to wait until he was twenty years old to take full vows. A samanera had
ten precepts—do not kill, do not steal, do not engage in sexual relations, do not speak falsehoods, do not drink alcohol, do not wear
jewelry, flowers, or perfume, do not sit or lie down on any wide, high, or fancy bed, do not participate in secular dancing and singing
parties, do not handle money, and do not eat past the noon hour. The forty-five practices were followed by ordained bhikkhus, but Rahula
was expected to study and observe them in preparation for his full vows. A bhikkhu observed one hundred twenty precepts, which
included the forty-five practices. Rahula told Svasti that additional precepts would probably be added, and that he had heard they might
well number two hundred or more in time.
Rahula explained to Svasti that in the first years of the sangha, there were no precepts. Ordination was simple. A person had only to
kneel at the feet of the Buddha or another bhikkhu and recite the three refuges three times. It became necessary to create and enforce
precepts as the sangha grew, because in so large a community, there were bhikkhus who needed rules and guidelines in order to better
discipline themselves.
Rahula told Svasti that the first person to violate the spirit of the sangha was a bhikkhu named Sudina. It was because of Sudina that the
Buddha created the first precepts. Before he was ordained, Sudina was married and lived in the village Kalanda on the outskirts of Vesali.
When he heard the Buddha teach, he asked to be ordained. Shortly after that, he had a chance to return to Kalanda. His family invited him
for a meal in their home and he consented. His family implored him to return to secular life and help run the family business. He refused. His
parents complained because Sudina was their only child, and they had no one to inherit the business. They feared that the family’s wealth
would fall into someone else’s hands. Seeing Sudina’s determination to remain a bhikkhu, his mother suggested that the least he could do
was to leave a child as an heir. Persuaded by his mother’s pleas, and without precepts to guide him, he agreed to meet with his former wife
in Mahavana Forest. His wife conceived and gave birth to a boy they named Bijaka, which means “seed.” Sudina’s friends taunted him by
calling him “Seed’s father.” The reputation of the sangha was tarnished. The Buddha called the bhikkhus together and chastised Sudina.
Because of this incident, formal precepts were instituted. It was decided that whenever a bhikkhu violated the spirit of the Way of
Enlightenment and Liberation, a convocation would be called and a new precept added. The precepts were called Patimokkha.
Four precepts were considered cardinal. The violation of any one of these four resulted in being expelled from the community. All the
other precepts could be forgiven by making confession. The four cardinal precepts were—do not engage in sexual relations, do not steal,
do not kill, and do not claim to have attained insight you have not actually attained. These four precepts were called parajika.
Rahula also told Svasti that the Buddha had never treated him with special favors even though his father dearly loved him. He recalled
how, at the age of eleven, he told a fib to Sariputta because he was afraid of being scolded for running off and playing when he had other
duties. He ended up having to tell four fibs in a row for fear that Sariputta would uncover the truth. But as is almost always the case, the
truth came out. The Buddha used this occasion to teach Rahula how important it was always to tell the truth.
At that time Sariputta and Rahula dwelled in Ambalatthika Park, not far from Bamboo Forest, where the Buddha was staying. One day
the Buddha paid them a visit. Rahula set out a chair for him and brought him a basin of water to wash his hands and feet. When the Buddha
was finished washing, he poured out most of the water in the basin. He looked at Rahula and asked, “Rahula, is there a little or a lot of
water in this basin?”