Substance, not form!

So, recently I was flipping through Bhikkhu Ñanamoli’s translation of the Majjhima Nikaya, when I found this really cool sutra called the Mahāsakuludāyi Sutta (MN 77) or the Greater Discourse to Sakuludāyin. I couldn’t find it online, so I can’t provide a web link like usual. You’ll just have to get the book yourself.

So this sutra begins with the Buddha going for alms, but it’s early in the morning, and no one’s out, so the Buddha decides to just go for a stroll. He comes across across a group of wanderers, led by Sakuludāyin. They see the Buddha and invite him to sit down with them, and the Buddha asks what they were talking about.

Apparently the wanderers were kind of gossiping about this teacher or that. For example, they talk about some teacher at the time named Pūraṇa who has an ego problem and berates his students when they disagree with him. So his own students don’t like him much. But Sakuludāyin praises the Buddha saying that the Buddha’s disciples praise the Buddha all the time for his qualities such as not overeating, his contentment with clothing, his contentment with alms, his contentment of where he rests and so on.

However, the Buddha replies to Sakuludāyin:

Now there are disciples of mine who live on a cupful or half a cupful of food, a bilva fruit or half a bilva fruit’s quantity of food, while I sometimes eat the full contents of my almsbowl or even more. So if my disciples honoured me…with the thought: ‘The recluse Gotama [the Buddha] eats little and commends eating little,’ then those disciples of mine who live on a cupful of food…should not honour, respect, revere and venerate me…

Then the Buddha talks about how sometimes he’s covered in rags, but sometimes, lay people honor him with very nice robes. Sometimes he sleeps out in the forest, and sometimes people offer him room and board in their mansions, and so on. So the outward forms don’t apply, says the Buddha. Instead, he says the disciples honor him because of:

1. His virtue, which inspires his disciples to be virtuous too.
2. His teaching of the Dharma through direct knowledge, not speculation.
3. His wisdom and guidance, which the disciples like to rely on.
4. The Four Noble Truths which he teaches freely.

So what the Buddha is saying is that his disciples respect him not so much because of his ascetic lifestyle, but because of his inner qualities. The Buddha states that he’s not always living the ascetic life, but his intentions are pure, and he keeps his virtue intact, and that’s why he’s respected by his disciples. He inspires them and guides them, in other words.

I think this is a good way to judge a teacher or mentor. A so-called “teacher” can wear fancy robes and shave their head, and claim a lineage, but it’s the substance, not the outward form that matters.

The rest of this sutra is cool because the Buddha goes on to explain all the various teachings he expounds, particularly numbered lists that many Buddhists might know. So, in an effort to disseminate information, here’s some of the lesser-known but helpful lists:*

The Five Faculties

1. The Faculty of Faith
2. The Faculty of Energy
3. The Faculty of Mindfulness
4. The Faculty of Concentration
5. The Faculty of Wisdom

Somewhere else, it is mentioned that of these, the Buddha considered “wisdom” the most important.

The Five Powers

1. The Power of Faith
2. The Power of Energy
3. The Power of Mindfulness
4. The Power of Concentration
5. The Power of Wisdom

The Seven Factors of Enlightenment

1. The Mindfulness Factor (“supported by seclusion, dispassion and cessation”..says the Buddha)
2. The Investigation of [Mental] States Factor
3. The Energy Factor
4. The Rapture Factor
5. The Tranquility Factor
6. The Concentration Factor
7. The Equanimity Factor

Interesting sutra to read overall. Enjoy!

Namuamidabu

* – I admit I picked these lists because they’re all mentioned in the Amitabha Sutra, here:

“Again, Shariputra, in that land there are always many kinds of rare and beautiful birds of various colors, such as swans, peacocks, parrots, sharis, kalavinkas and jivamjivakas. Six times during the day and night birds sing with melodious and delicate sounds, which proclaim such teachings as the five roots of goodness, the five powers, the seven practices leading to Enlightenment, and the Eightfold Noble Path.

Tee-hee!