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When the Buddha was in Sravasti one day, he perceived that karmic conditions were ripe for Sunita, a member of the untouchable caste who worked as a night soil collector, to receive the Dharma. So he made his way to the city with a group of his disciples.
At that time, Sunita was just about to walk out of the city, carrying his buckets of excrement. When he saw the Buddha approaching from afar, a deep sense of respect arose in him. At the same time, feeling very low and abject in comparison, he quickly tried to get out of the way, darting into an alley nearby.
Unexpectedly, Sunita saw the Buddha approaching him again when he was getting out of the city later. Feeling nervous and anxious, he accidentally tipped over the buckets and their contents spilled all over him. At that moment, Sunita was very flustered and did not dare to look up at the Buddha. The Buddha went near him and asked, “Do you wish to become a monastic?”
Sunita could not believe what he had heard and responded, “The Buddha’s monastic disciples are all respectable nobles while I am but a lowly untouchable. How am I qualified to be a monastic?”
The Buddha replied, “Anyone who aspires to learn life’s truths is qualified to be my disciple, regardless of his wealth or status.”
Then, he asked Ananda to take Sunita to the river for a bath and then bring him back to their monastery in Sravasti.
Buddha Nature is Inherent in Everyone
After washing himself clean, Sunita came in front of the Buddha and prostrated before him. The Buddha then gave him teachings, and Sunita opened his mind and came to a deep realisation of the Dharma. He requested the Buddha to accept him as his monastic disciple, and the Buddha happily agreed.
Word about Sunita being ordained soon spread throughout Sravasti. As the caste system was deeply rooted in the local culture then, many people began expressing their displeasure when they heard that the Buddha had ordained a lowly untouchable as a monastic. Some were even worried that their homes would be polluted by the untouchable monk should he come by to ask for alms.
All their complaints soon reached the ears of King Prasenajit. Learning that his people were displeased with the Buddha’s new disciple, the king made a trip to Sravasti to visit the Buddha personally.
When the king arrived at the doorstep of the monastery, he saw a very dignified-looking monk sitting on a big rock outside. He approached him respectfully and requested to see the Buddha. Hearing that, the monk suddenly disappeared and then reappeared on the rock again, saying, “I’ve conveyed your request to the Buddha. You may go in now.”
King Prasenajit was very shocked by what he saw. When he went inside and saw the Buddha, he asked him who the dignified-looking monk sitting outside was, and how he came to acquire such remarkable supernatural powers.
The Buddha replied, “Your Majesty, that monk is none other than Sunita,” and he explained that all living beings are equal, and everyone has the same inherent Buddha nature. He added that regardless of the caste one was born in, one can take refuge in the Buddha and become a monastic as long as one has sincere aspirations to practise spiritual cultivation.
Master Cheng Yen told this story to explain the concept that the ultimate nature of everything is the same and that everyone is equal. Taking refuge in the Buddha is about starting to progress towards the stage of enlightened sages from the stage of mundane beings, and eventually transforming our mundane mind of ignorance to the pure, untainted mind of a sage.
Hence, we should seize the opportunity to work on transforming our minds and diligently cultivate ourselves in accordance with the Buddha’s guidance. When we take the Dharma to heart and constantly use the teachings to transform our minds, we can keep the wheel of Dharma turning continuously.
Extracted from Tzu Chi Monthly, Vol. 542
Translated by the Tzu Chi Singapore translation team
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