Ancient Tales of Wisdom

The Justice of Moggallana (Mujianlian)

The final moments leading up to Moggallana's nirvana (sacca/Wikimedia).

According to Buddhism, the world and all its beings are connected and governed by the universal laws of karma. No matter how one lives their current life, any misdeed or virtue from a person’s past will come to greet them in the present. History is littered with such tales…this is one of them…

A long time ago in ancient India, there lived a young man who was the only child in his family. He was a devoted son who worked hard and looked after all the household duties. As his parents aged, his workload increased. His parents urged him to find a wife to help him with his duties, but he refused and insisted on doing the work himself. After much persistence from his mother he eventually married.

At first his wife helped look after his elderly parents, but not long after she became increasingly hostile towards them. She complained to her husband, but he paid no attention to this. One day, while he was outside the house, she scattered rubbish inside and blamed it on his parents, who by now were blind. After persistent complaints and pressure, he relented and agreed to deal with his parents.

He told his parents that their relatives in another region wanted to see them, he helped them onto a cart and began driving it through the forest. While in the depths of the forest, he dismounted and walked, telling his parents he was watching out for bandits, which were common in the area. The young man then impersonated the sounds and cries of thieves, pretending to attack the carriage. His parents, out of love for their son, told him to save himself, as they were old and blind. They implored the ‘thieves’ to leave their son alone. While they cried out, the young man beat and killed his parents. He then left their bodies in the forest before returning home.

***

Thousands of years later, around 500 BC, the Buddha Shakyamuni had been teaching and spreading his dharma throughout India for many years. Shakyamuni had many disciples. Amongst his ten foremost male disciples was Moggallana (in China he’s often known as Mujianlian). Moggallana had attained the status of Arhat through cultivation and was the most accomplished with supernormal abilities. Whereas other disciples possessed maybe one or two abilities, Moggallana had complete mastery over all six supernormal powers. His most spectacular power was his ability to transform his own body into anything he wanted.

One day Shakyamuni led five hundred disciples on a visit to the Tavatimsa Heaven. On their way there, they disturbed the great Naga, Nando-pananda who was a giant King Cobra. Nando-pananda vowed to disrupt Shakyamuni’s return, and wrapped himself around the great mountain Sumeru in wait. Upon their return, one of the disciples, who often travelled the area, noted how strange it was he couldn’t see Mount Sumeru. Shakyamuni informed him that the Naga had wrapped himself around the mountain. Upon hearing this many disciples offered to subdue the great beast. But Shakyamuni, realising the power of the serpent, denied their requests and instead allowed Moggallana to confront the creature.

Moggallana transformed himself into a giant serpent to fight the beast. Nando-pananda sent forth a blast of poison to drive him away, Moggallana responded with a blast of his own. The two great serpents exchanged blasts. The Naga then breathed fire at Moggallana, Moggallana responded with a greater breath of fire, injuring the cobra. Moggallana himself was unharmed. The Arhat then made himself small and flew in one ear of the Naga and out the other, then up one nostril and down the other. He then crawled down Nando-pananda’s throat and walked up and down the insides of the great serpent. From head to tail, tail to head. The serpent was enraged at having his intestines disturbed and planned to squeeze Moggallana to death once he emerged. But Moggallana escaped without him knowing. The serpent then fired another breath of poison at the Arhat, but he was unfazed. Shakyamuni then bestowed upon Moggallana the power to subdue the beast. He transformed into Garuda, a giant celestial eagle, who was the mortal enemy of the Naga. The Naga tried to flee but the great eagle caught him and brought him back to Shakyamuni. Nando-pananda pleaded for mercy and offered to become a disciple. Shakyamuni told him that followers of the Buddha are compassionate, and accepted his offer.

Over the years, because what Shakyamuni imparted was a righteous way, it quickly gained in popularity. Many of the old sects and religions had become corrupt and decadent and lost devotees to Shakyamuni’s dharma. The Order of the Jains was a group who walked such a path following the death of their founder. Moggallana with his celestial eye observed that virtuous followers of the Buddha had a heavenly rebirth, while followers of corrupted sects fell into miserable, sub-human existences. His ability to see the effects of karma and other realms, together with his great teaching abilities encouraged many disciples to walk the path of Buddha.

In Magadha, a group of Jains were so outraged by their loss of esteem they planned to get rid of Moggallana. While failing to examine their own flaws, they focused all their blame, envy and hate on Moggallana. Hesitant to perform the deed themselves, for fear of exposure, they hired assassins to kill the Arhat. At that time Moggallana lived alone and meditated in a hut at Kalasila near ancient Rajgir. Moggallana by now felt he was nearing the end of his cultivation, and felt his body was the last thing connecting him to this world.

Soon the assassins came to his hut searching for him; Moggallana summoned his great powers and made himself disappear. The bandits searched everywhere and eventually left. Moggallana was not worried for himself, but he understood that if the bandits were to kill him, an Arhat, then they would suffer enormous karmic retribution in Hell. He wished to spare them such a dreadful fate. The assassins however were driven by insatiable greed for money and kept returning to the hut, searching for Moggallana. For six consecutive days they searched and each time Moggallana disappeared. On the seventh day, the assassins came searching again, Moggallana prepared to disappear, but discovered he had lost his powers…

The assassins found him, knocked him to the ground, and then beat Moggallana. They broke his arms and legs and left him lying in his own blood. The bandits shocked by what they had done, yet keen for the rewards, left as quickly as possible.

Moggallana’s physical and mental strength was so great, that he had not yet died. He summoned the last of his energy and transported himself to where Shakyamuni was. He payed a final homage to the Buddha and asked for permission to die. Once granted, Moggallana breathed his last breath and achieved his nirvana.

Fellow monks and disciples were shocked and outraged at the death of their beloved teacher. The King ordered an investigation into the murder and caught the assassins. They informed him that they’d been hired by the Magadha Jains. The King had the Jains tortured and killed, in keeping with the laws at the time for murderers.

The disciples asked Shakyamuni why Moggallana had come to such a tragic end. Shakyamuni explained…in the past, Moggallana had committed the gravest sin. He had murdered his own parents. Moggallana was that young man at the beginning of this tale who had so callously beaten and killed his defenceless, blind parents. The killing of one’s parents is considered one of the five deadliest sins in Buddhism. Shakyamuni explained that Moggallana suffered in Hell for many thousands of years and even as an Arhat, he had no choice but to die the same violent death which his parents suffered many years ago. Despite the many great deeds he performed, the many people he offered salvation, and the greatness of his supernormal abilities, Moggallana could not escape his karmic debt. Shakyamuni told his disciples not to despair or be saddened by his end, for he was liberated from his body and from his last burden and had finally attained nirvana.

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