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Tale 75 🌷 The Fish who work a Miracle

Tale [The Power of Truthfulness] Once upon a time, the Enlightenment Being was born as a fish in a pond in northern India. There were many kinds of fish, big and small, living in the pond with the Bodhisatta. There came to be a time of severe draught. The rainy season did not come as usual. The crops of men died, and many ponds, lakes and rivers dried up. The fish and turtles dug down and buried themselves in the mud, frantically trying to keep wet and save themselves. The crows were pleased by all this. They stuck their beaks down into the mud, pulled up the frightened little fish, and feasted on them. The suffering of pain and death by the other fish touched the Enlightenment Being with sadness, and filled him with pity and compassion. He realized that he was the only one who could save them. But it would take a miracle. The truth was that he had remained innocent. by never taking the life of anyone. He was determined to use the power of this wholesome truth to make rain fall from

The One-hundredth Prince [Obedience to a Wise Teacher]

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Once upon a time, there was a king who had one hundred sons. The youngest, the one- hundredth, was Prince Gamani. He was very ener- getic, patient and kind. All the princes were sent to be taught by teachers. Prince Gamani, even though he was the one-hundredth in line to the throne, was lucky enough to have the best teacher. He had the most learning and was the wisest of them of all. He was like a father to Prince Gamani, who liked, re- spected and obeyed him. In those days, it was the custom to send each educated prince to a different province. There he was to develop the country and help the people. When Prince Gamani was old enough for this assignment, he went to his teacher and asked which province he should request. He said, “Do not select any province. Instead, tell your father the king that if he sends you, his one-hundredth son, out to a province, there will be no son remaining to serve him in his home city.” Prince Gamani obeyed his teacher, and pleased his

The Happy Monk [Joys of the Spiritual Life]

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Once upon a time, there was a high class rich man. As he became older, he realized that the suffering of old age was about the same for rich and poor alike. So he gave up his wealth and class position, and went into the forest to live as a poor monk. He practised meditation, and developed his mind. He freed himself from unwholesome thoughts, and became contented and happy. His peacefulness and friendliness gradually drew 500 followers to his side. At that time, long ago, most monks usually looked pretty serious. But there was one monk who, even though he was quite dignified, always wore at least a little smile. No matter what hap- pened, he never lost this glimmer of inner happi- ness. And on happy occasions, he had the broadest smile, and the warmest laughter of all. Sometimes monks, as well as others, would ask him why he was so happy that he always wore a smile. He chuckled and said, “If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me! And if you thought I spoke a lie, i

e Five-Weapons and Sticky-Hair [The Diamond Weapon]

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Once upon a time, the Enlightenment Being was born as the son of the King and Queen of Benares. On the day of his naming, 800 fortune tellers were invited to the palace. As presents, they were given whatever they desired to make them happy for the moment. Then they were asked to tell the fortune of the newborn prince. This was so they could find a good name for him. One of the fortune tellers was an expert in reading the marks on the body. He said, “My lord, this is a being of great merit. He will be king after you.” The fortune tellers were very clever. They told the king and queen whatever they wanted to hear. They said, “Your son will be skilled in five weapons. He will become famous as the greatest master of all five weapons throughout India.” Based on this, the king and queen named their son “Prince Five-Weapons”. When the prince turned 16, the king decided to send him to college. He said, “Go, my son, to the city of Takkasila. There you will find a world famous teacher. Learn

A Motherless Son [Betrayal]

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Once upon a time, King Brahmadatta was ruling in Benares in northern India. He had a clever minister who pleased him very much. To show his appreciation he appointed him headman of a remote border village. His duty was to represent the king and collect the king’s taxes from the villagers. Before long the headman was completely accepted by the villagers. Since he had been sent by the just King Brahmadatta, they respected him highly. They came to trust him as much as if he had been born among them. In addition to being clever, the headman was also very greedy. Collecting the king’s taxes was not enough reward for him. After becoming friendly with a gang of bandits, he thought up a plan to make himself rich. The headman said to his friends, the robbers, “I will find excuses and reasons to lead all the villagers into the jungle. This will be easy for me, since they trust me as one of their own. I will keep them busy in the jungle, while you invade the village and rob everything of

Five-Weapons and Sticky-Hair [The Diamond Weapon

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Once upon a time, the Enlightenment Being was born as the son of the King and Queen of Benares. On the day of his naming, 800 fortune tellers were invited to the palace. As presents, they were given whatever they desired to make them happy for the moment. Then they were asked to tell the fortune of the newborn prince. This was so they could find a good name for him. One of the fortune tellers was an expert in reading the marks on the body. He said, “My lord, this is a being of great merit. He will be king after you.” The fortune tellers were very clever. They told the king and queen whatever they wanted to hear. They said, “Your son will be skilled in five weapons. He will become famous as the greatest master of all five weapons throughout India.” Based on this, the king and queen named their son “Prince Five-Weapons”. When the prince turned 16, the king decided to send him to college. He said, “Go, my son, to the city of Takkasila. There you will find a world famous teacher. Learn
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