The Buddha's Early Followers - DABBA: The Servant of the Sangha

Exploring the Lives of Shakyamuni Buddha’s Disciples and Their Struggles:

 Who were Shakyamuni Buddha’s followers? Let us look at well-known ordained and lay disciples who also struggled with ignorance, greed, and anger.

Dabba: The Servant of the Sangha

The Theragatha contains the following passage ascribed to a monk named Dabba-Mallaputta: "Dabba, who was hard to tame but is now tamed by self-taming, is content, with doubts overcome; victorious, with fears truly gone; because Dabba has attained perfect tranquility."

Dabba was a monk who voluntarily undertook to perform the various services required of other members of the Sangha. He cleaned their rooms, prepared their bedding, and served their meals. He was often the victim of misunderstanding, resentment, and even false accusations by the other monks. Dabba is said to have recited the words quoted above after one such misunderstanding was resolved.

Dabba was born into a princely family in the kingdom of Malla, near the Shakya domain, where Shakyamuni was born. When Dabba was seven, Shakyamuni went to Malla to preach. Dabba's grandmother, a deeply religious woman who had reared the boy ever since his mother's death shortly after he was born, took him to hear the Buddha.

Shakyamuni appeared to be a splendid person to the young boy. Dabba felt as if he were enfolded in a gentle radiance emanating from the Buddha. He felt as calm and safe as if his mother held him in her arms once again.

"The Buddha is the most noble of men," his grandmother told him. "He left his home, gave up his princely rank, devoted himself to religious practice, and finally attained enlightenment in order to save those who suffer in this earthly life."

Her words made a strong impression on Dabba. "I want to become like him. I'd like to follow him," he thought. Perhaps because he had lost his mother so early, Dabba found that his desire to be with the Buddha grew stronger day by day and year by year. Finally, at the age of fourteen, with his family's consent, he was admitted into the Sangha as a novice. He plunged into religious training and, by the age of sixteen, had attained a deep understanding of the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, approaching the state of an arahant, one free from all cravings and no longer subject to rebirth.

When Dabba received the "perfect precepts" of the fully ordained monk at the age of twenty, he made a decision. He felt fortunate to have heard the Buddha's teachings and to have studied the profound truth of the Dharma while still young. But to enter fully into the realm of truth and completely destroy the illusion of self, he decided to undertake further severe discipline. He would pay reverence to all the monks and perform the various tasks necessary to the daily life of the Sangha. This would be his religious practice. After Dabba received the Buddha's approval of his plan, he renewed his resolve to serve the other monks without selfishness or partiality.

In preparing the monks' rooms, he spared no effort to see that their days of meditation were undisturbed. He allocated the rooms so that monks who practiced the formal recitation of the teachings could all be together; likewise for those who devoted themselves to keeping the precepts with special strictness, and for those who made preaching the Dharma their personal practice. He ensured that every monk's needs were met: rooms were set aside for those who were physically weak, and appropriate bedding was provided for the elderly. If a wandering monk appeared at the monastery late at night, Dabba would leave his bed and carefully show the newcomer where things were: bedding, pillows, water for drinking and for washing, and so on. Thus, he devoted himself entirely to the service of the monastic community.

The most challenging task of all was the fair division of food among the monks. Dabba made a point of remembering which of the monks needed more food and which needed less when he distributed food offered by pious laypeople or collected during the monks' daily begging rounds.

One day a monk named Laludayi approached Dabba as he distributed the food and challenged him: "What gives you the right to be the only one to divide up our food? Lately, I've been getting nothing but scraps. You're unfair! I'll do the dividing up from now on."

When the Sangha agreed to Laludayi's demand, Dabba was crushed. He felt that the others did not appreciate his efforts to distribute the food fairly. Laludayi was a member of the Sangha and was supposed to have abandoned worldly desires and pleasures. Yet he had complained loudly about unfairness, comparing his portion with his neighbors. Dabba wondered why Laludayi had entered the religious life in the first place.

Two or three days after Laludayi began dividing the food, the situation was clearly out of hand. The monks quickly realized how truly fair Dabba's method of division had been, and Dabba renewed his resolve, thinking, "It is precisely because this kind of work is disagreeable and goes unappreciated that it can serve as an excellent practice for me." The other monks soon asked him deferentially to return to his former duties.

Some years later, a wealthy lay believer from Rajagaha visited the Bamboo Grove Monastery. Listening to Dabba's preaching, he was moved to say, "Your words have aroused in me a deep desire to acquire merit so as to be reborn in heaven. I hope some of the members of the venerable Sangha will honor me by coming to my home tomorrow to receive the offerings of food that I shall prepare."

After Dabba had accepted his invitation, the lay believer asked which of the monks would be sent to his house. When he was told that Mettiya and Bhummajaka would go, his face fell. These two monks, brothers, were notorious for their rudeness and arrogance, a reputation that had spread even among the laity. But a lay believer was not permitted to choose the monks to whom he would make offerings, so he could only acquiesce.

When he returned home, the layman angrily gave orders to his maidservant: "We're going to have to make offerings to those worthless monks Mettiya and Bhummajaka. When they arrive tomorrow, show them to the granary and give them the worst food we have."

Mettiya and Bhummajaka had no idea of the cold welcome awaiting them, of course. They were so overjoyed at the thought of the wonderful cuisine the rich man would be preparing for them that they were up at the crack of dawn with their robes and bowls in readiness, and off they went to the layman's mansion in Rajagaha. To their surprise, a mere maidservant greeted them. And when they were led to the gloomy granary and saw the coarse food that was set before them, they became angry, saying they had come at the invitation of the master of the house and demanding to know where he was.

"The master is away on urgent business, but he left instructions for me to entertain you, reverend sirs," said the maidservant.

"To entertain us?" asked Mettiya. "In this granary? With this kind of food?"

"Yes, sir. It is all just as the master ordered."

"Idiot! He thinks we're going to accept these offerings!" Mettiya shouted angrily. Kicking over the low tables set before them, Mettiya and Bhummajaka left hurriedly for the Bamboo Grove Monastery. Mettiya, who was literally trembling with rage, said, "This is all Dabba's doing! We stood up to him, and so to pay us back, he devised this scheme to shame us by getting the layman to issue a bogus invitation!"

Just then, a nun happened by, and Mettiya hit upon a plan. Putting on a smile, he addressed the nun politely: "Reverend sister. You know the senior monk Dabba? He has the appearance of virtue, but in fact constantly insults and mistreats the two of us out of spite. Today, for example, he and a lay believer conspired to bring great shame on my brother and me. But there is a limit even to our patience. We have to do something-don't you agree?"

“Indeed, it is very wrong of Dabba to do such things.”

"Yes, and to continue to allow such a biased man to be part of the Sangha is to bring shame on us all. So, we would like you, reverend sister, to go to the Buddha and tell him that Dabba has made improper advances to you and thus broken the precept against sexual misconduct. This is necessary to preserve the purity of the Sangha."

The simple nun agreed and, presenting herself before the Buddha, repeated what she had been told to say. Then the Buddha summoned Dabba before the assembled members of the Sangha and questioned him: "Dabba, you have been accused of breaking the precept against sexual misconduct. Have you ever done such a thing?"

Dabba looked steadily at the Buddha and replied, "The World-honored One knows far better than anyone else whether I would break such a precept."

But the Buddha repeated his question: "Dabba, have you ever broken the precept against sexual misconduct?"

"World-honored One, it is as you know it to be," Dabba replied. Inwardly, he was deeply hurt, thinking, "Does the Buddha really believe the words of Mettiya and Bhummajaka? Does he think me the kind of monk who would engage in immorality? Have all my efforts in religious practice gone unnoticed? Were they all in vain?"

Dabba was aroused from his thoughts by the Buddha's strong, insistent voice: "Dabba, you must state clearly before the Sangha whether or not you have broken the precept against immorality!" At that moment, Dabba experienced a kind of awakening. His self-concern, his need to defend himself-this was precisely the greatest obstacle to complete liberation!

“World-honored One, this accusation is baseless." As he spoke, he felt as if dark clouds were lifting from his heart. The Buddha and the Sangha accepted Dabba's statement as true. Then Mettiya and Bhummajaka were called forward. They could hide nothing from the Buddha's penetrating insight, and thus, Dabba's name was cleared.

This experience taught Dabba to see things in a new light. Until then, he had always secretly hoped that the other members of the Sangha would show appreciation for his hard work at such lowly tasks. But this attitude itself was a kind of selfish attachment. And the more effort he made to serve the monks, the stronger this particular attachment grew. To destroy it, he decided to devote himself with even greater energy and purity of intention to serving the Sangha.

Soon it began to be rumored that a radiance could be seen flowing from Dabba's fingertips as he guided visiting monks about the monastery at night. Some monks even made a point of visiting the monastery after dark to observe the mysterious light. Dabba would guide them cheerfully, walking through the dark monastery grounds without hesitation. And indeed, the monks following him could see his fingertips glowing with a strange radiance.

Thus, Dabba-Mallaputta, by devoting himself totally to serving the Sangha, received the veneration and gratitude of all his fellow monks and was able to attain enlightenment of a high order.

This article is based on Disciples of the Buddha, edited by Zenno Ishigami (Kosei Publishing Co., 1989).