The Guidance under a Beacon

Once upon a time, there was a ‘Deserted Agedness’ Kingdom regulated that citizens who reached the age of sixty were forced to be driven out of the territory where they were left unattended till they perished themselves. Here came a courtier whose father had just had his 60th birthday and ought to be in the list of the expelled ones. The courtier, as a filial son, was not hard-hearted enough to bear the fact that his father would be left alone unsupported outside the territory. He thus built a secret closet in his house to hide his father without being noticed by outsiders.

One day, a deity travelled to the Kingdom and he had brought with him a pair of (male & female) snakes. He went to the Palace hall to tell the King, “I’ve got here a pair of snakes that look exactly the same but they’re of different sex. If you can distinguish the male and the female between them, I’ll bless and protect the safety and peacefulness of your kingdom. On the contrary, if you fail to answer my question, your kingdom will be destroyed in seven days’ time.” Having heard that, the King got in a panic and he immediately called together his courtiers to discuss the matter. However, they were all at a loss and nothing could be done. At last, the King had to decree the entire kingdom for a possible solution: anyone who could differentiate the sex of the snakes correctly would definitely be granted a high position in the government with a handsome salary. The courtier talked about the ‘snake incident’ with his father when he returned home. The father said, “It’s not difficult at all. Just put the two snakes on something that’s very soft. The one that appears restless is the male snake. In contrast, the one that acts as if nothing has happened or even stops moving must be the female.”
The next day, the courtier told the King his father’s way of differentiation at the Palace hall. He carried out the way his father had instructed and not surprisingly, he succeeded in distinguishing the sex of the two identical snakes.
Seeing this, the deity raised the second question, “Why’s it that people who stay awake are said to be ‘asleep’?  Why’s it that people who fall asleep are said to be ‘awake’?”
Although the King had offered another reward for the answer this time, no one in the kingdom was able to give a solution. It was not until the courtier went home to ask his father the question that it could finally be solved.
“People in general always work their tails off. They strive and spend their energy in pursuit of fame and wealth every day. Though these people are physically awake, in the view of an Arahant (an enlightened man), they are muddle headed and are in lethargic sleep all the time. On the contrary, when Buddhist practitioners sit quietly to cultivate meditation, they look as if they are asleep in the eyes of laymen. In fact, they are clear-headed and spiritually awake.”
The deity kept on asking a lot more questions after that. All of them could only be answered when the courtier brought them home to ask his father.

“A big white elephant is too big and heavy to be measured with a balance, how can we know its weight?”
“Bring the big elephant on a boat. Leave it alone and put a mark on the boat to indicate the water level. Take away the elephant and then put stones on the boat until it descends to the marked level. Take all the stones from the boat and measure their weights. The total weight of the stones equals to the weight of the big white elephant.”

“The amount of water held in two hands is more than that in an ocean. Why can this make sense?”
“With someone who believes in Buddhism, being strict and firm in one’s practice and engages whole-heartedly in charity works, even if one can only offer the amount of water held in both hands to the Buddha and Sangha or donate it to someone in need, one can receive the greatest merits and virtues in return. These merits and virtues can pass through thousands of kalpa (calamities) and enable one to enjoy endless blessed rewards. In contrast, for someone who owns as much water as that in an ocean but the water is never offered to the Buddha nor used to help the needy, this water can only pass one kalpa. In this case, the amount of water (remark: actually the merits and virtues of possessing the amount of water) held in two hands is more than the water in an ocean for thousands of times.”

“A piece of sandalwood is cut into a cube. Which face of the cube is originally nearer to the root of the tree?  How can you tell that?”
“Throw the sandalwood cube into water, the face that sinks in water is originally nearer to the root.”

“Two horses standing side by side and they are of mother-daughter relation. They look exactly the same in appearance, coat colour and size. How can you distinguish the mother-horse and the daughter-horse?”
“Hand some straw to feed the two horses. The mother-horse will let her daughter eat first, so it probably will not be the first one to start eating the straw.”

The deity suddenly turned himself into a starved, skinny person and asked, “Is there anyone in the world more famished and poorer than me?”
“If one does not worship Ratnatraya (The Three Jewels: the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha), unable to show filial piety to one’s parents nor respect the elders, one will certainly sink into preta (the hungry ghosts’ path) in one’s afterlife. Though a hungry ghost has distension in abdomen, one’s throat is as narrow as a needle that makes one unable to swallow any food. In this way, don’t you think that a hungry ghost is much more famished and suffers more than you now as a starved person?”

Then the deity turned into a very beautiful lady and asked, “Is there anyone in the world prettier than me?”
“If a person can piously worship Ratnatraya, be filial to one’s parents, respects the elders, eagers to donate in charity, without being mean nor greedy, his beauty is far beyond anyone’s reach.”

Finally, the deity was very satisfied with all of the answers. He did not only granted the King with lots of treasure, but also promised, “It’s out of my expectation that you’re so intelligent, I hereby promise to bless your kingdom to be prosperous and flourishing, a good harvest in the five grains is also guaranteed and inhabitants here can live peacefully without being invaded by foreign enemies in turn hoping that the wisdom of citizens here can be preserved forever.”

Seeing the deity off happily, the King then announced to give the courtier a large award. The courtier immediately declared honestly, “All solutions to the deity’s questions are answered by my father. He’s now sixty years old and is supposed to have deported the kingdom under the rule. As I can’t bear to let my father drift out alone, I keep him home secretly. Your majesty, my only request now is to beg that my father can be allowed to stay in the territory so that I can continue to serve him nicely. I don’t need any awards other than this.”
The King was so moved that he did not only conferred the courtier’s father as the State Teacher, but also ordered to abolish the law of expelling elders at the age of sixty. A new ordinance was launched instead: citizens who do not show filial piety to their parents are to be punished severely.

Postscript:
To the general public, as long as they can understand the truth of ‘An old person is like a treasure to a family’, they have already benefited from this. However, as Vajrayana practitioners, who else should be even more precious to us apart from ‘the elders’ who are regarded as ‘treasure’?  He is, of course, our Guru Rinpoche. Rinpoche is a Tibetan Buddhist cannon which means ‘the great precious treasury’. He is the soul and the central character of Vajrayana who wholly embodies the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha (The Three Jewels).

Our Guru ── Venerable Rinpoche ── employs his and other lineage patriarchs’ invaluable experience in cultivation to establish a perfect system of dharma practices for preaching his disciples in order that we can have proper rules to rely and model on in our cultivations. Moreover, Rinpoche usually makes use of authentic examples to elaborate doctrines so that sentient beings can be liberated from ignorance. Whatever he does, his ultimate aim is to enable us to attain achievements spiritually. Hence, the grace of Guru is even more immeasurable than our (biological) parents. As disciples, we ought to treasure our Rinpoche whole-heartedly!  We should always make offerings and do services, contribute in charitable and pious deeds externally as well as cultivate mediation internally. More importantly, we should vow to undertake Buddhism and be responsible for the continuation of Buddha’s wisdom-life once we manage to attain achievements in future. This is probably the only way to pay forward the grace of our Venerable Rinpoche.

Source: 【Sajyukta – ratna-pitaka- Sutra Chapter 1, the story of ‘Deserted Agedness’ Kingdom 】