SUFFERING FOLLOWS THE EVIL – DOER

The Story of the Monk Cakkhupala

Weragoda
Sarada Maha Thero

Manopubbangama dhamma
Manosettha manomaya
Manasa ce padutthena
Bhasati va karoti va
Tato nam dukkhamanveti
Cakkam va vahato padam

Mind precedes all knowables,
Mind’s their chief,
mind – made are they
If with a corrupted mind
One should either speak or act
dukkha follows caused by that,
As does the wheel the ox’s hoof

While residing at the Jetavana Monastery in Savatthi, the Buddha spoke this verse, with reference to Cakkhupala,a blind monk.

On one occasion, Monk Cakkhupala came to pay homage to the Buddha at the Jetavana Monastery. One night, while pacing up and down in meditation, the monk accidentally stepped on some insects. In the morning, some monks visiting the monk found the dead insects. They thought ill of the monk and reported the matter to the Buddha. The Buddha asked them whether they had seen the monk killing the insects. When they answered in the negative, the Buddha said. “Just as you had not seen him killing, so also he had not seen those living insects. Besides, as the monk had already attained arahatship he could have no intention of killing, so he was innocent.” On being asked why Cakkhupala was blind although he was an arahat, the Buddha told the following story;

Cakkhupala was a physician in one of his past existences. Once he had deliberately made a woman patient blind. That woman had promised to become his slave, together with her children, if her eyes were completely cured. Fearing that she and her children would have to become slaves, she lied to the physician. She told him that her eyes were getting worse when, in fact, they were perfectly cured. The physician knew she was deceiving him, so in revenge, he gave her another ointment, which made her totally blind. AS a result of this evil deed the physician lost his eyesight many times in his later existences.