Gavampati was “foremost in receiving the offerings of the gods.” A religious scholar, he belongs to the group that manifests the law of cause and effect.
The Sanskrit word Gavampati means “ruminating ox,” a reflection of the way his mouth would move, like that of an ox eating. The Buddha explained that in a past lifetime when Gavampati was a novice monk, he saw an old monk chanting a sutra. Due to his old age and having lost many teeth, he chanted very unclearly.
Gavampati laughed at the old monk, “When you chant a sutra, you look like an ox eating.” The old monk immediately told him to repent, “You laughed at me and you will receive retribution because of these words.” The novice monk was terrified and immediately repented, but he still fell into the path of animals and was reborn as an ox for five hundred lifetimes. Therefore, he still had the habit of an ox in this lifetime.
We may think nothing of making fun of others. But we do not realize how serious the retribution for poking fun will be. Through this account, the Buddhas and bodhisattvas show us the retribution of hurtful remarks. All harsh remarks bring this kind of retribution. The novice monk was just mocking the older monk, which is not as harmful as lying, divisive speech, or enticing speech would be. But he still had the retribution of being reborn as an ox for five hundred lifetimes. Lying and divisive speech will bring even more serious retributions.
Although Gavampati had become a monk and attained arhatship, he still had the habit of an ox. The Buddha told him not to go out on alms rounds, so as not to give anyone a chance to laugh at him and thereby plant the same cause for themselves. He was told to go to the heavens to receive offerings from the devas. Having extraordinary abilities and knowing that he was a great arhat, the devas would respect him, not mock him. Therefore, he received offerings in the heavens, not in this world.
~ Based on Ven. Master Chin Kung's 2003 lecture series on the Amitabha Sutra