《The Love of Life》- The Mother Deer

Stories for children of all ages
translated by GB Talovich
Edited by Silent Voices

The forest was very still in the early morning. The rising sun lit up the earth, the forest, and the plains. The mountains glowed with a beautiful light, and the water glistened on the ripples in the stream. Everything was peaceful. 

Suddenly a man appeared. He hurried across the stream, and reached a meadow. He stopped and looked around him, as if he were looking for something. This man had a strong face, big ears, eyebrows like swords, and eyes like a tiger's. He had an adventurer's hat on his head. He held a bow in his left hand and his quiver of arrows hung on his right hip. He looked vigorous, tough, and lively. He loved the great outdoors, and he especially loved hunting. His name was Shu. 

He spotted a fawn coming out of the forest. Shu smiled and nocked an arrow. Zip! The fawn fell over almost as soon as the sound of the bow-string was heard. Shu was proud of his good shot. Just as he was about to go pick up his game, he saw the fawn's mother running to her child. 

When the mother deer saw what had happened to her baby, she whimpered and cried, and licked her baby's wound. 

Shu had never expected this to happen. He watched as the mother tended her baby, but Shu's aim had been too accurate. The wound was too deep, and before long, the little deer died. 

When the little deer died, its mother fell down dead, as well. Shu was amazed. He couldn't figure out why the mother deer had died, too. He took out his hunting knife and cut open her corpse to find out what was wrong. 

He saw that her organs, that everything inside of her had broken into tiny pieces! The mother deer was so sad that her baby had been killed that everything inside of her had burst from her sorrow.

Shu then became terribly sorry for what he had done. Right away, he broke his bow across his knee and threw his arrows into the stream. He left his home and went deep into the mountains to find a Teacher. He worked hard for many years and finally he became a great Buddhist, a great peacemaker.

related post: 《The Love of Life》- A Dragon In Disguise

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.