At the start we have a commentary about “Amitabha Sutra”, then we introduce two great Arhats.
The first one is named “Kalodayin” who is the son of a minister in Shakyamuni Buddha’s country. He had a very dark and frightening face. He once went out to beg for alms at night, and some people were terrified when they opened their doors and saw him!
He is known as “Foremost in Teaching and Transforming.” Kalodayin can also be translated as “Black Light,” meaning light that is black.
There is such an understanding that when Shakyamuni Buddha was handling the Sangha, those who were ordained cultivated together. However they didn’t follow the “no food after noon” rule. They ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner just like everyone else.
In India thousands of years ago, there were no electric lights at night. Only the wealthy could candles, while the poor had no lighting at all.
At night everyone would swarm out to beg for alms, knocking on doors. On opening the door to take a look, oh my! They were scared to death and thought they encountered a ghost! There were instances of people dying from fright.
Furthermore, some Indians thought what was going on?
Someone comes to knock on the door in the middle of the night, or they are standing at the door without any sound. They thought it was thieves and beat them up!
There were a few cases of monks going out to beg for alms and scaring the alms giver to death, as well as there were monks chased and beaten up by alms givers, who thought they were thieves.
Therefore Shakyamuni Buddha thought, since practitioners only need sufficient nutrition, he established a rule, “From now on, no monk is allowed to go out to beg for alms after dark.”
This evolved into the “no food after noon” rule.
Nowadays, because practitioners must endure some hardship and cannot eat too full, and often one or two meals are sufficient for nutrition, thus the “no food after noon” rule is still observed by some.
Yet times are different now, there are electric lights at night, and monks rarely go out to beg for alms anymore. So some eat dinner at home, if they go out to beg for alms at night they probably wouldn’t frighten people. It was this “Black Light Arhat” who frightened people when he went out to beg for alms.
![Carol singers in white [AI generated]](https://amitabhasutra.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Carol-singers-in-white.png)
I remember when I was a member of the Christian choir, on Christmas night, we would go out to sing hymns and visit people.
One night on Christmas that day, our pastor said, “Tonight we’ll go to the slums and sing for the poor, then we’ll throw candy and Christmas cards into their homes.”
We all wore white choir uniforms, and around 11 or 12 at night until 2am, a group of us in white uniforms arrived at the slums. We sang and threw candy through any crack in the door, and we did the same with the Christmas cards. We tried to walk as quietly as possible, walked very lightly, and sang very softly, barely daring to walk loudly, just floating along the road.
Several old ladies got up to urinate in the middle of the night and fainted from fear when they saw us!
Those old ladies saw a group of people dressed in white, walking very lightly, and singing, like ghosts! Their legs went weak with fear, and they said, “You’re going to scare me to death!”
Oh! That time, many people woke up because we threw candy and greeting cards. When they woke up and opened their doors, oh my! There were white figures floating in the air!
I heard that the next day, many priests went to that slum to calm nerves. Actually, they didn’t encounter ghosts, they encountered us.
Next I introduce another Great Arhat. He is “Mahakarapina”.
This name translates to become the name of a constellation. In Chinese we have [the constellations listed as] the twenty-eight mansions, it is the fourth star. This is because his parents prayed to the stars in the sky and gave birth to Mahakarapina. He is known as “Foremost in the Constellations”.
This Mahakarapina was initially a king, his country was called Kukkutavati. He was the king of Kukkutavati. Because he admired the dharma teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha, thus he also became a monk.
After becoming a monk, he enjoyed practicing alone and had attained the dharma taste of Nirvana. After taking refuge, he very diligently practiced according to the dharma teachings of the Buddha. He lived in a cave deep in the mountains and used the method of cultivating the dantian fire. This “fire” could circulate throughout his entire body to any capillary and pore in his body. He could use the fire to burn his own body. He then refined his inner fire to a very pure state and concentrated the fire totally to his tianting (middle of his forehead). The fire was able to leave his body, his body temperature dropped completely and he could go without drinking or eating for a month.
Although his body was on the earth, it was actually very similar to the state of Nirvana. This kind of “taste of Dharma,” a completely pure state without desire, and the bliss gained from it, is called the “taste of nirvana.”
Of course this type of dharma joy can also allow one to travel through the Four Dhyana Heavens, go to any Buddha land. Although he did not eat anything at all, he actually experienced everything. He attained this dharma taste of Nirvana entirely through his cultivation in the deep mountain caves.
One day, Shakyamuni Buddha appeared before his cave and asked him, “Are you satisfied now?”
He replied, “Very satisfied.”
The Buddha said, “Since you are very satisfied, you should also bring satisfaction to others!”
So Shakyamuni Buddha invited him to come out and teach the precepts. Because at that time, many disciples initially kept the precepts after taking refuge, but later stopped keeping the precepts. So Mahakarapina came out to be the Observing the Precepts Teacher.
When he came out, it was different from before. In the past he resided in the midst of Nirvana taste, in the end Shakyamuni Buddha asked him to come out to teach some precepts to all the Buddha’s disciples. Earlier he should be called self-disciplined, later he disciplined others. So he was called “Foremost in the Constellations” or “Foremost in Teaching Precepts”.
In fact, precepts are very important.
Without precepts, one will run amok. Observing precepts is like us obeying the order of a country, it’s about abiding by the law.
When Buddhist disciples observe the precepts, because of observing the precepts, their behavior becomes very upright. Because of upright behavior, a calm concentrated mind arises. Because of this, they then can develop wisdom. With wisdom, one can attain enlightenment and become a Buddha.
Many people ask me, “Does our True Buddha School have precepts?”
True Buddha School also has precepts, we have the same precepts of exoteric Buddhism and also precepts of esoteric Buddhism.
Actually, our precepts are also very strict, according to the precepts they are very strict. However, because the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are more compassionate, so it appears more relaxed. But today I tell everyone, “To have accomplishments, one must have precepts.”
Even the Masters have their own precepts, so we should learn True Buddha School’s precepts, the small booklet has it inside. I hope everyone will not forget all the precepts because of the Buddhas’ and Bodhisattvas’ compassion.
Every practitioner must abide by the precepts in the initial stages. After attaining enlightenment, although the precepts can be broken for the sake of liberating sentient beings, one must also show them one’s precepts. Actually the Masters said before “Where a lion leaps, the rabbit should not follow.”
This means that what senior monks can do, junior monks may not be able to follow.
A practitioner, once they are enlightened, may do what those who just took refuge can not follow to do.
This is due to the state of attainment. So if you think you have become a lion, you can jump a precipice. Before becoming a lion, jumping a precipice is killing oneself. If your mind/heart does not move anymore, you can go to a nightclub. If your mind/heart is still moving, going to a nightclub is killing yourself.
Therefore learning has levels. If you want to kill yourself you can follow me. If you think you can’t make it yet, then it is better to stay at home and sleep!
Just now, Master Lianhuo thanked everyone. I think we should do everything with a thankful heart. As long as everyone does their best in their own affairs, and helps the public do everything, we all should have a thankful heart. Because a thankful heart can produce a compassionate heart. This universe is actually a unified body with great compassion, therefore we should be thankful not only to those who contribute money, energy and those who are considerate.
To those who slander us, oppose us, we should also be thankful in our hearts. Because they are here to test us, which is also coming to help us. When you also feel thankful towards these opposing negative talk, you will then know that “opposing views are also our supporting conditions.”
Therefore, I have said before,
Om Mani Padme Hum.