A nice story to share with ~ Cause and Effect

[Tammy]

Thanks for the sharing! Nagaseeker. This remided me of another story,

Once a young monk who was siding in a monasetry in a mountain, one day after a few years of living in the mountain, he was sent by his guru to visit his own parents. He resisted as it was a long journey and he didn't want to leave his guru. But on the insistent of his guru, he started the long road home.

One day, as he was about to cross a small clear stream, he saw a school of ants gathered on a lotus leave, which was floating on water. Seeing that the leave was about to topple over, he rescued the ants by taking the leave frothe stream and placed it (with the ants on it) safely on solid group. And he continues his journey home.

A few month later, the young monks returned to his guru who was surprise to see him. He asked the Yong monk was there any particular thing that happened during his whole journey? Te young Monck couldn't think of anything except he had saved the ants.

His guru then explained that he was supposed to have died, hence he was sent back to see his parents for the
last time. But because of his kindness of saving the ants, his life was prolonged.

Amazing, huh ?

[Tenzin Malgyur]

Thanks so much to nagaseeker and Tammy for the wonderful stories you have shared here. It does seem like a small deed to rescue a small bug or ants but still it is a good deed. And we don't have to be religious to believe this. I reckon the best thing we could do all the time is have a good intention in all our action and not cause any harm no matter how small we think it is. For sure we learn in this two stories that no one can escape the law of cause and effect.

[dondrup]

Cause and result are so subtle that only omniscient wisdom can perceive every detail. That is why we must be very careful that our actions are truly beneficial.

Reciting just one mantra, protecting the life of even one small bug, giving a small thing--we should not ignore such actions by saying, "This is nothing; it makes no difference if I do it or not." Many small actions will gather and swell like the ocean.

In the teachings on Karma, Buddha taught that “the results of actions increase”. Even very small non-virtuous actions bear large fruits of suffering and very small virtuous actions bear large fruits of happiness. As long as we fail to purify a very small non-virtuous action, its power to produce suffering increases day by day. The story on the farmer who asked to be ordained as a monk shows that no matter how insignificant the virtuous act, it had planted a seed for the farmer to attain arhatship in that lifetime. Hence we should cultivate our virtues no matter how insignificant they appear as eventually these virtues will develop into attainments and eventual liberation from samsara for us! Similarly we should purify all our negative actions no matter how insignificant they appear to be.

[bambi]

Thank you for sharing this story. It is very true what you said here. Whatever we do with out motivation, no matter how big or small, it should be done. No matter how small the merit or karma arising from it, it should be done to help. Even the greatest people alive eg. Mother Theresa, did not help the 100 people a day but she started and in the end, she accomplished and helped so many people.

If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one. - Mother Teresa

[apprenticehealer]

This is such a nice yet simple story. When we were children, we were told many stories and i particularly found that many of these so call 'fairy tales' have a teaching behind them. That was how we learn and was guided to the many virtues in life.
Whatever we do, speak or think have repercussions. Be it positive or negative thoughts, the energy is 'sent' out and though unseen by the naked eye, these thoughts will affect our speech and our actions, and eventually affect our karma.
We must be constantly mindful of all our thoughts, speech and actions . We cannot escape from the first rule of Life - Every Cause has an Effect.

[Q]

Thanks for the sharing! Nagaseeker. This remided me of another story,

Once a young monk who was siding in a monasetry in a mountain, one day after a few years of living in the mountain, he was sent by his guru to visit his own parents. He resisted as it was a long journey and he didn't want to leave his guru. But on the insistent of his guru, he started the long road home.

One day, as he was about to cross a small clear stream, he saw a school of ants gathered on a lotus leave, which was floating on water. Seeing that the leave was about to topple over, he rescued the ants by taking the leave frothe stream and placed it (with the ants on it) safely on solid group. And he continues his journey home.

A few month later, the young monks returned to his guru who was surprise to see him. He asked the Yong monk was there any particular thing that happened during his whole journey? Te young Monck couldn't think of anything except he had saved the ants.

His guru then explained that he was supposed to have died, hence he was sent back to see his parents for the
last time. But because of his kindness of saving the ants, his life was prolonged.

Amazing, huh ?

Yes, I have heard of this story before too. I read it when I was very young, but the version I read was slightly different, the monk knew he was not going to live long, so when he saw the ants struggling for their lives, he immediately felts their pain and saved their lives.

I think stories such as this is very inspiring to me. Being a Christian at a certain point of my life, I have an ingrained thinking that my fate is written on stone, that whatever happens, my fate will sweep me no matter what I do. However, when it comes to karma... I have the comfort of knowing the effect of my actions... and thus I am actually in control of my fate, the question is whether I want to change and practice the Dharma to make my life lead to a more positive end.

I like being in control. Karma tells me I am in control of my life.