The Six Teachers Debate the Way

One day, the bhikkhus at Jetavana Monastery were heading into the city on their usual alms round. It was still early, well before midday, so they sat down to rest in the hall of a non-Buddhist sect. Inside, the sectarians were locked in ceaseless argument. "I'm the one who's right — what would you know of the Dharma?" "You're so empty-headed and ignorant! How could you possibly grasp my profound teachings?" Back and forth they went, neither side giving an inch. When one was insulted, he fired back with something crueler. The bhikkhus resting nearby had no wish to judge between the parties, and no wish to linger either. One by one they rose and left, walking on into the city for their alms round.

When they returned to the monastery, the bhikkhus reported what they had seen to the Buddha. "Those poor non-Buddhists," they said. "They practice and study blindly, their understanding skewed, yet they slander one another with such harsh words. When will they ever draw near to the true Dharma and find genuine liberation?" "These people have been stubbornly set in their ways, life after life, right up to now," the Buddha replied. He then used this occasion to tell the assembly about the past lives of the six non-Buddhist teachers.

Long, long ago, in a distant age, there lived in Jambudvipa a king named Mirror-Face. He delighted in reciting the Mahayana scriptures; his wisdom was vast and deep, and he had a thorough grasp of the Buddhist teachings. But his subjects cared only for trivial paths and minor arts, finding the profound Buddhist canon dry and dull. "How can I lead my people to the Dharma, so that they may draw near to the supreme Great Way?" The king fell into deep thought. Before long, he summoned his ministers. "Bring every person in this kingdom who has been blind from birth to the royal garden to examine an elephant!" Following the king's decree, the ministers gathered all the blind people in the land and led them to the royal elephant enclosure. As soon as they approached the elephant, the blind people began to touch it, trying to make out what sort of creature stood before them. Some felt the trunk, others the ears, the legs, the belly. Before long they were arguing about what an elephant looked like, each one certain that what they had personally felt was the truth.

King Mirror-Face asked them, "Have you all seen the elephant? What does it look like?" The one who had felt the ear said, "The elephant is like a fan." The one who had felt the leg said, "The elephant is like a pillar." The one who had felt the belly said, "The elephant is like a great drum." "Your Majesty, the elephant truly is as I described!" they clamored, each insisting on his own view, and before long the whole group was quarreling right there in front of the king. Seeing this, King Mirror-Face smiled and addressed his subjects: "Look at them — each grasped only one part of the elephant and assumed he knew the whole. The wisdom of the Dharma is like the vast, boundless ocean. If one clings to the study of minor paths yet never listens to the sutras or hears the Dharma, one is just like these blind people — never able to see the truth." Hearing this, the people were moved to reflection, and from then on they took up the recitation of Buddhist scriptures.

Shakyamuni Buddha then told the bhikkhus present: "King Mirror-Face of that time was me. The blind men examining the elephant were these non-Buddhist debaters." On the path of practice, one must have faith in the Dharma, hear the Dharma, and receive the guidance of a true spiritual friend — otherwise it is all too easy to wander down side paths, practicing blindly and getting nowhere. Without such guidance, not only does one remain mired in ignorance with no hope of liberation, but worse still, one blind person leads a crowd of the blind, planting the seeds for a fall into the three lower realms. "A human birth is hard to obtain — and now it has been obtained. The Dharma is hard to hear — and now it has been heard." Having encountered the Dharma, one should cherish all the more the preciousness of the Three Jewels abiding in the world. Only by following the truth the Buddha revealed will one's path grow ever brighter.

Reflection

The Dharma is rare to encounter, and a true spiritual friend is rare to meet. Seeing the impermanence of the world and resolving to practice so as to transcend birth and death — for this, one must first have the guidance of a spiritual friend. Through such a one's instruction, one penetrates to the truth and awakens genuine wisdom in this life. Only then can one know suffering and be free of it. Otherwise, to practice blindly and haphazardly is not merely to squander a lifetime — it is to delude oneself and mislead others. When the end comes, there will be nothing but futile regret, and the wheel of birth and death will turn once more.