Buddhist Stories: “A Certain Brahmin” & “There Is No Fire Like Lust” (Part 2 of 4) Sept. 23, 2015

There’s a story about the five lay men. The title is, “There Is No Fire Like Lust.” Ananda said again, “But World Honored One, your teaching of the Dharma cleaves the skin and penetrates to the marrow of the bones. Why is it that while you are teaching the Dharma they do not listen attentively?” So the Buddha said, “Ananda, you evidently imagine that my Dharma is easy to listen to.” I saw. I know many people during initiation, they also sleep and then later they complain they don’t have any experience. They hear nothing. This is the thing like that. It’s not like if you get initiation then you’re all equal, or you could even understand or you could even let it run through your ears even. So the Buddha said the same stuff here. So Ananda was perplexed, so he asked again, “But why, World Honored One? Do you mean that it is difficult to listen to?” “Ananda, these living beings during countless thousands of cycles of time, never heard of the Buddha, the Dharma and the Order.” This kind of Sangha, this Sangha means the order of saintly practitioners, like monks under the living Masters. You see that, wow. So, it’s not that easy to meet a Buddha. In many other stories, the Buddha also mentioned that to have a human body is very difficult, as difficult as if in the ocean every 100 years or so, one piece of wood will float on the water, and that piece of wood has a big hole. And then, something... (A turtle.) What? (A turtle.) A turtle neck would…? (Go through the hole.) Precisely go through the hole. That is how difficult it is to attain a human body. And then to hear the Buddha Dharma is even more difficult than that. And to meet a living Buddha is even more, more, more multiply (times) difficult. So, whoever can see the Buddha, hear the Buddha’s teaching or be among the saintly practitioners is truly fortunate. That’s why the Buddha said, “It’s very difficult to hear my Dharma.” It doesn’t mean his Dharma is difficult. Is it difficult? No? We understand, right? (Yes.) Whenever the Buddha says something, like keep the precepts, the Four Noble Truths, we understand everything. It’s not difficult. It’s just very difficult for the people who had never been acquainted with the Buddha and the Buddha’s teaching. They had not enough merit all these existences until now. So therefore, when they saw it or heard it the first time, they dozed off or they didn’t understand a thing. It’s not because you don’t want to. The force of karma is so powerful like that. So powerful. Even in front of the Buddha, you still fail to understand or to listen. In the Bible also it says the same: “Hearing you hear, but you do not listen.” And, “Seeing you see, but you don’t understand.” That is the thing.