Buddha Stories for All

  MORAL Stinginess,  possessiveness (macchariya) INTRODUCTION “... to ascetics or brahmins (samaṇa brāhmaṇa), a man or woman that does not offer food, drink, clothing, transport, garlands, scents, ointments, beds, dwellings, and lamps, he or she, after death, may be reborn in a realm of misery, n a bad destination, a lower realm, in hell. But, if he or she returns as a human being, he or she will be poor. This is the path that leads to poverty – 

MORAL Wisdom, Leadership, Gratitude READABILITY Intermediate I INTRODUCTION How is the giant saved by the dwarf in the face of danger?

MORAL Greedy, Envy, Contentment READABILITY Intermediate I INTRODUCTION A cow sees a lazy pig being offered good food and becomes dissatisfied that he has to work hard to get his food and is only eating straw. He remains dissatisfied until one day something happened to the fat pig.

  MORAL  Greed, multi-life continuity/ repetition, quarreling  READABILITY  Intermediate I REFLECTION Strife brings destruction of wealth and friendship, While the third party will gain from the dispute.

MORAL  Honesty, Upright & Very Upright READABILITY  Intermediate I REFLECTION Be honest, upright, very upright, and speak the truth. Keeping one's word is very important. In this way, what you say will be powerful and will gain the trust of others.

MORAL  Leaders and followers READABILITY  Intermediate I INTRODUCTION Blackie, through his foolishness, loses all his followers while Luckie leads his herd home safely. REFLECTION Follow a wise leader, Be a wise follower, This is wisdom.

MORAL  Greed READABILITY  Intermediate I INTRODUCTION A pigeon lives in a kitchen. A greedy crow befriends him in order to eat the food, he is then housed in the kitchen too. Can the crow’s plan succeed? REFLECTION Look at the consequence of the greedy crow. Greed is bad. Although most of us are aware, it is not easy to eradicate greed completely. Greed manifests as selfishness, attachment and others. Selfishness manifests as only caring about oneself; attachment manifests as holding onto living beings or non-living things. Because of attachment, we are unable to escape from rebirths and will suffer again and again. It is important to eradicate even the slightest attachment until we can one day be freed from the endless rounds of rebirth and attain the security of the other shore, Nibbāna.

MORAL  Common Sense Leadership READABILITY  Intermediate I INTRODUCTION Despite the warnings, a greedy fellow ate a poisonous fruit. How did their leader know it was poisonous, even though it looked exactly like a mango. REFLECTION Wise men are skilled, knowledgeable and observant; They are the true refuge and the benefactor of the followers.

MORAL  Determination and brave effort READABILITY  Intermediate I INTRODUCTION How Prince Five-Weapons fought the Yakkha Sticky-Hair, with wisdom and brave effort. REFLECTION The greatest weapon of all is hidden inside you – Wisdom and brave effort. People used to tell us about how we can use materials to protect ourselves when we face difficulties. However, in this story, our Bodhisatta showed us how we can face our challenges with the weapons hidden inside us: Confidence (it is not referred to the self-ego or feeling inferior types of confidence), skills, courage, compassion, wisdom and brave effort. Instead of fighting his enemy, he helped his enemy. Children, are you ready to face your challenges with the weapons the Bodhisatta showed us?

MORAL  The righteous character of Venerable Sāriputta READABILITY  Intermediate I INTRODUCTION What happens when a snake refuses to suck out his poison, even under the threat of death? REFLECTION Determination wins respect − Venerable Sāriputta is the chief disciples of the Buddha; the wisest disciple, and a very humble one too. He takes good care of the descendants of the Saṅgha. When the junior teased that everyone likes to eat sweet and delicious food, he felt a sense of urgency and decided not to eat sweets again.  The firm and upright character of Venerable Sāriputta is the same when he was born as a snake in the past life. Can we just like Venerable Sāriputta?

MORAL  One do not harbours envy READABILITY  Intermediate I INTRODUCTION  Being jealous of the royal elephant, the king designed to let it fall off the cliff. Will he succeed? REFLECTION Do you want to have great influence? If you do, you should try to be a woman or man who does not envy or begrudge the gain, honour, respect, reverence, obeisance and devotion received by others. Instead, you should rejoice: that is what we called sympathetic joy. Such are the wor­k­ings of kamma. Storyboard of Dummedha Jātaka Read the Chinese picture book . Get the text .

MORAL  True Friendship READABILITY  Intermediate I INTRODUCTION  How a woodpecker and tortoise rescued their friend, the antelope deer from a trap. REFLECTION Friendship in adversity —— The Buddha and his disciples are not just friends in need; they are friends indeed. But in many past lives, they have been wholesome friends who have promoted each other and helped each other for mutual benefit. A good friendship is to improve each other, to be good, and to move towards purity and happiness together.

[MORAL  Wisdom, courage and skill] [READABILITY  Intermediate I] In this story, the Buddha told us of how greed and anger will cause destruction to ourselves.

MORAL Learning attitude; stubbornness & loss property READABILITY  Beginner INTRODUCTION Why a small drummer is plundered by robbers in a forest? REFLECTION In this story, the Buddha talks about the disadvantages of being self-willed or stubborn. The self-willed drummer would not listen to the advice of his wise father. As a result, the drummer's stubbornness caused them to be robbed of their riches.

[MORAL  The dangers of alcohol] [READABILITY Intermediate I ] In this story, we can see from the Buddha’s story how our habits often continue from one life to another life, endlessly. Unless we meet with wise people and learn to change our bad habits, we will have to suffer the consequences life after life. When we think, speak or do something without wisdom, we often create bad results for ourselves.