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One day, during the Buddha’s era, King Prasenajit of Sravasti was with his royal
consort, Queen Mallika, at a pavilion, where he asked her: “What type of person (do you think) is the most lovable in this world?”
His wife replied, “(We ourselves) are the most lovable.”
King Prasenajit pondered for a while and thought her answer to be reasonable.
However, this question continued to linger in his mind, and he thought to himself: “My wife said that (we ourselves) are the most lovable people, but is that true?”
After pondering over the question for many days, he was still unable to arrive at a definitive conclusion.
At that time, the Buddha happened to be staying in Jetavana Vihara in Sravasti, so King Prasenajit decided to pay him a visit to seek his opinion.
Having reached his destination, King Prasenajit prostrated himself respectfully before the Buddha.
“What brings you here today, my King?” asked the Buddha.
King Prasenajit said, “I have a question in my heart that is troubling me. May I seek your opinion about it?”
The Buddha replied, “Of course, you may!”
Thus, King Prasenajit asked, “What type of person truly has self-love and is lovable as well?”
But the Buddha asked him in return: “What do you think?”
King Prasenajit replied, “In my opinion, a truly self-loving and lovable person is someone who speaks kind words, does good deeds and harbours good thoughts. If I could speak kind words, do good, and treat people with kindness, I believe that others would likewise do the same to me and love me.”
"On the other hand, if I spoke harsh words, and engages in evil deeds and thoughts towards others, I think others would respond to me similarly with harsh words. Then, I would be bringing disgrace upon myself. If other people dislike me, how can I find myself likeable?”
The way others treat you based on their perception of you is the karma that you reap.”
Hearing the King’s reasoning, the Buddha nodded with a smile. He said to him joyfully, "Truth and wisdom are in your words. Relationships between people are reciprocal in nature. When you treat others with kind intentions and words, you are sowing good karmic seeds. The way others treat you based on their perception of you is the karma that you reap. If you treat others unkindly and insult them, then you will definitely (experience unpleasant treatment from others in return). As are the karmic causes and conditions, so are the resulting consequences and retributions. All the various karmic causes and effects are formed due to our attitudes and actions in our daily lives.”
The Buddha further said that in order to accumulate positive karmic conditions, we must seize the time to do good deeds and (not waste time). (Doing good deeds is a race against time). If we are able to make use of our time to accumulate positive karmic seeds, we will naturally be rewarded with infinite positive outcomes in the future. This is the Truth!
Extracted from Tzu Chi Taiwan’s newsletter, Issue 264
Translated by the Tzu Chi Singapore translation team
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