【Description】
It is often said that ordinary people’s delusion and greed run deep, but the Buddha’s compassionate desire to save them is deeper. Have you ever truly experienced this great compassion from the Buddha? After experiencing great harm, what kind of feelings did the Buddha retain in his heart?
“The Demon-Liberating Spider Silk” is a story about Buddha’s compassionate efforts to save sentient beings. It teaches you how to apply this kind of compassion to your life, turn grudges into friendships, and make your relationships closer and more harmonious.
【You will learn】
- The compassion of the Buddha
- The great blessings brought about by a thought of mercy
- Ways to make interpersonal relationships closer and more harmonious
【Featured aphorisms】
- Only when you focus on the good in others can you have a calm, pure mind that brings calmness and purity to others.
【Content】
Here is a story from a Buddhist sutra. One day, Buddha was sitting in a pure lotus flower. There was a spider in the lotus flower. It crawled onto Buddha’s fingers. Suddenly, the spider began to descend. Hanging on to its thin silk, it went all the way down, deep down. Actually, beneath the lotus flower was the worst hell, the so-called 18th-level hell. There must have been some reason why the spider went down there. Thus, Buddha kept on observing.
In the 18th-level hell, there was no daylight. Food was fire or molten steel. How could one eat that? They were forever deprived of daylight. The pain and suffering were endless. They were doomed forever. So the spider went down; there must have been an important reason. The tiny silk before Buddha turned out to be a lifesaving rope in hell; it was like the cables pulling a ship, a lifesaving rope and passage. So this rope sent from Buddha’s deepest compassion gave the sinners an opportunity. So the spider sent down the lifesaving rope.
The sinners suffered great pain in hell. Someone suddenly saw this cable. “Wow, it is a rope from Heaven!” So they started to climb the rope. The one on top was strong and could climb very quickly. As he got higher, he kicked down the others. So all those below him fell back into hell. Seeing this, Buddha was in tears. For he gave them each the opportunity. Just climb up; everyone could follow. But the evil one climbing on top thought if all were on the rope, it would break. He thought if he kicked them down, he would be free. Thus he did exactly that. And that made Buddha weep. The rope broke; they kept suffering.
After I read this story, I prayed to Buddha. “Could you try again to see if any sinner has any compassion?”
The next time, a sinner spotted the rope since he had seen one many lives ago. He had waited for it for thousands of years. This opportunity had been watched for, day in and day out. When the spider silk went down, he jumped up to it quickly and kept climbing. Many followed him. Buddha saw that all were up and safe, and made them pure again. About 100 were saved.
This time, why didn’t the first sinner kick the others down? He just climbed up. What is the cause of this? Buddha told me, “In one life, I was living as a merchant to show the Way to others in that life. One day I was with my colleagues and we were going through a forest. A group of bandits appeared. The leader and his followers killed all of our group except me, as I was covered by a corpse. I was wounded; I fell to the ground because they had broken my legs. Another one was killed and fell on me. The bandits feared a survivor would tell on them, so they stabbed to ensure death. The bandit leader came over to me. He said, ‘The one under there, I won’t stab him, be he dead or alive, I won’t stab him.'”
You see, even the worst killer showed a bit of mercy at that moment. He was not totally ruthless, so he was given the opportunity to escape the 18th-level hell. Thus, feel Buddha’s compassion; let’s learn from Him. He still had compassion for someone who caused Him great harm and pain. Because of the bandit’s bit of compassion, Buddha saved him from the worst hell. All of us, teachers and students, classmates, relatives, couples, brothers and sisters, don’t we have any gratitude for each other? Remember others’ kindness. Buddhists should do so. If we are grateful for others’ kindness, we will feel happy and peaceful.
If you don’t think this way, but only remember others’ bad behavior, how can you live in peace? You’d be uptight, fuming, full of rage. Isn’t that making yourself sick? Isn’t that like wanting to kill yourself? We know that anger causes illness. How many fall into a coma after rage? Or get cancer from deep anger? Only with compassion, tolerance and thinking of others’ kindness can we have peace and tranquility and bring others peace.
Our Chinese ancestors said: Repay a drop of kindness with a well of it. Often we don’t do that; instead of repaying kindness, we look for their faults. We should recall their kindness, not their ill will. With compassion and repaying kindness, we turn war to peace and enemy to friend; only then can we obtain friendship, happiness and love. Our relationships will be harmonious, happy and peaceful.