The Story of Vakula

Vakula means “kind countenance.” Vakula had a kind appearance and people felt joy when looking at him. He was “foremost in longevity.”

The Buddha taught that all worldly pursuits can be categorized into three groups: wealth, wisdom, and health and longevity. Think about this. Is there anyone who does not want these? These are karmic results. We must plant the causes before we can have the karmic results. It is said: “In Buddhism, every sincere request will receive a response.” Why? Because the Buddha knew the law of cause and effect and thus knew which cause would bring about which effect.

The underlying cause of having wealth, wisdom, and health and longevity is giving. The Buddha taught us to cultivate both good fortune and wisdom. In this phrase, good fortune goes before wisdom. There is a Buddhist saying: “Cultivating wisdom without cultivating good fortune will result in an arhat not receiving any offering; cultivating good fortune without cultivating wisdom will result in a royal elephant wearing precious jewelry.”

The first statement is about a person who cultivated wisdom and attained arhatship. But as he did not cultivate good fortune, no one made offerings to him when he went out on alms rounds. The second statement is about a person who cultivated great good fortune but not wisdom. He fell into the path of animals and was reborn as an elephant. As the elephant had good fortune, it was kept by a king. Whenever the king went out, he rode on this elephant, and so this elephant was resplendently bedecked with fine jewelry.

Therefore, the Buddha taught us to cultivate both good fortune and wisdom. If one does not cultivate either one, one will be poor for all future lifetimes. It is most important that we believe the Buddha’s teaching.

Many universities and graduate schools today teach various methods to attain wealth. When we look at the courses they offer, we see that they teach students how to make use of catalytic conditions, not how to plant causes. Take business administration, for example. They do case studies. How did rich people get started? How did they run their businesses? How did they make so much money?

The experts and professors explain clearly and logically, but they themselves do not make much money. They spend their lives teaching in the universities, and if they are good at teaching, they may acquire a good reputation. When they retire, companies may hire them as consultants. They still do not attain great wealth. Since they know so many ways to make money, why can’t they attain great wealth for themselves? It is because what they learn and teach concerns “conditions,” not “causes.”

This is like planting a crop. These experts have the technical knowledge and can analyze the soil, water, climate, air, and fertilizer. The problem is that they do not have seeds. Not even an expert can harvest a crop without planting seeds. If one does not have wealth in one’s destiny, one cannot attain wealth regardless of what good methods or ideas of money making one has. If one has wealth in one’s destiny, one does not need to know any of these methods, for whatever one does, one will attain wealth.

Only the Buddha could explain this fact clearly. Where does wealth come from? From one’s practice of giving of wealth in previous lifetimes. The more one gave in past lifetimes, the more money one will have in this lifetime. If one was unwilling to practice the giving of wealth in past lifetimes, one will not attain great wealth now, no matter what skills one learns. After completing some courses, one will, at most, make money for a company. One will be an employee of that company and will not become its owner.

The giving of teachings will bring the karmic result of wisdom, and the giving of fearlessness will bring the karmic result of health and longevity. When we see that Vakula was foremost in longevity, we know that he had practiced the giving of fearlessness over many lifetimes. This was a good person, greatly compassionate and willing to help all those who encountered difficulties. His karmic result was longevity.

~ Based on Ven. Master Chin Kung's 2003 lecture series on the Amitabha Sutra

The Story of Gavampati

Gavampati was “foremost in receiving the offerings of the gods.” A religious scholar, he belongs to the group that manifests the law of cause and effect.

The Sanskrit word Gavampati means “ruminating ox,” a reflection of the way his mouth would move, like that of an ox eating. The Buddha explained that in a past lifetime when Gavampati was a novice monk, he saw an old monk chanting a sutra. Due to his old age and having lost many teeth, he chanted very unclearly.

Gavampati laughed at the old monk, “When you chant a sutra, you look like an ox eating.” The old monk immediately told him to repent, “You laughed at me and you will receive retribution because of these words.” The novice monk was terrified and immediately repented, but he still fell into the path of animals and was reborn as an ox for five hundred lifetimes. Therefore, he still had the habit of an ox in this lifetime.

We may think nothing of making fun of others. But we do not realize how serious the retribution for poking fun will be. Through this account, the Buddhas and bodhisattvas show us the retribution of hurtful remarks. All harsh remarks bring this kind of retribution. The novice monk was just mocking the older monk, which is not as harmful as lying, divisive speech, or enticing speech would be. But he still had the retribution of being reborn as an ox for five hundred lifetimes. Lying and divisive speech will bring even more serious retributions.

Although Gavampati had become a monk and attained arhatship, he still had the habit of an ox. The Buddha told him not to go out on alms rounds, so as not to give anyone a chance to laugh at him and thereby plant the same cause for themselves. He was told to go to the heavens to receive offerings from the devas. Having extraordinary abilities and knowing that he was a great arhat, the devas would respect him, not mock him. Therefore, he received offerings in the heavens, not in this world.

~ Based on Ven. Master Chin Kung's 2003 lecture series on the Amitabha Sutra

The Story of Suddhipanthaka

Suddhipanthaka was in the group of people that represents foolishness and dull capacity. His foolishness and dull capacity were the workings of the law of cause and effect. He was also in the group that was diligent in eliminating karmic obstacles.

He was the slowest of the Buddha’s students and had the poorest memory. When he was taught a four-line verse, he could not memorize the lines even after several days of trying to learn them. When he chanted the first line, he forgot the next lines. When he was taught the second line, he forgot the first line.

His elder brother, also a monastic, told him that he was too slow to learn from the Buddha and that he should go home. Suddhipanthaka burst into tears. The Buddha saw this and asked Suddhipanthaka why he was crying. He told the Buddha that his brother wanted him to go home.

The Buddha told him to stay and gave him a broom. He then taught Suddhipanthaka to concentrate on the broom and sweep the floor every day. As he swept, Suddhipanthaka was to repeat just two words, “sweep” and “clean.”

Before long, Suddhipanthaka attained enlightenment and arhatship. The other monastics wondered how he had accomplished this. The Buddha said that Suddhipanthaka had been a highly accomplished Dharma master in the previous lifetime. But he always held back when he gave lectures because he was afraid that others would surpass him in their achievement if he taught everything he knew. His slowness in this lifetime was a karmic result of teaching grudgingly.

The Buddha often taught in the sutras that being stingy with money will bring the karmic result of poverty and teaching grudgingly will bring the karmic result of being dull. Everything is governed by the law of cause and effect. Because he had perfect wisdom and extraordinary abilities, he knew the root cause of Suddhipanthaka’s slowness and was able to help Suddhipanthaka succeed in his practice. Ordinary people do not have these abilities and would have given up on him.

Some people may feel that because they have a poor capacity and memory they cannot learn Buddhism. Suddhipanthaka set an example for these people. How do our capacity and memory compare with those of Suddhipanthaka? Nobody’s capacity and memory are as poor as those of Suddhipanthaka. If he succeeded, why can’t we? Suddhipanthaka’s achievement is a great encouragement to people with a poor capacity.

~ Based on Ven. Master Chin Kung's 2003 lecture series on the Amitabha Sutra

Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

By Peter Lovenheim
The New York Times
Published: June 23, 2008
Brighton, N.Y.

Why is it that in an age of cheap long-distance rates, discount airlines and the Internet, when we can create community anywhere, we often don’t know the people who live next door?

Maybe my neighbors didn’t mind living this way, but I did. I wanted to get to know the people whose houses I passed each day — not just what they do for a living and how many children they have, but the depth of their experience and what kind of people they are.

Read the rest here.

Image by Sophia Martinek courtesy of The New York Times.

It Happened Last Friday Night

The time was about 9:45, and I was finishing some reading before going to sleep. Suddenly the front door buzzer went off with a sound that startles me every time even when I know someone is about to ring it. I went to the intercom and asked (okay, it was more like demanded) who was there. I heard a female voice saying "Venerable" but that was all I could hear above the static. I asked several more times who it was but the intercom is not one of the apartment’s better features and I finally decided that if someone was saying venerable, it had to be for me. (Even at 10PM, my mind is razor sharp. (Smiley with eyes rolling))

I pressed the button to open the door, opened my door to the inner lobby, and wondered who on earth was walking in the front door. Then I saw her. It was Clara who if you had asked me I would have said was about three hours west of me the other side of Chicago. But she wasn't there, she was here. Standing at my door. At 9:50 pm.

Ever the gracious hostess, I think I said something like “What are you doing here?” or “I didn't know you were coming!”  (Clearly my mind isn't as razor sharp as I would like to imagine.) 

Clara was holding a rolled-up sleeping bag and small overnight bag. I, on the other hand, had been in the middle of packing and there were packing boxes everywhere. After repeating my gracious (smiley with eyes rolling again) welcome, I asked her in.

I offered Clara some water, which was all I had to drink, and explained that I only had two eggs for breakfast. (There's my gracious-hostess self again.)  She smiled and said she'd take me out to breakfast the following morning. I showed her into what had been my mother's bedroom and said she could spread her sleeping bag on the oriental carpet. (Okay. Looking back, this part wasn't so bad. It's a beautiful carpet and I had slept on it one night so I knew it was doable.) Then, I got some towels and put out some things in the guest bathroom for her.

During all this, we discovered what had happened. Or rather more like what hadn't happened.

Clara had emailed me a few weeks ago to say she might be in Indiana and asked if she could come to see me. I replied that she was very welcome. (Given enough notice, I can be polite!) Plus, the timing would be perfect for me because I had two boxes of books to go the Amitabha Buddhist Library in Chicago, which she attended, and needed a few CDs from the library's distribution supply.

Clara emailed back that everything was tentative and she'd get back to me. This is where "it" happened. Or rather didn't happen.

Clara continued to email me at the same email address she had been using and let me know that she had the CDs and would be coming to see me. She wrote a few more emails as well, but I never received them. She thought I was too busy to reply and didn't want to bother me so just went ahead with her plan to visit me. After all, if two emails went through why would the others not reach me. When she called me on Friday night, I had already turned off my phone for the evening. 

You'll be glad to hear that we had a very good breakfast at Rachael's at the Goshen farmer's market Saturday morning. After we came back, Clara put the now four boxes of books in her car. She had asked how I was getting to Chicago on the 27th, and I had explained I was taking one train into Chicago and another to Naperville. She explained that she had another appointment in Indiana on Friday the 26th and would very much like to come to Elkhart and drive me to Chicago on the 27th.

Now you have to agree that this is a brave woman and a good Buddhist. She was not only volunteering to again come to my door on a Friday night, she was trying to convince me to accept her offer instead of taking the trains.

After she returned to Chicago, she emailed me saying I had been a very gracious hostess. She also wrote that  when she realized that I was not expecting her, she had been prepared to return home that night, happy to have been able to give me the CDs and bring the books to the library for me. 

The brave woman part is easy to see. If you haven't yet figured it out, let me help you. Ringing my doorbell at 10pm can be very risky! But why the good Buddhist? Clara was flexible. She adapted very quickly to a new situation and wasn't attached to her idea of what would happen. When it looked like the conditions weren’t right, she was happy that she had been able to help me. She didn't get upset or frustrated. She was all set to accord with the conditions. Ready to accord with the conditions, she remained calm and thoughtful.

As I said: a good Buddhist.