This is a short narration of a story taken from one of the Buddha’s previous lifetimes, referenced in the sutras. It is said that before being born as a human and later becoming the Buddha, he had taken many rebirths including 500 pure and 500 impure lives.
In the land that is now known as Varanasi, near to where the Buddha first turned the wheel of Dharma, there once lived a man by the name of Zawo, which roughly translates to “friend”. He was married to a local woman whose name was Norzin Ma. His wife gave birth to three boys, all of whom unfortunately passed away early on.
Finally, they had another son. Actually, this son was one of the previous incarnations of Buddha Shakyamuni. Unlike the previous children, this child was extraordinarily talented, surrounded with many auspicious signs and symbols. The parents became convinced that their son was different, and they decided to do everything they could to prevent this child from dying like their other children.
In their pursuit, they sought the advice and divination of a local ascetic and explained how all of their previous children had perished. The ascetic told them that if they gave the boy a girl’s name, then he would not die. This is also a custom in Tibet, where boys are sometimes given an unconventional girl’s name in order to preserve their life. Therefore, he was named Zawo Bhumo, which means “the daughter of Zawo”.
Zawo Bhumo’s father was a sailor who traveled far and wide seeking out and trading precious jewels. On one such occasion while far into the sea, he and his sailors were struck by high winds and turbulent waters. Their ship sank and they all perished at the sea. During that time, according to tradition, sons would follow their fathers’ footsteps and carry on their family profession. However, Zawo Bhumo’s mother, Norzin Ma, fearing that she would lose her only son to the sea, hid the truth from him about his father’s profession.
Zawo Bhumo, being extraordinarily talented, was extremely capable and swiftly mastered everything that he undertook. He knew that his father had died, but he didn’t know how, so he asked his mother about his father’s profession. Norzin Ma told Zawo Bhumo that his father was in the business of buying and selling grains and that he was a small-time grain dealer. Thus, Zawo Bhumo became a grain dealer, and, being talented, quickly profited four kashapanis, cowrie seashells, which were a measure of wealth in those times. He then offered his wealth to his mother as his first income. He then wanted to get into another business and asked for his mother’s permission. She agreed and gave him permission to trade in brocades. He bought and sold varieties of brocade and profited eight cowries, which he offered to his mother as his second income from the new line of work. He again changed his profession and started to buy and sell hay to build houses. That profited him sixteen cowries, which he again offered to his mother. He then changed his line of work to dealing with wooden chariots and earned an even greater profit of thirty two cowries, which he also offered to his mother.
His success drew the attention of the neighbors, who became curious as to why Zawo Bhumo was not following in his father’s footsteps, which was unusual in those times. These neighbors asked Zawo Bhumo why he was going against his father’s tradition as a sailor and being involved with other lines of work. Completely confused by their question, he asked them why they would say such a thing. He repeated that his mother had told him that his father was a grain dealer, yet there was no way of knowing the truth since his father was no longer alive. The neighbors then told him that his father was actually an accomplished sailor who traded far and wide with jewels from the sea. Upon hearing this, he was extremely shocked and went home to confront his mother.
At home, he asked his mother to tell him the truth. His mother finally told him that, in fear of losing him to the sea like his father, she had not mentioned his father’s profession. She said that since he was her only son, she could not bear losing him to the sea like his father. Without him, she said, she would have no reason to live. She said that the neighbors were right and his father was an extremely competent businessman. She implored him not to venture out into the sea and that his father had left them enough wealth to live comfortably, showing him the many repositories full of clothes, brocades, grain, gold, silver, pearls, and other jewels.
After hearing and seeing these things, he told his mother that, nevertheless, he was a man of ambition and wanted to prove his own worth and did not want to live off the accumulated wealth of his father. He too wanted to be accomplished like his father and insisted he wanted to venture out into the sea and become a jewel trader. His mother objected and asked him to stay, live comfortably, and someday bring home a wife and start a family.
However, he was unmoved, and one day he got ready to set sail with some of his companions. His mother cried and pleaded with him not to go, begging and falling to her knees and grabbing his legs to stop him. He was adamant and would not listen to his mother. He scolded his mother that by crying, she was creating an inauspicious moment at the time of his first sail. He became very angry and kicked her on her head. The trauma caused his mother to get knocked unconscious. However, in his haste to leave, he did not turn back to realize what had happened to his mother, and thus departed on his way.
He then set sail with his companions and ventured far into the sea to look for jewels. One day, they were struck by a violent storm with high winds and turbulent waters. The ship was sunk and all of his fellow sailors perished at sea. Zawo Bhumo was able to survive by holding onto a broken wood plank and drifted off into the sea. Eventually, he was slowly carried by the currents and was washed up on a beach. When he came to his senses, he realized that he had reached an island.
Upon reaching there, he arrived at the most blissful of places. Eight beautiful women emerged from palaces and served him with plenty of food and drinks, clothed him, and provided him with everything he needed. They then told him that they cater to all his needs and that he should stay at this place until his death. They cautioned him, however, not to venture out towards the south of the island. The reason he came to this beautiful place and why the eight women treated him with such kindness was the ripening of his positive karma. It was the karma he had accumulated while making the kind gesture of offering the eight cowries, the profit earned from his second line of work, to his mother. However, as this karma started to exhaust, he wanted to venture out further towards the south.
Again, just as before, he arrived at the most heavenly of places with exquisite palaces beyond his imagination. There, sixteen beautiful women emerged from the surroundings and served him all that he desired and fulfilled all his wishes. They asked him to stay there and they would serve him until his death. They cautioned him, however, not to venture towards the south. Again, as his karma exhausted, he headed south against the words of the sixteen girls. This was all the result of the fruition of his positive karma of offering the sixteen cowries, the profit earned from his third line of work, to his mother.
Then, he came upon the most enchanted of heavenly abodes. He was greeted by thirty-two beautiful women who served him with everything he needed and fulfilled all his wishes. However, they implored him to stay and not venture towards the south. They cautioned him not to leave as going towards the south would bring him immense difficulty and pain. All this was again the fruition of his positive karma of offering the thirty two cowries, the profit earned from his fourth line of work, to his mother. Finally, the day when all his good karma had been exhausted, he headed south against the advice of the girls.
This time, he arrived at a continent unlike any other. He saw stacks of human flesh scattered in all directions. Human skulls were adorned on the roof of houses. As he entered a house, the walls were splashed with blood and skeletal remains thrown in all directions. It was dark and desolate, a frightening place with eerie sounds coming from every direction. He wondered what sort of a place he had walked into which was unlike the previous places where he had experienced great joy and delight. As he walked further, his karma took him through an enormous iron gate.
There, he came upon a place where all the people were having their skulls crushed and drilled. The prodding resulted in brain matter being scattered all over the place. Curious, he approached the black-faced vicious beings who looked like the gods of death, Yama, and asked what was happening and who the people whose skulls were being crushed were and for what reason they were being punished.
Instantly his own head was bound and now subject to the drills and pounding. His brains splattered out of his skull and he experienced immense excruciating pain. As he was an extraordinary being and a previous incarnation and eventual Buddha, he immediately realized and developed immense compassion for all the others who had suffered in the past and for those who would inevitably suffer in the future for their karmic actions. Thus, he made an aspiration that all the pain and sufferings of all those who had inflicted harm upon their mothers in the past and those that would in the future might manifest and ripen upon himself at that very moment. As he generated this profound wish, to take upon himself the suffering of others, his life and agony abruptly came to an end.
By the power of his great aspiration, he was instantly transferred into a heavenly realm. Subsequently, after many rebirths and cycles, he gained the realization and became the Buddha. This is an anecdote of one of the lives of the Buddha, and I hope this translation will clarify the inaccuracies that I have noticed in the many transcriptions of these stories.
From Khenpo Karten Rinpoche, posted to his Blogspot on March 2, 2025. Transcribed and translated by his student, Dechen Baltso.
