Reborn as a Fox

Venerable Master Chin Kung often tells the story of Master Baizhang of the Tang dynasty and a fox.

Once a monastic said something wrong and his karmic result was to be reborn as a fox for five hundred lifetimes. Someone had asked the master “Is an accomplished practitioner still governed by the law of cause and effect, causality?” The master mistakenly responded, “No, an accomplished practitioner is not governed by the law of cause and effect.”

His wrong answer brought a negative karmic result because he misled that person. Therefore, he was reborn as a fox.

The fox was diligent in its cultivation and succeeded in gaining extraordinary abilities, so it could show itself in human form. It knew the karmic cause of its being a fox but could do nothing to change the karmic result. It met Master Baizhang, an awakened monastic, and came to listen to his lecture every day by turning itself into an old practitioner.

People at the cultivation center got to know this old practitioner, not realizing that he was a fox. Only Master Baizhang knew the truth.

One day, the fox told the master its story and asked the master to help it. The master told the fox to come the next day and ask the same question the fox was asked. The next day, the fox asked him, “Is an accomplished practitioner still governed by the law of cause and effect?” Master Baizhang answered, “An accomplished practitioner is not ignorant of the law of cause and effect.”

With the answer changed from “not governed by” to “not ignorant of,” the fox was able to end its life as a fox and died the next day. Master Baizhang told some people that a fox had died in the mountain and took them there to bury it. When they saw the body of the fox, Master Baizhang told them its story.

Teacher tells this story often to remind us of the seriousness of giving a wrong answer. If we are not certain of the answer, it is best to reply honestly that we do not know.

Buddhas in Disguise

As you continue to meditate on compassion, when you see someone suffer, your first response becomes not mere pity but deep compassion. You feel for that person respect and even gratitude, because you now know that whoever prompts you to develop compassion by his or her suffering is in fact giving you one of the greatest gifts of all, as you are being helped to develop that very quality you need most in your progress toward enlightenment.

That is why we say in Tibet that the beggar who is asking you for money, or the sick, old woman wringing your heart, may be the buddhas in disguise, manifesting on your path to help you grow in compassion and so move toward buddhahood.

~ Sogyal Rinpoche

Praise Others' Goodness and Forget Their Faults

How do we practice? Where do we start? We start with us. In our time of democracy, freedom, and openness, individual rights are very important. Therefore, we cannot interfere with or criticize others. We can only examine ourselves to see if we have these faults.

It is very important to start with examining ourselves. We should be modest and praise others, even when they praise themselves and disparage everyone else. If someone has ninety-nine faults and only one merit, we praise the merit and do not mention or keep thinking of the ninety-nine faults. This way our thoughts are positive and we reduce our afflictions.

So to practice, we praise the goodness of others and forget their faults. In so doing, we focus on cultivating our purity and goodness.

Precepts Transcend Time and Space

Question: Why do you say that precepts are unchanging and eternal? Don't they change as society changes?

Response: When we think of rules and laws we usually think of what are worldly laws. It is necessary to amend these laws periodically to suit the people and living conditions of the time.

But precepts are supramundane rules, not worldly rules. If you want to transcend this world, the Six Paths, and the Ten Realms, you have to adhere to precepts.

Precepts are rules that all Buddhas and bodhisattvas adhere to in their cultivation over countless lifetimes. They are rules for transcending the Six Paths and the Ten Realms, not worldly rules for daily life. That is why they are unchangeable, the Five Precepts in particular. Do you think the Five Precepts can be changed? Is no killing wrong? How about no stealing, no sexual misconduct, no lying, and no intoxicants? They are unchangeable. They are major precepts by principle and transcend time and space.

~ Based on Ven. Master Chin Kung's 2003 lecture series on the Amitabha Sutra

Compassion Can Cause No Pain

The first thing to remember is that compassion can cause no pain. The compassion that Buddha taught does not cause hurt and has no power to cause pain. If it hurts or causes painful feelings we would not call it compassion.

True compassion is the positive energy that flows from your heart. When you feel that positive energy you experience comfort, not discomfort. As you express and share that positive energy you bring comfort and healing to the others.

Say for example your friend or family member gets sick or is seriously wounded in an accident, what would be the normal first reaction? It would be to get sad, upset and angry because you don't want them to suffer. Because you now feel their pain, you might say, "I feel compassion for them and it hurts me a great deal."

What you are calling compassion in this situation is actually only the negative reaction to the suffering of another. Negative reaction is usually blind and mechanical and it radiates negative energy. You get sad, unhappy and disturbed by the pain of others and your mechanical emotional impulses discharge a negative energy. The pain you experience is the result of this. Not the result of compassion.

Many people mistakenly call such negative emotions compassion and then believe that compassion causes our pain.

Please be clear, I am not saying there is something wrong if you react negatively to someone's suffering [and] find it painful. But I am saying that in Buddhism we simply don't call such negative emotions compassion.

For example, the negative energy that you transmit from your pain is a result of the sadness, grief, and confusion. It can carry no healing potential. But compassion is about sharing healing. It is about sending harmonious energy to the person who is in distress. Sadness carries no healing power. Fear, grief and anger carry no healing power. But your true compassion does.

~ Bhante Wimala