Chapter 11
Sila Parami
One may be just a living being in the vast universe and still fraught with flaws. But one can count oneself most fortunate to be a follower of the Lord Buddha, the Perfect Man, for no living beings can be compared to the Lord Buddha.
Our Lord Buddha's attainment of Buddhahood is most definitely not a coincidence but it happens as a matter of course. It happens because He had spent countless existences accumulating merit and pursuing Perfections to the fullest extent. It can be said that His pursuit of Sila Parami (or Morality Perfection) forms the foundation for the attainment of Buddhahood.
Sila practice can give rise to Parami (or Perfection). Each time that one practices Sila, it gives rise to the current of wholesomeness called the Current of Merit. This shows up as a joyful feeling. The merit accumulated from Sila practice works to cleanse one's mind. It has the appearance of a clear and bright sphere called "the Sila Sphere". When more and more merit is accumulated through Sila practice, the Sila Sphere will eventually be give rise to Parami. Parami is the path toward excellence.
As a Bodhisatta, our Lord Buddha had spent countless existences pursuing Sila Parami (or Morality Perfection). The pursuit requires the utmost patience and perseverance and at times at the cost of His life. There are three levels of Sila Parami as follows.
1. Sila Parami: It is the pursuit of Sila Parami at the basic level. It requires that our Bodhisatta be willing to sacrifice all of his material wealth for the sake of his Sila practice.
2. Sīla Upaparami: It is the pursuit of Sīla Parami at the intermediate level. It requires that our Bodhisatta be willing to donate his flesh, organ, and blood for the sake of his Sila practice.
3. Sila Paramatthaparami: It is the pursuit of Sila Parami at the ultimate level. It requires that our Bodhisatta be willing to give up his life for the sake of his Sila practice.
If one studies how our Bodhisatta had pursued Sila Parami at all three levels, one will not be at all surprised how our Bodhisatta could attain Self-Enlightenment and became the most perfect living being as the Lord Buddha in His final existence.
Sila Parami
The following story exemplifies how our Bodhisatta endeavored to pursue Sila Parami or Morality Perfection at the basic level.
The Story of Culabodhi
In one of our Bodhisatta's previous existences, he had ceased to be from the Brahma Realm and was reborn in a Brahmin family. His parents named him "Culabodhikumara". When he was of age, he went to study the arts at the city of Taxila. After his graduation, he returned home and his parents arranged for him to marry a Brahmin lady of equal status who had also spent her previous life in the Brahma Realm. (It should be noted that all living beings in the Brahma Realm practice chastity)
But our Bodhisatta and the Brahmin lady had no wish to marry at all. They had never even looked at each other with a lustful thought. And they observed the Precepts immaculately as they lived together as husband and wife in name only.
After the parents had passed away and the cremation had been arranged, our Bodhisatta said to his wife,
"Dear, I wish to give you 800 million because I want to take up the religious life." The Brahmin lady asked,
"Should not a woman take up the religious life?"
"Of course, she should."
"If that is the case, I have no wish for material wealth because I too wish to take up the religious life."
Both husband and wife gave away all of their material wealth, severed all family ties and went from village to village until they arrived at the city of Varanasi. They went to practice meditation in solitude inside the royal park.
One day, the king came to the royal park and saw the Brahmin lady. He instantly fell in love with her beauty and asked our Bodhisatta, "What is this lady to you?"
Our Bodhisatta said, "As householders, she was my wife. But now, we are merely fellow ascetics."
The king desired the Brahmin lady and commanded his soldiers to take her to the city. The king's action angered our Bodhisatta. But as soon as he felt the anger arising, he recalled his Sīla practice and was able to quell his anger.
"Even if the Brahmin lady was pierced by a sharp lance, I cannot sully my Sila practice. It is not that I do not love her. It is not that I have no physical strength. But it is for the sake of Buddhahood that I must keep my Sila practice intact."
The king had the Brahmin lady fetched and bestowed upon her a lofty position. She told him about the harm of position and the virtue of the religious life. She told the king how she and our Bodhisatta had given away all of their enormous wealth. She felt saddened by the king's conduct.
However the king tried to seduce the Brahmin lady, she refused to change her mind.
The king thought to himself, "This Brahmin lady is a person of morality and virtue. Her husband must be one as well, for he showed no anger even when she was being taken away against her will. Perhaps I should not be treating such virtuous persons this way. I should return her to the royal park and offer them an apology."
Upon returning the Brahmin lady to the royal park, the king went to talk to our Bodhisatta.
"Venerable sir, when I took the Brahmin lady away, did you feel any anger?"
"I did but I managed to quell it instantly the way the rain can instantly stop the dust from blowing."
The king asked,
"How did you quell your anger in an instant?"
Our Bodhisatta answered,
"Anger is the emotion of a person
devoid of insight.
Whoever is dominated by anger
Will abandon wholesomeness
and hurt others.
Anger is like fire.
I will not allow it to escape."
The king asked both our Bodhisatta and the Brahmin lady for their forgiveness and said to them,
"May both of you remain here at the royal park. I shall provide both of you with protection." Having paid his respect, the king returned to the palace.
Our Bodhisatta and the Brahmin lady stayed in the royal park until the Brahmin lady passed away. Then our Bodhisatta went to live in the Himavanta Forest. There, he was able to attain the Jhanas. After he died, he was once again reborn in the Brahma Realm.
This true story shows how our Bodhisatta loved his Sila practice more than material wealt and his own wife.
Our Bodhisatta was not only aided by Hiri and Ottappa, but also by his patience and effort in being able to quell his anger instantly.
The effort needed to quell anger is like the rain that cleanses the mind from gloominess and anxiety. Our Bodhisatta refused to let anger taint his mind, his Sila practice, and the pursuit of Sila Parami.
Sila Upaparami
The following story exemplifies how our Bodhisatta endeavored to pursue Sila Upaparami or Morality Perfection at the Intermediate Level.
The Elephant King's Story
At one point, our Bodhisatta was reborn in the Animal Realm as dictated by the Law of Kamma. He was born an elephant king by the name of Chaddanta. He had two cow elephants as his mates by the names of "Mahasubhadda" and "Culasubhadda". He was the head of a herd of a large number of elephants living in the Himavanta Forest. These elephants often went to pay homage to the Paccekabuddhas who were dwelling in the area.
One day, the elephant king led his herd to admire the blooms of the Burmese sal tree. Upon seeing the glorious blooms, the elephant king shook the tree so that some of the blooms would drop to the ground. It so happened that Mahasubhadda was standing downwind such that the blooms fell on her back. But Culasubhadda was standing upwind under a dry branch filled with ants. As a result, she was covered with ants. She thought that the elephant king covered her with ants on purpose.
"My husband is biased. He caused the blooms to fall on his beloved wife but covered me with ants instead."
Sometime later, the elephant king went into a large pond to bathe. Two young elephants scrubbed his body with bunches of grass. After the elephant king got out of the pond, it was time for both cow elephants to bathe themselves. Later, they came to stand by his side. Then all the other elephants went into the pond to bathe. They brought flowers for the elephant king and his two cow elephants.
On that particular day, a white elephant found a large lotus bloom with seven layers of petals so he brought it for his master. The elephant king took the large lotus bloom and knocked it lightly against his cheek so that it will give up its pollen. He then gave the pollen to his cow elephant, Mahasubhadda. His action once again caused Culasubhadda to feel very hurt.
One day, the elephant king offered the mahua fruits and taro roots prepared with honey to a Paccekabuddha. Culasubhadda also made an offering of fruits to Him and she made the following wish.
"By the power of this alms-offering, may I be reborn the daughter of King Madda and may I be called "Subhadda". When I am of age, may I become the chief queen and the favorite of another king. May he grant me every wish and may I be able to ask him to send a hunter to kill the elephant king and bring me his glorious tusks."
After the food-offering, Culasubhadda decided to starve herself to death. She was indeed reborn in a royal family and when she was of age, she did become the chief queen of the king of Varanasi. She was also the king's favorite. And she was able to recall her previous life.
She knew that it was time for her to have her revenge.
She pretended to suffer from morning sickness and said to her husband,
"I wish for something extremely rare. I will not be able to continue living if I do not have it."
The king told her to obtain whatever it was that she wished for.
Having been granted royal permission, the queen had all the hunters fetched and said to them,
"I dreamt that I saw this glorious white elephant whose tusks glowed with six different colored lights. You are to bring back to me these tusks."
The hunters told the queen that neither their fathers nor their grandfathers had ever heard of such an elephant king.
The queen took a good look at the hunters and saw that there was one hunter who appeared particularly cruel in that he had big feet, big knees, a red beard and yellow eyes. She believed that he could accomplish the task for her. So she said to him,
"Go north and across seven mountains until you reach the highest one where there are many different kinds of flowers. Climb up to the top of the mountain and look down, you will see a huge bunyan tree the color of clouds. Beneath that tree lives the elephant king with gloriously white skin and radiant tusks. He is the head of 8,000 elephants. These elephants can run like the wind. They will stamp a human being to death in order to protect the elephant king."
The hunter feared for his life and said, "Your majesty already has so many wonderful pieces of jewelry, why do you need to add ivory to them?"
The queen answered, "This matter has to do with my previous life. Just do as I ask and I will grant you the taxes of five sub-districts."
Finally, the hunter agreed to take the job. The queen gave him a large sum of money and equipped him with all the weapons and food he needed for the hunting trip.
The hunter spent seven years traveling in the forest before finding the elephant king and his herd. He found himself a hiding place as he thought of the way to kill the elephant king.
Soon afterward, the hunter was able to inflict a serious injury on the elephant king by shooting at his abdomen.
The elephant king trumpeted thrice to warn his herd. They came to him immediately and when they saw that their master had been injured, they went out to look for the culprit. His cow elephant, Mahasubhadda, stood beside him crying as she tried to comfort him. The elephant king knew that the culprit was close by but he did not want the hunter to be hurt by Mahasubhadda. So he told her to go away and look for the culprit.
Once the cow elephant was gone, the elephant king stamped on the ground to cause the board to spring up and reveal his assailant. He asked the hunter for the reason of his attack. When the hunter told the elephant king that he had come for his tusks, the elephant king wanted to kill the hunter. He used his trunk to search the hole where the hunter was hiding.
In that instant, the elephant king was reminded of his Sila practice and the desire to kill his assailant simply vanished. He did not want to fight the hunter in order to protect his tusks either so he said to the hunter,
"I give you permission to saw off my tusks."
The elephant king bent his head down so that the hunter could saw off his tusks. The hunter did his best to saw off as much of the tusks as possible. The elephant king's mouth bled as a result but still the hunter could not saw them off completely.
Finally, the elephant king tried to quell his pain and used his trunk to hold the saw to saw off his own tusks. He then said to the hunter,
"It is not that I do not love my tusks, but Buddhahood is what I love more a thousand-fold. It is for that reason that I did not harm you."
The elephant king told the hunter to leave immediately before his cow elephant and the rest of the herd returned.
By the time the cow elephant and the rest of the herd returned, the elephant king had already died. All the elephants mourned his passing.
When the Paccekabuddhas heard of the elephant king's death, they flew to the forest and arranged for him a fitting cremation. The cow elephant, Mahasubhadda, was appointed the next head of the herd.
The hunter brought the glorious tusks back to the palace and presented them to the queen.
When the queen saw the elephant king's tusks, she was so overwhelmed with such extreme grief that she expired instantly.
It would have been very easy for the elephant king to kill the hunter, but when he had to choose between his Sila practice and his tusks, he chose to keep his Sila practice intact. He knew how important Sila practice was to the attainment of Buddhahood.
Having been willing to give up his tusks for the sake of his Sila practice, the elephant king succeeded in pursuing Sila Upaparami or Morality Perfection at an intermediate level.
Morality Perfection at the Ultimate Level
(Sila Paramatthaparami)
Our Bodhisatta's pursuit of Morality Perfection at the ultimate level is exemplified in the following story.
The Story of the Phya Naga, Sankhapala
In one previous existence, our Bodhisatta was born the son of the ruler of the city of Rajagarh in the kingdom of Magadha.
Once our Bodhisatta was of age and properly educated, the king allowed him to accede to the throne so that he could take up the religious life as a Yogi. The Yogi built an ashram for himself near the Kanavena River, which was one of the entrances to the Naga Realm. There was at the time a Phya Naga king who was becoming bored with life in the Naga
Realm. He came often with his attendants to listen to the Dhamma lectures from the Yogi. (It should be noted that Phya Nagas can assume the guise of a human being when they so wish.)
On one occasion when our Bodhisatta came to visit the Yogi, he met the Phya Naga king who was resplendent in every kind of wealth, physical, material, and mental. Our Bodhisatta wished for such wealth as that of the Phya Naga king. Upon returning to the city, our Bodhisatta gave alms, observed the Precepts, practiced meditation and made a resolute wish for rebirth in the Naga Realm after he died.
By the power of his accumulated merit, our Bodhisatta's wish came true and he was indeed reborn in the Phya Naga Realm as a Phya Naga king by the name of "Sankhapala". But soon afterward, our Bodhisatta grew tired of life in the Phya Naga Realm. He wanted to observe the Eight Precepts so that he could be reborn in the Human Realm. Unfortunately, the Phya Naga Realm was the realm of sensual lust and sensual gratification, hence, unsuitable as a place to observe the Eight Precepts.
Therefore, on every fourteenth or fifteenth day of the waxing moon, the Phya Naga king would come up to the Human Realm to observe the Eight Precepts by lying down on top of a termite mound.
One day, a group of sixteen hunters from Varanasi went out hunting in the forest. All day long, they did not catch anything. On their way out of the forest, they saw our Bodhisatta lying on the termite mound. The hunters were happy to see such a huge and beautiful snake, thinking its meat to be delicious. They surrounded our Bodhisatta with a thorny net
made of rattan. They pulled our Bodhisatta down to the ground and pierced him with a lance over and over again. They then pierced his nose with a spear and thread a rope through it. They bound our Bodhisatta up with vines and carried him on a shoulder pole as they struggled with his enormous weight.
At the time, the caravan of the merchant, "Alara", from the city of Mithila was passing by. Alara saw the huge snake and felt a deep pity for it. So he gave the hunters a large sum of money in exchange for the snake.
Having thus been freed from captivity, our Bodhisatta later returned with his attendants to the residence of Alara and invited him to spend some time in the Phya Naga Realm.
Alara said to our Bodhisatta, "Great Phya Naga king, you possess such material wealth and supernormal powers, why did you allow the hunters to catch you? Was it because you were frightened?"
Our Bodhisatta answered, "I was not in the least bit frightened and the hunters could not diminish my supernormal powers. But it was because I was observing the Eight Precepts that I did not do them any harm and allowed them to catch me. I knew that they intended to kill me and eat me, but I was willing to give up my life rather than transgressing the Precepts."
"Why must you put up with such cruel treatment when you have every desirable thing here?"
"I did what I did because I wish to be reborn in the Human Realm."
"But how can life as a human being be compared to all of this?"
"Now, Alara, the Human Realm is the only plane of existence where one can practice self-restraint and purify one's mind. If I can be reborn in the Human Realm, I will be able to work toward being emancipated from birth, aging, sickness, and death."
Having spent one year in the Phya Naga Realm, Alara became bored with the celestial wealth there and bid our Bodhisatta farewell. He took up the religious life as a Yogi and trekked everywhere to teach the Dhamma to the masses.
Although reborn in the Animal Realm, the Phya Naga king, "Sankhapala", valued Sila practice more than his own life.
As a rule, every Bodhisatta is willing to give up his life in order to pursue Perfections and advance to the sublime state that is beyond the reach of defilements in order to lead other living beings out of the round of rebirth. It is because our Bodhisatta had been willing to give up his life for the sake of Buddhahood lifetime after lifetime that He could
eventually attain Self-Enlightenment and became the Lord Gotama Buddha. Countless living beings have been able to benefit from His Teachings since His arising. And countless more will be able to benefit from His Teachings in the future.
Everyone must encounter the vicissitudes of life but whenever one thinks of the Lord Buddha, one feels secure and one is inspired to continue performing wholesome deeds and following in His footsteps.
