AROUND TWO IN the afternoon, when a bhikkhu residing in a forest hermitage was in a state of samādhi ― a state of deep concentration of the mind ― a gigantic nonhuman was seen. Of this figure, only the lower part from the waist down did the bhikkhu vision. That means, just the two legs. 

The pair of legs were some 20 feet tall. They very much resembled the legs of a human of stalwart build but were thickly covered with deep black hair like the shaggy fur of an Alsatian. So terrifying a form it was. Bhikkhu doesn’t know why the upper body from the waist up did not come into sight.

Such extremely gruesome nonhumans are like mountainous heaps of unwholesome karma. He has received so frightening a look, so enormous a size, due to the severity of the unwholesome karma committed in the past. Bhikkhu presumes this fierceness and immensity would keep increasing, on account of the unwholesome karma he repeatedly committed. Frequenting these forest-hermitage environs, it is their desire to harass the forest hermitage and its monks, to meddle with the sanity of the monks, to have in their clutches the monks and lay attendants whose strength of the Dhamma was found lacking, and through them, to throw the forest hermitage into disarray and squalor. 

By the looks of this fiend’s physical make-up, except for a monk who was temperate with so unyielding a moral virtue (sīla), no other person below such level would be able to escape from his clutches. It is little wonder that illnesses, mental derangement, disappointment, clashes resulting from volatile mental states, grubbiness, and suchlike occur due to being in thrall to as vicious a force as this. What would be surprising was if this weren’t the case, for this nonhuman was every bit as savage and fearsome as that.

These forces of Wrong View (micchā-diṭṭhi) are opposed to the preservation of the Buddha’s dispensation. Today, because of the paucity of Saṅgha, suitable as well as unsuitable candidates enter monkhood. Having entered monkhood, even those suitable for monkhood tend to lay aside ‘letting go’ and start ‘accumulating’; and engender conceit born of moral righteousness (sīla), samādhi, or monk’s scholarship. Such things lend a strong impetus to these fiendish forces. It is to snuff out the true path of practice of the Buddha that these malevolent forces target only forest hermitages.

This note was penned to edify you on the nature of a horrific life form in the world that is invisible to you; for you to learn a lesson from it. This hulking nonhuman is a being who, at some point, lived as a human in the human realm, just like you. Purely due to the unwholesome karma committed in that life, the present life has befallen him. It’s just dreadful unwholesome karma that he accumulates throughout this life. He knows not what wholesome karma is. By bedevilling and inflicting misery upon the monks in this manner, by shaping the environment for causing schism in the Saṅgha, even an ānantarika-kamma ― a heinous misdeed that inescapably dooms one’s next rebirth to the most abysmal hell called Avīcī ― could well occur at his hands. Now consider how gruelling, how long, the journey of saŋsāra will be for this fiend.

And also, having read this, taking pity on poor wretches like these, the revered-monks too should know to train in the true bhikkhu-practice of letting go, devoid of conceit in monkhood born of moral conduct, samādhi, or scholarship. You must bear in mind that otherwise, while also providing such fearsome nonhuman forces with the opportunity to commit still more unwholesome karma, it is not entirely improbable that, as a weak monk, someday you too could wind up a member of this dreaded fiend’s retinue. 

Keep the surrounding area of your kuṭi, the environment of the forest hermitage, the robe, the lower robe, your body, the toilet, and even your nails clean. Don’t let them get messy. Don’t collect old things, stale things, unwanted things. Get rid of them. Avoid rearing unclean animals. Don’t let the shrine room or the oil lamp become grimy; or be soot-stained. For these to be dirty means for the mind to be defiled. Without going to extremes, even as you find solace by genuinely cultivating the good qualities necessary to become a befitting monk Buddha has spoken of, help the vile nonhuman forces too, by being skilful not to further increase their unwholesome karma.

In this journey, to obstruct the path to enlightenment, Māra forces, gruesome nonhuman forces, will come before you in the guise of the virtuous, the hapless, the teacher or pupil, or one’s saviour; [they] will come before you under the guise of knowledge and erudition, or gain and hospitality. These are subtle things that impede the path to enlightenment. To make headway without getting attached to these phenomena would be a complicated matter; for lurking behind the above phenomena is the sway of vicious and giant nonhuman forces imbued with Wrong View, as mentioned before. 

Māra forces have cast the net for us from every single direction. Why you fall for Māra forces thus is because you still don’t have the gumption to view the Māra minds, or thoughts, as impermanent and let go. Bhikkhu who writes this, the very moment the partial figure of the said towering nonhuman was seen, let go of that mind. What was sighted was a form, a rūpa; its fundamental nature is impermanence; and that’s all there is to it. The incident was recounted only so you could learn a lesson.

Having seen the frenzied nature of the unseen world dense with fell, fearsome, colossal nonhumans of that ilk, before you show loving-kindness and compassion for others, first show compassion for yourself. In the interest of true selflessness, be selfish for now. Here you should be selfish, not brashly, but only under the guidance of a teacher, a wise and virtuous friend (kalyāna-mitta); for otherwise, the forces of Māra will indeed impel your selfishness towards yet another attachment or resentment, leaving you helpless.

If you fail to comprehend the above natures when developing the path to enlightenment, he and you both will keep dying and taking rebirth time and time again.