While much has been written about the death of Buddha’s earthly body, very few of the details are actually known. In the centuries following his bodily death scholars have raised many questions. I think one of the most significant of these might be, “Why was Cunda, the person who is blamed for Buddha’s death, given such a significant role?”

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This competes my story of Devadatta. We’re left with something more complex than a villain. We find a monk whose gifts were overshadowed by his craving to surpass even the Buddha, and whose misguided confidence became his downfall.

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Devadatta, Part 1

Devadatta, the Buddha’s cousin, will be remembered as the great villain of early Buddhism. But was he really a villain trying to replace the Buddha out of jealousy, or was there something deeper behind his desire for reform?

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The Flower Sermon is uniquely Zen Buddhist, but its essence—transmission beyond words—resonates across nearly all major traditions, often reinterpreted in their own idioms. The Monk Who Ate the Dharma was inspired by a statement attributed to the Tibetan Buddhist master Milarepa.Born in the eleventh century, he is one of Tibet's most famous spiritual poets.

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Buddha's awareness extended far beyond the human realm. He perceived the heavenly and underworld planes, discovering that he could communicate with countless non-human beings that not only existed but many had become followers of his path. Even the goddess Lakshmi, radiant embodiment of love, fortune, and spiritual prosperity, came before him and expressed her wish to join his great work of liberation.

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This week's episode is called Right Livelihood. Right Livelihood is one of the elements of Buddha's Noble Eightfold Path. It generally means living and earning a living in a way that is ethically responsible and avoids causing harm to oneself or others. But that description has always been subject to interpretation.

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One of Buddha's contemporaries was Makkhali Gosala, also known as Maskarin, and was the founder of the Ajivikas' sect. Gosala's central teaching was that absolutely everything is predetermined by fate and hence human action has no consequence one way or the other. According to the Ajivikas, each soul's course was like a ball of thread unravelling. When he encounters one of Gosala's followers he decides to provide some lessons.

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Today's story addresses the concept of merit. In Buddhism, merit is the positive force or spiritual wealth accumulated through virtuous actions like generosity, ethical conduct, and meditation. These actions are considered meritorious because they lead to favorable outcomes. Merit, and it's virtues, was often misunderstood especially amongst Brahmins who were conditioned to pay their priests to provide it.

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There are references in the sutras of “Perfumed Chambers” where Buddha would sit or rest. At first I thought it odd that Buddha would accept accomodations that seemed like pampering, so I had to look into this.

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On the night of the Komudi full moon, Brahmin families gather on the temple grounds. The air is thick with incense and expectation — a night for renewal, when vows were rehearsed and the white lotus was said to open under moonlight. But on this Komudī night, a young man named Uddalaka would glimpse something that neither ritual nor doctrine had prepared him for — a meeting that would change how he understood purity, desire, and the truth of his own path.

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