Dhajagga Sutta a journey from Vedic Theology to Buddhist Psychology

by Dr. Keerthi Jayasekera

Every morning at 5.30 a.m., a TV Channel broadcasts the Dhajagga Sutta (Banner Protection discourse of the Buddha) as a part of the Seth Pirith for the day. How many of us know what the contents of this Sutta and its social significance is? As the Sutta is recited the background shown, that of Buddhist places of worship in India and Sri Lanka, and below it runs the meaning of the Discourse in Sinhala. The contents of the Sutta translated from Pali by Piyadassi Thera is given below.

On one occasion the Blessed One was living near Savatthi at the Jetavana monastery. Then he addressed the monks saying, "O monks," I shall relate a former incident. There arose a battle between the Devas (gods) and Asuras (Titans). Then Sakka, the Lord of the Devas of the Tavamtissa heaven spoke thus: "Happy ones, if the Devas who have gone to the Battle Field should experience fear or terror or suffer from hair standing on end, let them behold the crest of my own banner. If you do so, any fear, terror or hair standing on end arising in you will pass away.

"If you fail to look at my banner, look at the crest of the banner of Pajapati, King of Gods. If you do so, any fear, terror or hair standing on end arising in you will pass away."

If you fail to look up to the crest of Pajapati, King of the gods, look at the crest of the banner of Varuna, King of the Gods. If you do so, any fear, terror or hair standing on end arising in you will pass away." Monks, any fear terror or hair standing on end arising in them who look at the crest of the banner of Sakka... The Lord of the gods, of Pajapati... of Varuna... of Isama, the King of Gods, any fear, terror or hair standing on end, may or may not pass away. What is the reason for this?"

"Sakka, the Lord of the Gods, O monks, is not free from lust, not free from hate, not free from delusion, and is therefore liable to fear, fright, and flight.

I also say unto you O monks - if any fear, terror, or hair standing on end should arise in you when you have gone to the forest or to the root of a tree, or to an empty house (lonely place), them think only of me thus: "Such indeed is the Blessed One, Arahant (Consummate One), supremely enlightened, endowed with knowledge and virtue, welcome being, knower of worlds, the peerless trainer of persons, teacher of Gods and men, the Buddha, the Blessed one' Monks, if you think of me, any fear, terror, or standing of hair on end that may arise in you, will pass away.

"If you fail to think of me, then think of the Dhamma (the Doctrine) thus: 'well expounded is the Dhamma by the Blessed One, a Dhamma to be realised by oneself and gives immediate results, a Dhamma which invites investigation and leads up to Nibbana, a Dhamma to be understood by the wise each for himself.

'Monks, if you think of the Dhamma, any fear, terror or hair standing on end that may arise in you, will pass away."

"If you fail to think of the Dhamma, then think of the Sangha (the Order) thus: 'Of good conduct is the Order of Disciples of the Blessed one, of upright conduct is the Order of Disciples of the Blessed One, of wise conduct is the Order of Disciples of the Blessed One, of dutiful conduct is the Order of Disciples of the Blessed One.

This Order of Disciples of the Blessed One - namely those four pairs of persons (the four pairs of persons constitute the four kinds of Aryan disciples who have attained the four paths and four fruits of sanctity (magga and phala), namely, Sotapatti "Stream Entry"; Sakadagami "Once-return"; Anagami "Non-return" and Arahanta. Arahantship, the fourth and the last stage at which all fetters are severed and taints rooted out).

The eight kinds of individuals (The above four pairs become eight when the Paths and Fruits are regarded separately), is worthy of offerings, is worthy of hospitality, is worthy of gifts, is worthy of reverential salutations, is an incomparable field of merit for the world.' Monks, if you think of the Sangha, any fear, terror or hair standing on end that may arise in you, will pass away.

What is the reason for this? The Tathagata, O monks, who is Arahant, supremely enlightened, is free from lust, free from hate, is free from delusion, and is not liable to fear, terror, fright or flight." So said the Blessed One.

Having thus spoken, the teacher, the "Welcome Being" (Sugata), further said: Whether in forest or at foot of tree, or in some secluded spot, O monks, Do call to mind that Buddha Supreme; Then will there be no fear to you at all. If you think not of the Buddha, O monks, That Lord of the world and chief of men, then do think, O monks, of that Dhamma; So well preached and leading to Nibbana.

If you think not of the Dhamma, O monks well preached and leading to Nibbana; then do think, O monks, of that Sangha, That wonderful field of merit to all. To those recalling the Buddha supreme, to those recalling the Dhamma sublime, and to those recalling the Sangha, No fear, no terror will make them quiver.

Dhajagga Sutta is yet another instance where the Buddha displays his masterly knowledge of the Vedic Theology, by placing the powerful Vedic Gods like Sakka, Pajapati, Varuna and Isana in a battle field and viewing their actions is the light of his new found wisdom, in a battle the warrior looks up to the crest of his commander's banner to see if it is still flying high and if so it helps to build up his confidence about his own protection and gives him the courage to fight on till victory.

However, if the crest of the banner has fallen or not within sight, then he begins to worry about his own protection and ways of survival. Flight with fright is common. If however he sees the crest of a friendly commander then he would derive some inspiration by joining the fight under that new command and goes on till victory or defeat.

Hence in this discourse the Buddha says that by looking to the banner of these Vedic Gods any fear, terror, or hair standing on end may or may not pass away. The reason is Sakka, the Lord of Gods is not free from lust, not free from hate, not free from delusion, and is therefore liable to fear, terror, fright and flight.

However, addressing the monks the Buddha says if they were to experience fear, terror, or hair standing on end should arise when they go to a forest, to a foot of a tree, to an empty house (lonely place), then to think of the Buddha, such will pass away. Similarly on the Dhamma and the Sangha too would make such pass away.

This Order of disciples eight kinds of individuals as described above are worthy of offerings, hospitality, gifts, is worthy of reverential salutations, is an incomparable field of merit for the world. The Tathagata, O monks, who is an Arahant, supremely enlightened, is free form lust, hate, and delusion, and is not liable to fear, terror, fright or flight.

Who are these Vedic Gods? Sakka: The 'King of Gods' is the lord over the celestial beings in the heaven of the 'Thirty Three.' Prajapathi: "Father-god," whose name implies that all created beings are his children. Varuna: Who is essentially a God of righteousness and is the guardian of all that is worthy and good. He is omniscient. Isana: who lives as the "inner guide" in all objects in the universe.

Ancient Indian wisdom of the Vedas, was accessible to the Brahmin and Kshyathriya casts only. When there was no war the Kshyathriyas could devote more time for the study of the Vedic Texts. Royalty had the services of Brahamins to attend to matters of a spiritual nature, especially on auspicious occasions, to carry out rite and rituals in keeping with the teachings of the Vedas.

That is how King Suddhodana summoned the seven Brahmins, when Prince Siddhartha was born to examine the new born's physical signed which reflects certain characteristics thus making it possible to predict the future. Closer perusal of the 32 great marks and 80 lesser marks in the body of the new born made them to conclude that in due course the Prince will be a Universal Monarch or a Buddha.

King Suddhodana naturally wanted the prince to be a Universal Monarch in keeping with the Kshyathriya aspirations to rule and govern. Hence he exposed his son to master the Art of Warfare. The result was at the age of 16 years, Prince Siddhartha displayed his military skills before a Royal audience, and won over the hand of Princess Yasodhara.

Upon enlightenment Lord Buddha uses a large number of similes of a Military nature in his discourses to his disciples to illustrates the points of Dhamma. Lord Buddha displays his mastery of Archery when he describes the poison arrow to Malunkyaputta.

He discussed training of horses with the horse trainer Kesi. Various as pects of the Chariot, which is used in war. In the Rahulovada Sutta. The Buddha describes in detail the behaviour of the Elephant in the theatre of war. Perhaps it was done to educate his son Rahula (by then a novice monk) to the secular aspect of the Kshyathriya society.

Incidently Novice Rahula who was ordained at the age of Seven took 13 years to attain Arhathood at the age of 20.

Once the Buddha says "Worriers, Worriers, why are we called Warriors, because we wage war against all that is evil." This statement shows how the Buddha changed the meaning of war from secular to that of Ethical conduct with in one self.

The concept of victory at was transformed from a war of conquering land and Kingdoms to a victory from the struggle within one self, from a war with in one self through the powers of reasoning within the Human mind to achieve moral perfection.

To a Kshyathriya Art of war is what they have to learn and the battle field is where they put the theory and their skills to practice.

The protection that the crest of a Banner provide to a warrior at war, would have been well known to the Buddha from the experience he would have obtained for 29 years as Prince Siddhartha, for the Buddha never spoke of anything of which he has had no experience with and always viewed reality as it is.

Life of the Buddha does not reveal much about the secular or spiritual activities of Prince Siddhartha. However we do know that the Royal households had Brahmins in their company and in order to rule the king has to be master of state craft for which not only the military skills but wisdom of the Vedas would have been mandatory.

The fact that Prince Siddhartha on renunciation went to Alara Kalama the great meditation master of Vesali, and was able to master his teachings, and develop the meditative absorptions, and then to Uddakaramaputta and master his teachings and meditative technique and develop still higher absorptions would not have been possible if he did not have the knowledge of the Vedas, since their teachings went beyond the Vedas to Sankhya Philosophy.

Being not contended with what he has mastered thus far, he went on his way, experimented with him self as described in detail on the 'Arya pariyesana Sutta' discovered middle path to moral perfection.

There was no external agency, devine or otherwise that supported him in his struggle, but only by him self with his own powers of reasoning he acquired the power to view reality as it is, thus achieving Buddhahood. It is interesting to note that the majority of early disciples were of Brahminic origin.

Among them Maha Kashyapa, Sariputta, Moggallana, Maha Kacchayana (who was the one time Purohitha Brahmin to the King of Avanthi). Many were the Brahamins who came to the Buddha in search of answers to their questions on epistemology. Among them Esukari, Ambatta, Bharadjvada, to name a few outstanding.

The fact that the Buddha was able to defeat Sacchaka the Brahamin of great debating skills, and was able to win over a large number of Brahamins who came to display their knowledge of the Vedas, was ample testimony to the fact that the Buddha possessed absolute knowledge of the Vedas.

If the Buddhas did not have such a sound epistemological and ontological base, how could he have criticised the sixty two prevalent views of the day as described in the Brahmaja Sutta (The all-embracing net of views) placed as the first Sutta (Discourse) in the entire collection of the Buddha's discourses contained in the Pali Tipitaka.

The Sutta exposes all possible speculative views on the two central concerns of speculative thought, the nature of the self and of the world. This is a preliminary measure necessary to clear the ground for the establishment of right view, the first factor of the Noble Eightfold Path, which is the way leading to the cessation of suffering, the objective of all what the Buddha preached.

What is the relevance of the Dhajagga Sutta to the present day society? IN this Discourse the Buddha tells about the futility of seeking protection from the Vedic Gods, since they are themselves imperfect, are not free from lust, not free from hate, not free from delusion, since they are themselves liable to fear, terror, fright and flight.

However, it is the Buddha Dhamma which leads one to be free of Lust, Hatred and Delusion which in turn will help one to transform ones powers of reasoning to an Ethical way. The result will be a person who will be free of fear, terror, hair standing on end begin to see reality as it is.

What happens in the Buddhist society to day, when they are struck with fear, terror, hair standing on end, people resort to seek the protection of the Vedic Gods in the Hindu Kovils or in the Devales found within the Buddhist Temple compounds.

The logical thing to do when one is placed in such situations is seek the answers within the Buddha Dhamma. In this respect the Singha and the eight types of disciples who have themselves developed varying degrees of understanding and realisation of being free of Lust, Hatred and Delusion will be of immense value to the confused.