Compassion

[Guest guest]

Found this on a newsgroup, thought it was an interesting tale -

 

Asanga was one of the most famous Indian Buddhist saints, and lived in

the fourth century. He went to the mountains to do a solitary retreat,

concentrating all his meditation practice on the Buddha Maitreya, in

the fervent hope that he would be blessed with a vision of this Buddha

and receive teachings from him.

 

For six years Asanga meditated in extreme hardship, but did not even

have one auspicious dream. He was disheartened and thought he would

never succeed with his aspiration to meet the Buddha Maitreya, and so

he abandoned his retreat and left his hermitage. He had not gone far

down the road when he saw a man rubbing an enormous iron bar with a

strip of silk. Asanga went up to him and asked him what he was doing.

"I haven't got a needle," the man replied, So I'm going to make one

out of this iron bar." Asanga stared at him, astounded; even if the

man were able to manage it in a hundred years, he thought, what would

be the point? He said to himself: "Look at the trouble people give

themselves over things that are totally absurd. You are doing

something really valuable, spiritual practice, and you're not nearly

so dedicated." He turned around and went back to his retreat.

 

Another three years went by, still without the slightest sign from the

Buddha Maitreya. "Now I know for certain," he thought "I'm never going

to succeed." So he left again, and soon came to a bend in the road

where there was a huge rock, so tall it seemed to touch the sky. At

the foot of the rock was a man busily rubbing it with a feather soaked

in water. "What are you doing?" Asanga asked.

 

"This rock is so big it's stopping the sun from shining on my house,

so I'm trying to get rid of it." Asanga was amazed at the man's

indefatigable energy, and ashamed at his own lack of dedication. He

returned to his retreat.

 

Three more years passed, and still he had not even had a single good

dream. He decided, once and for all, that it was hopeless, and he left

his retreat for good. The day wore on, and in the afternoon he came

across a dog lying by the side of the road. It had only its front

legs, and the whole of the lower part of its body was rotting and

covered with maggots. Despite its pitiful condition, the dog was

snapping at passersby, and pathetically trying to bite them by

dragging itself along the ground with its two good legs.

 

Asanga was overwhelmed with a vivid and unbearable feeling of

compassion. He cut a piece of flesh off his own body and gave it to

the dog to eat. Then he bent down to take off the maggots that were

consuming the dog's body. But he suddenly thought he might hurt them

if he tried to pull them out with his fingers, and realized that the

only way to remove them would be on his tongue. Asanga knelt on the

ground, and looking at the horrible festering, writhing mass, closed

his eyes. He leant closer and put out his tongue.... The next thing he

knew his tongue was touching the ground. He opened his eyes and looked

up. The dog was gone; there in its place was the Buddha Maitreya,

ringed by a shimmering aura of light.

"At last," said Asanga, "why did you never appear to me before?"

 

Maitreya spoke softly: "It is not true that I have never appeared to

you before. I was with you all the time, but your negative karma and

obscurations prevented you from seeing me. Your twelve years of

practice dissolved them slightly, so that you were at last able to see

the dog. Then, thanks to your genuine and heartfelt compassion, all

those obscurations were completely swept away, and you can see me

before you with your very own eyes. If you don't believe that this is

what happened, put me on your shoulder and try and see if anyone else

can see me."

 

Asanga put Maitreya on his right shoulder and went to the marketplace,

where he began to ask everyone: "What have I got on my shoulder?"

"Nothing," most people said, and hurried on. Only one old woman, whose

karma had been slightly purified, answered: "You've got the rotting

corpse of an old dog on your shoulder, that's all." Asanga at last

understood the boundless power of compassion that had purified and

transformed his karma, and so made him a vessel fit to receive the

vision and instruction of Maitreya. Then the Buddha Maitreya, whose

name means "loving kindness," took Asanga to a heavenly realm, and

there gave him many sublime teachings that are among the most

important in the whole of Buddhism.

 

 

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