A Story of “The Monkey Who Offered Honey” (Part 2)
Excerpted from The Sūtra of the Wise and the Foolish (Damamukanidana Sūtra), Chapter 40: The Story of Śreṣṭhin’s Son, Madhuvāsiṣṭha.
In the story, the monkey, with a sincere and joyful heart, offered only a bowl of honey yet was swiftly reborn into a wealthy family, drew close to the Buddha, and attained the fruit of sainthood. The key lies not only in the act itself but, more importantly, in the recipient of the offering. This exemplifies "the superiority of the field of merit ," according to the Buddha Dharma. The Buddha simultaneously possesses a field of merit and a field of gratitude. Moreover, the Sangha led by the Buddha also possesses these qualities as fields of merit and gratitude. Therefore, making offerings to the Buddha and Sangha with sincere joy generates inconceivable merit.
The Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha—the Three Jewels—are revered because they are regarded as the most supreme fields of merit in the world as they can give rise to all worldly and transcendental merits. This demonstrates that even the smallest wholesome deed performed with sincerity and joy can bring immeasurable karmic fruits. A single thought of reverence or a minor offering resembles sowing seeds in fertile soil—although the seeds are small, they can yield limitless fruit. On the other hand, while giving and offering are wholesome acts, if the recipient is inappropriate, not only will merit fail to accumulate, but harm may result. Therefore, discerning true fields of merit from poisonous fields is a critical form of wisdom that practitioners must not neglect to develop.
What are “poisonous fields”? They are those who present a virtuous appearance while actually holding wrong views, going so far as to undermine the True Dharma and mislead sentient beings—teachers who are wholesome in name only. Making material offerings to such people not only does not constitute true giving but also creates the cause for shared karma in destroying the Dharma. Making offerings to those who break precepts and slander the Dharma is like aiding evildoers—it not only fails to generate merit but also hinders a life of wisdom. This is comparable to sowing seeds in fields contaminated with heavy metals: Even with diligent cultivation, the harvested grain will contain toxins, and consuming it will bring no benefit but harm. Similarly, one who makes offerings to pseudo-Buddhist teachers or Dharma destroyers will not only fail to accumulate provisions for liberation but may also actually develop ignorance and obstruct the conditions for personally realizing the Buddha Dharma.
Therefore, to plant in the correct field of merit and reap vast rewards leading to liberational Dharma, one must draw near and make offerings to authentic wholesome teachers and the Sangha who uphold the definitive True Dharma—fields of merit and gratitude—thereby developing supreme wisdom and generating the great resolve to abandon afflictions and realize the Path to Buddhahood.
The second core question in the story is “Why did the young monk become a monkey for five hundred lifetimes because of a single remark?” This reveals another extremely important yet often overlooked aspect of the law of causality: verbal karma. This monk obtained an extremely grave negative karma with just one careless remark for two main reasons. The first reason was disrespect toward a saint. The object of his mockery was a saint, who had already attained arhatship. According to the causal principles taught in the Buddha Dharma, the level of attainment of the recipient of one’s words profoundly affects the severity of the karmic retribution. Thus, ridiculing a saint of complete virtue carries far graver consequences than ridiculing an ordinary person. This is because the arhat was a wholesome teacher yet was made an object of ridicule. His sharp rebuke, harsh as it was in tone, came from deep compassion, jolting the young monk back from the precipice and awakening him to timely repentance. The second reason that the monk obtained an extremely grave negative karma with just one careless remark was that he had a mocking mind. The young monk’s mental state at the time was frivolous and disrespectful. This “contemptuous mind” was the root cause of the negative karma he had obtained. One’s words are merely the expression of one’s inner thoughts; what truly plants the seed of negative karma is a mocking and irreverent mind.
Verbal karma is an “invisible blade.” Our careless remarks, when arising from contempt, can create far-reaching karmic consequences. Therefore, being cautious in speech and conduct is a fundamental way to protect ourselves and avoid negative karmic retribution. As a single remark can cause five hundred lifetimes of suffering, after making such a mistake, is there still hope for salvation? The story gives an affirmative answer: Yes, there is still hope for salvation, and it is through sincere repentance.
The story of “The Monkey Who Offered Honey” is like a condensed life epic, fully demonstrating the principles of wholesome and unwholesome cause and effect. Our destiny is not controlled by mysterious external forces or determined by outward appearances and circumstances; rather, it is shaped by our own “body, speech, and mind” actions in each moment. Every thought, every word, every deed of ours writes the future scripts of our lives. All sentient beings inherently possess the pure eighth consciousness—the tathāgatagarbha—which stores all our wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral karmic seeds. Thus, each action of body, speech, and mind becomes a karmic seed stored in the tathāgatagarbha. When conditions ripen, the karmic consequences naturally manifest with flawless precision.
Each of us is both the scriptwriter and director of our own life’s script. Our “mental intentions” form part of the scripts of our lives, determining the plot of our lives’ dramas. “Verbal actions” and “physical actions” are the dialogue and movement cues in that script, shaping our relationships with others and our environment. “Repentance and wholesome conduct” represent our editorial rights over our lives’ scripts, giving us the opportunity to correct erroneous scenes and rearrange the directions of our life stories.
May we all skillfully employ the power of using awareness as our pen, wholesome thoughts as our light, and repentance as our catalyst, constantly observing our own minds, being cautious in our speech and conduct, courageously correcting what needs to be corrected in them, and ultimately directing a great life drama that leads toward liberation and accomplishes the perfection of merit and wisdom.
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