The Bodhisatta's Quest - part 4

Ye jhānapasutā dhīrā nekkhammūpasame ratāDevā'pi tesaṃ pihayanti sambuddhānaṃ satīmataṃ.

Those wise ones who are devoted to meditation and who delight in the calm of renunciation — such mindful ones, Supreme Buddhas, even the gods hold dear.

- Dhammapada 181

The Bodhisatta's Quest - part 4

'Could there be another path to Awakening?'

"I thought: 'I recall once, when my father the Sakyan was working, and I was sitting in the cool shade of a rose-apple tree, then — quite secluded from sensuality, secluded from unskillful mental qualities — I entered & remained in the first jhana: rapture & pleasure born from seclusion, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation.

Could that be the path to Awakening?' Then following on that memory came the realization: 'That is the path to Awakening.' I thought: 'So why am I afraid of that pleasure that has nothing to do with sensuality, nothing to do with unskillful mental qualities?' I thought: 'I am no longer afraid of that pleasure that has nothing to do with sensuality, nothing to do with unskillful mental qualities, but that pleasure is not easy to achieve with a body so extremely emaciated.

Suppose I were to take some solid food: some rice & porridge.' So I took some solid food: some rice & porridge.

Now five monks had been attending on me, thinking, 'If Gotama, our contemplative, achieves some higher state, he will tell us.' But when they saw me taking some solid food — some rice & porridge — they were disgusted and left me, thinking, 'Gotama the contemplative is living luxuriously. He has abandoned his exertion and is backsliding into abundance.'

"So when I had taken solid food and regained strength ...'

MN 36 Maha-Saccaka Sutta: The Longer Discourse to Saccaka

Source : http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.036.than.html

- Posted by CFFong