TO MILK A DONKEY

Once upon a time, there was a group of frontiersmen who had never seen a monkey
before. Thus they could not identify it. They were told that its milk was delicious.
It happened that they found a male donkey and they tried to milk it. They began
their wrangling about apprehending it.

One seized its head: another, its ears; the third, its tail; the fourth, its feet; and
finally the fifth, its penis. All wanted to be the first to drink its milk. The one who
grasped the donkey's penis called out that he could get milk there from. Then he
began to extract. Finally, this group of people felt tired and bored, for they could
not get what they had wanted. They got nothing in return, despite of their effort.
They were all laughed at by the people at large.

This is also held to be true with the common heretics.The heretics who learn their
religious faith from some inadequate sources, might lead to illusions giving rise to
all kinds of heterodox views such as to go naked, to fast, to jump into precipice or
go through fire. With all these kinds of heterodox views, they fall to the evil
paths, like those stupid men seeking in vain for milk from a male donkey.
 A DOVE
Once upon a time, there were two doves, male and female, which lived together in a
nest. They filled their nest with fruit seed that grew up during the fall. Later, the
fruit dried and shrank to fill but half of the nest. The male was in a temper and
said to the female, "We have been working hard together for the fruit. Now you
have eaten it alone. It's half of what it was.

The female replied, "I haven't eaten it alone. For the fruit has shrunk by itself."

Incredulous, the male angrily said, "If it has not been you alone who had eaten, how
could it grow so much less now?"

Then he pecked the female to death. A few days later, it happened to rain heavily.
The fruit got moist and grew to its former size. On seeing it, the male regretfully
realized that she really had not eaten and that he had wrongly killed her. He then
cried bitterly and called out to her: "Where have you gone?"

This is also held to be true with the common people. Leading a disorderly life,
people indulge in wild pleasures. They think nothing of impermanence when breaking
major commandments. It will be too late for them to repent afterwards. It only
remains for them to give vent to their sadness with sighs like the stupid dove.
 THE TRADER AND THE DEAD CAMEL
Once there was a trader who was traveling on business. It so happened that the
camel suddenly died on the way. The animal was loaded with valuable things such as
jewels, clothes, carpet of first quality and sundries. The trader then skinned the
camel. He went away leaving it to his two apprentices and said, "Watch the camel's
skin. Don't let it get damp."

Later, when it started to rain, the two dull men covered the skin with all the fine
carpet, which became entirely ruined. Obviously the skin and carpet differed much
in price. They put the carpet to cover the skin out of ignorance.

So are the people at large. Abstaining from killing refers to the fine carpet, the
camel's skin, and wealth. To let the carpet get damp when it is raining means to
undermine recklessly good merits. The abstention from killing is the supreme
motive to attain Buddhahood. Unfortunately, people do not effectively practice it.
They merely adhere to build pagodas or temples and give alms to support monks.
This is giving up the essential and pursuing the non-essential. In other words,
people are not conscious of seeking the fundamental. Unable to go out of the
vicious cycle, they lead their lives, through the Five Ways of existence. Therefore,
the commandment of the abstention from killing should be earnestly observed by
the followers.