There was a monk who did not dare to appear before the assembly because he felt embarrassed. Every time he sat down, his mouth chewed like a cow eating grass, which made him very self-conscious. The story begins with an incident when he saw an elderly monk eating rice, and he mocked the monk, saying in a contemptuous tone, ‘You eat rice like a cow chewing.‘ For this rude remark, he had to face the consequences and was condemned to live as a cow for 500 lifetimes.
You can imagine that if someone were to live as a cow for 500 lifetimes, they would certainly chew in that manner for the rest of their existence. So why was he born human in this life?
In Buddhism, this is called residual karma. Residual karma can be either good or bad. Some people are born with great talents without much learning, like children who are naturally good at drawing or playing instruments. This is the good residual karma from past lives. There are also children who are very good at math without studying much; this is also good residual karma.
On the other hand, there are children who display bad behaviors from a young age; this is bad residual karma.
Lesson by Venerable Thích Pháp Hoà
