The Buddhas of the past

The Buddha's disciples converse about past lives. Upon hearing of their conversation, the Buddha tells of the Buddhas of the past. He lists the six Buddhas born before him. The first Buddha mentioned, Vipassi (the Mindful), lived in an era when lifespans reached 80,000 years; the next lived in an era with lifespans of 70,000, then 60,000, 40,000, 30,000, 20,000, until, in the era of Shakyamuni, lifespans became short, rarely reaching 100 years. All the Buddhas described by the Buddha experience virtually identical events, including entering the womb of the mother, birth, meeting the messengers of old age, illness, and death, renunciation, attaining enlightenment under the appropriate type of tree for the Buddha, turning the wheel of the teaching, and so on. The life of Shakyamuni Buddha, visible in his earthly body, is one of the reflections, the consequences of what happened earlier in the higher worlds. It is the result of the "unfolding" of phenomena from the formless state to the subtle, and then to the gross (the reverse process is contraction). The first three Buddhas (Vipassi, Sikhi, and Vessabhu) belong to the formless worlds; their common feature is their origin from the Kshatriya family. The next three (Kakusandha, Konagamana, and Kassapa) belong to the worlds of subtle forms; all of them originated from Brahman families. Shakyamuni Buddha himself is an earthly incarnation in the chain of past Buddhas. He originated from the Kshatriya family.

The way the Buddha learns about the Buddhas of other times

The Buddha describes how, where the rays of the sun and moon cannot reach, the light of liberated beings continues to shine. Seeing this radiance, they know each other (this description corresponds to the description of the world after its contraction, before its new unfolding).

The Story of Buddha Vipassi

The Buddha recounts the story of Buddha Vipassi in detail. It anticipates all the key events in the life of Buddha Shakyamuni himself. In the story, these events are presented in a magnified form, with miracles and the vastness of the heavenly realms. At birth, the infant takes seven steps, accompanied by deities. The prince displays the characteristics of a great man. The Mahapadana Sutta provides a list of these characteristics.

32 Signs of a Great Man

(1,2,3,7) Feet straight; on the feet are the signs of a wheel with a thousand spokes; heels are large; ankles are like rounded shells; (4,6) Toes on the limbs are long and straight; (5,8,9) Well-shaped, relaxed limbs; legs like an antelope; the hand reaches the knee (10) the genital organ is retracted (11,12,13,14) The skin is bright, golden, so smooth that dust does not settle on it; one hair grows from each pore, the hair is straight, blue-black, the ends are curved to the right (15,16,17,18,19,20,22) Posture is straight, chest like a lion, back is straight between the shoulder blades, height is equal to the span of the arms; jaws like a lion; The protruding muscles are rounded (21,23,24,25,26,27) He has an accurate sense of taste, forty teeth, the teeth are even, there are no gaps between them, the canines are bright, the tongue is very long; (28) A beautiful voice, like a songbird; (29,30,31) Blue eyes (clear look), eyelashes like a cow (large), the hair between the eyebrows is white and soft like cotton; (32) A head like a king's turban (large and well-shaped).

This list of characteristics represents an early form of the teaching on visualizing the subtle (illusory) body. The meditator imagines this body as flawless, endowed with all the attributes of vitality. The development of the illusory body from the (energy of) the meditator's visible body is mentioned as one of the visible fruits of asceticism (seeSamanñaphala Sutta, Digha Nikaya 2).

Buddha Vipassi's realization of the truth of the dependent origination of suffering

While contemplating, the ascetic Vipassi sought the cause of death and suffering. He found this cause in birth. What is the cause of birth? – Becoming ( bhava, “craving for existence”); the cause of becoming is desire; the cause of desire is attachment to the pleasant and aversion to the unpleasant; the cause of attachment and aversion is in the impermanence of perceptions; the impermanence of perceptions enters the consciousness due to contact (the clinging of consciousness to perceived objects); contact occurs because consciousness relies on the six sense organs (this is called poor control of the doors of vitality); the cause of relying on the six senses is dependence on name and form; the cause of dependence on name-form is consciousness (“I”). However, the cause of consciousness (“I”) is name-form!

Therefore, by ceasing attachment to name-form, we also destroy the consciousness of “I”, rebirth, death and suffering.

Reflection on the Skandhas

At another time, Vipassi contemplated the rise and disappearance of the five groups of attachment (skandhas): form, perceptions, notions, volitional impulses and memory, and the consciousness of the "I." After this, his mind was completely purified of impurities.

Doubt and its overcoming

While reflecting, Buddha Vipassi realized that the spread of the Teaching would encounter many obstacles due to the negative qualities of the beings inhabiting samsara. He spoke these words:

What I have comprehended—why should I reveal it to the world?
Those filled with lust and hatred will never comprehend my Teaching.
My wisdom leads against the current.
It is difficult to understand; those blinded by passion cannot accept it…

When Vipassi uttered these words, his mind inclined toward inaction. One of the highest Brahmas saw this, and this Brahma foresaw the grave danger in Vipassi's inaction. Wishing to avert the calamities that awaited the universe if the Teaching were concealed, Brahma approached Vipassi and began to persuade the Arhat to reveal the Teaching to the world. He said that there are some beings whose vision is only slightly veiled by the dust of delusion. They are capable of comprehending the Teaching. And then, surveying the world, Vipassi realized that there are beings with various qualities. Like lotuses, some of which dwell and bloom underwater, some reach the surface, and some rise above the water—so too, some beings are deeply immersed in ignorance, some exist on its surface, and others rise above it.

Vipassa's Sermon

Having taught the Dhamma to two of his most gifted disciples, Vipassi then spread the teachings further and built a vast Sangha. Summarizing his fundamental teachings, he said:

Patience is the greatest offering;
the highest attainment is Nibbana.
Do no evil, but do good,
Purify your mind—such is the teaching of the Buddhas.
Do no harm, do no injury, be moderate in eating,
Renounce the world, develop a sublime mind.

Buddha Shakyamuni's visit to the Pure Lands

Concluding the story of Buddha Vipassi, the first in the chain of celestial prototypes of Shakyamuni himself, the Blessed One recounts his visit to the Pure Lands, difficult to reach and inhabited by liberated beings. There, traveling from the heaven of no-downfall into the lower realms (Aviha, corresponding to the stage of entering the stream of the Teaching), through the heaven of Attapa (the heaven of final return), and further through the heaven of Sudassa (the heaven of no-return), the Buddha reached the highest heaven of Akanittha (the heaven of perfect Arhats). And in all the heavens, he was surrounded by gods, who were once beings liberated from samsara thanks to following the Dhamma of Buddha Vipassi. From the earthly world, many other gods came with the Buddha to the Pure Lands, telling the same stories about Buddha Shakyamuni that the gods of the Pure Lands tell about Buddha Vipassi. Thus Buddha predicts liberation for the countless multitude of his followers.

The law of cause and effect

The sutta's narrative reveals the meaning of the law of karma, cause and effect. Every phenomenon in the visible world is preceded by a chain of states of consciousness in higher realms, formless and endowed with subtle form. This law is also true for the Buddha. The beneficial power of the law of karma is manifested by Buddha Shakyamuni through his insight into the essence of dhammas, that is, through his ability to go "against the flow," going from the visible world to the higher realms, from the world of effects to the world of causes, through skillful actions of body, mind, and speech.