The Buddha was on Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa, near the city of Rajagriha, where He taught the precepts on the fifteenth day of each month. At that time, Ananda, kneeling, reported to the Buddha, “Now, the Buddha is the savior of all sentient beings, enlightening and dispelling the ignorance and darkness of beings in the Five Realms, leading them out of the evil paths. After the Buddha’s passing, there will remain relics and the Twelve Divisions of the Canon in the world. It is important that all disciples inherit the Buddha’s virtue and spirit, passing on the Buddha’s teachings and precepts, guiding the people, teaching them the precepts, and receiving offerings. This will be no different from the Buddha Himself.”
The Buddha said, “If someone receives precepts from my disciples, and later becomes jealous and slanders their teacher, that person must have come from an evil path.”
Ananda asked the Buddha, “What is the evil path?”
The Buddha told Ananda, “In the past, during the time of a previous Buddha, there was a mad dog that bit its owner. The previous Buddha, full of compassion, recited prayers for the mad dog. When the mad dog saw the Buddha’s awe-inspiring power, it felt joy. This dog is now still suffering in heck, its karma not yet repaid. After the karma is exhausted, once the Buddha has passed away, due to its past joy, the dog will be reborn as a human, and it will receive the precepts from my disciples, exactly as it received them from its owner when it was a mad dog. Because dogs have memories of their past lives, it will go on to harm its owner again.” The Buddha said, “If anyone receives precepts from a teacher and then slanders them, saying, ‘This is not what I did,’ such a person is like the mad dog biting its owner. Those who slander their teacher and say that the teacher’s conduct is improper, they were dogs in a past life.”
Ananda asked the Buddha, “Why, after the dog has repaid its karma and is reborn as a human, would it go back to bite its previous owner?”
The Buddha replied, “The dog, now reborn as a human, keeps the Buddha’s precepts and has some teaching ability, but it is greedy for offerings, foolish and ignorant. It starts to slander its teacher and thus falls into the five rebellious acts and heinous paths.” The Buddha said to Ananda, “Listen carefully! I will explain it in detail.”
Ananda said, “Yes, I am willing to listen to your teachings.”
The Buddha said, “There are people who keep the Buddhist precepts and teach others to follow the Buddha, yet they lead them to hell.”
Ananda, startled, knelt and asked the Buddha, “Why would teaching people to follow the Buddha’s path lead them to hell?”
The Buddha said to Ananda, “Do you believe the Buddha’s words?”
Ananda replied, “I believe the Buddha’s words.”
The Buddha said, “If you believe my words, why are you surprised when hearing that people who receive the precepts may fall into hell? If people do not fall into hell, then are my words false?”
Ananda stood up again, bowed, prostrated with his forehead touching the ground, circled the Buddha three times, and then returned to touch the Buddha’s feet. Kneeling, he asked the Buddha, “Ananda does not understand the nature of people. Please, Buddha, explain why people fall into hell.”
The Buddha said to Ananda, “In the future, during the time of the degeneration of the Dharma, some of my disciples will become teachers, but they will be lazy and unwilling to study, lacking wisdom. They will be greedy and corrupt, desiring others’ offerings—money, goods, food, to support themselves. They will not study the Buddha’s teachings properly but will flatter others. They will see people killing but fail to stop them from doing so. They will see people drinking but will not stop them, even saying that a little alcohol is not harmful. When giving the precepts, they will say that giving money or goods will generate merit, only seeking material gain. This is the selling of the precepts, which makes people more arrogant. Those who do not strictly follow the precepts will fall into grave acts of killing. Such teachers lead others to heck because they abandon the Buddha’s luminous teachings. The protecting deities of the Dharma will catch their weaknesses, and they will be tormented by evil spirits, which can even lead to death. To repay their karmic debts, they will fall into heck.”
Ananda asked the Buddha, “If a newly motivated practitioner, by chance, encounters a bad teacher and, ignorant of the truth, believes that the teachings are correct, would they be able to receive the precepts again if they later meet a wise teacher?”
The Buddha replied to Ananda, “In my Dharma, the path is vast and without bounds. Such a person can indeed repent and purify themselves. When a person first sets their mind to practice, their mind is often confused, and they are misled by a bad teacher, not knowing the truth. Only when they receive the precepts again can they truly enter the Dharma. When they are ignorant and confused, they are not yet disciples of the Buddha; they are simply small good people in the world, without much merit.”
Ananda, upon hearing the Buddha’s teachings, was overjoyed and bowed in respect.
Dharma Torch 