FIRST REFLEcnONS ~
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future time, although at the time of your explanation, they would have no understanding of what you had said. You can also speed up their progress by showing them a form or image of the Buddhadharma, or by reciting the sound of sacred mantra into their ear. And, of course, by doing these virtuous actions you increase your own positive karmic accumulation which helps assure you of future precious human existences. There is a wonderful and simple illustration recorded in the sutras. Before the era of our historical Buddha, Lord Shakyamuni, there was that of the third Buddha of the present kalpa, namely, Buddha Kashyapa. In that epic of time past, there was a shrine, or a stupa, which is considered sacred to the Buddhist tradition in that it has many special symbolic meanings. On a leaf hanging from a branch of a tree growing near this stu pa were seven insects. During a strong gust of wind, the leaf broke loose and sailed through the air, taking the seven insects with it. As the wind carried the leaf and the insects around the stupa several times, the insects performed the highly meritorious action of circumambulation of a holy place. By this karmic connection, the seven insects were reborn in a celestial realm in their next lifetime. Yet another example from times past is that of a land tortoise who enjoyed drying off in the sun after a morning of wallowing in the mud of the shore hidden in the shade by the tall tree. The tortoise's sunning spot was on the opposite side of the nearby stupa, which had a crack in its base. Longing for the warmth of the sun, the land tortoise walked daily to his sunning spot, using the stupa as his landmark to guide him there. As his eyesight was not the best, the landmark would all too soon become the stumbling block, causing the tortoise to rub his mud laiden body against the stupa's base. Over time, this caused the mud he had carried to fill in this crack. By the virtue of such a positive karmic action, the land tortoise was reborn in one of the gods' realms. These are not contrived tales to delight an audience; these were taught by the Buddha and were recorded in the Buddhist sutras. All sentient beings have body, speech, and mind. And, although we think of them all as being important, body and speech are like servants of the mind. Continuing the thought further, they are wholly the manifestations of the mind. Therefore, knowing the