Dhajagga Sutta
From Vedic theology to Buddhist psychology
by Dr. Keerthi Jayasekera
Every morning at 5.30 am, 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 are
and its social significance? The Sutta is recited
against a background 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 the Pali by Piyadassi Thera is given
below.
On one occasion the Blessed One was living near
Savatthi at the Jetavana monastry. Then he addressed
the monks.
"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 said 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
Isana, the King of the 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), then think only of me
thus: 'Such indeed is the Blessed One, Arahant
(Consummate One), supremely enlightened, endowned 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 of Sonapatti "Stream Entry";
Sakadagami "Once-return"; Anagami "Non-return" and
Arahantship, the fourth and last stage at which all
fetters are severed and taints rooted out), the eight
kinds of individual (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 Vedic
Theology, by placing powerful Vedic Gods like Sakka,
Pajapati, Varuna and Isana in a battlefield and
viewing their actions in 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 his confidence about
his own protection and gives him the courage to fight
on to victory.
However, if the crest of the banner has fallen or is
not within sight, then he begins to worry about his
own protection and 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 that if
they were to experience fear, terror, or hair standing
on en when they go to a forest, to a foot of tree, or
to an empty house (lonely place), then if they think
of the Buddha, such will pass away. Similarly the
Dhamma and the Sangha would also make such fear pass
away. In this order of disciples eight kinds of
individuals as described above are worthy of
offerings, hospitality and gifts, are worthy of
reverential salutations, are an incomparable field of
merit for the world. The Tathagata, who is an Arahant,
is supremely enlightened, is free from 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 Kshtriya casts only. When there was no
war the Kshtriyas could devote more time for the study
of the Vedic Texts. Royalty had the services of the
Brahmins to attend to matters of a spiritual nature,
especially on auspicious occations, to carry out rites
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 signs which reflect 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 led 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 Kshtriya aspirations
to rule and govern. Hence he exposed his son to
mastering the art of warfare. The result was that at
the age of 16 years, Prince Siddhartha displayed his
military skills before a royal audience, and won the
hand of Princess Yasodhara.
Upon enlightenment the Buddha uses a large number of
similies of a military nature in his discourses to his
disciples to illustrate the points of the Dhamma. The
Buddha displays his mastery of archery when he
describes the poison arrow to Malunkyaputta. He
discussed the training of horses with the horse
trainer Kesi and various aspects of the chariot that
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 to educate his son
Rahula (by then a movice monk) to the secular aspect
of the Kshtriya society. Incidently Rahula who was
ordained at the age of seven took thirteen years to
attain Arhathhood at the age of 20.
Once the Buddha said, "Warriors, warriors, 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 the secular to that of ethical
conduct within oneself. The concept of victory as
transformed from a war of conquring land and kingdoms
to a struggle within oneself. A war within oneself
through the powers of reasoning within the human mind
to achieve moral perfection. A Kshatriya art of war is
what they have to learn and the battlefield is where
they put the theory and skills to practice. The
protection that the crest of a Banner provides 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
and always viewed reality as it is.
The life of the Buddha does not reveal much about the
secular or spiritual activities of Prince Siddhartha.
However, we do know that royal households had Brahmins
in their company and in order to rule the king has to
be a master of statecraft for which not only military
skills but the wisdom of the Vedas would have been
mandatory. Prince Siddhartha on renunciation went to
Alara Kalama, the great meditation master of Vesali,
and was able to master his teachings and develop
meditative absorptions, and then to Uddakaramaputta to
master his teachings and meditative techniques and
develop still higher absorptions. This would not have
been possible if he did not have knowledge of the
Vedas, since their teachings went beyond the Vedas to
Sankhya Philosophy.
Not being content with what he had mastered thus far,
he went on his way, experimented with himself as
described in detail in the "Arya pariyesana Sutta" and
discovered middle path to moral perfection. There was
no external agency, devine or otherwise that supported
him in his struggle, but only by himself with his own
powers of reasoning did he acquire the power to view
reality as it is, thus achieving Buddhahood.
It is interesting to note that the majority of early
disciples were of Brahamic origin. Among them are Maha
Kashyapa, Sariputta, Moggallana, Maha Macchayana (who
was the one time Purohitha Brahmin to the King of
Avanthi). Many were the Brahmins who came to the
Buddha in search of answers to their questions on
epistemology. Among them are Esukari, Ambatta,
Bharadjvada, to name a few. The fact that the Buddha
was able to defeat Sacchaka the Brahmin of great
debating skills, and was able to win over a large
number of Brahmins 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 Buddha 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 Brahmajall 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 the right
view, the first factor of the Noble Eightfold Path,
which is the way leading to the cessation of
suffering, the objective of all that the Buddha
preached.
What is the relevance of the Dhajagga Sutta to present
day society? In this discourse the Buddha talks of the
futility of seeking protection from the Vedic Gods, as
they are themselves imperfect.
However, it is the Buddha Dhamma that leads one to be
free of lust, hatred and delusion, which in turn will
help one to transform one's powers of reasoning in an
ethical way. The result will be a person who will be
free of fear, terror and hair standing on end
beginning to see reality as it is. What happens in
Buddhist society today, when they are struck with
fear, terror, and hair standing on end? People resort
to seeking the protection of the Vedic Gods in 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 to seek answers within
the Buddha Dhamma. In this respect the Sangha and
eight types of disciples, who have themselves
developed varing degrees of understanding and
realisation of being free of lust, hatred and delusion
will be of immense value to the confused.
oh, adakah mahluk yg berbaik hati memposting Dhajagga Sutta versi indonesia?
SN 11.3 - Dhajagga Sutta, Vagga ke 1.
Temen2x dari DCPress, bisa kasih terjemahannya disini? yah hitung2x spoiler SN yg akan terbit :)
jiah, tadinya mau bilang tunggu tanggal mainnya :)
terserah deh ;D
calling batara indra...
ralat: calling batara haa...
...emang bisa di calling?
biasanyakan tunggu tempat duduknya terasa panas, baru dia tg secepat org dewasa meluruskan tangannya..
yah udah tunggu tgl maennya :P
wew batara indra dengan Tuhan sedang bercengkrama kakakakakak