Date: 01/31/2026 02/01/2026
Location: Star Ocean Meditation Center
Teacher: Jason
Dharma Talk
Good and evil karmic retribution follows one like a shadow
In the time of the Buddha, there was a bhikṣu named Tuopiao who possessed extraordinary physical strength. After renouncing the household life and following the Buddha, he practiced the Path with great diligence, perfected moral authority and spiritual power, and attained the fruition of Arhatship.
Because Bhikṣu Tuopiao frequently took the initiative in organizing and managing communal affairs of the Saṅgha, caring for the monks’ food, clothing, and daily needs, the Buddha praised him as “foremost in attending to communal duties.”
At that time, within the Saṅgha there was another monk named Mituo, whose store of merit was shallow. Almost every time, he received coarse and inferior food. Over time, he developed resentment toward Bhikṣu Tuopiao, believing that Tuopiao deliberately allotted him poor provisions.
Eventually, Bhikṣu Mituo openly slandered Bhikṣu Tuopiao and even colluded with his own sister, who had already ordained as a bhikṣuṇī, to defame Bhikṣu Tuopiao within the community of nuns.
In order to prevent others from committing grave karmic offenses by maligning an Arhat, Bhikṣu Tuopiao chose to depart. He then manifested the eighteen supernormal transformations, reduced his body to ashes and extinguished consciousness, and entered the Fire-Radiance Samādhi.
The monks of the Saṅgha were puzzled and curious as to why Bhikṣu Tuopiao had been slandered, why he possessed such immense strength, and how he had attained Arhatship. After asking the Buddha, they finally understood. It turned out that during the time when Buddha Kāśyapa was in the world, there was a young bhikṣu who was handsome, with clear features and dignified marks.
One day, while going out on almsround in the city, he encountered a young married woman. Seeing his dignified appearance, she gave rise to lustful attachment and stared at him without blinking.
At that time, the one who would later be Bhikṣu Tuopiao was serving as an official supervising the preparation of food. Seeing the woman closely following the young bhikṣu, and without understanding the situation, he spread rumors everywhere, saying, “The young bhikṣu is having an illicit affair with a married woman!”
Because he fabricated and propagated false slander, he fell into the three lower realms and suffered as a result of this karmic cause. Yet because in that past life he had ordained and cultivated the Path under Buddha Kāśyapa, in this present life he was able to attain Arhatship.
Moreover, during his period of monastic practice, he attended to communal affairs within the Saṅgha; on one occasion, he exerted himself to rescue a donkey laden with rice and flour that had become stuck in deep mud. By virtue of this karmic condition, he obtained the retribution of extraordinary physical strength.
