Excerpts

[83] The Parable Of The Macaque From The Sūtra Of A Hundred Parables《百喻经》之猕猴喻

昔有一猕猴,为大人所打,不能奈何,反怨小儿。

In the past, there was a macaque, by a grown-up that beaten. Not able to cope with it, he instead resented a small child.

凡夫愚人亦复如是,先所瞋人代谢不停灭在过去,乃于相续后生之法谓是前者,妄生瞋忿毒恚弥深,如彼痴猴为大所打反嗔小儿。

Ordinary foolish persons are likewise thus, with the first, that angering person being substituted incessantly, already ceased in the past, thereupon with the dharma, that in continuous succession later arisen, saying it is that person in the past, falsely giving rise to rage’s poison and anger full and deep, they are like that macaque, by a grown-up that beaten, instead being angry at a small child.

[Note: While it might make sense to right wrongs for justice and to prevent future wrongs for the welfare of all involved, it does not make sense to bear resentment against those who angered us in the past by endlessly projecting the resentment forward to a similar person or even the ‘same’ person.

This is so as due to continual change in body and mind, even the ‘same’ person is no longer exactly the same, what more someone else totally ‘different’.

Each person has his or her own karmas. Even if there is some collective karma (共业) as family members, as there is different karma (别业) too, the transgressions of the ‘father’ should not be seen as passed down to the ‘son’, with the father’s transgressions to be borne by the son.]

全百喻
All Hundred Parables:

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