Ancient Cultivation Stories: Escaping the Sea of Bitterness

In ancient India, there was a very strict caste system generated by the different distribution of goods amongst the people. The lowest and poorest caste was the Shoutuoluo ("the untouchables"). People in that caste were looked down upon by others. Most of them were slaves or servants and so they had to undertake the most tiring and laborious work and often encountered abusive treatment as well.

In the city of Shewei, there was a person named Niti who belonged to the Shoutuoluo caste. His job was to clean out the feces from outhouses, a job that no one else wanted to do. He was very kind and honest and rarely said more words than necessary.

One time Buddha was meditating and saw Niti. He knew that Niti's karma had already mostly been eliminated and it was time for Niti to escape from the sea of the bitterness that was the human world. So Buddha and Anan (one of Buddha's disciples) went to find Niti where they came to the entrance of an alley. At that moment, Niti was carrying a full bucket of feces and walking out of the alley. When he saw Buddha, due to his lowly caste, he wanted to turn around and avoid Buddha. He dared not meet face to face with the enlightened Buddha. But the alley was so narrow that he could not find any place to hide. He became nervous. The bucket all of sudden broke and Niti was covered with feces. He was so embarrassed and scared that he didn't know what to do. He lowered his head as much as he could and dared not look at Buddha.

The Buddha walked up to Niti and asked him, "Niti, are you willing to become a monk? Do you want to escape from the sea of the bitterness?"

Niti was very embarrassed and said, "Buddha is noble and esteemed. Your followers are all princes from noble classes. I belong to the very lowest caste. How could I be compared to them? How would I have the good fortune of being able to join the temple and to escape from the sea of the bitterness?"

The Buddha said: "Buddha's law is like pure water. It can wash away all dirt. No matter what it is in the human world, once it is washed by the pure water, it immediately becomes a brand new item. Buddha's law is like the fierce fire, burning through everything. No matter what it is, once it is touched by the sacred fire, it will be immediately clean and pure. Buddha's law is the most fair and equal law. It doesn't distinguish rich from poor and so anyone who wishes to believe Buddha and escape from pain can go to the temple and cultivate diligently.

Buddha's words deeply touched Niti. He then followed the Buddha to the quiet temple in Ziyuan, shaved his head, and became a monk. He concentrated on cultivation and was extremely diligent and so naturally his level elevated very quickly. After he listened to Buddha's lectures, studied the Buddha Law, and sat in meditation, Niti gradually had his wisdom enlightened. He came to understand the Buddha's Law, but also acted accordingly. It wasn't long until he reached the Fruit Status of Arhat.

Let's go back to the time when Niti first became a monk. Many snobbish people in the human world were not happy. They thought, "How could such a low level person become a monk and enjoy the charitable contribution of the masses?" The more they thought of it, the angrier they became. So they reported this case to the King and asked the King to tell the Buddha that he absolutely should not take Niti as his student.

Thus the King took the carriage and came to the Quiet Temple in Ziyuan to ask the Buddha about it.

The carriage arrived at the front of the door. The King had to get off and walk through a small forest. At that time, he saw a dignified and peaceful monk sitting on a big rock. The King said politely to him, "I would like to meet with the Buddha, would you please go inside and let him know?" The monk on the stone agreed to so and then disappeared quickly inside the rock. Very soon he came back and said: "The Buddha said you may go inside now and meet with him."

The King was amazed to see that the monk could freely get in and out of the rock that was without any cracks or openings. When he met the Buddha, after he showed his respect, the King asked, "Buddha, the monk who passed the message for me a moment ago has a supernormal power which is rarely seen. Would you please tell me what his noble name is?"

The Buddha smiled and said to the King, "The reason that you came to my place today is to ask me why I had saved a person whom you considered as a member of the lowest caste. I save people no matter they are rich or poor. I consider them all equal. The monk that you met just now is Niti. He has already enlightened to the Arhat status. He is the person you just saw."

Upon hearing such words the King felt very ashamed.

The Buddha continued, "Whether a person is rich or poor, noble or lowly is determined by his Karma. If one is kind-hearted, modest, respectful to the elderly people and protective of the young, able to discipline one's mind and nurture one's virtue, this person will be born into a noble, high class. In contrast, if one is a brutal, nasty, arrogant and sinful, he will have the fate of being poor and lowly."

The King then asked the Buddha, "Why was Niti born into a poor and lowly caste?"

The Buddha said: "In the past, After Tathagata Dieye left the world, there was a monk among his 100,000 students who was very arrogant and looked down upon others. In his everyday life, he treated other people rudely and showed others no respect. He asked others to do his work. Sometimes when he didn't feel well, he would get up quite late and go to bed early. He ordered others to clean his room and forced other monks to be his messengers. He didn't respect the elder monks. Because of this, in the following 500 years, he became someone who had to clean human feces life after life till this life where his karma was finally eliminated and he met Buddha so as to be saved. This is also due to the predestined relationship that he had developed when he became a monk to cultivate."

After the King heard those words from the Buddha, he praised the mighty virtue of Buddha. The Buddha's law is endlessly merciful and helps people escape from the sea of the bitterness.

Human beings, when you bully, show no respect for other people, and even say bad words to hurt others without any reason, you will eventually have to pay for it. Remember Niti had to spend five hundred years carrying human feces to pay back the karma generated from just being arrogant!