Thursday, October 24, 2013

Having a good friend is useful (part 3)





When the soldiers and the carpenters came close to the tree, Kusinalidevada transfigured himself as a lizard. Then he ran pass the carpenters to the base of the sacred tree.

Kusinalidevada, the tree spirit dwelling in the cluster of weed transfigured himself  as a lizard and ran  to the base of the sacred tree as if there was a hollow in that tree.

The nobleman said " Well, there's a hollow in the tree. Why didn't you check it carefully yesterday? It waste my time"
The soldier said " Too bad. If we take this tree to make the pillar, the castle will tumble down. We're certainly blamed again"
The nobleman ordered that" You're se ineffective. Go now. Find the tree somewhere else. If  it isn't in this garden, you must go out and find it in the woods."
The soldier said " Well, I have to be tired again"


Kusinalidevada's plan was effective. The soldiers and the carpenters quitted to cut the sacred tree down. The tree spirits in the garden wanted to congratulate Rucadevada, so they hold the meeting of the tree spirits to congratulate Rucadevada for he didn't lose the sacred tree he dwelling in.


Rucadevada concluded that " I have my residence back. Hear me, the blessed deities. Although I am a powerful god, I can't come up with this plan because I'm too dull. Meanwhile, Kusinali, the angel, makes me the owner of the residence , thanks to his wisdom. I'm the god who was born at Ruca tree. The deity born at the cluster of weed was less powerful. Though I am mightier, I can't wipe out my trouble. It's because I'm dull and not brilliant in making plan. I can only depend on this deity who's less powerful but wiser.So I can drive away my trouble. Therefore, the others who wish to be free from suffering, shouldn't take equality or superiority into account. They should associate with friends regardless of lower or higher status."


Having a good friend is useful (part2)



The nobleman said to the king "We found it, Your Majesty,the tree that's suitable for making the pillar."
The king said "How's did you find it?"
The nobleman said "Yes, My lord. We went into the garden. In the garden, there's no tree but the sacred one. And it's because that tree is auspicious, so we dare not to cut it down."
The king ordered that" You go and cut it down, so you can make the castle durable. I will appoint another tree to be the auspicious one.


After taking the order from the king. The carpenters and soldiers brought the offering to the garden.
The carpenters said "Today we worship the tree and come back tomorrow to cut it down."
The soldiers said " That's good. Today I'm tired of walking. Let's go back, guys. We'll do it tomorrow."

When Rucadevada realized that the sacred tree where he was dwelling would be cut down the next day. He was so sad.
The tree spirits who were acquainted to the god asked him what happened. But after they heard, they couldn't do anything to help.
He said to his friends "Where can I take my children to?"
one of His friends said " I can't see the way to help you out"
another friend said " That's right. In this garden there's only one big tree."


When Kusinalidevada knew the story, he consoled the god and help find the way out.
He said to Rucadevada " Never Mind. Don't be sad. I won't let  them out the tree down. Tomorrow when the crews arrive, you wait and see, I'll take care of this problem."

In the morning, the soldiers and the carpenters carried their tools and walked into the garden and prepared to cut down the auspicious tree.
The carpenter said to the soldier" It's a beautiful morning. Let's do it . Just cut it down then we can replace the pillar or
the castle, in the morning like this, I'm so achieve. Let's do it ,guys"

Rucadevada said to Kusinalidevada" What should we do? The soldiers are here, they cut down the tree."
Kusinalidevada said " Don't worry. I'll take care of it."




Having a good friend is useful (part1)





In the past , when King Bramadatta sat on the throne of Benares, in his garden, there was a sacred tree whose trunk stood firmly and its branches branched out beautifully. The tree was praised by the royal court and called Samukhaka that meant the tree that could speak because there was a deity swelling in.




A high status god was born in that tree. Beside the sacred tree, there was a cluster of weed where a tree spirit was dwelling in. Rucadevada , a high status god who dwelled in the sacred tree and Kusinalidevada, the tree spirit who dwelled in the cluster of weed associated with each other regardless of their different status.


Rucadevada said " It's a nice day"
Kusinalidevada said " Right . A nice day  like this should create A nice thing, don't you think?"
Rucadevada " I don't know if it's relevant or not. Anyway, I want it the way you said"


At that time, the king stayed at the one pillar castle . When the pillar was shaking, the king's men told it to the king.
The king asked "What happen? Why is my castle shaking like this?"
The noble man said " Your Majesty, it's because the pillar of the castle is eroded and shaking. So it makes the castle shake".
The king " What are you doing? You know that it's eroded the replace it . What keeps you? How can you let the casle shake?"

The nobleman and the soldiers quickly get out to find the tree for the pillar of the castle.
The soldiers said " Hey! Let's hasten to find it . Which tree should we pick?"
another soldiers said " Over there! That tree. Its trunk is big. It should be strong."
the soldiers is exciting and said " Fine ! But, well, this tree is sacred. It's Samukhaka tree. We have to ask the king whether we can cut it or not."
The nobleman said " Alright.We'll come back tomorrow."





Wednesday, October 2, 2013

The danger of associating with the villain.(part 5)

When the hermit was back , he offered a blessing to a king for he would be complete in the ten royal virtues.(Teaching about the ten royal virtues existed before the time of Lord Buddha . The teachings were promoted by Lord Buddha , who taught the virtues for monarchs to his principles)
The ten royal virtues are:-
1.  Giving 
2.  Morality
3.  Donation
4.  Honesty
5.  Gentleness
6.  Perseverance
7.  Non-anger
8.  Not causing harm
9.  Endurance or patience
10. Not going wrong
The king who loved to hunt the deer was so impressed by the virtue of Dhamma (goodness), he gave his word to the hermit that he would quit hunting and killing. He would also manage Utarapancala to be the serene kingdom of Dhamma(goodness).
The hermit said " Bless you long live your Majesty" The hermit offered the parakeet, Bupphaka, to the king in order to remind him of one of the highest blessing which say that keeping the good man company brings you happiness.
After King Pancala went back to the city, he was pleased to declare the royal decree of disallowing to kill and to cage the animals.  He maintained providing education to his citizen in order to protect them from badness to let them aware of immorality and not to associate with the villain.

Finally, Utarapancala became prosperous and the people lived happily until the end of the king's life.

The danger of associating with the villain. (part 4)

After King Pancala rode his stallion through the forest far away from the den of thieves for a while, he was getting more joyful because he heard some sweet voice from nearby bush.



The king asked the warlord " Is that someone's child?  He talks lovely and courteously.  He can surely be a good friend. Let's take a look, warlord"
When the King reached there, he saw the hermitage and the parakeet perching on the roost .
The bird said " May you, the travelers, come in the hermitage and take a rest, then we could have a little nice talk"
The King saw the bird and cleared that " It's actually the voice of this parakeet. It's so lovely, not like the other bird. Let's have a talk with this bird, warlord"

King Pacala was impressed by the speech and the manner of this parakeet, so he walked to him and talked to him intimately.
The king talked to the bird "Little bird, who's taking care of you?  Who's your teacher? Do you have anything else to talk and make me happy?"

The bird said " Your Majesty, my name's Bupphaka.  I'm the son of the hermit who is now out for finding fruits in the forest. I can only offer you the mental pleasure, My lord"

In order to ask for the blessing from the hermit who was on his way back. At the time, the parakeet that was raised by the wise hermit preached the king about the profit of giving observing precepts and developing mental culture with sweet word , and the king was very delighted until it was late.

The king said to the bird " It's unbelievable that talking with you who are only bird can make me so happy like this."

The danger of associating with the villain. (part 3)


King Pancala took a seat at the bottom of the tree for a while but he couldn't take a rest happily because he was annoyed by the voice of a bird. The bird shouted " Wow ! Gold, diamond, jewel. Take it off.  Give it to me.  Hurry !  Give it to me. "  That bird was Sattigumba who lived with the thieves so his behaviors were similar to the thieves.
The bird shouted " Take it. Take it.  Kill'em all, kill them"

Sattigumba flew to find out the situation and then went back to the den in order to take the thieves to rob the king.  Unexpectedly, everyone was out to rob.  There was only a cook left at the den.

The bird shouted at the cook" Hurry up.  Let's rob them.  Kill them."
The cook said " Well, who's the one that the bird wants us to rob?  He must find something good. He has such a wicked instinct.  Alright, I'll take a look"

The bird pointed to the place and said " There.  Under the  tree. Mug them. Mug them. Take their gold. Take their gold."

The cook was shocked when he saw the king . He talked to the bird " Good god, I'm gonna be in trouble. Sattigumba, they are  the king and his warlord. Don't look for trouble . Let's go back"
The bird still said that  " I want gold, mug them."

The parakeet's voice was so loud that King Pacala was able to sense the fault and aware of the danger.
The warlord  said to the king " Let's get out of here, Your Majesty. If anyone pops up, I prepare the arrows for him"

The king said" Alright, it could be the thieves around here"
The warlord said " There. The voice comes from that direction"
The king saw the bird and said " That's the voice of the bird.  Four-mouthed bird. Beat it. Get out of my face.You're so annoying."

The bird still shouted " They're getting away.  Catch them. Rob them"
The warlord said to the bird that " Stupid bird. aren't you afraid of death?  Come on.  I'll shoot you instead of the deer"

Sattigumba associated with the villains so he absorbed their aggressive and harsh behavior and became the obnoxious parakeet regrettably.

The bird still said that " I want gold.  Give me your money. Coward. You must die."


The danger of associating with the villain.(part 2)


Soon, King Pacala's caravan of hunting deer came by the forest in that area.  The king carelessly came in the forest near the den of thieves because he tracked the trace of the deer enjoyably .


The King said to his soldiers "Go over there.  I guess the deer must run away to that direction."
The soldier said "Over there, your Majesty?"  the King said "There. in the grove in front of you, there's some fresh grass.  It means there must be some deer over there.  Everyone, listen up."
After we drive the deer out of the hiding place if anyone let them get away, I'll punish him so hard."

When King Pacala finished talking, there was an unlucky deer passing in front of him as if it wanted to test what he would do.
The King shouted "Hey! deer. Boy!  He gets out that way.  Soldiers, rounds up and catch that deer. Tut! you want to challenge me, don't you?  You won't get away with this."

Thanks to his kingly pride, King Pancala rode his horse so fast to chase that deer.  None of the soldier could catch him up.
The King said to himself " This deer runs so fast.  But how can he compete with my stallion? Alright, let's fight"

There was only an elder warlord riding upon his horse who was able to find the King.  They both tracked the white deer until they were exhausted, however, they didn't see even the shadow of the deer.

The elder warlord said to the King " There's a big tree in front of us.  Let's take a rest there, Your Majesty"
The King said " Fine, I'm getting tired"

The danger of associating with the villain. (part 1)

(In Buddhism, this fable is called " Sattigumba Jataka")
Once when a King named Pancala reigned over the throne of city named Utarapancala, there were 2 parakeets who were brethren.  Both parakeets fluttered by the wind and were separated from each other since then.  

They said " The wind is so strong."  
A younger bird said " brother, brother, we have to be separated because of the wind , don't we?"
The elder bird was blown by the wind and fell into the peaceful and fertile forest on the north.  It was the place where the hermits developed the meditation.  The parakeet fell on the pile of flower at the altar.
The hermit saw the bird and said " Little bird, you're so lucky falling on the flowers.  Otherwise. you must be hurt.  Come on.  I'll take care of you"
The hermit  fed  that bird and let him stay near the hermitage.  He named him " Bupphaka".
Bupphaka had a chance to listen to the teaching which was good and beneficial to him and the others everyday.  His mind was serene in the stream of Dhamma (=goodness).  
The hermit said " The sin is what you shouldn't do.  If we have evil thought toward anyone, it will make our mind unmerciful and we'll live our life with depressed mind."

The bird thought "It's good that the hermit taught me to eat only fruits, I don't eat worms like other birds.  Otherwise, I would have committed the sin to those worms."
The younger parakeet was blew by the wind and fell at the arsenal inside the den of the brutal black beard thief.  He met the bird and said "What? That's the parakeet.  How can it fall over here?  Luckily, it didn't fall on the blade of the spear.  Alright, I'll feed you.  You might do me a favor sometimes"

The younger parakeet was raised in the den of thieves.  He was acquainted with only bad deeds and heard only harsh world all the time so it became his habits.

The thief said" I'll name you Sattigumba because I found you in the pile of weapons.  It's suited for you.  Stay with me and I'll teach you to rob, alright? Sattigumba"