Angulimala Sutta - 1 (Live Recording On Zoom)

So today I'm entering into a new topic.

In the Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha,

Known as the Majjhima Nikaya,

There is one particular sutta that I personally and maybe strangely relate to,

And it's called the Angulimala Sutta.

And the story is of a murderer,

A serial killer,

Whose name,

Angulimala,

Means finger garland,

Because he would make a necklace out of the fingers of those that he killed.

So this is a madman,

Right?

Wow.

On the surface,

It doesn't seem very relatable.

But the backstory,

Which is attributed to one of the most influential monastics in the Theravada lineage from the 5th century,

The name of this person is Buddhaghassana.

And this being translated,

Additional commentaries to this original story.

And it's in those commentaries,

Where this story really emerges,

Like understanding the causes and conditions that kind of highlight this story in a way that it's really relatable,

And kind of leans us into compassion.

So I'll share the story.

Angulimala was born into a Brahmin caste.

So that's the highest caste in the Indian traditional caste system.

He was born to a chaplain in the royal court.

And his birth name was Ahimsika.

Ahimsika means harmless.

So he was given this name because of his gentle nature.

So that's interesting,

Right?

He was an intelligent boy and disciplined and had the respect of his teacher and was deeply respected.

He had deep respect towards his teachers,

And he was deeply respected by them.

So the other students became jealous of his relationship with their teacher.

So these boys created a story about Ahimsika,

Lying and somehow poisoning the mind of his teacher into believing that Ahimsika was planning to turn against his teacher and take over and maybe even kill him.

So perhaps out of fear or resentment or suspicion,

The teacher came up with a,

You know,

This cruel and really twisted plan.

He told Ahimsika,

If you want to fulfill your destiny as my student,

You have to bring me a garland of 1000 fingers of the people that you killed.

So Ahimsika had blind trust in his teacher,

Who was clearly not seeing clearly himself.

So Ahimsika obeyed his teacher and he went out onto the road that led to the forest,

And he would kill travelers along the road and then thread the fingers into a garland that he wore around his neck.

So this was how he became known as Angulimala.

He,

It's literally translated as he with a finger garland.

So Angulimala became the most feared bandit in India.

People armed themselves,

And yet,

And he was in like fulfilling the instructions of his teacher.

He got up to 999 people,

Fingers around his neck.

And as the commentaries go,

His mother actually set out to find him.

And this is when the Buddha,

Sensing that Angulimala was about to murder his own mother for the last finger that he needed,

Deliberately walked into his path.

And as the Buddha entered the forest where Angulimala lived,

People warned the Buddha against it.

He said,

You know,

They,

Like if you continue into the woods,

You're going to,

You know,

You're going to come to harm.

But the Buddha didn't listen.

He continued into the woods in search of this sort of spiritually deluded person.

Instead of running away,

The Buddha walked deep into the woods until Angulimala started to chase him.

So this is where the story gets a little mythological,

Okay.

As the story goes,

By the Buddha's magic powers,

The Buddha appeared to be walking slowly,

Calmly,

With restraint.

But no matter how fast Angulimala ran after him,

He couldn't catch the Buddha.

So he started to yell out,

Stop,

Monk,

Stop.

I can catch a swift elephant or a shifting chariot,

Yet I cannot catch up to this monk.

Stop.

So here,

The Buddha says,

I have stopped Angulimala.

You stop too.

So Angulimala does something that he didn't do with his earlier teacher.

He said to himself,

Suppose I question this monk.

So there's a light,

Curiosity,

Just that moment of clarity.

And he said to the Buddha,

While you are walking,

Monk,

You tell me you have stopped.

But now when I have stopped,

You say I have not stopped.

I asked you now what is the meaning of it?

How is it that you have stopped and I have not?

And the Buddha says Angulimala,

I have stopped forever violence to every living being.

But you have no restraint towards things that live.

So that is why I have stopped and you have not.

So when Anguli hears these words,

A great change came over him.

And he understood that this monk came into the forest for his benefit,

For the sake of Angulimala.

He saw this,

And something in him broke open,

Broke through the habit that hardened into cruelty and murder.

And he threw down his weapons.

And he asked to follow the Buddha.

And the Buddha knowing his good heart says,

Come,

Come with me.

And there's much more to this story,

Much more to this story.

And I will explore this with you over the next couple of weeks,

Because there's so much teaching in this one particular story.

But in the interest of time,

I'll just say that Angulimala,

He became a great healer.

You know,

He created so much suffering,

Caused so much suffering,

Saw so much suffering,

And he changed.

People began to come to him for healing.

But there was still some people who would throw sticks and stones.

And what the Buddha said to him about that,

Is he said,

This is your karma coming into fruition.

Bear it,

Noble one,

Bear it with a wise and compassionate heart,

And thus you will be transformed.

So bearing with it.

My journey on this Buddhist path has these words in the very ground that has been my path.

You know,

I didn't come to this practice as a violent serial killer like Angulimala.

But I caused harm to myself.

I hurt a lot of people along the way.

And one of the many lessons this sutta illustrates is that even humanity's most violent impulses,

Compulsions,

Habit patterns can be transformed.

Even I can be an agent of nonviolence.

In the sutta,

Not only did Angulimala renounce his heedless violent actions,

But he came to understand the deep suffering of human beings.

He came to understand that he was not absolved from his karma.

His past actions followed him.

And the Buddha said,

Bear with it,

Brahman,

Bear with it.

You are now experiencing the fruits of your karma here and now.

So bearing with it,

Those three words encapsulate how millions of us are meeting our life every day,

Every moment.

Life can be so hard to bear.

And our habitual response is to distract ourselves,

Right?

With intoxicants that cloud the mind.

And I'm not talking about drugs and alcohol,

Although those were my chosen intoxicants.

But the compulsion to shop,

The compulsion for more sexual experiences,

The consumption,

The overconsumption of food,

And the compulsion for more and recreational opportunities.

You know,

The socially acceptable compulsion of smartphones and internet consumption that is on the level of a global pandemic.

These habit patterns are like the pacifiers to meet what is hard to bear,

What is hard to bear in this life.

And here's what's so important to remember.

It's all of us.

We all have a Pavlovian response to the smartphone.

When the bell rings and a message comes through,

We either succumb to the urge to check it.

Or we feel the pull and not check it.

Or perhaps we shop for some household item that will provide sensual pleasure,

Like a like a candle or a furry blanket.

Or we eat foods that delight the senses.

Habits,

We have habits to meet what's hard to bear.

All of us.

And it's hard to restrain ourselves from seeking pleasure.

Because if we did restrain ourselves,

We would have to feel the raw experience of dukkha.

Dukkha being the Pali word for stress,

Dissatisfaction,

Suffering.

We would have to feel dukkha in ourselves,

In our community,

In our world.

But yet,

We are all the same.

You know,

All of us look around this zoom screen right now and see the people you practice with.

Look at them.

We are all the same.

I am like every other human being in this practice group and beyond that fills what is hard to bear with pleasure seeking.

All of us.

So can we stop?

Like the Buddha asked Angulimala?

Can we restrain?

Can we instead watch the mind that wants to fill the discomfort?

Or the mind that wants to say that thing to express that view to express that belief?

Can we restrain when something doesn't go our way?

And we get reactive and move towards defensiveness and separation?

Can we just feel the raw experience of not getting what we want?

Or getting what we don't want?

We're not unlike Angulimala in that way of unrestrained behavior.

He caused a lot of harm.

And maybe your lack of restraint might not cause direct harm.

But it doesn't move us closer to freedom either.

So start to see this in yourself.

Where are where do you refrain?

And where where do you not?

Practice holding back the compulsion,

The habit,

Opting to notice instead,

As something you know,

To be felt like,

Oh,

Look at that compulsion,

Something to be curious about.

You know,

On the spectrum of compulsion,

There are probably some of you on this call,

That have a compulsion not to speak in the group.

So I invite you to practice reflecting out loud for the benefit of others to work with the discomfort of speaking,

If that if that's how it is for you.

So it's your turn.

I'll stop here.

But just to say that there's so many teachings in this Angulimala Sutta.

And I will bring them to you over the next two weeks.

So you'll get to know the story.

And maybe how parts of it are your story too.

So thank you.