[Music] the buddha took a walk along the forest path simply enjoying the beauty of the earth at a crossroad he saw a man in grief praying earnestly the man recognized the buddha and fell on his knees he cried lord buddha life is indeed bitter and painful i was once a man with great wealth living a life of ease and happiness by trickery and deceit those i trusted and loved took everything from me i am now a wretched man with no one to turn to how many more times must i be reborn into this world of
suffering before i can be liberated [Music] pointing to the mango tree by the road the buddha said do you see that mango tree you must be reborn as many times as the number of mangoes on that tree before you know the bliss of liberation from the sufferings of this fleeting world seeing that there were at least dozens of mangoes hanging on the tree the man gasped but lord i have lived a righteous life in accord with the precepts why am i condemned to suffer so much longer the buddha sighed that is the way it must
be and he continued his walk he came across another man praying by the road and this man too fell on his knees and cried lord buddha life is indeed bitter and painful i have lost all those i loved to the king of death i am now forlorn and lonely life is full of anguish how many more times must i be reborn into this world of suffering before i know the bliss of liberation the buddha pointed to the field of wild flowers along the road and said before you know the bliss of liberation from the sufferings
of this fleeting world you must be reborn as many times as the number of flowers in that field seeing so many hundreds of flowers in the field the man cried but lord i have done many good deeds and have followed your teachings by heart why must i endure so much more suffering the buddha side that is how it must be and he continued on his way when he came across a tamarind tree another man fell down on his knees and cried before him oh lord life is full of suffering during the days i toiled like
a slave under the scathing sun at night i have nothing to sleep on except a pile of grass on the cold damped earth life is nothing but hunger thirst and loneliness how many more times must i be reborn into this world of suffering before i know the bliss of liberation the buddha looked up to the tamarind tree each branch of it bearing many stems and each stem had dozens of leaves the buddha said look at the tamarind tree before you know the bliss of liberation from the sufferings of this fleeting world you must be reborn
as many times as the number of leaves on that tamarind tree [Music] as the man looked up at the tamarind tree and its thousands of leaves his eyes filled with tears of gratitude and joy how merciful he said as he prostrated to the ground at the buddha's feet to this day the tamarind seeds are the symbol of faithfulness you see in life in your life a thousand lifetimes to some may seem like an eternity but for some it shall pass like a blink of an eye do not dwell in pain do not dwell in suffering
do not dwell in the hard times because just as the sun goes up and goes down every day so too will your suffering and your happy days exchange with each other every day for the rest of your life suffering is a given but how we respond to it how we respond to hard times that is what defines us as humans that is what defines our character be happy even during the worst days and remember that after the darkest hour of night the sun always reappears this is there to do motivation stories thanks for watching and
stay blessed
