The Patience of the Buffalo King

All living beings share the same nature as the Buddha's. Besides human beings, other sentient beings also have Buddha nature. So, all living beings are equal. However, we often think that animals are lowly creatures and that they are born to serve us. So, we raise them for food or labor, such as watching the door, tilling the land, carrying things, etc.

This is how we exploit animals. In fact, these animals share the same true nature as we do. What difference is there between the nature of human beings and animals? Animals work hard for us, but all we do is use our power to force them to labor for us. The Buddha has love and compassion for all. So, he treats all equally. When he sees living beings suffer, he feels for them.

One day, in Jetavana Monastery, as the Buddha sat down, many of his monastic disciples gathered around him and asked him to explain why living beings take on different forms. So, the Buddha told everyone a story about one of his past lives.

One time, a buffalo king led a herd of buffalos through a forest to find water. In the forest lived a monkey who was alone every day. When he saw such a large herd of buffalos respectfully following the buffalo king, he became very jealous. So, he threw sand, dust, and even stones at the buffalo king.

The buffalo king remained composed and walked on When the herd of buffalos approached, the monkey again hurled stones at them. Seeing how their king ahead remained calm and kept his temper, the buffalos bore with it and continued walking behind the buffalo king. Among the herd, there was a calf who was irritated by the monkey. He stopped and turned to the monkey.

Then, he thought of how the king and other buffalos had tolerated the monkey. So, he calmed down immediately and walked on. As they walked on, the god of trees appeared and said to the buffalo king: "I'm very impressed. The monkey kept throwing sand and stones at you. But you remained calm and continued walking".

The buffalo king replied: "All living beings are equal. For what I'd done in my past lives, I must accept the consequences now. The god of trees then asked: "What had you done in the past?" The buffalo king said: "I was a monastic practitioner. But I couldn't uphold precepts. So, I was reborn as a buffalo. Therefore, I must be very cautious in this life. Although I am a buffalo, I must still practice loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity as I was taught to do when I was a monastic practitioner.

That's why even though he was a buffalo, he still worked to guide other buffalos. The god of trees was very impressed by the buffalo king. As they spoke, several monastics passed through the forest and the monkey also threw stones at them. Irritated, they killed the monkey. Seeing that, the god of trees gave a sigh. Despite being insulted, the buffalos remained calm and composed, but the monastics got angry and killed the monkey.

So, although all living beings share the same Buddha nature, whether they do good or bad has nothing to do with their forms. Finishing the story, the Buddha said to his disciples: "The herd of buffalos were those of you sitting in front of me now and the buffalo king was me Buddha Sakyamuni."

Having read the story, I truly feel that for people we meet in this lifetime, we'd formed affinities with them in our past lives. So, we must help and support one another. It's rare to be born as humans, and since affinities have brought us together, we really should help one another. Upholding precepts helps to safeguard our Buddha nature.

The buffalo king was once a monastic practitioner, but was later reborn as a buffalo because he had broken precepts. When we uphold precepts, our minds will remain calm and settled, and then we'll be able to see things clearly and tell right from wrong. This is wisdom, with wisdom, we won't make mistakes.

But when we break precepts, we may be reborn as animals like the buffalo king in this story. So, as we cultivate ourselves, in our daily living, we must not stray from precepts, we must not stray from precepts even by the slightest bit.

Editor: Khusnul Khotimah