This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good evening. So happy to be here. My name is Greg Fang, and... I'm currently the eno, or the head of the meditation hall at Tassajara, which means, by rights, I should have been the person in the back with the clipboard. Echo, thank you very much. Echo, my associate, supporting me to give the talk tonight. I want to begin by the way I always begin a talk, actually. by thanking and acknowledging my teacher, the late Sojamal Weitzman, the old Buddha of the East Bay, and to say that this talk is just to encourage you in your practice.

[01:14]

I would also like to thank Tonto Linda Gallian for inviting me to give this talk, and to thank and welcome our two abbots for supporting me, and thanks for being here. Thanks for being in Tassajara. Abbot Ed and Abbot David. So tonight, I would like to talk about Devadatta. How many people here know about Devadatta? How many people here know about Lex Luthor? Lex Luthor for the win, woohoo! All right, I'm so satisfied. My talk is over. Yeah. Supervillain, right? Nemesis. Devadatta was the supervillain of Buddhism. When I was a teenager, I lived in the UK.

[02:19]

And, you know, the British love their live theater. They have special plays, especially around the holidays, just for kids. They call them like Christmas pantomimes, you know, all kinds of different plays, but live theater. And there's always a supervillain. There's always like a terrible, terrible villain. And audience participation is encouraged. So when the villain comes on the stage from stage left, because that's sinister, the villain comes on the stage and all the kids go, boo! We hate you! In Buddhism, Devadatta fills that purse. Devadatta was a member of the Buddha's Sangha and a member of his family, the extended family of the Shakyaklan. His name means God's gift, Devadatta, gift of God.

[03:21]

And... it really seems like he believed he was God's gift to the world. I think you would say he was something of a narcissist. Devadatta and young Siddhartha Gautama were cousins, and they grew up together, just like Clark Kent and Lex Luthor. Well, some kind of, let's see, weren't cousins, but they knew each other as kids. Yeah, there's a story from, they were always rivals, it seems. Famous early story. They were out practicing with their bows and arrows, as young princes do. And David Otta shot a swan with his arrow, but he only winged it. The swan came to earth. But the Buddha, I mean, young Siddhartha, Siddhartha Gautama, was faster.

[04:30]

He ran faster and he caught the swan. And he said, it's mine. I'm going to nurse it back to life, nurse it back to health. And Devadatta said, no, it's mine. I shot it. So the kids got into an argument and they took the argument to one of the ministers of the court. And the minister said, the swan belongs to the one who's trying to save its life, not the one who's trying to take it. And Devadatta was like, I resent you. And so it went. Actually, Siddhartha actually married Devadatta's sister, Yasodhara. So they were cousins as well as brothers-in-law. Anyway, he was something of a narcissist. It seems like most of Siddhartha Gautama's family wound up being part of the Sangha after the Buddha's Enlightenment, after he became the Buddha and started preaching the Dharma.

[05:49]

And Devadatta was also, you know, no different, became part of the Sangha. But being how he was, he believed he should be in charge. And he told Buddha so publicly. And the scripture says, enough, Devadatta. Don't aim at taking charge of the Sangha of monks. A second time, a third time, Devadatta said to the Blessed One, Lord, the Blessed One is now old, elderly, aged, advanced in years, in the last phase of life. We get it. May the Blessed One dwell at rest, devoted to a pleasant abiding in the here and now. May the Blessed One relinquish the Sangha of monks to me. I'll take charge of the Sangha of monks, Buddha says. I wouldn't relinquish the Sangha of monks even to Shariputra and Moggallana.

[06:52]

So why would I relinquish it to you, you miserable lickspittle? Dang. Shaka moving Buddha. You miserable lickspittle. You know there was stuff between these two. It's never just one way. Hmm. Hmm. So, you know, that didn't work out. Scripture goes on to say, Then Devadatta went to Prince Ajatasattu and on arrival said to him, Prince, previously people were long-lived, but now they are short-lived. It's possible that you will die while still a prince. In that case, having killed your father, become king. I... having killed the Blessed One, will become Buddha. Okay. It seems like Prince Jattasatu was kind of malleable, gullible, went along with it, and he said to his ministers, all right, all right, just whatever Devadatta wants, let him have it.

[08:10]

So Devadatta arranges for an assassin. to go and slay the Buddha. The best swordsman, straps on his sword and shield and bows and arrows, and he goes to slay the Buddha. But just to cover his tracks, Devadatta has two other guys wait on the path for when the first guy comes back and they're supposed to kill him. Not only that, further down the road, four other guys are waiting for after those two guys kill the first guy. Not only that, 8, 16. Really covering the tracks. So the first assassin goes to Buddha in the presence of

[09:16]

of the enlightened one. The Buddha. He loses all his nerve. He falls to his knees. He can't do it. He said, Lord, please forgive me. Spills his guts. Takes refuge. The Buddha accepts him. The Buddha accepts him into the community of monks. And then he says, by the way, Don't go back by that road. So he doesn't. And then the two who are waiting for him get impatient. So they go to see what happened. And they meet the Buddha. Guess what happens? They lose their nerve. They fall to their knees. They take refuge. The four guys. And then the 16th. All same thing, same thing.

[10:16]

Get impatient, go looking, meet the Buddha, take refuge. So that did not work out so well for Devadatta. Then the one man, the first man, remember him? Went to Devadatta and on arrival said to him, Sir, I can't deprive the Blessed One of life. The Blessed One is mighty and powerful. The Buddha says, excuse me, The one man says to Devadatta, the blessed one is mighty and powerful. And Devadatta says, enough, friend. Don't you deprive Gautama the contemplative of life. I'll deprive Gautama the contemplative of life myself. So he cooks up another plan. He goes up on Vulture Peak, which is a favorite place for the Buddha.

[11:20]

He hung out there. It's kind of like the pinnacles here in California. He liked to walk back and forth. Devadatta knew where he could probably expect the Buddha to be doing walking meditation by himself. Climbs up above him on a cliff, way up high, big old boulder. He's going to drop it on the Buddha. It misses, but it cracks, and a stone splinter hits the Buddha's foot, and it bleeds, causes the Buddha to bleed. In early Buddhism, there were five grave offenses, the worst things you could do, the five grave offenses. Killing your mother.

[12:21]

Killing your father. Killing an Arhat, an enlightened sage. Causing a Buddha to shed blood. Causing bloodshed of a Buddha. And number five, causing a schism in the Sangha. Isn't that interesting? Five worst things you could possibly do. Devadatta, he did number four, and he's going to work on number five. But before that happened, he took another stab at plotting to take the Buddha's life. This time, he used a famous man-killer elephant named Nalagiri. Because it wouldn't be a good story unless the elephant had a name. Nalagiri the man-killer.

[13:23]

And he knows when he can expect the Buddha to be in a public street. And he gets Nalagiri good and drunk. Drunk, man-killer elephant. Waits for the Buddha to show up. Sets him loose. Get him, Nalagiri. comes charging at them. This is a very famous story. The elephant comes charging at the Buddha, full of fury, and the Buddha goes like this, the mudra of non-fear. Abhyaya mudra. Abhyaya mudra. And the elephant comes to a dead stop, then kneels, and starts dusting Buddha's robes with his trunk. The Buddha's petting the elephant and probably whispering words of Dharma in its ear.

[14:25]

And Devadatta is off stage left. Curses foiled again. Oh, yeah. The fifth grave offense. So... Eventually, David Dott gets frustrated. He really wants to be in power. He's really convinced that I alone can fix it. Never mind. Too much. So he decides to kind of up the ante. He says, the practice just isn't rigorous enough with these monks. they really would benefit from stronger practice, more rules, more rigorous practice. And there's a lot of young monks who are like, yeah, that sounds good.

[15:30]

I like that. And he convinces about 500 of them to split off and go and practice with him. And the Buddha gets word of it, of course. And so he sends, guess who? Shariputra and Moggallana. To go investigate. And they find Devadatta preaching the Dharma. He's happy. He's happy now. He's got his own sangha. 500 monks. And he's preaching the Dharma. And he's preaching all night. And he meets Shariputra and Moggallana. He says, hey, yeah, come on in. Come on in. I'm preaching the Dharma. We're not tired. Come on. And you can preach the Dharma too. As a matter of fact, I am a little tired. I'm just going to stretch my back out a little bit. Falls asleep.

[16:31]

And then Shariputra and Mughalana do preach the Dharma. And almost all the monks return to the fold. And the schism is healed. Later on, and this is... very close to the end of their lives. They're both very old men. The Devadatta repents and returns to the Buddha and takes refuge. That's one version. Another version of the story says that he's on his way to repent before the Buddha and take refuge. when he is swallowed by the earth. I like that version because I am a fan of comics and those kind of movies. So, you know, he gets swallowed by the earth and dies, or does.

[17:33]

It only says he's swallowed by the earth. Didn't say he died. Maybe there's a sequel. Okay. That's Devadatta. Well, last practice period, I was studying the Lotus Sutra some. I like to study the Lotus Sutra. I like to read and recite the Lotus Sutra. And I think... I was contemplating how much hatred and division there seems to be in this country and in the world right now. And I'm thinking to myself, there's a whole chapter in the Lotus Sutra called Devadatta.

[18:39]

How about that? There isn't a chapter called Shariputra. There isn't a chapter called Magalana. Or Ananda. There's a whole chapter. The title of the chapter is Devadatta. Isn't that interesting? And I just started to hold that as a sort of koan. Or a mantra. I was just turning it over in my mind. A lot. There's a whole chapter. The actual title of the chapter is Devadatta. That right there is very significant to me. It's chapter 12. This is the Gene Reeves. Maybe I should take a second and talk about how I feel about the Bodhis Sutra.

[19:43]

Well, I said I was... very devoted to it. You know, there's a whole school of Buddhism that just practices devotion to the Lotus Sutra, Nichiren, in Japan, 13th century, like Dogen. They weren't contemporaries. Nichiren came a little bit after Dogen. They wouldn't have known each other. But they just practiced reverence to the Lotus Sutra. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Any of you familiar with that? Ring a bell? No? Yes? Yeah. I think I've chanted it maybe a number greater than five and less than ten. It's something of a tradition at Tazahara to sometimes we get together and chant it on New Year's Day, like a marathon chanting. It takes about seven and a half hours. People drop in and out. It's really wonderful. So, yeah, I'm pretty devoted.

[20:51]

To the Lotus Sutra. So, in the Devadatta chapter, the Buddha says, I remember past eons, though I was a king of a land in this world seeking the great Dharma. I did not crave gratification of the five desires. By striking a bell, I announced in the four directions. If anyone possesses the great Dharma and explains it to me, I will become his servant. At the time, there was a seer named Asita who came and said to the great king, I have a fine and wonderful dharma rarely heard in this world. If you are able to practice it well, I will teach it to you. So Asita was a rishi, a great seer, maharishi. Later, The Buddha says, I mean the sutra says, the Buddha said to all the monks, the king at that time was me and the seer was the present Devadatta.

[22:03]

Because Devadatta was a good friend to me, I was able to become fully developed in the six transcendental practices in kindness, compassion, joy and impartiality and the powers of the divine way. That I have attained impartial proper awakening and saved many of the living is due to my good friend Devadatta. I declare to all four groups that after innumerable eons have passed, Devadatta will become a Buddha whose name will be Heavenly King Tathagata, one worthy of offerings, truly awakened, fully clear in conduct, well gone, understanding the world, unexcelled leader, trainer of people, teacher of heavenly beings and people, Buddha, world-honored one. Wow. Awesome. A lot of people get a prediction of enlightenment in the Sutra, including Devadatta.

[23:07]

So, yeah, earlier this year, contemplating this chapter, just sort of turning it over, and a little study. Most commentaries on this chapter, most commonly commentaries on this chapter, emphasizes the Buddha's prediction of enlightenment for Devadatta. The possibility of enlightenment for all beings. Even someone as crummy as Devadatta, even such a bad seed, even he is going to become a Buddha. Wow. That's great. How encouraging. I personally find that very encouraging. However, that's not what's most significant to me. What I think is most significant

[24:16]

is the essentialness of Devadatta. That I have attained impartial proper awakening and saved many of the living is due to my good friend Devadatta. Couldn't have done it without you, pal. Couldn't have done it without good old Devadatta. What? Wow. Kind of blowing my mind. Um... I think of it as a sort of reverse-engineered, time-traveling, restorative justice. You know? Devatata is included. Actually was completely essential. Completely essential. The six transcendental practices referred to are... very famous, the paramitas, we call them, dana, shila, kishanti, virya, dhyana, and prajna, meaning generosity, morality, ethical behavior, patience and forbearance, energy, zen, and wisdom.

[25:41]

The third one, kishanti, fun to say, usually translated as patience or forbearance. The great Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh said he thought that for Western students, he did not like the translation of patience and forbearance, that for him, it has a feeling of putting up with something, enduring something, enduring something that you'd rather not endure, gutting it out, you know, gritting your teeth. He said, He would much prefer this to be translated as or understood as great inclusiveness. He said the kanji, the character in Chinese and Japanese, for patience, consists of two radicals. Below is the radical for a heart. Above is the radical for a sword or a sharp agricultural implement, like a scythe.

[26:46]

and is descending, the sharp thing is descending on the heart. I think we can all relate to that. Maybe on a daily basis. How do we make our hearts big enough to include the difficult thing? this radical inclusiveness. Scholars of the Lotus Sutra say that chapters 12, 13, and 14 came along later. No one person wrote the Lotus Sutra. It was sort of compiled and evolved around the first and second centuries of the common era. I can... And yeah, so it was a later edition. I can really imagine some monks sitting around saying, you know, this is a good sutra, but what it really needs is a chapter called Devadatta.

[28:01]

Any Buddhist would understand right away. That's Lex Luthor. That's the supervillain. Wow. Really? I'm here currently. We are doing this wonderful birds and wildflowers retreat with Diane Renshaw. Thank you, Diane. We're having a blast. There you are. We're having a blast. The birds and wildflowers have not disappointed. They really came through. Yeah. You know, these retreats at Tassahara, we always try to chunk in a little Dharma. There's always a Zen center practice leader involved. Very often they're called like Zen and, you know, we don't call it Zen and birds and wildflowers retreat.

[29:06]

So kind of grateful for that, actually. Zen is obviously implied. No need to state that. So, you know, Diane and I were talking about, well, what should we talk about? And Diane suggested this wonderful passage from the book of Suzuki Roshi's commentaries on the sandokai, the harmony of difference and equality, where he talks about the blue jay on the roof, very famous. You know, you think the blue jay on the roof is something separate, but actually the blue jay is in your heart. and we're all, that's great, let's do that, because it's a bird, you know, perfect. Only trouble is, Sarah Tashko gave that talk 11 days ago. Hard to believe it was only 11 days. But you know, it's the same talk.

[30:14]

If you were here for Sarah's talk, do you get that it's really the same talk? The Blue Jay is in your heart. Devadatta is in your heart. The point is, the point, the point is, I don't want to other anyone. I don't want to other anyone. O Bodhisattva Mahasattvas, please concentrate your hearts on me. I, Greg Fang, Buddhist disciple, does not want to other anyone. In order to

[31:15]

accomplish that pretty big request. As Thich Nhat Hanh says, we have to grow our hearts. We have to grow our hearts. One way or another. Nobody can do it for you. And you can't do it alone. One way or another, we have to grow our hearts. Because only love can save the world. Only love can save the world. Thank you for your attention. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center.

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Our Dharma talks are offered free of charge and this is made possible by the donations we receive. Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, visit sfzc.org and click Giving.

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