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| Shakyamuni Buddha teaching the Larger Sutra |
“Thus
have I heard” is
the starting formula of any genuine teaching (sutra) of Shakyamuni Buddha. It represents
the testimony of Ananda and other direct disciples of the Enlightened One, as
well as their successors, that what they transmitted to us, the future
generations, is the authentic teaching of Shakyamuni himself, and not something
they invented. These words are always followed by the historical place where
the sutra was delivered – in our case, the Vulture Peak in Rajagṛha, and the
audience gathered there to listen to it:
“Thus have I heard. At one time
the Buddha was staying on Vulture Peak in Rājagṛha with a large company of
twelve thousand monks. They were all
great sages who had already attained supernatural powers. Their names
included the following: Venerable Ājnāta kauṇḍinya, Venerable Aśvajit,
Venerable Vāṣpa, Venerable Mahānāma, Venerable Bhadrajit, Ven erable Vimala,
Venerable Yaśodeva, Venerable Subāhu, Venerable Pūrṇaka, Venerable Gavāṃpati,
Venerable Uruvilvākāśyapa, Venerable Gayākāśyapa, Venerable Nadīkāśyapa,
Venerable Mahākāśyapa, Venerable Śāriputra, Venerable Mahāmaudgalyāyana,
Venerable Kapphiṇa, Venerable Mahākauṣṭhila, Venerable Mahākātyāyana, Venerable
Mahācunda, Venerable Pūrṇa maitrāyaṇīputra, Venerable Aniruddha, Venerable
Revata, Venerable Kimpila, Venerable Amogharāja, Venerable Pārāyaṇika, Venerable
Vakkula, Venerable Nanda, Venerable Svāgata, Venerable Rāhula, and Venerable Ānanda.
All of these were elders.
Mahayana bodhisattvas also
accompanied the Buddha, including all those of this Auspicious Kalpa, such as
Bodhisattva Samantabhadra, Bodhisattva Manjuśrī, and Bodhisattva Maitreya.
There were also the sixteen lay bodhisattvas, such as Bhadrapāla, as well as
Bodhisattva Profound Thought, Bodhisattva Wisdom of Faith, Bodhisattva
Emptiness, Bodhisattva Bloom
of Supernatural Power,
Bodhisattva Hero of Light, Bodhisattva Superior Wisdom, Bodhisattva Banner of
Wisdom, Bodhisattva Tranquil Ability, Bodhisattva Wisdom of Vows, Bodhisattva
Sweet-smelling Elephant, Bodhisattva Hero of Treasures, Bodhisattva Dwelling in
the Center, Bodhisattva Practice of Restraint, and Bodhisattva Emancipation.”[1]
As
I said, “thus have I heard” indicates
the authenticity of the teaching as the direct instruction of Shakyamuni
Buddha, which should be accepted as it is. Unfortunately, there
are some people nowadays who deny the authenticity of the Mahayana sutras in
general, and of the three Pure Land sutras, in particular, saying that because
they appeared later in written form, they are in fact, the creation of some
monks. Many Theravadins[2]
share the same opinion on this matter and claim that their Pali canon is the
only authentic set of sutras. However, common sense dictates that
the time when a Buddhist sutra was put into written form was not automatically
the time of its creation. During Shakyamuni Buddha’s life and later,
upon His physical death, His discourses (sutras) were transmitted orally and
sometimes by His closest disciples through special states of mind
called Samadhi for hundreds of years before they were put into written
form. The Pali Canon was, in fact, preserved in the artificial language of Pali
(which neither the Buddha nor anyone else ever spoke) while the Mahayana sutras
were initially preserved in Sanskrit (a language which Shakyamuni, a highly
educated person, may have spoken).
Some make the claim
that the Pali Canon of the Theravada school is the oldest and thus the most
reliable collection of sutras. Positing that all the discourses or
sutras originated from Shakyamuni, then the fact that some were put into
written form earlier than the others is not proof of their exclusive
authenticity or superior content. The Mahayana and Pure Land sutras did
exist and were transmitted in the same timeframe with the sutras of the Pali
Canon.
Each
group of Buddhist disciples put into written form their own basket (pitaka) of
recognized sutras, some earlier and some later. But no one can prove by
documentary evidence that his school’s basket of sutras were actually preached
by Shakyamuni while the others’ were not.
By the
same token, no one can prove that Shakyamuni did not impart
some sutras only to a group of special disciples which were open and more
prepared to receive them than others and who, in turn, transmitted such sutras
to their own chosen disciples in an uninterrupted succession, until one day
they decided it was time to give them a written form.
No one
can check and investigate the Buddha’s mind or the minds of His closest
disciples and their actions by means of documentary evidence. If we read about the Buddhist councils who compiled
orally the discourses of the Buddha after His physical death, we see that the
monks who attended such councils could all recite by heart dozens of those
discourses and that all were accomplished Masters.
Also, we have
seen in the first passages of the Larger Sutra quoted above, that among the assembly
gathered on the Vulture Peak where Shakyamuni delivered it, there were “twelve
thousand monks […] all great sages who had already attained supernatural
powers.” This aspect is extremely important because it is an
indication about who were the monks who heard this sutra and later transmitted
it to further generations. They were monks who had “attained
supernatural powers,” and it follows that these monks used their mind
power to accurately transmit this sutra by Samadhi to others. Among
these monks we read the names of Venerable Mahakasyapa, Venerable Sariputra,
Venerable Mahamaudgalyayana, etc. More than this, they were not the only
listeners. Great transcendental
Bodhisattvas like Samantabhadra, Manjusri and Maitreya, the future Buddha,
were present too, and they all rejoiced at hearing the Amida Dharma, which can
only mean they had faith in it and later
helped in its promotion.
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