During the Sui Dynasty, many temples were built in various states due to Emperor Wen’s reverence for Buddhism, and the Culture of Buddhism flourished.
The answer to the question “Why does the Vajra look at the Buddha with anger and the Bodhisattva looks down?
One day, Xue Daoheng, a minister of the Ministry of Justice, went to the mountain to pay homage to Buddha and came to the Kai Shan Temple in Zhong Shan. He saw the monks in the temple, some were chanting sutras, some were meditating, and some were cleaning the Buddhist courtyard. Everyone behaved peacefully and the whole temple seemed to be a pure land.
Xue Daoheng was deeply attracted by the peaceful atmosphere. At that Time, a young sanyasi happened to come along. Xue Daoheng looked at the idols in the main hall and asked him, “Why is Vajra angry? Why is the Bodhisattva hanging his eyebrows?”
The young Shāhmi was quick-witted and said without thinking, “The vajra’s eyes are angry, so he subdues the four demons; the bodhisattva’s eyebrows are downcast, so he has compassion for the six paths.” The little sama was not loud, but his voice was very clear and moving. Xue Daoheng was so surprised that his jaw dropped and he stood still not knowing what to say.
Little Shamayi’s heart was pure and unstained, so that he could comprehend the forms of Vajra and Bodhisattva and embody the different meanings.
Little Shamayi’s enlightenment and refined practice
There is also a story of a young shamatha that is thought-provoking.
In the old days, there was a young monk who was only seven years old and had already become a monk. What is even more amazing is that, despite his young age, he was a successful monk and had developed the ability to know his past lives and present lives.
One day, after the monks finished their meditation, the young sama, like a small adult, sighed and said.
“I am just one genesis, but I have dragged five mothers into sorrow and trouble. In my first Life, my mother gave birth to me, and it so happened that my neighbor also gave birth to a son. But in that life I lived only a few days and died young. My mother watched the neighbor’s child grow up and mourned greatly. In my second life, I still did not grow up and died young. My mother was very sad when she saw other people nursing their children. In my third life, I died again when I was ten years old. When my mother saw that other people’s children were eating like me, she was very sad about it.”
“In my fourth life, I had just grown up and died in a hurry before I could marry. When my mother saw young people marrying, her heart grieved. In the fifth life, it was the present me. I became a monk at the age of seven, and my mother often missed me and was again sad and troubled. When the five mothers gathered, each spoke about her own children, and they were all very sad and distressed with each other. I thought of all the past events of the cycle of birth and death and lamented for those who had fallen into a lost path, so I should be all the more diligent in my refinement and not slack in grasping my practice.”
Most of a parent’s life’s efforts and energy are consumed in their children. If a life, as the Buddhists say, comes from billions of years and millions of years, constantly reincarnating. The breast milk drunk in each life, all of them accumulated, is even more than the sea water. How many relatives should there be in each life reincarnation and births. People often say that the kindness of a drop of water should be repaid with a spring. But how can we repay all the kindnesses of our relatives in all lifetimes?
Therefore, the wise young monks knew that the only way to repay the kindnesses of their relatives over many lifetimes was to practice monasticism.
These two young Shamans are so wise and open-minded that they speak like adults. Perhaps their purity of heart and unspoiled conscience is the reason for their folk legend.
Sources
1、Peacefulness, Volume 174, Xue Daoheng
2、The Complete Book of An Shi – Filial Piety
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