Ancient Cultivation Stories: Between Life and Death

Once upon a time in ancient India, a man decided to escape from the annoying mundane world and became a monk out of anger.

Although he was physically in the temple, his heart was attached to the outside world. His soul was still fettered with desires. He often massaged his body with fragrant oil and bathed in hot water to keep his skin smooth and fragrant. He also chose what he ate, drank and slept on very carefully. The lust for materials wound around his heart like twining vines. Therefore, although the man had performed the ritual of entering monk-hood, he was still a layman in terms of his spiritual realm and behaviour. Of course it meant that he was far from the holy way of Nirvana.

At that time, in the Kushinara Kingdom there lived a venerable Buddhist saint called Upagupta who was very famous for his accomplishment in Buddhism. Out of admiration, the young monk went to Kushinara to visit Upagupta.

Upagupta asked the young monk, "Why did you come a long way to see me?"
"I came here because I admire your reputation," said the monk. "I wish your Honourableness would mercifully enlighten me with the essence of Buddha's law."

The saint observed the young man's cultivation level and knew he was still attached to desires. He asked the young monk, "Are you willing to completely obey me and do everything I tell you to do?"

"Yes, I surely can. I'll do everything you tell me to do," was the monk's reply.

"If you have that faith," the saint said, "I'll first teach you how to obtain supernatural abilities, and then lecture you on Buddha's law."

"Supernatural abilities! That's great!"

The saint then took the young monk to the mountains and taught him to meditate, and reminded him again to be completely obedient. The saint then created a tall tree with his abilities, and told the monk to climb up the tree, which the monk did. When the monk looked down from the top of the tree, he saw a pit extremely deep and wide next to the tree. The saint said, "Release your legs off the tree." The young monk obeyed. The saint then ordered him to free one hand from the tree, which he also did. When the saint told him to free the other hand, the young monk became frightened and said, "If I let go, I'll fall in to the pit and die."

The saint said, "You have promised to do whatever I tell you to do. How can you regret now?" The monk felt desperate, but he decided to keep his promise. He tried not to think of anything, and let loose his hand. He quickly fell into the deep and dark pit. At that point, he was almost scared to death, and burst into cold sweat. When he opened his eyes again, he saw no trace of the tree or the pit. Now the saint started to teach him, "Let me ask you this: when you let go and fell down, did you feel that anything in the world was lovable?"

"Honourable One, when I thought I was dying, nothing seemed lovable to me."

"Right. Everything in this world is just an illusion. When one's physical body dies, his desires also vanish. If you can see through the fact that the physical body is just a part of the impermanence, you will be disentangled from the fetters of desire. Desire is the source of life, death and other worldly concerns. If you want to achieve the righteous fruit, you must meticulously abstain from desire, be diligent in your cultivation, and do not lose your true self."

The young monk was suddenly enlightened. From then on he carefully and diligently cultivated himself and finally achieved the fruit of Arhat.

The world is complicated and deceitful only because our human eyes can not see through the nature of things and distinguish true from false. What we think is real may be just illusions. That's why man often falls into the abyss of sin for transient pleasures.