Translated By Tara Lau
Karma is Incredible.
When Sakyamuni Buddha was alive, there were two brothers. Their parents died early and left behind a huge fortune. The brothers had very different interests and ambitions. The younger one valued righteousness while the older brother liked to make money. The younger brother enjoyed studying Buddhism and was very philanthropic. His wealth was diminishing as he constantly gave his money away to the poor. The elder brother was good at socialising and busy running various businesses, he was able to accumulate more wealth as time passed.
One day, the elder brother was trying to lecture his brother: “Our parents died early and left us with all the money. As a son, you should be more aware of how to manage our family wealth. You should work hard to increase it in order to comfort the souls of our parents in heaven. But you are giving away all our money and wasting time on Buddhist scriptures, meditation and chanting. If your wealth continues to decrease, not only you should feel sorry for your parents, you would be laughed at by our neighbors!”
The young brother replied: “Brother, you think carrying forward our parents’ inheritance is a way of showing filial piety to them. This is merely your worldly view. I see this very differently. A person should diligently follow the ten good deeds, make offerings to the Three Jewels, create good karma and dedicate the merits to all sentient beings and the parents so that they can be free from sufferings and reborn in a good place for eternal liberation. This is the ultimate way of achieving filial piety!”
The two brothers do not agree with each other. Later the young brother took refuge under the Buddha and became a monk. He focused on practicing Taoism diligently. After a few years, he achieved Arahantship. The elder brother was angry after hearing this news because he thought his brother was irresponsible by becoming a monk.
The older brother was busy chasing fame and fortune. He would do anything to achieve his goals. He didn’t care if his actions would harm anyone as long as he could make money. He became extremely wealthy. However, wealth cannot save his life and he died of illness when he was in his fifties. There is a saying: “Nothing can be taken away, only karma stays with you.” Because he was too greedy and stingy, he refused to help others. He also framed and hurt many people when he was alive. After his death, he was reborn into the animal realm as a cow.
The cow was bought by a merchant. It had to work long hours in the farm miserably everyday without any rest, and was often whipped by its owner.
One day, the young brother happened to pass by a hillside when he was asking for alms. Because he was an Arhat, he looked at the cow with his Taoist eyes and knew that the cow was his brother’s reincarnation. So he tried to enlighten it and said: “Brother, where is the money you earned so hard your whole life? You have always despised the ascetics on the grounds that practicing Buddhism cannot increase wealth, thinking that it was meaningless. You think accumulating wealth is the only purpose of life. Now Buddhism has freed me from the six paths of reincarnation and eliminated sufferings for ultimate wisdom. Whereas you reborn as a cow because of your greed. You should repent!” After that, he used his magic power to make the cow understand the principle of karma and his own faults. Although the cow could not speak, it felt sad and it was weeping. He knew he had done many bad things in the past. He was greedy and didn’t believe in the Dharma. He looked down on the saints and didn’t listen to his brother’s words of wisdom. He regretted immeasurably.
The younger brother knew his brother was repentant, so he asked the owner if he could buy the cow and release it. He took it to the temple and raised it. The cow took refuge in the Three Jewels and was taught to chant the Buddha’s name. Soon after the cow died, he was reborn in the Trayast Heaven and became a deity.
Dear friends, if people are greedy and focus only on pursuing fame and fortune, they will bound to suffer by their bad karma. We must know, “You come without a penny when you are born, and you will leave without a penny when you die.” If we can give back to the society, engage ourselves in good deeds and purify our minds, the merits will be incredible!
