A Loving Gaze from Many Lifetimes

In the early morning, the temple was still hushed, thin mist drifting over the moss-covered tile roofs. The bell rang out long and deep, warm and solemn, as if dissolving the weariness of the busy world. In the main hall, a woman of about thirty knelt before the Buddha statue, her hands pressed together, tears streaming down her cheeks. She bowed her head and whispered through choking sobs: "O Buddha, my life is full of suffering! Please, Buddha, deliver me from this suffering!"

She could not remember how many times she had cried in recent months. Everything had come crashing down like a storm: the man she had loved for five years suddenly said goodbye, then the company announced her dismissal, and then her landlord told her she had to move out because he was going to rebuild the house. This morning, she did not know where to go; she only knew to walk into the temple, kneel down, and beg for some fragile comfort.

After bowing to the Buddha, she rose and quickly wiped away her tears. As she stepped into the courtyard, she met the abbot sweeping leaves. He looked at her kindly and asked, "Where are you going so early, friend?" She lowered her head, her voice trembling: "I came to the temple to bow to the Buddha and beg him to deliver me from my suffering. My life has been so full of misfortune, teacher!" The abbot smiled, his eyes full of compassion: "Sit down here and tell me about it."

She sat down on the stone steps and told him everything from beginning to end: born into an unhappy family, her parents divorced when she was young, struggling through school and work, then meeting the man she loved and believing she had found a safe harbor, only to be betrayed. The very day she heard the bad news, she received a dismissal letter at work, and when she returned home, her landlord told her to move out. "I don't know what wrong I did that heaven would punish me like this, teacher!" she sobbed, covering her face with her hands.

The abbot listened, then said gently: "My child, everything in this world has its own cause and effect (karmic law). Today I just gave a teaching on the law of cause and effect. Would you like to hear it?" She looked up and nodded. The abbot spoke slowly: "A person with beautiful eyes, whose gaze is full of love for everyone they see, is someone who, over many lifetimes, has looked at others with a warm and loving heart. A person with cold, distant eyes is someone who, over many lifetimes, has looked at the world with indifference and envy. A person with a bright smile, whose face brings joy to those who see it, is someone who has lived generously and spoken kind, pleasant words. Everything in this world, great and small, has its cause."

She sat in silence, feeling as though a stream of light was shining into her darkness. Suddenly she understood: "So it was not heaven punishing me. It was the result of what I myself planted before. So if I want a better life, I must plant wholesome seeds." She looked up at the abbot, her eyes shining: "Teacher, if everyone understood this law of cause and effect, how happy this world would be! I wish I could share this teaching with everyone."

The abbot smiled and nodded: "That is precisely the bodhisattva mind, my child. The moment you received this beautiful teaching, you thought of sentient beings instead of yourself. The seed of the bodhisattva has already taken root in your heart."

She stood up and looked out at the sunlit temple courtyard. Her heart felt strangely light. She knew her life would never be the same again. She would no longer pray to the Buddha only for herself, but would seek to learn more, and then share what is good and beautiful with all those still lost in suffering.

The Meaning of the Story

When we have just learned something good, a beautiful truth, and we immediately think of sharing it and helping others, no longer thinking only of ourselves, that is the very beginning of the bodhisattva mind. Those with the bodhisattva mind always turn toward the benefit of sentient beings, and it is precisely this that makes their lives more meaningful and more joyful.

Compiled from a dharma talk by Venerable Thích Chân Quang