An Extraordinary Layman

Of all accomplishments known to man, avowedly the most difficult one is the attainment of noble Arahanthood; the total annulment of the lingering state of woe.   

The Buddha expressed poignantly in the Navabhikkhu Sutta that the high-water mark in wisdom cannot be reached with cursory and casual endeavour. It is for this reason that of the four groups that comprise the noble dispensation the vast majority who achieved the deathless state of Arahanthood were bhikkhus and bhikkhunis who renounced home life, and adopted avowed determination, unsurpassed resolve and unwavering concentration.   

Bhikkhuhood is likened to the open blue sky. In comparison, lay upasakas and upasikas have trudged on the endless samsaric path unable to reach the shore, held back by untold impediments and fetters, the weight of lay life called the boggy marsh. Many however were those who attained the first three stages of Nirvana. There exist rare exceptions to the rule though as they always do, and the one under discussion is one of four or five such extraordinary cases of sheer fascination where laymen reached the summit of freedom in spectacular manners.   

The rarity itself makes them awe-inspiring. Santhathi, a prominent minister under King Pasenadi, once quelled an uprising in the provinces and on his return to Savaththi the king rewarded him with the reign of his kingdom for seven days and also assigned him a woman well versed in dance and singing as was the custom with kings of yore. The minister, inebriated on all seven days and on the seventh, while proceeding to the bathing spot, While seated on an elephant he noticed the Buddha near the city’s main gate, bowed his head in respect and went along on his way. When the Blessed One wore a slight smile on his face Ananda Thera queried as he always did, for Buddhas never smile without reason. But He made a stunning pronouncement; the chief minister would be meeting Him that day adorned in all his regalia, listen to a verse of four lines and pass into parinirvana in the sky at a height of seven palmyra trees. On hearing the Blessed One’s incredulous utterance the skeptics grounded in dangerously wrong views (michcha ditthi) scoffed that the Buddha blabbers whatever comes to mouth and bragged He would be exposed of His perfidy and be mocked in public.   
That day around lunch time the woman began entertaining the minister with her repertoire of dance and music but soon fell dead with open mouth and eyes. Serious gastric complications arising from inadequate food in order to enhance her appearance for the sake of the minister had caused her death. Liquor consumed by the minister for seven days evaporated like bubbles of water on a hot plate - Attakatha. The same evening he approached the Blessed One in the company of an entire battalion and pleaded that none but He can extinguish his heartrending sorrow, therefore to please help him. A large crowd of believers as well as heretics had gathered by then.   
The Buddha replied the minister, “You have indeed come to the competent one to alleviate your sorrow and, the tears you have shed for her in past lives is greater than the water of the four oceans. A verse succinctly exquisite followed. Attaining Arahathood immediately upon the brief homily, chief minister Santhathi realised that his lifespan was at an end. He sought the Blessed One’s acknowledgement in confirmation. Buddha looked into his past and leaving no room for skeptics to be deceived by their own misconceptions, informed the chief minister to narrate his kamma not from the ground but from high above at a height of seven palmyrah trees for devotees to be inspired by their own meritorious deeds. He worshiped the Blessed One, rose to a height of a single tree, worshiped Him from there and descended. He worshiped the Blessed One’s feet again and reached an altitude of seven trees as told. He then began his moving narrative from a cross–legged position in the sky. “Ninety-one kalpas ago in Vipassi Buddha’s time, born to a family in the city of Bandhumathi I made people happy by proclaiming aloud in public the incomparable virtues of the Triple Gem.”   
While still in the sky the Arahant accessed the fire element (Thejo Dhatu) to attain parinirvana. Flames sprang from the body to consume his flesh and blood leaving behind residue resembling jasmine flowers. They fell on a white cloth spread out by the Buddha, whereupon He placed them in his bowl to be enshrined in stupas on the four main streets in the city. People worshiped them to gain merit. When a debate arose within the congregation of bhikkhus whether chief minister Santhathi who passed into parinirvana in his glistening attire in the air deserves to be called ‘samana’ or ‘brahmana’, the Blessed One declared “ Monks, my sons do deserve to be called samana” By way of sermon he further made the uniquely Revelational pronouncement “Adorned in dazzling ornaments and livery, free of foul conduct, equanimous, sans all defilement, placid, controlled in faculties and established in the path, chaste, with laid down clubs and bickering shunned , he verily is called a monk, a brahmana, a saint” . Many of those present attained states of Sovan etc.