Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: The Nine Ordeals Part 2(九惱二)
Ordinary people have many afflictions. It is not only ordinary people, the Buddha also had Nine Ordeals because even after He attained enlightenment, His karmic retribution was not yet exhausted. The Buddha’s path to attaining enlightenment was full of difficulties from many sources: nature, people, things, the basic necessities of life, etc. This was His first ordeal. In His six years of ascetic practice, He faced many hardships from things, from people, and in daily life, etc.
The second OF Buddha’s Nine Ordeals: Slander by Sundari.
The second Ordeal came from a noblewoman named Sundari. She slandered the Buddha and His group of monks. Her lies caused the Buddha many afflictions and obstacles. When the Buddha lived in the Jetavana Monastery, He gathered a group of monks for spiritual practice. At that time in India, not long after He attained enlightenment, many people were willing to receive His teachings. Kings, ministers, gentlemen and ladies of society all truly admired and took refuge with Him and accepted His teachings.
But there were still other religions. During the Buddha’s lifetime in India, there was a complicated assortment of religions. Followers of other religions grew jealous.
Sundari spread vicious slander against the Buddha. Because she did not earn His respect, she started rumors to slander Him. What causes and conditions led to this? “Sutra on Causes and Conditions”
A Brahman woman, a follower of one of the other religions, pretended to be pregnant by tying a gourd ladle around her waist. Walking around the city, she told everyone, “Sakyamuni Buddha’s disciples are impure. Gautama, the Buddha, expounds His teachings and claims His teachings are superior and will eliminate afflictions and desires. But that’s false and I am proof. See, I’m about to give birth because of a man from Gautama’s monastic community. Now he ignores me, so I have been abandoned.” With these words she slandered them everywhere.
The whole city became suspicious of Buddha’s monastic community and began gossiping about it. When the king heard this news, he came to the Buddha and rebuked him. “Did someone in your monastic community do this?” The Buddha did not answer. The king looked at the monks for an answer. The monks saw that the Buddha did not respond, so none of them responded either. All of a sudden they heard the sound of Sundari yelling and screaming insanely outside. As she flailed about, the ladle she had tied around her waist loosened and fell off exposing her evil plans. When the ladle fell off, the woman suddenly went silent. Everyone was silent. Sundari then repented openly and said, “I felt the Buddha’s teaching was so universally received, and I was jealous, so I came to slander the Buddha and His monks.”
When the king saw this, he asked, “Buddha, you already knew that your monastic community was innocent, is that why you make no arguments?”
With a smile, the Buddha shook His head and said, “Cause and effect is terrifying. When Retribution manifests we suffer the worst afflictions.”
The king then asked, “Buddha, what karmic causes led to this? Buddha, please give us a teaching.”
So the Buddha told a story. Many kalpas ago, in the city of Varanasi, there was a gambler named Pure-Vision, who loafed around. There was also a prostitute whose name was Doe-Face. Pure-Vision and Doe-Face knew each other. He had impure intentions, and enticed her to leave the city with him. A cart took them to a remote, mountainous area. In a garden in the forest, they took pleasure in each other and committed immoral acts. But in the garden lived a spiritual practitioner, one who had achieved the status of Pratyekabuddha. As part of his spiritual practice, he went out and begged for food every day. While he was begging in the city, this couple was in the garden having a good time. What happened next? Pure-Vision killed Doe-Face. What did he do next? He was very scared, so he dragged her corpse to the Partyekabuddha’s place of cultivation. He dug a hole right outside of it and buried her. After that, Pure-Vision felt extremely uneasy and left.
When people discovered the body in the Pratyekabuddha’s place of practice, they assumed he was the culprit. So the king pronounced him guilty and sentenced him to death. After Pure-Vision did this, he continued feeling very remorseful. Knowing that people in the city were falsely vilifying this pure cultivator, who was even sentenced to death by the king, Pure-Vision felt regretful; and his regret made him miserable. He decided to step forward and admit his guilt. So the truth came to light. The king released the Pratyekabuddha and apologized to him. He sentenced Pure-Vision to death and the case was resolved.
The Buddha told this story to the king and then asked him, “Your majesty, did you know? I, Sakyamuni, was Pure-Vision in a previous life and Doe-Face was the present Sundari. There are causes and conditions. Since then, although ages have passed, karmic retribution has followed me continually. Now, eons later, I’ve attained Buddhahood. This age-old karmic retribution has followed me through many lifetimes, constantly causing me afflictions, up until now. This was the last of it. Although I have attained Buddhahood, I am still subject to retribution.” Even after the Buddha attained enlightenment, he still encountered this type of incident while living in a pure monastic community. So no matter how loud Sundari was, or how she slandered him, the Buddha remained silent because He knew this was unresolved karmic retribution. He stayed silent and made no response.
The Buddha told the king, “The issue has been resolved in front of everyone. Facts speak louder than words.” The king heard this and said to the Buddha, “Karmic retribution is truly frightening!” The Buddha told the king, “Yes! Who is innocent in the world? Who has never done wrong? Everyone commits wrongs and makes mistakes. Even in my previous lives, I, too, was very ignorant and created bad karma. So although for innumerable Kalpas, I have vowed to practice, karma still followed me continuously, like a shadow following me wherever I go.” Whenever we go, our shadows are there, as is caused and effect.
The Buddha reminded all His disciples that the Law of Karma is the best indicator of how everyone is practicing. In our daily lives, every thought, every word, and every action creates causes. Once causes are sown, people and thing become conditions. When there are causes and conditions, karmic retribution will entangle us without cease.
In our daily lives, every thought, word and action is a cause. Once we sow the causes, we will reap the retributions.
Everyone, we are now practicing. Our daily lives are inseparable from people and things. These are our surrounding conditions. Every day we face our thoughts. What thoughts will arise? If a good thought arise, we can create a good affinity. If we have the opportunity to speak, teach, and eliminate others’ afflictions, we create blessed karma, which is a blessing. As we eliminate others; afflictions, we increase our blessings and create positive affinities. If someone is in pain, and we make our best efforts to help them and lighten their burden and difficulty, then we have created good affinities. Good and blessed affinities come from people, things, and our actions. Our actions arise from our minds.
So in our daily lives, when we face people and matters, if we constantly think good thoughts, say good words and do good deeds, then we have some insurance against evil karma following and entangling us. Not only will this prevent karmic entanglements in our future lives, it will provide supportive conditions. No matter what we do, we will be supported by good causes and conditions that help complete our cultivation. So spiritual practice takes place in our daily life. Dharma must be realized in our living. Be Bodhisattvas in this world, this is what I have always said. So, we always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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