The text for our Dharma Study Group this coming Saturday is from the Anguttara Nikaya—the collection of the Buddha’s teachings that are arranged according to the number of topics covered in each. This one is from the Chapter on the Threes and concerns the three devaduta, the “messengers of the gods”.
This is how I’ve heard it. The Buddha was staying at the shelter provided by Anathapindika in Jeta’s grove near the village of Savatthi, and he told the monks this story…
There was a wicked man—one who behaved cruelly, who spoke maliciously and deceitfully, whose mind was filled with greedy and lustful thoughts. When he died, he was taken before Yama, the Lord of Death, and those who brought him there presented him with these words: “Lord, this man had no respect for father and mother, nor for the good and the wise; he did not hear the advice of those who had learned from experience. Do what you will with him.”
Lord Yama questioned the man. “Tell me, did you not see the first messenger of the gods?”
“I do not understand.”
“My good man, did you never see a man or a woman who had reached the age of ninety or even one hundred years, frail, bent like the roof of an old barn, leaning on a stick, breathing with difficulty, teeth gone, skin wrinkled and discolored, with grey hair or none?”
And the man admitted, “Yes, Lord, I have seen this.”
“And did it not occur to you, clever as you are, knowing the ways of the world, that this was your fate as well? Did you never say to yourself, ‘I, too, am subject to old age and cannot escape it; let me therefore behave well, speak honestly, and pursue noble ends?’”
“No, Lord, I could not do that; I was negligent.”
“So, through negligence, you have failed to behave well, speak honestly, and pursue noble ends. Well, you will be dealt with accordingly. Your wickedness was not the fault of your parents, or your teachers, your companions or the gods; it was your own, and you will reap the fruit of it.”
And Yama asked the man, again, “Did you never see the second messenger?”
And again the man answered, “I do not understand.”
“Did you never see a man or woman sick and in pain, ravaged by disease, lying in a pool of pus and urine, having to be lifted into bed, carried about by others?”
“Yes, Lord, I have seen this.”
“And did it never occur to you, clever as you are, that this was your fate as well? Did you never think ‘I too am subject to disease; I cannot escape it. Let me therefore behave generously, speak mindfully, think noble thoughts?’”
“No, Lord. I was negligent.”
“My good man, it was not anyone else who caused your negligence, not parents, nor teachers, nor companions. It is not fate or the fault of the gods but your own negligence that caused you to act and speak and think badly, and now you must experience the fruit of your wicked life.
“But tell me, good man,” Lord Yama continued, “did you never see the third messenger?”
“I saw no messenger.”
“But did you never see a corpse, two days dead or three, swollen, grey, and stinking?”
“I have seen death.”
“And did you never think, so clever and wise, that this was your fate too? Did you never say to yourself, ‘I will not escape death, so I must live well—acting kindly, speaking gentle honest words, considerate of others?’”
“Lord, I was negligent.”
“And so you were, my good man. It was your negligence, yours alone; not father or mother or teacher or friend caused your negligence; you could have behaved otherwise. And now you will experience the fruits of the choice you made in your life.”
Lord Yama said nothing more, but looked at the man with the deep compassion of death itself, from whom nothing is hidden. And he nodded to the warders of hell, who led the man off to experience the punishment that his wicked deeds, his wicked words, his wicked thoughts had prepared for him.
The story of the three divine messengers is told in the Anguttara Nitaka, in the Chapter of the Threes; it is also told in the Majjhima Nikaya, with the number of messages expanded to five and some graphic detail added regarding the particular nature of the punishments that the negligent sinner received.
The Buddha’s message, that we must be mindful of our human condition—that no one of us can escape aging, disease, and death—is superficially similar to a repeating theme in Western culture: et in Arcadia ego, “and I am also present in the Arcadian groves”, the “I” being Death, and the visual treatment of the notion involving shepherds contemplating a skull (or, alternatively, richly dressed nobles being confronted by grinning, capering skeletons—memento mori).
But the Buddhist story goes further, focussing on the karmic choice with which our common fate confronts us. We can choose to live for pleasure, pursue the joys of the world and the gratification of our egos; that path leads to pain and suffering in this life, for us and for all those who cross our paths, and it insures that whatever comes when we can no longer experience the gratification of the senses will be painful and punishing. Or we can behave mindfully and considerately in word, deed, and thought; that way will not save us from aging or death, but it can strengthen us to face the inevitable with less fear and greater equanimity, not struggling in ways that magnify the pain. And what we leave behind—the meaning of how we’ve lived and the return on what we’ve done—will result in richer lives and less suffering for those who discover that meaning and inherit those returns.
Bernie Quigley | 30-Nov-05 at 5:56 pm | Permalink
Enjoyed your essay on the Threes - I’ve got two pieces coming up on my blog (Google “Quigley in Exile”) on the Threes - if you notice, every avatar with an external purpose on earth meets the Threes - Abraham and the Three Visitors, Jesus and the Three Maji (hey, Fox Mulder and the Three Lone Gunmen) - on the other hand, the Three Sisters (the Rhine Maidens, the Three Graces, etc.) invariably send the traveller inward to the Secrets of the Inner LIfe. My Three Sisters piece will be up before Christmas as Dec. 23 - solstice - is the day fo the Sisters. My piece on the Three Celestial Ones up by January. I am a Buddhist and I enjoy your site. - Bernie
Alex | 18-Feb-06 at 4:40 am | Permalink
I think it is useful to replace ‘Yama’ with ‘Self’. In death, we are presented with all glory, love, and judgement, our own self, with no distractions, no sensory perception but our own mind!