Stories for children of all ages
translated by GB Talovich
Edited by Silent Voices
The murmuring brook in the green forest flowed past glorious wild flowers that decorated the area around the little house there.
The sun shone high in the sky. Suddenly, a deer raced into the courtyard of the house where a little boy was playing. The deer hooked the boy's clothing with its antlers. This scared the little boy so much he let out a howl that brought his mother running out to see what was wrong. She came out just in time to see the deer running off toward the mountains with her little boy.
She was horrified! She ran after the deer as fast as she could go, and not too far away, she found her little boy sitting safely on the grass. When he saw his mother, the little boy laughed and stretched out his arms to her. She scooped him up. She was so happy she began to cry.
She hurried back to their home with her very precious son. When she got there, she stopped dead in her tracks, amazed at what she saw. The huge tree in back of their house had fallen over while she was out chasing after her son. The whole house was crushed under its enormous weight. The walls were squashed, and all the roofing tiles were smashed into powder. The chickens and dogs in the house were all dead. If she and her little boy had been in the house...
Then the little boy's mother remembered the day about a year before. A deer fleeing a hunter had run into her house. She felt sorry for the poor, frightened deer, so she quickly covered it with some clothes. When the hunter rushed in after it, he couldn't find it. He figured it must have gone out the back door, so he kept chasing it, and when he was far, far away, she uncovered the deer and let it return to the forest.
The deer seemed to understand that she had saved its life, because as it left, it kept bowing its head to her, as if thanking her for her compassion. She never imagined that the deer could remember her kindness. That deer somehow knew the tree was going to fall and crush her, so it came back to show its gratitude.
When the boy's mother remembered all this, she thought, "Saving the life of another is the same as saving your own life.
related post: 《The Love of Life》- Elephants To The Rescue
Source Of Information:
《Wisdom of the Buddhas》, by Venerable Wu Ling, based on the Talks of Venerable Master Chin Kung, translated by Silent Voices, published in August, 2012, distributed by Amitabha Buddhist Society Malaysia (92, Jalan Pahang, 53300 Gombak, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
*** The information provided above does not contain personal opinion of this blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment