Insight to Transcend the Worldly View Point: Bhadraka Sutta : Samyutta Nikaya

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A Village headman by the name of Bhadraka Gamini approached Buddha one day and asked the Tathagata to teach him the origin of suffering (dukkha samudaya)) and its ending. 'If I preach you about arising of suffering and its ending with reference to the past and the future', said the Buddha, 'you will take it as applicable to the past or the future only, therefore, I will preach you the arising and the ending of suffering as it occurs in the present.'

The Buddha asked him, 'Bhadraka, in Uruwela Kappa village, are there people about whom you will worry and be saddened if any harm come on them or they get imprisoned or die? Yes, my Lord there are some people in my village about whom I care for their wellbeing', replied Bhadraka. Then the Buddha asked him, 'are there people about whom you wouldn't be troubled and have any mental agony if they are met with death, harm or imprisonment', and Bhadraka answered, 'yes my Lord there are such people about whom I may not be troubled if they come across such misadventure'.

The Buddha further asked, 'Bhadraka why do you feel pain only when some of the people you know experience such tragedy and not the others? That's because of the desire, love and the bond I have towards those people my Lord,' replied Bhadraka. 

Bhadraka added that he has a son by the name of Chirawasi, living away from his house in another town, and that he often sends someone to check on him, of his wellbeing. Buddha then asks, "Will you be saddened if something bad happens to him, Bhadraka? Bhadraka replies, "yes of course my Lord I will be devastated if something bad happens to my son. 

"Now that you yourself identified the cause for your suffering, how it occurs in the present, you can apply it to the past and the future and understand how it applies for all times," said the Buddha. "Yes, my lord now I understand how my desire and love to people cause suffering and how it occurs at all times, in the past, present and the future"'

The Enlightened one further explained, "Bhadraka, the reason why you feel pain & suffer when someone you love & care meet with death, harm or imprisonment is due to craving (tanha) which is the root cause for suffering (dukkha) that afflicts mankind. It has been so in the past, as it is now and so it will be in the future."

It is to be noted here that whilst Bhadraka's understanding of the suffering that he experiences is due to the desire and the love he had upon some people he cares for, the suffering that the Blessed One refer to here is not the suffering that a person experience. The Buddha goes on to question Bhadraka further to make it clear that it’s not the desire by someone or the desire upon someone that causes the suffering.

"Bhadraka, will you be saddened if something bad happens to your wife? Yes, my lord,” replied Bhadraka, "I will be so saddened, as if something bad happened to me." Buddha asked him again, "Bhadraka, did you know your wife before you got married," no my Lord replied Bhadraka. "If so Bhadraka," asked the Buddha, " if something bad happened to your wife before you met her, would you have been worried and saddened? No, my Lord not at all, I didn't know her before we got married, therefore there was no reason for me to be saddened then. Very well Bhadraka, now think of the dhamma I just preached you, where there is desire, there is suffering, origin of suffering has its roots in desire."

This style of teaching through questioning by the Buddha shows how the Enlightened One first makes a person to understand the problem from the point of view of the individual so that he can guide the person to comprehend the true reality form the view point of the Dhamma. The Buddha first asks questions to set conditions for the questioner to grasp his teaching through that person's own experience. 

The Tathagata shows the worldlings the way and directs them to develop an insight to the reality by transcending the worldly view point.

(Based on a Dhamma Sermon by Venerabel Alawwe Anomadassi Thero)


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