Sham S Misri
Once Lord Buddha fixed a day for collections of charity.
He sat under a tree and began receiving gifts.
One King came and gave him deeds of lands, houses, and valuable
properties. Then a Prince came with rich and valuable gifts. Wealthy merchants
also .came and Buddha accepted all their gifts by extending his right hand in
token thereof.
Then an old, shriveled woman came and said to him, “Lord, I heard about your appeal for charity only this morning. I am a poor old woman and have nothing. I was eating this pomegranate, and had eaten half when I heard the news. I had nothing else to give but this half pomegranate. So I brought it along. Please, Lord, accept this.”
She looked at him appealingly. Buddha at once came down himself and accepted the gift with both hands, in deep gratitude.
The kings and princes , and all who were there were immensely surprised. “O Blessed one,” asked one king , “why did you receive her gift with both hands, coming down yourself from your dais, when you took our gifts merely by extending your right hand?”
”Buddha replied, “she gave her all. The rest of you merely gave a fraction of what you have.”
Then an old, shriveled woman came and said to him, “Lord, I heard about your appeal for charity only this morning. I am a poor old woman and have nothing. I was eating this pomegranate, and had eaten half when I heard the news. I had nothing else to give but this half pomegranate. So I brought it along. Please, Lord, accept this.”
She looked at him appealingly. Buddha at once came down himself and accepted the gift with both hands, in deep gratitude.
The kings and princes , and all who were there were immensely surprised. “O Blessed one,” asked one king , “why did you receive her gift with both hands, coming down yourself from your dais, when you took our gifts merely by extending your right hand?”
”Buddha replied, “she gave her all. The rest of you merely gave a fraction of what you have.”
No comments:
Post a Comment