asahi wrote: ↑Thu May 20, 2021 1:14 pm
Didnt you read and understand the meaning saids , 《Long long time ago he was already conscious of his destiny he wont be reborn in apayas state 》
It means Long Long time ago since many birth he already a sotapanna because only a sotapanna knows he will not take birth again in Lower realms !
You are conflating two separate statements:
1. that the yakkha recalls fourteen former lives.
2. that the yakkha has known himself to be free from the possibility of rebirth in the lower realms "for a long time" (
dīgharattaṃ).
Note that
dīgharattaṃ doesn't necessarily denote an inordinately long time (e.g., centuries or aeons). Most often it denotes a long duration within a single lifetime. For example, Ven. Mahākassapa says:
Ahaṃ kho bhante dīgharattaṃ āraññiko ceva āraññikattassa ca vaṇṇavādī.
"For a long time, bhante, I have been both a forest-dweller and one who speaks in praise of forest-dwelling."
What the yakkha does
not state is that he has known himself to be free from the possibility of rebirth in the lower realms for the last fourteen lives.
When the two statements are kept separate the sutta is quite compatible with the Theravādin understanding that Bimbisāra became a sotāpanna during the time of Gotama Buddha, passed away and then came to visit Gotama during his next life as the yakkha Janavasabha.
More to the point, this understanding is confirmed by Janavasabha himself, for when the Buddha enquires:
“It is amazing, it is astonishing that the reverend yakkha Janavasabha should say this. On what grounds can he know of such an august specific attainment?”
The yakkha replies:
Not otherwise, Lord, not otherwise, Well-Farer, than through your teaching! From the time when I became fully committed and gained complete faith, from then on, Lord, for a long time I have known myself to be exempt from states of woe.
