"The Merits and Virtues of Holding Precepts and the Retribution of
Breaking the Precepts."
On
one occasion during the time of Shakyamuni Buddha, the Buddha spoke the
Dharma at the Garden of the Benefactor of Orphans and the Solitary, and
there were many sound hearers and bodhisattvas who came to listen to the
lecture. That evening at about nine-o-clock, two heavenly beings also
came to the Garden of the benefactor of Orphans and the Solitary to
listen to the lecture. The two heavenly beings had in the past received
the Eight-fold Precepts from the Buddha. Due to the merits and virtues
of upholding the Eight-fold Precepts, they were born in the heaven. With
the merits and virtue of holding the precepts, their bodies radiated
with immense light. As a result, their bodies' light illuminated the
Garden of the Benefactor of Orphans and the Solitary with incomparable
brightness. The Garden was filled with light of golden jewelry. The
Buddha clearly knew the story behind it. After they were done radiating
the brilliant light, the Buddha started to speak the wonderful Dharma to
them, in accordance with their conditions. The moment they finished
listening to the Buddha's wonderful Dharma, they felt they embodied the
taste of sweet dew. It opened up their minds and they became
enlightened. They instantly certified to the fruition of Arahantship.
They were able to surpass the three realms. Thus, they respectfully
bowed to the Buddha with the greatest gratitude and returned to the
heaven.
The
next morning, out of his curiosity, Venerable Ananda asked the Buddha
what happened last night. He said, "I noticed that the two heavenly
beings that came to the World
Honored One for the Dharma last night were especially awesome in their
appearance, and they were radiating with unsurpassed golden light. I am
wondering what merits and virtues they have cultivated so as to have
those blessings? I reverently request the Buddha, out of compassion, to
instruct us. to let us comprehend it clearly."
Thus
the Buddha spoke to the assembly about the heavenly beings' causes and
conditions in the past. The Buddha said, "Long, long ago, after
Kasyapa Buddha's Nirvana, and during the dharma ending age, there were
two pure conduct cultivators who were seeking to be reborn in the Brahma
heaven. These two friends were born in the same year, same month, same
day and same time. They lived in the same village, had the same
aspiration, the same dream, and were really good friends. When they were
grown up, they heard the goodness of the Buddha Dharma, especially the
Eight-fold Precepts, which is easy to cultivate. They rejoiced in their
hearts and decided to uphold the Eight-fold Precepts, in order to
benefit from upholding the precepts.
Thus
the two pure conduct cultivators came together, made an arrangement to
go together to the most virtuous monk among the disciples of the Buddha,
and to sincerely request for the transmission of the Eight-fold
Precepts. Realizing their utmost sincerity, the virtuous monk then
transmitted the Eight-fold Precepts to them accordingly. Though they
were both sincere in requesting to receive the Eight-fold Precepts,
their aspirations were slightly different. The first Brahmin vowed to
ride on the merits and virtues of holding the precepts to be reborn in a
heaven in order to enjoy the blessing. The second Brahmin instead vowed
to ride on the merits and virtues of holding the precepts in order to
come back to the world to be a king.
After
they received the transmission of the Eight-fold Precepts, they both
went back to their homes. After coming home, the second Brahmin held the
precepts very strictly, especially the precept of not eating at the
inappropriate time. He absolutely consumed no food after lunch.
Due
to his seriousness in holding the precepts strictly, without breaking
them, after his life was over, his vow was fulfilled and he was born in
the king's palace. When he grew up, he became the king.
After
going home, the first Brahmin, who vowed to reborn in a heaven, was also
determined to hold the precepts accordingly. Unfortunately, his wife was
not as understanding and wise; she did not agree with eating no food
after lunch. She demanded her husband to accompany her at dinner. Due to
his fear of his wife, he gave in under her pressure and very unwillingly
ate dinner together with her. Thus he broke the precept of not eating
food at the inappropriate time. By breaking the precept, his vow to be
reborn in the Brahmin heaven was not fulfilled. He fell into the animal
realm and was reborn as a dragon. Thus both of them faced their
retributions accordingly.
Regarding
the second Brahmin, he was now born as a king. He had a gardener who
took care of his garden. The gardener's job was to cultivate and produce
miraculous melons and fruit for the king's consumption everyday. One
day, a miraculous rare exotic fruit was found floating down the clear
stream in the king's garden. The gardener thought, "When I move in
and out of the palace every day, I meet the guard at the gate. It would
be a good idea to let him take care of it." When the guard took
over the rare exotic fruit, he then thought, "Whenever I need to
report to the king, I need to go through the eunuch. It would be most
appropriate to pass the fruit to him" So he did. When the eunuch
took over the fruit, he quickly gave it to the queen. After receiving
the rare exotic fruit, the queen quickly presented it to the king.
Upon
eating the fragrant, tasty, rare, exotic fruit, the king continued to
think about it. He wanted to eat more. Thus he asked the queen,
"Where did you get that delicious, rare, exotic fruit?" The
queen answered accordingly. The king would not stop just after asking
that question, he made a thorough investigation and finally he came upon
his palace gardener. The king asked the gardener, "Since there is
such delicious fruit in my garden, why have you never presented them to
me to enjoy? Why do I have to wait for so long to taste such exotic
fruit? Did you secretly let other people taste the fruit before me? Did
you then finally decide to present it to me'?" The gardener quickly
replied out of fear, "You're Majesty, I beg for your pardon. It was
not my fault." He then told the whole story about where and how he
found the exotic fruit. After listening, the king ordered the gardener,
"This is my decision. From now on, everyday, I order you to present
a rare exotic fruit to me to eat, not leaving even a single day without
it." The gardener immediately responded to the king, "Your
Majesty, this rare exotic fruit is not cultivated in the palace garden.
On top of that, we do not have the seed to plant. It was found in the
clear stream in the garden. Since Your Majesty ordered me to present the
fruit, it would be impossible for me to find them." The king said,
"For what is impossible you have to make possible. If you cannot do
it, you have to pay with your life."
When
the gardener went back to the garden, he was totally, emotionally
distressed by the illogical order made by the king. He lost control of
himself, burst into tears and cried very loudly. In the clear stream,
there lived a dragon. When the dragon heard the deep sad cry of the
gardener, he decided to find out what was going on. The dragon
transformed himself into an old man and asked for the reason why the
gardener was crying. The gardener told the whole story. The old man
consoled him and said, "Don't be worried, I can provide you as much
exotic fruit as you need. You could serve the fruit with a golden plate
and present it to the king. When you see the king, I would need you to
pass on my word to him. Please tell your king that I am his old good
friend. We received the Eight-fold Precepts together and cultivated as
fellow cultivators. Your king was upheld the precepts fully and thus he
fulfilled his vow to reborn as a king. I did not uphold the precepts
fully and thus fell into the animal realm as a dragon. I now contemplate
liberating myself from being a dragon and the only way to do so is to
practice the Eight-fold Precepts again. I wish your king would request
the Eight-fold Precepts for me so that I can soon be liberated. If your
king does not fulfill my request, I will pour rain down upon your whole
country until it is flooded. I will make your whole country submerge
under an ocean of water."
After
listening to the dragon, the gardener quickly carried the golden plate
of exotic fruit to the king. When he arrived at the palace and saw the
king, he told the king about the dragon-transformed old man he met. He
then repeated what the dragon requested. After listening to the
gardener, the king was totally shocked. Why did the king become so
afraid? It was because there was no Buddha Dharma dwelling in the world
at the time. The Triple Jewels was completely gone from the human world,
so how could he find the text of the Eight-fold Precepts? The king had
no choice but to turn to his most intelligent and respected minister.
The king spoke to the minister, "Oh, my good minister, there is a
dragon begging me for the text of the Eight-fold Precepts. You have
helped me solve many difficult problems in the past; I need you to solve
this one now." The minister responded to the king, saying,
"Your majesty, this is the era when Buddha Dharma does not exist.
To find the text of the Eight-fold Precepts would be as difficult as
climbing up into the sky." The king instantly replied, "This
critical moment means life or death for our country, if you cannot find
the text, you will be beheaded."
Upon
hearing this, the minister started to worry. As he walked home, he was
filled with distress; so much so, that he did not even realize it when
he arrived home. Normally when he would reach home, he would greet his
elderly father and talk to his father with affection. This time, he did
not even greet his father. Seeing his son with distress on the face, his
father quickly asked, "What has happened, my son? What makes you so
terrified?" The minister then told his father the whole story. His
father responded, "That pillar in our hall is constantly emitting
light. Why don't we try to examine it and find out if there is any
sacred object hidden inside it?" Upon hearing what his father said,
the minister quickly asked some men to take down the pillar and broke it
open. Instantaneously, within a cavity in the pillar were found two
scrolls of sutra. One was the Twelve-fold Conditioned Arising Sutra and
the other was the Eight-fold Precepts Sutra that the king was urgently
looking for.
Out
of great joy, the minister immediately carried the Eight-fold Precepts
Sutra respectfully on both palms and presented it to the king. Seeing
that his minister successfully found the Sutra and did not disappoint
him, the king was delighted with great joy. Thus, the king laid the
Sutra on a golden plate and personally sent it to his dragon friend.
Having the Eight-fold Precepts Sutra before him, the dragon was totally
delighted; there was nothing, no words, no writing, that could describe
his joy. To express his utmost gratitude, the dragon took out all the
silver, gold, jewels and treasures from his palace and gave them all to
the king.
From
then on, not only did the dragon diligently uphold the Eight-fold
Precepts in the dragon palace, but the king also diligently upheld it at
his own palace. They practiced it day after day. Thus when their
retribution was over, the two friends were reborn in a heaven to rejoice
in the blessing. With the blessing from the merits and virtues of
holding the Eight-fold Precepts, these two heavenly beings came to the
garden of the Benefactor of Orphans and the Solitary last night to
request Dharma from me. After listening to the Dharma, instantly they
were certified to the fourth stage of Arahantship. They then transcended
the three realms and will never again revolve in the sea of birth and
death.
From
this story, it is clear that by upholding the Eight-fold Precepts, one
will be rewarded by its merits and virtues, and by breaking the
precepts, one will face its consequences. There is not a single bit of
mistake when it comes to facing the reward or the consequence. Thus, I
would ask you to sincerely uphold the precepts. If you would firmly
uphold them, even at a critical moment, then you would definitely be
able to ride on its merits and virtues to be reborn in a heaven, or even
to the stage of easily liberating yourself from birth and death.
"The
Merits and Virtues of Holding Precepts and the Retribution of Breaking the
Precepts."
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