The Four Friends

The wise Panda immediately commented about my earlier post on the picture of the 4 friends which I have taken from the holiest temple in Tibet.

Here is the nice Buddhist story for your weekend reading.

In one of the Buddha's previous lifetimes, in the forest of Kashika, there lived four noble beings: a bird, a monkey, a rabbit, and an elephant. The four, who drank at the same spring, soon became friends.

One day they decided that it would be proper to show the greatest deference to the eldest among them. To determine their respective ages, each one recalled the height of a nearby nyagrodha (ficus bengalensis) tree when he had first seen it.

The elephant said, "I must be the oldest. I remember that when I was born the shadow of the tree fell across my body."

The monkey said, "I must be older than the elephant. When I was born the tree was the same size as me."

The rabbit said, "I must be older than either of you. When I was born, the seed of the tree was just sprouting; I took a young leaf and ate it."

The bird said, "I must be older than any of you. When I was born I ate the fruit of a tree south of this spring. The seed of the nyagrodha tree passed through my body as waste, so I planted it."

The four then showed each other respect accordingly: The elephant placed the bird on the crown of his head, the rabbit on his neck, and the monkey on his back. Then the bird said, "Now we must keep the five basic disciplines** throughout our lives."

This they did, and to insure that all other beings did the same, the bird initiated all those with wings, the elephant initiated all those with fangs, the rabbit initiated all those with paws, and the monkey initiated all those with fur.

The peace that then pervaded the kingdom was so great that the king and his ministers felt its effects and began congratulating themselves. The king thought that it was his wise Dharma rule which was causing the kingdom to prosper. The queen thought that good fortune was due to the royal couple's lack of sexual misconduct. And the princes thought it was due to the respect they showed their parents; while the subjects thought that it was due to their obedience to the king.

Now, because each attributed the kingdom's prosperity to a different factor, a great dispute ensued.

The king therefore summoned a great far-seeing adept who said, "The kingdom's prosperity is due to none of your efforts.

In the Kashika forest live four great beings who keep the five disciplines and initiated their families into these disciplines. Through their efforts, prosperity resulted. Because the king and his subjects have also kept these precepts, the kingdom has reaped the benefits of this practice of the Dharma. Any animals who have died have been reborn in the 33 states of the realm of the gods."

Indra, king of the god realm, expressed his amazement with the following praise: "With respect and courteousness, enduring the hardship of the forests, through the moral behavior of the birds, all sentient beings of the world are firmly established [on the path.]"

The Buddha then revealed that he was the bird in a previous life, while his attendant Ananda was the elephant, Shariputra was the rabbit and Maudgalyana was the monkey.

From this tale known as The Four Friends derive the animal symbols for 3 of the Buddha's closest disciples, or it may be that it is their distinctive personal characteristics that have been recorded for us here.


**The Five Wonderful Precepts as applied by Thich Nhat Han:

First Precept
Aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life, I vow to cultivate compassion and learn ways to protect the lives of people, animals, plants, and minerals. I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to condone any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, and in my way of life.

Second Precept
Aware of the suffering caused by exploitation, social injustice, stealing, and oppression, I vow to cultivate loving kindness and learn ways to work for the well-being of people, animals, plants, and minerals. I vow to practice generosity by sharing my time, energy, and material resources with those who are in real need. I am determined not to steal and not to possess anything that should belong to others. I will respect the property of others, but I will prevent others from profiting from human suffering or the suffering of other species on Earth.

Third Precept
Aware of the suffering caused by sexual misconduct, I vow to cultivate responsibility and learn ways to protect the safety and integrity of individuals, couples, families, and society. I am determined not to engage in sexual relations without love and a long-term commitment. To preserve the happiness of myself and others, I am determined to respect my commitments and the commitments of others. I will do everything in my power to protect children from sexual abuse and to prevent couples and families from being broken by sexual misconduct.

Fourth Precept
Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful speech and the inability to listen to others, I vow to cultivate loving speech and deep listening in order to bring joy and happiness to others and relieve others of their suffering.

Knowing that words can create happiness or suffering, I vow to learn to speak truthfully, with words that inspire self-confidence, joy, and hope. I am determined not to spread news that I do not know to be certain and not to criticize or condemn things of which I am not sure. I will refrain from uttering words that can cause division or discord, or that can cause the family or the community to break. I will make all efforts to reconcile and resolve all conflicts, however small.

Fifth Precept
Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful consumption, I vow to cultivate good health, both physical and mental, for myself, my family, and my society by practicing mindful eating, drinking, and consuming. I vow to ingest only items that preserve peace, well-being, and joy in my body, in my consciousness, and in the collective body and consciousness of my family and society.

I am determined not to use alcohol or any other intoxicant or to ingest foods or other items that contain toxins, such as certain TV programs, magazines, books, films, and conversations. I am aware that to damage my body or my consciousness with these poisons is to betray my ancestors, my parents, my society, and future generations. I will work to transform violence, fear, anger, and confusion in myself and in society by practicing a diet for myself and for society. I understand that a proper diet is crucial for self-transformation and for the transformation of society.

Have a pleasant weekend.. and since I am oversea conference next week, I may not be able to post next week. Your thoughts are in my prayers.