Touching the Earth

This talk was given at Cambridge Buddhist Centre, Young Buddhists evening, June 2019                                            

I have been asked to talk about the Buddha's Enlightenment. It's difficult, if not impossible, to talk about another person's inner experience. It's even more difficult when they have been dead for 2500 years, and yet more difficult when the experience in question is one that you haven't had yourself. But I guess I shouldn't let a little difficulty like that get in the way. We do have the Buddhist texts which are based on the oral tradition of stories and teachings that survived the Buddha's death. The texts have many different ways of speaking about the Buddha's Enlightenment. In the Pali and Sanskrit the experience is referred to as Bodhi. And a Buddha is someone who has experienced Bodhi. Usually Bodhi is translated as Awakening and a Buddha is 'one who is Awake or has Awakened'. The metaphor of sleep and waking is used to try to convey the contrast between the experience of being a Buddha and not being a Buddha.

Elsewhere the Buddha's experience is spoken of negatively as the absence of greed, hatred and delusion. This is what Nirvana means. Or the Buddha's experience of Awakening is spoken of as the fullness of wisdom, compassion and energy or it is spoken of in terms of paradoxes or in terms of images, such as a cool cave or the discovery of a lost city. I think one of the best ways of evoking what Enlightenment might mean is by looking at it through the medium of myth and symbolism. Mythology and symbolism are very rich and able to convey more than concepts. A symbol or a story can have more than one meaning, can have several meanings and that is very helpful when you're dealing with something so outside of normal experience as Awakening.

I want to focus on some images that are used to describe the experience of the Buddha's Awakening in terms of a kind of Drama or story. In this account Siddhartha, as the Buddha was called before he became a Buddha, is sitting under the peepul tree meditating and he has a number of visitors. Or alternatively you could say he has a vision and it unfolds in the form of these visitations. Firstly he is attacked by Mara's army. Mara is the personification of craving, hatred and spiritual ignorance. Then he is visited by Mara's daughters and then by Mara himself. Later he is visited by the Earth Goddess, the King of the gods and a great Cobra who is also a prince called Mucilinda. I'll tell you a bit about what happens and what it symbolises. Bearing in mind that symbolism is not exhausted by one explanation.

There are different accounts in the Buddhist scriptures of what happened when Siddhartha Gautama, sitting underneath the Bodhi tree, became a Buddha, an Awakened One. In some accounts it says that the earth shook and there were great rumbling noises, like an earthquake. In the account given in the Lalitavistara Sutra it says that the Buddha was visited by Mara just before he gained Enlightenment. This is also described in the Padhana Sutta of the Sutta Nipata. The Buddha says Mara approached him as he was striving speaking kind words (karunam vacam bhasamano). The words attributed to him are:

“O you are thin and you are pale,
And you are in death’s presence too;
A thousand parts are pledged to death,
But life still holds one part of you.
Live, Sir! Life is the better way;
You can gain merit if you live,
Come, live the Holy Life and pour
Libations on the holy fires,
And thus a world of merit gain.
What can you do by struggling now?
The path of struggling too is rough
And difficult and hard to bear.”
So Mara is saying to Siddhartha – ‘take it easy, don’t be so hard on yourself, have a comfortable life’
Siddhartha recognises Mara and refuses to be tempted. He goes on to describe Mara's army in this way:
“Your first squadron is Sense-Desires,
Your second is called Boredom, then
Hunger and Thirst compose the third,
And Craving is the fourth in rank,
The fifth is Sloth and Torpor
While Cowardice lines up as sixth,
Uncertainty is seventh, the eighth
Is Malice paired with Obstinacy;
Gain, Honour and Renown, besides,
And ill-won Notoriety,
Self-praise and Denigrating Others:
These are your squadrons. (Sutta Nipata, III, 2)
And Siddhartha declares his readiness to take up the fight - the spiritual life is often likened to a battle or a fight in the Pali Canon -

“None but the brave will conquer them
To gain bliss by the victory.…
Better I die in battle now
Than choose to live on in defeat.…
I sally forth to fight, that I
May not be driven forth from my post.” 

“For I have faith (saddha) and energy (viriya)
And I have wisdom (pañña) too.”

 “Your serried squadrons, which the world
With all its gods cannot defeat,
I shall now break with wisdom
As with a stone a clay pot.” (Sutta Nipata, III, 2, https://legacy.suttacentral.net/en/snp3.2)
Mara is all the negative, undermining and tempting mental states and emotions and the spiritual practitioner has faith, energy and wisdom in response. This is a big inner conflict. This is part of most people's spiritual journey and can't be avoided.

In the story Mara first sends his army of monstrous creatures against Siddhartha, but their weapons turn to flowers when they come into his aura. What does that mean? Then Mara tries to tempt Siddhartha with his daughters who dance seductively, but again Siddhartha is unmoved. Then Mara tries a different way. He says that Siddhartha has no right to sit on the spot where all previous Buddhas gained Enlightenment. In other words he tries to sow doubt in Siddhartha's mind. He asks Siddhartha whether he has anyone who can witness that he has a right to sit there, and that is when Siddhartha touches the earth and says the earth is my witness.

Anyone who tries to follow a spiritual Path will recognise all the different distractions and inner conflict and doubt that have to be encountered and enveloped in awareness. We have to own our own darkness by becoming aware and accepting who we are. That in itself leads to transformation and integration. This is certainly my own experience.

The Earth Goddess then arises out of the ground and vouches for him.
Before we go into the meaning of this episode there are a few things I'd like to mention that may be worth reflecting on. Frstly, in many other religions this sort of confirmation of a teachers attainment comes from the sky rather than the earth. It may be in the form of angels or a voice from the heavens, but it is often from the sky rather than the earth. It might be worth reflecting what this means for Buddhism and Buddhists.
Another thing to note is that Mara and his armies and his daughters is an allegorisation of various mental states. such as boredom, cowardice, malice, obstinacy and denigrating others. Most of us will be quite familiar with some if not all of these, which means we are on very familiar terms with Mara and he probably speaks to us with kindly words quite frequently. Before Awakening we are very much on the side of Mara. This is also worth reflecting on. 
Another thing worth reflecting on is the use of warlike metaphors in the Buddhist scriptures; fighting, doing battle, conquering, staying at your post. Why is all this imagery used and does it have any relevance for us ? What metaphors or imagery do we habitually use and what is the affect of using different kinds of imagery?  Is the kind of imagery we use or the stories we tell ourselves really just the kindly voice of Mara? How would it be if we told ourselves different stories and used different metaphors, images and language.

Another thing to reflect on is that Mara did not just turn up as Siddhartha was sitting beneath the Bodhi tree. Here is what happened according to the Lalitavistara Sutra:
“while the Bodhisattva was was seated at Bodhimanda, the thought occurred to him: ‘The demon Mara is the lord of this realm of desire – the master who wields the power; it would not be right to become a Buddha without first informing him. I shall therefore summon Mara Papiyan.” (The Voice of the Buddha, Vol.2, p.457)
Bearing in mind what Mara symbolises, what does it mean that Siddhartha summoned Mara? By asking these questions what I really want to get across is that symbolism and images are very rich and communicate many things simultaneously.

But to come back to the Earth Goddess and touching the earth. The earth here is firstly a symbol of stability, unshakeability, constancy and also a symbol of  abundance, fertility and wealth. The Earth Goddess is a universal symbol and she has many names around the world - Isis, Gaia, Demeter, Ceres, Sheela na Gig , and Pachamama are a few names from different cultures. In Sanskrit there are names like Sthavara, meaning Stable One, or Prthvi, meaning Earth or Vasundhara which means the Bearer of Treasure. This whole story of Siddhartha touching the earth has three elements that we could look at a little more closely. There is the attack by Mara, there is the response of calling on the earth to witness and there is the emergence of the earth goddess. What this story does is tell us some universal truths about spiritual practice in the form of the rich symbolism of mythology.

There are three spiritual truths in particular that we can draw from this story: Firstly, spiritual practice involves struggle with forces of resistance which may be experienced as internal or external. Secondly, we need to find a source of stability and confidence, something to trust in, if we are to be able to access the spiritual riches which are there for all. Thirdly, we live in a universe where spiritual progress is possible and if we make the effort we will get a response.

Throughout the Buddhist scriptures you will find the Buddha exhorting his disciples to be aware, to develop mindfulness (sati) and one of the things we have to become aware of is our own mental states. We can think of this as becoming aware of our skilful and unskilful thoughts and emotions or we can think of it as becoming aware of Mara and what we might characterise as the Siddhartha within. In the  Dvedhavittakka Sutta the Buddha puts it like this: "Bhikkhus, before my Enlightenment, while I was still only an unenlightened Bodhisatta, it occurred to me: 'Suppose that I divide my thoughts into two classes. then I set on one side thoughts of sensual desire, thoughts of ill-will and thoughts of cruelty, and I set on the other side thoughts of renunciation, thoughts of non-illwill and thoughts of non-cruelty.
He goes on to say that that is how he practised and then he says:
Bhikkhus, whatever a bhikkhu frequently thinks and ponders upon, that will become the inclination of his mind. I saw in unwholesome states danger, degradation and defilement and in wholesome states the blessing of renunciation and the aspect of cleansing." (Majjhima Nikaya, Sutta 19)

This is the Buddha exhorting his disciples to practise in the way that he had practised by becoming aware of their mental states, both positive and negative.
Throughout the Pali Canon Mara comes to the Buddha to try to tempt him in one way or another and each time the Buddha recognises him and when he is recognised he disappears. Mara cannot bear awareness. The point of this for us is that mindfulness of thoughts and emotions is an important and crucial practice, which will enable us to purify our minds. Put more poetically, it will free us from the clutches of Mara. If we think of our unskilful thoughts and emotions as Mara it may help us to be less attached to them. Mindfulness, awareness, is the aura that turns weapons into flowers or put more simply; awareness undermines self-destructive mental habits.

Then Siddhartha touches the earth. This symbolises getting in touch with sources of stability, within ourselves and externally. We need to have confidence in what we are doing with our life, confidence in the practices of Metta Bhavana (meditation on Loving Kindness) and the mindfulness of breathing, confidence in our ability to make progress, confidence in our teachers and guides. This confidence is the stable basis from which can flow the energy and persistence that the spiritual path demands.

To achieve anything a motivating energy is needed. If we want to get rich we have to have confidence that it is worthwhile. If we are convinced that it is worthwhile we will have the energy and be able to put in the effort that is required in order to get rich. If we want to be successful in any way we need to have a confidence in the value and worth of what we want to achieve and with that confidence comes the motivating energy; the dynamo which powers our efforts and gives us the ability to persist and be constant and consistent in our efforts. Confidence arises out of our intuitive and imaginative relationship to the goal and it also arises out of our reflections on life and it's purpose. We should be frequently thinking about the purpose of life. It is complacent to assume we already know what life is all about and more importantly it’s not making full use of our human consciousness.

Confidence also arises out of reflecting on our positive qualities and abilities. Reflecting on what we have already achieved and on the opportunities open to us. A thoroughly positive and realistic appraisal and acknowledgement of our positive qualities and abilities is a really essential ingredient in a successful life and especiall a spiritual life. By focussing on what is positive in our lives,even the things we may take for granted, such as our health, our ability to see, hear and walk, the trees, grass and flowers, water and air, by being aware of and focussing on these things we can develop confidence by counteracting our tendency to focus on our problems, faults and weaknesses or worse still, the faults and weaknesses of others. 
And by giving attention to what is positive in us, in others and in the world around us we develop a sense of richness and abundance which reinforces our positivity and gradually turns us into the sort of person who can easily give to others and to the world out of an abundance and richness. It will also give us the energy to keep going as we will not be in emotional conflict with ourselves. A lot of energy is used up in internal conflict and when through awareness and kindness we become more whole that energy is released.

We also gain confidence from other people; from seeing them and knowing how they have made progress, from listening to their feedback and just from being in contact with people who are more spiritually experienced and developed than we are; more mindful, more generous, kinder, wiser and so on. And of course we gain confidence in the Buddha's teachings by studying them, engaging imaginatively with the Buddha and his teaching and by hearing what our own teachers have to say.

In response to Siddhartha touching the earth the Earth Goddess appears. Vasundhara, the Bearer of Treasure, appears and she bears witness that Siddhartha has practised generosity, ethics and meditation for many lifetimes and is therefore well qualified to sit on the vajrasana the seat of Enlightenment. She rejoices in his merits. The earth Goddess is universally a symbol of abundance, fertility, richness. Reading this more psychologically you could say that Sidddhartha's confidence, his faith or sraddha, gives him access to a depth of riches within, which envelop his mind and flow out into the world.

The next part of the story after this is about Brahmasahampati ,one of the gods, (the gods often symbolise higher states of consciousness) persuading the Buddha to share his Insights with the world. In other words the Buddha's Insight into the nature of reality flows out in compassion. It is not so much that the Buddha was persuaded by some external person, but more that inherent in the experience of Awakening is this upsurge of compassion for the world with all it's suffering and an overwhelming urge to reach out and communicate something of the potentiality of human consciousness. It is said that the Buddha had a vision of humanity as being like a lotus lake, with lotuses at various stages of growth, some completely submerged, some just peeping though the surface and some already raised above the water. He saw that some people were sufficiently awake or aware to be able to understand his message.

After the vision of Brahmasahampati there comes the episode with Mucalinda. Mucalinda is a mythical creature known as a Naga. He is a prince of the Nagas. Nagas live in the depths of the ocean and are associated with Wisdom. In the story the naga prince appears first as a great cobra and wraps himself around the Buddha and spreads his hood over the Buddha to shelter him from the monsoon rains and storms. And then he appears as a beautiful young prince. Here we have the symbolism of the depths and wisdom. The Buddha is protected by his Wisdom and the youthful prince can be seen as the energy that comes when all the conflict is over and the inner experience is calm and clear. The coiled serpent is also a symbol of energy. This is symbolising this great explosion of energy that rises up when all the craving, hatred, illwill, doubts and delusions are seen through and one awakens to the reality of inter-connection between all living beings and the true nature of our own self as an ever-flowing process rather than a fixed or separate identity.

Enlightenment can be talked about in many ways. One very common way is to talk in terms of the perfection or consummation of Wisdom, Compassion and Energy and in these symbolic episodes we have encountered Compassion, Wisdom and energy in a more mythic and poetic way. But of course we are swimming in very unfamiliar waters when we dive into the topic of Enlightenment or Nirvana. We need to come to the surface and indeed come back to earth and ask ourselves, what is the relevance of all of this to me and to my life now.

There is plenty of hatred, conflict and polarisation in the world and if we are to help to alleviate some of that we need to become aware of and deal with our own inner conflicts, which often manifest in our lives as conflict with others. There is a great deal of unhappiness, dissatisfaction and mental ill-health in the world and if we are to help we need to become aware of and learn how to deal with our own unhappiness and dissatisfaction. There is plenty of greed, craving, addiction and consumption in the world, which is leading us into more suffering. If we are to help we need to become aware of and deal with our own craving, greed and addictions. This is something of the relevance of the Buddha and his Awakening to our lives. But really we each need to individually ask ourselves the questions about what our life is for and what we want to do with our period alive and also to look with objective and kindly eyes at what we are actually doing with our lives. Self deception helps no-one.

The story of Siddhartha becoming a Buddha and the story of his teachings being practised and passed on down the generations to us, is a story that can be an inspiration and a source of confidence to us, if we allow ourselves to be influenced by it.