San Lo Mvu 93Trapuṣa and Bhallika

COMMENTARY ON THE SŪTRA OF TRAPUṢA AND BHALLIKA

Background

The Trapuṣa and Bhallika Sūtra is recorded in the Vinaya Piṭaka of the Pāli Canon, specifically in the Samantapāsādikā, the commentary on the earliest events of the Buddhist Sangha community. This sūtra belongs to the historical setting immediately after the Buddha Gotama attained Bodhi, when he had just become a Buddha and was beginning to spread the Teaching.

Trapuṣa (Trapussa) and Bhallika (Bhaddiya) were two wealthy merchants traveling by horse-cart to trade in wheat. They happened to meet the Buddha after his awakening, near Bodh Gayā. This meeting is regarded as an important milestone in the transmission of the Buddha-Dharma, because they were among the first ordinary people to attain significant spiritual accomplishments.

Main Content

When these two merchants met the Buddha, they witnessed the splendor and purity of the Buddha and were immediately deeply opened. They quickly attained insight, clearly understanding the three forms of suffering: the suffering of suffering, the suffering of change, and the suffering of formations (dukkha samudaya). After hearing the Buddha teach the Dharma, they aroused the mind of practice, abandoned the worldly way of life, and attained the fruit of stream-entry (sotāpanna), the first of the four stages of the Ariya-magga.

What is special about these two figures is that they were the first lay people who were not blood relatives of the Buddha to be deeply delivered from the round of saṃsāra. In this sūtra, the Buddha also accepted their offering of food, soft corn cakes (dhañña-pūraṃ), the first offering the Buddha received after awakening. This shows the equality of the Buddha-Dharma: all people, including merchants, have the capacity to attain awakening.

Practical Meaning

The Trapuṣa and Bhallika Sūtra offers profound lessons for contemporary practitioners.