Todayand#8217;s FBA Dharmabyte takes us into the wonderful, magical, mythical world of Vimalakirti Nirdesha. In and#8220;Shariputraand#8217;s Worriesand#8221; we are warned of the danger of getting sidetracked when worrying about little things when what we really need to do is find and#8220;The Way of Non-Duality.and#8221; Talk given in 1979 as part of the series and#8220;The Inconceivable Emancipation and#8211; Themes from the Vimalakirti Nirdeshaand#8221; and will be featured in Saturdayand#8217;s podcast.
Dharmabytes from free buddhist audio
Shariputra’s Worries
[music] Dharma Bites is brought to you by Free Buddhist Audio, the Dharma for your life. Our work is funded entirely by donations from our generous listeners. If you would like to help us keep this free, make a contribution at freebuddhistaudio.com/donate. Thank you, and happy listening. [music] Since then, quite a lot has happened. Quite a lot has happened, I should say, in the three intervening chapters. At the beginning of chapter six, entitled "The Inconceivable Liberation or Inconceivable Emancipation", Shari Putra has a problem. He may recollect that vimalicurity, by his magical part, has made his house with its furniture, on all his attendants, disappear, so that all that can be seen is vimalicurity, himself lying on his couch. But quite a number, in fact an immense number of bodies such as an other house, have accompanied Manjushri on his visit to Vimalicurity, and amongst them is our friend Shari Putra. So, Shari Putra cannot help wandering where they are all going to sit. All these thousands of other huts and thousands of body suchfas. He just can't help wandering, apparently, where they are all going to sit. After all, perhaps he is thinking, body suchfas and other huts shouldn't remain standing while vimalicurity is lying on his couch, even though he is sick. Guests, in any case, according to ancient Indian etiquette, would his etiquette shouldn't be kept standing? Now, vimalicurity, of course, knows what Shari Putra is thinking. He has this uncomfortable faculty. He is telepathic. So, knowing what Shari Putra is thinking, he puts to him quite a pointed question. He says, "Reverend Shari Putra, did you come here for the sake of the Dharma, or did you come here for the sake of a chair?" Well, they can probably imagine Shari Putra as feelings. Shari Putra very humbly replies, "I came for the sake of the Dharma, not for the sake of a chair." And vimalicurity then continues, saying, "Reverend Shari Putra, he who is interested in the Dharma, is not interested even in his own body, much less in a chair." When he goes on in this way, in this vein, for several paragraphs, there's no need for us to follow him. Because his initial question gives us quite enough to think about, "Did you come here for the sake of the Dharma, or did you come here for the sake of a chair?" And after all, just usually imaginations, just consider the situation. Here is this great assembly of Arahas and Bodhisattvas. Here is the wise elder, Vimalicurity. Here is Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of wisdom himself. They just had a discussion. Vimalicurity and Manjushri have just had a discussion of tremendous spiritual significance. Everybody has been highly delighted by it. Everybody has been greatly uplifted in their hearts. Nobody knows what's going to happen next, but everybody is wondering what's going to happen next. But what does Shari Putra do? He starts wondering about where everybody is going to sit. He starts worrying about chairs. So what does this little incident illustrate? What does it warn us against? It warns us against the danger of getting sidetracked. We get sidetracked due to the operation of the gravitational pull. And it's no use our laughing or even smiling that for all Shari Putra, we have to apply the warning to ourselves. Because what happens? We go along, say, to a meditation class at the center. We go along to a lecture on the Dharma. We even go away on retreat, perhaps in the depths of the country. Perhaps we get quite deeply immersed, immersed in the meditation, immersed in the lecture, immersed in the retreat experience, but then what happens? What happens is that our attention wanders. We get sidetracked. We start wondering when the tea and biscuits are going to appear. We start wondering whether a certain attractive person that we saw last week is going to be there again. We start wondering, especially if it's a cold day, whether the central heating is going to be turned up. So we might well ask ourselves the same sort of question that Vimalakirti asked Shari Putra. Did you come for the sake of the Dharma or for the sake of the tea and biscuits? Did you come for the sake of the Dharma or for the sake of that attractive person? Did you come for the sake of the Dharma or for the sake of the central heating? There's nothing easier than to get sidetracked in this sort of way. There's nothing easier than to succumb to the operation of the gravitational pull. There's a lot more that could be said on this particular subject, but sidetracking is not our theme tonight. And in any case, I don't want to get sidetracked. So, let's pass on to what happens next. Happens next, of course, in the sutra, in the text. What happens next is that there's a great display of magical power. Shari Putra has been worrying about chairs, so all right, Vimalakirti gives him chairs. He gives him 3200,000 of them were in fault. Not chairs, but friends, in fact. And he brings, by his magical power, from a distant distance towards a land in the eastern direction. On all these thrones, these 3200,000 thrones fit into his house without crowding. The house, in fact, seems to enlarge itself accordingly. And this gives him Vimalakirti the opportunity of explaining the inconceivable liberation or inconceivable emancipation. The Bodhisattva, he says, who lives in this emancipation, thoroughly realizes the relativity of space and the relativity of time. He can put Mount Sumerum into a mustard seed without making the one smaller or the other bigger. He can make a week seem like an age and an age like a week. He has the power, the magical power, of transforming any one into any one and anything into anything. In chapter 7, which is entitled simply the Goddess, Shari Putra is again in trouble. First of all, though, Vimalakirti answers various questions put by Manju 3, and there's another vigorous dialectical exchange between them. And at this point, a certain Goddess appears. This Goddess, we're told, lives in Vimalakirti's house. And she's so delighted with the teaching that she's been hearing that she's show us the whole assembly. We are asked Bodhisattvas, everybody, with flowers. And these flowers, strange to relate, do not stick to the bodies of the Bodhisattvas, but they do stick to the bodies of the other house. And of course Shari Putra is an other house. And Shari Putra is greatly embarrassed by this fact, by this circumstance, and he tries unsuccessfully to brush off the flowers that have fallen on him. Because after all, he is a monk, and a monk is not supposed to wear flowers. Well, a little later on, Shari Putra becomes still more embarrassed because, quite suddenly, he undergoes a change of sex. First of all, prompt male to female, which is bad enough, and then from female back to male, which is even worse. But all in the space of a few minutes, well, no doubt, there are several themes here. But once again, we must pass on. We hope you enjoyed today's Dharma Bight. Please help us keep this free. Make a contribution at freebuddhistaudio.com/donnie. And thank you. [music] [music] [music] [ Silence ]