How Robber Finger-Necklace became a monk

The Buddha travelled all over India teaching people that they should try to find peace and calm in their minds. He came one day to the land of Kosala in northern India and stayed at the city of Savatthi. Each day he got up and went out into the city to beg silently for food as Buddhist monks still do today. And each day he returned to the place where he was staying to eat. After tidying up the house he would preach to the people of the city who had come to hear him.

One day the Buddha left the house and set off along a small road leading out of the city. He wore his yellow monk's robe and carried with him only his begging bowl. He passed through open countryside where the fields looked uncared for and soon came to a poor village where the houses looked broken and the people thin and afraid.

A man came up to him but put nothing in the Buddha's begging bowl. 'You cannot go along that road,' said the man looking worried. 'Surely you have heard about the danger there.'

'Oh, I'm sure I'll be alright,' answered Buddha. 'I have faced many dangers before.' 'But haven't you heard that Robber Finger-Necklace lives down that road? No one ever goes that way and comes back alive.'

'Robber Finger-Necklace!' said the Buddha. 'How did he come to have such a strange name?'

The people of the village had gathered round the Buddha by now and a woman stepped forward to explain: 'Robber Finger-Necklace is the cruellest of men,' she said. 'He has no kindness in him whatever. He doesn't just steal from people, he kills them and burns their villages too. He is called Finger-Necklace, because of all the people he murders he cuts off their fingers and hangs them on a necklace around his neck.'
But Buddha began to set off towards the road out of the village. 'You must not go that way " the people called. 'Sometimes we have sent as many as forty men together for safety and none of them has ever come back.

But the Buddha continued on his way.

And as he left the poor village and passed by the weedy fields he understood why the villagers all looked afraid and why their houses were broken.

After travelling along the country road for some time Buddha heard a sound of laughing behind him. Turning round he saw the Robber Finger-Necklace. It was enough to look at him to make you afraid. He was a large man marked with many scars of battle. He carried so large a bow that most men would not have been able to bend it let alone shoot one of the many arrows he carried on his back. Hanging from his great leather belt was an enormous heavy sword. Robber Finger-Necklace was laughing because he was looking forward to a bit of cruel fun with this monk who was silly enough to walk alone along this road. And as the robber laughed he shook the strange necklace around his neck. It was the necklace strung with the fingers of his murdered victims.

Buddha quietly turned and carried on his way. With a mouthful of foul language Finger-Necklace began to chase after him. He made a great dash forward and drew his sword to lunge at the Buddha. But he was not quite near enough. Buddha kept walking slowly along the road. Finger-Necklace charged again with all his strength, but wouldn't quite catch up. It seemed that however fast he ran he wouldn't beat the Buddha's slow walking. 'Stand still, monk!' shouted the angry robber. 'Stand still, will you! I have chased after horses and even elephants and caught up with them. I have raced against deer and the fastest chariots and nothing ever escapes from me. Stand still!' 'Oh but I am standing still,' said Buddha, 'and if you want to catch me up, you must learn to stand still too. , Robber Finger-Necklace was completely puzzled by these strange words and indeed he did stand still as the Buddha began to explain. 'By rushing about you will never really get anywhere,' he said, 'but if you stand still, if you let your mind stand still and be calm, you will find that you will really begin to get somewhere. So I am standing still and I am getting somewhere; you are rushing round like mad and you are not getting anywhere at all.'

Finger-Necklace looked into the peaceful calm eyes of the Buddha and understood. He threw his sword and his bow and his arrows as far away as he could and quietly walked behind the Buddha.

When they came back to Savatthi Buddha shaved the head of his new monk Angulimala and gave him a yellow robe to wear. And they went out into the city to preach.

As they passed through the streets a great army of 5000 soldiers on horseback passed by. In their midst was the King's own carriage, When King Pasenadi saw the famous teacher, he called to the soldiers to stop. The King stepped from his carriage and explained to the Buddha what was going on.

'1 ask for your blessing, holy one,' said King Pasenadi. 'The people of this city have come to me to beg me to save them from the cruel Robber Finger-Necklace. He is a man with no kindness in him whatever who kills and robs them and burns their houses. And no-one has ever managed to get the better of him. Give me your blessing that I may succeed.

'What would you say " said Buddha, 'if I brought the Robber Finger-Necklace here before you with his head shaved as a monk and wearing the yellow robes?' 'If you could manage to do that,' replied the King, '1 should be happy to shake his hand and put food into his begging bowl. But even you couldn't change a man as cruel as Finger-Necklace.'

'This monk Angulimala was the Robber Finger-Necklace,' said Buddha.

The poor King trembled when he heard this and looked at the scars on the face and body of the monk who stood beside the Buddha. But when he looked into his eyes and saw a calmness in them more peaceful than he knew himself, he felt more at ease.

'This monk Angulimala has made the Buddhist vow to hurt no living thing and to show kindness to all things,' said Buddha. The King called his army to halt and spent some time with Buddha and Finger-Necklace talking. 'With my 5000 soldiers I was afraid because I was sure I would not be able to beat Robber Finger-Necklace,' said King Pasenadi, 'and yet you have been able to capture him with something far stronger than the sword.' 'It is impossible for anyone to control the mind of anyone else,' replied the Buddha, 'but anyone can learn to control their own self.'

The Buddha said:
The person who didn't care at all,
if he cares now, he lights up the world
as when the moon escapes from behind a cloud.

Whatever wicked things you have done in the past, if you do good now, you light up the world
as when the moon escapes from behind a cloud.
(from the Dhammapada 172-173)

Ditch diggers lead the water where it should go, arrow makers cut their arrows straight and true, carpenters plane the wood flat and smooth;
wise men learn to control themselves.
(From the Dhammapada 80)