Date: 06/29/2024 06/30/2024
Location: Star Lake Meditation Center
Teacher: Otto Huang
Dharma Talk
The Doubts of the Laywoman Deer Dwelle
Once, the venerable Ananda accompanied the Buddha to Shravasti, the capital of the Kosala kingdom, staying at the JetavanaAnathapindika’s monastery on the outskirts to the south of the city.
One morning, Venerable Ananda went into the city to alms-round, visiting house by house, until he reached the residence of a laywoman named Deer Dwelling.
Deer Dwelling, seeing Venerable Ananda approach from afar, quickly prepared a seat in her home, and came out to invite Venerable Ananda to sit.
After he was seated, Deer Dwelling expressed her doubts to Venerable Ananda:
“Venerable Ananda! It’s difficult to comprehend and accept that the Blessed One said that a practitioner who has renounced sexual desire and one who has not, are reborn in the same place. How can it be said that the Blessed One knows the Dharma? My father, Fulan, practiced celibacy, purity, and was detached from worldly desires, and the Blessed One said he achieved the state of a Stream-enterer and was reborn in the Tusita heaven. He will only return to the human realm once before achieving liberation. My uncle, Pearsida, had not renounced sexual desire, but he also achieved the state of a Stream-enterer and was reborn in the Tusita heaven with the same fate. How can there be the same result for those who have renounced sexual desire and those who have not?”
“Dear sister! Don’t speak like that, the Tathagata fully understands the virtues and faults of all beings, which you cannot.” Ananda could only respond in this way before taking his leave.
Returning to the monastery, Ananda immediately reported Deer Dwelling’s query to the Buddha. The Buddha explained to Venerable Ananda:
“How could Deer Dwelling fully understand the virtues and faults of all beings? Ananda, for example, if there are two people who have both violated a precept and then both corrected themselves, one may not fully understand the principles of liberation of mind and wisdom, and therefore is not keen to listen to the true Dharma, thus lacking in understanding and right view, and not having the conditions for liberation once the opportunity for study matures, while the other is fully endowed with them. Thus, the latter is naturally superior to the former. That’s why, Ananda, if someone merely observes that both persons violated and corrected themselves similarly, and from this infers that their outcomes are the same, questioning why one is considered superior and the other inferior, of course, that person would feel confused and troubled. Similarly, one should not determine the superiority of beings merely based on the perfection of their observance of precepts, or the elimination of defilements such as greed, hatred, and delusion.
Ananda! If Pearsida observed the precepts and renounced sexual desire as Fulan did, then Pearsida would be reborn in a higher realm unknown to Fulan, and conversely, if Fulan achieved the wisdom like Pearsida, he too could be reborn in a higher realm unknown to Pearsida. Ananda! Fulan is superior in his observance of precepts, while Pearsida is superior in wisdom; both have areas where they need to strive for perfection.”
