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Since beginningless time, mundane beings have been confused and lost, and leading a distorted life due to their ignorance and bad habitual tendencies. The purpose of spiritual cultivation is to eradicate ignorance and return to our pure, innate nature.
Our negative habitual tendencies can be corrected if we work mindfully to change them now. If we don't do that, it will be even harder to get rid of all our bad habits accumulated from the past to the present. We are all living in such a good environment, so we should aspire to practise spiritual cultivation diligently and remind ourselves to mindfully work to eradicate our bad habitual tendencies. Only by doing so are we practising spiritual cultivation in the right direction.
During the Buddha’s time, he had many disciples with stubborn habits, too. To encourage us to work hard to eliminate our bad habits, the Buddha once said, “The reason why we need to mindfully practise spiritual cultivation is because we have yet to eradicate our bad habits. If all your bad habits had been eradicated, you would have already become enlightened.”
The Bhikkhu who lies habitually
When the Buddha was expounding the Dharma on both sides of the Ganges River, there were many people who left home to become his monastic disciples. At that time, there was a monk in the Buddha’s monastic community with a pleasant disposition. However, he was fond of telling lies. He would usually behave very well in front of dominant senior members, but when he was among ordinary folks, he would lie to them. Word about that soon spread to the monastic community, and the other monks felt embarrassed that there was such a person within their pure, spiritual community.
When the Buddha found out about that, he asked someone to bring the Bhikkhu to him. The Buddha then asked the Bhikkhu, "Is it true that you often go around deceiving people?"
The Bhikku felt ashamed of himself and said, "I know that this is wrong, but I would only realise that I was wrong after doing it. I really want to change my bad habit, but don’t know how. So I feel tormented."
The Buddha said, "Actually, you also behaved this way in your past life!"
Then, all the other monks came forth to listen to the Buddha as he began to tell the past life story of the Bhikkhu.
A little bear lies to the rats in order to eat them
Countless aeons ago, there lived a group of mountain rats who were led by a Rat King. They roamed freely in the forest, living a free and easy life. One day, a little bear suddenly appeared in the forest. When the bear saw the mountain rats, he thought, "If I could live among this group of mountain rats, I would be able to live a care-free life! These rodents are all going to become my delicacies."
Harbouring an ulterior motive, the bear told the Rat King, "I am so envious that you rats get along so well together. I hope to become part of your community."
The Rat King thought that the bear was a loving and peaceful animal despite being a different species, and that it would be a good thing if the rats and the bear could live together peacefully. Thus, he happily hosted the bear in the rat community.
The bear went out with the mountain rats every day, and he always walked last in the line while the Rat King led everyone in front. When the bear saw that the other rats were not paying attention, he would catch the last three rats and eat them.
As time passed by, the number of mountain rats continued to shrink and this sent confusion to the rest of the rats. The Rat King was puzzled by the situation too, and thought, “Why do our rats keep reducing in number?”
He then started making careful observations.
One day, the Rat King led the group at the front as usual. In the middle of the journey, he quickly sneaked to the back to take a look and arrived just in time to see the bear catching a mountain rat and swallowing it. Although the Rat King felt very sad, he remained silent.
Later, he secretly told the other rats that all the missing rats were eaten up by the bear and exhorted everyone to unite together to get rid of the latter.
The next day, the Rat King still took the rats out as usual. As soon as he walked out of the burrow, the Rat King ordered all the other rats to turn back and attack the bear. Some of them bit the bear’s ears, some bit his eyes, some bit his neck etc. Although the bear was strong, he could not defend himself against the siege of the rats.
The need to cultivate the mind, body and speech
“The bear eventually succumbed to the attack of the mountain rats," said the Buddha, as he finished telling the story.
Then, the Buddha said to the monks, "The little bear at that time is this Bhikkhu. In his past life, he already had the habit of telling lies. In the presence of those who were accomplished, he would appear very diligent and outstanding. When he mixed with ordinary people, he would show his deceptive side."
The Bhikku was full of remorse after hearing what the Buddha had said. He understood that if he did not change his habit of lying, he would carry the same habit to his future lifetimes. He said to the Buddha, "I will start correcting myself from now on. Please give me a chance. All my fellow brothers (in the monastic community), (please support me as I work to change my habit)."
The Buddha compassionately said, “We should support one another in our spiritual cultivation. Apart from this Bhikku’s will to correct himself, he also requires the attention and help of everyone. (Let us all give him our support.)”
Thus, the Bhikku was forgiven by the rest of the monks, and they were all ready to help him overcome his bad habit.
In fact, every one of us has some ignorance and bad habits. Those who wish to cultivate spiritually must have the determination to restore their pure, innate nature. Only then will we work hard in our spiritual practice and have the courage and perseverance to overcome difficulties. Our negative habits often surface unwittingly, therefore, we must be mindful of our thoughts, speech, and actions at all times.
We are all blessed to be born as human beings and to live in such a prosperous society. Hence, we should all the more seize the opportunity to cultivate spiritually. Life is impermanent; please be mindful always!
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