The world of Tzu Chi (Vol.108)

2019 • 03 50 aster Cheng Yen Tells Stories B uddha and his monks always went from door to door to beg for food. The main purpose of this was to rid the monks of their egoism. Buddha appointed his disciple Dravya, who was righteous and had a good spiritual formation, to be in charge of assigning the routes for each of the monks. He arranged for every monk to go in a certain direction and ask certain families for food every day. Every three days, everyone changed routes. There was a young monk named Mika. He had not been a monk very long, so he still had the same habits as ordinary people. Once he was assigned to a certain village. The people there were not rich and gave him very plain, simple food. When he saw this, he was very unhappy, but he still had to eat it. The food on the second day was worse, and the food on the third day was awful. He grumbled and became angry with Dravya, because he thought Dravya had intentionally assigned him to that village. His sister, Mitra, was a nun. One day, Mika went to talk to her and vent his anger. She was too young to judge right from wrong, so she believed every word he said. She was indignant at the injustice that he had suffered. When he saw her reaction, his anger became even worse. He told her, “You have to help me!” “I will help you in any way I can.” “There is only one way. You must go to Mika Slanders Dravya Buddha and tell him that Dravya broke the precepts by sexually harassing you.” Mitra was shocked. “I can’t do that! He strictly abides by the precepts and you want me to slander him! I can’t do it!” “If you don’t want to, then you can forget that I am your brother. I don’t have a sister like you!” Mitra was in a dilemma, but she finally agreed. They went to Buddha and bowed before him. Mitra said, “Buddha, there is a monk who has broken the precepts!” Buddha asked, “Who?” “It is Dravya,” she said. Mika said, “Buddha, it is true.” Buddha saw Dravya nearby, so he called him. “You heard this young nun’s word. Is it true?” Dravya replied, “Buddha should know whether it is true!” “This is not the answer I want,” Buddha said. “If it is true, then say yes. If it isn’t true, then say no.” Another disciple, Rahula, stood up. “Dravya has broken the precepts, and Mika and Mitra are both here to accuse him. If Dravya simply says that he didn’t do it, will he be considered innocent?” Buddha turned to him. “Rahula, if Mika came to me and said, ‘Rahula has broken the precepts!’ and Mitra came to affirm it, what would you say?” The young monk told his sister who was a nun, “You must go to Buddha and tell him that Dravya broke the precepts by sexually harassing you.” The sister was in a dilemma but finally agreed.