Date: 10/18/2025 10/19/2025
Location: Star Lake Meditation Center
Teacher: Shilin Long
Dharma Talk
The Story of the Bandit Luótuó
In the past, when the Buddha was teaching the Dharma at Jetavana Monastery in Śrāvastī, there lived in the city a robber named Luótuó. He often carried a sharp sword at his waist and a bow and arrows in hand, seizing people’s belongings in the streets to survive.
One day, feeling unbearably hungry and thirsty, he saw from afar a monk holding his alms bowl, resting under a large tree. Luótuó thought: “There must be food in that monk’s bowl. I will rob him and eat my fill. If he has already eaten, I’ll cut open his belly and take the food from inside to eat.”
With this cruel thought, Luótuó approached the monk and stopped not far away. At that time, the monk, knowing Luótuó’s intention, thought: “If I do not call out to him today, he will surely kill me, thus committing the grave sin of harming the Sangha, and he will fall into the evil realms. It is better that I invite him to share this meal.” So the monk called out from afar: “Come here quickly, I have food for you to enjoy.”
Hearing this, Luótuó thought: “This monk actually knows I am hungry, and yet he offers me his meal.” So he came near, and after eating all the food from the monk’s bowl, he felt refreshed, strong, and greatly joyful. At that moment, the monk preached the essentials of the Dharma to him. Luótuó’s mind opened, and he attained the fruit of sotāpanna (stream-enterer).
Later, Luótuó renounced worldly life and became a monk. He practiced diligently, eradicated afflictions, transcended birth and death, and finally attained the fruit of an arhat, complete with the six kinds of supernatural powers. Both devas and the people of the country who saw this venerable saint revered and praised him without exception.
