Maha Sihanada Sutta

The discourse on the lion's roar

by Dr. Piyasoma MEDIS

At a time the whole world is commemorating the significance of the 2600th anniversary of the Enlightenment of the Buddha, it is appropriate to reflect on the Maha Sihanada Sutta. This sutta is included in the Sihanada Vagga of Majjima Nikaya Vol. 1. no. 2.2. It is a pilgrimage into the great qualities of the Buddha.

The word Tathagata is a synonym for Buddha. This word was used only by the Buddha. He used this word to refer to Himself and other Buddhas.

Background

Sunakkhatta was a person who made serious allegations against the Buddha. He condemned the Buddha by saying the Tathagata is no Thathagata. He disregarded the Dhamma and said that the Buddha has no super mundane state, any distinction in vision and knowledge worthy of noble ones. Sunakkhatta also claimed that the doctrine the Buddha preached was a doctrine that he had merely thought out rather than realising through noble knowledge and vision.

For Sunakkhatta, the acquisition of miraculous powers was superior to the knowledge and experience of the uprooting of suffering. Sunakkhatta was a son of the King Licchavi of Vesali who himself followed the teachings of the Buddha as a disciple for some time. But he left the discipline of Dhamma as the Buddha was not helping him to attain powers of performing miracles through extreme asceticism.

When Sunakkhatta made these allegations the Buddha was living at Vesali. One morning Sariputta Mahathera entered Vesali for alms. But to his surprise he heard Sunakkhatta making derogatory remarks about the Buddha to a gathering of people in Vesali.

"There are no states of further-men, no excellent knowledge and insight befitting the Aryans in the recluse Gauthama; the recluse Gauthama teaches a Dhamma of His own devising, beaten out by reasoning and based on investigation and says that the Dhamma, taught for the sake of something specific, leads onwards the doer of it to the complete destruction of anguish."

The Sutta

Sariputta Mahathera informed the Buddha of what Sunakkhatta was telling the Vesalis. The Buddha said, "Sunakkhatta is a foolish man, a misguided man.

"He is angry, and his words are spoken out of anger. Although his intention is to discredit the Tathagata, he in fact is praising the Tathagata".

To explain it further, the Buddha went on with the delivery of the Maha Sihanada Sutta - The Greater Discourse on the Lion's Roar.

The Buddha, in His own words, explained the great qualities of a Tathagata for everyone to understand. In this Sutta the Buddha expounds on the following:

The 10 powers of the Tathagata; His four kinds of intrepidity, His knowledge of the eight assemblies, The four kinds of generation, The five destinations and Nirvana, The Bodhisattva austerities, and all of which entitle Him to "roar His lion's roar in the assemblies".

Hence it is important to look at what the Buddha explained very lucidly to understand the depth of the word Tathagata. The 10 powers of Tathagata;

* Tathagata understands as it actually is the possible is possible and the impossible is impossible;

* Tathagata understands as it actually is the results of actions undertaken past, future and present;

* Thatagata understands as it actually is the ways leading to all destinations;

* Tathagata understands as it actually is the world with its many and different elements;

* Tathagata understands as it actually is how beings have different inclinations;

* Tathagata understands as it actually is the disposition of the faculties of other beings, other persons;

* Tathagata understands as it actually is the defilement, the cleansing and the emergence in regard to the jhanas, liberations, concentrations and attainments;

* Tathagata recollects His manifold past lives;

* With the divine eye, which is purified and surpasses the human, the Tathagata sees beings passing away and reappearing, inferior and superior, fair and ugly, fortunate ad unfortunate, and how beings pass on according to their actions;

* By realising it for Himself with direct knowledge, the Tathagata here and now enters upon and abides in the deliverance of mind and deliverance by wisdom that is taintless with destruction of the taints.

Fearless attitudes

The four kinds of intrepidity or fearless attitudes of Tathagata.

* He claimed full Enlightenment;

* He destroyed all taints;

* He feared no obstructions, and

* He preached a Dhamma which helped the practitioner to totally eliminate suffering.

With fearlessness the Buddha was able to abide and deal with any situation He faced.

The eight assemblies approached by the Tathagata are;

* of nobles;

* Brahmans;

* householders,

* recluses,

* deities of the divine world of the Four Great Kings,

* deities of the divine world of the thirty three,

* Mara's retinue, and

* Brahmas.

Possessing the four kinds of intrepidity, the Tathagata approached and entered these assemblies freely.

Awareness of the four generations by Tathagata.

* Egg-born generation - born by breaking out of a shell,

* Womb-born generation - born by breaking out from the caul,

* Moisture-born generation - born in rotten fish, dead bodies, rotten dough, in cesspits, and sewers and

* Spontaneous generation - deities, denizens of the hell, certain human beings, and some beings in the lower world.

Five destinations

Awareness of the five destinations and Nibbana by Tathagata:

*The hell,

*The animal realm,

*The realm of ghosts,

*The human realm,

*The realm of deities and

*The path and way leading to Nibbana.

Finally as the Maha Sihanada Sutta indicates, Bodhisatta's austerities were numerous. His asceticism at times was based on extremism.

He had been an ascetic, a supreme ascetic; he had been coarse (Lukha), he had been supremely coarse; he had been scrupulous, (Jeguchchi), supremely scrupulous, he had been secluded (Pavivitta), supremely secluded. He underwent numerous austerities mainly for the realisation of the Truth.

Hilighting the graveness of the austerities the Bodhisatta adhered to, the Buddha exclaimed:

Chilled by night and scorched by day,

Alone in awe-inspiring grove,

Naked, no fire to sit beside,

The sage yet pursues his Quest.

In this discourse, the Buddha detailed His Bodhisatta extremism such as being naked; not accepting food brought to him, taking food once a day; once every seven days; clothing in hemp; pulling out hair and beard; plunged into dense forests; went on all fours to cowpens where cowherd boys came and spat on him, urinated on him and threw dirt at him; rested on the bones of the dead and the list is exhaustive. In fact the Buddha gave this account in this Sutta because Sunakkhatta was a great admirer of extreme asceticism and the Buddha wanted to show He was no equal to in the practice of austerities.

Having given a detailed explanation of the unparalleled qualities of Tathagata the Buddha addressed Sariputta Mahathera and said, "Sariputta, even if you have to carry me on a bed due to fragility, still there will be no change in the lucidity of the Tathagata wisdom.

Rightly speaking, were it to be said of anyone: 'A being not subject to delusion has appeared in the world for the welfare and happiness of so many, out of compassion for the world, of deities and humans', it is of me indeed that rightly speaking this should be said". It was indeed a great lion's roar. Such were the noble qualities of the Tathagata who came to this world as a normal human being and passed away as the Enlightened One.

When the Buddha preached the Maha Sihanada Sutta, Ven. Nagasamala who was the attendant of the Buddha at that time was standing behind the Noble One. He was fanning the Buddha to make the environment comfortable to the Buddha. As the Buddha completed the Sutta Ven. Nagasamala addressed the Buddha and said, "It is wonderful, it is astonishing and excellent, as I listened to your noble words, Venerable Sir, the hairs of my body stood up. What is the name of this Sutta?"

In replying the Noble One said, "Nagasamala, you may remember this Sutta as The Hair Raising Method (Lomahansana Pariyaya)" which made Ven. Nagasamala delighted.

It is useful to examine the Sutta in conjunction with Suttas like Ariyapariyesana, Maha Saccaka and the Bhay bherava, all of which deal with asceticism and the quest of the Bodhisatva and the Buddha's awakening.