Ancient Cultivation Stories: Don't Try Escape from Your Karma with Supernormal Abilities

Buddha Sakyamuni told his disciples the following story about Mujianlian and Shelifu, who were among Sakyamuni's principal male disciples.

One day, when the two cultivators were about to pass by a village, a group of naughty children saw them approaching. The children decided to pick on them. One of them stood in the middle of the road to block their passage asking, "When will it turn cold?"

The cultivator in the front answered with smile, "It doesn't matter whether it's spring, summer, fall, or winter, when there are wind and rain, it will turn chilly." These naughty children then let them pass. But these children soon ran after them and blocked the second cultivator from passing by. A child asked the second cultivator: "When will it turn cold?" "Winter is the cold season and because of the revolution of constellation. When earth is further away from the sun during winder, it turns cold. Only an imbecile doesn't know that."

Upon hearing this, children threw stones at the second cultivator who was trailing behind. Shelifu was the one in front and Mujianlian was the one trailing behind.

Among the sixteen disciples of Sakyamuni who had superb achievements, Shelifu and Mujianlian were the most outstanding ones, especially when it came to their supernormal abilities.

Mujianlian possessed incredible supernormal abilities. When he pressed his toe on the palace of the Celestial Ruler, he could shake the palace, or even make it collapse. Why didn't he apply his supernormal abilities to deal with those naughty children?

Mujianlian and Shelifu were frequently in each other's company. They travelled together to heaven, on earth, the hell, and the animal kingdom. They used their supernormal abilities and wisdom to save suffering people and enlighten ignorant sentient beings.

Once, they travelled to the Deepest Inferno of Hell. It was super hot inside. Hot flames from frying pans filled the air in hell. The poor creatures who were receiving this physical punishment were wailing and howling in pain. Shelifu and Mujianlian sprayed fresh and cool beneficent rain on them to mitigate their pain for a short while.

At that moment, they saw a terrible sinner with a thick body and a large and long tongue. Five hundred iron plows were placed on the top of his tongue. He was using the plows on his tongue to plow a piece of desolate land. Fresh blood droplets were dripping from the tongue. As soon as the sinner saw Shelifu and Mujianlian, he hurried over to them and cried out, "Honourable Monks, My name is Bulinu. I was a preacher of paganism. I used to promote witchcraft and slander Buddhism when I was alive. As a result, I am suffering from this kind of retribution in hell. If you pass by the Nanzhanbu, please be sure to tell my disciples not to worship the thing I put in the wooden pagoda anymore. It will only increase my suffering. Also tell them not to slander Buddhism and cheat people any more so they don't follow my footsteps and fall into such a state. I beg you."

When the two cultivators returned to Wangshe City, they met a group of non-Buddhists. All of them carried walking sticks and big sticks and used the sticks as weapons to intercept and attack passer-by monks. Shelifu was the one walking in the front. When those non-Buddhists wielded their weapons to attack the two, Shelifu spoke them with a mild manner. They stopped and let Shelifu pass by. But when Mujianlian approached them, they again raised their weapons.

"Wait!" Mujianlinan raised his hands to stop them and said, "Both of us just returned from the Deepest Inferno of Hell. We saw your master Bulinu in there suffering great retribution. He is using iron plows placed on top of his tongue to plow land. Fresh blood is oozing from his tongue. He is suffering a great deal. He told me to pass on the message to you to stop slandering Buddhism and stop spreading paganism so that you do not follow his footsteps. In the mean time, you also need to stop worshipping the thing in the wooden pagoda to reduce his suffering." Mujianlian passed on the message hoping that they would repent and dispel mutual animosity between the two groups. But as soon as he finished his words, they attacked him with beast-like ferocity.

"Beat him up! He slandered our master. Beat him up. Beat this monk!"

Wooden bats and hand sticks fell on Mujianlian like raindrops. His whole body was beaten black and blue.

Many people saw what happened to Mujianlian and started to have doubts about his supernormal abilities.

Buddha Sakyamuni said, "Mujianlian's supernormal ability is not a sham. He can go to heaven and go under the earth. He can bypass any obstruction. He has unbelievable abilities. His supernormal abilities haven't disappeared. In facing his own karma, he knows he must pay back his karmic debt. No one can violate the rule of karma. When karma comes, one needs to endure it. Complying with preordained fate conforms to the rules of the Law. Everyone needs to understand that when one's karma comes, don't try to escape or hold grudges. One needs to clearly understand how scary creating karma is, cultivate diligently, and be cautious about one's conduct.

Mujianlian had a vast amount of supernormal power. But he didn't use it to shield his own faults and avoid retribution of his karma. He established a good example for us.