How A Great Beauty Realised Greater Beauty

Khema, the chief consort of King Bimbisara, was said to be extremely beautiful. Revelling in her own exquisite beauty, she was ‘naturally’ uninterested in meeting Sakyamuni Buddha, as he was known for teaching that external beauty is impermanent – a truth she rejected. However, as the King was a devoted follower of the Buddha, he wanted her to learn from him. Using a skilful means to trick her to visit the monastery the Buddha was residing in, he got musicians to sing praises of the natural beauty of the grove the monastery was in. Being attracted to attractions sung, Khema decided to experience the grove in person. Seeing Khema approaching while teaching to a large assembly, the Buddha used his supernormal powers to manifest a beautiful maiden fanning him by his side. While engrossed in the beauty of the trees and flowers, Khema drew closer to the assembly. When she caught sight of the maiden, she was intrigued by her beauty, as it greatly surpassed hers. The Buddha then made the maiden age gradually, yet swiftly enough for her to see. Her skin wrinkled, her hair turned grey and her body collapsed in death, leaving a corpse that decayed into bones.

Finally recognising that conditioned forms were transient, Khema realised that the same would happen to hers. If even a form deemed more beautiful and precious than hers comes to pass, how could she retain hers? Her focus now shifted to the Buddha, he taught on the danger of lust for sense pleasures (as they breed spiritual complacency), and invited her to renounce them as they are fleeting in nature. Reflecting thus, she soon attained liberation as an Arhat, and became his first female chief monastic disciple, respected for her skills in explaining advanced teachings. Beyond the remarkableness of the Buddha’s means and Khema’s ability to awaken through it, this story also warns us of the possibility of spiritually backsliding in future lives. In her past lives, Khema already met and studied the Dharma from many Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and Pratyekabuddhas. She also made sincere offerings, once by selling her beautiful hair, for getting alms to offer to a Buddha, and made the aspiration to be a future Buddha’s chief female disciple. Despite these and more great efforts, she almost forgot the greater preciousness and beauty of the Dharma due to vanity before meeting Sakyamuni Buddha!

Although with the near miss of neglecting the Dharma, she was fortunate to have had forged strong enough affinity with it, to be able to reconnect firmly in time. What about the rest of us? If we have learnt and practised the Dharma for some time already, we should roughly know the strength of our connections with the Dharma. Seemingly far from possible sudden enlightenment, we differ from Khema, who needed only an appropriate nudge from the Buddha. This is a compelling reason for us to aspire for birth in a Buddha’s Pure Land, where we can always learn from a Buddha and be mindful of the Dharma until liberation is attained – without the interruption of death when reborn, which causes forgetfulness of the Dharma and distractions by merits manifesting as beauty, wealth, status, power and such. As Dharma practitioners of average spiritual capacity, we are liable to repeatedly backslide, making it difficult for most to smoothly advance towards enlightenment in this life. This is why, as emphasised in the Amitabha Sutra by Sakyamuni Buddha, all Buddhas, including himself, highly urge beings of their worlds to seek refuge in Amitabha Buddha’s (Amituofo) Pure Land.

- Extracted from The Daily Enlightenment

The Power of Mindfulness of the Buddha

There was once an old man who wanted to leave home (renunciation). Although he was about seventy or eighty years old, couldn't get around well, and was aware of his impending death, he thought he could easily leave home and be a High Master of Buddhism.

When he arrived at the Garden of the Benefactor of Orphans and the Solitary, he found that Shakyamuni Buddha had gone out to receive offerings.

His disciples, the Arhat, opened their heavenly eyes and took a look at this man's past causes. Seeing that he hadn't done a single good deed in the past eighty-thousand great aeons, they told him he couldn't leave home.

When he heard this, the old man's heart turned cold and he ran, thinking, 'If I can't leave home, I'll kill myself,'

Just as he was about to throw himself into the ocean, Shakyamuni Buddha caught him and said, 'What are you doing?'

'I wanted to leave home,' cried the man, 'but the Buddha wasn't at the Garden, and the great Bhikshus told me that I couldn't because I have no good roots. My life is meaningless. I'm too old to work, and no one takes care of me. I might as well die.'

Shakyamuni Buddha said, 'Don't throw yourself into the ocean. I'll accept you.'

'You will?' said the man. 'Who are you? Do you have the authority?'

Shakyamuni Buddha said, 'I am the Buddha, and those Bhikshus are my disciples; none of them will object.'

The old man wiped his eyes and blew his nose. 'There's hope for me,' he said.

The old man's head was shaved. He became a monk and immediately certified to the first stage of Arhatship.

Why? When he heard that he couldn't leave home, he had decided to drown himself; although he didn't really die, he was as good as dead. 'I've already thrown myself into the sea,' he said, and relinquished all his attachment to life.

He saw right through everything, won his independence, and certified to the first stage of Arhatship.

This bothered the Bhikshus. 'How strange,' they murmured, 'the man has no good roots. We wouldn't let him leave home, but the Buddha accepted him and now he's certified to Arhatship. People without good roots can't do that. Such a contradiction in the Teaching will never do! Let's go ask the Buddha.'

Then they went before the Buddha, bowed reverently, and asked, 'We are basically clear-minded. How could that old man without good roots certify to Arhatship? How can the Buddhadharma be so inconsistent?'

Shakyamuni Buddha said, 'As Arhats, you see only the events of the past eighty thousand aeons ago.'

'More than eighty thousand aeons ago, the old man was a firewood gatherer. One day in the mountains he was attacked by a tiger and quickly climbed a tree. The tiger leaped and snapped his jaws, but missed. This tiger, however, was smarter than the average tiger, "I'll show you," it said. 'I'll chew through the trunk of the tree and when it falls I'll eat you.

Now, if a mouse can gnaw through wood, how much the more so can a tiger. Tigers can make powder out of human bones. It chewed half way through the tree and terrified the old man whose life was hanging by a thread.

Then he remembered, "In times of danger, people recite the Buddha's name," and he called out, "Namo Buddha!" which scared the tiger away and saved his life.

After that, the old man forgot to recite, and so on this side of eighty thousand great aeons, he failed to plant good roots.

However, the one cry of "Namo Buddha" was the good seed which has now ripened and allowed him to leave home and certify to the fruit.'

Therefore, reciting the Buddha's name establishes a firm foundation and plants good roots. Even just reciting the Buddha's name 1 time sincerely would generate a lot of good merits for your subsequent lives.