Chapter 8 - Story Of A Parrot

A dancer put up for the night at the residence of bhikkhunis and when she went away, she left an intelligent parrot. The bird was cared for by the novitiates and it was called Buddha rakkhita. The abbess of the nunnery thought that it would be good if there was something to contemplate for the bird living among the spiritual aspirants. So she taught her to contemplate “atthi: skeleton”.

One morning the parrot was swooped up by an eagle. In the wake of the hue and cry raised by the young nuns, the eagle became frightened and dropped the parrot. The Abbess asked it what it contemplated when it was seized by the eagle. The bird replied, “I thought of a skeleton being carried off and I wondered where it would be scattered.” The Abbess said “Well done! This contemplation will contribute to your liberation from samsaric existence.”

A thing that is repeatedly contemplated will become fixed in the long run. Since even a parrot can imagine a skeleton, there is no reason why a human being cannot do likewise. The parrot imagined itself as well as others to be skeletons. Because of this contemplation, it had no fear, anger or worry when it was taken away by the eagle.

So Satipatthana bhavana is extolled as a practice that helps to overcome grief and anxiety and to bring about the extinction of mental and physical suffering. But there may be many people who are not as wise as the parrot in the story since they never take interest in the dhamma and contemplate it. The yogi should resolve to surpass the parrot in the practice of vipassana.

If Mahatissa thera had failed to regard the laughing woman as a skeleton, he might have become lustful and fallen a victim to temptation in the solitude of the forest. Even if he had no sexual desire at that time, any impression of the woman would have laid him open to temptation at other times. But thanks to his contemplation of the skeleton in the practice of vipassana, he overcame defilements and achieved final liberation from samsaric existence. Here, the extinction of tanha through vipassana practice is called tadanga nibbuti, partial extinction, while extinction through arahatship is called “total extinction”.