One day, when the Buddha entered a village with his assistant
Ananda, he approached a poor woman to share his teachings with her.
However, the woman disliked the Buddha so much, that despite his
magnificent and pleasing appearance, she could not even stand the
sight of him. Wherever the Buddha went, she would turn away. When
he went to her right, she would look left. When he went to her
left, she would look right… Even when the Buddha used his
supernormal power to levitate above to catch her attention, she
looked down and refused to look up. However, when she saw Ananda,
her attitude became the reversed. She was naturally drawn to him,
and happily listened to the Buddha’s teachings related by him,
which she found to be beneficial. This is very interesting as
though Ananda almost resembled the Buddha in form, he was still not
his equal, and especially not the same in compassion, wisdom and
skilful means. How is this outcome possible then?
In a distant previous life, the woman once lost her child and
was consumed by much grief. A spiritual practitioner passed by and
enquired after her. After hearing about her misfortune, he replied
somewhat ‘indifferently’, that there was no need to grieve as death
is natural. As he seemed detached, his words felt cold and hurting,
which gave rise to her aversion. When another practitioner came by
and enquired similarly, he kindly offered his condolences, before
sharing about the truth of death. The first practitioner was the
Buddha-to-be and the latter Ananda-to-be. Due to these karmic
affinities formed, the woman developed a ‘natural’ disdain for ‘the
Buddha’ and a ‘natural’ attraction to ‘Ananda’. As such, positive
and negative karmic affinities can be carried not only from one
moment to the next in this life, but also from one life to the
next. This is a crucial reason why we ought to be mindful of the
impact of our fewest words and slightest gestures, or even the lack
of them, as they can affect present and future relationships for
better or worse.