Inverted Men
Although Ananda and the assembly had heard these words, they
remained speechless. As they did not awaken to the Teaching, they
brought their palms together and waited for the Buddha further
instruction with their minds set on hearing it.
The worlding's inverted views
The Buddha then held up His shining hand, straightened His
fingers to give (further) instruction to Ananda and the assembly
and asked: After I attained Enlightenment (Bodhi), I went to
Margadava park where I told Ajnata-Kaundinya and his group of five
bhikhus as well as you monks, nuns and devotees, that all living
beings failed to realize Enlightenment and became Arhats because
they were misled by foreign dust which created delusion and
distress (by entering their minds). What at that time caused you to
awaken so that you can now win the holy fruit?
Ajnata-Kaundinya then rose from his seat and replied to the
Buddha: I am now a senior in the assembly in which I am the only
one who has acquired the art of interpreting because I had awakened
to (the meaning of) the expression
"foreign dust", so that I won the (holy) fruit. World Honoured
One (foreign dust) is like a guest who stops at an inn where he
passes the night or eats something and then packs and
continues his journey because he cannot stay longer. As to the
host of the inn, he has nowhere to go. My deduction is that one who
does not stay is a guest and one who stays is a
host. Consequently, a thing is "foreign" when it does not stay.
Again, when the sun rises in a clear sky and its light enters (the
house) through an opening, the dust is seen to dance in the ray of
light whereas the empty space does not move. I deduce that that
which is still is the void and that which moves is the dust.
Consequently, a thing is "dust" when it moves.
The Buddha said: Correct.
The Hinayanist’s inverted views
The Buddha then bent, straightened and rebent his fingers and
asked Ananda: What did you see? Ananda replied: I saw the Buddha
open and close His fist.The Buddha asked: You say that you saw my
fist open and close; was it my fist or your seeing that opened and
closed?Ananda replied: As the Buddha's fist opened and closed, I
saw that it and not the nature of my seeing did so by itself. The
Buddha asked: Which one moved and which was still? Ananda replied:
The Buddha's hand was not still; as to the nature of my seeing
which was already beyond the state of stillness, it could not
move.
The Buddha said Correct
Thereupon the Buddha sent out from His palm a radiant ray of
light to Ananda's right, and the disciple turned to look at it.
Then He sent out another ray to ‚Ananda's left and the disciple
turned to look at it. The Buddha then asked: Why did your head
move? Ananda replied: I saw the Buddha send out radiant rays of
light to my right and left, I turned to look at them and so my head
moved.í (The Buddhaí said:) As you turn to the right and left to
see the Buddha-light, is it your head or your seeing that
moves?í (Ananda replied:) World Honoured One, it is my head that
turns; as to my seeing which is already beyond (the state of)
stillness, how can it move?
The Buddha said: Correct.
The Buddha then declared to the assembly: So every worldly man
knows that what moves is dust. and that he who does not stay is a
guest. You have seen Ananda whose head moved of itself whereas his
seeing was unmoved. You have also seen my fist which opened and
closed of itself whereas his seeing neither expanded nor
contracted. Why do you still
regard the moving as your body and surroundings, and so, from
beginning to end, allow your thoughts to rise and fall without
interruption, thereby losing (sight of) your true
nature and indulging in backward actions? By missing the (True)
Mind of your nature and by mistaking (illusory) objects for your
Selves, you allow yourselves to be caught in the wheel (of samsara)
thereby forcing yourselves to pass
through transmigrations
The heretics’ inverted view of annihilation
After Ananda and the whole assembly had heard the Buddhaís
words, their bodies and minds became calm and composed. They
thought that, since the time without beginning, they had lost
(sight of) their own minds by wrongly clinging to the shadows of
their differentiated causal conditions and that they had only now
awakened to all this, like a (hungry) baby who had not suckled for
some time and suddenly saw its loving mother. They brought their
palms together to thank the Buddha and wished to hear His teaching
on the dual states of reality and unreality, existence and
non-existence and mortality and immortality of body and mind :)