English
As time goes on, even that is lost from the top down. First, the Parivāra is lost, then the Khandhaka, the Bhikkhunīvibhaṅga, the Mahāvibhaṅga, in sequence, they retain only the Uposatha Khandhaka. Then the Teaching is virtually uninterrupted. As long as even a four-line verse is current among humans, the Teaching is virtually uninterrupted. When a faithful and pleased king, having placed a thousand pieces of gold in a golden casket on the neck of an elephant, proclaims in the city with a drum: "Whoever knows a four-line verse spoken by the Buddhas, let him take this thousand," and after having the drum beaten, they do not hear or even those who hear do not find anyone to take it. Only after having it beaten for the third time, when the king's men, not finding anyone to take it, return the thousand pieces of gold to the royal palace, then it is said that the Teaching is interrupted. Thus, when the Teaching is interrupted, practice and realization are also interrupted. The difficulty of hearing the Good Teaching is to be shown by the story of Dhammasoṇḍaka. It is said that our Perfectly Enlightened One, not long after the disappearance of the Dispensation of the King of the Dhamma, the Perfectly Enlightened Kassapa, having become the prince Dhammasoṇḍaka, son of the King of Bārāṇasī, and having been established in the kingdom after the death of his father, desiring to hear the Dhamma taught by the Ten-Powered Kassapa, having ruled the kingdom for about a month, our Perfectly Enlightened One, in this very fortunate aeon, having ruled the kingdom, like a city of the gods, He, reigning in the city of Bārāṇasī with a kingdom like that of a universal monarch, thought thus: "What is the use of such a kingdom, of royal power, without the true Dhamma? Like the sky without the sun, like the night without the moon, like an elephant without tusks, like the great ocean without a shore, like a well-adorned face without eyes, like pārichatta flowers without fragrance, my kingdom does not shine without the four-lettered, fixed Dhamma teaching." Thinking thus, placing a casket adorned with a thousand pieces of gold on the auspicious elephant's forehead, he had a drum beaten in the great streets of Bārāṇasī, "I will give to anyone who knows a one-verse, two-verse, three-verse, or four-verse Dhamma teaching." Having the drum beaten thus, not finding anyone who knew the Dhamma, again and again, two thousand, three thousand, up to a hundred thousand, a koṭi, two thousand koṭis, a hundred thousand koṭis, he searched in villages, towns, districts, army camps, and the viceroy's residence. In the end, not finding a Dhamma teacher, even giving up his golden throne and white parasol, not finding a Dhamma teacher, giving up his royal glory, giving up himself, he said, "Even becoming a slave to a Dhamma teacher, I will listen to the Dhamma." Even then, not finding a Dhamma teacher, becoming remorseful, thinking, "What is the use of a kingdom without the true Dhamma?" Handing over the kingdom to his ministers, becoming a seeker of the true Dhamma, King Dhammasoṇḍa entered the great forest. Because of King Dhammasoṇḍa entering the forest intending to hear the true Dhamma, Sakka, the king of the gods, felt his Vejayanta palace shake together with its pinnacle, and his paṇḍukambala stone throne became hot. King Sakka, thinking, "For what reason has my paṇḍukambala stone throne become hot?" looking with his thousand eyes, spreading his gaze among gods and humans, seeing King Dhammasoṇḍa entering the forest as a seeker of the Dhamma, he thought: "Today, I myself..." Having abandoned the guise of a demon, and fashioned this impermanence-revealing, birth, aging, sickness, death, showing the fault in the whole body, preaching the Dhamma, he should be established in his own kingdom," thinking thus, Sakka, king of the gods, having fashioned a demon form, showed himself to the Bodhisatta, not far away. Seeing him, Dhammasonda the Great King thought thus... "Could such a demon know the Dhamma?" Thinking thus, standing not far away, speaking with the demon, he said, "O Lord of merit, divine king, dwelling in this dense forest, do you know the Dhamma?" The deity said, "Great King, I know the Dhamma." "If you know the Dhamma, recite a Dhamma discourse to me," he said. "I will recite the Dhamma to you, but what kind of honor will you bestow upon the Dhamma reciter?" he said. "In that case, recite the Dhamma to me, and afterwards you may eat the flesh of my body," he said. "I, Great King, cannot recite the Dhamma being hungry," he said. "If you eat the flesh first, who will listen to the Dhamma?" he said. Again, that demon said, "I cannot preach the Dhamma." Again, the king said, "Knowing my gain of the Dhamma and your gain of flesh, preach the Dhamma to me," he said. Then Sakka, king of the gods, saying, "May it be well," fashioned a great mountain of collyrium, about three leagues high, not far away, and said thus... "If, Great King, having ascended to the top of this mountain, you leap into the sky and fall into my mouth, I will preach the Dhamma to you while you are in the sky. In that case, you will gain the Dhamma and I will gain flesh," he said. Hearing his words, Dhammasonda the Great King thought, "In this beginningless Saṃsāra, becoming a person, being endowed with unrighteousness, for the sake of unrighteousness itself, killing living beings, taking what is not given, sexual misconduct, a pig-slaughterer, a sheep-slaughterer, A bird, a thief, a seducer of another's wife. Taking them, the blood of the beheaded is more than the water in the four great oceans. The tears of those weeping for loved ones like mother and father are more than the water in the four great oceans. But this body I sell for the sake of the Dhamma, it is of great fruit and pleasing," thinking thus, "Good sir, I will do so," climbing the mountain, standing on the mountaintop, "With my rope, I will give my living body for the sake of the true Dhamma," being joyful, "Preach the Dhamma," sacrificing life for the sake of the Dhamma, flying from the sky, he said, "Preach the Dhamma." Then Sakka, the king of gods, adorned with all ornaments in his own form, exceedingly joyful to hear, touching him with divine touch as he fell from the sky, receiving him on his chest, taking him to the deva-world, seating him on the paṇḍukambala stone throne, honoring him with garlands and scents, preaching the Dhamma to Dhammasoṇḍaka the Great King, spoke this verse: "Impermanent, indeed, are conditioned things, subject to arising and passing away; Having arisen, they cease; their stilling is blissful." Thus, Sakka, having preached the Dhamma to Dhammasoṇḍaka the Great King, showing the prosperity of the deva-world, bringing him from the deva-world, establishing him in his own kingdom, advising him with diligence, departed to the deva-world. Thus, the rarity of hearing the true Dhamma should be understood. Thus, with the disappearance of the teaching, practice and realization also disappear. Here, three kinds of Nibbāna should be understood. Which three kinds of Nibbāna? Nibbāna of defilements, Nibbāna of aggregates, Nibbāna of elements. Among these, the Nibbāna of defilements occurs at the Bodhi-maṇḍa itself. For the Blessed One, at the Bodhi-maṇḍa itself, standing on the ground of virtue with the feet of effort, taking the axe of knowledge that destroys karma with the hand of faith, all greed, hatred, delusion, perverted thought, shamelessness, recklessness, anger, hostility, denigration, domination, envy, stinginess, deceit, trickery, stubbornness, Those who indulge in laughter and amusement are overcome by pride, arrogance, negligence, craving, ignorance, various unwholesome roots, misconduct, defilements, impurities, distorted perceptions, thoughts, proliferation, the four kinds of inversions, influxes, bonds, floods, yokes, wrong paths, clinging, the five mental fetters, hindrances, delight, the root of contentions, craving, the tendencies of clinging to the body, the eight kinds of wrongness, the nine roots of craving, the ten unwholesome paths of action, the sixty-two kinds of wrong views, the eighty kinds of craving-dominated thoughts, and hundreds of thousands of defilements that cause burning. In brief, the five aggregates of defilement, the instigator, death, and the son of gods, Māra, are completely destroyed, dispelled, and brought to nothing. Therefore, all defilements go to cessation and extinction at the Bodhi-maṇḍa itself, thus the extinction of defilements occurs at the Bodhi-maṇḍa itself. Here, "Bodhi" refers to the knowledge of the path of Arahatship. For indeed, at the moment of the path of Arahatship, all defilements of all Buddhas, Paccekabuddhas, and noble disciples completely cease and are extinguished. Those Buddhas are threefold, namely, those who understand quickly, those who understand after explanation, and those who need guidance, as stated in the Jātaka and Kīsotaka stories. "One named Ugghaṭitaññu, two are Vibhajjitaññu; The third is named Neyya, the Bodhisattva is considered threefold. The Ugghaṭitaññu Bodhisattva, is named as excelling in wisdom; The Vibhajjitaññu Bodhisattva, is said to excel in effort. The Neyya is considered to excel in faith, these are the three Bodhisattvas; Having fulfilled the requisites for Enlightenment for one hundred thousand aeons and four incalculable aeons, Having received the prediction in the past; The Ugghaṭitaññu Bodhisattva, attained supreme Enlightenment. Having fulfilled the requisites for Enlightenment for one hundred thousand aeons and eight incalculable aeons, Having received the prediction in the past; The Vipañcitaññu Bodhisattva, attained supreme Enlightenment; The Neyya Bodhisattva, for sixteen incalculable aeons, Having fulfilled the requisites for Enlightenment for one hundred thousand aeons, having received the prediction in the past; Attained supreme Enlightenment."