The Warm Hearted Family : หน้า 173/207 Exploring the significance of honesty in bestowing blessings, illustrated by the transformation of Venerable Angulimala.
A respected senior monk gave an explanation regarding
this matter. He said, "A blessing's sacredness" is dependent
upon "how honest the blessing-giver is towards his virtues."
If a blessing-giver is honest towards his virtues, his
blessings will be very powerful. However, if a blessing-giver
is not honest towards his virtues, his blessings will be less
powerful.
He pointed out examples recorded during the Lord
Buddha's time, especially the story of Venerable Angulimala
(Ahimsaka) vividly described in the Buddhist Canon. The
respected senior monk illustrated:
"Before Venerable Angulimala ordained, he had been a
serial killer. He had killed nearly a thousand people. The last
or the 1,000th person he was going to kill was his mother.
However, the Lord Buddha foresaw this event, so He blocked
him from committing the evil deed. When Venerable
Angulimala saw Him, he thought about killing Him as well.
Then the Lord Buddha tried to bring his senses back by
reminding him of the evil deed in his mind. He gave him a
particular sermon on the road side. In the end, Venerable
Angulimala had repented and requested ordination as a monk
from the Lord Buddha. When he became a monk, he
conscientiously practiced Dhamma at His temple.
"As a result of being a famous killer in the past, when he
went on his alms round in the morning in the beginning of his
monkhood, he often came back with nothing because the
villagers recognized him as the killer. Some ran away from
him. Some threw stones at him until he was covered with blood.
"One day, while he was on his alms round, he met a
pregnant woman who was nearing full term. As soon as she
recognized him, she was overwhelmed with fright and tried to
run away until she fell down and scrambled to stand again and
again. Eventually, she became exhausted and gaped at him in
fear, as if she was dying in front of him.
"Venerable Angulimala really wanted to help her, but
what he could do about it? In the end, he gave her a blessing
based on his honesty towards his virtues:
"From the point of noble birth in having ordained in
the Lord Buddha's temple, I have never thought of
exploiting or harming any living beings. With this truth,
may you safely give birth to your child."
"After his powerful blessing, the woman easily and safely
delivered her child. Because the event occurred before
Venerable Angulimala attained Arahantaship (the perfected
one), it can be deduced that the power of the honesty towards
his virtues created a holy blessing.
"Hence, the right method of giving a blessing is that
it must be dependent on honesty towards the virtues of
the blessing-giver.
The Warm Hearted Family
344
Blessing Our Descendants.
The Warm Hearted Family
345
Blessing Our Descendants