A story about Bodhisattva Often-not-despising

 

Author: Tao Qing Hsu (Hsu, Tao-qing) 

 

In another chapter, I have mentioned a Bodhisattva who is named as Often-not-despising. When he was a Buddhist monk and saw the people, he closed his palms together, respected and bowed to those persons, and said to them that you would become a Buddha in the future, so I do not dare to despise you. He often did that and said such things. Some people regarded him as a mad person and threw stones to him. He ran away, and then stood far away to face those people, always closed his palms together, respected and bowed to those people, and said loudly to them that all of you would become Buddha in the future, so I do not dare to despise you. That is why people call him Bodhisattva Often-not-despising. The story is talked by Buddha Shakyamuni in Buddhist Scripture. This story reminds us that we should not despise any person, even though they are un-learner in Buddhism.

Tolerate one, turn it into a thousand peace. Step back, increase the hundred blessings.

Author: Tao Qing Hsu

  

Zhang Ying was a native of Tongcheng in the Qing Dynasty of China. He was an official and diligent, and he was open-minded.

When Zhang Ying was an official in Beijing, his family and neighbors each renovated their homes. When building the walls, because the boundaries were unclear, the two sides believed that the other party occupied their own land and did not retreat from each other, so they often quarreled for each other.

Finally, the other party brought the matter to the court. Therefore, Zhang Ying’s family wrote a letter to Zhang Ying for help. After receiving the letter, Zhang Ying immediately responded with a short poem. The content of the poem is:

To send a letter in thousands of miles  is only for a wall,

What is the obstacle to retreat three feet?

The Great Wall is still here,

And I don’t see the first emperor Qin.

After receiving a reply, Zhang Ying’s family immediately took the initiative to give up three feet of land. The neighbors saw the behavior of the other party and automatically gave up three feet of land. Thus, between the two, a six-foot-wide pedestrian lane was formed.

Because of Zhang Ying’s open-mindedness, he not only resolved war as peace, but also achieved a long-standing story. When the general people passed the six-foot lane, they praised the virtues of both parties.

Chapter 12 ﹝19﹞ : Seeing the circumstance and unmoved in heart are difficult.

(Chapter 12 ﹝19﹞ ) A Brief Talk about The Scripture of Forty-Two Chapters Said by Buddha

Co-translators in the time of Eastern Han Dynasty, China(A.D. 25 - 200) : Kasyapa Matanga and Zhu Falan (Who translated the said Scripture from Sanskrit into Chinese. )

Translator in modern time (A.D.2018: Tao Qing Hsu (Who translated the said Scripture from Chinese into English.)

Teacher and writer for explaining the said Scripture: Tao Qing Hsu 

Chapter 12: List the difficulties and exhort to practice   

The Buddha said,” There are twenty difficulties for people. Giving something to others is difficult when people are in poor. Learning the Dao is difficult when people are in the huge wealth and are the nobility. It is hard to the people when they must die because their lives have to be abandoned. Being able to see the scripture of Buddha is difficult. Being born in the time of Buddha is difficult. Enduring the erotic and desire is difficult. Seeing the self-interest and not to pursue it is difficult. No resentment when being humiliated is difficult. When having the authority and not to draw near to ordinary people  is difficult. When contact with things and no heart  is difficult. Learning widely and researching extensively are difficult. Removing the ego-arrogance is difficult. Not to despise the un-learner is difficult. Practicing the equality in heart is difficult. Not saying its right or wrong is difficult. Meeting the good-knowledge person is difficult. Seeing the Nature and learning the Dao are difficult. According to conditions to reform people so as to save them is difficult. Seeing the circumstance and unmoved in heart are difficult. Good at understanding the convenience is difficult.

Chapter 12 ﹝19﹞ : Seeing the circumstance and unmoved in heart are difficult.

Seeing the circumstance and unmoved in heart are difficult, seeing the circumstance so not moving in heart is difficult, which is the nineteenth difficulty in the twenty difficulties said by Buddha Shakyamuni in this Chapter.

 “Seeing the circumstance” also means seeing the situation, the condition, the form, the development and its trend, the state, the event, the thing, the case, the consequence, the environment, and all of which is happened in outer of our body, could be seen by our naked eyes, could be judged or thought by our mind, and also could be felt or perceived by our awareness. We say that it also could be seen by heart.  

Furthermore, “seeing the circumstance” also means seeing the image appeared in our mind, such as seeing the image or the situation, which is showed in the heart-mirror, and could be seen in any time, especially, in the time of quiet, such as dreaming or Zen sitting, the meditation sitting. We say that it is seen by the third-eye, the heart-eye.

Do you have ever made the nightmare? The nightmare is so real and so to make us feel chilly and scared. Do you have ever made the sweet dream? The sweet dream makes us happy and encouraged. The dream is really to affect our emotion, feeling, thinking, judgment and action. So, it’s hard to see the situation and not moving in heart.

All things as what happened in the outer or inner of our body, are like a dream, which also affects our emotion, feeling, thinking, judgment and action. That also means that our heart is to move or is moved. This kind of moved or moving is not what you think about to touch your heart. On the contrary, such moved or moving is related to the static.

The original of our heart is stillness. Once we are affected by any circumstance as said above, our heart is easily moved or turned, such as a still flag in the air. Once the wind blows, the still flag is beginning to sway in the wind. The circumstance as said is like the blowing wind. The heart is like the flag.

In the Tang dynasty of China, a Buddhist master was teaching the Buddhist scripture and asked his disciples: “There is a flag swaying in the wind softly. What do you have seen? Is the flag moving from side to side, or is the wind moving? ” Some of his disciples said what are moving is the flag, not the wind. Some of his disciples said what are moving is the wind, not the flag. The sixth-founder of Zen, the master Hui Neng, went by this place and heard the question. Then he said, “What is moving, is neither the flag nor the wind, but is your heart.”

This story is telling us that our heart is easily affected and turned by the outer situation so as easily to be moved or shaken.

There is a story in the Buddhist scripture. One day, the Buddha walked in the road and saw a pile of silvers beside the road. Then, he told his disciple, Ananda, and said, ” I just see vipers over there.” Ananda came, saw the pile of silvers, and said, “ Yes, I also see vipers.” Then, they walked away and kept going forward.

A father and his son, walking behind the Buddha and Ananda, had heard the saying by the Buddha and Ananda. They felt curious, walked forward and saw the pile of silvers. They were so extremely happy to see those silvers and took the pile of silvers away. The father and his son didn't know that these silvers were stolen from the national treasure and were thrown by the stealer. They were regarded as the stealers and finally taken away by the state for questioning and were locked in jail.

This story tells us that we are easy to birth the greedy in heart when we see the outer things, such as the father and son see the said silvers. And it is also easy to make us stuck in troubles. That also means that we are easy to make us fall into any troubles, once our heart is not stillness but is moved (shaken) or is moving.

The same reasoning, we are easy to birth the hatred or resentment in heart when we see any situation or object, which are not corresponding to our will, or not content us. Or we are easy to birth the stupidity and obsession in heart when we see someone or something which we love. 

So we can see that there are a lot of things or events in the world are the flow of the phenomena caused by such three kinds of hearts, greedy, hatred or resentment, stupidity and obsession, because everyone’s heart is moving and affecting each other.

Furthermore, all of these are also becoming the circumstances. Then, the outer world of us is like the kaleidoscope, and which conceals us to see the truth, including the truth in our heart in the original, the stillness and the silence, nothing in there.

Suppose that everyone’s heart is stillness and not to affect each other, how it would be in the world? Of course, we could not ask others’ heart to be stillness, but we could ask for ourselves. Suppose everyone lets its heart return to the stillness and not be affected by any circumstance, what it would be in the outer and inner world of us?

Think about it, then, seeing the circumstance and unmoved in heart would not be difficult for us.

Chapter 12 ﹝13﹞ : Not to despise the un-learner is difficult.

(Chapter 12 ﹝13﹞ ) A Brief Talk about The Scripture of Forty-Two Chapters Said by Buddha

Co-translators in the time of Eastern Han Dynasty, China(A.D. 25 - 200) : Kasyapa Matanga and Zhu Falan (Who translated the said Scripture from Sanskrit into Chinese. )

Translator in modern time (A.D.2018: Tao Qing Hsu (Who translated the said Scripture from Chinese into English.)

Teacher and writer for explaining the said Scripture: Tao Qing Hsu 

Chapter 12: List the difficulties and exhort to practice   

The Buddha said,” There are twenty difficulties for people. Giving something to others is difficult when people are in poor. Learning the Dao is difficult when people are in the huge wealth and are the nobility. It is hard to the people when they must die because their lives have to be abandoned. Being able to see the scripture of Buddha is difficult. Being born in the time of Buddha is difficult. Enduring the erotic and desire is difficult. Seeing the self-interest and not to pursue it is difficult. No resentment when being humiliated is difficult. When having the authority and not to draw near to ordinary people  is difficult. When contact with things and no heart  is difficult. Learning widely and researching extensively are difficult. Removing the ego-arrogance is difficult. Not to despise the un-learner is difficult. Practicing the equality in heart is difficult. Not saying its right or wrong is difficult. Meeting the good-knowledge person is difficult. Seeing the Nature and learning the Dao are difficult. According to conditions to reform people so as to save them is difficult. Seeing the circumstance and unmoved in heart are difficult. Good at understanding the convenience is difficult.

Chapter 12 ﹝13﹞ : Not to despise the un-learner is difficult.

Not to despise the un-learner is difficult. It is the thirteenth difficulty in the twenty difficulties said by Buddha Shakyamuni in this Chapter.

“the un-learner” means those who have not yet learned Buddha. In the history or in Taiwan, we have experienced that those who have learned Buddha and have a little knowledge of Buddhism, however, who have not yet enlightened completely and have regarded themselves more better and superior than other people. When we are talking with them, we feel a lot of pressure and uncomfortable. That is because they have not yet removed the ego-arrogance.

They are our reflection. When we have learned Buddha, we have to self-reflect that do we have removed the ego-arrogance? Do we have despised the not-learner? When I am learning Buddha, I also have made such mistake. I also have despised those who are not interested in learning Buddha, till I have read the Buddhist Scripture which mentioned that everyone is equal in the body of Emptiness and all living beings have Buddha-nature.

A story about Bodhisattva Often-not-despising

In another chapter, I have mentioned a Bodhisattva who is named as Often-not-despising. When he was a Buddhist monk and saw the people, he closed his palms together, respected and bowed to those persons, and said to them that you would become a Buddha in the future, so I do not dare to despise you. He often did that and said such things. Some people regarded him as a mad person and threw stones to him. He ran away, and then stood far away to face those people, always closed his palms together, respected and bowed to those people, and said loudly to them that all of you would become Buddha in the future, so I do not dare to despise you. That is why people call him Bodhisattva Often-not-despising. The story is talked by Buddha Shakyamuni in Buddhist Scripture. This story reminds us that we should not despise any person, even though they are un-learner in Buddhism.

If we are lucky to have knowledge, specialty, and wisdom, or we own the special resources, we should not despise those persons who are suffering in life.

In our life, we have ever faced different people who own different kind of knowledge, specialty, and technology, and even they own the special resources in country or in the world. They own the superiority and thus despise the lives of the ordinary people.

Most people are living in the poverty, and are suffering in life. Unfortunately, they do not know why they are poor and suffering in life. They do not have enough knowledge and specialty to improve their life, let alone to own the special resources in country. They might know that they are despised. But, they cannot do any thing to change the fact by positive wisdom.

If we are lucky to have knowledge, specialty, and wisdom, or we own the special resources, we should not despise those persons who are suffering in life. It is better for us to do our best to help them liberate themselves from the suffering, because we are equal in the body of Emptiness and have the Buddha-nature. They would become Buddha in the future. To help them is also meant to help ourselves.

The best helpfulness is to give those who ask for help the true wisdom.

There are many ways to help people. But, do you have found that some people are zealous to help other people, however, it makes the zealous persons being tangled in the helped peoples’ problem. And then, such problem would birth new problem to the zealous persons. In other word, it is not only the problem of being helped people. It has become the problems of both of them.

 

In my practical experience, I have found that some people who ask for the help from outside are because they are lack of wisdom to deal with their personal mental problem. In other word, when they ask for people from outside to do things and help them, that is not the master problem. What the master problem is their disorder in mental activity. They are tangling and stocking in their negative emotion and thinking. And that affect their relationship with their family and the methods to handle things. They also have felt about their mental problem and attend the mind course. What have shocked me is that such course almost is no helpful for them. Their disorder in mental activity has still been there. Why? Because such course does not touch the core of the true wisdom.

So, if we are zealous to help people, we should not be blind. It is better for us to use our brain and wisdom so as to avoid that we fall into the tangled problem and trouble. The best helpfulness is to give those who ask for help the true wisdom. The second helpfulness is to give them knowledge. When they have wisdom and knowledge, they would be strong in heart and independent in life, and finally could find the way, including knowledge and specialty, to improve their problem, including the poverty.    

If we understand such method and have such ability to help people, we would not despise the un-learner.

Supplementary note: Dao is transliterated from Chinese, meaning way and method, deeper meaning as a system of learning or religion. Dao is Tao, which is transliterated from Chinese. The original meaning of Dao is the way and path, and it is extended to be the truth of life that we can learn and practice in our lives.

Chapter 12 ﹝1﹞: Giving something to others is difficult when people are in poor

(Chapter 12 ﹝1﹞  ) A Brief Talk about The Scripture of Forty-Two Chapters Said by Buddha

Co-translators in the time of Eastern Han Dynasty, China(A.D. 25 - 200) : Kasyapa Matanga and Zhu Falan (Who translated the said Scripture from Sanskrit into Chinese. )

Translator in modern time (A.D.2018: Tao Qing Hsu (Who translated the said Scripture from Chinese into English.)

Teacher and writer for explaining the said Scripture: Tao Qing Hsu

Chapter 12: List the difficulties and exhort to practice   

The Buddha said,” There are twenty difficulties for people. Giving something to others is difficult when people are in poor. Learning the Dao is difficult when people are in the huge wealth and are the nobility. It is hard to the people when they must die because their lives have to be abandoned. Being able to see the scripture of Buddha is difficult. Being born in the time of Buddha is difficult. Enduring the erotic and desire is difficult. Seeing the self-interest and not to pursue it is difficult. No resentment when being humiliated is difficult. When having the authority and not to draw near to ordinary people  is difficult. When contact with things and no heart  is difficult. Learning widely and researching extensively are difficult. Removing the ego-arrogance is difficult. Not to despise the un-learner is difficult. Practicing the equality in heart is difficult. Not saying its right or wrong is difficult. Meeting the good-knowledge person is difficult. Seeing the Nature and learning the Dao are difficult. According to conditions to reform people so as to save them is difficult. Seeing the circumstance and unmoved in heart are difficult. Good at understanding the convenience is difficult.

Chapter 12 ﹝1﹞: Giving something to others is difficult when people are in poor

Poverty in mental is the real poverty.

”Giving something to others is difficult when people are in poor.” In general speaking, what we have known about the poor is meant to the shortage in material matters in its life. That is also the meaning of the poor in this sentence.

But, we have little known about “poverty” in mental realm. If people are not poor in material matters, but “poor” in mental realm, they would be not willing to give what they have owned to others. I think that such persons are really the poor. Why? According to my observation from the history and the society, such persons would experience the material realm from good to bad; that is from rich to poor. In Buddhism, stinginess or mean in money in material or in mental realm is the bad reason for our current life and our future life, because it would really result in the poverty in material.

On the contrary, if people are poor in material matters, but are not “poor” in mental realm, it is possible for them to give something to others. I think that they are really the richer. Why? According to my observation, such persons would experience the material realm from bad to good; that is from poor to rich. In Buddhism, generousness in material or in mental realm is the good reason for our current life and our future life. And it would thus result in the wealth in material.

Therefore, those who are both “poor” in material matters and in mental realm, and those who are not poor in material matters, but “poor” in mental realm, are really the poor. That is what I define about the poor in here.     

In material and in mental, to be the recipient is not as good as to be the giver.

The recipient here is mean to those persons who are the poverty in material or in mental, and are happy to receive money or anything from others. Why to be the recipient is not as good as to be the giver? If you have choices, which one would you hope to be? Think about it.

Some people like to be the recipient and might think what they have from others is reasonable, even though they are not poor in the material life. In psychology, we found that the personality of such person is cline to have the ready-made and comfortable life, but not the upright and hard working life relying on self. If we profoundly observe them, we could find that they are not abounding in the mental life or even un-contented in the material life, and it is thus easy to make them have the anxiety and depression.

Only when we are rich in the mental and material life, and healthy in mental, it could be possible for us to be a generous giver. According to the research and my personal observation, the generous givers are more positive at ease in their life, and it thus makes them have a longevity life.    

Three kinds of giving in Buddhism

As we have mentioned in chapter 10, there are three kinds of giving in Buddhism. That is as follows:

A.     Giving money or belongings to others. Money or belongings could also be replaced by food, clothes, medicine, or to be the volunteer and so on.

B.     Giving Buddha-law to others. Buddha-law contains all of the law which is good for people, including the worldly and unworldly creation. In a word, it means giving the wisdom to others in any ways.

C.    Giving fearlessness to others, which includes helping people get rid of fear with our courage, saving them from the dangerous situation, and consoling them with soft words so to let them abandon the fear. Who is the fearlessness-giver (Who gives people the fearlessness)? Which you can make a reference in this article: A Brief Talk about Pusa World-Sounds-Perceiving in Universally Door Chapter

If people are the poor as defined, it is really hard for them to give any one of the three kinds of giving. On the contrary, if people are not the poor as defined, it would be more willing to give any one of the three kinds of giving to others unconditionally.

Once people are “poor” in mental realm, it would be possible to cause them to be the really poor person in material matters. There is the reason and the consequence for it as we have mentioned above. In a word, it is because of shortage of the virtue and wisdom.

The Profoundly Meaning of Giving

So, how to change the situation of poverty in present life and in the future life? The Key is to give something to others unconditionally. The said principle is easy to know, however, it is hard to do, especially, when we are in the stingy mind.

Someone might disagree to this idea. Most people think that to resolve the problem of personal poverty is to work and to earn money. However, we have ever heard that being busier in work would lead to be poorer. Why?

Giving something to others is the basic teaching in Buddhism and is also the basic learning. It is the first method in six kinds of salvation about how to self-saving and how to save others people to liberate from the suffering. I tell you why.

First, giving something to others unconditionally and with no-expecting and no-demanding, it could eliminate our selfish mind and the arrogant-ego. The selfishness is the imprisoned mind. It would cause the suffering in mind and any affliction in life. However, most people have no such self perceiving. When we have taken the first step as said giving, it could decrease our selfish mind and arrogant-ego little by little, and it is also meant to release our imprisoned mind.

Secondly, giving something to others unconditionally could eliminate our heart of desire and greedy. Selfish people desire more in heart and are greedy in anything. Generally, they demand more from others. However, they would not give something to others unconditionally. Once their desire and greedy are not contented, it would cause them to have the emotion of wrath and hatred in heart.

In this situation, they would bring the disaster and affliction to themselves and others. For example, as we know, the war could bring the more death and more poverty, the reason of war is because of the desire, greedy heart, selfish mind and arrogant-ego that the person who owns any power to start the war. Do you have ever heard who gain a lot of fortune because of the war? Only a few people, right? And sometimes, most of them are scolded by the public. That is because of the selfishness of people to cause the poverty of most people.

In the history, most of those who start the war are death in suicide in the end, due to that they could not bear the pain in life. Or they have been killed by those persons who are more selfish or have the more desire. All such persons are lack of wisdom.

Therefore, once we have taken the first step as said giving, it would also mean to remove our desire and greedy heart, and also mean to prevent any disaster and affliction. A good thought and a good deed would affect the world peace and bring the wealth of a society and a country.

Third, it could increase our wisdom. When we have removed our selfish mind, desire and greedy heart, our wisdom would be thus arisen at the same time. Once our wisdom is arisen, wealth and bliss are waiting there for us. Why? I tell you a secret. There is a saying, ”God help those who help themselves.” To increase our wisdom is to help ourselves. That is why God would help us. As we have mentioned in chapter 10, such wealth and bliss are never ended. That is also why I have said that giving something to others would let us have the wealth. The name “God” could be also replaced by “Buddha” or “Bodhisattva”.

A true story about being lack of wisdom to lead to the poverty

When we have the wisdom, we could thus avoid any cause to lead to the poverty. I tell you a true story in our society about being lack of wisdom to lead to the poverty.

As we know, a judge is paid very well in the work. There is a judge who has a lot of lust for women. Therefore, he has four wives and eight children, which is having two children with each wife. His children do not work and still depend on the economic support from their father, even his children have grown up. That is because his children are used to the ready-made and comfortable life and the huge living expense is offered by his father- the judge. His four wives also rely on the husband's financial support in huge living expense.

We question why he has so much money to raise his family-the four wives and eight children? For supporting so many family members in economic, the salary of the said judge is not enough to pay the living expenses. Then, he begins to do the dirty thing, taking bribes. And he does the corruption from his work.

Do you know? When he seems to be responsible to his wives and is a good father to his children, he really is not responsible to his job, the public and the country.

Finally, he is in jail, lost his work and his salary. Meanwhile, he has to give back his illegal gains to the government. In other word, he is from the rich to the poverty. That is because he is lack of wisdom. When a person is lack of wisdom, it is impossible for him to save himself to liberate from the suffering. That is, the shortage of wisdom would push him in the sea of suffering.

Giving is the first method in six kinds of salvation in Buddhism.

So, when we have the wisdom, we would have the ability to save us liberate from the suffering little by little. Once we have totally liberated from the suffering, we would have the ability to liberate others from the suffering. That is why giving something to others is the first method in six kinds of salvation in Buddhism. It is the one of the basis to go into the path of Buddha.  

Giving something to others also means to offer something to others. As we know, the problem about the unequal in poverty and wealth in the world is always existed. The 80% wealth of the world is owned by the 20% population of the world. In other word, more than half population in the world is in the poverty. In my opinions, that is because most people are lack of wisdom, let alone to be ignorant.

A lot of ideology is fooling people. But, it is valued as the knowledge in the academic. Only the human are improved in wisdom and remove the ignorance, the real equal wealth could be possible to be achieved.

To eliminate the poverty is not so difficult. The easy way is mentioned above. However, for the people who are suffering the poverty, how many of them would be willing to give something to others? Let alone to mention that they have the chance to read this article.

Giving something to others is more blessed than accepting something from others. Which one would you like to be? If we wish we are the person who has the ability to give something to others, we would then be more blessed and richer in life.

Supplementary note: Dao is transliterated from Chinese, meaning way and method, deeper meaning as a system of learning or religion. Dao is Tao, which is transliterated from Chinese. The original meaning of Dao is the way and path, and it is extended to be the truth of life that we can learn and practice in our lives.