Tuesday, October 25, 2011
A Bottle of Milk

There was a poor student called Ben. During daytime, he’d sell bread from one house to another just to earn some money to pay his school fees. But when it’s nighttime, he got hungry and realized that he had not much money left to buy dinner.

This time, he passed by a house where a beautiful lady was about to come out from. When he saw the lady, he did not dare to beg for food, and had only requested for a cup of water. By looking at Ben’s poor face, the lady gave him a big bottle of milk. Without a second thought, he took it and drank it all in no time. After that, Ben asked how much he should pay for that.
But the lady replied “You don’t owe me anything. Mom said we shouldn’t ask for a repay from doing good deeds.”
Ben: “Thank you for your kindness.”

As he was about to leave, Ben could feel his body getting stronger and warmer. Previously, he was about to give up on hope, but the lady’s action reminded him about the people’s kindness.

A few years later, that young lady got ill. The local doctors had done all they could, but still unable to cure her. Hence, the family rushed her into the city and search for a better medication.

Coincidentally, they’d met up with a doctor called Ben. When the doctor heard about that lady’s story and her origin, his eyes was sparkling with a kind of light. He quickly put on his robe and went into the ward. Ben recognized the lady with just one look. Since then, he decided to give his full effort to help save the lady.

From that day on, he’d spend more time on her case. After a long period of challenging, he finally found a remedy to cure her illness. When the hospital bill was sent to the doctor for his signature and approval, he added a little note at the bottom of the bill. When the bill was sent to the lady, she was afraid to even look at it. She was worried because she knew that she’d had to bear the cost for her whole life. Nevertheless, she had no choice. But in the end, she found out that there was just a note that says “A bottle of milk is sufficient to pay for the bills.”, signed and approved by Doctor Ben.


Thoughts:

Toda Sensei once given a strict guidance that says “A grateful dog is even better than an unappreciative man”. Even a dog would be grateful and loyal towards its master, but human beings as the head of the animals have forgotten the ‘heart of gratitude’.

If is quite often that we think that it’s a must that the other people provide us help when we’re in need. Come to think of it, it wasn’t actually a must for the others to help us out. They have their options, freedom, and right to choose either to help or refuse. Hence, we must have a heart full of gratitude to be grateful towards those who have helped us on our way.

As mentioned in the article above, a bottle of milk could be a tiny little thing to us. But to Ben, it could be one of the things that saved him from hunger, it could be his hope. Both of them had never thought of getting any repay from helping others, and they’d never thought that they could meet again. Gratitude is something as simple as that.

Jealousy destroys harmony, ingrate destroys Buddhism. When we forget people’s good deed and thinking that we’re the only great people, ego begins. If we forget the origin and teachings of Buddhism, if we forget our beloved mentor and the fact that we’ve been better because of the Buddhism, we’d begin to get off from the track of a correct life. If we never realize this, soon, we’ll be engulfed by the ungrateful attitude.

It is very important that we implement the attitude of being grateful and the spirit of appreciating since young. Every group or society would require the spirit of gratitude to produce a united relationship. Only then a society of people would have a strong and solid foundation for a better development in the future.



Translated by,
Happy.

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Written at 1:35 AM by Paper Pilot.