The King’s Blinking Habit

Once upon a time, there was a man who wanted to please the king. He asked the others how to do it and was told, “If you want to please the king, you should imitate him.”

He then went to the palace where he saw the king blinking. Thereupon, he imitated and the king asked him, “Do you have sore eyes? Is the wind disturbing your eyes? Why are you blinking?”

He replied, “Not at all on seeing your Majesty, I want to be just like you to please your Majesty.”

Upon hearing those words, the king got very angry. The man was punished by hard blows and sent into exile.

So are the people at large. They wish to approach Buddha, king of the Law, to achieve advancement. Once there, Buddha reveals to them his human weaknesses for the welfare of all mankind. When they sometimes hear of using incorrect phrases in his teachings, they may be unable to understand Buddha and they start to ridicule and defame him. They imitate all his weaknesses. For this reason, they lose the benefit they have got from Buddhism forever and fall into Three Evil Paths of Transmigration accordingly.

This is just like the story of the man imitating the king’s blinking habit.