Buddha

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Prayer for the dead-Buddha story

     One day a man came to monastery to see Buddha, he was crying uncontrollably. The Buddha asked him,"What happened ,why are you crying so much."
                                                                       
     The young man replied " Sir,my father died yesterday."
Buddha said,"If your father is dead,nothing can bring him back ,not even your crying."
"I can understand that Sir,But I have come here with a special request, please do something for my dead father."said young man.
Buddha story
                                                                        
"What can I do for your dead father?"
      "Sir, please do something.You are such a powerful person,certainly you can do it.Look, these priests perform all sorts of rituals to help the dead. If you perform the rituals for my father he will gain entry  into heaven and may be he gets to stay there permanently.",young man pleaded.
       Buddha thought this man can't be made to understand the laws of nature so Buddha thought of a novel way to teach the young man.
Buddha said " Ok ,bring me two earthen pots and fill one of them with butter and fill other one with gravel."
       The young man became happy to see Buddha is performing the rituals for entry of his father to heaven.He ran towards the market and brought two earthen pots as described by Buddha.
Buddha took both the pots one filled with butter and another with gravel and took it to the village pond.He asked the young man to seal the mouth of both earthen pots.Buddha said"Now,you place both the pots in the pond."
        Young man happily took the pots to the pond and both the pots sank to the bottom of the pond.Buddha said" Now bring a long stick from a tree and strike open both the pots."Young man did as Buddha told him and both the pots were broken.The butter quickly came up to the surface but the gravel as they are heavier than water stayed at the bottom of pond.
        Buddha said "Well,I have done what I could do,now you call all your priest and tell them to start praying :Oh pebbles come up come up! oh butter go down ,go down! and your father will certainly go to heaven if this happens."
       "Sir, you must be joking how can butter go down it is lighter than water ,and how can pebbles come up they are heavier than water.No matter how much chanting I do ,law of nature won't change for me"young man exploded.
       "Young man,this is what I was telling you,but you did not understand if all your life your father did things that were heavy like pebbles,he is bound to go down,nothing can bring him up ? And if all his life he did actions which were light as butter he is bound to go up, who can pull him down? The sooner we incline the actions of our life with the nature of laws the better we will do in life.

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