The Gift of Dust
by Pradip Bhattacharya.
It was in the days when Buddha, the Blessed One, was living at
Kalandakanivaapa in the forest near Rajagriha (today’s Rajgir in Bihar) that
one morning he put on his triple robe, took his begging bowl and, accompanied
by monks, proceeded to Rajagriha for alms. As he set foot on the threshold
stone of the city-gate, wondrous things began to happen. You see, whenever a
Buddha, a fully enlightened soul, sets his foot on the indra-keela of a city
with a firm purpose in mind, miracles occur, it is said:
A ship rolls to the wind’s force; so too the mountain-ranged earth
begirt with the ocean and adorned with towns and villages, sways at the touch
of the Sage’s foot. The ground becomes level; the earth becomes faultless,
free of stones and thorns by the Buddha’s power. The blind, the dumb, and the
dull all regain their senses and musical instruments play though untouched,
delighting all.
The citizens cheered the marvels with a roar like that of a
storm-tossed sea with its crashing waves as the city was filled with the
radiance of his presence.
Coming to the main road, the Buddha saw two little boys playing at
building mud houses. One of them came from a well-to-do family and was named
Jaya. The other’s name was Vijaya. Jaya and Vijaya saw the Buddha, and were
deeply impressed with the resplendent appearance, his body adorned with the
thirty-two marks of the Mahatma. Jaya thought to himself, “ I will give him
some ground meal” and threw a handful of dust into the Buddha’s begging bowl.
Vijaya bowed low, making an Anjali with hands folded. This gift
of a handful of dust is renowned thus:
He saw the supremely compassionate self Existent Lord whose body
radiated a halo a fathom wide; resolutely, with firm faith he offered a
handful of dust to Him who abolishes birth and old age.
Having made this offering, Jaya formulated a pranidhaana, a firm
resolve: “By virtue of this offering, may I become kind and rule as a chakravarti over
the earth and thus worship the Buddha.”
The Buddha, understanding Jaya’s character and resolve and recognizing
the sincerity of his aspiration, accepted the proffered fistful of dirt and
smiled.
The smile of the Buddha was, as always, followed by rays of
light--blue, yellow, red, white, scarlet, crystal and silver—that spread the
message of liberation from rebirth and suffering throughout the cosmos and
re-entered his body. The spot at which they vanish into his body indicates an
important event in the future. On this occasion, the rays circled the Buddha
thrice and vanished into his left palm. Then spoke Ananda, his faithful
disciple, “It is never without reason that Tathaagatas smile. Dispel our
doubts, O foremost of men whose speech is like thunder, and reveal what will
be the fruit of the gift of dust.” The Buddha replied,
A hundred years after my death there will be an emperor named Ashoka in
Pataliputra. He will rule one of the four continents and adorn Jambudvipa
with my relics building eighty four thousand stupas for the welfare of
people. He will have them honored by gods and men. His fame will be
widespread. His meritorious gift was just this: Jaya threw a handful of dust
into the Tathaagata’s bowl.
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Sunday, November 11, 2012
No.159 - The Gift of Dust.
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