GMS has some serious thoughts.
31 July at 22:11 ·
One of the Top 10 Disciples of Buddha, Maudgalyayana, is well regarded as one with Top mastery of psychic and mystic powers.
He was a good friend of Śāriputra who was also one of Top 10 Disciples of Buddha, well regarded as the wisest among his contemporaries.
However, even with his extraordinary powers, Maudgalyayana wasn't able to escape karmic retribution of being stoned to death by his enemies. He had used his powers to avoid these murders SIX times successfully but his powers failed to work on the Seventh attempt by these people.
But he was the true follower of Buddha's teaching. He didn't use his powers to kill off these attackers but instead, finally cleared his past karmic debt via dying at the hands of these people.
Maudgalyayana had tried to save his mother from Hungry Ghost Realm by using his powers but failed. Buddha taught him that only through the dedication of great merits by committing good karmic deeds could he help his mother.
The morale of the story is this:
No matter how Powerful you are, regardless of whatever powers, be it political power, military might or just mystical powers, you just couldn't possibly escape from Karmic Retributions. If Maudgalyayana couldn't save himself or his mother with his great expertise in psychic and mystical powers, no layman could possibly ever get off karmic retributions.
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