Section Four: The Past Cause of Joint Pain
Heard like this.
At one time, the Buddha was at the Great Anavatapta Spring together with five hundred great bhikṣus. They were all Arhats, possessing the six supernormal powers, with only one bhikṣu as an exception, namely Ānanda.
The Buddha said to Śāriputra, “In the very distant past, in the city of Rājagṛha, there was the son of an elder. He contracted a fever disease and suffered unbearably. In that city there was a physician of excellent medical skill. He could distinguish all kinds of medicines and could treat all kinds of illnesses. The elder’s son summoned this physician and said, ‘If you can cure my illness, I will give you abundant wealth and treasures as compensation.’ The physician began to treat him, and the illness of the elder’s son gradually improved. Yet after he recovered, he did not fulfill his promise and repay the physician’s merit.
“Not long afterward, the elder’s son again fell ill, and again he asked the physician to treat him. After the illness was cured, he still did not give the physician the compensation that was due. This happened three times, and each time the result was the same.
“Later, the elder’s son fell ill once more, and he again called the physician to treat him. The physician said, ‘Previously I already cured you three times, but you never gave me any repayment.’ The elder’s son then said, ‘When you treated me before, I had not yet repaid you. Now please treat me well. If my illness is cured, I will repay all your kindness together.’ The physician thought, ‘I have been deceived by you three times in succession, as though you were deceiving a child. This time, when I treat you, I will bring your life to an end.’ Thereupon, the physician deliberately prescribed medicines that did not accord with the illness, causing the sickness to worsen, and in the end the elder’s son unfortunately passed away.”
The Buddha said to Śāriputra, “Do you know who the physician was at that time? He was I myself. The sick elder’s son was Devadatta.”
The Buddha said to Śāriputra, “At that time, I gave the elder’s son medicines that did not accord with his illness, causing his death. Because of these causes and conditions, for several thousand years I endured torment in hell, as well as the sufferings of animals and hungry ghosts. Because of this residual cause and effect, although I have now become a Buddha, I still feel pain in my bones and joints.”
At that time, the Buddha recited a verse concerning the causes and effects of former lives:
“I was once a physician, and treated the son of an elder.
Out of anger, I gave him medicines that did not accord with his illness, and thereby caused his death.
Because of this cause and condition from a former life, I long endured the suffering of hell.
The cause and effect remaining from that time has led to my present pain in bones and joints.
The cycle of cause and effect never decays or perishes; it does not vanish into empty space.
One should carefully protect these three causal relations, and not violate the conduct of body, speech, and mind.
I myself have become the honored Buddha, the General of the three realms.
Therefore I speak of the causes and conditions of former lives here in the Great Anavatapta Spring.”
The Buddha said to Śāriputra, “Look at me, the Tathāgata. All evil actions have already been eliminated, and all good actions have already been fulfilled. Devas, nāgas, ghosts and spirits, emperors, ministers, and people all marvel at my merit. Even so, I still cannot avoid the causes and conditions of former lives. How much more so, then, for those foolish people who have not yet attained the Way?”
The Buddha said to Śāriputra, “You should learn this, and the other Arhats and all sentient beings should all learn these things.”
The Buddha said to Śāriputra, “You should protect the three precepts of the body, the four precepts of speech, and the three precepts of the mind. Śāriputra, you should learn these.”
When the Buddha spoke these words, Śāriputra, the five hundred Arhats, the great nāga king Anavatapta, devas, nāgas, ghosts and spirits, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras, and mahoragas, having heard the Buddha’s teaching, all accepted it with great joy and practiced it.
Dharma Torch 