Visākha and Dhammadinnā (1)

This event took place while the Exalted One was residing at the Bamboo Grove monastery near Rājagaha. At that time, there lived a husband and wife named Visākha and Dhammadinnā. When the Exalted One came to Rājagaha and preached the Dhamma, King Bimbisāra, along with a large assembly including the wealthy merchant Visākha, attained the stage of Sotāpanna (Stream-enterer). Visākha was one who attained Sotāpanna while still a human being. Living in Rājagaha, and with the Exalted One preaching the Dhamma daily, Visākha attained the stage of Sakadāgāmī (Once-returner) the very next day after listening to the Dhamma, and then Anāgāmī (Non-returner) on the following day. Anāgāmīs no longer delight in or cling to sense objects found in the human world or the deva realms; they have abandoned them through the Path. The latent tendency of sensual lust (kāmarāgānusaya) has been utterly eradicated. Only the latent tendency of craving for existence (bhavarāgānusaya) related to attachment to the fine-material (rūpa) and immaterial (arūpa) realms remains. No matter what sense object they encounter in the sensual realm (kāmadhātu), they feel no delight or passion. Even if they see the most valuable possessions or the most exquisitely beautiful person, they can maintain equanimity towards all sensual objects. Craving and lust have completely ceased. It can be said that they are no longer fit for the sensual realm and its objects because they have attained that Path. They have renounced the sensual realm and its objects. They will not return to the sensual realm, nor do they cling to or crave sensual objects; their next birth will only be in a Brahma realm. The Sotāpatti path eliminates rebirth in the lower realms (apāyabhūmi). The Sakadāgāmī path, however, cannot eliminate rebirth in any realm. The Anāgāmī path eliminates rebirth in the entire sensual realm. Finally, the Arahatta path can eliminate rebirth in all the remaining fine-material and immaterial Brahma realms. Thus, the Arahat, having 'closed the account' for all thirty-one realms, is freed from the round of rebirths (samsāra) and has only Nibbāna, the cessation of the aggregates, as their destination. The lay supporter Visākha had not yet attained the Arahatta path; he had only reached the Anāgāmī stage and was thus still at the level of an Anāgāmī. On the day he attained Anāgāmī and returned home, he came back composed and serene, endowed with perfect moral restraint (indriyesu guttadvāratāya). When he had returned home as a Sotāpanna, his wife had greeted him with a smile, clasped his hand, and they had walked upstairs together. When he attained Sakadāgāmī, he had not yet abandoned these affectionate gestures. However, on the day he returned after attaining Anāgāmī, Dhammadinnā noticed that his demeanor was distinctly different from previous days. Dhammadinnā did not know he had become an Anāgāmī; she only observed that his behavior had changed. Fulfilling her duty, she greeted him. When she reached out her hand to clasp his, Visākha did not accept it and pulled away. He also remained silent. At that moment, Dhammadinnā wondered, "What has happened to him today?" Nevertheless, she followed him upstairs to their home. "He will probably speak when we eat," she thought. However, when the wealthy merchant Visākha ate, he also remained silent, eating alone. They no longer ate together hand-in-hand as husband and wife had done before. When it was time to sleep, the couple no longer slept together. He slept alone in a separate place, spreading a clean white cloth. (To be continued...)