Date: 01/18/2025 01/19/2025
Location: Star Lake Meditation Center
Teacher: Shilin Long
Dharma Talk
The Story of Venerable BhaddiyaKaligodha
“If one wishes to admonish others, they should act as they teach;
To restrain oneself before restraining others is truly the hardest task.”
(Dhammapada, Chapter on the Self, Verse 159)
This verse was spoken by the Buddha while residing at Jetavana Monastery, directed towards Venerable BhaddiyaKaligodha. The story behind the verse is as follows:VenerableBhaddiyaKaligodha learned the practice of meditation from the Buddha and led five hundred monks to spend the rainy season retreat in a forest.
He often instructed the monks, “We have learned the meditation method from the Buddha, so we must diligently practice without negligence.” After giving these instructions, however, he would return to his room and immediately fall asleep.
The monks, following his guidance, practiced diligently. They walked in meditation until near midnight and only then retired to their rooms to rest.
At that moment, BhaddiyaKaligodha, having just awakened from sleep, stepped out to inspect the area. Seeing no one walking in meditation, he knocked on each monk’s door and rebuked them:”Hey! Did you come here just to sleep? Get up and practice diligently!”
The monks, fearing reprimand, quickly resumed their practice and began meditating through the middle of the night. Meanwhile, BhaddiyaKaligodhareturned to his room to sleep again.
By the last part of the night, the monks, utterly exhausted from their efforts, finally returned to their rooms to rest. BhaddiyaKaligodha, however, awoke once more and repeated his routine of knocking on doors, urging the monks to rise and practice.
Although the five hundred monks practiced tirelessly day and night, their extreme fatigue rendered them unable to focus on reciting scriptures or meditating effectively. Their minds became restless.
One day, the monks praised BhaddiyaKaligodha, saying, “Oh, our teacher is so diligent in his practice.” But one monk suggested, “We should secretly observe him to see if his diligence is genuine.”
Upon investigation, they discovered the truth: BhaddiyaKaligodha only reprimanded others while strictly demanding their efforts, yet spent the entire night sleeping himself.
The monks complained, “We’ve been scolded and deceived, nearly driven to ruin! He wastes precious time doing nothing while we are unable to rest properly and are now too exhausted to practice effectively.”
At the end of the rainy season retreat, the monks returned to Jetavana Monastery. When the Buddha asked, “Did you practice diligently?” they truthfully reported the events.
The Buddha remarked, “This monk not only harmed you in this life but also in a past life.” The monks asked about the past, and the Buddha told the following story:
Long ago, in the city of Benares during the reign of King Brahmadatta, the Bodhisatta (the Buddha in a previous life) was born into a noble Brahmin family. As a young man, he mastered eighteen branches of knowledge and became a renowned teacher across the ten directions.
The Bodhisatta taught five hundred students. These students kept a rooster that crowed punctually each morning, helping them wake early to study their texts.
One day, the rooster died, leaving the students without a reliable way to wake early. While gathering firewood in the forest, one student found a rooster at a cemetery, captured it, and placed it in the coop.
However, this rooster, having grown up in the cemetery, had no sense of time. Sometimes it crowed in the middle of the night, sometimes at the end of the night, and occasionally only after the sun was high in the sky.
When the rooster crowed at midnight, the students would rise early to study but, due to sleep deprivation, often fell asleep while reciting texts. When it crowed late, they hurried to prepare for class, feeling rushed and unprepared.
The students, frustrated by the disruptions, said, “This rooster’s erratic crowing has disrupted our lives and ruined our studies.” They caught the rooster, twisted its neck, and killed it.
They brought the dead rooster to their teacher, the Bodhisatta, and explained what had happened. The teacher said, “This rooster was abandoned at the cemetery, never living with its parents or being properly trained. It did not know when to crow and when to stay silent. Without a sense of time, it met such a tragic end.”
After recounting this story, the Buddha said, “At that time, the erratic rooster was BhaddiyaKaligodha, the students were all of you, and I was the teacher.”
The Buddha then instructed the monks:”Monks, before one teaches others, they must first discipline themselves. Only by mastering oneself can one guide others effectively. Restraining oneself is truly the most difficult task.”
The Buddha then recited this verse:”If one wishes to admonish others, they should act as they teach;To restrain oneself before restraining others is truly the hardest task.”
Hearing the Buddha’s teaching, the five hundred monks abandoned their defilements and distractions, strengthening their resolve. They diligently practiced and soon attained Arhatship. All who heard the teaching also gained great benefit.
