Barre Center for Buddhist Studies

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Free of Fear

Poem
Andrew Olendzki
Winter 2009

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bhaddiya theragatha 863-4

ucce maṇḍalipākāre

daḷhamaṭṭālakoṭṭhake

rakkhito khaggahatthehi

uttasaṃ vihariṃ pure.

so ‘jja bhaddo anutrāsī

pahīnabhayabheravo

jhāyati vanam ogahya

putto Godhāya Bhaddiyo.


With lofty, encircling walls,

Firm battlements and sturdy gates,

Guarded by many, swords in hand,

I dwelt in the city—frightened!

Today Bhaddiya, Godha’s son,

Is fortunate—and unfrightened!

Devoid of any fear or dread,

He meditates, plunged in the woods.

Bhaddiya was a great Sakya chieftain, the son of the matriarch Kali-Godha whom the Buddha identifies as the most high-born person in his circle. He was good friends with Anuruddha, the Buddhas cousin (and Ānanda’s brother), who persuaded him to go forth with him into the homeless life under the Buddha’s instruction.

Both friends, like Siddhartha, enjoyed a privileged upbringing, and had to make some adjustments to the renunciate life of a wandering bhikkhu.

At one point Bhaddiya was overheard uttering the phrase “Ah, what bliss; Ah, what bliss;” as he sat alone in the wilderness, and his fellow monks suspected that he was remembering the pleasures of his earlier life and thus not engaging fully in the rigors of forest practice. When called before the Buddha to explain himself, it turns out that just the opposite was true. As he put it in a parallel prose passage of the Vinaya:

“Formerly; when I was a ruler, there was a fully appointed guard both within my private quarters and outside… both within the town and outside…and throughout the countryside. But although being guarded and warded thus, I dwelt afraid, anxious, fearful and alarmed. But now, dwelling in a forest and at the root of a tree and in an empty place, l am unafraid, not anxious, not fearful and not alarmed. I am unconcerned, unruffled, dependent on others, with a mind become as a wild creature’s. This is why I was uttering the phrase, ‘Ah, what bliss; Ah, what bliss’. ” (Cullavagga 7:1.6)

I suspect this was very close to the Buddha’s own experience as he traded the closely controlled life of the palace for the open road of the wanderer. There may even be a lesson here for the rest of us. The more one has, the more one has to lose. The greater the position of authority or celebrity, the more of a target one might be for the ill will of others. Living simply and modestly may well be, as Bhaddiya discovered, the source of immense satisfaction.

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Insight Journal

Winter 2009

Download PDF

In this volume:

Here and Now

By Andrew Olendzki

Article

A Simple Turning in Place: Forty Years in the Dharma

By Joseph Goldstein

Article

Working with Perception

By Ajahn Sucitto

Article

The Good Sal Tree: Bhadda-Sala Jataka, No. 465

By Margo McLoughlin

Article

Shin Buddhism

By Mark Unno

Article

Killing Me Softly with Dharma

By Kristy Arbon

Article

Free of Fear

By Andrew Olendzki

Poem

 

All issues:

See all Insight Journal issues

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    • Home
    • About Us
      • New and Notable
      • COVID-19 Safety Protocols
      • Mission and Values
      • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
      • Board of Directors
      • IMS
      • Staff
      • Job Openings
      • Getting to BCBS
      • Mailing List
      • Contact Us
    • Upcoming Courses
      • Current Course Calendar
      • Everything You Need to Know About Residential Courses
      • Typical Residential Schedule
      • Continuing Education Credits
      • Financial Assistance
      • Teacher Dāna
    • Online Programs
      • Upcoming Programs
      • Wisdom Collaborations
      • Previously Offered Programs
      • Cancellation Policy
    • Path Programs
    • Teaching Faculty
    • Resources
      • Insight Journal
      • Bhikkhu Anālayo’s Offerings
      • The Daily Sit
      • Freely Offered Dharma
        • Events
        • Courses
      • BCBS Publishing
      • BCBS Bookstore
      • Access to Insight
      • Ways to Engage in Social Justice
    • Generosity
      • Donate
      • Recurring Donations
      • Planned Giving
      • Stocks, DAFs, and IRA Gifts
      • Teacher Dāna
      • Volunteer