During the Buddha’s time, there was a rich man with immense wealth who was very greedy. He always reminded his son to carefully safeguard their family fortune and not to waste their wealth on people unrelated to them, as it wasn’t easy for him to earn all that money. The rich man even instructed his guard not to let a beggar go near his house, should one happen to pass by. And if anyone he knew came to ask for help, he would cut off all ties with that person.
As the years slipped by, the rich man passed on.
Not far from the rich man’s home, there lived a poor family. Both husband and wife were blind, and the wife was soon to give birth. The husband told his wife resignedly: “We are so poor and I don’t even have enough to feed myself. Now that you are pregnant, how would I have the means to feed this child? That being the case, you’d be better off seeking your own living!”
His wife had no choice but to leave their home and beg for a living till the child was born. Unfortunately, the child was also born blind. Both mother and son made their home in a cave, and the mother would go out during the day to beg for food.
Time passed by, and when the son reached seven years of age, he would often accompany his mother on her begging rounds. One day, his mother took ill and told her son, “Today I cannot go out with you. You just have to beg in the same manner I normally do. Besides filling your stomach, don’t forget that I’m here waiting for you to bring some food back.”
The little beggar boy dutifully set forth. He arrived at the residence of the rich man and sneaked in when the guard was not looking. At that moment, the rich man’s son happened to see the beggar boy in his compound; he flew into a rage and scolded his guard severely. Unhappy at being scolded, the guard then dragged the boy outside and thrashed him mercilessly with a stick.
After the beating, the poor beggar boy was all bloody and bruised, lying on the ground, barely even breathing. A passerby saw the pitiful state of the boy and quickly went to inform his mother, who rushed down even though she was not well. Upon seeing the state her son was in, she stroked his battered body and cried bitterly. This drew a crowd of onlookers around her.
One reaps what one sows
At that moment, the Buddha happened to pass by. Seeing the mother cradling her injured son, the Buddha stretched out his hand and gently stroked the boy’s eyes. When the boy opened his eyes, he found that he could actually vaguely perceive his surroundings.
The Buddha asked the boy: “Do you remember this place?” The boy found his surroundings very familiar and said, “This is my home!” His words came out in a rush.
The Buddha acknowledged the boy’s words and told him that this was where he used to stay in his previous life. The Buddha then asked the boy if he could remember his status in the household. As the boy recalled memories of his previous life, he replied with emotion, “I was the owner of this house in my past life!”
As they were talking, the rich man’s son came out of the house, and the Buddha told him that he was a very unfilial son. Baffled, the rich man’s son replied that this could not be the case as his father had been dead for seven years.
The Buddha then said, “Not only are you unfilial, but you are also an extremely miserly person. Look at this boy. Do you know who he is?”
“I do not know him,” replied the rich man’s son.
The Buddha continued: “He is none other than your father. Seven years ago, he passed away with a heart full of greed and miserliness. Therefore he has taken rebirth in a poor family and has to suffer the resulting karmic retribution. As for you, not only did you refuse to show him any generosity, you even got him beaten up. Think about it, is this not being unfilial?”
As the rich man’s son contemplated what the Buddha had said, he seemed to realise that indeed, the negative karma his father had committed in his past life had brought about his painful retribution now ─ it was truly frightening!
(From this story, we learn that) in life, we do not have true ownership of our material possessions. When we leave this world, we can bring nothing with us but our karma. We must always remember that whatever we sow, we shall reap. Hence, we must stop all our wrongful thoughts and actions, and prevent them from arising again. If we have erred, we should repent in a timely manner or it will be too late for regrets when our karmic retribution manifests.
Extracted from “Tan Gu Shuo Jin”《谈古说今》, a compilation of stories told by Master Cheng Yen
Translated by the Tzu Chi Singapore translation team
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