
                            MAHA-MOGGALLANA

                                   by
                            Hellmuth Hecker

                       Translated from the German

              The German original appeared in the magazine
                  WISSEN UND WANDEL, XXII, 9/10 (1967)


                     Wheel Publication No. 263/264

                          First Printing 1979

           Copyright 1979, 1995 Buddhist Publication Society

                      BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
                      KANDY              SRI LANKA

                                 * * *


                         DharmaNet Edition 1995

                     Transcription: Bradford Griffith
                      Proofreading: Robert Bussewitz
                        Formatting: John Bullitt

        This electronic edition is offered for free distribution
            via DharmaNet by arrangement with the publisher.

                        DharmaNet International
                 P.O. Box 4951, Berkeley CA 94704-4951


                            * * * * * * * *




                Homage to him ... to that bhikkhu who,
                Brahma-like, can see in a moment's flash
                the thousandfold universe before his eyes;
                who, master of magic powers, can also see
                in the flow of time the gods' arising and
                their death.
                               -- //Theragatha// (Verses of the Elders),
                                  verse 1181.


                                 * * *


 1.  His Youth [*]
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        [*] Sources for chapters 1 and 2 are the ancient records in the
            Commentaries to the Anguttara Nikaya and Dhammapada.

 Near the capital of the kingdom of Magadha (today in the Indian State
 of Bihar) there were several townships.  In one of them, Kolita
 Moggallana was born in a Brahmanic family which claimed descent from
 Mudgala, one of the ancient seers.  Thus this clan was named "the
 Moggallans."  The small town was inhabited entirely by Brahmins and was
 "ultra-conservative."  Kolita's father was born of the most prominent
 family from which usually the town's mayor was appointed.  Being a
 member of such a high caste and of the town's most respected family,
 his father was almost like a petty king.  Thus Kolita grew up in an
 environment of wealth and honor, knowing of no sorrows.  He was
 educated entirely in the Brahmanic tradition which was based on the law
 of the seeds and ripening of actions. As a matter of course, that
 education included the belief in a life beyond, making it part and
 parcel of every-day life and its rituals.

   Kolita's family lived on very friendly terms with another Brahmanic
 family from a neighboring village.  On the very day of Kolita's birth,
 also to the other family a son was born whom they named Upatissa.  When
 the children grew up they became friends and soon they were
 inseparable.  Whatever they did, they did together, whether it was play
 or study, pleasure or work. Always they were seen together, and their
 undisturbed friendship was to last for life, for more than eighty
 years.  They never quarreled nor bore a grudge against each other.
 Always they lived amicably and stuck together in whatever difficulties.
 Yet in their character dispositions they were quite different. Upatissa
 was more of a pioneer type, daring and enterprising, while Kolita's way
 was to preserve, to cultivate and to enrich what he had gained.  Also
 their place within their families was different.  Kolita was the only
 child, but Upatissa had three brothers and three sisters.  To both,
 their friendship meant so much and filled their daily life to such an
 extent that as young men, they had little interest in the other sex,
 though they were not quite free from the light-heartedness and
 indulgences of their youthful age. Each of them was the leader of a
 group of friends with whom they undertook many kinds of play and sport
 in high spirits.  When they went to the river, Kolita's companions came
 on horse back and those of Upatissa were carried in palanquins.  It was
 similar with Francis of Assisi:  he, too, had been the leader of a
 group of playboys, and like him, both friends, too, had been enamored
 by the intoxications of youth, health and life.

   In Rajagaha, Magadha's capital, there was annually a great public
 celebration with popular shows and amusements, which was called "the
 hill festival."  Of course, both friends, too, went to enjoy it.  They
 had places reserved for them from where they could easily watch the
 entertainments. When there was something to laugh, they to joined in
 the laughter, and when there was something fascinating they too got
 excited.  They enjoyed these entertainments so much that they went
 there also for a second day and continued to watch keenly the
 performances, which were a mixture of folksy comedies and old legends.
 But the heightening of their joyful mood which they had expected failed
 to come. Still they had their places reserved for the third day too, as
 a new program of entertainments had been announced in glowing terms.
 They slept badly that night as the impressions of the previous day
 still haunted their minds.  While thus kept awake, Kolita thought:
 "What's the use of all that for us? Is there really anything worthwhile
 to be seen?  What benefit does it give?  After a few years, these
 glamorous actors will be old and feeble; they will leave the stage of
 life and continue their migrations through existence, driven by their
 cravings. The same it is with us.  These actors cannot help themselves
 to solve the problem of existence.  How, then, can they help us? We
 just waste here our time instead of thinking of our liberation!"

   Upatissa, too, had spent a restless night, and quite similar thoughts
 had come to him.  He reflected how these ancient myths and legends
 dramatized in those performances, actually concerned the reality of
 rebirth; but the jokes and frolics overlaying those ideas in the plays,
 pretended that there was only this present life one need be concerned
 with. Was this not an artificial suppression and repression of truth by
 vain illusions?

   When, on the morning of the third day, they went to their places at
 the festival, Kolita said to his friend:  "What is the matter with you?
 You are not as merry as you have been.  What depresses you?"  His
 friend replied:  "Tell me, what is the use to us of all these pleasures
 of eye and ear?  It is absolutely useless and worthless!  What I would
 rather do is seek a way of release from that devastating law of
 impermanence, a way to liberation from the fleeting illusions of life
 which alluringly haunt us and yet leave us empty.  That is what went
 through my head and made me think.  But you, too, dear Kolita, look
 anything else but cheerful!"  Kolita replied:  "I have felt the same as
 you did.  Why should we stay any longer here, in this unholy vanity
 show?  We should seek the way to the Holy!"  When Upatissa heard that
 his friend had the very same wish, he happily exclaimed:  "That is a
 good thought that came to us independent from each other!  We have
 wasted our life and our time long enough with all those unprofitable
 things. But if one earnestly seeks a teaching of deliverance, one has
 to give up home and possessions and go forth as a homeless pilgrim,
 free of worldly and sensual bonds, rising above them like a feathered
 bird."

   So the two friends decided to take the life of ascetics who then, as
 they still do now, wandered in large numbers along the roads of India
 in search of a spiritual teacher, a Guru, who could guide them.  When
 they told their followers about their decision, these young men were so
 impressed that most of them joined in that spiritual quest.  So all of
 them gave up home life, took off the sacred Brahmanic thread, cut hair
 and beard and put on the pale earth-colored garments of religious
 wanderers.  Discarding all distinguishing marks and privileges of their
 caste, they entered the classless society of ascetics.

                                 * * *




 2.  The Years of Wandering and Spiritual Search
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 It was about the same time when Prince Siddhattha married (and thus,
 for the time-being at least, made another step into worldly life) that
 Kolita and Upatissa left behind their worldly homes and started upon
 their quest for inner peace and salvation.  Together with their
 friends, they began a period of training under a spiritual teacher,
 just as the Bodhisatta did later.

   At that time, there were many teachers with many different views.
 Some of them even taught amoralism, others taught fatalism, and again
 others taught materialism.  Both friends realized the hollowness of
 such teachings early enough and thus did not take them too seriously.
 In Rajagaha, however, there was one teacher who appealed to them.  His
 name was Sanjaya who, according to tradition, was identical with
 Sanjaya Belatthaputta, mentioned in the Pali Canon as one of the six
 non-Buddhist teachers.  Under him the group of friends was ordained,
 which added considerably to Sanjaya's reputation. What did he teach
 them?  The texts do not provide an answer to this question in a way we
 are used to, but only some key ideas are briefly indicated, which, for
 the Indian of those days, was sufficient for making them understand the
 substance of these teachings.

   Contrary to other ascetic teachers who made definite dogmatic
 statements about specific topics, Sanjaya posed what may be called "the
 deepest existential problems" in a more comprehensive way.  Firstly: Is
 there another world beyond our empirical surface experience?  Secondly:
 After the death of this material body, does one appear in that other
 world by way of a purely mental birth process as a spontaneously arisen
 being?  Thirdly:  Whatever action one had committed in this carnal
 existence, be it good or bad, will it take effect in the next life, be
 it of a spiritual or human type, by way of reward or punishment, thus
 constituting our destiny?  Fourthly:  What, finally, is the destiny of
 a Perfected One after death?  In which way is it possible to conceive
 and describe his state or condition?  Whenever such questions were
 raised by ancient Indian thinkers, four alternative types of answers
 were thought to be possible:  affirmation; negation; partial
 affirmation and partial negation; neither affirmation nor negation.
 Sanjaya, however, taught that, with regard to the questions mentioned,
 none of those four positions was acceptable as a solution; they all
 contained unresolvable contradictions (antinomies), and therefore one
 should refrain from any judgement about these problems.  Here it may be
 noted that, from the four sets of antinomies which often occur in the
 Pali scriptures (e.g. Majjh. 63), only the fourth set is identical with
 Sanjaya's problems, namely the one concerning the after-death state of
 a Perfected One.

   While other ascetic teachers as a solution of their problems always
 advocated one of the four logical alternatives -- yes, no, yes and no,
 neither-nor -- Sanjaya did not commit himself to any of them.
 Especially, he did not commit himself dogmatically to the unprovable
 assertion (made, for instance, by popular natural science) that there
 is no world beyond, no mind-made (astral) body, no law of Karma and no
 survival after death.  In that attitude, he clearly differed from the
 materialists of his time. He rather taught that, in view of the
 unresolvable nature of these problems, one should keep to a stance of
 detachment and impartiality, not tolerating the slightest bias towards
 approval or disapproval of any of these theories and their
 consequences. From that we can see that he was a confirmed agnostic and
 skeptic of a peculiar brand who tried to convert the purely negative
 "Ignorabimus" ("We cannot know") into a definite philosophical
 attitude.  In some ways, he was what we nowadays would call an
 existentialist.  He taught, so to speak, a kind of dialectical
 existentialism, instead of dialectical materialism.

   An Indian king Ajatasattu, reported to the Buddha the following talk
 he had with the ascetic Sanjaya:

    "One day I went to Sanjaya of the Belattha clan and I asked him:
     'Can you, sir, declare to me an immediate fruit, visible in this
     very world, of the life of a recluse?'  Being thus asked, Sanjaya
     said:  'If you asked me whether there is another world -- well, if
     I thought there were, I would say so.  But I don't say so.  And I
     don't think it is thus or thus.  And I don't think it is otherwise.
     And I don't deny it.  And I don't say there neither is nor is not,
     another world.  And if you asked me about the beings produced
     spontaneously; or whether there is any fruit, any result, of good
     or bad actions; or whether a Tathagata continues or not after death
     -- to each or any of these questions do I give the same reply.'

    "Thus, Lord, did Sanjaya of the Belattha clan, when asked what was
     the immediate fruit and advantage in the life of a recluse, show
     his manner or prevarication."

                        -- Digha Nikaya No. 2; adapted from the
                           translation by T.W. Rhys Davids.


   But Kolita and Upatissa who, at that time, had not found any better
 teacher, were attracted by Sanjaya as they must have felt that his
 philosophical stance was something more than mere evasion.  Yet, after
 a short time, they realized that Sanjaya did not know what they were
 searching for:  a cure for the illness of universal suffering. Besides,
 they intuitively felt sure that there actually was another world, that
 there were mind-born beings (as, e.g.., deities), and that there was a
 moral recompense of actions.  In so far, their understanding went
 beyond that of their skeptical teacher.  Furthermore, Sanjaya, in total
 contradiction to his dogmatic skepticism, had once declared that his
 best disciples had been reborn at such and such a place (Samy. 44, 9).
 Hence, one day, the two friends approached Sanjaya and asked him
 whether he had still other teachings to convey than those they had
 learned from him.  To this he replied:  "That is all.  You know my
 entire teaching." Hearing this, they decided to leave and to continue
 their search.  They felt that it was for finding liberation that they
 had left their families, and not for the sake of endless and futile
 agnostic arguments.

   Thus, for a second time, they took up the life of wanderers in search
 of truth.  Again, they walked across India for many years, from North
 to South, from East to West.  They endured the dust of the road and the
 tormenting heat, the rain and the wind, being spurred on by thoughts
 that moved the mind of many Indians:

    "I am a victim of birth, aging and death, of sorrow, lamentations,
     pains, griefs and despairs.  I am a victim of suffering, a prey of
     suffering.  Surely, an end of this whole mass of suffering is
     discovered!"
                        -- Majjh. 28; tr. Nanamoli.


   In their travels they met many ascetics and brahmins who had the
 reputation to be exceptionally wise.  With them they had religious
 talks on God and world, heaven and hell and on the meaning of life and
 the way of salvation. But with their keen and critical minds trained by
 Sanjaya's skepticism, they very soon realized the emptiness of all
 those assertions and the learned ignorance of these philosophers.  None
 of these teachers could answer their probing questions, while the two
 friends themselves were quite able to reply when questioned.

   There is no record that tells us to which other teachers they had
 gone. But it would be surprising if the two truth-seekers had not met
 such mystics and sages as for instance the seer Bavari of great
 meditative power or the two teachers of Formless Infinity whose
 disciple the Bodhisattva was for some time.  But from their life story
 we can conclude that the two attained as little to the
 world-transcending experience of liberation as the Bodhisattva did.
 What may have been the cause of that lack of attainment?

   There are two possibilities for spiritual seekers:  either to gain
 inner peace and serenity by deep meditation (samadhi) or to seek for a
 clear teaching about the meaning of existence in its entirety, which
 encompasses the meaning of that inner peace. Those who had achieved
 such inner peace through meditation, mostly gave up any further search
 as they had found an overwhelming bliss which they believed to be the
 goal.  But at its best, this bliss would last a few aeons in one of the
 celestial worlds, and then its kammic force would be spent, leaving the
 meditators in the same samsaric imprisonment as before.  In former
 lives, this must have happened often to the Bodhisattva as well as to
 Kolita and Upatissa.  Though the two friends had no recollection of
 such previous experiences, they obviously had an intuitive feeling that
 meditative bliss and its rewards were not the final goal, but only a
 temporary relief within the continuing cycle of suffering.  Hence their
 foremost quest was for clarity about the concatenation of existence,
 how things hang together in this complex Samsara.  But such clarity
 cannot be found without the help of a Buddha.  Hence they had to
 continue their search until it had led them to the Buddha.  In ages
 void of a Buddha's appearance, their search would have been as futile
 as the recurring attainment, enjoyment and again losing of Samadhi.  It
 may have been an undefinable inner urge within them, which did not
 allow them to rest until they had found the Buddha who, like them, had
 gone forth in search of liberation, during the last years of their own
 quest.  If even the Bodhisattva, the future Buddha, only in the
 pressing situation of a great spiritual crisis remembered the
 meditative experience of his young years and only then could see it and
 use it as a gate to liberation, it was not to be expected that the two
 friends would find out by themselves that meditative absorption
 (//jhana//) was to be used as a gate of access to higher stages of the
 mind's emancipation.  They neither had the meditative experience nor
 the wide and independent mental range of a Buddha.  This is one of the
 aspects of existential misery, of prison-like ignorance:  either one
 settles down at the gate, regarding it, as the mystics do, as one's
 true home of peace and bliss; or one by-passes it quickly.  In
 retrospect, the friends' wanderings in search of truth were just a
 going in circles, in expectation of a Buddha's message of the
 liberating Path.

                                 * * *



 3.  Finding the Teaching [*]
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        [*] Source: Vinaya Maha-Vagga I, 23-24.

 Without knowing anything of the Buddha, they gave up their life as
 wanderers and, after about twenty years, returned to their home country
 Magadha.  This happened not long after the Buddha had set in motion the
 Wheel of the Dhamma at Benares.

   But the two friends still had not given up hope and they decided now
 to do their search separately, for doubling their chances. They agreed
 among themselves that he who had first learned about a convincing path
 to the Deathless, should quickly inform the other.

   At that time, when both were about forty years old, the Buddha had
 sent out the first batch of his disciples, sixty-one in number and all
 of them saints, so that they may proclaim the Teaching for the
 well-being and happiness of men.  The Buddha himself had gone to
 Rajagaha where the Maharaja of Magadha soon became his follower and
 donated to him the Bamboo Grove Monastery (Jetavana).  At that
 monastery he lived when Kolita and Upatissa returned to Rajagaha,
 staying at Sanjaya's place. One day Upatissa had gone to the town while
 Kolita had stayed back at their dwelling.  Kolita saw his friend
 returning but never had he seen him like that:  his entire being seemed
 to be transformed, his appearance was buoyant and radiant.  Eagerly
 Kolita asked him:

   "Your features are so serene, dear friend, and your complexion is so
 bright and clear.  Should it have happened that you have found the road
 to the Deathless?"

   Upatissa, then, replied:  "It is so, dear friend, the Deathless has
 been found."  He then reported how it happened.  In town, he had seen a
 monk whose behavior impressed him so deeply that he addressed him and
 asked who his teacher was.  The monk whose name was Assaji, was one of
 the first five disciples of the Buddha and one of the sixty one saints
 (Arahants).  Assaji replied that he was a disciple of the ascetic of
 the Sakya clan. When Upatissa begged him to explain his teacher's
 doctrine, Assaji said that he could not do so as he had been ordained
 only a few months ago.  He could only tell him in brief the
 quintessence of the teaching.  When Upatissa said that he would be
 satisfied knowing just the gist of the teaching in short, Assaji
 replied by way of that short stanza which was to become famous wherever
 the Buddha's teaching spread in the centuries and millennia that
 followed.  This is the original Pali text and its translation:

        //Ye dhamma hetupabhava
        tesam hetum Tathagataha
        tesam ca yo nirodho
        evam vadi mahasamano//.

        The Perfect One has told the cause
        of causally arisen things
        And what brings their cessation, too:
        Such is the doctrine taught
                        by the Great Monk.

 In literal translation:

        Of things conditionally arisen
        the Thus-gone the condition told
        and what is their cessation,
        thus the Great Ascetic proclaimed.

   When Upatissa heard this stanza, the vision of truth (the
 "Dhamma-eye") arose in him on the spot, and the very same happened to
 Kolita when he listened to the stanza retold by his friend.  He, too,
 realized: Whatever arises is bound to vanish. The realization that was
 evoked by this stanza, may be called a truly mystical event.  For us,
 these four lines do not contain an explanation explicit enough for a
 full understanding.  The deeper and wider meaning of the stanza reveals
 itself only to those who have trained themselves for long in wisdom and
 renunciation and have reflected long upon the impermanent and the
 Deathless, the conditioned and the Unconditioned.  This stanza will
 have such a revolutionary impact only on those who are so single-minded
 that they have become accustomed to investigate things only in those
 terms of the conditioned and Unconditioned.  As the two friends were
 inwardly prepared, Assaji's stanza had the power to lead them to the
 attainment of Stream-entry (sotapatti) which bestows the first vision
 of the Deathless (Nibbana) beyond the transience of phenomenal
 existence where death ever reigns.  In a flash of awakening they had
 seen the Uncreated.

   Here it is of interest to note that the three monks who were closest
 to the Buddha, Ananda and the two Chief Disciples, did not attain to
 Stream-entry by the Buddha's own instruction, but through the guidance
 of others:  Ananda through his Sangha-teacher, the Arahat Punna
 Mantaniputta, Upatissa through the Arahat Assaji, and Kolita even
 through one who was not an Arahat, but only a Stream-enterer.  For
 making such an attainment possible, Kolita needed to possess strong
 confidence in his friend as well as in truth; and Kolita did have this
 confidence.

   After Kolita had listened to that powerful stanza, he asked at once
 where the Great Ascetic, the Perfected One was staying. Hearing that he
 was staying nor far away at the Bamboo Grove Monastery, he wished to go
 there immediately. But Upatissa asked him to wait, saying, "Let us
 first go to Sanjaya and tell him that we have found the Deathless.  If
 he can understand, he is sure to make progress towards the truth.  But
 if he cannot comprehend at once, he may perhaps have confidence enough
 to join us when we go to see the Master.  Then, on listening to the
 Awakened One, himself, he will certainly understand."

   Thus the friends went to their former Master and said, "Listen, O
 Teacher, listen!  A fully Awakened One has appeared in the world. Well
 proclaimed is his teaching and his monks live the fully purified life
 of ascetics.  Come with us to see him!"  But Sanjaya could not bring
 himself to join them, but, on the contrary, offered them to take over
 the leadership of his following, along with him, as his equals.  If
 they accepted this, they would gain a great reputation, because
 spiritual teachers enjoyed, at that time, the highest respect. But the
 two replied that they would not mind remaining pupils for life, whether
 under him or under the Buddha.  But they would ask him to make up his
 mind now, as their own decision was final. Sanjaya, however, torn by
 indecision, lamented:  "I cannot, no I cannot!  For so many years I
 have been a teacher and had a large following of disciples.  Should I
 now become a pupil again, it would be as if a mighty lake were to
 change into a miserable puddle!" - Thus he was moved by conflicting
 sentiments:  his longing for truth and the desire to keep his superior
 position contended within him.  Yet, the urge to preserve his status
 was stronger, and he yielded to it.

   At that time, Sanjaya had about five hundred disciples. When they
 learned that the two friends had decided to follow the Buddha,
 spontaneously all of them wanted to join.  But when they noticed that
 Sanjaya remained behind, half of them wavered and returned to their
 accustomed habitat.  Sanjaya, seeing that he had lost so many of his
 disciples, was stricken by grief and despair so much that, as the texts
 tell, "hot blood spurted from his mouth."

                                 * * *



 4.  The Struggle for the Realization of the Teaching [*]
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
       [*] Sources:  A.IV,167;VII,58. S.21,1;S.40,1-9; MV I.24;
           Thag 1172.

 Now the two friends, at the head of the two hundred and fifty fellow
 ascetics, approached the Bamboo Grove.  There the Buddha was just
 teaching Dhamma to his monks, and when he saw the two friends
 approaching, the Awakened One said:  "Here, monks, they are coming, the
 two friends Kolita and Upatissa.  They will be my Chief Disciples, a
 blessed pair!"  Having arrived, all saluted respectfully the Buddha,
 raising their folded palms to the forehead and bowing at the feet of
 the Master.  Then the two friends spoke:  "May we be permitted, O Lord,
 to obtain under the Blessed One the Going-Forth and the Full
 Admission?"  Then the Blessed One responded:  "Come, monks, well
 proclaimed is the Teaching, Live now the Life of Purity, for making an
 end of suffering!"  These brief words served to bestow ordination on
 the two friends and their following.

   From now, Upatissa was called Sariputta, that means "the son of
 Sari," which was the name of his mother.  Kolita was called
 Maha-Moggallana, "the Great One of the Moggallana clan," to distinguish
 him from other monks of that clan, such as Ganaka-Moggallana and
 Gopaka-Moggallana.

   After all of them had obtained ordination, the Buddha addressed the
 two hundred and fifty disciples and explained to them the Teaching in
 such a way that before long they attained to the first stage of
 emancipation, Stream-entry, and in due course became Arahants.
 Sariputta and Moggallana, however, went into solitude, but this time
 separate from each other.

   Sariputta remained in the vicinity of Rajagaha and went to meditate
 in a cave called "Bear's Den."  From there he walked to the city for
 his alms, which afforded him the opportunity to listen often to the
 Buddha's discourses.  What he had heard from the Master, he
 independently worked over in his own thoughts and he methodically
 penetrated to clear understanding of the mind and its laws.  He needed
 fourteen days for reaching Sainthood (arahatta), the utter destruction
 of all Taints (asavakkhaya).

   Moggallana, however, for reasons not known to us, chose as his abode
 the forests near the village of Kallavalaputta in Magadha. With great
 zeal, he meditated there while sitting or walking up and down.  But in
 these efforts, he was often overcome by sleepiness.  Though he did not
 wish to fall asleep, he was unable to keep his body erect and his head
 upright.  There were times when he had to keep his eyes open even by
 force of will. If one thinks of the tropical heat, the strain of his
 long years of a wandering life and the inner tensions he had gone
 through, one can well understand that now, at the end of his quest, his
 body reacted by fatigue.

   But the Awakened One, with a great teacher's solicitude for his
 disciples, did not lose sight of him.  With his supernormal vision he
 perceived the difficulties of the new monk, and by magic power he
 appeared before him.  When Moggallana saw the Master standing before
 him, a good part of his fatigue had already vanished.  Now the Awakened
 One asked him:

   "Are you nodding, Moggallana, are you nodding?"  -- "Yes. Lord." --

   1. "Well then, Moggallana, at whatever thought drowsiness befalls
   you, to that thought you should not give attention and not dwell on
   that thought.  Then, by doing so, it is possible that your drowsiness
   will vanish.

   2. "But if, by doing so, drowsiness does not vanish, then you should
   reflect upon the Teaching as you have heard and learned it, you
   should ponder over it and examine it closely in your mind.  Then, by
   doing so, it is possible that your drowsiness will vanish.

   3. "But if, by doing so, drowsiness does not vanish, then you should
   repeat in full detail the Teaching as you have heard and learned it.
   Then, by doing so, it is possible that drowsiness will vanish.

   4. "But if, by doing so, drowsiness does not vanish, then you should
   pull both ear-lobes and rub your limbs with your hand. Then, by doing
   so, it is possible that drowsiness will vanish.

   5. "But if, by doing so, drowsiness does not vanish, you should get
   up from your seat and, after washing your eyes with water, you should
   look around in all directions and upwards to the stars and
   constellations. Then, by doing so, it is possible that your
   drowsiness will vanish.

   6. "But if, by doing so, drowsiness does not vanish, you should give
   attention to the perception of light, to the perception of day
   (-light): as by day so by night, as by night so by day. Thus, with
   your mind clear and unclouded, you should cultivate a mind that is
   full of brightness.  Then, by doing so, it is possible that your
   drowsiness will vanish.

   7. "But if, by doing so, drowsiness does not vanish, then, with your
   senses turned inward and your mind not straying outward, you should
   take to walking up and down, being aware of going to and fro.  Then,
   by doing so, it is possible that your drowsiness will vanish.

   8. "But if, by doing so, drowsiness does not vanish, you may,
   mindfully and clearly aware, lie down, lion-like, on your right side,
   placing foot on foot, keeping in mind the thought of rising; and on
   awakening, you should quickly get up, thinking 'I must not indulge in
   the comfort of resting and reclining, in the pleasure of sleeping.'

   "Thus, Moggallana, should you train yourself."

                        -- Anguttara Nikaya VII, 58


   Here the Buddha gives Moggallana a graded sequence of advice how to
 overcome drowsiness.  The first and best device is not to pay attention
 to the thought causing or preceding the state of drowsiness.  This is,
 however, the most difficult method. If one does not succeed with it,
 one may summon some energizing thoughts or one may reflect upon the
 excellence of the Teaching, or recite parts of it by heart.  If these
 mental remedies do not help, one should turn to bodily activity as, for
 instance, pulling one's ears, shaking the body, activating the
 circulation by rubbing one's limbs, refreshing one's eyes with cold
 water and, at night, looking at the grandeur of the starry sky, which
 may make one forget one's petty drowsiness, as it happened to the monk
 of old who spoke the following verse:

        "Nay, not for this that you may slumber long,
        Comes the night, in starry garlands wreathed.
        For vigils by the wise this night is here."

                        -- Theragatha v. 193
                           Tr. by C.A.F. Rhys Davids


   If all that, too, does not help, then he may recall the inner light
 of which many mystics speak and which arises in the meditations of a
 purified mind that has turned away from the world.  Then, in his
 practice, he will be unconcerned about day or night, because an inner
 light is shining within him.  Then, with his self-radiant mind, he will
 be able to leave behind, like a Brahma-deity, the whole realm of days
 and nights as perceived by the senses.  This indicated that Moggallana
 had experienced such states before, so that the Buddha could refer to
 them as something known to Moggallana.  This "Perception of (inner)
 Light" (//aloka-sanna//) is mentioned in the 33rd Discourse of the
 Digha Nikaya, as one of four ways of developing //samadhi// and as
 leading to "Knowledge and Vision" (//nanadassana//).

   If this method, too does not help, he should walk up and down
 mindfully and thus, by resorting to bodily movement, try to get rid of
 fatigue.

   If, however, none of these seven devices proves helpful, he may just
 lie down and rest for a short while. But as soon as he feels refreshed,
 he should quickly get up, without allowing drowsiness to return.

   The Buddha's instruction on that occasion did, however, not stop
 there, but continued as follows:

   "Further, Moggallana, should you train yourself in this way. You
    should think, 'When calling at families (on the alms-round), I shall
    not be given to pride.'  Thus should you train yourself. For in
    families it may happen that people are busy with work and may not
    notice that a monk has come.  Then a monk (if given to pride) may
    think, 'Who, I wonder, had estranged me from this family?  These
    people seem to be displeased with me.'  Thus, by not receiving an
    offering from them, he is perturbed; being perturbed he becomes
    excited; being excited he loses self-control; and if uncontrolled,
    his mind will be far from finding concentration.

   "Further, Moggallana, should you train yourself in this way:  'I
    shall not speak contentious talk.'  Thus should you train yourself.
    If there is contentious talk, there is sure to be much wordiness;
    with much wordiness, there will be excitement; he who is excited,
    will lose self-control; and if uncontrolled, his mind will be far
    from finding concentration."


   Here the Awakened One points out two ways of behavior which lead to
 excitement and restlessness, and both of them arise from too close a
 social contact of the monk with the laity.  In one case, there is the
 desire for recognition on the part of the monk who is proud of his
 status and expects respect from the laity.  But if lay people pay more
 attention to their own business than to him, he soon becomes unsure of
 himself, is perturbed and upset.  In the other case, there is the
 intellectual delight in discussions, in the conceit of one who "knows
 better," or in the pleasure of defeating others in debate.  By all
 this, one's mental energy is diverted into unprofitable channels and
 wasted in futile excitement.  One is slack and careless in practicing
 the Way if one cannot keep the senses under control, or allows one's
 mind to get excited or easily diverted.  Such a condition is far from
 the unification of mind and inner peace obtained in meditation.

   After the Awakened One had instructed him on the overcoming of
 sleepiness and the avoidance of excitement, Moggallana asked the
 following question:

   "In what way, O Lord, can it be briefly explained how a monk becomes
    liberated by the elimination of craving; how he becomes one who has
    reached the final end, the final security from bondage, the final
    Holy Life, the final consummation, and is foremost among gods and
    men?"

   "Herein, Moggallana, a monk has learnt this:  'No thing is fit to be
    clung to!'  When a monk has learnt that no thing is fit to be clung
    to, he fully knows every thing; by fully knowing every thing, he
    fully comprehends every thing; when fully comprehending everything,
    whatever feeling he experiences, be it pleasant, painful or
    indifferent, he, with regard to these feelings, abides contemplating
    impermanence, contemplating dispassion, contemplating cessation,
    contemplating relinquishment.  When thus abiding, he is not attached
    to anything in the world; without attachment he does not hanker; and
    without hankering he reaches within himself complete extinction (of
    craving):  'Ceased has rebirth, lived is the holy life, done is the
    task, there is no more of this or that state,' thus he knows."

   After Moggallana had received all these personal instructions of the
 Master (as recorded in Anguttara VII, 58), he devoted himself again to
 his training with great ardor.  With still greater vigor he fought
 against the five inner hindrances. During his many years of ascetic
 life he already had, to a great extent, suppressed sensual desire and
 ill-will, which are the first and the second of these hindrances.  Now
 with the help given by the Buddha, he conquered sloth and torpor, the
 third hindrance; then he overcame the fourth hindrance, restlessness
 and worry, by avoiding unprofitable social contacts.  Finally he gave
 up doubt, the fifth hindrance, by following the concluding instruction
 of the Buddha, contemplating on the transiency of all phenomena and
 thus severing emotional attachment.

   By overcoming the five hindrances, he was able to gain the experience
 of meditative states transcending the world of materiality; and by his
 penetrative knowledge of existential reality, he approached the gate to
 Nibbana.

   He first attained and enjoyed the overwhelming bliss of the first
 meditation (//jhana//), that state of mystical absorption of mind.
 Yet, gradually, some worldly ideas intruded again, claiming his
 attention. When thus he fell back to the level of the mental
 hindrances, the Buddha came to his help again.  This time, however, not
 with detailed instructions as before, but with a brief indication that
 helped him to get over the impasse. The Exalted One warned him he
 should not light-heartedly believe to be secure in the attainment of
 the first Jhana, but to gain more firmness in it, so that his mind
 becomes fully immersed in it and unified. When Moggallana followed that
 advice his state of concentration in the first Jhana was no longer
 disturbed by mundane thoughts.

   Having thus found a firm footing on the first Jhana, he gained the
 second absorption, which he called "the noble silence" (Samy. 20,1),
 because all thoughts are silenced in it.  Thus he advanced up to the
 fourth absorption (Samy. 40 2f).  As he later told, he had practiced
 the absorptions in a twofold way, first by cultivating the "Ways of
 Power" (//iddhi-pada//; Samy. 51, 31), [1] and then by the
 "Liberations" (//vimokkha//; Thag. 1172).  On his path towards the
 final Deliverance by Wisdom (//panna-vimutti//), the absorptions
 (//jhana//) served as stages to the "Ways of Powers," which led to
 various kinds of super-normal faculties and also opened up many
 gate-ways to wisdom.  This twofold approach was his strong point when
 he became an Arahant, a Saint.  For attaining to the "Liberation of
 Mind" (//ceto-vimutti//) the absorption led him to the eight
 Liberations (//vimokkha//), culminating in the four formless
 (immaterial) absorptions (//arupajjhana//).  On his way to become one
 "Liberated in Both Ways" (that is through both concentration and
 insight), [2] he used the fourth absorption as basis for both.  In
 doing so, he gained the "Signless Concentration of Mind," [3] which is
 free from all that marks (or signifies) conditioned existence and which
 affords a glimpse of the "Signless Element," Nibbana (Samy. 40,9).  But
 this attainment, too, was not final as yet.  For even here he lapsed
 into a subtle enjoyment of it.  Such refined attachment is still a
 delusive "sign" or "mark" superimposed on a high spiritual attainment
 of greatest purity.  But aided by the Master's instructions, he could
 free himself from these last fetters and attain to perfect "Deliverance
 of Mind" and "Deliverance by Wisdom," in all their fullness and depth.
 Thus the venerable Maha-Moggallana had become one of the Saints.  He
 admitted that he could well say about himself that "Supported by the
 Master a disciple may obtain the great state of the super-knowledges." [4]

        [1] Or "Four Bases of Success"; see "Requisites of
            Enlightenment" Wheel 171/174), p.64ff.

        [2] //ubhato-bhaga-vimutta//; see //Buddhist Dictionary//, by
            Nyanatiloka.

        [3] "Signless Concentration of Mind" (//animitta-ceto-
            samadhi//).  The Comy. explains it as a high level of
            insight-concentration (//vipassana-samadhi//) that keeps the
            mind free from the delusive "signs" of permanency etc. and
            of greed etc.  This explanation appears plausible in view of
            the fact that the Ven. Maha-Moggallana was "liberated in
            both ways" , through concentration and insight -- On the
            related term "Signless Deliverance of Mind," (//animitta-
            cetovimutti//) see Majjh. 43, -- (Editor, "The Wheel")

        [4] //maha-abhinnata//.  This refers to the six Supernormal
            Knowledges (//abhinna//) of which the first five are magical
            and mystical powers and are mundane (//lokiya//), while the
            sixth consists of the attainment of sainthood by the
            elimination of the Cankers (//asavakkhaya//) and is
            supramundane (//lokuttara//). -- (Editor, "The Wheel")


   This entire development took place within one single week. These
 were, indeed, seven days of a tremendous impact, with a significance
 far beyond that of its individual relevance.  One must try to imagine
 the intensity and depth of Moggallana's determination during this short
 period, because for a person with such a wide range of great natural
 gifts it was an especially heroic effort to undertake within his own
 active mind that hard struggle to cut through all those fetters binding
 him to this world of vast potentialities. It has been reported that the
 Buddha, in the four hours of the first watch of the night of his
 Enlightenment, remembered 91 world periods. The appearance of
 time-space may have dissolved by way of contraction, or something
 similar must have happened to Moggallana when an immensity of inner
 experience was condensed into one short week. Here notions of
 measurable duration of time fail entirely. Immured in the prison of the
 senses, one week is no more than seven days for an ordinary person who
 is unaware of the infinities that burst through the limits of the
 common time concepts.

   Moggallana, as he later said, attained sainthood by quick penetration
 (//khippabhinna//), that is, in one week but his progress was difficult
 (//dukkha-patipada//), requiring the helpful prompting
 (//sa-sankhara//) of the Master.  Sariputta, too, attained sainthood by
 quick penetration (in two weeks), but his progress was smooth
 (//sukha-patipada//); see Anguttara IV, 167-168).  Moggallana had
 advanced to sainthood more speedily than Sariputta because the Buddha
 directed and inspired him personally and intensively; but Sariputta was
 superior to him in regard to the independence of his progress.

                                 * * *



 5.  The Most Excellent Pair of Disciples
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 In the 14th text of the "Longer Discourses" (Digha Nikaya: //Mahapadana
 Sutta//), the Awakened One speaks of six Buddhas of the past and says
 that each of them had two chief disciples and one attendant; and
 elsewhere (Samy. 47, 14) he says that all the Buddhas of the past and
 future had or will have one pre-eminent pair of disciples.  When a
 Perfectly Awakened One is going to appear these three are as necessary
 to him just as the ministers of war, of the interior and of finance are
 necessary to a king. The Buddha himself uses this comparison with a
 state's administration.  He spoke of Ananda who could remember all
 discourses of the Buddha, as the Treasurer of the Teaching (minister of
 finance), of Sariputta as its general in command, and of Moggallana as
 child's nurse (minister of the interior). Of these four (including the
 Buddha), two groups of two had certain things in common:  the Buddha
 and Ananda belonged to the warrior caste (khattiya) and were born on
 the same day; Sariputta and Moggallana, however, were Brahmins, and
 likewise born on the same day.  This affinity showed itself also in
 their lives.  Ananda was always with the Buddha; since the time when he
 started to be his attendant, he followed him like a shadow; whereas
 Moggallana was almost inseparable from Sariputta and nearly always
 together with him.  Whenever the Buddha, in advancing years, felt
 physically tired, these three men were the only ones whom he asked to
 expound the Teaching on his behalf. This happened, for instance, at
 Kapilavatthu when Moggallana have a long discourse on sense-control as
 remedy against being submerged in the flood of the six sense
 impressions (Samy. 35, 202).

   After Sariputta and Maha-Moggallana had attained Sainthood, the
 Buddha announced to the Order that they were his chief disciples. Some
 of the monks were surprised and began to grumble why the Master did not
 treat with such distinction those ordained first, the "men of the first
 hour," as for instance, the Group of Five, or Yasa or the three
 Kassapas.  Why did he overlook them and give prominence to those who
 had entered the Order last and were young in seniority?  To this the
 Awakened One replied that each reaps according to his merit.  For aeons
 Sariputta and Moggallana had been progressing towards this state, by
 gradually cultivating the necessary faculties. Others, however, had
 developed on different lines.  Although both chief disciples were of
 another caste and from another region than the Buddha's, their special
 position within the community of saints was an outcome of the Law of
 Karma.

   In many ways the Buddha had spoken in praise of this noble pair of
 disciples:

    "Outstanding they are among my disciples, exceptional they are among
     my disciples.  They truly acted upon the Master's instructions and
     followed his advice.  How dear and amiable are they to the fourfold
     assembly, [*] worthy of their respect and reverence!"

                        -- Samyutta Nikaya 47, 14

        [*] That is, Bhikkhus and bhikkhunis (nuns), male and female
            lay-followers.


    "If a devout lay woman should admonish her only son whom she dearly
     loves, she would rightly do so by saying:  'My dear son, you should
     be like Citta the householder or Hatthaka of Alavi!' -- because
     these two are model and exemplar for my lay devotees. (And she
     should further say:)  'But if, my dear, you should go forth from
     home into the homeless life (of a monk), you should be like
     Sariputta and Moggallana!' -- because they are model and exemplar
     for bhikkhu disciples."

                        -- Samyutta Nikaya 17, 23


    "Seek and cultivate, O monks, (the company of) Sariputta and
     Moggallana! They are wise and are helpful to their fellows in the
     Holy Life.  Sariputta is like a mother, and Moggallana is like a
     nurse. Sariputta trains (the monks) for the Fruit of Stream-entry,
     and Moggallana for the supreme goal."

                        -- Majjhima Nikaya, No. 141


   The characterization of the two in the last text may be interpreted
 as follows.  Sariputta urges his pupils to cut through the first and
 basic fetters and thus helps them to attain Stream-entry.  In this way
 he "converts" men by vigorously diverting them from the futility of the
 round of existence, and guides them into the zone of safety. Sariputta,
 like a mother, watches and guides the first steps on the path of
 emancipation; or it may be said, he causes, or at least assists, the
 birth of final emancipation in the pupil.  Moggallana, however, leads
 on those who thus far have been saved, guiding them along their way
 upwards; he supports them in their practice of meditation up to
 sainthood, in the same way as he himself was helped by the master; he
 is like a wet-nurse, nourishing the strength and sustaining the growth
 of the pupil.

   Both aspects are found perfectly united in a Fully Awakened One; but
 in Sariputta and Moggallana they were separate qualifications.  Though
 both were "liberated in both ways," yet with Sariputta the major
 emphasis was on wisdom, and with Moggallana on the meditative
 "Liberation of the Mind" (//cetovimutti//).

   This fact found perfect expression when these two spiritual sons of
 the Buddha had to look after Rahula, the Buddha's own son. As every
 newly ordained monk, Rahula had two teachers, one in knowledge and one
 in conduct.  Sariputta was appointed as his teacher in knowledge, and
 Moggallana as his teacher in conduct and spiritual practice.

   Once Sariputta said to his friend that, compared with Moggallana's
 great supernormal powers he was like a small splinter of rock set
 against the mighty Himalayas.  Moggallana, however, replied that,
 compared with Sariputta's power of wisdom, he was like a tiny grain of
 salt set against a big salt barrel. (S. 21,3).

   About the differing range of wisdom, the Buddha once said that there
 are questions which only he could conceive and answer, but not
 Sariputta; there are other questions which only Sariputta could
 clarify, but not Moggallana' and there are those which only Moggallana
 could solve, but not the other disciples (J. 483).  Thus the two chief
 disciples were like a bridge between the supreme qualities of the
 Buddha and the capacities of the other disciples.

   When Devadatta voiced his claim to lead the Order, the Buddha said
 that he would not entrust anybody with the leadership of the Sangha,
 not even his two chief disciples, let alone Devadatta (C. V. VII, 3).
 Between the high-point of discipleship, Sariputta and Moggallana, on
 one end of the scale, and at the other Devadatta, the most depraved of
 the disciples, there is a long and varied line of others with different
 degrees of accomplishments and virtues.  It is characteristic  that the
 only slander uttered against the chief disciples came from a follower
 of Devadatta.  The monk Kokalika, wishing to malign them, told the
 Buddha that the two had evil intentions, which, in fact, was the case
 with Devadatta. The Buddha, however, replied:  "Don't say so, Kokalika,
 don't speak like that!  Let your heart have glad confidence in
 Sariputta and Moggallana! They are capable monks."  (S. 6, 10).  But
 Kokalika, in spite of this emphatic admonition, persisted in his
 slander.  According to the old texts, Devadatta and Kokalika were
 reborn in a state of utter suffering, in the deepest hellish abode,
 while Sariputta and Moggallana won the highest bliss, Nibbana.


                                 * * *




 6.  The activities of the Chief Disciples in the Order
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 In the canonical scriptures there are many reports about common
 activities of the two Chief Disciples who were the best assistants of
 their master in taking care of the Order.  Both did much work for the
 advancement and benefit of the community of monks.  Their activities
 directed to maintain inner concord, stability and discipline within the
 Order deserve special mention.  At the request of the Buddha they
 brought about the banishment of an extremely reckless and undisciplined
 group of monks known as "group of six" (chabbaggiya), on whom the
 Buddha's admonition had no effect, as reported in Majjhima Nikaya No.
 70 (Kitagiri Sutta).  It was on account of them, that a great part of
 the disciplinary rules of the Order had to be proclaimed.  Finally,
 they behaved in such a frenzied way that, on the Buddha's bidding,
 Sariputta and Moggallana, at the head of the virtuous monks, had to
 banish those six from the place of their mischief, which was near
 Kitagiri.  Thereafter most of them left the Order.  (CV I, 13-16).

   Above all, the two great disciples were able to achieve that those
 newly ordained monks who had fallen away, having been instigated by
 Devadatta, returned to the Buddha's fold and to the right conduct of
 monk life.  When at that time, Sariputta gave his exhortation to those
 misguided monks, he showed his power of thought-reading, while
 Moggallana used his magic powers (CV VII, 4).  Also the following
 incident led to a strengthening of concord in the Order:  Once when
 Sariputta was treated with hostility by a certain monk and was wrongly
 accused by him, Moggallana and Ananda called together all the monks, so
 that, for their instruction and edification, they could hear
 Sariputta's dignified answer to those accusations (A.IX,11). [*]

        [*] See "Anguttara Nikaya.  An Anthology" Part III (The Wheel
            238-240), p. 19f.


   Once when Moggallana was ill, the Buddha went to see him and
 gladdened him by a discourse on the seven Factors of Enlightenment.
 Inspired by it, Moggallana regained mastery over his body and
 recovered.  (S. 46, 15).

   The two chief disciples often lived together in one cell of the
 monastery, and they held many dialogues in the presence and for the
 benefit of their fellow monks as shown in the Discourse on
 Stainlessness (Majjh. 5), and frequently they gave discourses to the
 monks.  Some of those given by Moggallana are, for instance, those in
 Majjhima Nikaya No. 15, Anguttara Nikaya X, 84 and Samyutta Nikaya 35,
 202. They also spent much of their time in giving seminar-like
 instructions to their disciples (see S. 14, 15).  Besides, they had
 conversations with Anuruddha about the meaning of the four Foundations
 of Mindfulness (S. 47, 26-27) and the difference between a Noble
 Learner (sekha) and a person who has "finished his learning" (asekha).
 (S. 52, 4-6).

   Both chief disciples were highly praised by the Awakened One for
 their beneficial work, which, however, left them unmoved by pride as
 they were saints.  Such a situation occurred when they were seated near
 the Buddha and were both immersed in deep concentration focused on the
 Recollection of the Body.  Then the Buddha spoke one of the following
 two verses to each of them, first to Sariputta and then to Moggallana.

    "Just as a rocky peak cannot be shaken, being firmly grounded,
     So will not waver anymore a monk when he delusion has destroyed.
     With mindfulness directed on the body
     and well restrained in sixfold sense contact,
     his mind remaining always well collected,
     such monk will come to know his own Nibbana."

                        -- Udana III, 4-5.


   It happened only once that the Buddha preferred Moggallana's attitude
 in a certain matter to that of Sariputta.  The Master, after having
 dismissed from his presence some noisy and unmannered monks, later
 asked his two chief disciples what they had thought when he sent away
 those monks.  Sariputta said, he thought that the Master wanted to
 enjoy a blissful abiding in the present (through jhana) and that they,
 the chief disciples, were to do the same. But the Buddha reproached him
 saying that he should not have such thoughts again.  Then the Buddha
 turned to Moggallana, with the same question.  Moggallana replied that
 he, too, had thought the Master wanted to enjoy the bliss of jhana; but
 if so, then it would have been Sariputta's task to take care of the
 community of monks and to look after them.  The Buddha praised him and
 said that if both his chief disciples took care of the community, it
 would be as good as if he himself looked after the monks.  (M. 67).


                                 * * *




 7.  Moggallana's Magical Powers
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 In the discourse about the disciples who excelled in special capacities
 and qualities (A. I, 13), the Buddha said that Moggallana was foremost
 among the Bhikkhus who possessed magical faculties.  One day when
 Moggallana with some of his disciples walked up and down, the Buddha
 told his monks that Moggallana possessed great supernormal powers, and
 so did his pupils; thus beings congregate according to their nature and
 disposition. (S. 14, 15)  There were, of course, also other prominent
 disciples highly skilled in one or the other of the various magical
 powers.  But they mastered only some of them:  the monk Anuruddha and
 the nun Sakula, for instance, possessed the supernormal vision of the
 Divine Eye; the monk Sobhita and the nun Bhadda Kapilani could
 recollect far into the past; the monk Sagalo had masterly control of
 the fire element; Cula Panthaka was skilled in "astral travel"; and
 Pilinda excelled in communication with heavenly beings.  Maha
 Moggallana, however, was perfect master of the magical faculties in a
 very comprehensive way.  He mastered the various kinds of supernormal
 powers altogether, surpassing in them the other disciples.  He also
 excelled by far the nun Uppallavanna who was foremost among the nuns in
 regard to magical faculties.

   For appreciating the old reports on Moggallana's magical
 (parapsychological) faculties, one ought to know how such things can be
 possible at all. The world of so-called matter as perceived through our
 five senses -- which to-day's physicists conceive as a manifestation of
 energy -- is only a small section of that much wider reality which
 consists of other vibrational forms of energy.  Inklings of it, under
 terms like "anti-matter," "Psi-power," the "Astral," or "Prana," have
 penetrated into our range of experience.  As we perceive only the
 narrow sector of our human world, we are inclined to regard its limited
 laws as absolutes.  But the universe as experienced by the wise, is
 much larger, and the laws in force in it have also an impact upon our
 own world. It is that impact of different laws which is called a
 miracle.  But whenever a higher or wider world manifests itself,  the
 true miracle is that people can be so imprisoned within their narrow
 outlook that they just ignore all what is beyond their limited
 faculties, in spite of the fact that the effects of those other forces
 and laws are undeniably present.  But whosoever, as the Buddha and
 Moggallana, has highly developed his capacity to experience that wider
 reality with his higher sense faculties refined by cultivating the Four
 Ways of Power (//iddhipada//), will realize a sheer infinite widening
 of experience in space and time.  His horizon and experiential
 knowledge will grow universal and immeasurable, transcending all
 boundaries and limitations.

   When Sariputta asked (in M. 32) to which type of monk those assembled
 would give the highest praise, Moggallana replied that from his point
 of view such a monk would be truly brilliant who can engage best in
 dialogues and discussions on the Teaching. Later the Buddha confirmed
 that Moggallana was indeed a very capable speaker on Dhamma.  In fact,
 talks on Dhamma gain in range and depth when they issue from an
 experience that transcends the realm of the senses. The more one had
 widened one's consciousness by such experiences, the more one had to
 say.  One who has personal experience of those many avenues of
 liberating wisdom will best be able to conduct talks on Dhamma and make
 them lively and stimulating.  Examples of such discourses given by
 Maha-Moggallana are M. 15 and 37, A, X. 84, S. 35, 202, S. 44, 7-8.

   We shall now turn to what the Buddhist canonical texts relate about
 Moggallana's supernormal faculties, presenting the material grouped
 according to the types of faculties concerned.



 //1.  Penetration of others' minds and thought-reading (telepathy)//

 Once on an Uposatha day, the Buddha sat silently throughout the whole
 night in front of the assembly of monks.  When the morning dawned, he
 only said:  "This assembly is impure."  Thereupon Moggallana surveyed
 with his mind the entire assembly from monk to monk and saw that one
 monk was entirely corrupted.  He went towards him and asked him to
 leave. When that monk did not move though asked thrice, Moggallana took
 him by the arm, led him out of the hall and bolted the door.  Then he
 begged the Exalted One to recite the Rules of Monastic Discipline
 (Patimokkha), as the assembly was now pure again. (A. VIII, 20)

   Once the Master stayed together with a community of five hundred
 monks who all were saints.  When Moggallana joined them, he at once
 discerned in his heart that all these monks were canker-freed Arahats.
 Then one of these saintly monks who, on his part, cognized Moggallana's
 supernormal perception, rose from his seat and praised Moggallana in
 the following verses:

    "Him who serenely sits on mountain's slope,
     a sage who has transcended ill entire --
     to him disciples pay their homage,
     themselves of triple knowledge, vanquishers of death.

     He has discerned them by his mental power,
     the master of the supernormal, Moggallana.
     He probed their minds with his
     and found them free and unattached."

                        -- Samyutta Nikaya 8, 10


    A third report says:  Once, while the venerable Anuruddha was
 meditating in solitude, he considered how, by means of the four
 Foundations of Mindfulness (satipatthana) the Noble Path that leads to
 the extinction of suffering can be perfected.  Then Moggallana,
 penetrating Anuruddha's mind by his own, appeared before him through
 supernormal power and requested him to describe in detail this method
 of practice (Samy. 52, 1-2).


 //2.  The Divine Ear (clair-audience)//

 One evening when Sariputta went to see Moggallana, he found his
 features had such a strikingly serene expression that Sariputta felt
 moved to ask Moggallana whether he had dwelt in one of the peaceful
 abodes of mind.  Moggallana replied that he had dwelt only in one of
 the less refined abodes, but that he had been engaged in a talk on the
 Teaching.  On being asked with whom he had such a talk, he replied that
 it had been with the Exalted One. Sariputta remarked that the Master
 was now dwelling very far away, in Savatthi, while they themselves were
 here in Rajagaha.  Did Moggallana, by way of his supernormal power, go
 to the Buddha, or did the Buddha come to him?  Moggallana replied that
 neither had been the case.  It was rather the Divine Eye and the Divine
 Ear, which had been purified and perfected in both of them, that
 enabled them to have a Dhamma talk on the mental faculty of energy.
 Then Sariputta exclaimed that Moggallana, being endowed with powers so
 great, might be able to live through an entire aeon (kalpa), like a
 Buddha, if he so wished.  (Samy. 21, 3)

   With the Divine Ear, Moggallana could also hear the voices of
 non-human beings, deities, spirits, etc., and receive messages from
 them.  So, for instance, a spirit had warned him against Devadatta who
 harbored evil intentions towards the Buddha and planned a plot against
 him. (Culla Vagga VII, 2)


 //3.  The Divine Eye//  (Clairvoyance, Second Sight, Visions)

 As mentioned above, Moggallana, with his Divine Eye, was able to
 perceive the Buddha over a long-distance.  (Samy. 21, 3)

   Once the following happened.  While Sariputta was sitting in quiet
 meditation, a wanton demon (Yakkha) hit him on the head. Moggallana saw
 it and asked his friend whether he had felt much pain.  Sariputta
 smiled and said that he had just felt a slight touch of headache.  Them
 Moggallana praised his strength of concentration, but Sariputta said
 that Moggallana had been able to see that demon while he himself could
 not.  (Ud. IV, 4)

   Once Moggallana saw with the Divine Eye how Kind Pasenadi had been
 defeated in battle by the Licchavis, but that afterwards he had
 gathered his troops again and vanquished the Licchavis. When Moggallana
 told this, some monks accused him that he had falsely boasted about his
 supernormal faculties, which is a disciplinary offense making a monk
 subject to expulsion from the Order.  The Buddha, however, explained
 that Moggallana had told only what he saw and what had actually
 happened.  (Parajika IV, 95; case No. 17)

   Above all, he often saw the operation of the law of Kamma and its
 fruits.  Again and again he saw how human beings, due to their evil
 actions that harmed fellow-beings, were reborn among unhappy ghosts
 under-going much suffering; while others by their charitable deeds rose
 upwards to lower heavenly worlds that were close to the human plane. He
 often gave instances of this for exemplifying the law of kamma.  The
 reports about this are too numerous for including them here.  In two
 books of the Pali Canon, dealing with the ghost realm (the
 //Petavatthu//) and the heavenly abodes (the //Vimanavathu//), nine,
 respectively fifty-one, of such reports are given.  From this it can be
 readily understood why Moggallana was famous as one who knew the worlds
 beyond as well as the workings of Kamma.  The reports are too numerous
 for inclusion, but at least one of his recorded in the Samyutta Nikaya
 should be mentioned here (Samy. 19. 1-21 == Paraj. IV, 9; 15th case).

   Once Moggallana lived on Vulture's Peak, near Rajagaha, together with
 the Bhikkhu Lakkhana, one of the thousand Brahmin ascetics who had been
 converted together with Uruvela-Kassapa.  One morning when they had
 descended from the peak for going on alms-round in the town, Moggallana
 smiled when they reached a certain place on the road.  When his
 companion asked him for the reason, Moggallana said that now it was not
 the right time to explain it, he would tell it in the presence of the
 Master. When they later met the Buddha, Lakkhana repeated his question.
 Moggallana now said that at that spot he had seen many miserable ghosts
 flying through the air, chased around and tormented by various kinds of
 afflictions and sufferings.  The Buddha confirmed this as absolutely
 true and added that he himself spoke only reluctantly about such
 appearances because people with superficial minds would not believe it.
 Then the Buddha, out of his universal knowledge, explained what
 propensities and behavior had brought those ghosts seen by Moggallana
 to their present pitiable position.


 //4.  Travel by "mind-made body"// ("Astral Travel")

 "Just as a person may bend his stretched arm or stretch his bent arm,"
 so quickly was Moggallana able to depart bodily from the human world
 and reappear in a celestial realm.  Repeatedly he made use of this
 capacity for instructing other beings and looking after the affairs of
 the Order. Thus he taught the Gods of the Thirty-three the Factors of
 stream-entry, or tested Sakka, King of Gods, whether he had understood
 the teaching about the extinction of craving (Majjh, 37).  Once when
 the Buddha was preaching for three months in one of the heavenly
 worlds, Moggallana appeared in that heaven and informed the Master of
 happenings in the Order, asking him for instructions (Jat, 483E).  He
 visited not only the gods of the Sense-sphere, but also those of the
 Brahma world.  Thus he appeared before a Brahma deity who believed that
 there were no ascetics capable of entering his realm, and through
 questioning and supernormal feats Moggallana shook the self-assurance
 of that deity (Samy. 6,5). Or he appeared in front of a Brahma named
 Tissa -- who formerly had been a monk and had died recently -- and gave
 him instructions about Stream-entry and the realization of final
 deliverance. (Angutt IV, 34; VII, 53).


 //5. Telekinesis// (Supernormal locomotion)

 Moggallana also had mastery over, what appears to be solid matter. Once
 there were monks staying at a monastery, who were negligent and of
 distracted minds, busying themselves too much with material trifles.
 Learning of this, the Buddha asked Moggallana to shake their excessive
 faith in materiality by a supernormal feat and to stir them on to
 renewed and serious effort.  In response to the Buddha's request,
 Moggallana pushed the building with his big toe, so that the entire
 monastery, called "The Terrace of Migara's Mother," shook and trembled
 as if there was an earthquake.  By this experience the monks were so
 deeply stirred that they became again receptive when the Buddha
 instructed them, explaining the four Roads to Power (iddhipada), from
 which Moggallana's great supernormal prowess derived (Samy, 51, 14;
 Jat. 299E).

   When Moggallana visited Sakka in his heavenly realm and saw that
 Sakka was living rather light-heartedly and was captivated by the
 heavenly sense pleasures of his world, forgetful of the Teaching,
 Moggallana performed a similar magic feat by shaking slightly the
 celestial palace, called "Banner of Victory," in which Sakka took much
 pride. This had a "shock effect" on Sakka too, and he now recalled the
 teaching on the extinction of craving, which the Buddha had briefly
 taught him not long ago. It was the same teaching by which the Buddha
 had once helped Moggallana to attain sainthood (Majjh 387).

   Once there was a famine in the area where the Buddha and his
 community of monks stayed, and the monks could not obtain sufficient
 food.  On that occasion Moggallana asked the Buddha whether he may
 overturn the ground, so that the nourishing substance underneath would
 be accessible and could be eaten. But the Buddha told him not to do so,
 as this would cause the destruction of a large number of living beings.
 Then Moggallana offered to open by his magical power a road to the
 (mythical) Uttara Kuru country, so that the monks could go there for
 alms. This, too, was rejected by the Buddha.  But all survived the
 famine unharmed, even without such supernormal devices. (Paraj. I, 2)
 This was the only occasion when the Buddha disapproved of Moggallana's
 suggestions.

   Moggallana's supernormal power expressed itself also in his ability
 to bring things from long distances by his magical locomotion.  Thus
 for instances he brought lotus stalks from the Himalayas when Sariputta
 was ill and needed them for medicine (Maha Vagga VI, 20; Cula Vagga V,
 34). He also fetched a shoot of the Bodhi tree for Anathapindika to be
 planted at the Jetavana Monastery (Jat. 78E).  But when his fellow-monk
 Pindola asked him to prove the superiority of the Buddha's Sangha over
 the sectarians by magically bringing down a precious bowl that had been
 hung up in town so high that nobody could take it down, Moggallana
 refused, saying that Pindola himself possessed sufficient powers to do
 it.  But when Pindola actually performed that feat, the Buddha rebuked
 him:  a monk should not display supernormal powers for the sake of
 impressing the laity (Cula Vagga V, 8).

                                 * * *




 8.  Moggallana's Previous Lives
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 About his recollection of his own former existences, Moggallana spoke
 only once, in the 50th Discourse of the Middle Length Discourses
 (Majjhima Nikaya).  With that text we shall deal in the following
 chapter.

   In the Jatakas, the stories about the Buddha's former existences, it
 is reported that the Buddha-to-be and Moggallana had lived together
 quite often.  In no less than thirty-one lives the Buddha and
 Moggallana had met, and in thirty of them Moggallana and Sariputta had
 lived together. So strong was the bond that already in previous lives
 had connected these three. To be sure, the thirty-one which have been
 recorded, is a very small number compared with the infinity of lives
 through which every being in Samsara has passed.  Yet some general
 conclusions concerning Moggallana can be drawn from them.  It is, of
 course, not possible to reproduce here these thirty-one Jatakas, with
 all their details and embellishments. Only some general points can be
 mentioned here, which are important for understanding Moggallana's life
 and personality.

   The first thing we find from the Jatakas is his close relationship to
 the Bodhisatta.  Moggallana and Sariputta were often his brothers (Jat.
 488, 509, 543), his friends (Jat. 326), or his Ministers (J. 401).
 Sometimes they were his disciples as ascetics (J. 432, 522), or even
 his teachers (J. 539). Sometimes Sariputta is the son and Moggallana
 the general of the royal Bodhisatta (J. 525).  When the Buddha was
 Sakka, King of Gods, they were the moon- and the sun-god respectively
 (J. 450).

   The second point worth to be noticed is the relationship of Sariputta
 to Moggallana.  When, in the Jataka stories, both are seen to traverse
 all the heights and depths of Samsara, they sometimes play quite
 inferior parts in relation to the main figures of the respective
 stories.  There appears a certain lawfulness in the stories in so far,
 as in most cases the difference between them (e.g., in status) is
 larger to the degree in which their level of rebirth is lower and there
 is less difference when their rebirth is on a higher level.  When
 reborn as animals, they rarely were equals (only as swans, in J. 160,
 187, 215, 476) and mostly Sariputta was born in a higher species of
 animals.  Thus they were snake and rat (J. 37), snake and jackal (J.
 315), man and jackal (J. 490).  When born as human beings in worldly
 careers, Sariputta was always in a higher position than Moggallana: as
 a royal prince and royal minister (J. 525), royal minister and son of a
 slave (J. 544), charioteer of the royal Bodhisatta and charioteer of
 king Ananda (J. 151).  Once Moggallana was the moon god and Sariputta
 the wise ascetic Narada (J. 535).  But when both are ascetics or
 deities, they are mostly of equal states.  But once it happened that
 Sariputta was only the moon god and Moggallana the superior sun god (J.
 450); once Sariputta was the king of the Nagas (serpent deities) and
 Moggallana the king of their foes, the Supannas (mythical birds of
 deity status) (J. 545).

   The only time when Moggallana appears in the Jatakas without
 Sariputta, is a life in which he holds the office of Sakka, King of
 Gods.  In Majjh. 37, he admonishes one of his successors to that
 office.  At that time, as Sakka, he also appeared on earth to a miser
 in order to urge on him the virtue of giving and thus to lead him to a
 better rebirth (J.78).  But another time, when Sariputta and Moggallana
 lived on earth, they were stingy merchants who had buried much money.
 After death, they were reborn close to their buried treasure, but as a
 snake and a rat. (J. 73).

   There is also a story in which Moggallana was reborn as a jackal.
 Seeing a dead elephant, he was so greedy for its flesh that he crept
 through an intestinal aperture right into the elephant's belly, ate as
 much as he could, but was then unable to get out again, suffering
 mortal fear -- an impressive symbol of the perils of sensual enjoyment.
 (J. 490).

   In the famous Jataka about the Law of the Kuru people (J. 276),
 Moggallana is a keeper of grain stores and Sariputta a merchant. Both
 were very careful in observing the law of not-stealing.

                                 * * *




 9.  The Last Days of Moggallana
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Half a year before the Final Passing Away of the Awakened One, death
 separated the two friends for the last time.  Sariputta died on the
 full-moon day of the month Kattika (October/November); it was at his
 birth place, in his parental home, far away from Moggallana.  Just as
 their attainment of sainthood occurred at different places, they were
 also separated in death, though they had been so close to each other
 for a long time.

   Soon after the death of Sariputta, Mara, the embodiment of evil and
 the Lord of Death, claimed Moggallana's mortal frame, by entering his
 bowels.  He could not make him possessed by entering his head, because
 he had access only to the lowest Chakra.  Moggallana, however, told him
 calmly to get out and away as he had well recognized him.  Mara was
 very surprised that he had been found out so soon, and in his delusion
 he thought that even the Buddha would not have recognized him so
 quickly.  But Moggallana read his thoughts and ordered him again to get
 away.  Mara now escaped through Moggallana's mouth and stood at the
 hut's door post.  Moggallana told him that he knew him not only from
 to-day but was aware of his karmic past and his descent.  In that way,
 Moggallana manifested here three supernormal faculties:  the Divine
 Eye, telepathy and recollection of past lives.  It was only on this
 occasion, reported in Majjhima Nikaya No. 50, that Moggallana spoke of
 his recollection of his own distant past.

   The following is the gist of what he told.  The first Buddha
 appearing in our "fortunate aeon" (bhadda-kappa) with five Buddhas, was
 Kakusanda.  He lived when the lifespan of man was 40,000 years and when
 the first darkening of the golden age became evident because of a
 king's lack of concern and the occurrence of the first theft.  Because
 of that, man's vital energy became reduced to half.  At that time,
 Moggallana was Mara, chief of demons, lord of the lower worlds, and his
 name was Mara Dusi.  He had a sister by name of Kali whose son was to
 become the Mara of our age.  Hence Moggallana's own nephew was now
 standing in front of him at the door post. While being the Mara of that
 distant time, Moggallana had attacked a chief disciple of the previous
 Buddha by taking possession of a boy and making him throw a potsherd at
 the holy disciple's head so that blood was flowing.  When the Buddha
 Kakusandha saw this, he said:  "Verily, Mara knew no moderation
 here" -- because even in satanic actions there might be moderation.
 Under the glance of the Perfect One the astral body of Mara Dusi
 dissolved on the spot and reappeared in the deepest hell.  Just a
 moment ago he had been the overlord of all the hellish worlds and now
 he himself was one of hell's victims.  A moment ago he had been the
 greatest torturer and now he himself was undergoing one of those
 terrible torments. Such is the rapid change in samsaric situations. For
 many thousand years Moggallana had to suffer in hell as a punishment
 for his frivolity towards a saint.  Ten thousand years he had to spend
 alone in a hellish pool, having a human body and the head of a fish,
 just as Pieter Breughel had painted such beings in his pictures of the
 hells. Whenever two lances of his torturers crossed in his heart, he
 would know that thousand years of his torment had passed.  (Majjh. 50).

   After this encounter with Mara which once more brought to his mind
 the terrors of Samsara from which he now was free forever, Moggallana
 felt that the time of his last existence was running out.  Being a
 saint he saw no reason for making use of his ability to extend, by an
 act of will, his life span up to the end of this aeon, and he calmly
 allowed impermanence to take its lawful course.

   As many great sages of the East and many saints of the Buddha did, he
 left behind a kind of autobiography in verses in which he summarized
 how he, as a liberated one, had passed through all the situations of
 his life, unperturbed and unshaken.  Events that completely overwhelmed
 others left him calm.  His verses in the //Theragatha// could be summed
 up by saying that none of Samsara's upheavals appeared to him
 extraordinary, nor could anything disturb the equipoise of his
 sainthood.  The Dukkha of the world no longer touched him as he lived
 in a peace that transcended all the pain and restlessness of existence.

   The verses begin with events of his life in this world. Wherever
 others craved for possessions, he, as a forest hermit, was content in
 an austere life of few wants (Thag. 1146-1149). Once when a harlot
 tried to seduce him, he rejected her, just as the Buddha had rejected
 Mara's daughters (1150-1157).  When Sariputta, his best friend died, he
 was not agitated by sorrow as was Ananda who had not yet become an
 Arahat, but remained unshaken in his serenity (1158-1163).  Then the
 verses turn to events of a supernormal nature as his shaking a
 monastery building with his toe (1164) and his undisturbed meditation
 in a mountain cleft, in the midst of thunder and lightening (1167).
 Living with mind pacified in remote places, he, a true heir of the
 Buddha, is venerated even by Brahma (1169).  The following verses
 (1169-1173) are addressed to a superstitious Brahmin of wrong views
 who, on seeing Maha Kassapa going for alms, had abused him.  Moggallana
 warns him against the dangers of such conduct and urges him to respect
 the saints.  He then praises Sariputta (1176) and, it seems that the
 next verses (1177-1181) are Sariputta's own praise of Moggallana.  He
 now reviews his attainments and rejoices in the consummation of the
 goal of his monk life (1182-1186).  The last verses (1187-1208) are
 identical with those concluding his encounter with Mara recorded in
 Majjhima Nikaya No. 50 and briefly related above.

                                 * * *



 10.  The Death of Maha Moggallana
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 The Awakened One, surrounded by many of his monks, passed away
 peacefully during a meditative absorption which he entered with perfect
 mastery.  Sariputta's death in his parental home, likewise with fellow
 monks in attendance, was similarly serene, though, unlike the Buddha,
 he had been ill before his end. Ananda died at the age of 120, before
 which he entered with meditative skill the fire element so that his
 body vanished in a blaze, as he did not wish to burden anyone by his
 funeral. Considering the serene death of the Master and these two
 disciples, one would have expected that, in the case of Maha-Moggallana
 too, the final dissolution of the body at death would take place in
 external circumstance of a similarly peaceful nature.  But in
 Moggallana's case it was very different, though the gruesome nature of
 his death did not shake his firm and serene mind.

   He passed away a fortnight after his friend Sariputta, namely on the
 new-moon day of the month Kattika (October/November), in the autumn.
 The Great Decease of the Buddha took place in the full-moon night of
 the month Vesakha (May), that is half a year after the death of his two
 chief disciples.  The Buddha was in his 80th year when he passed away,
 while both Sariputta and Maha-Moggallana died at 84.

   These were the circumstances of Moggallana's death.


   After the death of Nathaputta, the leader of the ascetic Order of the
 Jains (Jinas), [*] there arose among his followers bitter contentions
 about his teaching, and consequently there was a loss of devoted
 adherents and of support.  The Jains had also learned what Moggallana
 reported from his celestial travels: that virtuous devotees of the
 Buddha were seen to have a heavenly rebirth while followers of other
 sects lacking moral conduct, had fallen into miserable, sub-human
 states of existence.  This, too, contributed to the decline in the
 reputation of other sects, including the Jains.

        [*] In the Pali texts, they are called "Niganthas."


   Particularly the very lowest type of Jains in Magadha were so enraged
 about that loss of public esteem and support that they wanted to get
 rid of Moggallana.  Without investigating the causes in themselves,
 they projected blame externally and concentrated their envy and hate on
 Maha-Moggallana.  Hesitating to commit a murder themselves, they
 conceived another plan. Even in those days there were professional
 criminals ready to do a killing for payment.  There are always
 unscrupulous men willing to do anything for money.  So some evil-minded
 Jains hired such a gang and ordered them to kill Moggallana.

   At that time, Maha-Moggallana lived alone in a forest hut at
 Kalasila. After his encounter with Mara he knew that the end of his
 days was near.  Having enjoyed the bliss of liberation, he now felt the
 body to be just an obstruction and burden.  Hence he had no desire to
 make use of his faculties and keep the body alive for the rest of the
 aeon. Yet, when he saw the brigands approaching, he just absented
 himself by using his supernormal powers.  The gangsters arrived at an
 empty hut, and though they searched everywhere, could not find him.
 They left disappointed, but returned on the following day.  On six
 consecutive days Moggallana escaped from them in the same way. His
 motivation was not the protection of his own body, but saving the
 brigands from the fearsome karmic consequences of such a murderous
 deed, necessarily leading to rebirth in the hells.  He wanted to spare
 them such a fate by giving them time to reconsider and abstain from
 their crime.  But their greed for the promised money was so great that
 they persisted and returned even on the seventh day.  Then their
 persistence was "rewarded," for on that seventh day Moggallana suddenly
 lost the magic control over his body.  A heinous deed committed in days
 long past (by causing the death of his own parents) had not yet been
 expiated, and the ripening of that old Kamma confronted him now, just
 as others are suddenly confronted by a grave illness. Moggallana
 realized that he was now unable to escape. The brigands entered,
 knocked him down, smashed all his limbs and left him lying in his
 blood.  Being keen on quickly getting their reward and also somewhat
 ill as ease about their dastardly deed, the brigands left at once,
 without a further look.

   But Moggallana's great physical and mental strength was such that his
 vital energies had not yet succumbed. He regained consciousness and was
 able to drag himself to the Buddha. There, in the Master's presence, at
 the holiest place of the world, at the source of the deepest peace,
 Moggallana breathed his last (Jat. 522E).  The inner peace in which he
 dwelt since he attained to sainthood, never left him. It did not leave
 him even in the last seven days of his life, which had been so
 turbulent. But even the threat of doom was only external.  This is the
 way of those who are finally "healed" and holy and are in control of
 the mind.  Whatever Kamma of the past had been able to produce a result
 in his present life, nevertheless, it could affect only his body, but
 no longer "him," because "he" no longer identified himself with
 anything existing only impermanently.  This last episode of
 Moggallana's life, however, showed that the law of moral causality
 (Kamma) has even greater power than the supernormal feats of this
 master of magic.  Only a Buddha can control the karmic consequences
 acting upon his body to such an extent that nothing might cause his
 premature death.

   Sariputta and Maha-Moggallana were such wonderful disciples that the
 Buddha said the assembly of monks appeared empty to him after their
 death.  It was marvelous he said, that such an excellent pair of
 disciples existed. But it was marvelous, too, that, in spite of their
 excellence, there was no grief, no lamentation on the part of the
 Master, when the two had passed away. [*]

        [*] See Ukkacela Sutta (Samy. 47, 24), translated in "The Life
            of Sariputta" (The Wheel 90/92), p 84.


   Therefore, inspired by the greatness of the two chief disciples, may
 a dedicated follower of the Dhamma strive to be his own island of
 refuge, have the Dhamma as his island of refuge, not looking for any
 other refuge, having in it the powerful help of the Four Foundations of
 Mindfulness (Satipatthana)!  Those who are thus filled with keen desire
 to train themselves in walking on the Noble Eightfold Path, they will
 certainly pass beyond the realms of darkness which abound in Samsara. So
 the Master assures. [*]

        [*] Samy. 47, 23.


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