Faith & Pursuit of Liberation - Asivisopama Sutta (Samutta Nikaya)

There is this person who wants to live not die, who desires to live happily and avert any pain. The man hears a voice, “listen good man, do you know that there are these four serpents, deadly & venomous, whom you have to nourish, feed them time to time, bathe and put to rest time to time? If any one of these venomous serpents is agitated, you will get bitten and meet with death or suffering similar to death, do what you want to do”, the voice said. 

Startled by what he heard, the man begins to run aimlessly, to get away. The voice then says, “look good man there are five executioners who are also chasing right behind you, who would get to you any time and kill you. Do what you need to do!” The man afraid of the four venomous serpents, afraid of the five executioners, continues to flee.

Listen good man, he hears the voice again, there is this sixth executioner, the one that is so intimate to you with a raised sword above your head, who wants to take your life too, do what you need to do.

The man, so frightened, keeps running faster and faster until he sees an empty village. He reaches the village that looks deserted and enters one of the houses to take cover. The house is an abandoned, vacant and empty one with nothing inside, the pots and pans which he finds there have nothing inside either. Now the voice comes back again, “beware good man, there are bandits waiting to raid this village, do whatever that needs to be done.”

The helpless man sees no means of escape, threatened by all, the serpents, executioners, and now the bandits, he starts fleeing again and reaches a large stretch of water. Vigilant than ever, he takes a good look around and realises at once that the near shore is unsafe and risky but the further shore is safe and free from any danger. He knows he has to cross to the other side somehow, but there is no bridge or a boat to travel from the near shore to the further shore. Having to choose between life or death, the man puts together a makeshift raft with some wood twigs, branches, leaves and grass. Floating the raft in water and exerting  effort, using his hands and feet, the man crosses over to the further shore. Gone to the further shore, the man (brahmin) stands on the free land.

Its noteworthy how a mysterious voice warns the man and makes him decide what he needs to do, to escape from danger to safety. The voice came from none other than the Lord Buddha!

The Four Serpents

The Buddha says, ``Monks, this is a parable I use to make a point, The four serpents of great potency & virulent venom represent the four great elements, the earth element, the water element, the fire element, the wind element (patavi, apo, tejo, vayo).”

According to Buddha's teachings we associate these four great elements that are within us and external to us, when he says that these should be fed, cleaned, bathed and put to rest, the Buddha rests his parable on the physical body, to describe the nature of the elements and to make us understand the truth of life existence and its continuity.

The man was made to think & act swiftly by the voice he heard, the voice of the Buddha, where he began to fathom the state of danger he is faced with. As he considered the strange voice to be important and not to be ignored, he began to think differently, not in the mundane manner. He saw the misery he is in, and therefore realised that the four great elements shouldn’t be taken lightly, that they are venomous and a threat to life. Four great elements, it is said, are central to our sense experiences in maintaining continuity of existence.

The expression of feeding, bathing and putting to rest further describes objects that we associate and feel. What do we feel? We feel hardness, warmness, fluidness & windiness. These are what we nurture and care for, though they are not to be treated as those that exist for real as said in the Teachings, but as feelings that are sensed through our sense experiences. The more you reach out to them the more you cling, triggering greed, hatred and delusion that foster continuity in Samsara, the cycle of birth and death. The continuity of existence, driven and nurtured by greed, hatred and delusion are lethal, like the deadly venom entering the body when bitten by one of the serpents as expressed in the parable. The Blessed One used the word 'trigger" here to emphasise the evil nature of defilements that causes suffering.

Worldlings who long to liberate from suffering & pain in life are known to contemplate on the continuity of existence as a duo of mind and matter. They aim to gain solace by distancing the mind from matter and are often able to reach immaterial states through Dhyana meditation and cling to the joy experienced with stillness of the mind. Such conventional practices help to achieve tranquillity through stillness of the mind by detaching from form.

The Five Executioners

Nevertheless, in the parable, the man who was running to escape from death heard a voice that said something different. It drew his attention to the five executioners that were chasing him from behind. It made him realise that mere evasion from great elements, earth element, water element, fire element and wind element, in other words the form, reaching immaterial planes of existence will not make him free. The man realises that this threat is more frightening than the threat from the serpents, which he still has to deal with. The Buddha explains the five clinging aggregates (upadanakhanda or sakkaya) as rupa upadana khanda, vedana upadana khanda, sanna upadanakhanda, sankara upadanakhanda and vinnana upadanakhanda, in other words, self-identity or sakkaya (swakiyathwaya), is the worst enemy. Though not visible, he has said, it can kill or do a harm similar to death, anywhere anytime.

The man becomes more attentive to what he heard and the faith (sraddha) begins to grow on what he heard differently (from the Buddha) and makes an effort to go along with that advice. This is known as gaining dhamma niccana khanti in the Teachings. Therefore, his contemplation becomes more and more aligned to the Teaching. 

The Sixth Executioner 

The expression of the sixth executioner, the one with the raised sword, is desire and lust (chandaraga), the Buddha preached. However, it's not to be confused as the desire we have for something or someone. Desire & lust, is an accompaniment of craving that is discerned when self-identity or sakkaya (swakeeyathwa) is examined and understood as expounded by the Buddha in Maha Punnama Sutra. 

Desire & lust (chandaraga) is seen as the assassin waiting to kill. It follows one along the continuity of existence, the samsara (the cycle of birth and death), associating sense bases. 

The Empty Village

“Monks, the empty village represents the six internal sense doors” the Buddha said.

“If one who is wise, competent and intelligent, examines the eye, it will appear to be abandoned, vacant and empty”

 “If one who is wise, competent and intelligent, examines the ear, it will appear to be abandoned, vacant and empty”

 “If one who is wise, competent and intelligent, examines the nose, it will appear to be abandoned, vacant and empty”

 “If one who is wise, competent and intelligent, examines the tongue, it will appear to be abandoned, vacant and empty”

 “If one who is wise, competent and intelligent, examines the body, it will appear to be abandoned, vacant and empty”

“If one who is wise, competent and intelligent, examines the mind, it will appear to be abandoned, vacant and empty”

The expression of the empty houses represents the internal sense bases. Notwithstanding, can one say that sense bases exist, independent of 'me'? for instance, if someone walks into a vacant room and says there is no one, and it's empty, that is not correct as ‘he’ was there when he walked in to the room.

Emptiness (Void) in Self Identity

As the fleeing man by now had a clear vision to investigate and understand the fallacy of self-identity or Sakkaya, which has desire and lust as the cause, the inherent emptiness came to light. He began to observe its emptiness(void) owing to the nature of impermanent, insubstantial and thus non self and not belonging to (suunnam idam attena va attaniyena va).

When one develops radical attention (yonisomanasikara) he or she sees the myth in self-identity or sakkaya and its emptiness, due to the nature of impermanence, suffering and non-self. It is to be noted that the true non self nature is comprehended only through gaining clear awareness of impermanence (anithya sammassana).

When the voice said that there are bandits waiting to raid the village it raised fear as well as danger, making the man do what needs to be done. Therefore, the man abandons the village and keeps running, similarly Buddha's Teachings call upon to restrain sense bases by not perusing signs (nimithi, anunimithi). 

Interestingly the warning about the threat & danger from bandits is on empty houses not occupied ones. It alludes to the high degree of danger and insecurity in abandoned empty houses as against an occupied secured house with goods and it makes one to be more cautious to avert danger. In terms of occupied houses, one develops a sense of false secureness being indulged in sense pleasures, hence is less likely to see any danger. 

When senses are restrained, one becomes more heedful to be able to grasp the emptiness of the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and the mind, being empty (void) of self. Therefore, the person abandons ‘signs’ (nimithi anunimithi), realising the danger in entertaining sense objects.

Faith & Pursuit of Liberation

The Buddha said that the visible form, sound, odour, taste, tactile objects & metal objects torment the eye, ear, nose tongue, body and mind respectively. We understand this dilemma only when we see the emptiness (void) in sense experiences that is gained by knowing impermanence, if not we let ourselves flow with the tide.

One will not know this if not revealed by the Buddha. When one comprehends that the sense basses are constantly afflicted, he realises the misery of exitance and thus tends to look for a way for deliverance. When one clearly understands the nature of impermanent, suffering and non self nature of sense experiences, he is called a faith follower (saddanusari). The one who accepts these truths after pondering over them with some wisdom, is called a truth-follower (dhammanusari) who will further develop this wisdom & proceed to stream entry.

The Noble Path & Nibbana

The man made the raft himself only after he realised the danger he is confronted with, following the advice he heard. The voice from The Blessed one developed his faith and perused him to see the refuge in the foreshore. Such a person attentive to the true Teaching with faith, makes an effort to see the path by himself gaining the Right View (samma ditti). The raft represents the Noble Eightfold Path that helps to cross the flood of samsara and the man also knew that the raft is only to cross the flood.

The large stretch of water or floods, it is said, represents floods (ogha), described in Dhamma as floods of sensuality (kama), existence (bhava), views(ditti) and ignorance (avidya). The fear, pain and doubt (pertaining to sakkaya or self-identity) is in the near shore (methera), unsafe and fraught with danger. When the man realised what is meant by the danger from the five executioners and discerned the erroneous notion of self, or self-identity (swakeeyathwa) he saw the land in the foreshore (ethera), safe and free from danger, i.e., free from self.

Being free from pain and fear is the expression for Nibbana. When a noble one shows the way, one sees the need to make an effort to build a raft and cross as he develops yonisomanasikara. Wisdom and effort are paramount to cross and the one who crosses and stands free is the Arahath.

Based on a Dhamma Sermon By Venerable Alawwe Anomadassi Thero