..续本文上一页ake the form of commentaries on brief statements by the Buddha. He also delivered Dhamma talks that unfold along independent lines, and he was skilled too in resolving the doubts of inquirers and fellow monks with his own original insights into the Teaching.
The Majjhima Nikaya contains a full-length dialogue between the great elder and King Avantiputta of Madhura, who was (according to the commentary) the grandson of King Candappajjota of Avanti. Once, when the Venerable Maha Kaccana was dwelling at Madhura, the king heard the favorable report that was circulating about him: "He is wise, discerning, sagacious, learned, articulate, and perspicacious; he is aged and he is an arahant." Desiring to converse with such a worthy monk, the king drove out to his hermitage to meet him, and the conversation that resulted has been recorded as the Madhura Sutta (MN 84).
The question with which the king opened this dialogue did not concern a profound problem about the nature of reality or the deeper realizations of insight meditation. It revolved around a practical issue that must have been weighing heavily on the minds of many of the noble-caste rulers of the time: the attempts of the brahmans to establish their own hegemony over the entire Indian social system. The brahmans tried to justify this drive for power by appeal to their pinely ordained status. King Avantiputta relates to Maha Kaccana the claim that they had been putting forth: "The brahmans are the highest caste, those of any other caste are inferior; brahmans are the fairest caste, those of any other caste are dark; only brahmans are purified, not non-brahmans; brahmans alone are the sons of Brahma, the offspring of Brahma, born of his mouth, born of Brahma, created by Brahma, heirs of Brahma."
The Venerable Maha Kaccana, though of pedigree brahman stock himself, is well aware of the presumption and arrogance that lay behind this proclamation. He replies that the claim of the brahmans is "just a saying in the world," one with no pine sanction at all to support it. To prove his point Maha Kaccana brings forth a powerful array of arguments in its favor: one of any social class who gains wealth can command the labor of those in the other castes; even a menial could enrol a brahman in his service. One of any caste who violates the principles of morality would be reborn in hell, while one of any caste who observes the moral precepts would be reborn in a happy realm. One of any caste who breaks the law would be punished. One of any caste who renounces the world and becomes an ascetic would receive homage and respect. As each argument draws to a close, the king proclaims: "These four castes are all the same; there is no difference between them at all."
At the end of the discussion, after expressing his appreciation of Master Kaccana”s replies, King Avantiputta declares: "I go to Master Kaccana for refuge and to the Dhamma and to the Sangha of bhikkhus." But Maha Kaccana corrects him: "Do not go to me for refuge, great king. Go for refuge to that same Blessed One to whom I have gone for refuge" — the Fully Enlightened Buddha. When the king asks where the Blessed One is now living, the elder explains that he has attained Parinibbana. This reply indicates that Maha Kaccana”s own demise must have taken place at some date after that of the Buddha.
The Samyutta Nikaya includes a sutta (SN 35:132) that shows how the Venerable Maha Kaccana”s skill in handling a group of rowdy young brahman boys helped to transform the attitude of a learned old brahman and his entourage of pupils. On one occasion the elder was living in Avanti in a forest hut. Then a number of young brahmans boys, pupils of the renowned brahman teacher Lohicca, drew near to the hut while collecting firewood. As the brahmans …
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