One of the Ten Titles about Buddha—Man-Tamer

Author: Tao Qing Hsu (Hsu, Tao-qing)

The meaning of Man-Tamer represents the Buddha who taught the living beings the knowledge and wisdom of Buddhism  and reform the living beings to be good.

  

The word Man-Tamer is translated by me from the Chinese Buddhist Scripture. I will explain it and why I use this word Man-Tamer. In the history of India, men were usually working and frequently and socially interacting with each other  in the society.  For obtaining and striving for the power and resources for the self and the family, any evil mind and behavior arose which is like the situation of today in the world. Furthermore, in the beginning, there were only the men leaving the family to practice the truth of life and therefore to become monks.  The Buddha Shakyamuni taught the men the knowledge and wisdom of Buddhism  and reform the men to be good persons. That is why I use the word Man-Tamer as the translation to represent one of the ten titles about Buddha.  

Therefore, to extend and expand the meaning of Man-Tamer, it can represent the Buddha who taught the living beings the knowledge and wisdom of Buddhism  and reform the living beings to be good.

Why is it called Man-Tamer?

In the Buddhist Scripture--The Scripture of the Ten Titles Said by Buddha,, the Buddha explained what the Man-Tamer  meant:

Why is it called Man-Tamer? The Buddha said. Buddha was a great man. And it could harmonize and rule the two sorts of good and evil things. The evil one made the three karmas of not good arise. And doing all the evil thus depraved oneself into the hells, hungry ghosts and brutes therefore gained the evil retribution. A good person practiced all good deeds in body, mouth and mind. Obtain blessings fruition from human and heaven. All good and evil were done by the mind. The Buddha used the law of nirvana of the good of the first meaning. It demonstrated the harmonizing and ruling to make beings leave the contaminated and filth and thus gained the supreme silent and eliminated Nirvana. Therefore, it was called Man-Tamer.

The story and meaning of the Man-Tamer.

In another Buddhist Scripture – Miscellaneous Agama Sutra, there was a paragraph which referred to  the story and meaning of the Man-Tamer. I translated it from Chinese into English as follows: 

 

This is what I heard:

At one time, the Buddha lived in the Kalanda Bamboo Garden in the city of Rajagaha.

At that time, a horse-training master named Zhishi came to the Buddha's place. He bowed his head at the Buddha's feet, stood back and sat down, faced and said to the Buddha, "World Honored One! I see that the world is very mean and low, like a flock of sheep. World Honored One, I am the only one who can train horses." If an evil horse is running wild, I will use the convenient way to make it easy for it to show signs of disease. I will tame it in the convenient way according to its signs of disease."

The Buddha asked the village-leader of horse-trainer: "How many methods  of convenience do you use to tame the horses?"

The horse master said to the Buddha: "There are three ways to tame an evil horse. What are the three? One is gentle, the second is vulgar, and the third is gentle and vulgar."

The Buddha told the village-leader: "You have used the three methods of convenience to tame the horse, but if you still cannot tame it, what should you do?

The horse-training master said to the Buddha: "Anyone who cannot be tamed should be killed. Why? Don't let it  humiliate me." The horse-training master said to the Buddha: "The World Honored One is the supreme Man-Tamer. How many methods of convenience can you use to tame the man ?"

The Buddha told the village-leader: "I also use three methods of convenience to tame the man. What are the three? One is always gentle, the second is always vulgar, and the third is gentle and vulgar."

The Buddha told the village-leader : "What so-called always gentleness is as the following said: 'This is the good deeds of the body and this is the reward of the good deeds of the body; this is the good deeds of the mouth and mind and this is the reward of the good deeds of the mouth and mind. Such is called the heaven, is called the human, is called the transformation-birth of good-going, and is called the nirvana. This is the gentleness.” 

"What so-called vulgarness is as the following said: "This is the evil deeds of the body and this is the retribution of the evil deeds of the body; this is the evil deeds of the mouth and mind and this is the retribution of the evil deeds of the mouth and mind. Such is called the hell, such is called the animal, such is called the hungry ghost, such is called the evil-going, and such is called falling into the evil-going. It is called the Tathagata’s vulgar teachings.”

"What so-called gentleness and vulgarness means that the Tathagata sometimes talks about the good deeds of the body, sometimes the reward of the good deeds of the body, sometimes the good deeds of the mouth and mind, sometimes the reward of good deeds of the mouth and mind; sometimes the bad deeds of the body, sometimes the retribution of bad deeds of the body, and sometimes the bad deeds of the mouth and mind, and sometimes the retribution of bad deeds of the mouth and mind. Such is called the heaven, such is called the human, such is called the good-going and such is called the nirvana. Such is called the hell,  such is called the animal and  the hungry ghost, such is called the evil-going, such is called falling into the evil-going. Such is called  the Tathagata’s teaching of gentleness and vulgarness”

The horse-training master said to the Buddha: "World Honored One! If you use the three methods of convenience to tame sentient beings, and some of them are not tamed, what should you do?"

The Buddha told the village-leader: "I should also kill them. Why? Don't let them humiliate me."

The horse-training master said to the Buddha: "If you kill a living being, it will be considered impure in the law of World Honored One. In the law of World Honored One, there is no killing of living beings. Now, it talked about the killing. What is the meaning of killing?"

The Buddha told the village-leader: "So! So! In the Law of Tathagata, killing is impure. And in the Law of Tathagata, there is no killing. However, in the Law of Tathagata, those who are not tamed by the three teachings will no longer be spoken, taught, or admonished. Village-leader! What does it mean?  In the Law of Tathagata, if Tathagata no longer speaks to, teaches, or admonishes these people, isn't that death?"

The horse-training master said to the Buddha: "Indeed, World Honored One! Tathagata no longer speaks to them, and never teaches or admonishes them. This is really death. World Honored One, for this reason, I will abstain from all evil and unwholesome deeds from now on."

The Buddha told the village-leader : "Good, as what you said!"

At that time, after hearing what the Buddha said, the master of the horse-training - Zhishi - was delighted, followed and complied with the joy, and left with all due respects by bowing his head at the Buddha's feet.