Kala bears, wicked mutations of Australia's koala bears (marsupials), are on the rise.
Humans were destroying the koala's whole world, their trees. They were powerless to resist until, under pressure, a mutation occurred. Their eyes went from brown...
Devadatta was the Buddha's cousin. He was also the brother of the Buddha's wife, Yasodhara.
When Devadatta joined the Sangha (monks and nuns) he applied himself diligently to the practice. He was much admired for his commitment. Unfortunately, he soaked up this admiration and developed an unhealthy pride-based ego.
The path to enlightenment is a path away from self-centred identity. It means penetrating the emptiness of the ego, and finally, the ego's dissolution. So, glorying in the ego's expansion is clearly a wrong path.
Devadatta devoted himself to the concentration practices and their occasional side effect, the development of supernatural powers. For the true spiritual seeker, psychic powers are just another distraction and because they can be used to feed the ego, such powers can become a real hindrance. The Buddha forbade the display of psychic powers by the monks and nuns for that very reason. Nevertheless, Devadatta wasn't above a little showing off.
Devadatta's impressive abilities and his personal charisma allowed him to build a large personal following. With time his pride got right out of hand, as the following illustrates.
One time, Devadatta gathered his supporters, and with them at his back, he approached the Buddha. In front of a large gathering, including high-ranking lay folk, Devadatta thanked the Buddha saying he had done what he set out to do, establish the Sangha. He suggested the Buddha had earned the right now to rest and proposed that he, the learned and popular Devadatta, would take over as leader of the Sangha. It was the height of deluded pride for Devadatta to suggest himself as the Buddha's equal. The Buddha rebuked him harshly, saying he was not worthy. It was a public humiliation, and Devadatta was enraged.
He tried another approach.
He presented the Buddha with a plan to introduce five new rules. He suggested, for instance, that the (ordained) Sangha should be vegetarian. This was impractical, and the Buddha had already made the ruling that the Sangha should accept whatever they are offered. As the monks and nuns were entirely dependent on the generosity of lay folk just to eat, the Buddha did not want them picking and choosing what they would and would not accept.
But Devadatta wasn't concerned with the Buddha's very sensible approach. He simply wanted to split the Sangha. He was trying to set up a situation where he could claim the high moral ground, and so undermine the Buddha. It didn't work. The Buddha rejected each of the proposed new rules, explaining their flaws.
Devadatta continued his attempts to undermine the Buddha, eventually descending to plotting his murder. He conspired with the young prince of a neighbouring kingdom whose father, King Bimbisara, was a great supporter of the Buddha. Together, Devadatta and Prince Ajatasattu formed a plan. The prince would depose his father King Bimbisara and replace him. Devadatta would then kill the Buddha and with the new kings backing, replace him as head of the Sangha.
Together the conspirators would become the mightiest force in the region.
Prince Ajatasattu did indeed arrange a coup and took over his father's kingdom. He threw King Bimbisara in prison, where he died.
Now Devadatta went ahead with his side of the plot. The plan was for a single assassin to murder the Buddha. The assassin would then be murdered himself, and then the assassin's assassin would be murdered too.
One day the first assassin found the Buddha walking alone and ran after him. It's said that no matter how hard he ran he could not get any closer. That part might be legend, but nevertheless the scriptures agree that the assassin, once he confronted the Buddha, could not bring himself to go through with it. He laid down his weapons and begged forgiveness. The same happened again and again with a succession of assassins, some of whom then became monks themselves.
Another time, while the Buddha was staying at Vultures Peak, Devadatta climbed above where he was sitting and rolled a rock down on him. The rock, however, broke apart, landing harmlessly around the Buddha. All but one sliver of stone that drew blood from his toe.
Devadatta's third attempt involved getting a fierce man-killing elephant, Nalagiri, drunk on liqueur (such elephants were used in warfare, trained to trample enemies) and releasing him when the Buddha was passing. When Nalagiri saw the Buddha, he charged. However, the loving-kindness (Metta) that the Buddha radiated calmed Nalagiri. He slowed, then quietly approached. Some stories have him bowing before the Buddha. Others say the Buddha stroked his trunk while he blew the dust off the Buddha's feet. However it happened, Nalagiri allowed his handlers to safely corral him again.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Devadatta's story, from the childhood he shared with the Siddhartha through to his attempts on the Buddha's life, is recorded in numerous sutras and histories. So too are the Buddha's descriptions of the dreadful karmic consequences that ripened on Devadatta's head for his attempts to create schisms in the Sangha, and finally the heaviest of sins, his attempts on the Buddha's life
It is said that drawing the blood of a Buddha, let alone killing him, is the heaviest karma a person can generate for themselves. This is due to the power of the object.
Karma is determined by the object, the intention, and the action.
Here the object was a blameless holy being, a Buddha.
It takes an extremely deluded and hateful mind to generate the intention, and carry out the action, to harm such a being. Even if the action only results in a cut toe, it's the heavy mind that's behind the action that generates the heaviest of repercussions.
In the case of Devadatta, it is said that he landed himself in the lowest of the hot hells. The Buddha's descriptions of the various hells are equal to the worst biblical descriptions of the same, with one difference. In the Buddha's teachings, nothing is permanent, eternal, including heaven and hell.
Nevertheless, they might as well be in the case of poor Devadatta. He is still there and will remain there for a very, very, long time to come.
