Why did Tathagata Buddha cut his flesh and feed it to the eagles? Why did Guanyin Bodhisattva cut off his arm to save his father? Why does Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva vow not to become a Buddha unless t

Why did Tathagata Buddha cut his flesh and feed it to the eagles? Why did Guanyin Bodhisattva cut off his arm to save his father? Why does Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva vow not to become a Buddha unless the hell is empty for one day?

Cut meat to feed eagles

A long time ago, there was a King Sarpoda who cared for all living beings and was compassionate. He is able to understand the sentiments of the people, listen attentively, provide what he wishes, and never be stingy.

One day, King Sakyamuni was about to end his life, and he felt depressed and unhappy.

At this time, all the heavenly dragons, ghosts and gods saw this and asked one after another: "Why are you so sad, King of Heaven?"

Di Shi replied: "My life is about to end. The signs of death have also appeared. Now that Buddhism has declined, I am afraid that there will no longer be a benevolent Bodhisattva. I don’t know where I will go in the future, so I am worried."

The gods, dragons, ghosts and spirits said: " In the human world, there is a King Sapoda who practices the Bodhisattva's teachings on a daily basis, keeps the precepts perfectly, has high virtues, is kind to all living beings, benefits all sentient beings, and has great merits. Soon, he will become a Buddha. If you surrender to him , you will be able to grow your Dharmakaya and get rid of all doubts."

In order to test King Sarpoda, King Sakyamuni ordered the king who guarded the border to visit Karma: "Today, I want to test King Sarpoda! Are you truly compassionate and considerate of all sentient beings, and are you even a true practitioner of the Bodhisattva path? Please transform into a dove, and I will turn into an eagle and chase you to the throne of King Sarpoda. , the pigeon you transformed into pretends to be frightened, and begs the king for protection. If King Sarpoda is really kind, he will definitely accept your surrender, so you can quickly know the truth. " < /p>

After saying this, Bishoukarma turned into a dove, and King Shakti turned into an eagle, following fiercely behind the dove, chasing after it.

The pigeon flew in panic all the way to the throne of Sarpoda. When it saw King Sarpoda, it hurriedly got into the king’s arm and begged King Sarpoda breathlessly to protect it. Little life.

At the same time, the big eagle that was following closely behind also came to the front of the temple. When he saw the dove that was about to be obtained, it was protected by King Sarpoda under his sleeves, he said with a fierce look. : "I have been hungry for several days and have no patience anymore. The pigeon next to you is the delicacy I found. Return it to me quickly!"

When King Sarpoda saw this, he was relieved. He replied slowly: "I once made a vow to save all sentient beings and protect all sentient beings. Today I am supposed to save this pigeon. How can I return it to you and let you kill the life to worship the internal organs for food and clothing?"

Not to be outdone, Big Eagle retorted: "King, you said you want to save all sentient beings, but if you cut off my food today, I won't be able to survive either. Don't I belong to all sentient beings?" "

King Sarpoda then asked the big eagle in a kind voice: "What food do you need to satisfy your hunger? As long as I can spare the pigeon's life, I will try my best to satisfy your needs!"

< p>"I will only eat freshly killed, hot meat!" Daying said without mercy.

King Sarpoda thought to himself: "It wants to eat hot meat that has just been killed, but it would be unreasonable for me to harm one to save another. Since I have made a great vow to save all living beings, I will You should use yourself to save all sentient beings."

Then King Sarpoda immediately drew his knife, cut off a piece of his own flesh, and gave it to the eagle in exchange for the pigeon's life.

At this time, the big eagle spoke again: "King, you should treat all living beings equally. Although I belong to the animal realm, I should not be biased. If you want to use this meat in exchange for the life of a pigeon, should you use it? Use the scale to see if the weights of the two are equal."

King Sarpoda asked others to bring the scale, put the dove on one end and the cut meat on the other end...

A strange thing happened. Even though King Sarpoda kept cutting off the flesh on his body, until all the flesh on his body was almost gone, it still could not equal the weight of the dove on the other end of the scale.

At this time, King Sarpoda tried his best to stand up staggeringly and wanted to climb up the scale with his whole body in exchange for the pigeon.

Suddenly, due to lack of strength, he fell to the ground and lost consciousness. After waking up, King Sarpoda blamed himself and said: "In order to save all sentient beings, I must stand up bravely. All sentient beings fell into the sea of ??sorrow. I have vowed to save everything, so why am I still so lazy and confused! The suffering I am suffering now is far less than the suffering of sentient beings in hell. Now I have wisdom, meditation, precepts, diligence and other good qualities. If we still insist on the merits and blessings of the Dharma as real and the suffering of the temporary and impermanent body, how can we save the sentient beings who are suffering from the central depressive state of hell and suffer great suffering?"

Ignore it? With his body cut off and his blood flowing in pain, King Sarpoda kept making great wishes. I just want to stand up, but I fall to the ground again and again, but I still try my best to stand up! Fall and rise again, fall and rise again!

When the eagle saw King Sarpoda like this, he asked: "You should know that you regret it now, right? Let it go! Your life is the most important. If you are hurting yourself, who will suffer for you! I still I advise you to be smart and hand over the pigeon to me obediently. Maybe you can save your life and continue to enjoy your blessings in life and become the king of a country!"

"I don't think so at all! Regret! I have lost countless lives in the past eons without benefiting all sentient beings. Now I am willing to use my life to pursue the Buddha's path." King Sarpoda replied resolutely.

Suddenly, miraculously, King Sarpoda stepped onto the scale in one breath, and the two ends were instantly balanced. King Sarpoda shouted happily: "I did it! I did it! The scale is finally balanced! The pigeon is finally rescued!"

At this time, the sky and the earth shook, the sea raised waves, and the dead trees Beautiful flowers also bloomed, and perfume and fragrant petals rained down from the sky. Witnessing this act of sacrificing life and saving lives, the gods and goddesses all sang together: "This is a true Bodhisattva who will surely become a Buddha soon."

At this time, the eagle restored the original appearance of King Sakyamuni. Standing in front of the king, he said: "You have done such a valuable thing today. What do you want to get?"

King Sarpoda replied: "I am determined to save all sentient beings and do not seek honor or happiness. , I just hope to realize the truth and become a Buddha soon."

"You just cut your muscles and hurt your bones. Don't you have any regrets?"

"I just saw it. Your body is trembling and you are about to lose your breath, but you say that you have no regrets. What is the evidence for this?"

King Sarpoda replied: "From the beginning to the end, I have no regrets in my heart; if I have no regrets? If what you said is true, my body will immediately recover as before!" As soon as King Sarpoda finished speaking, his body immediately returned to its original state, truly fulfilling his great compassionate wish to save all sentient beings.

At this moment, people and heaven are celebrating together, jumping for joy, chanting good deeds and sighing that they have never happened before.

King Sarpoda was the predecessor of Sakyamuni Buddha who practiced the Bodhisattva path in the past.

Amitabha! Brother, why do Buddhas and Bodhisattvas do this? It is nothing more than letting go of oneself out of compassion for all sentient beings. It is precisely because of the immeasurable compassion for all sentient beings and the willingness to completely let go of self-attachment that the ultimate enlightenment of the Buddha can be achieved! Infinite compassion, unswerving vows, and unyielding practice can finally break away from all attachments to the body, mind, all kinds of Dharma attachments, etc., and finally achieve the path to Bodhi!