The Saint Embraced True Precepts

From Book No.231 – The Great Legends of The Dharma King [法王的大傳說]
Source: 231 法王的大傳說 – 仙人得受正戒
Translated to Bahasa Indonesia by TBS Indonesia: Mahluk Suci Menerima Sila Sejati
Translated to English from Bahasa Indonesia by Lotus Nino – May 11, 2013

In many past lifetimes, there were 500 holy saints who gathered in Lata Mountain, Kingdom of Varanasi, to conduct their spiritual cultivations.

Among them was a saint named Itula who was very careful with his utterances and conducts.

Zealously deepening his Samadhi (forgetting himself while sitting in meditation), Itula also cultivated the wind breathing, vitality of fire, purity of water, sturdiness of earth. With his persistence, Itula accomplished:

Spiritual travelling.
The body radiating lights.
Ability to comprehend the works of karma.
Transformations.

This Saint Itula remained in the state of Great Bliss (Mahasukha), Clear Light, and Emptiness (Shunyata).

The other saints of course had great accomplishments as well. Some were able to command the flowers to bloom for a longer period of time, some could command the rain to fall and to stop, some could foresee the events to take place the following day, some could perform fortune telling, some could subjugate wild beasts, some had the immunity from poisons, some could maintain their youthfulness, some didn’t need to eat for days, and still many other accomplishments.

However, all the spirits agreed that Itula’s spiritual cultivation was the best, and he had almost attained the level of Kimsin (equal to the Buddhas).
Itula, on the other hand, considered that cultivating to the point of the bottle neck was still lacking of something. That was why he left the Lata Mountain to journey into the town to seek the missing thing in his heart.

In the town, he met with an old beggar who came begging at him.
Itula gave a coin to the old beggar.

The beggar replied, “All of them.”

Consequently he gave all his money to the beggar. (Material charity)

The old beggar thus asked Itula to follow him; the beggar walking in the front, while Itula behind him. The beggar walked so fast that Itula found it difficult to keep the pace despite his employment of Divine Feet ability. There was still a distance between them. Finally they stopped at the monumental stupa.

The old beggar wanted to transmit the essence of dharma, but needed to borrow 3 things:

1. Itula’s skin to be the paper.
2. Itula’s bone to be the pen.
3. Itula’s blood to be the ink.

Itula didn’t get angry with those requests. By practising the divine manifestation, he donated his own skin, bone, and blood [Body charity]; meanwhile, his consciousness and appearance were free and at ease.

The old beggar immediately wrote the followings:

Perpetually observing the conducts.
And not committing killing, stealing, and adultery.
Never pits and talks harshly.
Never lies and brags.
The heart does not crave for negative desires.
Void of anger and poisonous emotions.
Abandoning heretical views.
These are the conducts of Bodhisattva.

Itula acquired those verses and suddenly understood that in order that he might attain accomplishment in his spiritual cultivation, he ought to abide by those precepts.

With the precepts, he could deliver sentient beings, and therefore generating Bodhicitta. Precepts and Bodhicitta were the missing things he sought previously.

Itula then propagated these precepts to the whole world. By adding the precept of avoiding getting drunk, they collectively became the 5 precepts of Buddhism.

To abide by these 5 precepts is to build the foundation of spiritual cultivation! It turned out that the holy saint Itula was the originator of the propagation of the 5 precepts. All precept materials were developed from these original 5 precepts.

So, who is Itula?

Who is the old beggar?

If one does not abide by the precepts, becoming a saint is also a faux pas!


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Om Guru Lian Sheng Siddhi Hom.