Enlightenment through Personal Experience – Even a Demon Could be Enlightened by Buddha’s Teaching

At the time of Sakyamuni Buddha, there was a woman who lost her little boy to no apparent illness. Devastated by this heavy blow, the mother buried herself in tears. She sought Sakyamuni Buddha, who happened to be delivering lectures in the area, poured out her grief, and begged Him to revive her son with His magical power and great wisdom. “Yes, I can save him,” the Buddha promised. “However, you must first find a family that has not lost a single member in the past five or six generations, and bring me a piece of clothing or some other item from their family. I can save your child only when I have that item.”

Following the Buddha’s instruction, the mother went from house to house, day after day, but she failed to find any family that had no one die in five or six generations. Totally exhausted and disappointed, she came back to the Buddha. Sakyamuni Buddha asked her, “Is there any family that has not lost a member in five or six generations?” She replied, “No, there isn’t such a family.” Sakyamuni Buddha then told her, “That is right! Life is ephemeral. No one born can ever escape death. Sooner or later, everyone must die and leave this world. You should not feel too upset over this ephemeral body.” When the Buddha pointed out this truth, the mother was immediately enlightened. She then became a devoted disciple to the Buddha and practiced diligently.

There is another story about an ugly and horrible Yaksa (a demon). But even more terrible was her habit of devouring humans, just as tigers love eating humans, and ordinary humans eat cows, pigs, and poultry. This Yaksa had a special appetite for children, and every child she saw became her food. Very soon, she had eaten almost all the children in the village. The parents in the village came to seek help from Sakyamuni Buddha.

The Yaksa had a child whom she loved dearly, the way tigers love their young and do not eat their own cubs even when they eat all other animals and humans.

“Go home and wait until the Yaksa leaves her house. Then hide her child from her. I will tell you what to do next,” said Sakyamuni Buddha to the villagers. When the Yaksa left her home, the parents in the village hid her child. When the Yaksa returned and could not find her child, she was in deep grief and agony, weeping and rolling on the ground. Finally, she also went to seek help from the Buddha. You see, even the demons respect the Buddha. The ghosts and demons respect all genuine and serious spiritual practitioners.

Sakyamuni Buddha asked the Yaksa, “Do you love your child dearly?” She replied, “Yes!” The Buddha asked, “Is your child the most precious thing on earth to you?” She replied, “Yes!” To this, the Buddha said, “You love your child dearly, as other parents love their children. Then why have you eaten almost all their children? If you promise to stop eating others’ children, then I will help you find your child.” The Yaksa immediately made the promise. Even demons can be enlightened. Is that not right? After Sakyamuni Buddha explained the truth to her, she was immediately enlightened and dared not eat others’ children any more.

In our eyes, children are very small; they cannot speak or walk, and are quite different from adults. However, we know that they are sentient beings all the same and will grow up to be like us. From this story, we can further deduce that animals are also sentient beings. In the future, as they practice more, they will also be born as human beings and become Buddhas. Therefore, if we really want to study the way of the Buddha and develop our compassion, we should not eat animals.

From these two stories, we realize that wisdom or enlightenment is not naturally attained. Sometimes it takes an explanation from someone to be able to understand it. Take the mother in the first story for instance. Her son had died, but she did not realize that the children of other people would also die one day. Everyone must die, but she did not understand that. Suppose at that time, Sakyamuni Buddha had tried to comfort her with such words of wisdom as: “Why are you crying? You ought to know that life is ephemeral. Sooner or later we must go. Where there is cause, there is retribution. If your child has bad karma, of course he will die early because he is short of blessed retribution. Therefore, there is no need to cry so sadly.” The woman would not have listened to these words. However, in this kind of situation, most of us would only know to offer comfort in this way.

Sakyamuni Buddha did not do it this way. Instead, He sent the mother out alone to find a family in which no one had ever died. Of course she could not find one. At this time, whatever teachings that Sakyamuni Buddha said to her, she would comprehend immediately, because she had personally experienced it. In the beginning, I also talked about spiritual experiences. If we are unable to realize the “Truth” by ourselves, then we will need someone who has attained it and is capable of teaching us how and where to find it. Later, when we have had a personal inner experience, we can realize the Truth by ourselves.

For example, in the Amitabha Sutra, we read about Sakyamuni Buddha saying, “Amitabha Buddha is the Infinite Light; He always radiates His light to save us. In the Amitabha Buddha’s world, there are such and such realms. There are chirping birds and wondrous music, etc. When we hear that music, our mind will become tranquil and concentrated to recite the Buddhas’ names, the saints’ names and to remember the teachings.” This is what we heard the Buddha say, and we have also heard about people going to the Western Paradise to enjoy those wonderful realms. However, without personal inner experience, we would not believe or truly understand what the Western Paradise is like. Therefore, reading the scriptures or listening to discourses on them is merely listening to other people talking about their spiritual experiences and spiritual level, which have nothing to do with us. Whoever aspires for enlightenment and true realization should have the same inner experiences, or at least have a glimpse of the Western Paradise.

If at that time, Sakyamuni Buddha had immediately summoned the Yaksa and ordered her, “Stop doing such evils and stop eating other people’s children. Don’t you understand the grave pain in the hearts of the parents? What you are doing is wrong. You should not break people’s hearts.” If Sakyamuni Buddha had talked to the Yaksa directly like this, she might not have listened, because she did not know and had not experienced the feelings of the brokenhearted parents. Therefore, Sakyamuni Buddha did not reason with her in the first instance. Instead, He told the people to take away her child, so that she, too, would experience the pain of losing her child. After that, she understood immediately when the Buddha talked to her. We ordinary humans also have a similar saying: “We can only realize the feeling of our parents after we ourselves have become parents.”

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