Ancient Cultivation Stories: "Stupid" Mokelu

In Morocco, in India, around 500 monks lived in a temple which was located six to seven miles away from the city. They were all strictly trained Picchu. Among them, there was one elder monk called Mokelu who was famous for his "stupidity." No matter how hard people tried to teach him anything, he still did not get it. He couldn't even recite a single Zen proverb and so all the 500 Picchu looked down on him. Nobody liked to be with him making him feel very lonely.

One day, the king sent envoys to invite all the monks to his palace. Mokelu was ashamed of his stupidity and so he was afraid of joining the gathering. After everyone left, he was very sad. He found a rope, stood under a big tree and wanted to end his life. At that moment, the solemn Buddha appeared in front of him and scolded him seriously, "Mokelu, instead of cultivating yourself diligently and finding out your shortcomings, you are doing such a stupid thing." Buddha stopped for a few seconds and continued, "You were a cultivator with broad and profound knowledge in your past life. But you did not want to teach others. You were very arrogant and scolded others. That is why you are stupid in you current life as punishment. You can not blame others for this. You have to deeply repent all your wrong doings. Ending your life can not end your crime. "

The Buddha's words woke Mokelu up. Mokelu felt very ashamed. He knelt down in front of Buddha and repented all his wrongdoings. The benevolent Buddha did not count his past wrongdoings against him and still considered him to be a good person as long as he learnt from his mistakes.

Then Buddha patiently taught Mokelu the Fa (Law) and inspired his wisdom. Since the time was also right, Mokelu was enlightened and achieved the True Fruition. His wisdom was opened up suddenly. He was able to understand Buddha's delicate Fa and could see everything. At that time, Buddha knew that Mokelu was enlightened. He urged Mokelu to join the king's gathering and teach the Fa to the people there. When he was about to leave, Buddha told him:" You had 500 disciples when you were the elder of the Buddhist monastery. Those 500 disciples are the 500 Picchu who are in the King's palace. You need to go there as soon as possible because they are waiting for your guidance."

After bidding farewell to the Buddha, Mokelu came to the palace. The party was about to begin. Mokelu saw an empty seat at the highest position. He sat there without any hesitation. Everyone thought that Mokelu must be insane when they saw Mokelu's behaviour. Nobody said anything in that situation, especially in front of the king. After everyone finished their meal, without any fear, Mokelu stood up and started to teach the Fa to the 500 Picchu and the other people at the gathering with his touching voice and solemn appearance. Everyone admired him.

The 500 Picchu were also ashamed. They had thought that Mokelu was stupid. But he was actually an enlightened being.