Ancient Cultivation Stories: Cultivating Blessings Versus Cultivating Wisdom

A long time ago, many cultivators gathered in a remote mountain far from cities to cultivate. They came from different cultivation schools and had their own methods of cultivation. Among them, there were two people who followed the same master but, because of the difference in their understandings, they each had a different way of cultivation. They kept their cultivation to themselves and didn't interfere with the other. The older disciple concentrated on cultivating blessings and did not pay much attention to cultivating wisdom, and the younger disciple only emphasized the cultivation of wisdom while not paying attention to the cultivation of blessings. Because the older disciple only pursued cultivation of blessings but not wisdom, he remained muddle-headed and unable to distinguish the good from bad throughout his whole life. As a result, he didn't even reach the beginning fruit status of Xu Tuo Heng Guo and remained ignorant to the true prinicple.

On the other hand, the younger disciple only recognized the importance of wisdom and thought that wisdom was like a person's eyes; if he lost them, he would be blind and surely be in danger. Therefore, he wholeheartedly cultivated for wisdom, yet neglected the importance of accumulating virtue. Later on, he cultivated diligently and reached the fruit status of Arhat.

By that time, the older disciple had already passed away due to his old age. The younger disciple went to the city. He wanted to spread the Law that he knew to more people in the city. But because he hadn't accumulated any blessings in life, not even one person was willing to offer him alms. Although he told people that he had enlightened at the level of Arhat, there was still no one who bothered to pay attention to him. Because he did not pay attention to cultivation of blessings, how could he receive any offerings and respect from others?

Eventually, he came to the royal palace. In front of its magnificent entrance, he suddenly saw a white elephant covered with many beautiful pearls, jades and colorful jewels. It leisurely walked around the palace and looked proud. Upon entering tranquility and observing, the younger disciple found that the white elephant was originally the elder disciple who had cultivated solely for blessings.

The younger disciple became quite moved and sighed, "My fellow disciple cultivated solely for blessings. He ended up becoming an elephant covered in jewels. On the other hand, I have cultivated only wisdom and not blessings, and end up finding it so difficult to survive. This shows that a cultivator should cultivate both wisdom and blessings."