法苑珠林 17.35

17.35

As the Scripture on the Transmission of the Dharmapiṭaka states: The Buddha said, “If all sentient beings wish to escape from the great ocean of birth and death within the tridhātu, they must rely on the raft of the Dharma before they can attain liberation. The Dharma serves as cool refreshment that eliminates the fever of afflictions; the Dharma is a wondrous medicine that can cure the sickness of fetters; the Dharma is a true spiritual friend to sentient beings, bringing great benefit and rescuing them from all suffering and distress. Why is this? The nature and inclinations of all sentient beings are indeterminate; they conform to what they become habituated to. When close to the good, they become good; when close to evil, they become evil. If they draw near to bad companions, they then commit evil karma and wander in birth and death without limit. If they draw near to good companions, they arouse faith and reverence; hearing and accepting the wondrous Dharma, they will surely be made to leave behind the suffering and distress of the three evil destinies, and through these merits they will enjoy the supreme bliss. The king of the country of Pāṭaliputra had a white elephant capable of destroying his enemies. Whenever a person committed a crime, he would have the elephant trample them to death. Later, when the elephant stable was burned by fire, they moved the elephant near a monastery. The elephant heard a monk reciting verses from the Dharmapada: ‘Doing good brings rebirth in heaven; doing evil leads into the abyss.’ Having heard the Dharma, the elephant’s mind became gentle and mild, and aroused compassion. Afterwards, when criminals were given to it, it merely sniffed them with its trunk, licked them with its tongue, and walked away, utterly refusing to kill them. When the king saw this, he was greatly alarmed and terrified. He immediately summoned all his ministers to deliberate on the matter. A wise minister addressed the king: ‘This elephant was near the monastery and surely heard the wondrous Dharma; that is why this has happened. Now it may be moved and tied near a slaughterhouse.’ The king followed his words. When the elephant saw the slaughtering, its evil mind flared up fiercely, and its cruelty increased even more. From this one should know that the nature and inclinations of all sentient beings are indeterminate. Even animals are like this: hearing the Dharma they produce compassion, while seeing killing they increase in harm. How much more so for human beings—how could they not be influenced by habituation? Therefore the wise should realize this: seeing evil, they must abandon it; seeing good, they should draw near to it, and diligently listen to the scriptures and the Dharma. Furthermore, in the past there was a brahmin who carried a great number of human skulls, going to the city of Pāṭaliputra to peddle them everywhere. After a long time, there was not a single buyer. At that time, the brahmin became extremely angry and shouted abuse, saying: ‘The people in this city are foolish and dull-witted! If you do not buy skulls from me, I shall ruin your reputation!’ At that time, the upāsakas in the city, hearing this and fearing slander, brought money to buy them. They then inserted a copper chopstick through their ears. If it passed completely through, they gave a high price; if it passed halfway through, they gave a lower price; and if it did not pass through at all, they gave no price whatsoever. The brahmin said: ‘These skulls of mine are all no different. Why is there an unequal difference in the prices you give?’ The upāsakas said: ‘For those that passed completely through, when this person was alive, he heard and accepted the wondrous Dharma, and his wisdom was lofty and superior. We value this feature and therefore give a high price. For those that passed halfway through, although he heard the scriptures and the Dharma, he did not distinguish them well; therefore we give a lower price. For those that did not pass through at all, in the past this person never listened to the Dharma at all; therefore we give no price.’ The upāsakas then took these skulls, went outside the city, erected stūpas, and made offerings to them. After their lives ended, they all attained rebirth in heaven. From this circumstance, one should know that the wondrous Dharma has great merit. Since these upāsakas, by merely erecting stūpas and making offerings to the skulls of people who had heard the Dharma, could still attain rebirth in heaven, how much more so for those who can sincerely hear and accept the scriptures and the Dharma, and make offerings to and revere those who uphold the scriptures? The karmic reward of this is truly difficult to exhaust; in the future they will surely achieve the unsurpassed way. Therefore the wise, wishing to attain unsurpassed peace and happiness, should diligently listen to the scriptures and the Dharma with sincere minds.”