Chapter 10 - Arahan And The Attributes Of The Buddha

The Buddhas special designation is Arahan and this word points to the following attributes of the Buddha.

(1) The Buddha was free from defilements. So were the Arahats but they were not free from the habits that continued to dominate them even after the attainment of their spiritual goal. This is evident in the story of thera Pilindavaccha. Pilinda was an Arahat, beloved of the devas and extolled by the Buddha. Yet he was in the habit of addressing his fellow bhikkhus or laymen rather rudely. Some bhikkhus complained to the Buddha about the theras rudeness. The Buddha attributed this unpleasant habit to his having spent several lifetimes in the Brahmin families but said that being an Arahat, the thera was pure and good at heart.

As for the Buddha, from the time of his attainment of supreme enlightenment, he became free from all the habits or hangovers of defilements that were carried over from past lives. This distinctive mark of the Buddhas Arahatship should be borne in mind when we contemplate the Lords attributes. The complete extinction of cycles means total liberation from the three cycles of defilements, kamma and kammic fruits.

(2) The Buddha was called Arahan because of his conquest of defilements. People fear only the external enemy such as robbers, snakes, etc. They do not bother about the internal enemy, that is, defilements that are more terrible. In point of fact, they have to suffer because of their mind body complex and defilements. The root cause is the defilements that give rise to repeated rebirths and sufferings. The defilements are ten in number viz., craving, hatred, ignorance, pride, illusion, doubt, lassitude, restlessness, shamelessness and lack of conscience.

(3) By virtue of his outstanding moral integrity, wisdom and enlightenment, the Buddha was worthy of reverence and offerings. People who revered or made offerings to the Buddha have their wishes fulfilled.

(4) Since he had conquered the defilements completely, the Buddha was pure at heart whether in public or solitude. Many people play the hypocrite, posing as good men or women in public but doing evil when there is no one to see or hear them. In reality, there is no place where one can do evil secretly. Even though the evil doer is not seen by men and gods, he cannot help having qualms of conscience. His conscience is the most infallible witness to his misdeeds and it forms the basis for death bed visions that point to unpleasant life that future has in store for him.

As for the Buddha, having wholly conquered all the defilements, his mind was always pure and he had absolutely no desire or intention to do evil either publicly or secretly.

(5) The Buddha had destroyed the spokes of the wheel with the sword of the Arahatship. Here, the wheel means the cycle of life as described in the doctrine of Paticcasamuppada and the sword means the insight knowledge of the Arahat. The axle of the wheel represents avijja, the root cause; the fringe of the wheel stands for old age and death, while the spokes stand for the middle links, viz., sankhara, etc. Just as the removal of spokes makes it impossible for the wheel to move, so also the destruction of the middle links in the chain of conditioned phenomena means the end of the cycle of life.