The man who have 4 wives

[bambi]

Here is a very interesting story:

Once there was a man who had four wives. According to the social system and circumstances of ancient India, it was possible for a man to have several wives. Also, during the Heian period in Japan, about a thousand years ago, it was not unusual for a woman to have several husbands. The Indian had become ill and was about to die. At the end of his life, he felt very lonely and so asked the first wife to accompany him to the other world.

'My dear wife,' he said, 'I loved you day and night, I took care of you throughout my whole life. Now I am about to die, will you please go with me wherever I go after my death?'

He expected her to answer yes. But she answered, 'My dear husband, I know you always loved me. And you are going to die. Now it is time to separate from you. Goodbye, my dear.'

He called his second wife to his sickbed and begged her to follow him in death. He said, 'My dear second wife, you know how I loved you. Sometimes I was afraid you might leave me, but I held on to you strongly. My dear, please come with me.'

The second wife expressed herself rather coldly. 'Dear husband, your first wife refused to accompany you after your death. How can I follow you? You loved me only for your own selfish sake.'

Lying in his deathbed, he called his third wife, and asked her to follow him. The third wife replied, with tears in her eyes, 'My dear, I pity you and I feel sad for myself. Therefore I shall accompany you to the graveyard. This is my last duty to you.' The third wife thus also refused to follow him to death.

Three wives had refused to follow him after his death. Now he recalled that there was another wife, his fourth wife, for whom he didn't care very much. He had treated her like a slave and had always showed much displeasure with her. He now thought that if he asked her to follow him to death, she certainly would say no.

But his loneliness and fear were so severe that he made the effort to ask her to accompany him to the other world. The fourth wife gladly accepted her husband's request.

'My dear husband,' she said, 'I will go with you. Whatever happens, I am determined to be with you forever. I cannot be separated from you."


'Every man and woman has four wives or husbands. What do these wives signify?'

[bambi]

The first wife refer to our body. We clean, take care, beautify and feed but we cannot take our body with us when we die. It will just be rotting or cremated. No matter ho much effort we put on it, it is not ours, just a shell.

The second wife refers to our material things that we work most of our life to attain. After we get what we want, we are attached to it and afraid of losing it. And the same thing happens, we cannot take with us when we leave this shell.

The third wife are our family and friend. Those who are with us when we are alive but not when we die. They can therefore only accompany us to the graveyard. When we were born, we were alone so when we die, we are also alone.

The fourth wife is our mind. One that can never separate but continue in every rebirth in samsara and suffer our negative karma. All the unhappiness we suffer from the 3 poisons that will follow us always until we realize and purify it.

[Tammy]

The 4th wife is definitely the miserable man's karma! Whatever we do in this and previous lifetimes, our karma follows us like our shadow! No matter how badly we ignore it, we cannot run away from the karma that was created by ourselves.

I would like to share with all the following on Karma:

"I am the owner of my karma .
I inherit my karma.
I am born of my karma.
I am related to my karma.
I live supported by my karma.
Whatever karma I create, whether good or evil, that I shall inherit." ??
The Buddha, Anguttara Nikaya V.57 - Upajjhatthana Sutta

"Countless rebirths lie ahead, both good and bad. The effects of karma (actions) are inevitable, and in previous lifetimes we have accumulated negative karma which will inevitably have its fruition in this or future lives. Just as someone witnessed by police in a criminal act will eventually be caught and punished, so we too must face the consequences of faulty actions we have committed in the past, there is no way to be at ease; those actions are irreversible; we must eventually undergo their effects."
His Holiness the Dalai Lama, from 'Kindness, Clarity and Insight'

[ratanasutra]

This is very interesting story.

Most of us are know about the cycle of life ie birth, illness, aging and death but we still can't accept and let go of it. We always want to look beautiful so that people will praise and admire us. We do so many thing to maintain our body, even knowing one day we are going to die and we can't take it with us. We never prepare and train our mind, even knowing that it only one thing will follow us after death. We not even care about our actions which it result will follow us life after life. We are so ignorant and full with delusion. And if we do nothing about it, at the end of this life we will end up not much different from this old man, alone, afraid, and not prepare for death.



 

[brian]

The first wife refer to our body. We clean, take care, beautify and feed but we cannot take our body with us when we die. It will just be rotting or cremated. No matter ho much effort we put on it, it is not ours, just a shell.

The second wife refers to our material things that we work most of our life to attain. After we get what we want, we are attached to it and afraid of losing it. And the same thing happens, we cannot take with us when we leave this shell.

The third wife are our family and friend. Those who are with us when we are alive but not when we die. They can therefore only accompany us to the graveyard. When we were born, we were alone so when we die, we are also alone.

The fourth wife is our mind. One that can never separate but continue in every rebirth in samsara and suffer our negative karma. All the unhappiness we suffer from the 3 poisons that will follow us always until we realize and purify it.

This is interesting i must say. I was going to comment further to say isn't it not right to have another wife or even four wives?? Will this be subjected by people as cheating your wife or betraying your wife? Don't tell me that the first three wives will be happy if the husband is going to have another wife? So i learnt a lot from the explaination and that is why i am quoting your comment Bambi. This one really opened up my eyes!