Fleeting in nature
is the false beauty of forms
selfishly clung by the deluded.
- Stonepeace | Get Books
Khema,
the chief consort of King Bimbisara, was said to be extremely
beautiful. Revelling in her own exquisite beauty, she was ‘naturally’
uninterested in meeting Sakyamuni Buddha, as he was known for teaching
that external beauty is impermanent – a truth she rejected. However, as
the King was a devoted follower of the Buddha, he wanted her to learn
from him. Using a skilful means to trick her to visit the monastery the
Buddha was residing in, he got musicians to sing praises of the natural
beauty of the grove the monastery was in. Being attracted to attractions
sung, Khema decided to experience the grove in person. Seeing Khema
approaching while teaching to a large assembly, the Buddha used his
supernormal powers to manifest a beautiful maiden fanning him by his
side. While engrossed in the beauty of the trees and flowers, Khema drew
closer to the assembly. When she caught sight of the maiden, she was
intrigued by her beauty, as it greatly surpassed hers. The Buddha then
made the maiden age gradually, yet swiftly enough for her to see. Her
skin wrinkled, her hair turned grey and her body collapsed in death,
leaving a corpse that decayed into bones.
Finally recognising that conditioned forms were transient, Khema
realised that the same would happen to hers. If even a form deemed more
beautiful and precious than hers comes to pass, how could she retain
hers? Her focus now shifted to the Buddha, he taught on the danger of
lust for sense pleasures (as they breed spiritual complacency), and
invited her to renounce them as they are fleeting in nature. Reflecting
thus, she soon attained liberation as an Arhat, and became his first
female chief monastic disciple, respected for her skills in explaining
advanced teachings. Beyond the remarkableness of the Buddha’s means and
Khema’s ability to awaken through it, this story also warns us of the
possibility of spiritually backsliding in future lives. In her past
lives, Khema already met and studied the Dharma from many Buddhas,
Bodhisattvas and Pratyekabuddhas. She also made sincere offerings, once
by selling her beautiful hair, for getting alms to offer to a Buddha,
and made the aspiration to be a future Buddha’s chief female disciple.
Despite these and more great efforts, she almost forgot the greater
preciousness and beauty of the Dharma due to vanity before meeting
Sakyamuni Buddha!
Although with the near miss of neglecting the Dharma, she was
fortunate to have had forged strong enough affinity with it, to be able
to reconnect firmly in time. What about the rest of us? If we have
learnt and practised the Dharma for some time already, we should roughly
know the strength of our connections with the Dharma. Seemingly far
from possible sudden enlightenment, we differ from Khema, who needed
only an appropriate nudge from the Buddha. This is a compelling reason
for us to aspire for birth in a Buddha’s Pure Land, where we can always
learn from a Buddha and be mindful of the Dharma until liberation is
attained – without the interruption of death when reborn, which causes
forgetfulness of the Dharma and distractions by merits manifesting as
beauty, wealth, status, power and such. As Dharma practitioners of
average spiritual capacity, we are liable to repeatedly backslide,
making it difficult for most to smoothly advance towards enlightenment
in this life. This is why, as emphasised in the Amitabha Sutra by
Sakyamuni Buddha, all Buddhas, including himself, highly urge beings of
their worlds to seek refuge in Amitabha Buddha’s (Amituofo) Pure Land.
is the true beauty of truth
selflessly shared by the wise.
http://thedailyenlightenment.com/2013/07/how-a-great-beauty-realised-greater-beauty/