A Wrong Thought, Consequential Karma

A chess-king was invited to play a game of Chinese chess with a youth. At first, the youth was filled with trepidation, but after playing for about ten minutes, he started to get impatient. He thought, “I was told that the chess-king was superb in chess-playing and he’d been champions in numerous chess tournaments when he was young. Nevertheless, he’s neither distinguished in the positioning of chessmen nor good at playing right now. This man in front of me is the chess-king, is he?  His competence in chess-playing is too superficial for such an honour!” He then decided to seize on his own initiative by launching a ‘massive’ attack on his opponent without any hesitations.

In a moment, the youth was indeed in a dominant position. After being able to get several important chessmen from the chess-king, he provoked the chess-king arrogantly and said, “Merely defending is not enough for winning; invading is a necessity to defeat your opponent.” The chess-king was neither irritated by the youth’s wording nor did he make any tactical changes in his playing, he was unaffected and simply continued to play chess silently.

“They say that you’re the chess-king!” exclaimed the youth. After getting some more pieces from his opponent, the youth proudly and ridiculously asked, “Are these all devices you have?” The chess-king suddenly put the chessman in his hand down but gazed at the youth. The youth looked back at him in disdain.

The youth got a ‘soldier’ piece from the chess-king instantly. At the moment, among the pieces left on the chess-king’s side, only the ‘horse’ and the ‘cannon’ chessmen were considered to be a bit more threatening, the other chessmen were all useless. “I’ve still lots of pieces on the board. It seems that I can defeat the chess-king soon. Let’s see if I can sit on the throne of the chess-king!” Thinking of this, the youth became even more high-spirited, “Would you like to surrender before I get all your chessmen on the board?” The chess-king kept his silence, but there appeared a surreptitious smile on his face. He seemed like reminding the youth a famous proverb --- ‘One false move may lose the game’!

The chess game would soon come to an end as the winner was getting obvious. On the chess-king’s side, the ‘horse’ and the ‘cannon’ pieces were still on the board; however, there were only the ‘General’ and the ‘advisor’ pieces left on the youth’s side. The youth was so nervous that he kept on sweating making his face and ears glowed red. He looked miserably at the chess board. “Sorry!” apologized by the chess-king as he tried to get the youth’s ‘advisor’ piece. Seeing that there was only the ‘General’ piece left on the youth’s side, the chess-king asked, “Would you like to continue?” The youth was speechless. He was so shameful that he could only keep his head down with his face glowing red. The youth was the one who initiated to capture all the chessmen of his opponent, but he finally resulted in having all his pieces drawn away, in other words, he was made a ‘naked-pig’ in the game. The Chinese motto, ‘A man must despise himself before others will’ was really true.

Postscript:
In fact, the chess-king could quickly discover that the youth was only an average player; it was an easy job to win him. In order not to discourage the young man nor ruin his confidence in chess-playing, the chess-king deliberately allowed the youth to get some of his pieces so that he would not be too shameful in losing the game. Unexpectedly, the youth did not know nor appreciate the kindness of the chess-king; in contrast, he was too arrogant, rude and aggressive to look down on the chess-king. His behaviour finally forced the chess-king to teach him a lesson. The youth had made a fool of himself and it was nobody’s fault but his own. He deserved it. As a recognized and known king of chess in the circle, the chess-king should have definitely possessed extraordinary strengths in his playing. He was awarded champions in hundreds of tournaments; do you think such glory and honour can be attained by a mediocrity?  The youth was sheered a parochial arrogance!

According to the 【Twenty Verses on the Bodhisattva Vow】 it is said, ‘not using miraculous to threaten and attract’. Though having achieved enlightenment, a Guru would scarcely emanate his enlightened realm. He would simply teach sentient beings the ways to get rid of their own grime and to cultivate their mentalities in order that their karmic heritage would all be corrected. However, sentient beings are filled with ignorance. They tend to hanker after supernatural power and always hope that their Guru would transmit them Anuttarayoga Tantra (ways to attain Buddhahood in the present life) and supernatural powers one day, but they have neglected the fact that they do not possess the qualities to inherit Anuttarayoga Tantra. Self-awareness is a precious qualification of mankind, why don’t these disciples carry out self-introspection before they make any complaints?  They complain that their Guru does not manifest supernatural power. They also complain that their Guru can solely say without anything significant done. Thus, wrong views begin to arise. They think that their Guru is ‘not qualified’ as he is of no difference from an ordinary person who also needs to eat and sleep. This kind of disciples is so stupid that they allow their eyes and ears to be covered up by ignorance without realizing that. They are unable to notice that the Guru’s discourse is actually an act to drip wisdom into our hearts and brains bit by bit, that is, to allow wisdom to be accumulated in us. Those who have ever impeached their Guru are of course in lack of wisdom. They are not only stayed away from sammaditthi (the right views), but also acquainted with dukkha-vipaka (grief). (For details, please refer to《50 Stanzas on Devotion to the Guru》) What a lamentable thing it is！