(Photo source: Pexels)
Our inner mind is usually serene, pure and clear when we are in a still and quiet environment. At this moment, when we contemplate the right direction of life while living an orderly life, it would be easier for us to realise the principles of life.
On the contrary, when our surroundings are noisy and chaotic and we are living a hectic life, we would easily become vexed over people, matters and situations if our minds are not firm and stable enough. When the situation changes (adversely), we will feel troubled, and afflictions will arise in our minds. Inevitably, we will make mistakes, time and again.
Within the Buddha’s monastic group, there were still some whose minds were easily swayed by external situations and circumstances. There was a young Bhikkhuni who had vowed to join the Buddha’s monastic group to (devote her life to spiritual cultivation), but she still had the habitual tendency to be greedy. Although she was aware that while engaging in spiritual cultivation, she had to break free from greedy desires and keep a pure mind and body, it was difficult for her to control herself sometimes.
Once, this Bhikkhuni went seeking alms alone and entered a village with abundant resources. She was respectfully served a sumptuous and exquisite meal as an offering to the sangha by the villagers, and this made her very happy. On the way back to her ashram, she could not help but wonder, “If I let other people know about this village, then everyone would come to the village to seek alms. Even if the villagers are rich and generous, they may become overburdened and be unable to offer sumptuous food (as a result). I have to think of a way to hide this from everyone.”
Thus, she announced to all the other monastics at the ashram: "Everyone, I heard a piece of news about a village with violent cattle, elephants, sheep and dogs. Any stranger who breaks into the village would be chased after and attacked by these ferocious animals. So please do not go into that village as it is too dangerous!”
Everyone took her words seriously, and no one dared to enter the village she spoke of.
However, in actual fact, this Bhikkhuni went to the village every day to enjoy the nice fare alone. Everything went well until one day, as she entered the village, a dog with rabies suddenly appeared and bit her. The bite was so hard that it broke her leg bone.
The villagers quickly chased the dog away and then stopped her bleeding and bandaged her wound before sending her back to the ashram. While at the ashram, the villagers told the other monastics: "This spiritual cultivator came to seek for alms at our village every day. We don't know why she got bitten by a dog today; please take good care of her."
It was then that everyone discovered the truth and began talking about what had happened among themselves. It didn’t take long for the news to reach the Buddha’s ears. The Buddha said to his monastic group:
"All of you are my disciples. Since you have vowed to cultivate purity of body and mind, you must pay attention to your actions, speech and thoughts and practise truthfully and honestly. You must keep a true and honest heart, and your speech must be honest and truthful. There are three vices of bodily conduct—killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct, and four vices of speech, namely using abusive words, propagating falsehoods, speaking with sweet but empty words, and bearing tales.
The mind can also harbour negative thoughts of greed, anger and ignorance. Among these ten types of bad karma, the mouth alone can commit four vices, hence, guarding our speech with care and caution is very important as we cultivate our mind and body. Although the Bhikkhuni had vowed to cultivate spiritually, she failed to guard and cultivate her speech due to the greed in her heart. This is her negative habitual tendency. She had behaved this way in her past lives, too."
Karmic Law of Cause and Effect
The Buddha then told the monastics a past life story of the Bhikkhuni:
Infinite aeons ago, there was a flock of birds that lived in the woods near Vulture Peak. As the season changed, the king of birds led the flock southwards. On their way, they encountered a merchant with a fleet filled with cargo.
One of the birds discovered that beans and grains were leaking from one of the cargo sacks and thought, "I have to quickly go and pick up the grains, but if I were to fly there now, many of the other birds would follow me and vie for the food."
So, the bird waited for an opportunity to take action.
When the flock of birds stopped for a rest, this particular bird said to everyone: "I saw a lot of ferocious beasts and terrible human beings on land while we were flying just now. We must never turn back and return to that area."
The birds believed what they heard, and this bird took the opportunity to leave the flock and flew back to eat the grains and beans scattered along the way. When it was enjoying the food happily, a carriage happened to speed towards its direction. Thus, it was run over by that carriage and died on the spot. That bird is the present Bhikkhuni.
In learning Buddhism, we must have purity of speech, body and mind. The hardest part of spiritual cultivation is when our minds are swayed by changes in external conditions and situations, as it is easy for us to be influenced by the outside world.
Therefore, we should maintain inner peace and purity in the face of any conditions or situations, and (maintain a tranquil mind). Otherwise, our minds may become slack and scattered, and we would start committing wrongs and end up feeling regret.
Source: Tzu Chi Taiwan website
Translated by the Tzu Chi Singapore translation team
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