时间：02/07/2026 02/08/2026
地点：星湖禅修中心
主讲：龙示林
佛法修行
神医耆婆未请盘特比丘缘
昔日，佛陀在罗阅城的迦兰陀竹园说法度众。一天，神医耆婆邀请佛陀及其弟子前往家中应供，唯独没有邀请盘特比丘。
应供时，耆婆先以清净水供养佛陀，却为佛陀所婉拒。耆婆恭敬地请示：「世尊，为何您不接受弟子诚心所供养的清净水呢？」世尊回答：「因为今天应供的众僧中，少了盘特比丘。」耆婆答道：「世尊，您教导盘特比丘扫地时诵念的简短偈子，连牧羊人、牧牛人都背得出来，盘特比丘却花了四个月仍记不得。我为何要供养如此愚笨的比丘呢？」
但世尊仍坚持道：「若不请他来，我便不接受清净水。」耆婆只好听从佛陀的训示，遣使去请盘特比丘。
当盘特比丘到达后，佛陀请阿难尊者将钵拿给他，并说：「盘特，你不必起座，你就从所在之处将钵送给我。」于是盘特比丘以神通力将钵送至佛的手中。耆婆见到如此景象，深自懊悔：「唉！我实在是大错特错，竟然轻慢了这样的圣者。」于是至诚地向尊者忏悔自己的愚昧无知，并恭敬供养种种美味饮食，反倒冷落了其他比丘。
佛陀见此情景，便为大众述说神医耆婆的过去因缘：
「无数世以前，耆婆是一名马商，从事马匹贩卖交易的工作。一天，他带着一千匹马要到邻国贩售，没想到一匹母马竟然在中途产下了小马。马商为了尽快到达目的地，看了看这匹平凡无奇的小马，便将它送给路旁的人家，继续赶马上路。
到了邻国，马商前去谒见国王，表达来意。国王看了所有的马后，说道：『你这次带来的这一千匹马，都是很普通的马，但其中有一匹马鸣声悲切，声音奇特，一定是刚产下了不寻常的千里名驹。这匹小马长大后，其价值绝对可以抵得上一千匹马呢！如果你将这小马卖给我，我便将其他一千匹马都买下；倘若不卖，我就连一匹马也不买。』
马商听了回答：『国王，这一路上，我不记得有母马生产啊！』国王坚定地表示：「我通达马相、善辨马声，一听母马的鸣声，即知其小马是否优良。」马贩思索良久，才回想起半途的确有母马产下一匹小马，而且已经送给别人了。
这匹被马商送出的小马十分特别，它出生不到几天便会开口说人话，它对主人说：『如果马商把我要回去，你就请他以五百匹马来交换，若不答应，你就不要将我还给他。』过了几天，马商果然来了，他对小马的主人说：『前阵子我将一匹小马托付给您，想必您一定也养得很辛苦，今日我愿意用一匹好马，来赎回它。』
主人回答：『是您自己要将小马送给我的，我并未向您索取，而我也确实辛辛苦苦养活了它。所以既然你这么想要买，就请您用五百匹马来和我交换吧！』马商见主人这么坚持，只好用五百匹马将小马赎回。
佛陀说完这段因缘，便对耆婆说：「你前世先是看轻小马，随意送人，后来又看重它，以五百匹马赎回；到了今日也是如此，先是瞧不起资质较愚鲁的盘特比丘，而后又敬重他，冷落其他五百位比丘。你未能以平等心、恭敬心对待一切众生的习气，久远以来一直如此啊！」
Date: 02/07/2026 02/08/2026
Location: Star Lake Meditation Center
Teacher: Shilin Long
Dharma Talk
The Cause of the Divine Physician Jīvaka Not Inviting Bhikṣu Panthaka
In the past, when the Buddha was expounding the Dharma and liberating beings in the Bamboo Grove of Kalanda at Rājagṛha, one day the divine physician Jīvaka invited the Buddha and his disciples to his home to receive an offering of food, but he alone did not invite Bhikṣu Panthaka.
When the time came to make the offering, Jīvaka first presented pure water to the Buddha, but the Buddha gently declined it. Jīvaka respectfully asked, “World-Honored One, why do you not accept the pure water that your disciple offers with a sincere heart?” The World-Honored One replied, “Because among the monks receiving the offering today, Bhikṣu Panthaka is missing.” Jīvaka answered,
“World-Honored One, the short verse that you taught Bhikṣu Panthaka to recite while sweeping the ground can be memorized even by shepherds and cowherds, yet Bhikṣu Panthaka still could not remember it after four months. Why should I make offerings to such a foolish bhikṣu?” However, the World-Honored One still insisted, “If he is not invited, I will not accept the pure water.” Jīvaka had no choice but to follow the Buddha’s instruction and sent someone to invite Bhikṣu Panthaka.
When Bhikṣu Panthaka arrived, the Buddha asked Venerable Ānanda to give him the alms bowl and said, “Panthaka, you need not rise from your seat; just send the bowl to me from where you are.”
Thereupon, Bhikṣu Panthaka used his supernatural power to send the bowl into the Buddha’s hand. When Jīvaka saw this scene, he deeply regretted it, saying to himself, “Alas! I have truly made a great mistake, actually belittling such a noble saint.” He then sincerely repented to the venerable one for his ignorance and folly, and respectfully offered various delicious foods, instead neglecting the other bhikṣus.
Seeing this situation, the Buddha then related Jīvaka’s past causes and conditions to the assembly:
“Countless lifetimes ago, Jīvaka was a horse merchant engaged in trading horses. One day, he led a thousand horses to a neighboring country to sell them. Unexpectedly, a mare gave birth to a foal halfway along the road. In order to reach his destination quickly, the horse merchant looked at the ordinary-looking foal and gave it to a household by the roadside, then continued on his journey driving the horses.
When he arrived in the neighboring country, the horse merchant went to see the king and explained his purpose. After examining all the horses, the king said, ‘The thousand horses you have brought this time are all quite ordinary. However, among them there is one mare whose neighing is mournful and unusual. She must have just given birth to an extraordinary foal capable of traveling a thousand li.
When that foal grows up, its value will certainly equal that of a thousand horses. If you sell me that foal, I will buy the other thousand horses; if you do not sell it, I will not buy even a single horse.’ The horse merchant replied, ‘Your Majesty, along the way I do not recall any mare giving birth.’ The king firmly stated, ‘I understand the characteristics of horses and am skilled at discerning their voices. From the sound of a mare’s neigh, I can tell whether her foal is exceptional.’ The horse merchant pondered for a long time and then recalled that indeed a mare had given birth to a foal midway, and that he had already given it to someone else.
That foal, which the horse merchant had given away, was very special. Within a few days of its birth, it could speak human language. It said to its owner, ‘If the horse merchant comes to take me back, ask him to exchange five hundred horses for me. If he does not agree, do not return me to him.’ A few days later, the horse merchant indeed came and said to the foal’s owner, ‘Some time ago I entrusted a foal to you. You must have worked very hard to raise it. Today I am willing to use one fine horse to redeem it.’
The owner replied, ‘You yourself gave the foal to me; I did not ask for it, and I have indeed worked hard to raise it. Since you are so eager to buy it, please exchange five hundred horses for it.’ Seeing the owner’s firm stance, the horse merchant had no choice but to use five hundred horses to redeem the foal.
After finishing this account, the Buddha said to Jīvaka, ‘In a past life, you first looked down upon the foal and casually gave it away, and later valued it and redeemed it with five hundred horses. Today it is the same: first you despised Bhikṣu Panthaka for his dull faculties, and then you revered him while neglecting the other five hundred bhikṣus. This habit of failing to treat all beings with an equal and respectful mind has been with you for a very long time.’”
