The life of Lord Buddha
Pranams at the lotus feet
of Lord Buddha!
Chapter – 16
Upatissa and
Kolita was sitting in the big audience watching the dance performance of a beautiful woman. There was huge number of people assembled taking great interest and cheering, but Upatissa and Kolita were not enjoying the play. They felt the whole play was uninteresting, they
had a unique thought, all that they are
watching is not going to be permanent, all these people sitting in the audience
and the beautiful young lady have to go through aging, sickness, and death sooner or later, the people in the audience or the beautiful dancer is not going to live more than
hundred years. These two guys were
wondered why they are entertaining themselves and seeking pleasure in this short-living activities. They thought it would be
beneficial to seek the path of spirituality that would lead them to the path beyond all the
sufferings. They both decided to search
for a preceptor who can guide them in the path of spirituality; they took a vow to
sincerely follow the instructions of the preceptor, live with him and practice. Thus the two gentlemen set out their journey
in search of the preceptor. Soon,
several people followed Upatissa and Kolita in their mission.
Finally, they have reached the
place where Buddha was meditating. They
were walking through the lush green field; Buddha noticed the two gentlemen and said
“This pair of gentlemen is going to be my foremost disciple.” Buddha gave a lecture on the presence of morality
and the fact of clinging nature to a specific object causes weariness, finally
results in letting go from grasping.
These two men and the people followed were pulling more and more and towards the spirituality, and became the followers of
Buddha. In due course of time, Upatissa
and Kolita who had intense dedication, accumulated wisdom and spiritual qualities,
attained profound realization in Dharma, they were ordained as Monk. These newly ordained Monks received the name
venerable Sariputta and Moggallana respectively. Moggallana experienced drowsiness while
meditation, Buddha affectionately advised him to employ the technique which was
already taught that was the realization of feeling of pleasantness, unpleasantness or neutral is
impermanent, and it is the cause for suffering as well.
Once a disciple Dhiganakka
approached Buddha and said “ Master, I take all the things are disagreeable to
me I am not feeling delightful” Buddha said “If you are not delightful, you should not delight in your view. There
are three kinds of people, some may view everything agreeable, some may not
view agreeable, and the third category of the people view some are agreeable and
some are disagreeable. The views are
based on the grasping and clinging to the notion of self, remaining attached
results in grasping the feelings as they arise, and these are impermanent phenomena,
these are conditionally arising,
existing and passing away, it causes weariness and fading of lust. This weariness and fading of lust is the
gateway to the freedom from attachment.
This is a peculiar though marvelous feeling.” Dhiganakka attained all-new perception, he felt lost in the beginning, after listening to the speeches
of Buddha, he experienced light in the darkness and he reverentially prostrated before Buddha. He took a promise to undertake Buddha Dharma
and Sangha as a sheltered place for the rest of his life.
The venerable Sariputta was
the right-hand and foremost disciple of Buddha, venerable Moggallana was the
left-hand disciple. These two disciples
were very supportive to Buddha; they relentlessly served their preceptor, immersed
in spreading the teachings of Buddha far and wide.
