The End of the World or Kalpa Vinasaya. The most venerable Na Uyane Ariyadhamma Thero, in his address to the congregation tells us of five doors to Nibbana. They are, he says, listening to the Dhamma, teaching the Dhamma, reciting the Dhamma, contemplating the Dhamma and, tranquil and vipassana meditation. How do listening to the Dhamma and teaching the Dhamma become doors to Nibbana? It is when these two very wholesome activities are attended to with quiet concentration of mind. The bhikkhu who gives the sermon has to have in mind five determinations and also accord with sixteen precepts of conduct (sekhiya) The listener must pay close attention to what is being taught, with minds undistracted, and bodies very still. Then, listening to the Dhamma and teaching the Dhamma both become meditative acts and the Dhamma eye opens. When Lord Buddha preached the Dhamma Chakka Pavattana Sutta at Migadaye, the ascetic Kondańńa experienced the Dhamma and became a Sōtapanna because he followed the sermon with a meditative mind – it grew into a comprehensive understanding of the Teaching. That is also how innumerable Brahmas and Devas became Sōtapannas that day, and hundred thousand Brahamarajas became arahants or pure ones. They had followed the Buddhas words with one pointedness of mind. When Lord Buddha discoursed other sermons too, like the Mahāmangala Sutta, the Parābhava Sutta, Chulla Rahulovavāda Sutta, the Buddhavansa Desana, Sammā Paribhājaniya Sutta, Kalaha Vivāda Sutta, Cūla Viyuha Sutta, Maha Viyuha Sutta, a hundred thousand millions of beings had attained arahantship on each occasion, and innumerable other beings had entered lesser stages of sainthood. This was the benefit of having followed His Teachings with meditative minds. So we see that listening to the Dhamma is a door to Nibbana. Monks who had discoursed the Dhamma too had attained stages of sainthood by paying attention to the their own sermons. Once, a very long time ago, there was an arahant called Maliyhadeva in Kegalle, in our country. One poya evening on the day of ending the rains retreat (pavārana), it has been his turn to give a sermon. The sermon he started in the evening, had continued till the following morning; and the Venerable Maliyhadeva had, while paying attention to his own sermon attained complete purity or arahantship. A great number of others had reached various stages of sainthood. Then, there had been a monk called Khemaka – also in our country. Once when he fell sick, sixty other monks had come to wait upon him. Listening to the sermon given by the sick monk, from his sick bed, the sixty visiting monks and Venerable Khemaka himself attained arahantship. Then there was another monk called Nāgasena, who had experienced various stages of sainthood, and eventually arahantship, while discoursing the Dhamma. Thus we see that listening to the Dhamma and discoursing it are both doors to Nibbāna. But there were others too who had not attained to anything while discoursing or listening. To them, they will be pāramis for later occasions. (as in the case of Saccaka) So let us discourse and (you) pay attention in such a way that pragńa pāramitā will grow within you and me. I am going to talk today on the Sapta Suriya Pātubhāva Sutta – or the coming of the seven suns. It is a discourse that was given by the Buddha while dwelling in the Ambapāli park in the city of Visāla. It is a park which the Liccevi Kings had gifted to Ambapāli, the courtesan, which she later offered to the Buddha and the Sangha, after having made it suitable for the use of the Sangha. It is well to know some things about Ambapāli too before coming to the Sutta I am going to discourse on. Ambapāli was born spontaneously, like devas are born in heaven. Such comings into being on earth happen only on extremely rare occasions, though in the heavens it is the norm. Human births happen in four ways. Apart from the very normal human births we see around us there three other ways. They are Andaja, Sansedaja, and Opapāthika births that occur on most extremely rare occasions. Andajas are born from eggs (not the egg in a woman’s womb.) During the time of King Dharmashoka there had been too brothers, who later became arahants, who had been born from a single egg. Then during the time of our Lord Buddha there had been a branmin sage called Pokkarasāti. He had been born in the bud of a lotus – in moisture. That was a Sansedaja birth. Long before that there had been a princess, called Padmāvati, also born in a lotus. Then we hear of Opapāthikas or spontaneous births. There were two of them in our Lord Buddha’s time. They were Ambapāli, and Cincamānavika. The latter was born under a Tamarind tree, significantly of her character. Ambapāli had been born under a mango tree, looking like a celestial nymph of sixteen years. The Liccavi kings coming to hear of it had all wished to own the peerless beauty. She had no parents to belong to. So they claimed her for themselves, and also gifted to her the mango park where she was born. What had she done to be born so beautiful, and yet be a courtesan? Thirty-one asankeyyas prior to this Mahā Badra Kalpa, Ambapāli had been half sister to the Buddha of the time – Buddha Sikhi. The life span of man at that time had been seventy thousand years. Ambapāli had become a nun then and had been quite learned in the Dhamma. She had been very pious and dedicated. For thousands of years she had safe-guarded the precepts like life. But one day, after the demise of Buddha Sikhi an unfortunate thing happened. Ambapāli had one day been, paying homage to the chetiya, where the Buddha’s relics had been placed along with some other nuns. In walking round the chetiya, right-wise she happened to see some phlegm deposited on the terrace (maluva.) The repulsive sight in a sacred place angered her; and in a moment of unmindfulness, angry words escaped her lips. “Who is the …………….. (she used an insulting word that meant woman who sells herself to men) who did this?” She exclaimed. Ambapāli little knew that it was some phlegm that had escaped from an arahant nun – unawares by her, of course – when she sneezed, while she too had been paying homage to the chetiya, along with some other nuns, a little before Ambapāli. Ambapāli soon came to know that it had been an arahant she had referred to so insultingly. She had commited a great sin. Ambapāli looked for the arahant every where to beg to be forgiven but the arahant could not be found. She hunted for her high and low. But the arahant nun could not be traced. Ambapāli had through ignorance, and lack of mindfulness, committed a grave sin; the guilt pricked her conscience continually, preventing her to attaining any stages of sainthood. In addition, she had to pay for her bad karma throughout thirty one kalpas since then, by having to be ‘a professional beauty.’ The precepts she had safe-guarded through thousands of years made her a peerless beauty. Ambapali had a son who had been very wise and pious. He had entered the order at a very young age, and had become an arahant. It was while Lord Buddha was residing in the mango grove offered Him by Ambapali, that He discoursed the Sapta Suriya Pāthubhāva Sutta. The Compassionate One chose this topic one day for the benefit of five hundred monks who had come to Him for guidance. The five hundred had been meditating in some forest for months without result, and had finally come to the Buddha for further instructions. The Buddha, as is the practice of all Buddhas, looked into their past existences and practices to see what object of meditation would suit them best, and saw, that ‘impermanence’ had once been an object of contemplation of theirs. So the Blessed One chose the above subject to discourse to them. The subject describes in detail, how this vast world, the universe, and most worlds, and universes get destroyed from time to time, and how it would happen at the end of this Mahā Badhra Kalpa. This destruction is called The Kalpa Vināsaya. Therefore it is necessary for one to know what a kalpa or aeon is. One kind of kalpa is what is called an Āyukkalpa. It relates to life span of man. At one time, man’s life span is an innumerable years (an asankeyya.) But, true to the law of impermanence, it keeps dropping, gradually, at the rate of one year to a hundred. It had dropped to a span of hundred years when our Lord Buddha Gauthama came into the world. Of course there were some who lived to be a hundred and twenty also; but the average span was a hundred years then. This has been dropping since then too, and today – a little more than twenty five hundred centuries after Buddha, man’s life span, or Āyukkalpa has dropped to seventy five years. That is, those who are born in the twenty sixth century after Buddha has a life span of only 74 years. It will keep dropping according to a Law of Nature, and in another six thousand five hundred years it will have dropped to ten years. That’s when man’s behaviour too will have dropped steadily to the level of beasts, and a destruction of life sets in. This very unimaginably long period of time when man’s Ayukkalpa keeps dropping from an innumerable to ten years is called an Antakkalpa – (meaning sub kalpa or aeon). When the Ayukkalpa drops to ten years destruction of beings start. This destruction is of three types. One Antakkalpa is destroyed by weapons, one by famine and one by diseases. The Antakkalpas are respectively named as Weapon Antakkalpa, Famine Antakkalpa, and Disease Antakkalpa. Twenty such Antakkalpas form one Asankeyya Kalpa. (an innumerable) Four such Asankeyya Kalpas make one Maha Kalpa. These Asankeyya Kalpas are of four types, and are named according to their four different functions. They are namely, (1) Vivaṭṭaṭṭhāyi Asankeyya Kalpa, which is the time span man and gods inhabit their worlds. This Asankeyya Kalpa is followed by, (2) Sanvaṭṭa Asankeyya Kalpa, which is a period of time (comprising twenty Anthak Kalpas) this world, and the universe, and other worlds and universes get gradually destroyed. Then follows another period of twenty Anthak Kalpas called, (3) Sanvaṭṭaṭṭhāyi Asankeyya Kalpa, which is the period of time when our world and most other worlds after having got destroyed, stay that way. And a vast expanse of space remains empty all that length of time. At the end of this Sanvaṭṭaṭṭhāyi Kalpa, things, the universes begin to form again. This process also takes a period of twenty anthak kalpas. It is called, (4) The Vivaṭṭa Kalpa is when the worlds start growing. It takes twenty Anttakkalpas for the process to complete. Then there follows once again the afore mentioned Vivaṭṭaṭṭhāyi Asankeyya Kalpa. (like this present Mahā Badhra Kalpa.) when man an gods inhabit the worlds. Thus is the endless cycle of forming, staying formed, getting destroyed and staying destroyed until the forming begins once more. It can be plainly seen now that beings inhabit their worlds only during one fourth part of a Mahā Kalpa. The rest of the time there are no beings anywhere lower than the third Brahma World. It has already been explained that there are four types of Kalpas. (1) Ayukkalpas (2) Antakkalpas (3) Asankeyya Kalpas (which are four fold) and (4) Mahā Kalpas. It has also been explained that twenty Antak Kalpas form each Asankeyya Kalpa; and that four Asankeyya Kalpas form one Mahā Kalpa. This sutta explains how a Mahā Kalpa ends, or is destroyed. It happens according to a Law of Nature, in one of three ways: by fire, by water, or wind. Seven times consecutively seven Mahā Kalpas end by fire. The eighth one ends by water. Then again seven consecutive Mahā Kalpas end in fire. The eighth one ends by water. This pattern recurs until fifty-six Mahā Kalpas have ended or been destroyed by fire and seven by water. Then the sixty-fourth Mahā Kalpas ends by wind. According to this pattern we see that it is by fire that Mahā Kalpas mostly get destroyed. When fire is the agent of destruction, this world of ours, six heavenly worlds of sense pleasures, and three Brahma worlds get destroyed. When water is the agent, it destroys up to six Brahma worlds. And when wind is the agent of destruction, it destroys up to nine Brahma worlds. Sapta suriya means seven suns. The Saptasuriya Pātubhāva Sutta explains how our world and the cosmos is going to be destroyed at the end of this Maha Badhra Kalpa. It is going to happen by fire. The Anthak Kalpa in which we are living at present, is the fourth of this Maha Badhra Kalpa and in the fifth one, Maithree Buddha will be coming into being. Fifteen Anthak Kalpas after that too, man and devas will be inhabiting their worlds. With the twethtieth Anthak Kalpa, comes the kalpa vinasaya or the end of the world. A hundred thousand years ahead of this kalpa vinasaya or the distruction of the kalpas, devas come down to earth in the guise of humans, and go about warning the people of the coming destruction and pleading and urging them to cultivate wholesome deeds. They urge the people to keep the five precepts and higher precepts on Poya days; to care for aged parents and other elders; to meditate and ennoble their minds. “Lose no time,” urge these heavenly beings and people all over the world take heed. They lose no time. They do as they are urged. Just as one would lose no time to put out a fire that has caught one’s hair, they tarry not. They keep the precepts, they meditate, develop jhāna and become suitable to be reborn in the higher brahma worlds. Those who do not attain jhana are reborn in the heavens of sense pleasures; but they disregard the pleasures there and meditate, attain jhānas and become right and destined to be born in the higher brahma worlds. In this way, within this hundred thousand years, beings in a billion galaxies get reborn in the higher brahma worlds. What happens to the beings in the hells? They too have done meritorious deeds at one time. And a part of these deeds called in Pali, aparāpariyavedaniya karma which follow one through saṁsara the same way demeritorious deeds do, surface at this crucial time to redeem these beings in hell and cause them rebirth in the heavens where they meditate, cultivate jhāna, and get reborn in the higher brahma worlds. But unfortunately, there still remain some beings who have no such succour. They are the heretics or the ones who have had no faith at all in karma and vipaka (cause and effects of deeds), and as such have not performed any act at all that brings merit. They burn in Avici hell, and keep getting reborn there to burn again and again. Even when the kalpa vianāsaya comes they have no escape. By force of karma they get reborn or relocated in a hell a billion galaxies away from here and continue to burn there. Anyhow all the worlds in a billion galaxies are emptied of living beings. Then comes the rain. It is called ‘the kalpāntha vessa.’ It means the rain that heralds the end of the world and the galaxies. (the readers must not confuse this rain with the rain of weapons, or some other that is supposed to occur (according to some literature) at the end of this present Anthak Kalpa. The rain mentioned here is the one heralds the end of this Maha Badra Kalpa and it is sixteen more Anthak Kalpas away.) It rains continually for seven consecutive days. There is not an inch of land that does not come under it. It lasts for seven days only and then stops. Not even a drop of dew falls after that. And the sun begins to shine to burn. It shines through billions and billions of years until all trees great and small, and creepers too wither and die. All land in the galaxies turn to desert and then the sun sets. As it sets, a second sun rises in the East. There is no night time anywhere then – only day. This second sun too shines to burn and scorch. It shines and shines through billions and billions of years during which time streams, lakes, ponds and such likes all dry up. After that this sun sets. And simultaneously a third sun rises. As it shines, the five grate rivers in India, namely The Ganga, Yamuna, Achiravathi, Sarabu and Mahi too dry up under its scorching heat. This process takes billions and billions of years. This sun sets then, and a fourth rises. That is when the Saptha Mahā Vil, or the seven great lakes, namely, Anavataptavila, Karnamunda, Rathakāra, Chaddanta, Kunāla, Mandākini, Singhapratāpa, in the Himalayas dry up. Then it sets and a fifth sun rises. During its time, that is another billions and billions of years the great oceans too slowly dry up, leaving not even an inch of water anywhere in the galaxies. When the galaxies reach this stage that sun too sets and the sixth sun rises. And all the galaxies begin to smoke. The smoke continues for billions and billions of years getting thicker and thicker and finally it sets. Then the seventh sun rises. That is when all these galaxies burst into flame. They burn and burn and continue to burn while the sun continues to shed its scorching heat. It is as if billions of galaxies have turned into one single pyre. And the fire continues to burn (again for billions and billions of years) until all the galaxies get reduced to nothing. They get burnt out like camphor which does not leave any trace of itself - not even a speck of ash is left. A vast space is made empty. This is the end of the world, and the universe, including a billions of galaxies. How long does this process take? It takes a time period of twenty Anthak Kalpas (one Asankeyya Kalpa.) That is what is known as the Sanvatta Kalpa; the kalpa in which everything slowly and surely burns out leaving no trace of so much as a grain of sand – not even a spec of ash. They just burn out like camphor. This is how our world and billions of other galaxies end. This process takes a time period of twenty Anthak Kalpas which form one Asankeyya Kalpa. In this instance, it is called the Sanvatta Asankeyya Kalpa – the kalpa in which everything slowly and surely get destroyed. Seven Maha Kalpas, one after the other, get destroyed this way – by fire. When the eighth Maha Kalpa has come to be and spent its life span and the time comes for its destruction, the destruction happens by water. Up to six brahma worlds get destroyed then. This pattern repeats until forty-nine Maha Kalpas have ended by fire, and seven Maha Kalpas have ended by water. Then, after another seven kalpas have been destroyed by fire, comes the sixty fourth Maha Kalpa that ends by wind, and up to nine brahma worlds get destroyed then. The Omniscient One declares that this destruction of kalpas or world systems is a natural result of certain causes and that it is not the outcome of a curse made by some divine power. The All Compassionate One explains that when man’s own defiled states of mind geared by greed, hate, and delusion grows and proliferates, nature in turn becomes vicious and destructive. It happens in one of above three ways. When hate is upper most in man, destruction comes by fire; when greed is upper most, the destruction comes about by water; and when delusion is foremost wind is the agent of destruction. After the worlds and a billion galaxies are thus completely destroyed, they remain so through a period of twenty Anthakkalpas. This is the Sanvaṭṭaṭṭhayi Asankeyya Kalpa when a vast expanse in space is left entirely and completely empty. At the end of this Kalpa things begin to form again marking the beginning of the Vivaṭṭa Asankeyya Kalpa. How the worlds come into form once again is very clearly described in the Buddha’s Teachings. We know, or we have read that innumerable beings from the worlds of man, devas, and three lower brahma worlds got reborn in the higher brahma worlds when the kalpa vinasaya or destruction was approaching. These beings practiced Jhana to escape the destruction – not to attain Nibbana; they had not attained Magga Phala; they had not broken the shackles that bind man to saṁsara. They just wanted to escape and they did. After some time their inert attachment to the worlds begins to surface. They begin to wish for the worlds they had once been in – to see once more, the trees, rivers, mountains, and oceans, and other beauties of nature that trap beings to the world. This wish or desire occurs in them not just once, but reaptedly through billions and billions of years. The continuous yearning of these ‘unarya brahmas’ effect an atmospheric condition in the vast expanse of space that had been left empty through twenty Anthak Kalpas; and a slight drizzle begins to fall. The drizzle continues for billions and billions of years and fills the entire space that billions of galaxies had once occupied and then been destroyed. In every drop of water are found the elements of earth, cohesion, fire, and wind (patavi, āpō, tejō, vāyō) and also the elements of color smell taste and nutritive essence (varna, ganda, rasa, ōja.) And the brahmas who yearn for their former worlds wish that these should shape according to those worlds they had loved so much. And it happens that way. Apart from slight changes, new worlds get formed – in the same way the old ones had been. This is how our worlds, and others, get formed; and the process takes a time period of twenty Anthak Kalpas that form, in this instance, Vivatta Asankeyya Kalpa. The discourse sets out plainly and clearly the impermanent nature of all things great and small – that they are subject to change, decay and dissolution. What needs then is there to talk of this slight human form of ours which is vulnerable even to a sting of a little mosquito ! The Blessed One says, ‘This little frame of ours would have decayed innumerable into innumerable times during just one Kalpa. And if the bones of one’s own dead bodies were to be piled up, those bones of just one person only would rise higher than Mount Vepulla. The Buddha, with great compassion, explains how corruptible, and therefore temporary, and without respite or relief all composite things are. (aniccā, addhuvā, anassāsikā) “Who would believe these facts that I reveal?” says the Buddha. “The Arya Sāvakas or disciples will; and a few puthujjanas or worldly people too. But not all. I assure you bikkhus,” the Blessed One says, “this is no fabrication of mine but the way things are and always will be. It is nature.” The Buddha with his incomparable eye of wisdom could view the past, back into trillions of Maha Kalpas, and the future too. The Buddha, the Omniscient One, could view with His mind’s eye, His eye of wisdom, the destructions and formations of innumerable galaxies past and future, His own past life cycles, and the past and the future cycles of others and their minds too. And he explained it all. He described and taught the masses the endless cycle of becoming and ceasing of all things in order that we too may understand the true and corruptible nature of matter that we may see there is nothing in them to cling to. There is nothing in his words to be credulous about. The stanzas given at the beginning is a topic I (Most Venerable Na Uyane Ariyadhamma Himi) have chosen for my discourse and they are the same two stanzes the compassionate one uttered at the close of his Saptha Suria Pathubava Sutta. They are as follows. silaṁ samādhi pańńā ca vimukti ca anuttarā anubuddhā ime dhammā Gothamena yassassinā iti Buddho abińńāya dhamma makkhāsi bikkhunam dukkassanta karo satthā Cakkhumā parinibbutoti The lines mean that the Buddha, the omniscient one, practiced virtue, concentration, wisdom, and freedom (from defilements), above and beyond all mundane levels. Having thus attained Buddhahood, He taught the masses too The Way to attain that same freedom and eternal peace. He extinguished all defilements and taught the masses how to do so. The Buddha, the Compassionate One is called Cakkhumā for having possessed five incomparable eyes of wisdom. (As all Buddha’s do.) The Buddha sāsana comprises of three facets, namely virtue, concentration, and wisdom. (Sila, Samādhi, Pannā) These three branch off into eight that form the Eightfold Path. Virtue envelopes right (wholesome) speech, right deeds, and right livelihood. Right effort right mindfulness, and right concentration (one pointedness of mind) form Samadhi. Right view with right knowledge or wisdom comes under wisdom. The Buddha attained freedom says the above stanza. What freedom is this? There are five kinds of freedom. The first is the freedom (from defilements) that comes when one is engaged in wholesome activities. Or when one is safeguarding the precepts. It is called Thadanga Vimukti. The second, Wishkambhana Vimukti is the freedom from defilements that comes by suppressing them when one gets into Jhānas. The third, Samuccheda Vimukti is the freedom of having rooted out or extinguished all defilements beyond recurring - on attainment of magga phala ńańa or Path and Fruit Knowledge. The fourth, Paṭippassadhi Vimukti, is the state of mind of a Noble One when he gets into phala samapatti. (re-experiencing the attainments) The fifth, Nissarana Vimukthi, is the sense of peace and relief that comes when taking Nibbana as one’s mind’s object - because Nibbana is free and untainted by anything that is mundane, it is called Nissarana Vimukthi. Lord Buddha practiced sila, samadhi, pańńā steadily – not just for a day or two or a year or two. As a Bodhisatta not yet fledged to receive ‘niyatha vivarana’ he practiced them steadily and with unflagging effort through sixteen hundred thousand Asankeyya Kalpas. And finally, at the feet of Buddha Deepaṅkara, He received ‘niyatha vivarana.’ Thereafter he practiced Sila, Samadhi, Panna, to the optimum together with the ten perfections each at a normal level first then at a higher level and finally at a most supermost level for a further four hundred thousand Asankeyya Kalpas. That’s what enabled Him to attain Omniscience – that’s how He attained omniscience. And that was about two thousand five hundred eighty years before now. Having in this way attained Omniscience, He taught man and god too these self disciplines that helped them too, to soar above mundane levels; He declared to all, that those who wish to discipline themselves and overcome eternal suffering should practice sila, samadhi, pańńa as He Himself did. The stanza given above refers to the Buddha as Cakkhuma. Cakkhuma means One who has eyes but these eyes do not mean the normal eyes everybody has. Even those two eyes of His were unique. With these eyes alone, that glistened like gems, He was able to view things through rock or tree as viewing through crystal clear glass - as far as a yojana (a yojana is presently reckoned as a distance of about seven to thirteen miles.) But it is not this pair of normal eyes that gives a Buddha the name Cakkhuma. ‘Cakkhuma’ refers to the five extra supernormal unique eyes of the Buddha, the Compassionate One. They are Dibba Cakkhu, Buddha Cakkhu, Dhamma Cakkhu, Pańńa Cakkhu and Samantha Cakkhu. Dibba Cakkhu means the devine eye with which He could view anything anywhere in ten thousand galaxies or more, if and when He so wished. Buddha Cakkhu is the ability to see others’ mental states – as to what extent a disciple has, in his past lives developed indriyas (factors leading to Nibbana); and also to what extent one is yet left with anusayas (dormant defilements needing to be cleansed.) This knowledge of the Buddha the Omniscient, enabled Him to teach a disciple exactly what he or she needed towards realizing Nibbana. Dhamma Cakkhu, refers to the knowledge of the three Paths to sainthood – namely Sotāpatti, Sakadāgami, and Anāgami Path knowledges. Pańńa Cakkhu encompasses all of His Unique Knowledges excepting omniscience, and Samanta Cakkhu, means omniscience itself. By reason of these five eyes above mentioned the Buddha the Compassionate One, is known also, as Cakkhuma. The same line of the stanza says Cakkhuma parinibbuto (meaning parinibbāna.) There are two kinds of parinibbānas – namely Klesha Parinibbāna, and Skandha Parinibbāna. Klesha Parinibbāna is the stilling or ceasing of defilements on attaining Arahantship. The other is Skandha Parinibbāna which is the breaking up of the five aggregates, commonly called death. But unlike the commonly known death there is no further becoming for the noble ones, the arahants, as they have freed themselves from clinging that causes the endless cycle of becoming and ceasing. The line Cakkhuma Parinibbuto relates to the Klesha Parinibbāna, of the Compassionate One. For forty five years after that He trod earth and heavens teaching man and god The Way to Liberation, until at the age of eighty he entered Nibbana shedding the five aggregates. This is called Skandha Parinibbāna. Finally, the Buddha advised that all beings, man and god, monks and laity, should all practise to fulfillment these four methods of self training which he himself had practised. The five hundred bikkhus, while following the discourse with meditative minds, having shed all cankers, attained Arahantship – Klesa Parinibbāna. The lesson to be gained from this discourse is the benefit of seeing the impermanent nature of all things around us. Because they are impermanent, they’re bound to cause suffering. This impermanent nature in us, and all around us, is beyond our control; and as such they are void of self. There is no other kusala (skilful action) that can surpass the benefits (ānisamsa) derived from them, as the benefits gained by the supreme practice of seeing things as they truly are – as impermanent, causing suffering, and void of self. The Velāma Sutta which the Buddha discoursed to Anātapindika illustrates perfectly the great value of calling to mind constantly the three signs – anicca, dukkha and anatta – ( impermanent, causing suffering, and void of self.) in all things composite. The sutta describes the munificence of a Brahmin called Velāma Rājaguru, during a time when the Dhamma was not heard of. It was not in the time of a Buddha sāsana. Velāma had given great gifts to the public throughout twelve long years. These gifts had comprised of all things man could ever wish for. He had given away eighty four thousand bowlfuls of gold, eighty four thousand bowlfuls of silver and also food, drinks, clothing, and money that could not be measured in any way. But the recipients had not a notion of the Dhamma then. The Dhamma was not existent then. In the Velāma Sutta the Buddha declares that the beneficial results that came upon this donor was great. But, he adds that its greatness is only one thousandth part of the benefits derived by a donor who gives just a single meal to one who has taken refuge in the Triple Gems. Why is this so? It is because during a time of a Buddha sāsana, the Dhamma is known. And it is with true understanding, wisdom, and right view, that such skilful acts are performed. The Buddha continues to say that the ānisamsa, or the benefits a donor derives by a gift of a single meal given to a Sotāpana (one who has attained the first stage of saint hood) is greater than all gifts given by Velāma Rājaguru. And the Buddha says that the benefits gotten by giving just a single meal to a Sakadāgāmi is still greater. Step by step he describes how much greater in merit is a gift of just a meal given to an Anagami, an Arahant, and a Buddha Himself. But building a monastery for the Sangha, arriving from all directions to shelter in, surpasses all previously mentioned gifts He says. Having described the great benefits derived by a donor from giving a gift of a single meal to a pure one, as stated above, the Buddha goes on to say, that a moment’s meditation of Metta, a moment as brief as the time taken to breath in a sweet smell, is more beneficial, than all the previous acts of generosity hitherto described. He comes gradually to extolling the merit and benefit of observing the three universal signs (anicca, dukkha, and anatta), even for a still shorter time – the time taken to bat an eye lid ! Therefore, we must all strive to understand this meditation on impermanence, suffering, and being void of self. It was to a particular set of five hundred bikkhus that the Buddha expounded this Sapta Suriya Pātubhava Sutta. During the discourse one and all of them attained in quick succession, the first, second, and the third stages of the Path and shedding all cankers, became totally pure ones – Arahants. Like a great heavenly river pouring down upon beings was the Dhamma the Buddha taught – soothing and comforting – the Dhamma he expounded during the forty five years following his attainment of Buddhahood. By His Dhamma, (His Teachings), twenty four innumerable, sixty million and fifty lakhs, of beings, who had had the right accumulations, attained Magga Phala and Nibbana then. Because the life span of the Compassionate one was short (comparatively) he taught eighty four thousand Suttas (Dhamma) for the benefit of those beings to be born after Him. When the Omniscient Buddha was nearing skanda parinibbana, His words to Ven. Ānanda had been, “Ānanda, even though the Tathāgatha enters Parinibbāna the Dhamma He taught will endure through five thousand years – like eighty four thousand living Buddhas. The Buddha entered Mahā Karunā Samāpatti, 24,000,000,000,000 (twenty four billion) times a day to view the worlds to see the deserving beings that needed his help. Sleeping one hour and twenty minutes only a day he spent the rest of each day helping world lings to overcome samsāric bonds and attain Nibbāna. He also got into Nirodha Samāpatti 24,000,000,000,000 (twenty four billion) times a day to experience the Bliss of Nibbāna. The Buddha lived only a short time; it was like a lamp that had lit up ten thousand galaxies in space had finally extinguished itself. Arahants too entered Parinibbāna at the end of their life span. Other Āryans attained heavenly states. Others too died to fair according to their kamma. Great kingdoms, parks, lakes all turn to ruins; likewise suns, moons, stars, earths, great mountains like the Mahāmeru and great oceans; dwellings, vehicles, clothing and other human requisites including beings who exists on food and drink are all impermanent. All things that are composite, all things with minds, and all things without minds, are all impermanent. They are in a state of flux. Therefore, they are a suffering and beyond one’s control or will. And as such they are void of self. All things subject to impermanence suffering and no self comprise the first Noble Truth of suffering. The cause of it is (past) craving which is the second Noble Truth. The third Noble Truth is Nirodha – absence of suffering and Eternal Peace. The Noble Eightfold Paths which needs to be practised with meditative minds is the fourth Noble Truth – the Path that leads to Eternal Peace. It is the Path that many a Buddha, Pacceka Buddha and Arahants had discovered by practising most diligently the ten perfections (dana seela nekkamma pańńā viriya khanti sacca adhiṭṭhāna mettā and upekkā – generosity, virtue, renunciation, wisdom, effort, patience, truth, determination, loving-kindness and equanimity) They practised this for millions of eons and through them their wisdom grew to understanding the four Noble Truths and Nibbana. May our humble homage be to all those Noble Ones who having overcome all samsaric ills, and extinguished the fires of defilements, realized the resultant Nirodha – Eternal all enveloping PEACE of Nibbana. Sādhu ! Sādhu ! Sādhu !