When Peach Blossoms Become a Calamity: A Lesson from the Dhammapada, Verse Seventy-One

Peach blossoms — are they a fruit of blessings from merit, or a disaster? The story of Khema in the Dhammapada reveals that praying for worldly pleasures can lead to suffering, and shows us how to keep the mind pure and clear.

Have you ever wondered why someone who seems beloved by many can still live in anxiety and suffering? The story of Khema in the Dhammapada opens a profound window into the karma of lustful craving.

The Story of Khema and the Buddha's Admonition

Khema was the grandson of Anathapindika, a wealthy merchant, yet he was consumed by lust. He carried on reckless affairs with women and was caught many times, but thanks to his family's influence he was always released. Old habits die hard, and he never changed. Anathapindika, heartbroken, brought him to the Buddha and asked for guidance. The Buddha rebuked him with this verse:

"One who lives wantonly with another's wife finds no peaceful sleep, suffers disgrace, falls into hell, stumbles into evil realms, lives in fear and unease, and is punished by the law. So do not pursue another's wife."

The Buddha made clear that such a life of indulgence brings no true joy — only restlessness, loss of honor, and painful retribution in the lower realms.

The Root of the "Peach Blossoms": A Misguided Prayer

Yet the Buddha also spoke of Khema's cause and effect (karmic law) from a past life. In the time of Buddha Kassapa, when temples and stupas were being built everywhere, Khema made offerings to a stupa of the Buddha. But instead of praying for lofty spiritual fruits, he asked for something strange: "May every woman who sees me love me." Having done a good deed, he directed his wish toward this — and so the fruit of that karma appeared in this life: many women loved him. But it became the seed of his misfortune.

As Master Thich Chan Quang explained: "Merit is something that helps us attain what we wish for. When we do a good deed and direct it toward something, it becomes that thing. This man prayed for romantic charm, and so in this life the fruit appeared — but it was a calamity, not happiness."

Cause and Effect: Both Certain and Accidental

Master Chan Quang emphasized that the law of cause and effect (karmic law) is not rigid; it is both certain and accidental. Beyond the karmic debts of past lives, there are also chance encounters that create new karma. For example, a lustful man meets an easygoing woman — no past-life debt is needed for them to become entangled. But if in the heart there is hatred or contempt, the connection is severed in the next life. Cause and effect (karmic law) is fluid; it is not the case that spouses in a past life must meet again in the next.

The master also gave the example of a male goat that bred an entire herd of female goats. When that whole herd was reborn as humans, the male goat carried that habit into his new life as a lustful old man — but now such behavior was judged by morality, no longer a matter of course.

Blessings from Merit and Misfortune in Marriage

Master Chan Quang also spoke of the instability of modern marriage: when the blessings from merit between two spouses are too unequal, the one with greater merit often feels that one wife or one husband is not enough. There are women of great merit whose words strike like thunder, who even have two husbands at once. All of it is precarious; no family is as peaceful as a dream.

So when people asked him about marriage, the master answered: "Do not start a family. Go forth and practice instead." And when people wanted to fall in love, he said: "When your understanding is such that you see the problem in your own emotions and feel fear, that is when you have reached the deepest understanding." In other words, when one understands the Dharma deeply, one is no longer bound by worldly love.

From a Blade of Grass to Great Transgressions

The second lesson from the Dhammapada: a monk, while cleaning, accidentally broke a few blades of grass and worried about his transgression. When an elder told him it was nothing, he immediately uprooted the entire patch of grass to make it clean. The Buddha rebuked him sternly, because a small act concealed a great danger: when we believe a small fault does not matter, we gradually commit greater ones. The master taught: "Whenever we do something and feel it is not really a transgression, we do it again — and that is the danger that slowly strips our life of all virtue."

Therefore, guard even the smallest things so they do not become bad habits. One cigarette can become a pack; one small theft can become a thieving character. Never look down on the small.

Live with Awareness and Joy

Peach blossoms, like all worldly desires, often wear the appearance of blessings from merit while hiding suffering within. The Buddha taught us to avoid indulgence, to keep virtue, and to keep the mind pure. Look back at your own life: are there small things slowly leading you into restlessness? Do not pray for fleeting pleasures. Pray instead for a clear and awakened mind — one that sees the transcendent path and walks it with peace and ease.