Chapter 2342 - 2339: Insights from Buddhist Sect Stories (3)

Chapter 2342: Chapter 2339: Insights from Buddhist Sect Stories (3)

Flying bowls in the sky!

Long ago, there were two hundred heavenly beings in the Heavenly Realm who wanted to engage in Cultivation, but unfortunately, they all wanted to take shortcuts. Due to mutual influence, everyone was afraid of the difficulties of the Buddhist path and unwilling to diligently cultivate the Bodhisattva Path, even saying:

’Why work so hard to learn the Bodhisattva Path? It’s better to learn the cultivation of an Arhat or Pratyeka-Buddha to realize enlightenment directly and enter Nirvana!’

Manjusri Bodhisattva knew this and thought: ’These heavenly beings actually have the potential to achieve the Bodhisattva Holy Path, but they want to shrink back out of fear of hardship. I must find a way to educate them, to strengthen their will in cultivation.’

Thinking of this, Manjusri Bodhisattva transformed into a Jialuo Yue walker, holding a bowl full of a hundred-flavor rice, and went to Brahma Heaven where the World-Honored One was teaching the Dharma.

He came before the Buddha, respectfully offered the bowl of a hundred-flavor rice to the Buddha, and, with joined palms, reverently said to the Buddha: ’World-Honored One, you should repay your kindness now.’

’What does this mean?’ Venerable Sariputra standing beside was curious to ask.

’You just watch from the side!’ Having said this, the Buddha threw the bowl down from Brahma Heaven. The bowl filled with a hundred-flavor rice floated over many Buddha Lands, drifting far and wide, until it finally stopped at a Buddha Land called Hui Asha.

The Buddha of Hui Asha Buddha Land was called Light King, and his attendants saw a bowl stop in the air and asked in surprise:

’What’s the meaning of this?’

The Light King Buddha replied: ’This bowl floated over from Shakyamuni Buddha in Brahma Heaven, with the intent to save those who are not firm in learning the Bodhisattva Path and wish to retreat.’

The attendants, upon hearing the words of the Light King Buddha, felt their faith in the Buddhist path strengthen.

After the bowl fell from Brahma Heaven, it disappeared. After a while, the Buddha said to Sariputra:

’You go and retrieve the bowl!’

Sariputra used his wisdom and divine power to search, but found it nowhere and could only return discouraged, saying to the Buddha:

’World-Honored One, I couldn’t find the bowl.’

The Buddha turned to Mogallana and said: ’You go and retrieve the bowl!’

Mogallana immediately flew with Divine Power to search in all Buddha Lands, but after a while, he returned disheartened as well.

The World-Honored One sent five hundred Arhats to search, but they too couldn’t find it.

Maitreya Bodhisattva, seeing countless Arhats unable to retrieve the bowl, volunteered himself but returned empty-handed as well.

The Buddha looked at Manjusri Bodhisattva and said: ’It’s time for you to go.’

Manjusri Bodhisattva remained seated, entering Sanmei, and with his right hand pointing to the ground, traveled through all Buddha Lands. People clearly saw on Manjusri Bodhisattva’s arms, billions of lights and billions of lotus flowers, each flower holding a Bodhisattva, and everyone couldn’t help but praise the virtues of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas.

At this point, the World-Honored One released Divine Power light, illuminating the entire Human World and all Buddha Lands by the Ganges River.

All heavenly beings who saw the Buddha Light attained Sanmei, and developed immeasurable faith in the Buddhist path.

At this moment, Manjusri Bodhisattva saw the bowl, immediately grabbed it with his right hand, and returned to Brahma Heaven accompanied by countless Bodhisattvas, presenting the rice bowl to the Buddha.

The World-Honored One spoke to Sariputra: ’Sariputra, let me tell you a story from countless kalpas ago:

In the past, Manjusri Bodhisattva was a monk named Huiwang who followed a Buddha named Courageous Cannot Be Defeated in cultivation. Once, Huiwang monk carried a bowl into a city, and after receiving a bowl of hundred-flavor rice, he began to leave the city.

A Venerable’s son named Ligou King was there. Ligou King’s nurse was holding him at the city gate when he saw the monk carrying the hundred-flavor rice approaching from afar and ran down from the nurse’s arms, chasing after the monk for the rice.

"Monk, monk, give me some of that hundred-flavor rice to eat." Ligou King called chasing after him.

Huiwang monk immediately took out a sweet cake for him to eat.

"So sweet, so fragrant, so delicious!" Ligou King said as he ate, following Huiwang monk, eventually reaching the Buddha retreat of Courageous Cannot Be Defeated, and after bowing to the Buddha, sat beside him.

"Child, take this bowl of rice to offer to the Buddha." Huiwang monk said.

King Ligou followed his instructions. The Buddha Yung Monengsheng received the meal of a hundred flavors and began to eat. Even after he was full, the bowl remained overflowing with food, as if untouched.

The Buddha distributed this bowl of a hundred-flavored meal to eighty-four thousand monks and twelve thousand Bodhisattvas, and each was satisfied, yet the bowl remained full.

King Ligou was overjoyed as he witnessed this and said, "Great World-Honored One, this is truly marvelous!" He then followed the monk Huiwang and accepted the Five Precepts, initiating his supreme Bodhi mind.

After King Ligou followed the monk Huiwang, his nurse cried and chased after him for half a day but could not catch up, so she hurried back to inform his parents. The parents of King Ligou followed the path to where the Buddha was, respectfully bowed, and said to the Buddha:

"Noble World-Honored One, your disciple is fortunate to have seen your compassionate presence and received your grace. My son is safe and sound."

King Ligou, upon seeing his parents, joyfully said, "Father! Mother! I have now acquired the Bodhisattva Dharma, and I wish to leave home and follow the Buddha to become a monk."

His parents, upon hearing this, were delighted and said, ’Son! We also wish to follow you into the Path."

The Buddha, upon saying this, paused for a moment, then continued to address the people: "The monk Huiwang is now Manjusri Bodhisattva, and that young boy King Ligou is me. Long ago, in countless Buddha Lands, innumerable Buddhas like us have pursued the path of cultivation due to the teachings and merits of Manjusri Bodhisattva. Indeed, we have all benefited from Manjusri Bodhisattva’s grace!

Karmic deeds are hard to erase, the Arhat suffers misfortune!

The poem says:

"Due to past slanders against the sages, Li Yue paid dearly with countless karmic debts;

With malice and harsh words, he invited woes, beware of forming harmful karma among monks.

Punishment in the three paths of suffering is hard to extinguish, repaying debts in future lives with an increase in interests;

Now, having attained the fruit of Arhatship, his karmic retribution lasted twelve years."

In the past, in Jibin Country of North India, there was a renowned Saint named Li Yue, who from a young age saw through the impermanence, emptiness, and selflessness of life, and thus renounced the world to learn the Tao, residing in a mountain cave in deep forest for years, diligently practicing asceticism. Before long, he attained the six spiritual powers of great freedom of the Arhat path.

After Li Yue became enlightened, he continued his mountain practices. As a result, many individuals, far and wide, who cherished cultivation, entered the mountains to become his disciples. He used his divine skills to observe the inherent abilities of his disciples, providing tailored guidance. Hundreds of disciples, under his guidance, each attained the Arhat path. After attaining enlightenment, the disciples spread across different lands to preach and benefit others. Eventually, only the old Arhat remained alone in the mountains to practice.

One day, the old Arhat Li Yue, during a moment of leisure, tidied up the cave. He noticed his patchwork monk robe had faded to a pale color and wanted to dye it grey again. So, he searched the mountains for plant roots and tree barks that could serve as dye materials. He placed the monk robe in a pot, ignited a fierce fire, and started boiling.

As the old Arhat stirred the pot with a willow branch, he discovered, to his amazement, that the patchwork monk robe had turned into cowhide; the plant roots and tree barks had turned into beef, and the dye water had become blood-red with a strong smell of beef. The old Arhat exclaimed with alarm: "My karmic obstacles have arrived! The law of cause and effect is truly unfathomable; no one can escape the consequences of deeds arising from hurtful words and malicious intent. Behold, instant retribution approaches."

At this moment, a rough farmer rushed in loudly exclaiming: "Hey! Monk, you’ve gone on a killing spree today; after slaying many wild boars and goats, you even slaughtered my ox. I just led my ox to the edge of the mountain this morning to graze, but soon lost sight of it. After searching everywhere, I found you—this monk—had stolen it and killed it."

The farmer took all the evidence from the pot and angrily forced the old Arhat Li Yue to see the King. In ancient times, matters were simple, without courts or judges. When the people faced disputes, they sought the King’s judgment. King of Jibin asked the farmer what had happened, and the farmer related the events to the King. The King then asked Li Yue if he had anything to say. The old Arhat replied to the King: "Your Majesty! This is my karmic retribution, so this poor monk has nothing to say."

The King said, "Since the accused does not defend himself, and the evidence is unmistakable, the charge of theft is irrefutable. A monk violating the precepts against killing and committing theft violates the fundamental precepts of Buddhism. Both in precepts and in law, this is unforgivable!" Thus, the Arhat Li Yue was sentenced to twelve years of imprisonment.

Twelve years amounted to a total of four thousand three hundred and eighty days. During his imprisonment, apart from practicing the Buddhist Law, the old Arhat Li Yue also took care of maintaining cleanliness, sweeping toilets, and never lying down to rest at night, sitting upright instead. His compassion and forbearance earned high praises and admiration from the prison officers and guards.

On the day his sentence ended, past disciples who had achieved enlightenment under his guidance in the mountains were all simultaneously drawn to think of their master. These hundreds of Arhats utilized their divine powers to observe and understood that their revered master was wrongfully imprisoned for twelve years. Each one, through their divine powers, flew to the royal palace, and in the air, thundered the heavenly drums to demand justice for their master, rebuking the King for negligence and being misled by the farmer’s slander, causing their saintly teacher’s wrongful imprisonment for twelve years.

The King was greatly terrified and personally went to the prison to release him, confessing and repenting for his momentary oversight. Upon stepping out of the prison gates, the old Arhat Li Yue immediately flew into the sky, radiating great light and manifesting various divine transformations. Instantly, infinite incarnations manifested, then merged into a grand form filling the void; suddenly transforming the void into a vast ocean, then into a great fire, wherein he meditated within the blazing fire; then suddenly, the fire ceased and a mountain appeared, moving freely in and out of the rocks, demonstrating his divine skills.

At this time, the hundreds of Arhats intended to chastise the King for his lack of discernment, but the old Arhat forbade them, saying: "Do not be disrespectful to the King; this is my karmic retribution and no one else should be blamed." The old Arhat Venerable Li Yue then narrated to everyone the karmic cause he had sown in a previous life: "I was once born as a farmer in a past life. One day, I lost an ox, searched the mountain, and saw a recluse meditating in a cave. I mistakenly assumed he concealed the ox since there was no one else in the mountains. I acted with malice and harsh words, disturbing him for twelve hours, intending to drive him from the mountain and turn him over to the King for imprisonment. I sowed seeds of trouble for twelve hours, resulting in a twelve-year karmic prison sentence in this life. It’s like borrowing money and accumulating interest—the longer the period, the greater the interest. The additional interest on my current life’s retribution multiplies by eight thousand times my original sin. Sincerely cultivating goodness and performing meritorious deeds bring manifold blessings; malicious speech and conjuring conflicts can likewise yield manifold retributions. Even the slightest misstep can lead to immense and boundless suffering!"

The poem says:

"The eradication of the karma of words increases by the day, one cause leading to ten thousand effects endlessly passes;

The ignorant common people’s hearts are deluded, repaying debts is too late, none can fulfill."

Note:

(1) Committing the karma of words by slandering monks and nuns, just speaking or writing against them, will inevitably result in immeasurable severe suffering in the future. This kind of singular verbal karma can result in the ’exorbitant interest’ of exponentially multiplied pain. Let us not accrue such debts from others.

(2) The most easily committed offenses are verbal. The mouth can create karma as significant as mountains, yet foolish mortals among the common people treat grievous verbal karma as entertainment. Even those who believe and learn Buddhism can fall into this, isn’t this the utmost folly!

(3) The karma of words is the gravest evil among the ten evil deeds; its severity is unsurpassed. Numerous Buddhist Sutras state that the consequences of verbal karma are severe. Those who have committed verbal offenses against the Three Jewels—Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha—should urgently repent to them, or else the retributive karma will bring endless suffering.