PureInsight | April 18, 2022
[PureInsight.org] This is a lesson about a cultivator who, in this lifetime when Dafa is widely disseminated in the world, was unable to obtain a human body because he had unintentionally undermined the Buddha Fa in the past. I hope that fellow cultivators and people of the world who have not obtained the Fa do not under any circumstances undermine the Buddha Fa, whether intentional or not. That kind of sinful karma is too gigantic!
It is said that in the latter stages when the venerable Shakyamuni was in the world disseminating his Fa, many people listened to him speak. Among those who came to listen was myself. I was about 14 or 15 years old at the time. Another monk about five years older stayed in the same abode with me. After Shakyamuni reached nirvana, many disciples wanted to record what they could recall from Venerable One’s teachings. This part of history has been recorded in Shakyamuni's biography. What I will discuss has not been recorded. At the time, Shakyamuni's major disciples recounted orally what they could remember, and other disciples wrote it down. One day, it was the monk's turn to write down his account of what he could recall. (This was the monk I lived with). That night, a Brahman teacher interfered with him in a dream. This monk was not so focused on actual cultivation, and he had a strong attachment to showing off his differences. As a result, when he awoke, he picked up his writing utensil and added his own words and interpretations to his account, which was later included in the initial “So I Have Heard” section of the Buddhist Heart Sutra. Although he did not intentionally try to undermine the Buddha Fa, adding in his own words interfered with the dissemination of the Buddha Fa to later generations, and the consequences are as one might imagine.
His cultivation practice was not successful in that lifetime. Upon death, he fell straight into hell. Although the time he spent there was not long, he was subjected to much suffering. Once, he reincarnated into the mainland China during the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), but he reincarnated as a working horse. One day it was raining heavily, and he was forced to toil away arduously on the land. After toiling for some time, the rain slowly subsided. Feeling deep grief, he cried remorsefully. At this moment, a flock of wild geese flew down from the sky. He thought, “If only I could reincarnate into a wild goose.” It just so happened that an immortal was passing by, saw how pitiful he was, and noticed that he was previously one of Shakyamuni's disciples who had received the Buddha Fa in person. He thus arranged for him to reincarnate into a wild goose.
In his next life, he found that being a wild goose was not always joyful. A famine broke out in the local area, and he stole some wheat to eat from a peasant's household. Originally his heavy karma prevented him from obtaining a human body, but then he reincarnated into a bird and stole food from people during a poverty-stricken time. This behavior accumulated even more karma. His actions led a flock of wild geese to follow his lead in eating people's wheat. Soon after, he died in an epidemic. His main soul then dropped back into hell to be subjected to more suffering. Two hundred years later when it was time for him to exit hell, he came across myself and another female goddess. The moment he saw me he exclaimed, “It is me, your older brother from the time of Shakyamuni!” I saw it truly was him! I responded, “You caused disorder to the Buddha Fa by adding your own words and interpretations, which is why you suffered so much over so many years. What do you want to do now?” He said, “If the Buddha Fa is disseminated widely in the future, I will not reincarnate into a human body so as to avoid the attachment of showing off, which would undermine the Buddha Fa again and then bring more suffering to myself. It is time for me to leave hell. I will now be whatever the gods arrange! I hope when the time comes, we can reunite again.” I responded, “If you do not want a human body, how can we reunite?” At this moment, a beautiful little swallow flew down from the sky. Seeing this he told me, “I will reincarnate into the swallow that perches upon the eaves of your house! That way, we will be together every day.” “Okay!” I said. “See you then!”
Today, he is the pretty swallow that perches upon the eaves of my house. Everyday he chirps a few times when he sees me. That is his way of greeting me. When we study the Fa, he often perches on the clothesline, his eyes wide open staring at us. When we all read aloud, he seems as though he is completely engrossed listening. I know he was thinking, “In this lifetime, I absolutely will not do anything that could damage Buddha Fa and cause myself more suffering! So long as I assimilate to the Buddha Fa, I will have a good final destination!”
However, without a human body one cannot be a “Fa-Rectification Period Dafa Disciple.” Is this not the greatest pity? Later I realized that one cannot just obtain a human body because one so desires.
Cherish it! This predestined opportunity is hard to come by. The human body is hard to obtain!
Chinese version: https://big5.zhengjian.org/node/270083
