Dhaniya Sutta (Sn1.2): Dhaniya – A Cattleman
K.Wong
Purport :
In this early discourse of Gotama Buddha compiled in the Sutta Nipāta, a poetic dialogue occurred between Dhaniya Gopa, a cattleman and Gotama Buddha to contrast the life of secular man with that of a spiritual man to mirror the reality of the mundane world . Though this reality occurred during the time of Gotama Buddha in ancient India in the 6th century C.E, such a scenario is still evident and relevant and pertinent in the context of our cur modern civilization in which materialism is fervently worshipped by modernists. A secularist or lay man perceives personal material or economic wealth as the security of his lay life. A Bhikkhu or Bhikkhuni is perceived by Gotama Buddha to be enjoying the life of material renunciation and mental peace in the monasteries or meditation huts in the forests. Most importantly, the Arahants enjoy the complete freedom of Nibbāna and the veneration derived from preaching the Dhamma.
A portion of the poetic dialogue is extracted from the aforementioned Sutta for our contemplations, examination and a comparative study.
Dhaniya, the cattleman uttered thus:
The rice is cooked;
The milking done.
I live with my people
along the banks of the Mahi.
My hut is roofed , my life lit.
So if you want, rain-god,
Go ahead and rain .
This poetic utterance of Dhaniya Gopa mirrors that living in sufficient material wealth, Dhaniya readied for the rainy days, that is, in times of economic recession or meltdown. The Pāli commentary to the Sutta Nipāta reports that Dhaniya is economically wealthy as he possessed about 30,000 heads of cattle. His family members and he lived in happiness dependent upon personal economic security. His life mirrors a typical life of wealth and security of a layman who is economically self-sufficient. Though Dhaniya was economically independent and secure, he was still not psycho-ethically consummated : Greed , hatred and delusion still assailed him. He would still falter under great pressure of psychological storm of life .
Gotama Buddha responded to Dhaniya’s poetic utterance thus:
Free from anger,
My stubbornness gone.
I live for one night
along the banks of Mahi.
My hut’s roof is open, my fire out .
So if you want, rain-god ,
Go ahead and rain
Gotama Buddha depicted his spiritual life which mirrors the life of spiritual contentment and security after having attained gnosis or self-enlightenment which put an end to suffering. He had eradicated the three fires of greed , hatred and delusion. He had realized the complete silence of his mind – perfect peace of mind which is Nibbāna. He is totally free from vexation or suffering as he had successfully trodden on the Noble Eight Fold Path becoming consummate in virtue, concentration and discernment of Truth or Wisdom . He had become consummated in emancipation and knowledge of emancipation. This is the greatest wealth and security experienced by any consummated Gnostic. A Buddhist Gnostic is psycho-ethically consummated as he is free from the three fires of greed , hatred and delusion .
Dhaniya responded to the poetic utterance of Gotama Buddha thus :
No mosquitoes or gadflies
are to be found .
The cow range in the marshy meadow
where the grass flourish ,
They could stand the rain if it came.
So if you want, rain-god ,
go ahead and rain .
The personal and family bliss of Dhaniya was constructed upon the basis of economic wealth and security. He was still not free from vexation or suffering in life. He was still spiritually undelivered . He was still entangled in kammic bondage. Contigent upon his kammas, he tramsmigrated through the six realms of existence of devas, human beings, asuras, hungry ghosts, animals and hell beings. He was entangled in the kammic bondage of this flooded shore of suffering or anguish. He did not have the knowledge of Dhamma to traverse him over to the other unflooded shore.
Dhaniya represents the life of a typical secular man who is separate from religious belief. His carnal self or false self directs and empowers his six sense activities or his mundane life. He is totally ignorant of the potential pitfalls which may plunge him into the whole mass of suffering .
Gotama Buddha responded again thus:
A raft, well made
Has been lashed together.
Having crossed over,
I’ve subdued the flood.
No need for a raft
is to be found
So if you want , rain-god,
go ahead and rain.
Gotama Buddha depicted his personal spiritual journey and its consummation with the metaphor of making a raft and crossing the river with a raft. He gathered grass, twigs , branches and leaves and bound them together to make a raft to traverse the river from this shore to other shore. The raft is a metaphor representing the Noble Eight Fold Path. The contigent components of the raft represent the eight aggregates of the Noble Eight Fold path. They are right understanding, right thought, right speeches, right actions, right livelihood, right efforts, right mindfulness and right concentration. This shore represents ignorance or saṃsāra and the other shore represents wisdom or nibbāna. The successful traversing of the river by the raft connotes that the Noble Eight Fold Path has been consummated with the actualization of emancipation and attainment of the final knowledge of emancipation . After having traversed , the user must not carry the raft any more and must abandon it .
Gotama Buddha explicated why the raft must eventually be discarded thus:
I have taught you that the Dhamma is like raft, for the
purpose of crossing over, not for the purpose of holding
onto. Knowing the Dhamma to be like a raft, you should
let go not even of the Dhamma but also the adhamma .
MN22
The raft is made by our own hands and feet. Likewise, a Buddhist practioner must cultivate and practise the Noble Eight Fold Path himself or herself by self-power or human effort (purisaviriya). One must strive diligently, resolutely and earnestly for one ‘s own liberation. Liberation is moral consummation. The Dhamma, the Word of the Buddha, is the external power furnished by Gotama Buddha. We have to strive hard to learn the Dhamma by self-power to liberate ourselves. Gotama Buddha’s Word is merely the roadmap for us. We ourselves utilize and understand the spiritual roadmap to tread accordingly in order to reach our soteriological destination. We ourselves should work diligently to annihilate the self-centric ego and eliminate the grasping upon the five aggregates to release ourselves from saṃsāric bondage. The Tathāgata cannot save us directly. His Word is only a grace on condition that it is discerned and lived by the Buddhist practioners .
Dhaniya ought to complement and spiritualize his secular life with Dhamma so that his economic and spiritual life are both consummated psycho-ethically. Psycho-ethics connotes the mind of wisdom supporting supreme virtues. A secular life without Dhamma is like a bird flying with one wing. It is a big handicap. A secular life invigorated with Dhamma is like a bird flying with two wings. It soars high and slides deep to seek its food. Likewise, a computer unconnected to electrical energy does not function. Dhamma or spiritual knowledge is the energy of life. A spiritually wise person is heedful to slightest flaws and vigilantly averts the potential pitfalls. This is how a spiritually wise one trains himself or herself to eliminate his moral fallibilities and vulnerabilities.
Secularized life is only phenomenal . Spiritualized life is the Principle. The order of the cosmos is that the Principle sustains the phenomena. They are inseparable. Spirituality synergizes secularity; spirituality invigorates secularity. The alienation of secularists is sheer ignorance. They are two faces of the same coin. If a customer blackened one side of the coin with black paint and paid his purchase to a retailer with that painted coin, it is definite that the retailer would not accept his disfigured coin. A secular person without spiritual knowledge is just akin to that half-disfigured painted coin. A secular person knows only the half-truth of the phenomenal world and is spiritually ignorant of the other half-truth of the Principle or Absolute which sustains it. Spiritually , he or she is ignorant of the whole Truth which makes a person complete , infallible and invulnerable. Wilful ignorance and wishful thinking are the products of spiritual ignorance. They are the two key roots of clashes of civilizations and eruption of global crises plaguing mankind currently. |
