Buddhist Philosophy

There was a woman living near the city of Savatthi. She kept a hen and broke it’s egg up every time it laid. The hen was very angry and as a result she was reborn as a cat and the woman was reborn as a hen in the same house. The cat ate the hen’s eggs up. In their next existence, the hen became a leopard and the cat became a deer. The leopard ate up the deer as well as it’s offspring. In this way for several existences, their anger and argument continued.
At the time of the Buddha one of them was reborn as a woman and the other as an ogress. One day, the woman was walking back from her parent's house to her own house near Sāvatthi. Her young son and her husband were also with her. While they were resting near a pond, by the roadside, the husband went to have a bathe in the pond. The woman saw the ogress who was disguised as a human and recognized her as her old enemy. As soon as she saw her, she took her child and tried to run in to the temple of the Buddha near by.
The ogress who was in hot pursuit of the woman was prohibited from entering the monastery and the woman put her child at the feet of the Buddha. The Buddha who knew the situation summoned the ogress and admonished both of them for their long bitter feud. “Unless you two had come to me today, your enmity would have continued endlessly. Enmity can not end by enmity. It will only be ended by loving-kindness. Thinking on the admonition both of them realised the uselessness of their hatred. Both admitted their mistakes and agreed not to continue with their senseless feud.
Reference book= Dhammapada
Rewritten by Thawmamoonstars

There was an excellent carpenter. He worked hard all his life. All the buildings that he had constructed were beautiful, good quality and satisfied their owners. He also made the most of his job. Not only the building's owners but also his boss liked his craftsmanship. That’s why he was known as a craftsman to many people.

As he was getting older, he became bored and didn’t want to build any more buildings. He wanted to retire and lead a new different peaceful life. So he went to his boss to tell him that he would stop doing his job.

However, his boss requested him not to stop and wanted him to show his ability more.

The boss also didn’t want to lose his business because it had become a big one because of his employee's craftsmanship.

Firmly he rejected his boss's request.

His boss made a final request to him. That was to build one more house but he must use his best ability and the best quality of tools that would be provided by his boss. After that he could stop his job.

Unwillingly agreed to his boss's requested, and he tried to build the house but he was not in the right mood to build that house. He became bored, and disinterested while he was building it. So he built it as quickly as he could. He didn’t do it to his best ability. The house was finished in an easy way. So the house was not beautiful and good even though he used the best quality of material.

After it was finished, his boss came to see and checked things such as the windows and doors. He closed the door and locked it with the keys. Then he gave the keys to the man and said. “This is my final and best gift for you”

The man was shock!

The moral of this story is that one’s life is like that of a house that is being built by it's owner.

One is building one's own life not others. If we build a beautiful one, we can lead a beautiful life but most people are boring and uninteresting while they are building their own life and forget or ignore their future. So, they could not live a beautiful life.

(Reference forward email written by unknown writer)

Retold by Thawmamoonstars.