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Venerable Kairen: No one is wrong, it's all the fault of samsara!

Han characters 2025-04-22

No one is wrong, it's all the fault of reincarnation!

The jeweler and the Elder Desher

"A man is born in his mother's womb: and he that doeth evil falleth into hell,

Those who are upright ascend to the heavenly realm, and those who miss all of them will attain nirvana."

["Southern Transmission of the Dharma Sentence Sutra" Evil Product No. (126 verses)]

This verse was said by the Buddha when he was giving the Garden of Solitude to the Gishu because of a jeweler's accusation against the Elder Dessa:

For twelve years, Elder Disha, who had attained fruit near the Garden of Solitude, had been going to a jeweler's house to take care of him as if he were her own son. One day, when the Elder went to the jeweler's house to make an aldervish, the jeweler was cutting the meat, and it happened that the king of Bosnian sent a large gem to be decorated by the jeweler, and the jeweler was so frightened that he hurriedly put down the knife in his hand, took the jewel with his hands that smelled of flesh, and put it on a plate, and then went inside to wash his hands and prepare to work immediately. At this time, a beautiful egret was kept in the jeweler's house, and when he smelled the meat, he took the jewel with the smell of fishy flesh as meat, and swallowed it in one gulp—the elder of the house alone watched carefully.

The jeweler came out after washing his hands and disappeared the gem, and was very anxious, and the whole family, young and old, had asked, but no one saw the gem, and no one took the gem; So the jeweler was angry and told his wife, "The elder must have stolen the gem." The wife hurriedly said, "You must not doubt the elder, he has been in and out of our house for twelve years, and I have never found any fault in him."

But the gems were still nowhere to be found, and the jeweler, in a hurry, asked the elders bluntly, "Have you taken my gems?" "Layman: I didn't take it." "No one has been here except you, who will take it if you don't take it?" Give it back to me!"

Elder Desher always denied that he had taken the gem and did not tell its whereabouts. The jeweler told his wife, "There is no one else in the shop but him, he must have taken it, and I don't think I tortured him, he will not admit it." The wife was anxious to defend the elders, believing that the elders would not break the vows, and repeatedly prevented her husband from acting disrespectfully or even persecutively towards the elders.

But if the king's jewel is lost, how can he account for it to the king? He shuddered at the thought that the king would punish him for serious crimes—even capital crimes. The jeweler was so distraught that he lost his mind, and he was determined that no one but the elder would take the gem, for he was the only one at the time. So he hung Elder Disha up and beat him with a stick until the elder was covered in bruises and blood was spilling out. At this time, the egret smelled the smell of blood and rushed over to peck the elder, and the jeweler was still angry, and kicked the egret away, and for a moment the force was too strong, and the egret stumbled to the side, and flapped its wings a few times and did not move.

At this time, Elder Disha said, "Layman, please untie me and see if the egret is dead?" "You'll die with him, too." "Oh! Lay people, please stop your anger! The gem was actually swallowed by an egret, and I was afraid that if I said it, it would die, so I put up with it, and now that he is dead, I can tell the truth."

The jeweler cut open the bird's belly, found the gem, and knelt before the elders in shame to repent and ask for forgiveness. Elder Desa said, "It's not your fault, it's not my fault, it's all samsara's fault. Because people can't see the causes thoroughly, they act according to the existing way of thinking, so they make mistakes again and again, and keep creating karma. If you really need my forgiveness, I can certainly forgive you." "If you really forgive me, please come to your house tomorrow and receive my offerings as usual." "Oh! Layman, from now on I will not go to anyone's house to receive offerings, because I have entered your house and this has happened. Therefore, from now on, as long as I stand at the door of every house to carry the bowl and keep to the precepts of one head and one do, I will have enough foot strength to beg from house to house."

Elder Tisha left the jewelry merchant and soon became nirvana because of excessive bleeding. The dead egret was also reincarnated in the belly of the jeweler's wife and reincarnated as their son, and the jeweler went to hell to suffer after beating the arhat who had attained the fruit. The jeweler's wife always honored the Three Jewels and took care of the monks, and ascended to the heavenly realm after her death. In order to confirm this, the bhikshus went to the Buddha, who taught, "There are people who are reborn in the human world: those who do bad things go to hell to suffer, those who ascend to the heavenly realm for good things enjoy good rewards, and those who have missed out (Note 1) attain nirvana." The Buddha reaffirmed this meaning by saying, "Someone is born in the womb: those who do evil will fall into hell, those who are righteous will ascend to heaven, and those who miss all will attain nirvana."

The Buddha said that many bhikshus immediately attained the first fruits, Sudra.

Note 1: Leakage: "Leakage" has the meaning of dwelling, flowing, and venting, and is another name for "trouble". The troubles of ordinary people often leak through the six doors such as the eyes and ears, and then circulate through the three realms in life and death, so this trouble is called leakage. When the leakage is exhausted, the troubles are eliminated, and liberation is attained.

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