Buddha Says
Path to Wisdom
Best bedtime stories collection by Buddha.
Compiled By
Hiren Kavad
Part - 1
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Introduction
This is the volume - 2 of Buddha Says series. Worm and overwhelm response worldwide made me extend to second part. Review says it’s a best stories for children to tell at sleep time. So this is for you.
Again These stories are not written by me. It’s compilation of story told by Buddha to his disciples and other peoples for better character building. But I don’t think these stories are just as religious stories. Among these, some stories are told by Buddha to his followers for various teaching. These stories doesn’t just give us entertainment, But also sow core values like Truth, love, compassion, honesty, ordination, unity, association, Infatuation, friendship, cleanliness, courage etc.
Today we are forgetting telling stories to our children. Using these stories we can develop human value and good qualities like unity, patience, self control, tolerance, compassion, love and truth. Major purpose of stories is to create moral and ethical values through entertainment, because children only enjoy which gives them entertainment. They are not obvious, so they enjoy little little things. They are curious to know the things. We can easily sow good values in their souls. So parents please take one step for your children. My friend adults read these stories and try to implement and use it in your life, because I have also used these principles of Buddha in my life, and I am very happy.
Acknowledgement
Buddha is a core motivation behind this effort. Without Buddha’s inspiration I could never be able to compile this book. So Many many thanks to Buddha.
I thank to my parents who give me birth in this beautiful world, and I could able to see these various colors of life.
I thank to Mr. Ven Kurunegoda Piyatissa, because most of these stories are interpreted by him. He is the major contributor to converting pali script’s stories into modern English.
Thanks a lot. Thanks to all who helped me, inspired me directly or indirectly.
App Dipo Bhavah !
-Buddha
Index
Finding A New Spring
The Golden Plate
The Mouse Merchant
Demons ln The Desert
The Price Maker
1. Finding A New Spring
[Perseverance]
Once upon a time a certain tradesman was leading a caravan to another country to sell his goods. Along the way they came to the edge of a severe hot-sand desert. They asked about, and found that during the day time the sun heats up the fine sand until it ' s as hot as charcoal, so no one can walk on it - not even bullocks or camels! So the caravan leader hired a desert guide, one who could follow the stars, so they could travel only at night when the sand cools down. They began the dangerous night time journey across the desert.
A couple nights later, after eating their evening meal, and waiting for the sand to cool, they started out again. Later that night the desert guide, who was driving the first cart, saw from the stars that they were getting close to the other side of the desert. He had also overeaten, so that when he relaxed, he dozed off to sleep. Then the bullocks who, of course, couldn’t tell directions by reading the stars, gradually turned to the side and went in a big wide circle until they ended up at the same place they had started from! . By then it was morning, and the people realized they were back at the same spot they’d camped at the day before. They lost heart and began to cry about their condition. since the desert crossing was supposed to be over by now, they had no more water and were afraid they would die of thirst. They even began to blame the caravan leader and the desert guide - “we can do nothing without water!”, they complained.
Then the tradesman thought to himself, “If I lose courage now, in the middle of this disastrous situation, my leadership has no meaning. If I fall to weeping and regretting this misfortune, and do nothing, all these goods and bullocks and even the lives of the people, including myself, may be lost. I must be energetic and face the situation! “So he began walking back and forth, trying to think out a plan to save them all.
Remaining alert, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a small clump of grass. He thought, “Without water, no plant could live in this desert. “So he called over the most energetic of his fellow travelers and asked them to dig up the ground on that very spot. They dug and dug, and after a while they got down to a large stone. Seeing it they stopped, and began to blame the leader again, saying “This effort is useless. We’re just wasting our time!” But the tradesman replied, “No no, my friends, if we give up the effort we will all be ruined and our poor animals will die - let us be encouraged!”
As he said this, he got down into the hole, put his ear to the stone, and heard the sound of flowing water. Immediately, he called over a boy who had been digging and said, “If you give up, we will all perish - so take this heavy hammer and strike the rock. “
The boy lifted the hammer over his head and hit the rock as hard as he could - and he him- self was the most surprised when the rock spilt in two and a mighty flow of water gushed out from under it! Suddenly, all the people were overjoyed. They drank and bathed and washed the animals and cooked their food and ate.
Before they left, they raised a high banner so that other travellers could see it from afar and come to the new spring in the middle of the hot- sand desert. Then they continued on safely to the end of their journey.
The moral is: Don’t give up too easily - keep on trying until you reach the goal.
2. The Golden Plate
[Greed and Honesty]
Once upon a time in a place called seri, there were two salesmen of pots and pans and hand-made trinkets. They agreed to divide the town between them. They also said that after one had gone through his area, it was all right for the other to try and sell where the first had already been.
One day, while one of them was coming down a street, a poor little girl saw him and asked her grandmother to buy her a bracelet. The old grandmother replied, “How can we poor people buy bracelets? “ The little girl said, “Since we don’t have any money, we can give our black sooty old plate.” The old woman agreed to give it a try, so she invited the dealer inside.
The salesman saw that these people were very poor and innocent, so he didn’t want to waste his time with them. Even though the old woman pleaded with him, he said he had no bracelet that she could afford to buy. Then she asked, “we have an old plate that is useless to us, can we trade it for a bracelet? “ The man took it and, while examining it, happened to scratch the bottom of it. To his surprise, he saw that underneath the black soot, it was a golden plate! But he did’t let on that he had noticed it. Instead he decided to deceive these poor people so he could get the plate for next to nothing. He said, “This is not worth even one bracelet there’s no value in this, I don’t want it! “He left, thinking he would return later when they would accept even less for the plate. Meanwhile the other salesman, after finishing in his part of town, followed after the first as they had agreed. He ended up at the same house. Again the poor little girl begged her grandmother to trade the old plate for a bracelet. The woman saw that this was a nice tender looking merchant and thought, “He ' s a good man, not like the rough-talking first salesman.” so she invited him in and offered to trade the same black sooty old plate for one bracelet. When he examined it, he too saw that it was pure gold under the grime. He said to the old woman, “All my goods and all my money together are not worth as much as this rich golden plate!”
Of course the woman was shocked at this discovery, but now she knew that he was indeed a good and honest fellow. so she said she would be glad to accept whatever he could trade for it. The salesman said, “I’ll give you all my pots and pans and trinkets, plus all my money, if you will let me keep just eight coins and my balancing scale, with its cover to put the golden plate in. “ They made the trade. He went down to the river, where he paid the eight coins to the ferry man to take him across. By then the greedy salesman had returned, already adding up huge imaginary profits in his head. When he met the little girl and her grand- mother again, he said he had changed his mind and was willing to offer a few cents, but not one of his bracelets, for the useless black sooty old plate. The old woman then calmly told him of the trade she had just made with the honest salesman, and said, “Sir, you lied to us.”
The greedy salesman was not ashamed of his lies, but he was saddened as he thought, “I’ve lost the golden plate that must be worth a hundred thousand. “ so he asked the woman, “which way did he go? “ she told him the direction. He left all his things right there at her door and ran down to the river, thinking, “He robbed me! He robbed me! He won’t make a fool out of me!”
From the riverside he saw the honest salesman still crossing over on the ferry boat. He shouted to the ferry man, “Come back! “But the good merchant told him to keep on going to the other side, and that’s what he did.
Seeing that he could do nothing, the greedy salesman exploded with rage. He jumped up and down, beating his chest. He became so filled with hatred towards the honest man, who had won the golden plate that he made himself cough up blood. He had a heart attack and died on the spot!
The moral is: “Honesty is the best policy.”
3. The Mouse Merchant
[Diligence and Gratitude]
Once upon a time, an important adviser to a certain king was on his way to a meeting with the king and other advisers. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a dead mouse by the roadside. He said to those who were with him. “Even from such small beginnings as this dead mouse, an energetic young fellow could build a fortune. If he worked hard and used his intelligence, he could start a business and support a wife and family.”
A passer-by heard the remark. He knew this was a famous adviser to the king, so he decided to follow his words. He picked up the dead mouse by the tail and went off with it. As luck would have it, before he had gone even a block, a shopkeeper stopped him. He said, “My cat has been pestering me all morning. I’ll give you two copper coins for that mouse.” so it was done.
With the two copper coins, he bought sweet cakes, and waited by the side of the road with them and some water. As he expected, some people who picked flowers for making garlands were returning from work. Since they were all hungry and thirsty, they agreed to buy sweet cakes and water for the price of a bunch of flowers from each of them. In the evening, the man sold the flowers in the city. With some of the money he bought more sweet cakes and returned the next day to sell to the flower pickers.
This went on for a while, until one day there was a terrible storm, with heavy rains and high winds. While walking by the king’s pleasure garden, he saw that many branches had been blown off the trees and were lying all around. So he offered to the king’s gardener that he would clear it all away for him, if he could keep the branches. The lazy gardener quickly agreed. The man found some children playing in a park across the street. They were glad to collect all the branches and brush at the entrance to the pleasure garden, for the price of just one sweet cake for each child.
Along came the king’s potter, who was always on the lookout for firewood for his glazing oven. When he saw the piles of wood the children had just collected, he paid the man a handsome price for it. He even threw into the bargain some of his pots.
With his profits from selling the flowers and the firewood, the man opened up a refreshment shop. One day all the local grass mowers, who were on their way into town, stopped in his shop. He gave them free sweet cakes and drinks. They were surprised at his generosity and asked, “What can we do for you? “ He said there was nothing for them to do now, but he would let them know in the future.
A week later, he heard that a horse dealer was coming to the city with 5oo horses to sell. So he got in touch with the grass mowers and told each of them to give him a bundle of grass. He told them not to sell any grass to the horse dealer until he had sold his. In this way he got a very good price.
Time passed until one day, in his refreshment shop, some customers told him that a new ship from a foreign country had just anchored in the port. He saw this to be the opportunity he had been waiting for. He thought and thought until he came up with a good business plan.
First, he went to a jeweler friend of his and paid a low price for a very valuable gold ring, with a beautiful red ruby in it. He knew that the foreign ship was from a country that had no rubies of its own, where gold too was expensive. So he gave the wonderful ring to the captain of the ship as an advance on his commission. To earn this commission, the captain agreed to send all his passengers to him as a broker. He would then lead them to the best shops in the city. In turn, the man got the merchants to pay him a commission for sending customers to them.
Acting as a middle man in this way, after several ships came into port, the man became very rich. Being pleased with his success, he also remembered that it had all started with the words of the king’s wise adviser. so he decided to give him a gift of 1oo,ooo gold coins. This was half his en- tire wealth. After making the proper arrangements, he met with the king’s adviser and gave him the gift, along with his humble thanks. The adviser was amazed, and he asked, “How did you earn so much wealth to afford such a generous gift? “ The man told him it had all started with the adviser’s own words not so long ago. They had led him to a dead mouse, a hungry cat, sweet cakes, bunches of flowers, storm damaged tree branches, children in the park, the king ' s potter, a refreshment shop, grass for 5oo horses, a golden ruby ring, good business contacts, and finally a large fortune.
Hearing all this, the royal adviser thought to himself, “It would not be good to lose the talents of such an energetic man. I too have much wealth, as well as my beloved only daughter. As this man is single, he deserves to marry her. Then he can inherit my wealth in addition to his own, and my daughter will be well cared for. “This all came to pass, and after the wise adviser died, the one who had followed his advice became the richest man in the city. The king ap- pointed him to the adviser’s position. Throughout his remaining life, he generously gave his money for the happiness and well being of many people.
The moral is: with energy and ability, great wealth comes even from small beginnings.
4. Demons ln The Desert
[The Correct Way Of Thinking]
Once upon a time there were two merchants, who were friends. Both of them were getting ready for business trips to sell their merchandise, so they had to decide whether to travel together. They agreed that, since each had a bout 5oo carts, and they were going to the same place along the same road, it would be too crowded to go at the same time.
One decided that it would be much better to go first. He thought, “ The road will not be rutted by the carts, the bullocks will be able to choose the best of all the grass, we will find the best fruits and vegetables to eat, my people will appreciate my leadership and, in the end, I will be able to bargain for the best prices.”
The other merchant considered carefully and realized there were advantages to going second. He thought, “My friend’s carts will level the ground so we won’t have to do any road work, his bullocks will eat the old rough grass and new tender shoots will spring up for mine to eat. In the same way, they will pick the old fruits and vegetables and fresh ones will grow for us to enjoy. I won’t have to waste my time bargaining when I can take the price already set and make my profit. “So he agreed to let his friend go first. This friend was sure he’d fooled him and gotten the best of him - so he set out first on the journey. The merchant who went first had a troublesome time of it. They came to a wilderness called the ‘waterless Desert’, which the local people said was haunted by demons. When the caravan reached the middle of it, they met a large group coming from the opposite direction. They had carts that were mud smeared and dripping with water. They had lotuses and water lilies in their hands and in the carts. The head man, who had a know-it-all attitude, said to the merchant, “why are you carrying these heavy loads of water? In a short time you will r each that oasis on the horizon with plenty of water to drink and dates to eat. Your bullocks are tired from pulling those heavy carts filled with extra water so throw away the water and be kind to your overworked animals! “Even though the local people had warned them, the merchant did not realize that these were not real people, but demons in disguise. They were even in danger of being eaten by them. Being confident that they were helpful people, he followed their advice and had all his water emptied onto the ground.
As they continued on their way they found no oasis or any water at all. Some realized they 'd been fooled by beings that might have been demons, and started to grumble and accuse the merchant. At the end of the day, all the people were tired out. The bullocks were too weak from lack of water to pull their heavy carts. All the people and animals lay down in a haphazard manner and fell into a deep sleep. Lo and behold, during the night the demons came in their true frightening forms and gobbled up all the weak defenseless beings. When they were done there were only bones lying scattered around - not one human or animal was left alive.
After several months, the second merchant began his journey along the same way. When he arrived at the wilderness, he assembled all his people and advised them - “This is called the ` waterless Desert ' and I have heard that it is haunted by demons and ghosts. Therefore we should be careful. Since there may be poison plants and foul water, don’t drink any local water without asking me.“In this way they started into the desert.
After getting about halfway through, in the same way as with the first caravan, they were met by the water soaked demons in disguise. They told them the oasis was near and they should throw away their water. But the wise merchant saw through them right away. He knew it did’t make sense to have an oasis in a place called ‘waterless Desert’. And besides, these people had bulging red eyes and an aggressive and pushy attitude, so he suspected they might be demons. He told them to leave them alone saying, “we are business men who don’t throw away good water before we know where the next is coming from.” Then seeing that his own people had doubts, the merchant said to them, “Don’t believe these people, who may be demons, until we actually find water.” The oasis they point to may be just an illusion or a mirage. Have you ever heard of water in this ‘waterless Desert’ ? Do you feel any rain-wind or see any storm clouds?” They all said, “No” , and he continued, “If we believe these strangers and throw away our water, then later we may not have any to drink or cook with - then we will be weak and thirsty it would be easy for demons to come and rob us, or even eat us up! Therefore, until we really find water, do not waste even a drop!”
The caravan continued on its way and, that evening, reached the place where the first caravan’s people and bullocks had been killed and eaten by the demons. They found the carts and human and animal bones lying all around. They recognized that the fully loaded carts and the scattered bones belonged to the former caravan. The wise merchant told certain people to stand watch around the camp during the night.
The next morning the people ate breakfast, and fed their bullocks well. They added to their goods the most valuable things left from the first caravan. So they finished their journey very successfully, and returned home safely so that they and their families could enjoy their profits.
The moral is: one must always be wise enough not to be fooled by tricky talk and false appearances.
5. The Price Maker
[Foolishness]
Long ago and far away, there was a king who ruled in Benares, in northern India. One of his ministers was called the Royal Price Maker, and he was a very honest man. His job was to set a fair price for anything the king wanted to buy or sell.
On some occasions, the king did not like his price making. He did not get as big a profit as he wanted. He did not want to pay so much when he bought, or sell for what he thought was not enough. so he decided to change the price maker. One day he saw a nice looking young man and he thought, “This fellow will be good for my price making position.” So he dismissed his former honest price maker, and appointed this man to be the new one. The man thought, “ I must make the king happy by buying at very low prices and selling at very high prices. “ so he made the prices ridiculous, without caring at all what anything was worth. This gained the greedy king a lot of money, and made him very happy. Meanwhile, all the others who dealt with the new price maker, including the king's other ministers and ordinary people, became very unhappy.
Then one day a horse merchant arrived in Benares with 5oo horses to sell. There were stallions, mares and colts. The king invited the merchant to the palace, and called upon his Royal Price Maker to set a price for all 5oo horses. Thinking only of pleasing the king, he said, “The entire herd of horses is worth one cup of rice.” so the king ordered that one cup of rice be paid to the horse dealer, and all the horses were taken to the royal stables.
Of course the merchant was very upset, but he could do nothing at the moment. Later he heard about the former price maker, who had a reputation for being very fair and honest. so he approached him and told him what had happened. He wanted to hear his opinion, in order to get a proper price from the king. The former price maker said, “If you do as I say, the king will be convinced of the true value of the horses. Go back to the price maker and satisfy him with a valuable gift. Ask him to tell the value of one cup of rice, in the presence of the king. If he agrees, come and tell me. I will go with you to the king.”
Following this advice, the merchant went to the price maker and gave him a valuable gift. The gift made him very happy, so that he saw the value of pleasing the horse dealer. Then the merchant said to him, “I was very happy with your previous evaluation. can you please convince the king of the value of one cup of rice? “The foolish price maker said, why not? I will explain the worth of one cup of rice, even the presence of the king.” so the price maker thought the horse dealer was satisfied with his cup of rice. He arranged for another meeting with the king, as the merchant was departing for his own country. The merchant reported back to the old price maker, and they went together to see the king.
All the king's ministers and his full court were in the royal meeting hall. The horse merchant said to the king, “My lord, I understand that in this your country, my whole herd of 5oo horses is worth one cup of rice. Before I leave for home, I want to know the value of one cup of rice in your country.” The king turned to his loyal price maker and said, “What is the value of one cup of rice?”
The foolish price maker, in order to please the king, had previously priced the herd of horses at one cup of rice. Now, after receiving a bribe from the horse dealer, he wanted to please him too. so he replied to the king, in his most dignified manner, “Your worship, one cup of rice is worth the city of Benares, including even your own harem, as well as all the suburbs of the city.
In other words, it is worth the whole kingdom of Benares!” on hearing this, the royal ministers and wise men in the assembly hall started to roar with laughter, slapping their sides with their hands. When they calmed down a little, they said, “Earlier we heard that the kingdom was priceless. Now we hear that all Benares, with its palaces and mansions, is worth only a cup of rice! The decision of the Royal Price Maker is so strange! Where did your highness find such a man? He is good only for pleasing a king such as you, not for making fair prices for a merchant who sells his horses from country to country. “
Hearing the laughter of his whole court and the words of his ministers and advisers, the king was ashamed. So he brought back his former price maker to his official position. He agreed to a new fair price for the herd of horses, as set by the honest price maker. Having learned a lesson, the king and his kingdom lived justly and prospered.
The moral is: A fool in high office can bring shame even to a king.
About Author
Hiren Kavad is an Indian Fiction and non-fiction writer. He has completed is Bachelor of engineering in information technology from Gujarat Technological university, Gujarat, India. He is currently in art field. Active in theater, arts and literature. Currently he is working on couple of books. He is passionate about innovative writings. His fiction work does not have any narrow minded walls of thoughts. He has wide thinking about creating world with peace and love. He is a dynamic person.
With all this he believes in Truth, Love and Compassion.
With Writing he is also involved in active and creative internet app development. His first book is “Chanchal Hriday” written in his regional language Gujarati, is a short love story collection. You can contact him on following internet websites.
Facebook : www.facebook.com/Ihirenkavad
Google Plus : www.google.com/+hirenkavad
Twitter : www.twitter.com/hirenkavad
Blog : hirenkavad.wordpress.com
