Attainments
- Pr 4, Lying about superior attainments
- Pc 8, Telling unordained person about actual attainment
Pr 4, Lying about superior attainments
Extreme case of lying (Pc 1).
Origin: During a period of drought and famine, certain bhikkhus praised each other's false attainments to the lay people so that they may have a comfortable Vassa. (Vibh. Pr 4)
How can you for the sake of your stomachs praise one another’s superhuman qualities to lay people? It would be better for your bellies to be cut open with a sharp butcher’s knife than for you to praise one another’s superhuman qualities to lay people.
Why is that? Because for that reason you might die or experience death-like suffering, but you wouldn’t because of that be reborn in a bad destination. But for this reason you might.
Five great gangsters as bad monks:
- wanting to be honoured, revered and obtain gifts
- learning the Buddha's teachings and taking it as his own
- accusing a pure practitioner of the holy life of sexual intercourse
- taking and using Sangha property to create a following among lay people
- 'But in this world this is the greatest gangster: he who untruthfully and groundlessly boasts about a superhuman quality. Why is that? Monks, you’ve eaten the country’s almsfood by theft.'
Object: superior human states which are not accessible to mundane, ordinary people (puthujjana). States are categorized in three groups.
Mahaggata dhamma, 'expanded states'. Some are supra-mundane if they depend on higher jhānas.
Terms: jhāna (absorption), samāpatti (attainments), vipassana (insight), samatha (tranquillity). Jhāyati (verb) in the Canon has simple meaning: (1) thinks about (2) meditates; contemplates.
One may avoid confusion about terms by describing the five factors of jhāna, rather than using the term on its own.
Lokuttara dhamma, 'transcendent states'. Always supra-mundane. Related to the eradication of the mental fetters. Nine: Nibbāna plus the four paths and their four fruitions.
Tiracchāna-vijjā, 'animal knowledge'. Always mundane. Examples are occult abilities, future-telling, giving protective charms, casting malevolent spells, psychic healing, practicing as a medium, etc.
Perception: knowing as non-existent, not present in oneself. If it is a mistaken claim out of overestimation, that would not be parajika.
Non-existent defined as 'not to be found; not knowing, not seeing a skillful state within oneself, (yet saying,) "There is a skillful state within me."'
Effort: Addressing a human being. Speaking about the state present within oneself, or one being in the state. Talking to oneself about it is a dukkaṭa offense.
Explicit:
- 'I have attained the first jhāna'
- 'I have seen the heavenly realms'
- 'I know my previous lifetimes'
Implicit or idiomatic:
- 'I delight in an empty dwelling' (referring to jhāna)
- 'I have no doubts about the Buddha's teaching' (referring to stream entry)
Gestures by agreement:
- 'The first who leaves their kuti is an arahant.'
False claims made in thought:
The general principle applies that the mere arising of a thought or mind-state is not an offense (See Pr 2: a bhikkhu, seeing an expensive garment, feels the desire to steal it).
Deliberately cultivating such thoughts or mind-states are nonetheless critized (e.g. one who might keep telling oneself 'I am stream-enterer, no matter what they say!').
In some cases, false claims made in thought were assigned a dukkaṭa by the Buddha. See the Vinītavatthu, case-studies under Pr 4: one bhikkhu rebuked by another bhikkhu who could read minds and, another bhikkhu rebuked by a devatā.
At one time a monk claimed a superhuman quality in private. A devatā rebuked him, saying, “No, Sir, you haven’t got it.” He became anxious … “There’s no offense entailing expulsion, but there’s an offense of wrong conduct (āpatti dukkaṭassa).”
Intention: to misrepresent the truth, motivated by an evil desire.
- knowing that it is a lie, aiming to misrepresent the truth
- motivated by an evil desire
'Evil desire' here means that he wishes that others may think of him as such, does not have to include wishing harm to fulfil intention.
Result: the understanding of the speaker and the listener.
The bhikkhu must understand that he is making a claim.
The listener doesn't have to understand or recognize the bhikkhu's claim. See also Pc 1 (lying and deceit), where Result is not a factor.
If the bhikkhu is making a claim in a language which he knows that the other person doesn't understand, he is not intending to deceive him. If the bhikkhu doesn't know that the other person doesn't understand, he would fulfil intention.
Suggested states
Lay supporters may address a teacher with exaggerated faith: 'May the venerable arahant explain to me...'.
Supporters may suggest states: 'We would like to invite four sotāpanna monks to start a temple in our town.'
There is no offense in coming, sitting, etc., as long as the intention is just to accept the invitation and not to imply a claim.
To impress
Special practices (dhutaṅga, long periods of meditation, vegetarianism) out of the desire to impress others: dukkaṭa.
Blameless reasons, out of the desire to practice are not an offense.
Examples of offensive non-offenses which although don't fulfil the factor of Effort for Pr 4, are nonetheless motivated by the desire to win the respect or support of others thorough boasting.
Humblebrag:
- 'I am so dumb that before this retreat I didn't understand jhānas.'
- 'I am a really slow learner, but I don't have any doubt that the Buddha is right.'
- 'My meditation is nothing much, but you know, sometime you can see really interesting things...'
Virtue signalling:
- 'I have learnt to bow like this from a real Forest Kruba Ajahn.'
- 'Those monks talk about football. How could they have even basic samādhi?'
Non-offenses
- mistaken and exaggerated understanding of one's mental states
- not intending to boast, others trying to read a statement as an implied claim
Pc 8, Telling unordained person about actual attainment
Origin: similar to Pr 4, but with bhikkhus who boasted of true attainments of each other to get more food during a famine.
Effort: reporting a true attainment.
Object: to an unordained person.
Intention is not a factor, including motivations to inspire.
Good conduct between bhikkhus: Ven. Mogallāna waits to relate his vision until in the presence of the Buddha.
Non-offenses
- to a bhikkhu or bhikkhuni
- display of psychic power is not assigned an offense, but strongly critized by the Buddha (monk and the wooden bowl)