Hello everyone,
Does anyone know about the story where an animal is practicing skeleton meditation and can see skeletons?
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I remember reading about a parrot who was taught to consider that the body is just bones. And was said to have no fear when seized by an eagle.
A rare bird.
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Yes, I’m interested in that story. So does that mean animals can succeed in skeleton meditation too? If so, nobody has any excuse not to succeed in meditation. 
This same question was asked to Sujin Boriharnwanaket many years ago in Cambodia:
In this section Butsawong translates questions from the audience
and Sujin replies.ButSawong: there is a question about a parrot
that develops satipatthanna by reciting, Atthi, atthi (the
pali term
for bones) 3 . I would like to ask how rupa dhamma or nama
dhamma can be
the object of satipatthana in this way?Sujin: A parrot cannot know
the four noble Truths and nobody can know the mind of a parrot.If a parrot says, bones and a human being says the word bones, is
there a
difference between the ability of a bird and of a human being tounderstand the meaning of this word? What is a person thinking
who has
listened to the Dhamma for a long time and hears the word
bones does he
think in a way different from a parrot ?A parrot and a human being
have each a different bodily appearance. Is seeing-consciousnessdifferent in the case of a parrot and of a human being, or is it
the same? We can see that a parrot is different from a human being because of the bodily appearance. However, nama dhamma has no outward
appearance; there
are kusala cittas and akusala cittas which arise. Birth as a
bird is
the result of akusala whereas birth as a human is the result of
kusala.
We should consider the Dhamma in all details. When someone just
listens
to the words of the Dhamma without considering them he may
mistakenly believe that a parrot can develop satipathana. The parrot may
have accumulated inclinations which we cannot know; it is true that
the Bodhisatta who developed panna was also born as a bird in his
former lives. We do not know about this, we only know with regard to ourselves the realities which arise. We can find out that satipatthana is not
at all easy.We have to listen to the Dhamma for a long time so that there
can be
conditions for sati to be aware of a reality even at this very
moment.Nobody here can know the citta of someone else, and who would
have the kind of panna that knows the citta of a parrot? Thus, what we
would be able to know is our own citta at this moment and this is what is
most
beneficial. Then we shall know that even thinking of a parrot is
only one moment of citta that thinks. This is different from the citta
that sees or hears. This is the way to develop panna so that we correctly
understand the characteristic of n�ma dhamma, the element that
knows, that can
know an object through the eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue,
the
bodysense and the mind-door. Everybody here can only know his
own citta
and thus he should have more understanding of his own citta
If by “succeed” you meant “get to jhana”, then no. Animals cannot attain jhana or phala, since their patisandhi is not tihetuka
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Success for an animal could mean being reborn as a human or a deva. Examples:
- A frog was accidentally killed while listening to a discourse by the Buddha and was reborn as a deva.
- 500 bats lived in a cave inhabited by monks, disciples of Buddha Kassapa, and frequently heard recitations of the Abhidhamma. They were later reborn as humans during the dispensation of Buddha Gotama and became monks under the guidance of Ven. Sāriputta.
- A wife of Sakka was reborn as a heron. Sakka instructed her to practice the Five Precepts, and she stopped killing fish—eating only those she found already dead. As a result, she was reborn once again in Tāvatiṃsa, again as a wife of Sakka.
By “succeed”, I meant being able to at least get a nimitta or even up to access concentration in meditation. If a wise animal practices the six recollections such as Recollection of the Buddha, I think it’s possible for them to feel joy, calmness and fully visualize the Buddha’s appearance if they have seen it before.
In the story above(the one mentioned by Robert which I think is in the commentary to the Mahasatipatthana sutta if I remember correctly), I think the animal was able to see the skeleton of other beings so it may be proof that they can at least attain a nimitta.
Is there a reference, book and page?
Hello Venerable Sir, this is the one I was talking about.
Tatridaṃ vatthu – eko kira naṭako suvapotakaṃ gahetvā sikkhāpento vicarati. So bhikkhunupassayaṃ upanissāya vasitvā gamanakāle suvapotakaṃ pamussitvā gato. Taṃ sāmaṇeriyo gahetvā paṭijaggiṃsu. Buddharakkhito tissa nāmaṃ akaṃsu. Taṃ ekadivasaṃ purato nisinnaṃ disvā mahātherī āha – ‘‘buddharakkhitā’’ti. Kiṃ, ayyeti? Atthi te koci bhāvanāmanasikāroti? Natthi, ayyeti. Āvuso, pabbajitānaṃ santike vasantena nāma vissaṭṭhaattabhāvena bhavituṃ na vaṭṭati, kocideva manasikāro icchitabbo, tvaṃ pana aññaṃ na sakkhissasi, ‘‘aṭṭhi aṭṭhī’’ti sajjhāyaṃ karohīti. So theriyā ovāde ṭhatvā ‘‘aṭṭhi aṭṭhī’’ti sajjhāyanto carati.
Taṃ ekadivasaṃ pātova toraṇagge nisīditvā bālātapaṃ tapamānaṃ eko sakuṇo nakhapañjarena aggahesi. So ‘‘kiri kirī’’ti saddamakāsi. Sāmaṇeriyo sutvā ‘‘ayye buddharakkhito sakuṇena gahito, mocema na’’nti leḍḍuādīni gahetvā anubandhitvā mocesuṃ . Taṃ ānetvā purato ṭhapitaṃ therī āha – ‘‘buddharakkhita, sakuṇena gahitakāle kiṃ cintesī’’ti? Na, ayye, aññaṃ kiñci cintesiṃ, aṭṭhipuñjova aṭṭhipuñjaṃ gahetvā gacchati, katarasmiṃ ṭhāne vippakirissatīti, evaṃ ayye aṭṭhipuñjameva cintesinti. Sādhu, sādhu, buddharakkhita, anāgate bhavakkhayassa te paccayo bhavissatīti. Evaṃ tattha tiracchānagatāpi satipaṭṭhānamanasikārayuttā. Tasmā nesaṃ bhagavā satipaṭṭhānabuddhimeva janento idaṃ suttamabhāsi.
This is the translation by ChatGPT
There was once a dancer who raised a young parrot and trained it. One day, while staying near a nunnery, he forgot the parrot and left. The young novice nuns found the parrot, took care of it, and named it Buddharakkhita.
One day, a senior nun saw the parrot sitting in front of her and said, “Buddharakkhita!”
“Yes, venerable one?” replied the parrot.
“Do you practice any meditation?” she asked.
“No, venerable one.”
The nun then advised, “One who lives among renunciants should not live heedlessly. You should practice some kind of meditation. Since you may not be able to practice anything else, recite ‘Bones, bones!’”Following her advice, the parrot started reciting “Bones, bones!” as it moved around.
One day, as the parrot was sitting on the gateway basking in the morning sun, a hawk caught it in its claws. The parrot cried out, “Kiri! Kirī!” The young novice nuns heard the cry and exclaimed, “Oh no! Buddharakkhita has been caught by a bird. Let’s save him!” They chased after the hawk with sticks and stones, forcing it to release the parrot.
When they brought the parrot back, the senior nun asked, “Buddharakkhita, what were you thinking when the hawk caught you?”
“Nothing else, venerable one,” the parrot replied. “I only thought, ‘A pile of bones has grasped another pile of bones; where will these bones be scattered next?’ That was all I was thinking.”The nun praised him: “Well done, well done, Buddharakkhita! In the future, this will lead to the end of suffering for you.”
Thus, even animals in that land practiced mindfulness. Seeing this, the Blessed One delivered this discourse to develop wisdom among them.
Here, maybe the parrot only saw skeletons instead of beings so I think that could be the nimitta for skeleton meditation?
“Nothing else, venerable one,” the parrot replied. “I only thought, ‘A pile of bones has grasped another pile of bones; where will these bones be scattered next?’ That was all I was thinking.”
If the parrot really had no fear when it was seized, then I think it’s likely that it only saw skeletons instead of an actual eagle.
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It doesn’t seem to me that the parrot was actually seeing bones during the eagle attack. It appeared more like a firm thinking about the idea of “bones,” without self-referential notions like “I am going to die,” “my bones,” or “bones are my self.”
I believe he wouldn’t be able to attain jhānas since he was an animal. For a human in such circumstances, it might be possible such attainment. However, he seemed to be without fear, without remorse, without fixation on pleasant objects, and without the perspective of being annihilated at death. It is quite likely that this could lead him to a happy rebirth.
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