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The eyes of ordinary people often see the mistakes or faults of others. For example, we may notice that a person has a bad temper and often wears a sullen look. We may also hear only unpleasant words spoken by others. For example, we may think that a person is rude and harsh as he often speaks words that hurt others. Hence, we often get into conflicts with people. If we could instead look within and reflect upon ourselves, and hear the voice in our heart, how would it be like?
If we act rashly without careful thinking, it may bring about obstacles and burdens for us life after life; even the Buddha had such experiences when he was living in this world. Among the numerous difficulties he encountered, there was one incident that he would never forget—being slandered by Sundari.
One always reaps what one has sown
Sundari was a courtesan during the Buddha’s time. When she heard that many men had turned to the Buddha and been ordained as his monastic followers, and some of them were even those whom she had loved and used to depend on, she felt very resentful towards the Buddha and his monastic community. Moreover, she was a follower of a different religion. As Buddhism thrived, other religions began to lose their popularity and decline. Thus, some of the followers of a different religion were always thinking about eliminating the Buddha’s monastic community. They came out with the idea of making use of Sundari’s beauty to tempt the monks in the community.
However, every monk strictly observed the precepts. Under the compassionate and wise guidance of the Buddha, no one had transgressed. Despite using all her coquettish tricks, she was unsuccessful in seducing any of the monks. In the end, she thought of an evil plot to malign the Buddha and his monks – faking pregnancy. She went around lamenting to people that her pregnancy was caused by one of the monks in the Buddha’s monastic community. Her motive for spreading the rumour was to make people believe that the monastic community was impure.
Word of the rumour soon spread around the city and even reached the palace. When the king learned about it, he thought that the matter was not a trivial one.
After some time, the followers of the other religion realised that Sundari could no longer fake her pregnancy, so they simply killed her and spread the rumour that a monk had murdered her due to hate. As the problem aggravated further, the king ordered his men to carry out a thorough investigation. Eventually, the truth was brought to light and the monks’ reputation was cleared.
After it came to light that the followers of the other religion were the ones who had maligned the monks, all those people who had played a part in spreading the rumour felt very remorseful, including the king himself. Thus, the king and his people came before the Buddha and repented to him.
“I don’t blame you. I only blame myself for having sown the karmic seed that led to this karmic retribution,” said the Buddha
“What karma connection did the Buddha have with this matter?” asked everyone.
The Buddha started telling the story about his karmic connection with Sundari in a past life:
“Eons ago, in a city, there was a courtesan who got connected with a merchant. They made an appointment to take a walk in the countryside together one day. At that time, there was a Pratyekabuddha doing spiritual cultivation in a hut there, and he happened to be out in the city on that day. The couple entered the hut by themselves and an argument broke out between them subsequently. The merchant cruelly stabbed the courtesan and killed her, before burying her body at a spot near the hut.
Sometime later, there was a rumour that the Pratyekabuddha had given rise to lustful thoughts after seeing the beauty of the courtesan, insulted her modesty, and then killed her. After the king heard the rumour, he ordered to have the Pratyekabuddha arrested, and then sentenced him to death.
When the merchant heard the news, he was full of remorse and his heart constantly felt troubled. Finally, his conscience awakened, and he decided to take responsibility for what he had done by confessing his crime. The king released the Pratyekabuddha after learning who the true killer was, and the merchant was thus executed.”
The Buddha added, “That courtesan was the current Sundari and the merchant was me in a past life. It was an evil karma of killing that I had committed when I was still a mundane being countless aeons ago. Because of that, Sundari and I met life after life, and whenever I had achieved some accomplishments, she would slander me. This is how one will always reap what one has sown.”
After everyone had heard the story, they started thinking about the slander and injustice that they were experiencing in their lives, and they became vigilant of their own thoughts and actions. As the Buddha manifested himself in the world, all that he had encountered is telling us this truth: we will definitely bear the karmic consequences of the karma that we have committed, be it good or evil.
Hence, whatever we experience or encounter in this life may be related to the karmic causes and conditions in our past lives. Therefore, we should all the more be careful with our words and actions.
Extracted from Tzu Chi Taiwan website
Translated by the Tzu Chi Singapore translation team
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