BĀHIYA”S TEACHING

　　- in the Seen is just the Seen

　　by Ajahn Brahmavamso

　　May 2005

　　Many Buddhists think about the Dhamma too much and practise too little. Lacking the experience of what it is like to keep precepts, and lacking the data supplied by the Jhānas, they inadvertently distort the Dhamma with their own wishful thinking. Unfortunately, some of these Buddhists are Dhamma teachers.

　　An example of how the Buddha”s teachings become distorted is seen in the Buddha”s well known brief teaching to Bāhiya, as recorded in the Udāna (Ud 1.10). Bāhiya was not a monk. The sutta does not record him giving dāna,1 nor taking refuge in the Triple Gem, nor keeping any precepts. Moreover, the sutta has no mention at all of Bāhiya ever meditating, let alone reaching a Jhāna. Yet, after receiving a very brief teaching from the Buddha, Bāhiya became fully Enlightened, an Arahant, within seconds!

　　This episode is very well known in Buddhist circles, because it seems to make Enlightenment so easy. It appears that you don”t need to be a monk, you can be miserly and not give dāna, no ceremonies such as that of taking refuge are required, precepts are unnecessary, and even meditating can be avoided! What a relief – for some! All you need is intelligence, and everyone thinks that they are intelligent. (You think you are intelligent, don”t you

　　) This makes Bāhiya”s Teaching both attractive and notorious.

　　So what was this teaching

　　 Here is my own translation.

　　"Bāhiya, you should train yourself thus: in the seen will be merely what is seen; in the heard will be merely what is heard; in the sensed2 will be merely what is sensed; in the cognized will be merely what is cognized. Practising in this way, Bāhiya, you will not be ”because of that”. When you are not ”because of that” you will not be ”in that”. And when you are not ”in that” then you will be neither here not beyond nor in between the two. Just this is the end of suffering."

　　And then Bāhiya became fully Enlightened. Sounds easy, doesn”t it

　　 You have just read the same teaching. Did you achieve Full Enlightenment

　　 No! Why Not

　　As usual, there is more to the story than is recorded in the sutta. It is often the case that the suttas record only the highlights of a long episode. Just like the wedding photos do not record the first meeting, the dating and the arguments, so many suttas do not record all that occurred before the finale. So what is the full story of Bāhiya

　　 How can we put the finale, captured for posterity in the Udāna, into its full context

　　 Fortunately, the whole story is recorded in the Apadāna (past lives of the Arahants) and in the commentaries.

　　In his previous life, Bāhiya was a monk under the Buddha Kassapa. Together with six other monks, he climbed a steep mountain, throwing away the ladder, and determined to remain on top of that rock until they became Enlightened or died. One of the seven monks became an Arahant, another became an Anāgāmī (Non Returner), the other five died on the mountain. Bāhiya was one of the five. In Bāhiya”s final life, he was a sailor, successfully crossing the ocean seven times. On the eighth voyage, he was shipwrecked but managed to survive by floating ashore on a plank of wood. Having lost all his clothes, he made temporary garments out of bark and went begging for food in the town of Suppārakā. The townspeople were impressed with his appearance and offered him food, respect and even a costly set of clothes. When Bāhiya refused the new clothes, the people esteemed him even more. Bāhiya had gained a comfortable living and so did not return to sea. The people regarded Bāhiya as an Arahant. Soon, Bāhiya thought he was an Arahant too!

　　At that point, a deva discerned the wrong thought of Bāhiya and, out of compassion, reprimanded him. That deva wa…

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