After Shakyamuni became a Buddha, he had preached in the Gion Monastery for a long time. He followed many listeners and his reputation became increasingly prosperous.
On this day, a poor man came to Gion from a very far away. After several efforts, he finally met Buddha .
After the poor man bowed in front of Sakyamuni and walked around the right three times, he asked a question devoutly: I have always had a doubt in my heart, that is, what is the most terrifying thing in the world, please let the Buddha solve my doubts.
Sakyamuni smiled and said two words: greed.
After hearing the Buddha's answer, the poor man dared not doubt it, but he was always a little unbelievable.
I have been practicing for a lifetime and have never been sure of the most terrible answer in the world. Sometimes I thought I had found the answer the day before yesterday, but I was denied it the next day. I thought it was the most profound question, but the Buddha actually answered it with only two words.
Sakyamuni seemed to see through the doubts in his heart, so he told him a story:
In his past life a long, long time ago, in a remote mountain village, a farmer always wanted to buy a piece of land, so he worked hard and finally accumulated a thousand gold coins. I just heard that someone wanted to sell his land, so I decided to ask for a price.
After arriving in the local area, he easily found someone who wanted to sell the land and asked him how the land price was.
Landlord said, you just give me a thousand gold coins, and then you will be given a day. Start from the sun rises, measure it with your own steps, and stop when the sun sets, and then the land you circle around will belong to you.
But it should be noted that if your steps cannot return to the starting point before sunset, that is, a closed circle has not been completed, then you will not not be able to obtain the land, but you cannot even return the gold coins you have handed over, and you will have to return empty-handed.
The poor man carefully thought about it and thought to himself: If I work harder and walk more roads on this day, I can surround more land.
Although one thousand gold coins are all my own property, if I can buy a large piece of land, I will become the owner of the manor and will never have to live such a hard life again.
The poor thought that the business was very cost-effective, so they immediately signed a contract with the other party and agreed to start buying land the next day.
The next day, before dawn, the poor man called the landlord and handed over all his thousand gold coins to the other party.
The two of them waited at the beginning of the field until the sun came out, and the poor immediately took their legs and strided forward, and from then on, he refused to stop for a moment and kept walking forward.
The poor kept thinking in their hearts that as long as they can survive this day and take as much as possible, they can gain more land.
It was just like this that the poor man was bowing his head and walking forward. Seeing that it was noon in the sky, he took out dry food from his arms and ate it a few bites, and refused to stop even when he was eating. I was still thinking in my heart that it was noon now and I could continue to walk a while.
So, the poor continued to move forward. As they walked, the sun above their heads gradually turned westward, and then they saw that it was about to set. At this time, the poor people began to feel anxious:
Because if they could not return to the starting point when the sun sets, their thousand gold coins would be wasted.
So he turned a corner and began to turn back in the direction he came.
But at this time, he had been walking for a day and was very tired. Although he was thinking about walking faster, his pace was getting slower and slower.
As we walked, the poor began to feel anxious, bit their tongue, cheered up, and seemed to be a little faster.
But the effect of this method did not last long, and his pace quickly slowed down again. The poor man had to grit his teeth again and tossed and tried repeatedly. He saw that it was only more than ten feet away from the starting point, and the sun finally completely set down the mountain.
It’s dark! Time has come, but the poor have not yet returned to the starting point. To be precise, he is only a few feet away from the starting point.
The owner of the land stood at the starting point and looked at him with a smile, raised the bag of gold coins in his hand, and said softly, "You didn't return to the starting point on time. I took the money, but the land is still mine."
The poor man looked at the landlords who were leaving in despair, exhausted his last strength, and finally fell to the ground and never got up again.
Surprisingly, when the poor man fell down, his fingertips actually touched the starting point, and the landlord had to turn around and sighed and agreed that this land belongs to you.
But at this time, the poor man was dead. Although he gained the greatest benefit, is there any meaning?
After Sakyamuni said that, the poor man in front of him seemed to understand suddenly, and then fell in front of Sakyamuni without saying a word, and finally realized the Arhat fruit.
Although the story is short, its connotation is very profound. It teaches us that "greed" is the most difficult devil for a person to overcome. Sometimes, a person's success or failure is just a matter of a thought. If the greed in his heart can be suppressed well and leave some room, isn't it a better result?
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