MONKEY KING There was once a kingdom of monkeys in the forest. The King of the Monkeys was very very large, and was very kind and wise. One day, the King was strolling & he noticed mango trees along the side of a river. He also noticed a human castle downstream. He then ordered the monkeys to remove all the mangoes from these trees, or there would be disaster. The monkeys did not understand the Kings intention, but they did as told anyway. All the mangoes were taken off these trees except one. This one was hidden behind a nest. One day, this mango was ripe and fell into the river. It flowed downstream where the human King was having a bath. He noticed the mango & asked the Prime Minister what it was. The PM told him it was a mango, a fruit of wonderful taste. The King then ordered that the mango be cut into small pieces & he gave a small piece to each of his ministers. When satisfied that the mango was not poisonous, he ate the rest of it & realized how tasty it was. He craved for more. The next day, the human king, with his troops, went upstream to search for more of these fruits. There were lots of mango trees, but also lots of monkeys. The human king doesnt want to share the mangoes with the monkeys, so he ordered all of them to be killed. A massacre started. When the news reached the wise Monkey King, he commented, The day has finally arrived. The thousands of monkeys were chased all the way to the edge of the forest. There was a deep cliff at the edge of the forest, and a bamboo forest at the other side of the cliff. The Monkey King saw that if his subjects could cross over to the bamboo forest, they will be saved. With his huge body, he formed a bridge over the cliff and thousands of monkeys trampled over him to reach the safety of the bamboo forest. He endured all the pain. One monkey did not like the King & he saw this as an opportunity to get even. As he was crossing over the Kings body, he pierced a spear through the Kings heart. The King screamed in pain but endured the pain until all his subjects were safely across. Then he collapsed. The human king witnessed the whole thing. He was so touched that he ordered the Monkey King be saved. When the Monkey King recovered his consciousness, the human king asked him, You are their King, why did you bother to die for them?. The Monkey King replied, Because I am their King. With that, he died. The human king was so touched that he decided to be a good king from that day and he ordered that the monkeys in the bamboo forest be protected from harm forever. LESSON Friends, your peace of mind can help you get relief from all pains in life. And if you want to follow the path toward peace, you should develop selflessness and detachment as your key characteristics. Dalai Lama XIV once said that our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if we cant help them, at least we should not hurt them. Always remember give freely to the world these gifts of love and compassion. Do not concern yourself with how much you receive in return, just know in your heart it will be returned. we have said in the past that if we meet other peoples needs, God will meet our needs. Servant leadership uses this philosophy. Those who are leaders, let your leadership be about serving others not being served. This will be the only time we shall have the audacity to declare with Mother Teresa that... “I must be willing to give whatever it takes to do good to others. This requires that I be willing to give until it hurts. Otherwise, there is no true love in me, and I bring injustice, not peace, to those around me.”
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 19:59:53 +0000
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