Grandmaster JinBodhi’s Story House
During the time of Buddha, Kisa, a young woman from a wealthy family, was happily married to an important man. When her only son was one-year-old, he fell ill and died suddenly. She was struck with grief and could not bear the death of her only child. Weeping and groaning, she carried her son’s dead body from house to house begging her neighbours for medicine or a way to bring her son back to life.
The neighbours said, “She has lost her senses. The boy is dead.” Of course, nobody could help her, but this young woman would not give up. Finally she came across a man who advised her to go and see the Buddha. She carried her dead child to Buddha and told him her sad story.
He listened with patience and compassion, and then said, “There is only one way to solve your problem. Go and find me a handful of mustard seeds.” When the girl in her joy promised to get them, the Buddha added, “The mustard seeds must come from a home where no one has lost a child, husband, wife, daughter, son, mother, father or friend to death.”
Kisa was filled with hope and set off straight away to find such a household. As she went from house to house, the people pitied her and said, “Here is a mustard seed.” But when Kisa asked if a son or daughter, mother or father had died in their family, they answered her, “Alas the living are few, but the dead are many. Do not remind us of our deepest grief.” Very soon Kisa discovered that every family she visited had experienced death.
Weary and hopeless, Kisa sat down at the wayside, watching the lights of the city as they flickered up and were extinguished again. At last the darkness of night reigned everywhere. She considered the fate of man; their lives flicker up and are extinguished. She thought, “How selfish am I in my grief! Death is common to all.” Once she accepted the fact that death is inevitable, she buried her child in the forest. She understood that surely as life comes to all of us, so death comes to us all. She took refuge in Buddha and found the dharma a balm to soothe the pain of her sorrowful heart.
Buddha said: “The life of mortals in this world is troubled and brief and combined with pain. For there are no means by which those who have been born can avoid dying. After reaching old age, there is death. Just as fruit is in danger of falling prematurely, so too are mortals who once born are always in danger of death. As all earthen vessels made by a potter end up broken, so too is the life of mortals. Both young and adult, both those who are fools and those are wise, all fall prey to death.”
He continued, “Weeping and grieving will not bring one peace of mind. Instead, his pain and suffering will be greater. He will make himself sick and weak, yet the deceased cannot be saved by his grief. People pass away, and their fate after death will be according to the deeds. If a man lives for a hundred years, or more, he will at last be separated from the company of his relatives and this world. He who seeks peace should draw out the arrow of complaint and grief, only then will he obtain peace of mind, and be blessed.”