Reply To: Useful Essays from DRARISWORLD and Other Websites – Part 2

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Jittananto
Participant

Arahant Sopāka: Enlightened at seven years of age

Early back ground of Arahant Sopāka

During the time of the Buddha, there was a seven-year-old boy named Sopāka. When his natural father died, his mother remarried another man. His stepfather was not a very good man who scolded and beat Sopāka regularly despite his mother’s pleas not to do so. After some time, another baby boy was born to his mother. Since the birth of his younger brother, step father’s attitude towards Sopāka became worse. One day the stepfather decided to get rid of Sopāka for good and while his mother was away from the house, the stepfather took Sopāka to a cemetery ground and tied him to a freshly brought dead body. Sopāka cried pleading with his stepfather not to leave him tied up, but the stepfather turned a deaf ear and went home.

During the night, Sopāka heard the cries of jackals, tigers, leopards and other animals who were coming to the cemetery to feed on the dead bodies. Hearing the cries of those animals, Sopāka became terrified. Shivering in the cold and terrified, Sopāka cried for help but as the cemetery ground was away from the city, no one could hear his cries.

Becoming a Stream Enterer (Sotāpanna)

As the Buddha was surveying the world through the Buddha’s super normal divine vision to see who could be spiritually helped on that day, Sopāka came into the Buddha’s vision. The Buddha saw that young Sopāka who was tied to a dead body in the cemetery was terrified and crying and that he also possessed matured spiritual faculties to gain enlightenment on that day. The Buddha appeared before Sopāka displaying a light of halo rays and said to Sopāka:

“Son, don’t cry. Don’t be afraid. I will help you escape”.

When Sopāka heard the Buddha’s ensuring voice and contemplated the Buddha’s kindness, he attained the first supra mundane stage of Stream Entry (Sotāpanna). The ropes that tied Sopāka to the dead body were broken through the Buddha’s will. The Buddha then consoled and comforted Sopāka and holding his hand, took him to the Jetavana monastery where the Buddha arranged for him to be cleaned and bathed.

Enlightenment and ordination as a novice monk

In the meantime, Sopāka’s mother who had gone out returned to the house and not been able to see her son, enquired from her husband as to where Sopāka was. When he said he did not where Sopāka was, she went out looking for Sopāka but could not find him anywhere. The mother could not sleep the whole night worrying about her son and in her desperation, early next morning she went to the Jetavana Monastery to seek the Buddha’s advice as she had heard that the Buddhas knew all, past, future and present. When she arrived at the monastery, the Buddha through supernormal power, made Sopāka invisible to his mother.

 

When Sopāka’s mother said to the Buddha: “Venerable Sir, I cannot find my son anywhere”, the Buddha gave the following brief sermon to her.

“Sons are no shelter nor father, nor any kinsfolk.

  For one overtaken by death, blood bond is no refuge.”

When the mother heard the Buddha’s brief sermon, she became a Stream Enterer (Sotāpanna), while Sopāka having heard the same sermon given to his mother, gained enlightenment as an Arahant. Then the Buddha made Sopāka visible to his mother who was overjoyed to see her son. When the mother was told that Sopāka had gained enlightenment as an Arahant, she consented for him to go forth and ordain as a novice monk.

Higher ordination

Shortly afterwards, the Buddha wanted to consider offering higher ordination (upasampadā) to novice Sopāka and asked him ten questions which are recorded in the Khuddaka pātha of the Khuddaka Nikāya (collection of the Buddha’s minor discourses as the “Boy’s questions (Kumāra panha). The ten questions asked by the Buddha and the answers given by novice Sopāka are as follows:

What is one?

All beings subsist on food.

[The Buddha has described four types of food: Physical food (kabalinkāhāra), sense impression (phassāhāra), volitional thoughts (mano sancetanāhāra) and consciousness (viññānāhāra)]

What is two?

Name and form.

[All mental and physical phenomena (nāma rūpa)]

What is three?

The three types of feeling.

[Pleasant feeling (sukha vedanā), painful feeling (dukkha vedanā), neutral feeling (upekhā vedanā)]

What is four?

The four Noble Truths.

[Truth of suffering (dukkha sacca), the truth of the cause of suffering (samudaya sacca), the truth of the cessation of suffering (nirodha sacca) and the truth of the path leading to the cessation of suffering (magga sacca).]

What is five?

The five aggregates of clinging.

[Form (rūpa), feeling (vedanā), perception (saññā), mental formation (sankhāra) and consciousness (viññāna).]

What is six?

The six internal sense doors.

[Eye (cakku), ear (sota), nose (ghāna), tongue (jivhā), body (kāya) and mind (mana).]

What is seven?

The seven factors of enlightenment.

[Mindfulness (sati), analysis of qualities (dhamma vicaya), effort (viriya), rapture (pīti), tranquillity (passaddhi), concentration (samādhi) and equanimity (upekhā).]

What is eight?

The Noble Eightfold Path.

[Right view (sammā-ditthi), right intention (sammā-sankappa), right speech (sammā-vācā), right action (sammā-kammanta), right livelihood (sammā-ājīva), right effort (sammā-vāyāma), right mindfulness (sammā-sati) and right concentration (sammā-samādhi)]

What is nine?

The nine abodes of beings.

[Beings with diversity of body and diversity of perception, beings with diversity of body and singularity of perception, beings with singularity of body and diversity of perception, beings with singularity of body and singularity of perception, dimension of the infinitude of space, dimension of the infinitude of consciousness, dimension of nothingness, dimension of non-percipient beings, dimension of neither perception nor non-perception.]

What is ten?

One endowed with ten qualities is called an Arahant.

[Right view (sammā-ditthi), right intention (sammā-sankappa), right speech (sammā-vācā), right action (sammā-kammanta), right livelihood (sammā-ājīva), right effort (sammā-vāyāma), right mindfulness (sammā-sati), right concentration (sammā-samādhi), right knowledge (sammā nāna) and right liberation (sammā vimutti).] 

Novice Sopāka gave all the right answers to the ten questions asked by the Buddha, and making that the basis, the Buddha offered him the higher ordination. The following are the verses by Arahant Sopāka recorded in Theragāthā, one of the fifteen books of the Khuddaka Nikāya.

480. The shadow of the Buddha’s hut fell on his walking path. The best of men, the Buddha, was doing walking meditation there. I went up to him. I worshiped him, the best of men, the Buddha.

481. I arranged in my robe, putting it over one shoulder. Placing my hands together, I too started walking behind the Buddha, the one who is freed from defilements, the best of all beings.

482. The Buddha who is extremely skilled in answering questions asked me questions. At that time, I was not scared or terrified at all to answer. I answered all the questions.

483. The Tathāgata Buddha was pleased with the way I answered the questions. Looking at the community of monks, the Buddha said this about me:

484. “The people of Ānga and Magadha offer robes, food, resting places and medicine to this young monk Sopāka. This young Sopāka uses them. It’s a great gain for those people. Those people, having seen this young monk, get up from their seats and pay respect to him. It’s a great gain for those people. Those people have Dhamma discussions with this young monk. It’s a great gain for them.

485. Dear Sopāka, from today onwards you should come to see me. Dear Sopāka, just your answering of my questions is your higher ordination.”

486. I was just seven years old when I received a higher ordination. I too attained the Triple Knowledge. Ah! See the excellence of this Dhamma.

These verses by Arahant Sopāka state in his own words that he answered the questions from the Buddha and received higher ordination at the age of seven years. By stating that he attained the triple knowledge, he has also confirmed that he gained enlightenment as an Arahant at the age of seven years.

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