[PureInsight.org] Gu Guang
1) Getting Outside the Cage
Boddhidarma is Shakyamuni’s disciple of the 28th generation. It was very difficult for him when he came to China to spread the Shakyamuni’s Fa to save people. People didn’t believe his Buddha Fa.
One day when walking, Boddhidharma heard a caged parrot call out to him: “Ah, from the West, from the West! Please sir, release me from this cage!” Boddhidharma glanced at the parrot and replied, “Emerge from the cage, emerge from the cage! Close your eyes, stretch your legs and hold your breath. Do so, and you’ll emerge from the cage.”
The parrot did as instructed. When the parrot’s owner returned, he wondered how his parrot had died! It seemed like the parrot had only just died as its body was still warm. He took the parrot out of its cage and placed it on the grass.
This story tells cultivators a principle: If you want to leave the cage, which is the Three Realms, it’s necessary to achieve these three things:
• Close your eyes: Don’t be deluded by the false impressions of this world. Don’t look outwardly, but rather look within oneself. Search within oneself.
• Stretch your legs: Stop rushing about pursuing lust and personal benefits. Relinquish the 7 emotions and 6 desires.
• Hold your breath: Not allowing anger to arise is to harbor no complaint nor hate. Achieving the standard for cultivation of speech effectively closes Hell’s gate.
2) Swallowing Teeth
One day, a Buddhist monk by the name of Shen Guang was twirling a rosary in his hand while preaching to a crowd. Boddhidharma had also come to this Dharma-preaching site. After listening, Boddhidharma told Shen Guang: The Dharma you teach cannot save people from life and death, and it misleads people.
Shen Guang was enraged, raised his left hand and smashed his rosary (an iron rosary) down on Boddhidharma’s face. Boddhidharma ducked his head back, but the rosary had struck his teeth, knocking out two front teeth. Boddhidharma knew that if he spit his dislodged teeth out onto the ground, a severe 3-year-long drought would occur, affecting the entire area and surrounds 100 li in radius. In order to prevent this disaster from happening, the only thing he could do was swallow his teeth.
3) Severing the Left Arm in Seeking the Buddha Fa
One night, Shen Guang saw two underworld ghosts approach him. They held up a card indicating his time of death. Shen Guang asked the ghosts, “I have been devoutly cultivating Buddhism for many years, but I still can’t escape life and death? Is there any Buddha Dharma that frees one from life and death in the world?”
One ghost thought about it and said, “Yes. The man who you assaulted with your rosary. He has the Buddha Dharma that frees one from life and death.” And so, this is the reason why Shen Guang sought out Boddhidharma.
Shen Guang found Boddhidharma with great difficulty, knelt outside his cave, and begged Boddhidharma to teach him the Buddha Dharma. Boddhidharma told him that the time was not yet ripe. Only when red snow falls from the sky will it be time.
One day during a heavy snowstorm, Shen Guang severed his left arm with a knife, and immediately the surrounding white snow was dyed red. At this time, Boddhidharma officially accepted Shen Guang as a disciple.
Shen Guang had created sinful karma by assaulting Boddhidharma with his rosary, but due to his sincere regret, his karma had been greatly alleviated. But ultimately, he still had to sever his arm to pay back the debt. Thus was Heaven’s law.
There still are, however, people from China’s Public Security, Prosecution and Judiciary departments who are involved in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. Many perpetrators have insofar suffered various kinds of retribution. But this is not what Dafa cultivators want to see. That’s why they risk being caught, beaten, or imprisoned to tell you the truth.
Chinese version: http://big5.zhengjian.org/node/256671