Hello everyone
In today's video I want to share with you
the past karma of Maitreya Bodhisattva
and the story of his vow
Everyone should be familiar with Maitreya Bodhisattva
as the Śākyamuni Buddha has predicted in his teaching
the next Buddha who be born in the human realm will be Maitreya
Maitreya Bodhisattva is now
practicing in the inner courtyard of Tuṣita Heaven
he is a Ekajatipratibuddha (Buddha-elect)
and will become the Future Buddha
He is also the fifth Buddha
connecting with (born in) the human realm
and will appear in the human world where the endurance of life is as long as
84 thousand years
According to our present time, 5.6 billion years later
Maitreya Bodhisattva
will be born in our world, the world of Yanfuti
and to convert all sentient beings
So his dharma name Maitreya
is a very famous surname for the Brahmins in India
This surname can also be translated as the "follower of mercy"
His surname is Maitreyas
and his given name is Āyìduō/Ajita
So in many of our sutras
we also read about
a Bodhisattva called Āyìduō/Ajita
this refers to the Maitreya Bodhisattva
Maitreya has been practicing Bodhisattva
for a long time in his past life
In the sutras that the Buddha preached
In the Buddha told Sutra: All Wisdom and Light Brahmin composited by no killing
The Buddha has spoken
to Ven. Ananda and the other disciples.
Since this Ajita Maitreya
was very pious
in worshipping the Buddha
At that time there was a Brahmin
Brahmin refers to the non-Buddhist outer path practitioner
in India in ancient times
which is mainly the Brahmin
At that time there were more than 200 Brahmins in the congregation
who saw Ajita Bodhisattva or Maitreya
appearing to be very solemn
with thirty-two physical characteristics and eighty secondary marks
so that those who were seeing this would be filled with infinite joy in their hearts
and his body was also emitting golden lights
So one Brahmin was asking the Buddha
to understand why this
Maitreya Bodhisattva had such enormous merit
The Buddha then said:
"Because this Brahmin in his past life
had actually been practicing Buddhism
Before the limitless and boundless times
There was a world called Shenghua Fu
and the name of this Buddha was Maitreya
This ancient Buddha often preaches the Dharma teachings of compassion
joy and the four boundless minds
to enlighten all living beings and to persuade them to develop their bodhicitta and follow Bodhisattva practices
So at that time the ancient Buddha Maitreya
and the sutra he taught was called Compassionate Samadhi and Magnificent Sea Cloud of Great Compassion
He said that if any sentient being heard of this sutra
he would be able to transcend the hundreds of billions of sins of "life and death"
and the sentient being would certainly obtain enlightenment and
achieve the Buddhahood in the future
Therefore in the process of doing this
there was a great Brahmin whose name was "All Wisdom and Light"
When this Brahmin heard
this ancient Buddha teaching
the sutra of Samadhi and Glory Sea Cloud of Compassion
because this Brahmin was also full of theories
and very knowledgeable
When he heard this ancient Buddha preaching Dharma
He wanted to
challenge the Buddha
but later he was mediated by this Buddha
He sincerely submitted to this Buddha
and finally he said: "I am willing to deeply repent in front of the Buddha.
I was being arrogant and full of myself just now
What I have learned is really far from your compassionate lights and wisdom
So the great Brahmin took refuge in this ancient Buddha and sat down
and he was very firm in his practice
And he made the vow of Anuttarasamyasam bodhichitta
which is the Bodhichitta that vows to benefit all living beings to become Buddhas
He made a vow in front of this ancient Buddha
so this Buddha was also awarded the great Brahmin
and said:" because you are such a great master
and you like to develop
the merit of vow
you will recite this sutra and it will benefit all beings immeasurably in the future life
Therefore you have such merit
to achieve Buddhahood in the future
At that time
the kingdom was a very chaotic country
The king was very dissolute and extravagant
There was no rule of law and the whole world was suffering the "four disharmonies"
being the disharmony of wind and rain
and no grain harvest
So under the inspiration of the ancient Buddha
the great Brahmin began to practice meditation in the wild mountains
It happened that he went to beg for food during a difficult time period
and there was no food to eat for seven days and nights
There were more than 500 rabbits in the forest
The rabbit king knew that there
was a great Brahmin practicing in the forest
His heart was full of compassion, benevolence and love
He knew that the Brahmin
would continue to promote the Dharma and
benefit many infinite beings
This was what the rabbit king knew
So he said to all the rabbits:
"Due to greed, anger, ignorance and all kinds of namelessness in my past lives
I am devoted to the animal realm in the present life
I am now born as an animal.
As a rabbit
I now know that this Brahmin immortal
will become enlightened in the future and achieve the Buddhahood
I would like to give up my own body
I am very happy that
I can give up my animal body as an offering."
That is to say the rabbit is willing to give up life to support the master
It is for the attainment of the Supreme Dharma
So the rabbit jumped into the fire
to support those who practice in the forest
Then the great Brahmin knew
After the Rabbit King took a vow
he jumped into the fire and died
There is a tree God in the forest
He told the Brahmin: “The rabbit mother and the rabbit king
threw themselves into the fire to make an offering. Now you can eat them."
But when the Brahmin heard this
he was too sad to speak
He was very sad and he said an old verse
He said:
"It is better to burn mine body to the ground than to bear to kill and devour all living beings."
In the Sutra of Compassion
it is said that those who practice compassion would rather break the
bone marrow and the brain
than to eat the flesh of the sentient beings
All ancient/past Buddhas said those who eat meat
is not satisfied with practicing the kindness
and will suffer from short life and multiple diseases
they are confused about life and death and cannot enlightened as a Buddha."
After the Brahmin
had spoken this verse, he vowed:
"May I not kill the flesh of living beings in all my lives."
He immediately entered into the samadhi of the white light and benevolence
Even before he become a Buddha he has been practicing the precept of not eating meat
Then he also plunged into the sea of fire
with the rabbit king
At this time, the earth started to shake
the devas were diffusing flowers freely from the heaven and
Auspicious signs also appeared in the azure
as if saying that these two great bodhisattvas
helped each other to achieve Buddhahood on their paths
When the Buddha finished speaking
The story was ended
He also said to his disciples that
the rabbit king was me in one of the past lives, the Śākyamuni Buddha
And this great brahmin immortal
who has been practicing the precepts intensively
and whose heart has been filled with kindness tolerance and humility is now the Maitreya Bodhisattva
Therefore because of this kind of merit and benevolence in his vow
he does not kill any sentient beings
nor does he forbear to
eat the flesh of sentient beings
Such merit and virtue will be help him to achieve Buddhahood in the future
So this is what the Buddha has said
from the sutra
about the past life of Maitreiya
the causes and conditions and his vow
And this is why the vegetarianism
is very much encouraged in Buddhism
As a matter of fact, in this sutra
we can also understand
how Maitreya Bodhisattva was like in his past life
He took vows and
practiced the four limitless mindsets of compassion and bliss
adhered to the precepts and pursued intensive practices
and did not bear to consume the flesh of any living beings
He was filled with great compassion and great compassion for all sentient beings
This is also a very good basis
and we should learn to be the same as Maitreya Bodhisattva
we should be equal to all living beings
equal in heart and willing to care and love
So this is why his name is the "follower of mercy"
Or we also say that he is the "Bodhisattva of Mercy"
So I think in this short story today
we can understand that Ajita Bodhisattva, his causes and conditions
and the Maitreya Bodhisattvas' vow
and his past life
which is worth learning by us, Buddhists
Thanks everyone
and best wishes to all of you.
Amitabha