The Skull and the Turning Point of Vanisa’s Renunciation

Vanisa tapped skulls to predict rebirth, but upon meeting the Buddha, he realized his knowledge was incomplete. He then renounced the world and attained Arhatship.

The red sun was sinking behind distant trees, yet the scorching heat of India still pressed against the skin. Wind blew through the leaves, carrying the scent of decay and dry corpses. Vanisa walked barefoot into the Thi Lam forest. Beneath his feet, white human bones rolled about, clicking softly whenever his heels touched them. The silence around him was eerie, broken only by pale, ghostly shadows drifting between the dry trunks before dissolving into the gray twilight. In his hand, he held a small staff, its tip polished smooth from countless taps. Sweat beaded on his forehead, but his eyes shone with a strange confidence in the power he had possessed since childhood.

"Give me the skull of your loved one," he would say. "I will tap it and know exactly where they have gone."

Vanisa was a Brahmin with a unique talent that no teacher had given him, nor could anyone trace its lineage. Simply tapping a skull with his stick allowed him to hear the resonance and intuitively know if the deceased had been reborn in heaven, fallen into hell, become an animal, or returned to the human realm. At that time, belief in samsara (cycle of rebirth) had been deeply rooted in the Indian people for thousands of years. Anyone who lost a relative wanted to know their destination. Thus, other Brahmins took him everywhere, treating him as a holy figure to attract followers and revive the waning faith of their tradition. He traveled from village to village, and the crowds following him grew larger each day.

Yet deep within, Vanisa never asked himself: did I truly know everything? He kept tapping, kept speaking, and people kept believing, because no one could return from death to verify the truth. So he lived comfortably, wielding great influence, convinced that he was honest with what his ears heard and his intuition revealed.

One day, his group approached the forest where the Buddha was staying. Vanisa’s heart beat slightly faster as he entered the sacred ground, but he maintained the confident demeanor of one who held the secrets of life and death. A young Brahmin walking beside him, eyes full of reverence, asked, "Vanisa, do you really know where people are reborn just by tapping a skull? It seems like a fairy tale to me."

Vanisa patted his staff lightly. His hand trembled slightly with emotion, but he smiled confidently. "I tap, I listen, I know. I have never been wrong. Not once in my entire life has there been uncertainty."

The young man nodded, but a fleeting doubt stirred in Vanisa’s mind. There were times when the sound was vague, and he merely guessed based on instinct. However, since no one questioned him, he let it pass.

Standing before the Buddha, Vanisa joined his palms, bowed his head, and presented his case. "Venerable Sir, I have the ability to know where the dead are reborn by tapping their skulls. Please bear witness to this."

The Buddha sat in perfect stillness, looking at him with compassionate eyes, and then presented five skulls. Vanisa and his entire group were astonished. No one knew where the Buddha had obtained these human skulls in such a place, especially since one belonged to an Arhat—those who attain enlightenment usually leave behind relics after cremation, not complete skeletons. Yet the scriptures record that the Buddha offered five skulls and asked him to tap them.

Vanisa took his staff and tapped the first skull. Hearing a clear tone, he said, "This person was born in heaven."

The Buddha nodded. He tapped the second skull, hearing a dull sound, and said, "This person fell into hell."

Continuing, he identified those who became animals and those who returned to the human realm. When he reached the fifth skull—the one belonging to the Arhat—he tapped it again and again, tilting his head, listening intently. The echo repeated, but his mind remained empty. Cold sweat ran down his spine, and his hands shook violently. He tapped endlessly but could not speak. Finally, he looked up at the Buddha, his voice dry and cracked. "Venerable Sir, this skull... I do not know. I cannot determine where they went."

The Buddha spoke gently. "If you wish to know, you must renounce the world and practice. Without renunciation, you cannot fully understand."

Vanisa stood frozen. All his life, he had taken pride in his abilities, yet now, faced with five skulls, one had brought him to a standstill. The young Brahmin, who had been curious all along, saw this and asked, "What will you do now? Will you give up, or will you go forth?"

Vanisa turned to his companion, his eyes torn with conflict, and then said slowly, "I will renounce the world. This skull is too strange; I have never encountered anything like it in my life. I must learn until I understand completely."

Thus, he requested ordination under the guidance of the Buddha. Day after day, the Buddha instructed him to contemplate the body—to see impermanence (anicca), transience, and unreality. At first, Vanisa thought contemplating the body was too trivial a task. But the more he sat in meditation, the more clearly he perceived every sensation throughout his body and the rhythm of his breath entering and leaving. Gradually, the sense of self dissolved. Before long, he attained Arhatship. One afternoon, as golden sunlight filtered through the branches, he stepped out, seeing all things with clarity. The skulls of old were no longer mysteries: he knew exactly where all five individuals had gone, including the Arhat who had quietly passed away, free from further rebirth.

The group of Brahmins lingered nearby, waiting for results. They approached him and asked, "Vanisa, have you learned? Do you know about that strange skull?"

He smiled, his eyes serene. "I do not need to learn any more. Now I know everything. But not by tapping skulls. Take refuge in the Buddha and practice, friends."

From then on, Vanisa no longer carried his staff to tap skulls among the bones in the forest. He became a noble monk, composing more verses in the Verses of the Elder Monks than anyone else, advising people to live ethically and contemplate the impermanence of the body. His later words required no skepticism, for they sprang from true enlightenment, not from the vague echoes of a skull.

The Meaning of the Story

This story illustrates that even seemingly miraculous ordinary powers, such as predicting rebirth by tapping skulls, are merely vague intuitions incapable of penetrating the reality of birth and death. Only by renouncing the world, practicing contemplation of the body, seeing impermanence (anicca), and eradicating attachment to self can one truly attain enlightenment and understand the cycle of samsara (cycle of rebirth) as clearly as holding a mango in one’s palm. Vanisa’s initial honesty was the condition (dependent origination) that led him to the path; had he been deceitful, he could never have attained sainthood.

Compiled from the dharma talk by Venerable Thich Chan Quang