1. Origin
From the ancient times, it is said that there are five most famous natural aromatic. Among them, sandalwood is the top because it is believed that sandalwood can eradicate the evil spirits.
Sandalwood is one of the most rare and highly protected by the government in India and Sri Lanka. Beside their special, elegant, and noble aromatic, sandalwood also carry in itself the high spiritual value which is transmitted among the Buddhist countries like India, Tibet and Sri Lanka, … Because of their unique characteristic, sandalwood is used to make the spiritual goods, spiritual jewelry, Buddhist statues, or workship goods in order to show respect, and wish for luck, wealthy, peace and tranquility.
2. Usage:
Began to be planted in India from two to five hundred years ago, sandalwood is considered a symbol of vitality because it never be attacked by termites.
In addition to its strong antiseptic properties and high mechanical solidity, sandalwood is also believed that it can cure the depression, have the sedative, antispasmodic, diuretic and antiseptic, bactericidal, anti-inflammatory usage.
3. Meaning:
In Buddhism, sandalwood is used to make incense or provide essential oils for widely use; because of its ability to calm the mind, regulate the energy, balance the emotions and concentration, it is very good for meditation. In particular, the most common product is the 108 mala beads rosary used to recite or wear on body
The story about sandalwood tree in Buddhism
Once upon a time, Buddha and other monks lived in a country called Duy-da-le. At this time, there was a man named Ca-la-Viet who very respected The Budha and believed in all the dharma he taught. After the Budha finished his prayer, Ca-la-Viet came to his face and respectfully begging for dharma talk. At this time, The Budha smiled, from his mouth appeared a five-colour light; the light revolved around his body three times after that returned to the top of his head. Seeing this, A-nan monk immediately adjusted his clothes, put his hands together and said:
- Master never just smiles, he will tell dharma talk. Begging you to teach us!
The Budha said
- How precious you are! A-nan! You have a great kindness because you want all of them to know the dharma talk. As the rule of Buddhism, you have to know this. Now I will teach, everybody has to listen and remember.
The Budha told
“Once upon a time in one country, there are five hundred people went to the ocean for collecting pearls. It was sunset when the boat passed by the dense forest, so they stop to sleep and agreed to leave tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning, four hundred and ninety- nine people woke up and departed. One was left behind because that he overslept. It was snowing that time, the man lost into the deep mountain; he cried and beg for help. There was a giant sandalwood tree. The God of the tree said to him: “You can rest here, I will give you food, clothes, and you must wait until the spring come that you could go.” The lost man stayed there. He stayed for three months. One day, he told the Tree God: “Thanks to you that I can survive, although I have not returned anything to you, I really miss my parents, and want to go back home. Please show me the way.” The Tree God said: “Fine!” And the Tree God gave him a piece of gold that looked like a piece of cake and said: “You will find a country which not much far from here, and from there you can find the way back home.”
Before he left, the lost man asked the Tree God: “This tree has a pure aromatic, very rare, now I have to leave, please tell me the name of the tree.”The Tree God said: “You don’t have to ask”. The man said: “I stayed under the shadow of this tree for three months, now I have to go and going to miss it very much. I will praise about the tree when I come back to my country”. The Tree God said: “This tree named Sandalwood, the root, trunk and branch can cure hundreds of diseases; its aromatic spread far and it is very rare, don’t tell anyone about it”.
The man came back to his country, everyone was happy. Soon after, The King had a headache. The diseases wasn’t disappear although they prayed for the heaven, the God of the mountain, The God of the River. At this time, there was the famous doctor who came to cure the King, he said: “The disease can be cured if you can find the Sandalwood tree.” The King gave order: “If someone can find the Sandalwood tree, he will conquer that man to be a marquis and marry him the Princess”.
The man heard that there was a very huge reward so he came to the King: “I know where the Sandalwood tree be!”. According to his lead, the King sent his courtiers to that place to cut the tree. When they arrived, the Messenger saw the very beautiful large trees with luxuriant branches, and sparkling flowers and fruits. He didn’t want to cut it down. But if it had not been cut down, the King’s illness could not be cured. Being hesitant don’t know what to do, he suddenly heard a voice from the air: “Please chop! But leave the root. After you chop, use the human blood and human gut to cover the tree, the tree will naturally grow back.” The Messenger did like the advice of the Tree God. At that time, the man sat beside the tree, the branches which was chopped felt off the tree and encumbered him to death.
After cutting down the tree, the Messenger said to everyone; “Before I cut the tree, The Tree God said: We have to use human blood and human gut to sacrifice the tree.” At that time, I felt very sad because I didn’t know choose whom. But now that man was dead, we should use him to sacrifice. And they cut off his belly, used his blood and guts and did like the Tree God said. The tree naturally grew back. They bring the tree back to the country.
Immediately, the doctor used the tree to cure the King, he got well right away. The country was very happy. And the king also ordered: If someone had illness and come to ask for curing, the King will share them the Sandalwood tree. Thanks to that, everyone got well from illness very soon. From that day, the King and the people are always healthy, the country were peace and live in happiness.
At this time, A-nan monk came to The Budha, bowed to him and asked:
- Why that man didn’t return any back to the Tree and betrayed it?
The Budha said:
- Once upon a time there were a father and two sons. The father followed five precepts, practiced ten good actions, never had one lazy day. The older son usually went to the middle of the yard, burned incense, offered to the Buddhas of the ten directions. The stupid son did not understand, so he used his coat to cover the incense.
At this time, the older brother said: “This is very important, why you dare to insult it?”. But there were some evil thoughts appeared in little brother’s mind and he swore to cut down his brothers’ legs. The older brother thought: “I will kill this little brother”. The father listened to his sons’ argument, he said: “You two argument makes me got a headache!”. The older brother said: “I will use this body as a cure for my father’s illness”.
The spoken words will never disappear, so that brings the sins to lives forever. The little brother because of his evil thoughts wanting to cut his brother’s leg, he became the man who brings other people to cut down the tree. The older brother now became the The Tree God, because he wanted to kill his little, so he used his branch to encumber his little brother to death. The King with the headache was the father. Because he kept the rule so well in the past so he was respected in this life. But because he said “I have a headache”, so he got a headache as a retribution. So, everyone because of his karmic has suffered the karmic retribution.
The Budha continued to lecture:
- The crime, the retribution will follow us as our shadows.
The Buddha recited the regulation about body, language and mind. After listening, Ca-la-viet archived Sakadāgāmī. He took his family along with him and offer all of his property to Buddha. Everyone was very happy to follow Buddhism.
Vo Uu Shop
