One Way Hospitality

Once upon a time there were two merchants who wrote letters back and forth to each other. They never met face to face. One lived in Benares and the other lived in a remote border village.

The country merchant sent a large caravan to Benares. It had 500 carts loaded with fruits and vegetables and other products. He told his workers to trade all these goods with the help of the Benares merchant.

When they arrived in the big city they went directly to the merchant. They gave him the gifts they had brought. He was pleased and invited them to stay in his own home. He even gave them money for their living expenses. He treated them with the very best hospitality. He asked about the well-being of the country merchant and gave them gifts to take back to him. Since it is easier for a local person to get a good price, he saw to it that all their goods were fairly traded. They returned home and told their master all that had happened.

Later on, the Benares merchant sent a caravan of 500 carts to the border village. His workers also took gifts to the country merchant. When they arrived he asked,

"Where do you come from?" They said they came from the Benares merchant, the one who wrote him letters.

Taking the gifts, the country merchant laughed in a very discourteous way and said, "Anyone could say they came from the Benares merchant!" Then he sent them away, giving them no place to stay, no gifts, and no help at all.

The caravan workers went downtown to the marketplace and did the best they could trading without local help. They returned to Benares and told their master all that had happened.

Before too long, the country merchant sent another caravan of 500 carts to Benares. Again his workers took gifts to the same merchant. When his workers saw them coming, they said to him, "We know just how to provide suitable lodgings, food and expense money for these people."

They took them outside the city walls to a good place to camp for the night. They said they would return to Benares and prepare food and get expense money for them.

Instead they rounded up all their fellow workers and returned to the campsite in the middle of the night. They robbed all 500 carts, including the workers' outer garments. They chased away the bullocks, and removed and carried off the cart wheels.

The villagers were terrified. They ran back home as fast as their legs could carry them.

The city merchant's workers told him all they had done. He said, 'Those who forget gratitude and ignore simple hospitality wind up getting what they deserve. Those who do not appreciate the help they have received soon find that no one will help them anymore."

The moral is: If you don't help others, you can't expect them to help you.

The Meditating Security Guard

Once upon a time, the Enlightenment Being was born into a rich and powerful family. When he grew up he became dissatisfied with going after the ordinary pleasures of the world. So he gave up his former lifestyle, including his wealth and position. He went to the foothills of the Himalayas and became a holy man.

It just so happened that one day he ran out of salt. So he decided to go and collect alms. He came upon a caravan and went with it part way on its journey. In the evening they stopped and made camp.

The holy man began walking at the foot of a big nearby tree. He concentrated until he entered a high mental state. He remained in that state throughout the night, while continuing to walk.

Meanwhile, 500 bandits surrounded the campsite. They waited until after supper, when all had settled down for the night. But before they could attack, they noticed the holy man. They said to each other, "That man must be on guard, for security. If he sees us, he'll warn the rest. So let's wait until he falls asleep, and then do our robbing and looting!"

What the bandits didn't know was that the holy man was so deep in meditation that he didn't notice them at all - or anything else for that matter! So they kept waiting for him to fall asleep. And he just kept walking and walking and walking - until the light of dawn finally began to appear. Only then was he finished meditating.

Having had no chance to rob the caravan, the bandits threw down their weapons in frustration. They shouted, "Hey you in the caravan! If your security guard hadn't stayed up all night, walking under that tree, we would have robbed you all! You should reward him well!" With that they left in search of someone else to rob.

When it became light the people in the caravan saw the clubs and stones left behind by the bandits. Trembling with fear, they went over to the holy man. They greeted him respectfully and asked if he had seen the bandits. "Yes, this morning I did," he said.

"Weren't you scared?" they asked. "No," said the Enlightenment Being, "the sight of bandits is only frightening to the rich. But I'm not a rich man. I own nothing of any value to robbers. So why should I be afraid of them? I have no anxiety in a village, and no fear in the forest. Possessing only loving-kindness and compassion, I follow the straight path leading to Truth."

In this manner he preached the way of fearlessness to the lucky people of the caravan. His words made them feel peaceful, and they honored him.

After a long life developing the Four Heavenly States of Mind, he died and was reborn in a high heaven world.

The moral is: It pays to have a holy man around.

The King With One Gray Hair

A very very long time ago, there were people who lived much longer than they do today. They lived many thousand years. At that time, the Enlightenment Being was born as a baby named Makhadeva. He lived 84,000 years as a child and crown prince. At the time of our story, he had been a young king for 80,000 years.
One day, Makhadeva told the royal barber, "If you see any gray hair on my head, you must tell me immediately!" Of course, the barber promised to do so.

Another 4,000 years passed, until Makhadeva had been a young king for 84,000 years. Then one day, while he was cutting the king's hair, the royal barber saw just one little gray hair on all the king's head. So he said, "Oh my lord, I see one gray hair on your head." The king said, "If this be so, pull it out and put it in my hand." The barber got his golden tweezers, plucked out the single little gray hair, and put it in the king's hand.
At that time, the king still had at least another 84,000 years left to live as an old king! Looking at the one gray hair in his hand, he became very afraid of dying. He felt like death was closing in on him, as if he were trapped in a burning house. He was so afraid, that the sweat rolled down his back, and he shuddered.

King Makhadeva thought, "Oh foolish king, you have wasted all this long life and now you are near death. You have made no attempt to destroy your greed and envy, to live without hating, and to get rid of your ignorance by learning the truth and becoming wise."

As he thought this, his body burned and the sweat kept rolling down. Then he decided once and for all, "It is time to give up the kingship, be ordained as a monk, and practice meditation!" Thinking so, he granted the income of a whole town to the barber. It amounted to one-hundred-thousand per year.

Then the king called his oldest son to him and said, "My son, I have seen a gray hair. I have become old. I have enjoyed the worldly pleasures of great wealth and power. When I die, I want to be reborn in a heaven world, to enjoy the pleasures of the gods. So I will be ordained as a monk. You must now take the responsibility of ruling the country. I will live the life of a monk in the forest."

Hearing of this, the royal ministers and the rest of the court rushed to the king and said, "Our lord, why do you suddenly want to be ordained?"
The king held up the gray hair in his hand and said, "My ministers and subjects, I have realized that this gray hair shows that the three stages of life: youth, middle age and old age; are coming to an end. This first gray hair was the messenger of death sitting on my head. Gray hairs are like angels sent by the god of death. Therefore, this very day is the time for me to be ordained."
The people wept at the news of his departure. King Makhadeva gave up his royal life, went into the forest and was ordained as a monk. There he practiced what holy men call the 'Four Heavenly States of Mind'. First is loving-kindness, tender affection for all. Second is feeling sympathy and pity for all those who suffer. Third is feeling happiness for all those who are joyful. And the fourth state is balance and calm, even in the face of difficulties or troubles.

After 84,000 years of great effort meditating and practicing these states as a humble forest monk, the Bodhisatta died. He was reborn in a high heaven world, to live a life a million years long!

The moral is:
"Even a long life is too short to waste."

The Cunning Wolf

Once upon a time, some people from a certain town went into a forest for an excursion. They want to enjoy the holiday to its fullest. They took baskets full of eatables with them. They ate all the meat they had brought with them till the noon time. They didn’t leave anything for the dinner and suddenly realized that what they would eat in the dinner. They wanted to enjoy the vacation and without proper food, it was quite impossible.

One of the men said, “There is no need to worry. I will bring some fresh meat. We will make a fire here and roast it. It will be a great fun too”. After saying this, he took a club and went to the lake. He knew that the animals would definitely come to the riverside for drinking water. He lay down on the ground with a club in his hand and pretended as if, he was dead.

After some time, a group of wolves came down to the lake. When they saw the man lying on the riverside, they kept an eye on him for some time. The King of the wolves said, “I think, this man is playing trick on us. All of you stay here, while I will go and check whether he is really dead or pretending to be dead”. So, the cunning king of the wolves slithered up to the man and pulled his club a little cautiously. The man pulled back his club at once.

The King of the wolves ran from the place and shouted, “If you had been dead, you would not have pulled back you club when I tried to pull it. I caught your trick. You pretended to be dead so that you may kill one of us for your dinner”. The man quickly jumped up and tried to kill the wolf. He chucked his club at the King of the Wolves. Unfortunately, the man missed his aim and the wolf safely ran away. He looked for the other animals, but none of them was visible. All of them ran away.

The man got frustrated at this, but could not do anything. Thus, he went back to his friends and said, “I tried to get fresh meat by playing a trick on the animals, but the cunning wolf played a better trick on me. I am sorry. I could not get fresh meat for you”.

Golden Swan

Once upon a time, there was a swan / goose that had striking golden feathers. This swan lived in a pond. There was a house near this pond, where a poor woman lived with her two daughters. The people were really poor and were leading a tough life. The swan found that the poor mother was passing a hard time with her daughters.

The swan thought, “If I give them one after another my golden feathers, the mother can sell them. She and her daughters can live in comfort with the money raised from it”. After thinking this, the swan flew away to the poor woman’s house. On seeing the swan inside the house, the woman said,” Why have you come here? We have nothing to offer you”.

The Swan replied, “I have not come to take anything, but I have something to give you. I know your condition. I will give my golden feathers one by one and you can sell them. With the money raised through it, you people can easily live in comfort”. After saying this, the swan shed one of her feathers and then flew away. This became a regular feature and from time to time, the swan came back and every time left another feather.

Like this, the mother and her daughters were happily leading their life by selling the feathers of the golden swan. Each golden feather got them enough money to keep them in comfort. But the mother became greedy to get all the feathers as soon as possible. One day, she said to her daughters, “Now, we will not trust this swan, possibly she may fly away and never come back. If this would happen, we will be poor again. We will take all of her feathers, when she will come the next time”.

The innocent daughters replied, “Mother, this will hurt the swan. We will not cause any pain to her”. But the mother was determined to catch hold the swan the very next time she comes. Next time, when the swan came, the mother caught her and pulled out all of her feathers. Now, the golden feathers of the swan changed into some strange feathers. The mother was shocked to see such feathers.

The Golden Swan said, “Poor Mother, I wanted to help you, but you wanted to kill me instead. As per my wish, I used to give you the golden feather. Now, I think there is no need to help you. Now, my feathers are nothing more than chicken feathers for you. I am going from this place and will never come back”. The mother felt sorry and apologized for the mistake committed by her. The Golden Swan said, “Never be greedy” and flew away.

Moral: Excess greed brings nothing.

The Power of a Rumour

Once upon a time, it happened in a forest that a hare was resting under a banyan tree. He had an intuition of doom and thought, “What would happen to me, if the earth will break? “. Suddenly, he heard a weird striking sound. He said, “It’s happened, the earth is breaking up”. He jumped up and ran madly without even observing the direction.

When he was running through the forest, a hare saw him and asked, “What happened? Where are you going in such a hurry? “. The Hare cried,” The earth is breaking up. You better run too”. The second hare ran so fast that he overtook the first hare. As they were passing the forest, both of them shouted to other hares, “The earth is breaking up. The earth is breaking up”. Very soon, thousands of hares were running through the forest.

On seeing hares running through the forest, the other animals too got frightened. The news spread from mouth to mouth and soon, everyone came to know that the earth was breaking up. It didn’t take much time before all the animals joined the race. All creatures whether reptiles or birds, insects or four-footed animals, everyone was trying to escape and their cries of fear created chaos all around.

A lion standing on a hill saw all the animals running and thought,” What is the matter? “. He ran down the hill rapidly and positioned himself in front of the crowd. He shouted at them, “Stop! Stop! ”. The powerful presence of the lion curtailed the rising wave of fright among the animals. A parrot yelled, “The earth is breaking up”, alighting on a rock near him. The Lion asked,” Who said it? “. The parrot replied, “I heard it from the monkeys".

When the monkeys were asked, they replied that they had heard it from the tigers. When the tigers were asked, it was found that they were informed by the elephants. The elephants told that the buffaloes formed their source. Finally, when the hares were caught up, they pointed one to another until the one, who started this menace was recognized.

The Lion asked the hare, “What made you think that the earth is breaking up?” The hare wavering in fear answered, “Your Majesty, I heard it cracking with my own ears”. The Lion investigated the matter and explored the sound that the hare had heard. Ultimately, he came to know that the sound had been caused by a large coconut falling from a tree. The coconut fell on a pile of rocks causing a minor landslide.

The Lion said to all the animals, “ Go back to your homes. The earth is absolutely safe. Next time onwards, check a rumour before acting on it”. The animals, which were now looking quite stupid, went back to their homes.

Moral: Check a rumour before acting on it.

The Jackal who saved the Lion

Once upon a time, there lived a lion in a forest. One day, when he went to drink water in a river, one of his feet got stuck into the damp mushy mud of the river. He tried a lot to get out of the mud, but to no avail. He had to lie without food for days because he didn’t find any help. On one fortunate day, a kind jackal came to drink water from the river. When he saw the lion, he went closer to the lion and said, “What is the matter? Why are you resting here?”

The lion narrated him the pathetic story. The Jackal instantly made a way out from the sand but the lion was unable to move his feet. As he was set in the same posture for last several days, his body became stiff. The jackal understood the condition of the lion and helped him to get out of the mud with an extra effort. The Lion was really thankful to jackal for his kind help. He was very happy to get free after so many days.

The Lion appreciated the effort made by the jackal. He offered the jackal to live close to him and also promised to give food to him whenever he caught food. The jackal accepted the offer and started living with the lion. Thus, they lived happily sharing the food. With the passing time, they expanded their families. The lion had cubs and the jackal had kid jackals. Both, the lion and the jackal were passing their days happily. They didn’t have any idea that their friendship was not liked by their families.

One day after a long time, the lioness, lady of the lion's house, asked her cubs that she didn’t like the amity between the jackal and her husband. The cubs conveyed the message to the kid jackals. The kids complained the matter to the lady jackal. The lady jackal conveyed the complaint to her husband.

The jackal went to the Lion and asked,” I helped you without any consideration in return. You had asked me to live with you, so I started living with you. Now, if you don’t want me to live with you, you should have told me yourself. What did you involve your wife and cubs to convey this? “. The Lion was shocked to hear such words. He said, “My dear friend, what are you saying? I don’t find any problem with you or your friendship”. He assured the jackal that he had no such ill-feelings for the friendship between them.

The Lion also assured that he would talk to the lioness and solve the whole matter. The jackal was intelligent and understood the situation. He said to the lion, “Dear friend, I know you are sincere, but our families could not exactly respond the same level of friendship. So, let us stay apart and meet often as friends. We could also hunt together. It would be better, if our families stay apart”. The Lion agreed to the proposal with a heavy heart.

The two families parted from each other as friends. The Jackal and the Lion continued to share the friendship. They often met each other and hunt together. Thus, the two friends shared a healthy friendship throughout their life.

Moral: Don’t expect your family to reciprocate the same level of friendship you have with someone.