Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: The Nine Ordeals Part 9(九惱九)
Where does Dharma-joy come from? Dharma-joy comes from our daily living. In our lives, we always face people, matters and things. When learning Buddha-Dharma, we often hear that we should be understanding, content and grateful while dealing with people and things.
Most importantly, we must be accommodating. If we keep these four teachings as part of our minds, then no matter what we encounter, whether it be afflictive or pure, we can transform our afflictions into Bodhi. That is Pure Dharma. It is like the spring time. The seed of Bodhi in our minds is constantly growing. We should nurture it well.
Where does Dharma-joy come from? From being understanding, content, grateful and accommodating in all our interactions with people and things. We can then transform afflictions into Bodhi.
If we do not take care of our minds, we will be afflicted and petty in dealing with people and things. These afflictions exacerbate karmic forces. Karma accumulates and creates entanglements. If we drag it through our lifetimes, we will suffer beyond words. We have already said that although the Buddha attained enlightenment, His karma was not exhausted. So after attaining Buddhahood, He encountered Nine Ordeals. His afflictions were the accumulation of past retributions. The leftover karma was unresolved and so it carried over into His present.
The Nine Ordeals: Six years of ascetic practice; Slander by Sundari; Foot pierced by wooden spear; Horse fodder as food; Massacre of the Sakya Clan by King Virudhaka; Empty bowl after begging; Slander by Cinca Manavika; Boulder dropped by Devadatta; Asking for robes to block cold wind.
Remember the story of Master Wu-Da? The story of Yuan-Ang killing Chao-Cuo? After ten lifetimes, Chao-Cuo was still seeking an opportunity for revenge. His hatred lingered for ten lifetimes. Yuan-Ang left his government post to practice and was an accomplished monk for ten lifetimes. In his tenth lifetime, he was Wu-Da. Emperor Yi-Zong respected and loved him very much. He named Wu-Da the Imperial Dharma Master. Wu-Da was the emperor’s teacher. He was respected by the emperor and by everyone in the country.
One time, the emperor asked him to speak the Dharma. A platform was built for the occasion, with a grand chair made entirely out of sandalwood. We know how expensive even sandalwood incense is. Think about the high-quality wood they used to build this huge chair. As Wu-Da took his seat, he saw how respectful the emperor was, and he became happy. That happiness was arrogance, “I am the emperor’s master. The emperor is above everyone else, yet he treats me so respectfully!” When this thought arose, he carelessly struck his leg against the chair. It bruised, and then the bruise festered. The skin was broken and rotting, and nothing could be done to treat it. It seemed there was a human-faced boil on his knee that caused him extraordinary pain. For a long time, the emperor called on all the best doctors to heal the master’s knee, but nothing worked.
The Wu-Da recalled that when he was practicing as a novice monk, he had stayed in a monastery. There was an old monk from another monastery staying there at the same time. The old monk had been very ill for an unknown period of time. He was unclean and very sick, so when he stayed there the others were bothered by it. But Wu-Da was very compassionate and said, “Don’t worry. I’ll care for him.” So he took care of the old monk until he recovered. After that, they had to part ways. The old monk told Wu-Da, “My name is Kanaka. It was a good thing that we met. You took care of me when I was ill. If you face difficulty in the future, come find me. ” He gave him his location, and each went his own way.
Later, Wu-Da became known for his virtue. Emperor Yi –Zong was happy when he heard about. Wu-Da, and respectfully asked him to speak the Dharma in the palace.
He also took refuge with Wu-Da. During this time, Wu-Da was still diligent in practice but his momentary arrogance brought on this terrible injury. It became a huge wound.
None of the doctors had a solution, so he realized this was karma.
Karmic illnesses need to be treated with Dharma. Then he remembered that Venerable kanaka, before they separated, told him to come find him if there was any future difficulty. He told the emperor about his encounter with the old monk.
Wu-Da wanted to go to Jiulong Mountain to visit this esteemed monk.
The emperor agreed because none of the doctors could cure Wu-Da. This was the only hope. He sent servants with Wu-Da. Arriving at the huge mountain, Wu-Da was not sure which way to go. Upon arriving, he knew he had to be very sincere. So he sent the servants back and continued up the mountain alone. Where should he go? The mountain was huge. He remembered to look for a spot between two trees. He saw the trees from far away, so he headed down that path. And indeed, there was the monastery it was not big, but his mind settled when he saw it. A junior monk came out to welcome him. When he entered, he saw Venerable Kanaka Wu-Da was happy and explained the difficulties he was encountering. Venerable Kanaka said, “No worries. You are fine now that you’re here. It’s dark now, so rest peacefully. I’ll help you take care of this tomorrow.”
The next morning, Venerable Kanaka asked the junior monk to help Wu-Da down the mountain. There was a small pond with water bubbling from the rocks. The junior monk told him, “Master said to please wash your leg with this water.”
Wu-Da listened to the instructions. The water was very cold, but his leg really hurt. As he brought the water to the wound and was about to wash, he heard a voice saying, “Don’t wash yet. Listen to me first.” This all originated ten lifetimes ago, but now Venerable Kanaka would resolve this entanglement. “I want to resolve this with you now. Grievances should be ended, not created. It was tiring to follow you for ten lifetimes. For ten lifetimes, you’ve been an eminent monk. Your mind-door was shut tight, so I could not get in. This time you had an arrogant thought, which opened the door for me. The door of karma opened, so I entered. Now I want to resolve our entanglement.”
Then the voice disappeared. Upon hearing this, Wu-Da was shocked and quickly washed his leg. It hurt down to his bones, so much that he fainted. After he awoke, it seemed the sore was fading. The burden of karma is frightening. From then on, Wu-Da stayed there and built a hut by the pond to which Venerable Kanaka had led him.
This story is actually much longer, but I just wanted to tell everyone why we should not create karma. This is why we have the Water Repentance. Master Wu-Da built a hut by the pond and wrote the repentance text. Dharma is truly like water. Venerable Kanaka’s Dharma was like clear water. It washed away not only an illness of the body, but also the accumulated karma.
When we do good, good effects return to us. When we do evil, evil effects return to us. Like shadows following the body, echos following a sound, karma never fails to respond accordingly. “The Preface to the Water Repentance Text.”
This also applied to the Buddha. Although He attained enlightenment, karmic retribution still followed Him. The last of the Nine Ordeals was “asking for robes to block cold wind.” India is in the tropics, but when the Buddha was travelling, He still encountered winter. He was at the Arapaka Forest during winter solstice. That winter was especially cold. For eight days straight, the cold chilled Him to His bones. At night the wind was extremely bitter. The wind was so strong and cold that it seemed like it could split open bamboo. It was that cold.
The Buddha could no longer endure. So Venerable Ananda rushed to solicit clothing. He received three pieces of clothing to keep the Buddha from the cold. In this world, the Buddha still felt the cold. When it was hot in India, it was very hot, and kept getting hotter. The Buddha had a high fever once in this hot weather. Ananda was the Buddha’s attendant, so he stayed by the Buddha. He used water to help reduce the fever and constantly fanned Him. The Buddha was also human, like us He needed warm clothes when it was cold. If the Four Elements were unbalanced, He could run a fever just like us.
Thus “The Buddha endured every small thing in the world.” Everyone encounters cold and hot in this world. The Nine Ordeals truly caused obstacles in the Buddha’s life. The Three Periods are past, present and future. From the past, no matter how far back, to the present, and into the future, we must always take care of our minds. If we do not take care of our thoughts, karma from the past, present and future will connect and become entangled. Karmic retributions follow us like shadows.
If we do not take care of our thought, the accumulated karmic forces become entangled, and karmic retributions follow us like shadows. If we understand cause and effect with wisdom, are cautious with our every thought, have good intentions, speak good words, and do good deeds, then we need not fear entanglement by bad karma.
In our daily life we must remember to use the four teachings of being understanding, content, grateful and accommodating. Then our minds will be like springtime. Any afflictions that enter our minds can be transformed into Bodhi. Everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)