Then the other herd from the other leader came and wanted to rest and stay in this area. So the Tortoise King came to stop them, and said, “My friends, you can’t practice spiritually here, because they will ruin us. Because those lizard(-people) from the trees keep falling down all the time, then one day they would cause us to lose our lives, or it would relate to something unlucky. So my dear friends, please go to another place, don’t hang around here anymore.” But that herd is very stupid, and didn’t listen to the Tortoise King. […] The Tortoise King advised them to leave all the time but to no avail. The more he told them, the more they became disrespectful, the more they insulted and strongly opposed him. So this Tortoise King took his herd, including the ones who got initiated by Him, to go to another area. […]
Ten days after the Tortoise King’s herd left, there was a herd of elephant(-people) who came to rest under that big old tree, after they ate. Resting for a while, then suddenly a lot of lizard(-people) fell down from the tree, some of them landed in the ear of the elephant(-person). […] So, the herd of elephant(-people) started to run frantically. […] The leader of the herd of tortoise(-people) was not dead, just almost. Too angry, so angry, this leader thought inside and blamed the Tortoise King. […] This tortoise leader later on reincarnated as Devadatta, and he always tried to find a way to harm the Shakyamuni Buddha. […]
You, too, should walk carefully, so that you don’t crush other beings on the ground by your feet. You should look on the road to see if there are other insects or small animal(-people) such as snails, caterpillars, etc. Don’t crush them underneath your feet. That’s why when I walk at night, I use a flashlight to look. Sometimes you can’t see at night. You may see during the daytime, but not at nighttime. Then when you walk carelessly, looking at the sky, the Moon, you step on those beings on the ground! […]
You should walk or run more carefully, not to make too much noise and dust flying all over the place. Others are meditating and in samadhi, and then taking them out of samadhi, you would create a bad karma. […]
