As you are so is the world

Lord Krishna wanted to test the wisdom of his kings. One day he summoned a king called Duryodana. Duryodana was well known throughout the land for his cruelty and miserliness, and his subjects lived in terror.

 

Lord Krishna said to King Duryodana, "I want you to go and travel the world over and find for me one truly good man."

Duryodana replied, "Yes, Lord," and obediently began his search.

 

He met and spoke with many people, and after much time had passed he returned to Lord Krishna saying, "Lord, I have done as you have asked and searched the world over for one truly good man. He is not to be found. All of them are selfish and wicked. Nowhere is there to be found this good man you seek!"

 

Lord Krishna sent him away and called another king called Dhammaraja. He was a king well known for his generosity and benevolence and well loved by all his people.

Krishna said to him, "King Dhammaraja, I wish for you to travel the world over and bring to me one truly wicked man." Dhammaraja also obeyed, and on his travels met and spoke with many people.

 

After much time had passed he returned to Krishna saying, "Lord, I have failed you. There are people who are misguided, people who are misled, people who act in blindness but nowhere could I find one truly evil man. They are all good at heart despite their failings!"

Mind - The wind is not moving

"Once when the wind was whipping the banner of a temple, the Sixth Patriarch of Zen witnessed two monks debating about it. One said the banner was moving, one said the wind was moving. They argued back and forth without attaining the principle, so the Patriarch said, 'This is not the movement of the wind, nor the movement of the banner; it is the movement of your minds.'The two monks were both awestruck."

Fleeting Pleasures

Buddha Sakyamuni compared sentient beings chasing after the fleeting pleasures of this world to a child licking honey off a sharp knife. There is no way they can avoid hurting themselves and ultimately others as well.

The greatest Good and the greatest Bad reside side by side within Us.

Two more days to Mount Wu-Tai

Long ago, in T'ang China, there was an old monk going on a pilgrimage to Mount Wu-t'ai, the abode of Manjusri, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom. Aged and weak, he was treading the long dusty road alone, seeking alms along the way. After many long months, one morning he gazed upward and saw the majestic mountain in the distance.

By the roadside, there was an old woman working the field. "Please tell me," he asked, "how much longer I must proceed before reaching Mount Wu-t'ai?" The woman just looked at him, uttered a guttural sound and returned to her hoeing. He repeated the question a second and third time, but still there was no answer. Thinking that the woman must be deaf, he decided to push on.

After he had taken a few dozen steps, he heard the woman call out to him, "Two more days, it will take you two more days." Somewhat annoyed, the monk responded, "I thought you were deaf. Why didn't you answer my question earlier?"

The woman replied, "You asked the question while you were standing put, Master. I had to see how fast your pace was, how determined your walk!"

Sacrifice of the Lamb

Just as the Prophet, and his companions landed from their rides, and laid the loads down, it was decided that they would sacrifice a lamb for dinner.

One of the companions volunteered: "I will sacrifice the lamb."

Another: "I will skin it."

Third: "I will cook it."

Fourth: " I will...."

The Prophet : "I will gather the wood from the desert."

The group: "O Messenger of Allah, it is not becoming of you to discomfort yourself as such. You rest. We will be honored to do all this on our own."

The Prophet : "I know that you are eager to do it all, but Allah isn't pleased with the slave who distinguishes between himself and his companions, and considers himself better than others."

Then he went to the desert, and gathered some wood, and brought it to the group.

Lily

Jesus plucked the beautiful lily, and placed it in the hands of children and youth;  and as they looked into His own youthful face, fresh with the sunlight of His Father's countenance,  He gave the lesson,  "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow  [ in the simplicity of natural beauty ]; they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."

Lamp of a Buddha

"King Ajatasatru invited the Buddha to preach and offered as a token of his piety several tens of thousands of lamps.

At the time, an old woman (named Nanda) who had been begging, and had only managed to collect two coins, bought some oil with them and offered it all in a small lamp to the Buddha.  [With this offering she vowed to eliminate the darkness of the sufferings of all people.]  Old and hungry, she later collapsed and died. By the next morning the many lamps offered by the king had already burned themselves out, but the lamp of the poor old woman was still burning with increasing brilliance. When it proved impossible to extinguish it, the Buddha explained that it was so because of the donor's extremely fervent faith and transcendental vow.

'The light of a Buddha can never be extinguished' said the Lord who then predicted that she would attain Buddhahood." Dait: 117

The Bird is Mine

"It is recorded in the Mahabhinishkramana that Devadatta, the cousin of Prince Siddhartha, took a bow and arrow and shot down a swan. The creature was grounded but not killed. The future Buddha took the bird upon his knees and comforted it. Devadatta was sent to claim his prize, no doubt intending to kill it, but the Buddha refused to hand over the swan, saying that the bird was his:

'Then Lord Buddha,
Laid the swan's neck beside his own smooth cheek
And gravely spoke, "Say no! the bird is mine,
The first of myriad things that shall be mine
By right of mercy and love's lordliness...'" (The Light of Asia by Sir Edwin Arnold)
Shantideva: 209-210

The Compassionate Novice

In a time long past, there was an old monk who, through diligent practice, had attained a certain degree of spiritual penetration.

"He had a young novice who was about eight years old. One day the monk looked at the boy's face and saw there that he would die within the next few months. Saddened by this, he told the boy to take a long holiday and go and visit his parents. 'Take your time,' said the monk. 'Don't hurry back.' For he felt the boy should be with his family when he died. Three months later, to his astonishment, the monk saw the boy walking back up the mountain. When he arrived he looked intently at his face and saw that they boy would now live to a ripe old age. 'Tell me everything that happened while you were away,' said the monk. So the boy started to tell of his journey down from the mountain. He told of villages and towns he passed through, of rivers forded and mountains climbed. Then he told how one day he came upon a stream in flood. He noticed, as he tried to pick his way across the flowing stream, that a colony of ants had become trapped on a small island formed by the flooding stream. Moved by compassion for these poor creatures, he took a branch of a tree and laid it across one flow of the stream until it touched the little island. As the ants made their way across, the boy held the branch steady, until he was sure all the ants had escaped to dry land. Then he went on his way. 'So,' thought the old monk to himself, 'that is why the gods have lengthened his days.'