The Buddhist Podcast for Stories to Inspire, Mindfulness, and Spirituality
#117 - Remaining Unmoved
Host: Venerable Miao Guang
Listen to the full story here. (Or on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcast.)
Everything in this world, regardless of time or place, is always half and half. For example, day and night, male and female, good and evil are all examples of “half-and-half.” This is also the case in any community at any given time, as there is always the good half and the bad half. Even the Buddha, who led a pure and harmonious community, sometimes had to deal with unpleasant incidents.
In the Buddha’s time, many people left their original faith to follow the Buddha’s teachings. Eventually, his community grew bigger and this sparked jealousy among the leaders of other faiths. One leader desperately tried to convince his followers to stay by declaring, “We are just as holy as the Buddha, please stay!” However, this did not work. So, these jealous leaders gathered for a meeting.
One leader said, “We must do something to bring back our followers! We are losing more offerings every day.”
Another leader added, “Yes, that’s right! The Buddha now receives all our offerings. This must stop. Maybe...we can spread false rumors to give the Buddha a bad name, then our followers will surely come back!”
One younger leader said, “That’s easy to do. We can ask Cinca Manavika to make everyone believe the Buddha fell in love with her. After all, she is the most beautiful woman in town.”
Everyone at the meeting agreed. So, they went to see Cinca Manavika and told her of their plans. Feeling obligated, Cinca Manavika agreed to help.
Every evening since that day, Cinca Manavika would wait by the entrance of Jetavana Monastery, where the Buddha resided. As people left the monastery in the evening, they saw Cinca Manavika waiting and asked her, “What are you doing here so late??”
“None of your business,” Cinca Manavika would reply. When everyone had left, she would spend the night nearby at a friend’s house. Early the next morning, she would return to wait by the entrance of the monastery again, making it appear as if she had stayed overnight at the monastery.
When people coming in saw her, they would ask her, “Where are you coming from so early in the morning?”
Again, she would reply, “None of your business.”
This became Cinca Manavika’s daily routine for three months. By then, rumors had spread far and wide about Cinca Manavika’s daily visits to the Buddha in the middle of the night.
One day, the Buddha was teaching all the bhiksus at the monastery. Cinca Manavika, dressed up as a pregnant woman, intended to humiliate the Buddha in front of everyone. As everyone sat quietly listening intently to the Buddha’s teachings, Cinca Manavika suddenly stood up, pointed at the Buddha, and said in a coy voice, “Oh Sakyamuni, you speak so much of compassion and morality, but what are you going to do about our child in my womb? I am pregnant by you, yet you do nothing for our baby.”
After hearing such an accusation, everyone began to whisper among themselves. Those with deep faith in the Buddha looked shocked and confused, and those without began to waver and doubt the Buddha. Everyone became unsettled. However, the Buddha remained unmoved, pausing only for a moment, and then calmly resumed his teaching.
Seeing the Buddha calm and composed, everyone settled down and resumed listening to the Buddha. This greatly upset Cinca Manavika, and she began jumping and shouting, trying even harder to disturb the silence of the assembly. While jumping, the basin she had hidden under her clothes to simulate pregnancy, fell to the floor in a loud thud.
Now, everyone knew it was Cinca Manavika’s evil plan to defame the Buddha by faking her pregnancy. Utterly horrified and ashamed, Cinca Manavika ran away.
Despite their failure in this attempt, the leaders of the other faiths did not give up trying to ruin the reputation of the Buddha and the Sangha. Next, they obliged a courtesan named Sundari to try to seduce the bhiksus of the monastery.
However, despite her using her best efforts, she was unsuccessful. Sadly, she was later killed by the people who hired her and they began spreading rumors that she was murdered by a bhisku. In the face of such hate, the Buddha showed great wisdom and composure. The truth was eventually revealed and the real wrongdoer was caught. In the end, the reputation of both the Buddha and the monastic community was free from blame.
This story highlights the Buddha’s state of mind, which is an immovable mind. He calmly faced the good and evil of this Saha world without discriminations or afflictions. The Buddha understood that all matters arise and cease due to causes and conditions. He also understood that light cannot exist without darkness and vice versa. Likewise, good cannot exist without evil. Everything in this world is “half and half.” If we let ourselves be influenced by everything that comes our way, we would quickly lose our reasoning and logical thinking. We may even commit bad karma leading to the endless cyclic existence of life. When facing such situations, we must learn from the Buddha by remaining calm and unmoved. This means to be free from all phenomena and unperturbed. If we are externally attached to phenomena, our inner mind will at once be disturbed. But if we are externally detached from phenomena, our inner nature will be unperturbed. If we can practice this, we can transcend the entanglements of everything “half-and-half” and reveal our true inner nature.
Just as Venerable Master Hsing Yun says,
“Phenomena have no good or bad;
The distinction arises from perception.
Circumstances are neither favorable nor unfavorable;
The distinction is only present in the minds of people.”
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《星雲說喻》英文有聲書
Storyteller：妙光法師
點此聆聽：https://bit.ly/2Yogme0
不動心
任何時代、任何一個團體都會有好的一半，也有壞的一半，就像這世間，一半好人，一半壞人；一半白天，一半黑暗；一半男人，一半女人……都是一半一半的。即使在佛陀領導的清淨美好的僧團，也會有一些不美好的事情發生。
曾有一位年輕貌美的女郎名叫戰遮，為外道所買通。
有一天趁著佛陀登座說法時，戰遮女把自己扮成孕婦，企圖破壞佛陀的名譽。講堂內大眾正鴉雀無聲，聚精會神地聆聽佛陀演說妙諦，戰遮女突然站起來，嗲聲嗲氣地指著佛陀說：
「釋迦﹗你滿口的慈悲道德，但是我肚子裡的孩子，你打算怎樣？」
深信的弟子們一聽驚慌失色；信心不堅定的弟子，開始動搖起來。但是佛陀神色不變，心平氣和繼續說法。
戰遮女一看佛陀如如不為所動，於是跳跳嚷嚷，想要擾亂清靜的道場。就在蹦跳之間，藏在衣內，綁著小盆子的繩子斷裂，小盆子咚咚咚地滾了出來，惡毒的計謀暴露無遺，戰遮女羞慚地抱頭鼠竄。
外道一看陷害佛陀的技倆失敗，仍然不死心，又慫恿一位名叫孫陀利的女子，經常出入祇園精舍，以誣害清淨的僧團。孫陀利甚至被外道所殺，嫁禍於僧團，但是佛陀以大智慧，使得原兇就擒，洗除了僧團的冤枉。
佛陀以不動的心，面對善惡各半的娑婆世界，任它生，任它滅，不起分別，不生憂惱。他明白沒有黑暗，就沒有光明；沒有罪惡，就沒有善美，外在世界的是非善惡沒有一定的標準，隨之起舞，不但不明其理，甚而隨之造下罪業，輪迴復輪迴。
境界面前只須不動心，外離相，內不亂，便能超越一半一半的糾葛，照見清明本性。
就如星雲大師所言：
法無善惡，善惡是法；
境無損益，損益在人。
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