The Life of Saint Sangha Ananda.VIETNAMESE TRANSLATE ENGLISH BY=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THICH CHAN TANH. Chapter I Happiness to be human -ooOoo- The special taste of Ananda (Amanda) among the great Bodhisattvas of the Buddha began long ago, before entering the last life. Like the Buddha, Amanda was born from Tusita and was born on the same day, reincarnated into the same class (knighthood) in the Shakyamuni royal family, parallel to the Buddha. The two fathers of the Buddha and of Ananda were originally brothers, so Aanda for the Blessed One was of course in the position of brotherhood (uncle). Ananda has three brothers, Anuruddha, Mahanaja, Pandu and a younger sister, Rohini. Anuruddha ordained as Arahant, then strictly observed the precepts, developed the wisdom of liberation, attained Arahantship, a highest rank of Saints, Arahant is also known as the Holy of Immortality. This, after the common net will be freed, there is no more samsara. Next is Mahànàma, although at the throne of Thai Tu monk to maintain Shakyamuni (Sakya), but also attained A Na Ham (ie Nhat Lai, or Holy fruit, only born again, and then liberated). . Meanwhile, Pandu, the remaining son in the family, did not see much mention of history books, only briefly recorded that he was the only survivor of the Thich family. When the Buddha was 80 years old. As for Aanda's only sister, Rohini, because of the aftermath of jealousy from her past life, she suffered severe skin sores, days and nights of misery and hid in a closed room until the Buddha degrees, That is the negative effect of negative karma from a previous life. When she was enlightened by the Buddha, she also sincerely practiced, and later attained the Noble Truth of Sotàpattimagga, which means entering the path of certainty of liberation. The scriptures say: when Rohini entered Thanh Luu, naturally healed, and at the end of his life, died and was born in the 33rd heaven as the wife of the heavenly king De Sakka According to Cùla Vagga of the Vinaya Pitaka, volume 8, chapter 1, Ananda was 37 years old, when he and Anuruddha and his cousin Devadatta (De Lady Buddha) with some young noble Shakyamuni entered together. monastic life. The teacher who ordained Amanda is Saint Arahant Belatthasìsa. But the Dharma Bao of this Teacher remains in the three organs very few. We find only a few of the following verses: "Like being a buffalo in misery, Although carrying a plow on the shoulder. But still trying to go forward with strong steps, Please don't be afraid to be in danger. The day and month are the Holy size, Measure the height of merit monk ... " (Escape translation according to Theragathà Ton Tuc verse 16) Only by the simple and profound guidance of that scripture, that Aban has become more and more mature in the Vinaya precepts. He was a needy and vigilant disciple, so it was only during the first summer [1] that he achieved the attainment of the Immortal (Cùla Vagga VII, 1). After his ordination, one day Aanda told his fellow believers, "Elder Punna Mantàliputta has helped him greatly improve his practice. The elder has passed the dharma to the newly introduced bhikkhus, in which with him, by teaching them to understand clearly: The stubbornness in the ego is born only through the two assistants named Name and Rupa (form thinking), that is through form and feeling. is through the level of thought and characteristic of "nuance." To make it easier to understand, Elder Punna gave an example: "If a person wants to know what his face is like, or what his or her shape looks like, he must look into a mirror, or in a mirror. Similarly, when the five aggregates (also known as the five aggregates [2]) form a person, it only reveals its face of ego-clinging through form and thought, ie. and just STRONG! ". The six sense bases (or the six sense bases), that is, the Eye-base, the Root-Base, the Base-Base, the Body-Base-Base, and the Mind-Base, in an individual are also tied to Name and Rupa, that is, they are also connected appearance and thinking, then of course something "I" appears! And when the six sense faculties are no longer nourished by form and thought, then the "I" will disappear (according to Samyutta Nikàya 22, 83 - A Ham number 22, 83) Ananda meditated on this comparison over and over again and more and more deeply, until he realized the Noble Truth of Suffering (Dukkhàriyasacca), impermanence (Aniccà) and the reason of Anatta ( Anattà). Then he no longer allows his inner mind to be "nourished" by those five aggregates (or Name and Form), so that he can begin to reap the results of a virtuous life, first of all, the entry of Luu Tu Da Huong. . Since then, Abanda has always been attentive and peaceful with the life of Monk. He recognized the bliss of the virtue of denial (referring to the frugality of the monastic life), and thrived on the Holy Way, like a man floating in the sea, happily finding direction to the shore of refuge. On the only float is the virtue of vigilance or self-awareness. (According to Dasapàramitàsutta, the stream of samsara is only blocked by three banks, the other shore, the upper shore and the noble shore. amputation of greed means seeing Bo Kia!). During the early years of the Sabbath life, Amanda devoted all of her time to inner purification. He immersed himself very easily in the clergy community, and gradually developed outstanding spiritual strength. When Venerable Buddha and Ananda were both 55 years old, one day the Buddha summoned the Sangha, and taught that: "During the twenty years of community guidance school, the Tathagata has been close to many disciples, but not a single disciple has volunteered for the Buddha's life decisively. And now the Tathagata is 55 years old, whose body is like a carriage entering a period of damage, the Tathagata feels it is necessary to speak out so that the servant will appear automatically. The Buddha had just finished his words immediately, all the most virtuous disciples immediately volunteered to serve the Buddha. But the Buddha meekly refused, then he was quiet. That gesture of the Buddha showed a special meaning. All of the disciples present immediately thought of Abanda, who was sitting in a humble place behind the ranks of the elders, and he was the only one who had not yet volunteered to serve the Buddha. Then they turned towards Abanda, asking him to step forward. Due to ripe conditions, gathered from many past lives, Ananda is the only person who will play the role of an apostle to attend the Buddha. But there are a number of monks, who have not yet attained pure wisdom, expressed surprise and asked the question: "Why was Ananda not among the first disciples to volunteer to serve the Buddha?". Ananda politely replied: - My faith is inherently in the complete insight of the Omniscient. I want to see the manifestation of the Buddha's compassion. Although in my heart I have volunteered to assume that responsibility for a long time, because a member of the Shakyamuni family plays the role of a servant of the Buddhist monk, will avoid people of other classes dissatisfied with the Buddha. But I do not dare to be so willing, because the Blessed One is the one who understands all conditions. Only He chooses the most certain of his disciples, and He manifested. The Buddha waited for Ananda after finishing his speech and declared: - Ananda is the disciple of the Buddha that Tathagata plans to choose. And from now on: In addition to serving the Tathagata, he is also one of the Tathagata's representatives to give ordinances. Ananda, when she heard the Blessed One confirm his status, instead of being proud of being raised to the ranks of his great disciples by the Buddha, Ananda humbly asked the liberator to grant him the following eight conditions. here: - First, the Blessed One do not give priority to giving the clothes to Ananda. - Second, the Master do not beg for food. - Third, the Master do not reserve good monasteries for him to stay. - Fourth, when there is a new benefactor, the Buddha does not give priority to nominating him to attend the Sangha or make offerings. - Fifth, if someone wants to invite the Buddha to take a son, he only needs to tell Aanda, then Aanda, and Buddha will accept. - Friday when a good-hearted person comes from afar, wants to see the Tathagata, then Amanda has the privilege of bringing them in to serve the Buddha. - Saturday, if Aanda encounters questions in the Dharma, he is allowed to ask the Buddha at any time. - Eighth, if the Blessed One is to lecture while Ananda is absent, he will ask the Buddha to repeat the sermon for him. Then he presents the reason he requires these eight things as follows: - The four things required from first to fourth will avoid all kinds of noble professors agree that "Ananda volunteered to attend to the Buddha just for profit!". - The next four requirements (from Thursday to the eighth) will dispel the criticism of the world: "Ananda at night took care of the Buddha to replace the Buddha in contact with everyone, where is the time to study, practice, develop liberation virtue ...?! " The Buddha of course accepted these eight praiseworthy requests, because it was completely consistent with the conduct of a Sa Mon. And since then, Abanda has always been a companion, a servant and a servant of the Buddha during the twenty-five long years of virtue. That about twenty-five long years, the aroma and the inner virtues of Aanda's diligence, patience and perseverance, have not diminished or lost, compared with the first eighteen years, when he was born. is also an unknown Saber, unknown to anyone. And Abanda sprang up with the following verses: "Twenty-five years almost bOn the foot of the Buddha, Learn to high, the truth is as bright as a mirror. A life without greed, Eradication of ignorance, immeasurable miraculous Buddha Dharma! " (Adapted from Theragàtha v. 1039 = Ton Tuc verse 1039) Then in the next two passages of this poem, Amanda also uses a similar flow of text, to express the unrivaled security of a Sa Mon who has destroyed anger and delusion. Readers can reread the above four verses, just replace the four words "Greed, desire", or replace those four words with the four words "Lost, lost" and you will have two The next verse is as follows: "Twenty-five years at the foot of the Buddha, Learning to elevate the truth as bright as a mirror A life without anger and cruelty ... Destroy ignorance, the Buddha's Dharma is immeasurable!". and "Twenty-five years at the foot of Buddhism to elevate the shining truth as a mirror A life without delusion of ignorance, immeasurable magic of the Buddha!" The main idea of ​​the above verse as well as the next verses in the Theragātha (Theragātha) is that Abanana praised the happiness of anyone who followed the Buddha's example and stopped greed, anger and delusion. On the other hand, "twenty-five years" mentioned in the verse just mentioned, only describes the only happiness during the time he served as a servant of the Buddha, not referring to the dignity of his life as a Saber. During those twenty-five years, he was still mortal. According to the sutras: He is the one who needs to learn - Sekha [3], but Aanda has many times been separated from greed and anger, so he delicately exclaimed: "Although not attained yet escape, whoever is to serve a Buddha, he or she will not suffer suffering because of greed and anger ". (Note: A level Tu Ðà Hàng is still infected with human nature. This level can only eliminate ego, doubt and superstition.) Indeed, Ananda is a person who has enjoyed the fruitful effect of merit to serve the Buddha. As for the verses related to other virtuous dhammas in the Abhidhamma Sutra (Theragàthà), though not cited here, in general all content is to praise noble qualities, which he as a companion of the Buddha at the time, experienced. Particularly in the period of Aanda's life, she attained Arahant, how after the Buddha's death, will be discussed in the next sections. Note: [1] The summer entry season is the time when disciples of the Buddhas have to stay in one place to observe morality and meditate. The Buddha invented this incarnation right in the rainy season (according to Indian weather, from the beginning of July to the end of September of the solar calendar). This incarnation tradition was inscribed in the Vinaya and is practiced by all Buddhist sects to this day. (Although there is a difference in rainy season for each country). [2] The Five Aggregates: Form Aggregates, Tho Aggregates, Thought Aggregates, Form Aggregates, and Consciousness These five aggregates are also known collectively as Name and Form. Sac includes the first two aggregates (Sac, Tho). Name includes the following three aggregates (perception, action and consciousness). [3] Sekhà: need to learn, the word Pali: Sekhà, which means one still learns in the four liberating truths (Four Noble Truths). But in many places in the Pali Tripitaka, the term Sekhà refers to the three saints who are not completely liberated, namely Tu Da Huong, Tu Da Ham, and A Na Ham. And the highest Sage has been completely liberated - Arahant - called the Buddha "End of Study", Asekhà. Many Vietnamese Buddhist translators also translate Sekhà as Huu Hoc and Asekhà as Vô Học. The author would like to have permission to put in here for you to study freely.END=NAM MO SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA.( 3 TIMES ).GOLDEN AMITABHA MONASTERY=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THICH CHAN TANH.AUSTRALIA,SYDNEY.31/3/2021.