In the Tang dynasty of ancient China, there was a monk, Ven. Wu-Da, who had practiced Dharma for many lifetimes and attained a profound understanding of Buddha's teaching.  He, at a certain age, was the Dharma master of the emperor.  The emperor frequently sought guidance from him concerning the ways to run the country.

When Ven. Wu-Da was young in the monastery there lived a monk who sadly suffered from a severe skin disease.  As a consequence of the unpleasant smell and appearance, no one else in the monastery was willing to take care of him or even come close to him except Ven. Wu-Da.  He continued helping the sick monk until his full recovery.  To reward Ven. Wu-Da, the revived monk told Ven. Wu-Da that: "In the future if you encounter a dangerous, life-threatening event, you must be patient and try to find me in a monastery located west of China, between two distinct tall pine trees on a high mountain.  There, your problem will be solved."

Several years passed and Ven. Wu-Da became a high-ranking monk and the Dharma master of the emperor.  One time, he was honored by the emperor and awarded in public with the gift of a Dharma seat, a very pretty and valuable seat made of sandalwood.  Immediately after he received the gift from the emperor, he had a thought in his mind that: "I must have cultivated the practice of Dharma very well and impressed the emperor and others that is why I got this gift."  As soon as he had this thought his knee rapidly grew the image of a man's face with a skin-infection that looked extremely terrifying.  It was unknown why it suddenly appeared on his knee.  The diseased face also demanded food and drink, causing him both physical pain and spiritual distraction.

One day Ven. Wu-Da remembered the conversation he had years ago with the sick monk he took care of in the monastery.  He followed the recovered monk's advice and went in search of the monastery.  He finally found it.  After he understood his suffering, the monk pointed to a water spring and told him that he could use the spring water to wash away the image.

The next morning, a child led Ven. Wu-Da to the water spring.  As he was ready to wash his infected knee with the spring water, the image of the man's face opened its mouth and started speaking, it said, "Wait! Before you wash me with the water, let me tell you why I embedded into your knee.  A long time ago, when both of us were famous state counselors for the emperor, I was forced to be executed by the emperor because my advice to the emperor on how to solve the state crisis was opposite of yours.  You were so cruel at that time to tell the King that only by killing me the country would be saved.  So you contributed indirectly to my death."

"Since my execution, I became a spirit and always surrounded you to try to find the best opportunity to carry out my revenge for ten lifetimes.  However, because you have been practicing Dharma so well, with no detachment from Buddha's teaching and constantly watched and demonstrated your awareness of your thought, speech, and action, I never got a chance to retaliate.  In this life, I finally found a chance to hit you back.  The precious opportunity came when you were proud of yourself thinking that you must practice the Dharma so well that a Dharma seat was awarded to you from the emperor.  At that moment, I was able to implant myself into your knee and carry out my revenge."

After hearing the story described by the facial image on his knee, Ven. Wu-Da was shocked and finally understood the origin of his suffering.  The story ends with Ven. Wu-Da washing his knee and face disappearing resulting in total relief.

We appreciated Ven. Ta-Yu telling us the origin of the story that led to the Samadhi Water Confession Ceremony.  She gave us an opportunity again to see how things are governed by the law of cause and effect.

(Side note: the skin-infected monk whom Ven. Wu-Da took care of was actually a Bodhisattva who had transformed himself into a monk to help Ven. Wu-Da.)