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Story from the Dhammapada – Two Brothers

There once lived a Brahmin whose wife was a devoted follower of the Buddha. At first, he was indulgent towards her admiration. As her faith in the Buddha increased, the husband began to feel jealous.

One day, he went to meet the Buddha with a plan to ask him a question which he thought the Buddha would be incapable of answering. That way, he thought, his wife’s reverence for the Buddha would diminish.

Face-to-face with the Buddha, he asked, “What is it that must be killed so that we may be able to live in happiness and peace?”

The Buddha replied: “To live thus, we have to kill anger, for it is anger that destroys happiness and peace.”

The Buddha’s words so inspired the husband that not only did his anger melt away, but he decided to join the order of monks. Eventually, he became an arahant or enlightened being.

His younger brother, on hearing about this transformation, became furious. He confronted the Buddha with a torrent of abuse. The Buddha sat quietly until he had finished. Then he asked the agitated man: “If you served food to a guest at your home and the guest went away without eating anything, to whom would the food belong?”

The Brahmin, caught unawares, replied: “To me, I suppose.”

Said the Buddha calmly: “Like the guest, I too do not accept your insults, so they belong to you.”

The Brahmin was left speechless. Like his brother, he realized his folly and joined the monkhood.

The other monks who had witnessed this could not contain their admiration for the Buddha’s ability to reveal the path of Dharma even to those who inflicted abuse upon him. The Buddha’s simple reply to them was:

“I do not return one wrong with another...”

 

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Buddhist Inspirational Tale: The Folly of Pride

Shan the monk lived in a small village in China. He had acquired a great reputation for himself among villages far and wide. But Shan was extremely proud of his status and did not care for humbler souls.

A villager named Qui Yun knew what Shan was really like and decided that the monk needed a lesson in humility. He went to meet the monk. Upon his arrival, the monk neither welcomed him nor showed any sign that he had a visitor.

Qui Yun was a little taken aback at how to handle this indifference! Just then, the monk’s servant walked in and said, “Master, there is a visitor to see you. He says he is an army general’s son.”

“Ask him to enter,” said Shan.

When the young man came in his presence, the monk welcomed him respectfully and spoke a few words. After the visitor had left, Qui Yun burst out: “You were so courteous to that man. Yet you ignore me – why?”

Pat came Shan’s reply: “Do not misunderstand me. In my book, greeting someone is the same as not greeting. And not greeting a person equals greeting! ”

“Oho!” thought Qui Yun to himself, “this fellow thinks he can fool me with clever talk. I shall teach him a lesson!”

Qui Yun whacked the monk hard with his stick. Shan howled with pain – no one had dared do this to him, ever!

“I only went by your logic, master,” said Qui Yun. “Accordingly, beating you is the same as not beating. And not beating equals beating – that’s why I had to beat you!”

The monk realized his game was up. From then, he began behaving respectfully to everyone, regardless of their position.

 

 

Self Reflection:

Is our respect biased?

 

 

 

 

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Buddhist Inspirational Tale: The Last Problem

 

Once, a man approached the Buddha, seeking the Enlightened One’s help. After narrating one of his problems to the Buddha, he asked the latter how he could get rid of it.

“I cannot help you with this problem,” said the Buddha, to the man’s surprise.

The man then related another problem. Surely, the Wise One would be able to help him with this matter at least?

But the Buddha merely smiled gently and said, “I can’t help you get rid of this one, either.” The man lost his patience. “How can you be the Enlightened One if you cannot help people resolve their problems?” he blurted.

The Buddha replied: “There will always be 83 problems troubling you. Occasionally, one problem will disappear, but it will be replaced by another one. I can’t change that.”
Even more confused now, the man queried the Buddha: “So is there any help you can give me?”

The Buddha answered: “I can help you be free of the 84th problem.”

“And what is that?” asked the man.

“The fact that you want to be rid of those 83 problems!” replied the Buddha.

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Is it a fact or just a perspective?

In our previous post we quoted a Zen proverb "A beautiful woman who is pleasing to men is good only for frightening fish when she falls into the water."

While some found it funny, others found it sexist. Some were inspired, others were insulted. You can read all the comments by clicking here.  We truly thank all our Facebook page members who shared their perspectives.

One of the comments included "lost in translation," so we thought we'd try some alternatives of the idea here and see if by changing the subjects, the message changes?

Another comment was also to update the proverb to say
"A handsome man who is pleasing to women is good only for frightening fish when he falls into the water."

Do you relate to quote differently if we replaced a beautiful woman with a handsome man?

In continuation of the change, how about if the quote read
"A beautiful being who is inspiring to mankind is good only for frightening fish when he/she falls into the water"

Taking the element of outer beauty away, do you see the quote in a new light?

Another alternative could replace the living being with an object
"A beautiful object which may be precious to some is good only for frightening fish when it falls into the water"

Please suggest some other variations and share your thought. Let the dialog continue...

Enjoy Buddha Quotes with our Mind map

Buddha Groove has just created a Buddha Quotes mind map available on our website. Click on the link for inspirational Buddhist Quotes.

 

 

Zen Story: True Nature

An old man meditating by the riverside opened his eyes to see a scorpion flailing helplessly in the water. The water washed the scorpion nearer to a tree growing on the river bank. Supporting his body on one of the long roots stretching into the water, the old man extended his hand out to reach the creature. His fingers barely touched the scorpion when it stung him.  The old man instinctively withdrew his hand. A moment later, he got back his balance and again lay down on the roots to rescue the scorpion. This time the scorpion stung him well and truly. The old man lay there in agony, his hand bloodied and swollen.

A traveler who was passing by saw the whole incident happen. He shouted, "What’s wrong with you?”Only a fool or madman would risk his life trying to save that evil, vicious creature! Do you realize you could have died trying to save that scorpion?”

Still lying there, the old man turned his head to look at the traveler calmly. “Dear brother, it is the nature of the scorpion to sting. That does not mean I can change my nature, which is to save. ”

The scorpion behaved true to its nature. So did the old man.
How far would you go?

Zen Story: Steal the moon

A Zen master, Ryokan, lived a life of simplicity in his hut near the mountains. When he was away one night, a thief broke in only to find nothing worth stealing.

Just then, Ryokan returned. “You have travelled far to visit me,” he told the burglar. “I cannot let you return empty handed. Here are my clothes, please accept them as my gift.”

The baffled thief took the clothes and vanished.

Naked now, the master gazed at the moon. “Poor man,” he sighed, “How I wish I could give him this glorious moon.”

Don’t stress over losing your possessions; life’s greatest riches can never be owned.

Zen Story: Anger Management

 A Zen disciple approached his teacher. “Master, I have an uncontrollable temper. Can you help me overcome it?”

 “Hmmm, that’s strange. Can you show it to me?” asked the master.

“Not right now.”

“Why not?”

“It occurs suddenly.”

“Then it can’t be a part of your true nature,” said the master. “If that were the case, you wouldn’t have any difficulty in showing it!  Why do you allow something that isn’t yours to worry you?”

Thereafter, the master’s words would come back to the student whenever his temper rose. Soon, he learned to check his anger and developed a placid temperament.

Lost your temper recently? Don’t go looking for it!

Zen Story: Harmony

There is the story of a young martial arts student who was under the tutelage of a famous master. One day, the master was watching a practice session in the courtyard. He realized that the presence of the other students was interfering with the young man’s attempts to perfect his technique.

The master could sense the young man’s frustration. He went up to the young man and tapped him on his shoulder. “What’s the problem?” he inquired.  “I don’t know”, said the youth, with a strained expression. “No matter how much I try, I am unable to execute the moves properly”. “Before you can master technique, you must understand harmony. Come with me, I will explain”, replied the master.

The teacher and student left the building and walked some distance into the woods until they came upon a stream. The master stood silently on the bank for several moments. Then he spoke. “Look at the stream,” he said. “There are rocks in its way. Does it slam into them out of frustration? It simply flows over and around them and moves on! Be like the water and you will know what harmony is.”

The young man took the master’s advice to heart. Soon, he was barely noticing the other students around him. Nothing could come in his way of executing the most perfect moves.

Go with the flow!

Pictured above: Buddha Wall Canvas

Buddhist Quote

"If you light a lamp for somebody, it will also brighten your own path"