..續本文上一頁u ask whether there are results, you have to answer Yes. It”s like the squash plant: You can”t see it growing, but you know that it grows. Even though the goodness you”ve been doing doesn”t seem to be developing, you shouldn”t underestimate it.
Another point is that some people are like banana trees. The nature of banana trees is that if you cut them off at the trunk and then come back in an hour, you”ll see that a new shoot has grown a whole inch from the top. In two or three days, the shoot will have grown a foot or two. Some people are like this. They get fast results, extraordinary results, and develop all kinds of abilities. For example, they can get quickly into jhana and then clearly explain what they”ve experienced to other people.
The same thing happened in the time of the Buddha. Take Culapanthaka, for example: He had worked at developing goodness for a long time, but when he finally got the hang of the meditation, practicing with a sense of wounded pride after being scorned by his friends, he got results right away. The story is this: Once, when he was staying with a group of 500 monks headed by the Buddha, a moneylender invited the whole group for a meal at his home. Culapanthaka”s older brother, Mahapanthaka, was the meal distributor. Whoever came with an invitation, it was Mahapanthaka”s duty to inform the other monks. Now, Mahapanthaka was ashamed of his younger brother for being so lazy and torpid in his meditation, nodding off all the time. So, thinking that Culapanthaka didn”t deserve to eat food in anyone”s home, Mahapanthaka decided not to include him in the invitation. He invited only the remaining 499 monks, headed by the Buddha, to go to the moneylender”s meal. When the group arrived at the moneylender”s home and all the monks were served, one tray of food was left over. So the moneylender asked Mahapanthaka why the monks didn”t number the full 500 he had asked for; Mahapanthaka informed him that Culapanthaka hadn”t been included in the invitation.
The moneylender then went to the Buddha. The Buddha, knowing that Culapanthaka was meditating back at the monastery, told the moneylender that Culapanthaka was an important monk: The moneylender would have to send one of his servants to invite him to the meal. But because the Buddha wanted the moneylender to see the powers Culapanthaka had developed, he didn”t explain how to go about making the invitation. He let the moneylender”s servant go to see for himself; only then would he explain.
As for Culapanthaka, his pride had been so wounded that he decided to go without food and to sit in meditation that day. It so happened that he entered the fourth jhana: Never since the day of his birth had his meditation progressed so far. On reaching the fourth jhana, he entered the fifth, making his mind clear, bright, and blooming, and giving rise to supernormal strengths both in body and mind.
It was at that point that the moneylender”s servant arrived at the monastery. Culapanthaka saw him and made a mental determination, causing monks — all of them images of himself — to fill the monastery. Some were sitting in meditation, some were doing walking meditation, some were washing their robes. The servant went to ask one of the monks where Culapanthaka was, and the monk pointed to another part of the monastery. He went to that part of the monastery and asked one of the monks there, who pointed to still another part of the monastery. This kept up until the time for the meal was almost over, and yet the servant couldn”t locate Culapanthaka at all. So he ran back to the moneylender”s house.
The Buddha at this point knew that Culapanthaka had perfected his psychic powers and from now on wouldn”t be scorned by his friends, so he told the servant to go back and make the invitat…
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