178: The Origin of Theravada Buddhism

Meditation teacher, Sayar Myat, speaks of the origin / roots of Theravada Buddhism.

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SPEAKER_00: 0:01

We will be talking about what is Tirabara Buddhism. Tiravara Buddhism is the principles and the framework to present the Buddhist teaching by a group of bhakus who are known as Tira. Now we need to know what Tira means. Tira comes from a word called Tira. Tira means strong, firm, unshakable. So a group of bekus or beku, who has a strong, firm, unshakable morality, concentration and wisdom. They are called terap. In other words, it is the bhikkhus or the monks who are well endowed and skillful with theoretical and practical aspects as well as experiential aspects of the Buddha's teaching. These bhikkhus or monks are called or known as Tera. There are over 700,000 monks came over to a place called Kutsinara. Kushinara is a town where the Buddha passed away in the kingdom of Mala. And in here all the monks from across the region currently known as India now, they are all together 16 kingdoms the Buddhas have touched during his ministry. They came over to Kusinara to pay the final respect for the Buddha passing away of Brad Nirvana. During the Buddha's ministry of 45 years, from the age of 35 to 18. He roamed around across India, which consists of altogether 16 kingdoms. And out of the 16 kingdoms, he spent his rain retreats. Rain retreat is three months of rainy season. The Buddha did not travel to anywhere but stay at one place. He spent his rain retreats, 13 rain retreats in. And some of the monks they have the first hand knowledge of his delivery of the sermon. Whatever the aspect the Buddhas delivered at their locations. And here they all gathered the passing away of the Buddhas at Kusinara. After the passing away, they talk about among themselves. When Buddha was alive, they asked him if you passed away, who would succeed in your place to teach us? And the Buddha said, all the Dharmas I have taught and all the Vinaya rules and regulations that I have set down will be your teacher. So they discuss and talk about it would be better to organize, systematize, and then centralize all the Buddha's teaching because they are all spread around 13 different kingdoms. So they come, they came to a conclusion to elect a bheku as the head of this occasion. So unanimously they elected Mahakasapasera as the head of this gathering. And they asked him, it was interesting the way they asked. A large tree with fully blossom with flowers has been blown away and uprooted by a large storm. And the flowers all scattered all around this area. And a skillful florist with some assistance came over and picked up these flowers. Some put it in a container for large flowers, another container for mid-site flowers, and another container for small flowers. They pick up all the flowers and then they string around, put it into a beautiful bouquet with strings and to many pieces. And suddenly these flowers become very beautiful, graceful, and become very high value by the people who looked at it. In such a way, a large tree, the Buddha, was blown away by this great storm. The marana, the passing away. And all the flowers, the dharmas are spread around all over the different regions. And a skillful florist came over, which is the appointed Mahakaspa Sira. And then they want this florist to organize, centralize, put things accordingly, the long, the middle, the short sermons, important ones, medium important, least important ones, in terms of significance. And they want it to put all together so that this will stand as a teacher for all the people who want to follow what the Buddhas have taught. So Mahakasaphasira accepted their nomination and election. Of course, he cannot get all 700,000 bakus to participate in this. Nothing diluted. So the elder Mahakasapat nominated altogether 499 monks as a representative from across the regions. They are all arhat. Arhat means a monk who has already totally uprooted loba, greed, dosa, anger, and moha delusion or ignorance. Except one, there's one monk. His name is Shin Ananda Tira. He wasn't an Arhat yet, but he has a window of opportunity to practice to become an Arahat. So altogether there were 500 monks. And among the 500 monks, Mahakaspa Tirapit Shin Ananda, because he is quite vital to this conference. He was a personal attendant to the Buddha for the last 25 years. And he has the title of Dipitika Dharab, which means someone who knows, who can recite by heart, who understands and who can explain all of the Buddha's teaching. And such a person is titled Deepidigatthara. And Shin Ananda is such a person. So that is the reason he was included in the 500 with the condition that he becomes a rahat before the convention or congress. And another person he included is called Shankupali Tira. The reason is he is someone who knows all the rules and regulations and disciplines. It's called Vinaya of Baikuns and Baikunis, monks and nuns. Not only that, he knew he is exemplary and then he lives according to the disciplines and rules set out by the Buddha duity. For that reason he was included. And of course, remaining 497 monks represent different regions, but mostly they are the monks who have the first hand knowledge of the sermon they have the Buddha had delivered in their regions. So they are skillful, expert, have first-hand knowledge, and they are the teachers of their own region. And that 500 monks represent the over 700,000 monks. So it is a very democratic process. Properly nominated, elected, and appointed. So all these 500 monks will represent the whole mass of a community of Sangha, society of Sangha that follows Buddha Gaurana's teaching. And here they have to decide where they are going to hold this place of conference. They are at the kingdom of Mala at the Gusinara city. But the king who had sponsored that very nibbana or personal ceremony. Do uphold that over 700,000 monks and all the people who came is they have treasury was exhausted. They cannot carry on. So they look around and then out of the 16 kingdoms they came to one kingdom. It's called Magadha Kingdom. And then King Ajatasa ruled that kingdom. He was a pretty notorious king in his earlier age. But in his latter age, once he met Buddha, he became a very just fair and wholesome king. Who has a very high confident saddha in the Buddha's teaching, the Buddha and the Dharma and the Sangha. So that king has a desire and a wish to propagate and preserve the Buddha's teaching. And also his kingdom at that time is very developed in terms of wealth. So there's a lot of treasury, a lot of funds. And also there's a huge manpower and the material resources. So the 500 monks decided that will be the place, and the king with the full sadha or confidence in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, he will be the sponsor. And this Magadha kingdom, the city or the capital is Rajagiri, was about 300 miles away from Kusinara. So 500 months. After a few days, after the Buddha's passing away, they head towards that city. It took them about almost two months there. Basically, they are traveling at a rate of five to ten miles a day. I'm quite sure along the way they discuss and they talk about how they would organize and put things into order, systematized. Just around the full moon day of July. This Rajagiri has 18 Buddhist monasteries, but the Buddha spent his rain retreats the last 25 years or 25 rain retreats in Sawati. So that place is not very well taken and the monasteries are old and some need repairs. So the king set out to do the restorations and repairs of these 18 monasteries and it took a month. So by the end of July, full moon day of August, they are ready to have the gathering for the first Buddhist Council. For 60 days, these 500 monks present, discuss, recite all the Buddhist teaching that's delivered during his 45 years of ministry. In a cave at the mountainside of Vila. And that is how the first Buddhist congressions after the Buddha's passing away took place. Three months exactly after the Buddha's passing away. And it took them 60 days to complete it. So it is the conference that took place has a ground rule. All the principles or the frameworks, how to present Buddhist teaching. And that principle or the groundwork need to be noticed. There are many, but we are going to discuss three important principles. Mahakasapasira set out these rules, of course, after the discussion with 500 monks. And also these 500 monks are representative of the over 700,000 monks who were at the Kusinara. And these over 700,000 are the representative of the whole community of the monks that follows Buddha's teaching across India. And these principles are first and foremost. Nobody is going to preach or teach anything anew other than what the Buddhas had taught us in the last 45 years. In other words, there will be no new addition to what the Buddhas had taught. Secondly, there will be no subtraction. Then what the Buddha has taught us. In other words, there will be no subtraction, no addition or no subtraction other than what the Buddhas have taught us. And then finally, we are going to practice according to how the Buddha has taught us and follow the rules and regulations, Vinaya, strictly according to the way the Buddha has set down for us. So those are the three main principles of the Buddhist Convention. And in here, Shin Anandatera, the deep the Gadara, he presents all the Abhidhamma and Sutta. And Shen Upali presents all the viniya, which means rules and regulations for the bhakus and bidkunis. And whenever each sermon is presented, then Mahakasabhattira asks these 500 monks, do you have any point of view or opinion or idea that in this presentation of the Buddhist teaching there are excessive extra trivial contained in it? So that you want to take out. So that you need to add on. And then thirdly, he asked the question. Now, in this presentation, is there any way you want to rearrange, reformat, putting a new style and present it? And all the monks say no, we accept exactly as being presented because that's how the Buddha has taught us. And whenever these questions are unanimously agreed upon, all the monks recite that discourse of the sutra together three times. And that is how the first Sanghayana or the first Buddhist Congress is carried out. They present, they discuss, and they recite for 60 days. And after that it concluded the Congress or the Convention. And that become the Pali Canon. But the Tiravara Buddhist had followed strictly exactly as the Buddha is taught from their version. And all the people who follow are called Tiravara Buddhist. Now they is more prominent. And the southern part they call it the southern because it is in Sri Lanka, Bama, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia. These people practice this lineage. So the first of the Tira is Shemahakasapha, followed by Shen Ananda and Shen Upali and 497 Arahats. And here one thing is worth to note is we all know that the left hand disciple and the right hand disciple of the Buddha. The right hand is Shensari Buddharatira, the left hand disciple is the Shemagalana Tira. They are not included in there. The reason is both of them, one after the other, passed away three months before the Buddha passed away. For that reason they are not there and led by the Mahatira, which is Shamahakasupa. And that is Phiravara Pudasam. I have learned these facts and factors from the very well-known monks from Burma who are the leading monks of this present day Buddhism. And if there is any error, it is my own doing. May all of you be well, happy, and peaceful. Thank you.