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Instructing Cudapanthaka
[Listen to audio]
One
day, while the Buddha was walking past the door of the monk’s quarters, he
heard Ksudrapanthaka sobbing loudly. Near him, a circle of monks had gathered
to laugh at him for being so foolish. The Buddha approached Ksudrapanthaka and
asked him why he was crying.
“What has made you cry so hard?” he
asked.
“Oh, Lord Buddha,” He said. “I am just a
stupid person. I followed my brother into the monastic life, but I seem to be
unable to remember anything I am taught. My brother has tried to teach me the
Dharma many times, but I always forget what he tells me. Today he told me that
since I have such a bad memory, I should leave the monastery and go back home.
Oh, Lord Buddha! I don’t want to leave. Please help me!”
When he was finished speaking, the
Buddha replied very softly, “Don’t worry about how much you know or don’t know.
That’s not important. It is a form of wisdom to realize that one is ignorant,
and it is a form of ignorance to believe one is wise. Come with me now.”
Following this exchange, the Buddha
began spending extra time with Ksudrapanthaka. He began to teach him to repeat
the phrase, “Sweep and clean, sweep and clean.” Ksudrapanthaka, however, proved
unable to remember even these simple words. When the other monks learned of
this, they decided that Ksudrapanthaka was beyond all hope. The Buddha,
however, having unending compassion, continued trying to teach him the phrase.
“Take this broom,” the Buddha said to
him. “As you sweep the ground, say the words I have taught you over and over
again.”
Ksudrapanthaka did as the Buddha told
him, but the other monks were not happy with the way he wandered around with
his broom all day mumbling to himself. They said he was disturbing them and
told him to stop what he was doing.
With the added support of the other
monks, Ksudrapanthaka was able to try even harder to learn the phrase Buddha
had taught him. He worked at it day after day until he was able to say it
without any help from anyone. Then, slowly, he began to really think about the
words as he swept back and forth across the grounds of the monastery. He
thought to himself, “There are really two things that must be swept and
cleaned. One of them is outside and the other is inside. The dirt and dust
outside of us is easy to clean away, but the dust and dirt inside of us
requires great wisdom to clean away. The dirt and dust inside us is nothing
other than our suffering, our greed, our anger and our selfishness.”
Ksudrapanthaka continued sweeping and he
continued thinking. And as he continued, his mind gradually started becoming
brighter. Things he had been unable to understand before gradually became
understandable to him. He thought, “All of the dust inside of human beings
originally is caused by only one thing: desire. Only wisdom can overcome
desire. If desire is not overcome, then the cycle of birth and death cannot be
escaped and suffering can never end. Desire causes
suffering and it causes karma, which keeps us lashed to the wheel of birth and
death. As long as we are victims of our own desires, we can never be free.
“As soon as we get rid ourselves of all
desire, however, our minds will be pure. We will see the Truth and we will be
free forever.”
As Ksudrapanthaka continued sweeping and
thinking like that, he slowly managed to clean his mind of all its impurities.
Gradually, he entered a state of complete equanimity wherein he had neither
desire nor aversion, wherein he saw neither good nor bad, and wherein all his
previous ignorance was entirely eradicated.
Ksudrapanthaka became enlightened.
With his new understanding, he went
joyfully to the Buddha and said, “Lord Buddha, I am liberated! I have swept and
cleaned just as you told me, and by doing so I have swept away all the
impurities in my mind!”
Buddha was full of joy to hear that
Ksudrapanthaka had said, and from that day on Ksudrapanthaka became one of
Buddha’s most respected disciples. Even still, Ksudrapanthaka did not change
his usual routine. Every day after that he could still be seen slowly sweeping
the grounds of the monastery as he chanted softly to himself, “Sweep and clean,
sweep and clean.”
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Where is Your Buddha Nature? Stories to Instruct and Inspire(by Venerable Master Hsing Yun)