Ancient Cultivation Stories: Becoming a Nun

Among disciples of Shakyamuni, there was a female disciple with great supernormal abilities. Her life before becoming a nun was quite harsh. It was as so:

A long time ago, in the city of Taxila, there was a respected old man who had a beautiful daughter. When the daughter was 16 years old, her parents married her to a handsome young man. Life was peaceful. Shortly after the wedding, the daughter became pregnant. But soon her father died. Her mother committed fornication with her son-in-law. When the daughter found out about it, she fell quite sad, leaving the family after she gave birth to her daughter.

She soon married a businessman in order to have someone to support her. One day the businessman came back from Taxila and brought with him a concubine he had bought with a lot of money. He hid the concubine initially. Later he brought the concubine home and said to his wife, "You can simply leave if you don't like this."

The wife learned that the concubine, who was less than 16 years old, came from her hometown. She then asked the girl who her parents were. When she heard the names she almost fainted on the spot. The young girl was her daughter! Although she had left the girl such a long time ago, she could still tell it was her daughter because the girl looked just like how she had looked when she was 16. She was so sad that she asked the heavens, "Why is my destiny so tragic! Sharing the husband with my mom? Sharing the husband with my daughter? Why?"

She was on the verge of collapse not knowing what to do with her lfie. As she was looking for a way to end her life, she came across monk Maudgalaputra (also called Mujianlian) and asked him, "I'm a person full of karma. The world is too horrible. I must be stuck in karmic relationships and that is why I've been living in this mud. Can you give me some advice, otherwise I have no other choice than to commit suicide?"

Maudgalaputra consoled her, "Don't lose hope. My teacher Shakyamuni saves people from hardship. His Dharma water can clean the restlessness in your heart and save you to the pure land with no suffering."

When the woman came to Shakyamuni and asked to become a nun, Shakyamuni accepted her and asked her to cultivate diligently. Soon she attained the Arhat fruit status and was known as the one with the most supernormal abilities out of all the female disciples of Shakyamuni.

Her name was Lianhuase. She had a bitter life, but after she made up her mind to cultivate, she succeeded like Maudgalaputra reaching Nirvana.