In the fourth week, after attaining Nirvana, Buddha created a beautiful jeweled chamber out of thin air and sitting inside it, meditated on what was later known as the “Detailed Teaching” (Abhidhamma).

This miracle was extraordinary because the entire structure was made out of precious materials like gold, diamonds, sapphires, rubies, etc. This demonstrated that Buddha had transcended the ordinariness of a human being and had achieved a state that can be described as beyond divine.

Unfortunately, many Buddhists do not take such tales to heart and cannot quote such stories as a rebuttal to people who perceive the Buddha as just an ordinary man. I think we should not be shy of sharing such stories with those who need them.

Naturally, before we can convince others, we need to convince ourselves first. At this point, it is important to note that Siddhartha was no longer an ordinary person after Nirvana.

What exactly is Abhidharma?

The teachings of Buddha are known as Buddha-Dharma or simply Dharma. Dharma is categorized into 3 broad categories, namely:

• Vinaya – (Ethics)
• Sutta – (discourses)
• Abhidharma

Abhidharma is the essence of Dharma and is considered a higher expression of the Ultimate Truth. In our modern times, this category had evolved to include treatises and commentaries that aid our understanding of Dharma.

While absorbed in that meditation, Buddha’s mind and body were so purified that six colored light rays came out of his body — blue, yellow, red, white, orange, and a mixture of these five. We can imagine Buddha’s physical body becoming translucent, bright, and shiny.

Each colour represented one noble quality of the Buddha: yellow for holiness, white for purity, blue for fearlessness, red for wisdom and orange for desirelessness. The mixed colour represented all these noble qualities altogether. The Buddhist flag commemorates this miracle.

May all be well and happy.

Discussion

What do you think? How does the understanding, appreciation, realisation of Dharma promotes the development of Buddha’s qualities within us?

For example, fearlessness.

Do you think these qualities are different from worldly understanding.

For example, is Buddhist fearlessness different from worldly fearlessness?