The Man who married a Bitch

The Dhammapada says:

"The evil-doer suffers here and hereafter;
he suffers in both worlds.
The thought, 'Evil have I done' torments him,
and he suffers even more when gone to realms of woe."

On Wednesday (14.11.07) I read an article in TNP (above) talking about a certain man in Tamil Nadu, India, marrying a bitch in the hope of lifting a curse on himself for wantonly killing 2 dogs many years ago. This ignorant man is acting under the misleading advice of an astrologer, who told him that was the only way to alleviate his suffering. Unfortunately for him, such a useless act would in no way lighten the negative karma that followed him for the past 15 yrs. These people's total ignorance of the Law of Karma is truly lamentable, considering that the Buddha's teachings once flourished there centuries ago.

The origin of his suffering is like this: 15 yrs ago this man happened to see 2 dogs in the act of mating. This somehow caused anger to arise in his mind, and in his anger the man stoned the canine couple to death. As if that was not enough, he even hung their carcasses from a tree as if to humiliate these animals. Soon after his evil deed, his hands and legs became paralysed, and he also became deaf in one year. He had been living with the fruits of his negative karma ever since.

Unknown to him, the ghosts of the 2 dogs he slain are still hounding him up to this day. They have been biting his hands and legs everyday in revenge, causing the paralysis. They are also barking loudly into his ear to express their hatred for him, causing his deafness. But nobody except this man can feel such karmic effects. Although he had enough pain and started to regret what he did, but foolish as he is, he believes that by marrying a dog he could make amends for his past deeds. This would of course in no way appease the hatred of the 2 ghostly canine tormentors feel towards him.

What he should do is to ask for repentance from the Triple Gems and sincerely seek forgiveness from the 2 dogs for his sins against them. This would offer him temporarily relief from his paralysis. After that he must practice Samatha-Vipassana meditation for 7 days and dedicate the merits of his practice to the dogs. Only in this way can his karmic tormentors be completely appeased and liberated from their current state into a realm of happiness. As such, the paralysis and deafness suffered by the man for such a long time would also be gone forever. I pray that this man would have a chance to hear the Dhamma and be freed from his suffering, otherwise his days of woe would not only continue for the rest of this existence, but into the next existence as well. Fearful indeed.