Myths or Realities? > Animisa Locana Bodhi Poojā – A Prelude to Acts of Gratitude

April 29, 2016; December 1, 2017; revised August 19, 2026

1. The conventional interpretation of Animisa Locana Bodhi Poojā (here “locana” is pronounced “lochana”) is that Buddha paid his gratitude to the sacred Bodhi tree that gave him shade when he attained Enlightenment (Buddhahood). In current literature, it is described as the Buddha spending the second week after attaining Enlightenment — looking at that Bodhi tree without blinking — as an act of gratitude for sheltering him during that Noble effort.

▪It is true that the Bodhi tree was (and still is) special, and has many unique properties which we will discuss in a future post.

▪But there is no basis for the interpretation that he was looking at the Bodhi tree without even blinking. There, the word “animisa” is incorrectly translated as “unblinking”. What he did that week related to the acts of gratitude that followed.

2. Nimisa or nimesa is a moment, and animisa is “without pausing for even a moment”. “Lo” is for the “lokaya” or “world”, “ca” is for the citta (thoughts), and thus “locana” is basically contemplation, in this case about his long path to Buddhhood (bodhi is the “path to Enlightenment”, thus the name 37 Bodhipakshika Dhamma, where “pākshika” means “relevant to” or “associated with”. The current English translation is 37 Factors of Enlightenment, which is not too far off).

▪During that Animisa Locana Bodhi Poojā (for 7 days), the Buddha traced back to the time he began fulfilling the requirements for Buddhahood (pāramitā), i.e., he scanned the memory records (nama gotta) of his previous lives to see who helped him during that time.

▪Records of our past remain intact basically forever; see, “Namagotta, Bhava, Kamma Bīja, and Mano Loka (Mind Plane)” and “Recent Evidence for Unbroken Memory Records (HSAM).”

▪After leaving the site of the Bodhi tree, he spent the first several years (and even later) locating those who helped him during that time and helping them attain Nibbāna. We will discuss some cases below.

3. It is said that it took the Buddha (or rather the Bodhisattva) a “sāra asenkkheyya kappa lakhayak” to fulfill the requirements (pāramitā) to attain Buddhahood. See, “Difference between a Wish and a Determination (Pāramitā)” for a simple explanation of pāramitā.

There are four asenkkheyya kappā in a mahā kappa, and “lakhayak” is 100,000. But human beings live in kāma loka only during one asenkkheyya kappa and during the other three asenkkheyya kappā the kāma lokas (and some of the lower lying rūpa lokas) are destroyed and re-formed. We will discuss this in detail later.

▪Thus, in calculating the pāramitā time, “asenkkheyya kappa lakhayak” actually takes the time of a mahā kappa. I have not yet been able to find out what “sāra” means to my satisfaction, even though I have come across some estimates. Thus, the time taken to fulfill the pāramitā was some number (“sāra”) of hundred thousand mahā kappā.

▪However, there are other data points that give us an idea of how long that is. It is believed that 512,000 Buddhas appeared in our world during the time of Buddha Gotama to fulfill his pāramitā. I could not find that statement in a sutta; it is probably in a Commentary.

▪There have been only 7 Buddhas during the past 31 mahā kappā, and with the Maitreya Buddha that is expected to appear before the end of this mahā kappā, there would be 8 Buddhas in those 31 mahā kappā. Thus if we assume there is roughly a Buddha appearing for every four mahā kappā, then the time taken for our Bodhisattva to complete the pāramitā would be roughly two million mahā kappā. If we take a mahā kappa to be about 30 billion years (see, “Sansāric Time Scale, Buddhist Cosmology and the Big Bang Theory”), then this time would be around 60 trillion years!

▪Regardless of the actual time taken, it’s truly mind-boggling. Working nonstop (that is what “animisa” means), it took the Buddha a full seven days to cover this time span (recall the nāma gotta).

▪Of course many of the key people had been with him in repeated lives; this is why it took so long (seven days) for the Buddha to go through those records.

4. When the Buddha left the site of the Bodhi tree seven weeks after attaining Buddhahood, he immediately started “paying back debts” to them.

▪This highlights the importance in paying back debts and showing gratitude for those who come to help; see, “Kamma, Debt, and Meditation.”

▪One of the ten wrong views is the belief that there is no merit in paying back debts or showing gratitude; see, “Three Kinds of Diṭṭhi, Eightfold Paths, and Samādhi,” and “Wrong Views (Micchā Diṭṭhi) – A Simpler Analysis.”

▪Buddha’s actions highlighted the importance of letting go of that wrong view.

5. It is said that he first wanted to pay back his most recent “teachers”: Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta. Unfortunately, both had died recently and both had been born in the arūpa loka (they had both cultivated anariya arūpa jhānā). In arūpa loka, beings do not have eyes or ears, and thus are unable to learn Dhamma. Thus the Buddha was not able to help them.

▪Next, he thought about the five ascetics (Kondañña, Bhaddiya, Vappa, Mahānāma, and Assaji) who had attended to him while he practiced austerities for six years. It is to those five ascetics that the Buddha delivered the first and second discourses at the Deer Park at Isipathana: Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta and the Anatta Lakkhana Sutta (Anatta is the third of the Tilakkhaṇa: anicca, dukkha, anatta). They all became Arahants after the two discourses.

▪ Then the Buddha sought out and preached Dhamma to Yasā, a son of a wealthy Brahmin, who lived nearby. Yasā and his 54 friends became Bhikkhus and soon attained Arahantship.

6. It is also important to note that most of those who helped the Bodhisattva in in his efforts, had also fulfilled versions of pāramitā to be major disciples of the Buddha. They themselves had worked towards liberation (Nibbāna) in previous lives.

▪This is why most of them were able to attain Arahanthood or various stages of Nibbāna in a short time.

▪Even these days, it is easier for some than others because of their past efforts. Thus no one should be discouraged in their efforts. The efforts will pay off in time, possibly even later in this life or in future lives.

7. By the time the Buddha left Isipathana, there were thus 60 Arahants in his Sāsana. After sending them in different directions to propagate his message of liberation, the Buddha himself left towards Uruvela, to meet the three Kassapa brothers and their followers who had been with him in numerous lives in the long past.

▪On the way there, he intercepted 30 young wealthy men who were looking for a woman who had robbed them of their valuables. That was no accident either. All 30 had encountered the Buddha in previous lives and were ready to comprehend the Dhamma. They all attained Arahanthood shortly.

8. Upon arriving in Urevala, the Buddha had to spend a considerable time and effort to convince the Kassapa brothers, who were not Arahants. They were yogis who were under the impression that they had already attained liberation, and were very reluctant to embrace the Buddha Dhamma. Finally, they became disciples of the Buddha, and all 1000 attained Arahanthood upon hearing the Aditta Pāriyaya Sutta.

▪Then the Buddha traveled with those 1000 Arahants to Rajagaha, the capital of the Kingdom of Magadha. King Bimbisara became a Sotāpanna and offered the Buddha his first monastery, the Bamboo Grove in Rajagaha.

9. While the Buddha was residing in the Bamboo Grove two brahmins, Upatissa and Kolita, met Assaji Thero (who was one of the five ascetics), and became Sotāpannas upon hearing a single verse from the Asssaji Thero. Then they came to see the Buddha and requested to become bhikkhus, and attained the Arahanthood within two weeks.

▪Of course they became the two chief disciples of the Buddha: Ven. Sāriputta and Ven. Moggallāna.

10. Then the Buddha, accompanied by the bhikkhus, made the way to Kapilavatthu, his father’s Kingdom. There, he was able to help numerous people who had been with him for many, many lives in the past.

▪By the way, those who have mutual debts to each other are born into the same family and share common relatives and friends. Thus one’s obligations are mostly in that order. Of course, one is most indebted to one’s parents.

▪Just so this will not convey the wrong message, this is not to condone the common practice of “giving perks” to family and friends by misusing government resources, done by many politicians today. One should give only things of one’s own.

11. Thus the first several years of Buddha’s life were dedicated to helping those who had been with him and helped him in many ways through multiple rebirths in his endeavor to become a Buddha. Of course, neither a Bodhisattva (until becoming a Buddha) nor his helpers “knew” that was the case beforehand. That is how nature works. The next post in this series discusses this issue.

▪It is easy to see that people with the same interests always tend to stay together, because they have similar gati. This is a very deep concept that we have encountered many times. A simple explanation is given in the post, “The Law of Attraction, Habits, Character (Gati), and Cravings (Āsavā).”

12. King Suddhodana, Prince Siddhartha’s father, attained the Arahanthood just before passing away about five years after the Enlightenment of the Buddha.

▪The Buddha, as a mark of gratitude to his mother who was born as a deva in the Tavatimsa deva realm, preached the Abhidhamma to his mother together with other devas continuously for three months. The Buddha then repeated the principal topics of the Abhidhamma to Venerable Sāriputta, who subsequently worked with his clan of 500 bhikkhus to compile the Abhidhamma Piṭaka we have today.

▪Of course, both Princess Yasodhara and Prince Rahula entered the monastic order and attained Arahanthood too.

▪Numerous other relatives entered the monastic order and attained various stages of Nibbāna.

▪A good book that covers this timeline is “The Life of the Buddha” by Bhikkhu Nanamoli. The Tipiṭaka itself does not show the actual timeline of events; it is categorized according to other criteria.

13. Sometimes, it is not only those who help each other, but also arch enemies that follow each other through the cycle of rebirths (saṁsāra). While almost all other relatives of the Buddha (Prince Siddhartha) attained Nibbāna, a few could not overcome their deeply embedded hatred toward the Buddha.

▪The best examples were Devadatta and King Suppabuddha, Princess Yasodhara’s brother and father, respectively. They both eventually ended up in the niraya (hell) for committing violent acts towards the Buddha.

Next, “Pāramitā – How a Puthujjana Becomes a Buddha”, ……