RESPECT THE TEACHER FROM WHOM ONE LEARNS THE DHAMMA
The Brāhmana”, which contains 41 verses said by the Buddha. The background story of the 392nd verse, which is the tenth verse of the Brāhmana vagga is about Arahant Sāriputta, who continued to pay homage daily to Arahant Assaji, from who he first learnt the Buddha’s teaching.
The background story of verse 392
Arahant Sāriputta was named Upatissa in his lay life as he was born into the chief family of a village named Upatissa. He had a very close friend named Kolita and both of them completed their education satisfactorily mastering the Vedic doctrines. They attended an annual festival called Hilltop Festival in the town of Rajagaha and enjoyed the entertainment. But they became disenchanted with the material world with a strong sense of the impermanence of things in their life and decided to leave the domestic life to become ascetics. They first went to a teacher named Sanjaya Bellatthiputta but were not happy with his teaching. Then they walked all around India looking for a teacher who could provide them with the correct teaching but could not find one. They decided to go their separate ways but promised each other that if one were to find the truth first he would immediately come and inform the other.
One day, Upatissa happened to see Arahant Assaji who was doing his alms round for food in the city of Rajagaha, and was quite impressed with the calm and serene appearance of Arahant Assaji. He thought to himself that this ascetic must be either an Arahant already or on his way to becoming one. He asked Arahant Assaji who his teacher was and what the teacher’s teaching was. Arahant Assaji informed Upatissa that he was a pupil of Gautama Buddha and that he could not describe the teaching in detail as he had not been a monk for long. But, when Upatissa requested that the teaching be mentioned in brief, Arahant Assaji recited the verse:
“Ye dhammā hetuppabhavā,
Tesaṁ hetuṁ tathāgato āha;
Tesanca yo nirodho,
Evaṃvādi mahāsamaṇo”
“Of things that proceed from a cause, their cause, the Tathagata has told, and also their cessation, thus teaches the great ascetic.”
On hearing the first two lines of the verse, Upatissa realized the Dhamma and became a Stream Enterer (Sotāpañña), the first noble stage of the Buddhist path of liberation. Having obtained the details of where the Buddha was residing, he went to Kolita to tell him of his discovery of the truth and when he repeated the same verse, Kolita too became a Stream Enterer. They went to the Buddha and were ordained as monks and soon both became Arahants and were appointed as the two chief disciples of the Buddha.
Arahant Sāriputta never failed to remember his very first teacher Arahant Assaji from whom he first heard the Buddha’s teaching in brief and became a Stream Enterer. If they both happened to be residing in the same monastery, Arahant Sāriputta would first visit the Buddha and then visit Arahant Assaji to pay homage to him. If Arahant Assaji was residing elsewhere, each day before going to sleep, he would find out where Arahant Assaji was and pay homage to that direction and would sleep with his head in the same direction.
At one time, the Buddha was staying at the Jetavana monastery in Sāvatti, and Arahant Sāriputta was also staying there at that time. When the other monks at the monastery witnessed Arahant Sāriputta paying homage in some direction or other, they mistook it as worshiping the various directions as Brahmins do. They reported to the Buddha that Arahant Sāriputta had not given up the old habit of worshiping the various directions. The Buddha sent for Arahant Sāriputta and when asked about it, he explained to the Buddha that he was only paying homage to his teacher Arahant Assaji and was not worshiping various directions. The Buddha was quite satisfied with that answer and said to the other monks:
“Monks, Sāriputta was not worshiping in various directions; he was only paying homage to his teacher Arahant Assaji, from whom he first learned about the Dhamma and it is quite proper for him to pay homage to such a teacher.”
Then the Buddha recited the following verse which is recorded as the 392nd verse of the Dhammapada.
“Yamhā Dhammaṁ vijāneyya,
Sammāsambuddhadesitaṁ,
Sakkaccaṁ taṁ namasseyya,
Aggihuttaṁ va brāhmano.”
“One from whom one learned the Dhamma, taught by the Sammā Sambuddha, should be revered like a Brahmin reveres the sacrificial fire.”
- Venerable Arahant Sariputta is considered the wisest disciple of Lord Buddha. His wisdom surpasses all other arahants except for Lord Gautama. Despite this, he continued to pay homage to his first master. It’s important to follow this example and show respect to those who introduced us to the Dhamma, regardless of whether they use mundane interpretations. Understanding mundane concepts is essential for comprehending deeper teachings. Even Lord Buddha would have wanted to pay homage to his anariya masters (Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta) by teaching them the Dhamma first. Unfortunately, they had already passed away and been reborn in the arupa loka(is impossible for an anariya Brahma to learn the Dhamma, in the Arupa loka). We must continue paying homage to our initial Dhamma teachers.
