11. Kevatta
Sutta
The Buddha was residing in the
Mango-grove of Pavarika in Nalanda. Then Kevatta, a young householder man of
that locality, came to the Buddha and said : “Lord, this town of Nalanda is
very prosperous and it is also thickly populated. The inhabitants here are
favourably disposed towards you, O Lord. Let the Lord order a Bhikkhu to
exhibit some feats of superhuman conduct here in public. For it will be good.”
But the Buddha did not approve of such a request; he said : “It is liable to be
misunderstood by the people as black magic such as Gandhari and Manika.” It was
for such reasons that Buddha did not permit anyone to perform such feats of
psychic potency.
Then the Buddha narrated how a certain
Bhikkhu had asked the question, “Where do the four elements, earth, water,
fire, and air cease without the least remainder ?” By his superhuman powers,
the Bhikkhu had approached the divine beings of higher and higher heavens and
demanded a definite answer to this question from them. None of them, however,
could satisfy him. Ultimately, on the advice of the Maha-Brahma, the Bhikkhu
returned to the Buddha for an answer to his question. So spoke the Buddha of
that memorable event. The Buddha chided the Bhikkhu for his enquiry elsewhere
and explained the matter to him thus : read more
“It is foolish to ask questions in that
way. The proper way of putting the question would be this : “Where do these
four elements, earth, water, fire, and air, not exist ? Where do they not arise
? Where do the conceptions of long and short, minute and gross, good and bad,
and name and form arise not ? With the cessation of consciousness, all these
name and form cease.”
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