Page 63 - Desire to Disaster

When you practice self-control on a regular basis, your lower
qualities of attachment and aversion have less opportunity
to flourish. In the long run, their hold on you weakens and
the higher qualities of spontaneous self-control, spontaneous
detachment, and spontaneous peace emerge in the soul.

Rupsen was on the wrong path. As a human, he did not
practise any self-control. Not was he bothered by it. Now, as
a sub-human, he was not equipped to come out of the trap of
attachment and obsession that he found himself immersed in.
Attachment had become his way of life. As a result, he lost
his life in quick succession for the sixth time. His birth as
a deer ended as he died, suffering from the grievous wound
caused by the king’s arrow. He died in great agony.

Picnic with Deer Meat as the Feast
The king got his bearers to carry the deer’s carcass back to
his palace in the city and organised a feast for his friends,
with the deer’s meat as the main item on the menu. The
king, his queen and his friends began feasting on the deer’s
meat. They were all enjoying themselves, when their party
was interrupted…

The Monk Trembles

A couple of monks were passing by beside the king’s park,
where the feast was being held. When one of the monks
saw the king’s party feasting on the meat of the deer, he
was disturbed. He told the other monk, “Look! One lover is
feasting on the flesh of another one out here!”

The king heard him and was annoyed. He called the monks
and threatened them. He yelled, “We can do what we want!
You have no right to shake your head and stop us!”

The monk was fearless. Also, he had avadhijñāna {extraordinary
knowledge enabling him to know about the past lives of others}.
Desire to Disaster 63