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Viyahapannatti 11.12

English (machine translation) 11.12

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English

11.12.525

At that time, in that period, there was a city named Ālabhiyā—a description [as before]. There was the Saṅkhavaṇa caitya—a description [as before]. There in the city of Ālabhiyā lived many lay followers headed by Isibhaddaputta—wealthy down to not disregarded by the multitude, who had comprehended the jīva and non-jīva, down to: dwelling while cultivating themselves with the austerities they had undertaken.
Then, once upon a time, as those lay followers had gathered together, assembled, sat down, and were seated together, this sort of mutual conversation arose [among them]: "O noble ones! For what period of time is the lifespan duration of celestial beings in the celestial realms declared?"
Then the lay follower Isibhaddaputta, who had comprehended the matter regarding the lifespan duration of celestial beings, said to those lay followers: "O noble ones! The lifespan duration of celestial beings in the celestial realms is declared to be a minimum of ten thousand years; beyond that, greater by one samaya, greater by two samayas, greater by three samayas, down to greater by ten samayas, greater by numerable samayas, greater by innumerable samayas, and declared to be a maximum of thirty-three sāgaropamas. Beyond that, celestial beings and celestial realms cease."
Then those lay followers, while the lay follower Isibhaddaputta was thus explaining down to thus setting forth, did not believe, did not trust, and did not relish this matter; not believing, not trusting, and not relishing this matter, they returned to the very direction from which they had appeared.

11.12.526

At that time and at that hour, Śramaṇa Lord Mahāvīra arrived […] and the assembly attended upon him. Then those lay followers, having received news of this matter, delighted and pleased, called to one another and, having called, said thus: “Indeed, beloved of the gods! Śramaṇa Lord Mahāvīra has arrived […] in the city of Ālabhiyā, having taken up a suitable lodging, and is dwelling purifying his soul with self-restraint and austerity.
Great indeed is the fruit, O beloved of the gods, of even hearing the name and lineage of such arhats and lords; how much more then of approaching, paying homage, revering, inquiring, and attending upon [them]? Of hearing even a single noble, pious, excellent word; how much more then of grasping extensive meaning? Therefore, let us go, beloved of the gods! Let us pay homage to, revere, honor, worship Śramaṇa Lord Mahāvīra, and attend upon him as an auspicious, fortunate, divine, and sacred presence.
This will be for our welfare, happiness, forbearance, ultimate liberation, and following benefit in the life to come and in this life!” Having said thus, they agreed upon this matter with one another. Having agreed, they went to their respective homes; having gone, they bathed, performed offerings, performed protective and auspicious rites and penances, wore pure, festive, auspicious garments, adorned their bodies with few but precious ornaments, and set out from their respective homes. Having set out, they gathered together; having gathered together, they proceeded on foot through the middle of the city of Ālabhiyā. Having gone out, they went to the Śaṅkhavana caitya, to where Śramaṇa Lord Mahāvīra was; having gone, they attended upon Śramaṇa Lord Mahāvīra with the threefold attendance […].
Then Śramaṇa Lord Mahāvīra expounded the Dharma to those lay followers and to that very large assembly [… until they became] observers of his command.
Then those lay followers, having heard and grasped the Dharma before Śramaṇa Lord Mahāvīra, delighted and pleased, rose from their seats; having risen, they paid homage and bowed to Śramaṇa Lord Mahāvīra, and having paid homage and bowed, spoke thus:
“Indeed, Venerable Sir, the lay follower Ṛṣibhadraputra declared to us […] expounded: ‘O noble ones! The minimum lifespan duration of deities in the heavenly realms is declared to be ten thousand years; beyond that, [increased] by one samaya […] beyond that, deities and heavenly realms cease.’
How is this so, Venerable Sir?”
Addressing them as ‘noble ones!’, Śramaṇa Lord Mahāvīra said to those lay followers:
“Noble ones! What the lay follower Ṛṣibhadraputra declared to you […] expounded: ‘O noble ones! The minimum lifespan duration of deities in the heavenly realms is declared to be ten thousand years; beyond that, [increased] by one samaya […] beyond that, deities and heavenly realms cease’—that matter is true. I also, O noble ones, declare […] expound thus: ‘O noble ones! The minimum lifespan duration of deities in the heavenly realms is declared to be ten thousand years; beyond that, [increased] by one samaya, by two samayas, by three samayas, up to ten samayas, by numerable samayas, by innumerable samayas; at maximum, a lifespan duration of thirty-three sāgaropamas is declared. Beyond that, deities and heavenly realms cease.’ That matter is true.”
Then those lay followers, having heard and grasped this matter before Śramaṇa Lord Mahāvīra, paid homage and bowed to Śramaṇa Lord Mahāvīra; having paid homage and bowed, they went to where the lay follower Ṛṣibhadraputra was; having gone, they paid homage and bowed to the lay follower Ṛṣibhadraputra, and having paid homage and bowed, they duly and with humility repeatedly asked his forgiveness regarding this matter. Then those lay followers asked questions; having asked, they received the explanations; having received them, they paid homage and bowed to Śramaṇa Lord Mahāvīra, and having paid homage and bowed, they returned in the very direction from which they had come.

11.12.527

Addressing him as “Venerable Sir!”, the venerable Gautama paid homage and bowed to Śramaṇa Lord Mahāvīra, and having paid homage and bowed, said thus: “Is the lay follower Ṛṣibhadraputra capable, Venerable Sir, of being tonsured before the beloved of the gods and renouncing the household life for the homeless state?”
“This meaning is not competent, Gautama! The lay follower Ṛṣibhadraputra, purifying his soul with many moral vows, supplementary vows, abstentions, renunciations, and poṣadha-fasts, and with undertaken austere penances, will live for many years in the state of a lay follower. Having lived thus, he will emaciate himself by a one-month saṃlekhanā; having emaciated himself, he will terminate sixty meals through fasting; having terminated them, having confessed and repented, having attained spiritual composure, and having died when his time is completed, he will be reborn as a deity in the Aruṇābha celestial abode in the Saudharma heaven. There, a lifespan duration of four palyopamas is declared for some deities; there, the lifespan duration of the deity Ṛṣibhadraputra will also be four palyopamas.”
“Venerable Sir, when that deity Ṛṣibhadraputra departs from that heavenly realm at the exhaustion of his lifespan, the exhaustion of his realm, and the exhaustion of his duration, immediately after departing, where will he go? Where will he be reborn?”
“Gautama! In the realm of Mahāvideha he will attain perfection, attain enlightenment, be liberated, attain complete nirvāṇa, and put an end to all suffering.”
“So it is, Venerable Sir! So it is, Venerable Sir!” said the venerable Gautama […] and dwelt purifying his soul.

11.12.528

Then, at another time, the Śramaṇa, the Lord Mahāvīra, set out from the city of Ālabhiyā, from the Śaṅkhavana caitya; having set out, he wandered touring the countryside outside.
At that time, in that period, there was a city named Ālabhiyā—a description [is to be supplied]. There, there was a caitya named Śaṅkhavana—a description [is to be supplied]. Not far from, close to that Śaṅkhavana caitya, there lived a wandering ascetic named Poggala, fully accomplished in the Ṛgveda, the Yajurveda, up to the Brahmanical and ascetic doctrines and systems of logic. By means of uninterrupted austerities of fasting for two successive days, raising up his arms again and again, facing the sun, he spent his time subjecting himself to heat-penance on the ground for practicing heat-penance.
Then, as that wandering ascetic Poggala was subjecting himself to heat-penance on the ground for practicing heat-penance with raised-up arms facing the sun through uninterrupted austerities of fasting for two successive days, through his innate goodness, his innate tranquility, his innately attenuated anger, pride, deceit, and greed, his endowment with mildness and gentle modesty, his modesty, and his humility, at another time, through the destruction-cum-suppression of the obscuring karmas, as he made reasoning, reflection, searching, and investigation, the knowledge named vibhaṅga arose [in him]. Endowed with that arisen vibhaṅga knowledge, he knew and saw the lifespan duration of the gods in the Brahmaloka heaven.
Then, in that wandering ascetic Poggala, there arose this internal, thoughtful, reflective, mentally conceived consideration: “Indeed, extraordinary knowledge and vision have arisen in me. In the heavenly realms, the minimum lifespan duration of the gods is declared to be ten thousand years; beyond that, it is exceeded by one samaya, exceeded by two samayas, up to exceeded by an innumerous number of samayas; at the maximum, the lifespan duration is declared to be ten sāgaropamas. Beyond that, gods and heavenly realms cease to exist.” Having reflected thus, he stepped down from the ground for heat-penance; having stepped down, he took up the triple staff, the water-pot, up to the ochre-dyed garments; having taken them, he approached where the city of Ālabhiyā was, where the abode of the wandering ascetics was; having approached, he set down his ascetic utensils; having done so, at the triangular plots, junctions of three roads, crossroads, squares, junctions of four roads, highways, and streets of the city of Ālabhiyā, he expounded up to propagated to one another:
“Truly, O beloved of the gods, extraordinary knowledge and vision have arisen in me. In the heavenly realms, the minimum lifespan duration of the gods is declared to be ten thousand years; beyond that, exceeded by one samaya, exceeded by two samayas, up to exceeded by an innumerous number of samayas; at the maximum, the lifespan duration is declared to be ten sāgaropamas. Beyond that, gods and heavenly realms cease to exist.”
Then, having heard and grasped this matter from the presence of the wandering ascetic Poggala, the multitude of people at the triangular plots, junctions of three roads, crossroads, squares, junctions of four roads, highways, and streets of the city of Ālabhiyā expounded up to propagated to one another:
“Indeed, O beloved of the gods, the wandering ascetic Poggala expounds up to propagates thus: ‘Truly, O beloved of the gods, extraordinary knowledge and vision have arisen in me: indeed, in the heavenly realms, the minimum lifespan duration of the gods is declared to be ten thousand years; beyond that, exceeded by one samaya, exceeded by two samayas, up to exceeded by an innumerous number of samayas; at the maximum, the lifespan duration is declared to be ten sāgaropamas. Beyond that, gods and heavenly realms cease to exist.’ How is this to be believed to be so?”
The Master arrived; the assembly came out. The Dharma was taught; the assembly departed. The venerable Gautama, in the same manner, while wandering for alms, heard the talk of the multitude of people; having heard it, everything is to be related in the same way up to: “I, however, O Gautama, expound thus, speak thus, up to propagate thus: In the heavenly realms, the minimum lifespan duration of the gods is declared to be ten thousand years; beyond that, exceeded by one samaya, exceeded by two samayas, up to exceeded by an innumerous number of samayas; at the maximum, the lifespan duration is declared to be thirty-three sāgaropamas. Beyond that, gods and heavenly realms cease to exist.”
[Gautama asked:] “Venerable Sir, are there in the Saudharma heaven substances possessing color and lacking color, possessing odor and lacking odor, possessing taste and lacking taste, possessing touch and lacking touch, bound to one another, touched by one another, bound and touched by one another, that abide in the condition of one another’s mass?”
[The Lord replied:] “Yes, Gautama, there are.”
[Gautama asked:] “Likewise in Īśāna, likewise up to Acyuta, likewise in the Graiveyaka abodes, in the Anuttara abodes too, in Īṣatprāgbhārā also, up to…?”
[The Lord replied:] “Yes, Gautama, there are.”
Then that very large assembly, having arisen in whatever direction, departed back in that very direction.
Then the multitude of people at the triangular plots, junctions of three roads, crossroads, squares, junctions of four roads, highways, and streets of the city of Ālabhiyā expounded up to propagated to one another:
“That which the wandering ascetic Poggala, O beloved of the gods, expounded up to propagated: ‘Truly, O beloved of the gods, extraordinary knowledge and vision have arisen in me: indeed, in the heavenly realms, the minimum lifespan duration of the gods is declared to be ten thousand years; beyond that, exceeded by one samaya, exceeded by two samayas, up to exceeded by an innumerous number of samayas; at the maximum, the lifespan duration is declared to be ten sāgaropamas. Beyond that, gods and heavenly realms cease to exist’—that matter is not correct. The Śramaṇa, the Lord Mahāvīra expounds up to: In the heavenly realms, the minimum lifespan duration of the gods is declared to be ten thousand years; beyond that, exceeded by one samaya, exceeded by two samayas, up to exceeded by an innumerous number of samayas; at the maximum, the lifespan duration is declared to be thirty-three sāgaropamas. Beyond that, gods and heavenly realms cease to exist.”
Then that wandering ascetic Poggala, having heard and grasped this matter from the multitude of people, became suspicious, doubtful, skeptical, unsettled, and perturbed. Then, in that wandering ascetic Poggala—who had become suspicious, doubtful, skeptical, unsettled, and perturbed—that vibhaṅga knowledge quickly fell away.
Then, in that wandering ascetic Poggala, there arose this internal, thoughtful, reflective, mentally conceived consideration: “Indeed, the Śramaṇa, the Lord Mahāvīra is the founder of the path, the tīrthaṅkara, up to the omniscient, the all-seeing, traveling through space by means of the wheel [of Dharma], up to taking up a suitable temporary lodging at the Śaṅkhavana caitya, and abides disciplining himself through self-restraint and austerity. Therefore, great is the fruit indeed of even hearing the name and lineage of such arhats and Lords, not to mention approaching, venerating, paying homage to, questioning, and attending upon them! Great is the fruit of even hearing a single noble, righteous, good word, not to mention grasping the extensive meaning!
Therefore, let me go to the Śramaṇa, the Lord Mahāvīra, venerate him up to attend upon him; this will be for our benefit, happiness, forbearance, final beatitude, and future well-being both in this world and the next world.” Reflecting thus, he approached where the abode of the wandering ascetics was; having approached, he entered the abode of the wandering ascetics; having entered, he took up the triple staff, the water-pot, up to the ochre-dyed garments; having taken them, he departed from the abode of the wandering ascetics; having departed, with his vibhaṅga knowledge fallen away, he passed right through the midst of the city of Ālabhiyā; having passed through, he approached where the Śaṅkhavana caitya was, where the Śramaṇa, the Lord Mahāvīra was; having approached, he venerated and paid homage to the Śramaṇa, the Lord Mahāvīra three times; having venerated and paid homage, neither too close nor too far, eager to listen, paying homage, facing [him] with modesty and hands folded in supplication, he attended upon him.
Then the Śramaṇa, the Lord Mahāvīra expounded the Dharma to the wandering ascetic Poggala and to that very large assembly up to: he became an observer of the teaching.
Then that wandering ascetic Poggala, having heard and grasped the Dharma from the presence of the Śramaṇa, the Lord Mahāvīra, just like Khandaka up to went away to the north-eastern direction; having gone away, he abandoned the triple staff, the water-pot, up to the ochre-dyed garments in a solitary place; having abandoned them, he performed the five-handful plucking of the hair himself; having done so, he circumambulated the Śramaṇa, the Lord Mahāvīra three times from left to right; having done so, he venerated and paid homage; having venerated and paid homage, just as Ṛṣabhadatta was initiated, in the same way he was initiated, in the same way studied the eleven Aṅgas, in the same way everything up to became free from all suffering.
“Venerable Sir!” said the venerable Gautama, venerating and paying homage to the Śramaṇa, the Lord Mahāvīra; having venerated and paid homage, he spoke thus: “Venerable Sir, with which bone-structure do jīvas attain liberation when becoming liberated?”
“Gautama, they attain liberation with the bone-structure of adamantine-double-interlocking-and-bolted joints (vajra-ṛṣabha-nārāca); in this manner, just as in the Aupapātika, exactly so.
Bone-structure, bodily configuration, height, and lifespan, and residence;
In this way, the entire discourse on liberation is to be recited without remainder, up to:
‘The liberated souls experience everlasting, unobstructed bliss.’
‘It is so, Venerable Sir! It is so, Venerable Sir!’”

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