Chapter IV.4VIETNAMESE TRANSLATE ENGLISH BY=THICH CHAN TANH.AUSTRALIA.SYDNEY.

A Nan Da is called a treasure of law

-ooOoo-

K janitor and a knack for striking, raised Ananda on every one of the disciples of the Buddha wisdom, the ability to remember faster, more memory and a long memory of the apostle.

Although when the Buddha was still in the money, Ananda had not attained Arhat, but he was seen as one of the Sravaka of the Saints community. He deserves to be given the full name of "An outstanding apostle" by all Buddhists at that time. These four outstanding apostles mean that he has the ability and virtue of a liberation.

Except for the two great Thinh Van, with two extraordinary abilities, the Xa Loi Loi and Muc Ky Lien Lien, A Nan Da is one of the other 75 famous disciples of the Buddha.

While the other 74 have excellent specializations, Ananda has been famous for four of the five "upper-level intellectuals":

- The first intellectual foundation is that he has heard more than anyone, listening almost to all the Buddha's teachings.

- The second intellectual foundation is that he remembered more than anyone else, fully remembered the Buddha's teachings.

- The third intellectual foundation is that he understands more than anyone else, understands the Dharma system as well, including concise meaning when coordinating the precepts taught by the Buddha who teaches later, in a parallel or secondary way. self.

- The fourth intellectual foundation he is a believer in the Dharma of the Buddha, most confident, on all the doctrines (According to Anguttara Nikàya n.1,19 = Most Rising A Ham 1.19).

(Particularly, the fifth intellectual foundation is "diligence, toughness, and energy in serving one of the Enlightened beings of the Abhidharma"), not to mention. That intellectual, for A Nan Da is a superfluous story, like a compliment "sea water is the most salty liquid" in this world.

When studying carefully in the Buddhist scriptures we will find that the above mentioned intellectual foundations belong to a very elaborate use, thus generating vigilance, called Pāli in Sati. The meticulousness that its power and influence always helps the practitioner have a clear, solid spirit, capable of distinguishing every feeling in the body as well as every concept of the external body, so as not to let awakened by greed, anger and ignorance.

And also because of that marvelous elaboration, the ability to use a practitioner 's memory, at any time, and face all problems, is always pure, without the memory of they lead into the obstinate side.

In other words, it is easier to understand: the vigilance that the nucleus will bring about is the knowledge of ourselves. Then thanks to his knowledge, the practitioner recognizes all the surrounding phenomena, distinguishes the good dhamma from the evil, which is moving in his mind; to self-end the continent, living according to the Dharma.

In fact, the Pali word "Sati" has the common meaning "memory" (ie the ability to "know" what has passed). It is through this "memory" that the past and present are interconnected by memories chains.

But for Nan Nan, in the last life, memory (sati) has turned into knowing oneself (sampa jñana). That is, he did not just remember the things he memorized, he felt, its effect. In order to meet again, he knew that according to the intellectual level of each listener, he spoke from low to high, from shallow to profound, from crude to subtle, but he did not have to close his eyes repeatedly, in a way chaotic, crazy.

In terms of quick memory and remember sure, A Nan Da can be considered a champion. Thanks to good storage from many previous lives, this life he only heard once, he could repeat the whole text of a 60,000-word Buddha's text easily. Another time, A Nan Da recited 150 thousand verses, each of four verses of the Buddha taught.

The record of immediate memory, and full remembrance of Nan Nan, makes us feel, like he used a miracle, to perform such a feat. But according to Buddhism, the "strange" magic of Aanda is nothing more than to let his mind be entangled with useless ideas. The useless ideas that have hundreds and thousands of things and always "fill up" in the minds of people, then there is no potential for their memory to be developed?

The Buddha taught that: "The only cause for a forgetful person is dharma: craving, malice, kissing, delusion (distraction) and doubt" (according to Anguttara Nikàya V 193).

A Nan Da at that time, though he had not attained Arhat, but thanks to him obeying the Buddha's teaching to take Mindfulness as a basis for cultivation, at the same time, thanks to the grace of many previous lifetimes, every time he concentrated his mind to hear the dharma. , it is impossible for the five Dharma years to stir him up.

Even today, many Cao Tang Buddhists in Burma, only thanks to their success in eliminating the five Dharma-hindrances, but also remember to lay down the Vinaya, Tibetan Sutra or Tibetan Law easily.There are also capable of remembering the whole Tripitaka including 45 volumes full of words.

When Aanda Da heard the dharma, he did not have any ripple in his mind. He did not allow the "self" to rise up to comment "This sentence is long, the other is short. This sentence is deep, the other is normal, the sentence is high, the other is low,".

In his consciousness there was only one thing: hearing and memorizing naturally, not disturbed or bewildered, then I would forget but what Buddha taught. As a professional secretary, I just impartially copied the words that others said, onto the blank page confidently and calmly.

And the pure white paper of A Nan Da is a pure mind, not being in the five Dharma hindrances that are cloudy, stain!

This is the status of a great Sravaka (The rank is heard in a wide range). Because anyone who hears and learns much with this virtue will eliminate the stubborn, self-centered, pre-existing mind, and turn his mind into a treasure of truth. And the more people who hear and absorb the truth, the more evil things in their minds, of course, are eliminated.

Such ranks of Sravaka can be likened to diamond particles, receiving the light of truth, from the veneration of the Buddha, so the reflection of the truth (referring to repetition) is also honest, no more. , not less, unclear, not fuzzy. (According to physics, diamond is the environment where light appears most accurately).

Therefore, a true Sage is always natural, and absolutely respects the truth. Any good thing they write in their memory to practice, is that they never say, "It is because of my refined wisdom that can be deduced, but that is" The truth in the dharma. "And they are just The person who is heard and objectively realizes its value.

As the verses of Rainer Maria Rilke praised Amanda:

"Seeing the truth without being proud of the eyes, 
Deep understanding does not think that our wisdom is high. 
How rare is such a Thinh Van, 
Like drops of glitter in the desert" .

This poem contrasts contrary to the mind nature of A Nan Da, when he is not ordained. When he first came to the Buddha, Ananda was full of ignorance, sorrow, self-conceit and self-pity. But more and more later, thanks to living beside the Master, he was instilled in the truth of liberation every day.Imbued with so much that it is no longer him! He became the embodiment of Dharma Bao, transformed into the "Dharmakaya" of the Buddha, for more than 2500 years, the name A Nan Da was no longer a name, but it was the "open-ended language" of Buddhist sutras.

The way to listen to the Fa and instill the truth into the mind of Aanda is called the first intellectual foundation (in the five intellectual foundations). The Samyutta Nikàya Sutra (Tap A Function 14.5) also clearly states that: "How Ananda was imbued with the Buddha's teaching, when he passed on the Buddha's language to his disciples, it also made them so imbued. ! ".

But according to the monk Sang Nhat A function 3, 78 (Anguttara Nikàya n.3, 78), the Buddha confirmed that:

"Nan Nan has a very special listening art, cannot find a second person in this world".

Once, the Buddha stayed at the Song Long Tho Gosinga garden (also called the Gosinga forest) with a large number of respected disciples. The Elder of the Great Buddha (Sàrìputta) saw the graceful scene, praising that: "This can be called An Lac garden, because the Song Long trees here have flower heads, the incense radiates the space, like one. heaven ...! ".

Then the Elder asked the question:

- Dear brothers and sisters! Such a pure setting, which can be compared to any of our monastic qualities, is the most worthy?

The disciples of the Buddha immediately answered. Each one highlights one aspect of his comparison.But in general, all the main ideas refer to one point: Every Sa has a unique virtue, worthy to compare with the pure scenery of the garden.

As for An Nan's answer, it is as follows:

- Hey brother! What subjects are those who listen to the four thousand dharmas of the Buddha, who live according to the righteous Dharma, who clarifies and preserves the Dharma well in the beginning, good in the middle, and good in the passage last. What subjects are those who are able to pass on Buddha's teachings in a sufficiently rounded way, without adding, without humility, naturally. Which monk is the one who always remembers: What dharma we have understood, we have a duty to contribute to the social community. That is, the monk is able to preach to them (Bhikkhu, bhikkhuni, good men, and female believers) make them first delight in Dharma, then understand the true meaning, to proceed. to the virtue of destroying greed, anger, delusion, liberation ... then the monk deserves to compare with this magic garden. (According to Majjhina Nikaya 32 = Middle A Function 32).

The second intellectual foundation is to keep in mind any Dharma that you hear and automatically apply those good deeds, to bring great benefits to yourself.

The third intellectual base, the glossary of Pàli is called Gatimanta, which is the correct understanding of the text and the circumstances of each problem. The same word in this sermon the Buddha refers to the karma, and in another lesson, the Buddha may refer to the karma. When Nan Nan was heard twice in two different special cases, he also understood the Buddha language in accordance with the meaning of each dharma. In other words, the brain of Ananda has the ability to "record" accurately and distinguish every problem in chronological order: What he heard, he understood differently from what he was listening to, no ever mistaken for bigotry on some words.

Many Buddhist scholars have likened the mind of Nan Nan as a super-party tape recorder, with many levels of purification. A digital floor devoted to broadcasting a specialized issue, never giving off the sound of unwholesome, foreign, can enter into the soundstage of the wave.

According to a narrative in the Tripitaka Pali, Ananda can hear many different passages at the same time. These passages can belong to many different topics, and are alternated. But after listening, A Nan Da was able to assemble those discrete segments in a coherent, orderly manner, to complete two or three dharma exercises easily. Even Ananda can hear and bring back the fragmentary Buddhist script for each of them to absorb some specific solutions.

And when listening to those passages, the audience always praised Ananda for his dedication to a sermon, but many but easy to understand, attractive and coherent.

This proves that A Nan Da was able to understand correctly, and mastered the main idea, every word, every sentence, or piece by Buddha taught, with a very scientific art.

Thus, many times in Ananda, while talking about some Dharma teachings, suddenly being questioned by his fellow teachers, he could still stop his words, to answer them in detail, and then return to the topic himself. Naturally, easy, but never lost and embarrassed.

The fourth intellectual foundation is the unyielding energy and dedication in the task of learning and maintaining the Dharma of Liberation, as a closest Sravaka of an Enlightened One.

The fifth intellectual foundation is the virtue of the most complete disciple of Buddha, of Nan Nan, as we have mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Today, when we recall those five foundational foundations, we cannot fail to visualize the flexible image of the great Buddha. Although he is in the role of the Buddha's official spokesperson, he is the focus of all attention, but he is still leisurely, peaceful, treating in a simple, open way with everyone.

For those who often interact with him, Ananda is a type of person who is rarely criticized, because of the virtue of serving the Buddha and the Sangha who are not tired, as well as unshakable friendship, which he always devotes for everyone.

Many times, there are conflicts that occur in the Sangha lines, but A Nan is good. Instead of being indifferent to be an outsider for peace, Nan Nan volunteered to "peace the messenger" to use his mind to solve a problem smoothly.

And Ananda has always been successful, because he was a Monk who was not hated by anyone. He is a man without an enemy. His image is just a faithful image to the Buddha.

He wholeheartedly served the Sangha at the same time with his dedication to the Buddha. In the mind of his fellow teachers, he never saved a discontent.

On the other hand, A Nan Da is a very good organization. He always knew and mastered all the activities of the foursome, related to him every day. He was like a talented "director" who clearly distributed the work program to everyone so that the activities of the Sangha were always going well.Then thanks to the carefulness and the inherent caution, A Nan Da draws many valuable lessons every day. At the same time, others may stumble over many times, but Ananda never stumbles a second time.

Special vigilance and memory also help Nan Nan identify hundreds of thousands of near and far different Buddhists miraculously. He just needed to see someone's face once, in how many times afterwards, he also recognized them.

And also thanks to the talent "remember the face of each person", but Ananda has been able to predict (today we often refer to as minister) to know the nature of each person, to treat them so that it is reasonable, for them to automatically learn to imbue Buddhism, not to give them the feeling "He is the person who cleverly led them back to Buddhism". Anyone who takes refuge in Buddhism, after studying the Buddha's teachings with Nan Nan, also thinks that it is they who have discovered the Dharma, not affected by anyone.

In short, A Nan Da is a monk who has enough virtue to play the role of representing the Buddha before them, along with other great apostles leading the Church. And the most outstanding virtue, which should always be mentioned here, is the virtue of a protection of the Dharma. If Buddha Dharma is a treasure of priceless treasures, then A Nan Da is the treasure defender that is most certain. END=NAM MO SAKYAMUNI BUDDHA.( 3 TIMES ).VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THICH CHAN TANH.GOLDEN AMITABHA MONASTERY=AUSTRALIA,SYDNEY.18/3/2019.