Guno and Koyo

Everywhere in Java, Sumatra and Celebes, the people know of two men named Guno and
Koyo and whenever they hear of them they smile. For the name Guno means “Helpful” and Guno
is really a very unhelpful man; and while Koyo’s name means “rich”, Koyo in fact never has any
money at all. Whatever he manages to get his hands on, Guno the “Helpful”, one helps him lose.

It is said that one time Guno persuaded Koyo to go with him to rob an Old Hadji. They
crept in the night to the old man’s house and began to dig a hole under the wall. When the hole
was large enough for a man to enter, Guno crawled through. He silently gathered the valuables of
the sleeping Hadji and handed them neatly on the ground. As Guno prepared to go out, he saw
the Hadji’s colorful robe hanging on a peg. He took the robe down and dressed himself in it. He
said to himself: “I will soil my new robe if I crawl out the way I came in.” So instead of going
through the hole, he went to the door, unlocked it and stepped out.

Koyo, expecting Guno to appear though the hole, was startled. Seeing the dignified robe
figure coming out of the door, he thought it was the Hadji, and that Guno was still inside.
“Ai! The Hadji!” Koyo screamed.

And leaving the file of loot where he had placed it on the ground, he began to run. Guno,
thinking the Hadji was behind him, hastily threw his new robe away and fled after Koyo.

Because the two of them made so much noise fleeing through the village, the neighbors
were awakened, and they came out with sticks and sickles to pursue them.
Guno and Koyo ran across the open fields until they came panting to the edge of the edge of the
river.

“Ah, we are lost!” Koyo groaned. “We’ll either be caught or beaten, or we will drown in
the flooded river!”

“The river isn’t flooded,” Guno said helpfully.

“Indeed the river is flooded'” Koyo said.

“No, it certainly is not flooded,” Guno said. “If it were in flood it would be muddy and
dark. But it is so clear you can almost see the bottom.”

Koyo looked. It was true. Faintly in the starlight, he could see the rocks on the bottom of
the river.

“Well,” he said nervously, “you go first and tell me how it is.” So Guno held his breath,
and leaped from the rocky ledge.

But the riverbed was dry, there was no water at all, and Guno fell into the ground and
stones below.
As he lay there in great surprise, he heard Koyo shouting to him from the ledge:
“How is it? How is it?”
 Guno was embarrassed. So he began to make swimming motion with his hands and legs
as he lay on the bottom of the river bed, and he called out.

“It’s fine below, don’t you see me?”

So Koyo, too, took a deep breath and closed his eyes, and leaped from the ledge. He landed
next to Guno, sprawling on the ground.

Guno, still waving his arms as though he were swimming turned to Koyo and said:

“You can see now that I was right. The river is not in flood.”

The people of the village arrived on the ledge. They looked down and shouted at the two
men to come out and take their punishment.

In terror, Koyo also began to make swimming motions.

The villagers, seeing Guno and Koyo swimming this way in the river that had been dry for
months, put down their weapons and laughed. They couldn’t bring themselves to punish the silly
fugitives.

So today, whenever a person tries to get out of a predicament by a ridiculous act, someone
is sure to say:
“Don’t go swimming in a dry riverbed.”

ACTIVITY: Answer the following questions:

1. What was ironic about the names of Guno and Koyo?

2. What did Guno and Koyo do to a sleeping Hadji one night?
3. Have you ever experienced doing a ridiculous thing to cover up a mistake you have done?
What consequence? How did you feel about the consequence?
4. Explain “Don’t go swimming in a dry riverbed”.

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 ON THE THREE EVILS
U Nu
(From a speech to the All-Burma Peasants Organization at Mandalay, May, 1953)

Humanity has been led astray by three evils – greed, hatred and ignorance. Whether we
are Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Animists, or Atheists, we cannot escape the three
inevitables: old age, disease, and death. Nobody can deny that the five sense objects – pretty sight,
delightful sound, fragrant smell, savory taste, and nice touch – are only fleeting phenomena. They
are neither lasting nor permanent.

Nor can anybody deny that property is transitory: no one can carry away his property after
death. Men have been chasing these transitory pleasures with a dogged tenacity mainly because
they hold false views regarding property. They forget that this life is not even one millionth part
of the whirlpool of Samsara (the cycles of rebirth), and go on amassing wealth even though it
never brings them full satisfaction.

This insatiable greed for wealth results in the profit motive which is not directed toward
any utilitarian purpose. Once upon a time all commodities were common property, and everybody
had a right to use them for his own benefit. But with the advent of the profit motive these
commodities became objects of exploitation. They became instruments of wealth and stimulus for
greed. This led to the following phenomena:

1. Human society was split into two classes: Haves and Have-nots.

2. The Have-nots had to depend on the Haves for their living, and thus the evil system of
exploitation of one class by another emerged.

3. With class exploitation, the poor became poorer because they could not get adequate
returns for their work. They had to resort to evil ways like stealing, looting, and
prostitution.

4. The Lord Buddha has taught us that there are four causes of death: kamma, frame of
mind, weather, and food. Under the system of class exploitation, how can the Have-
nots enjoy good food and protect themselves from extremes of weather? Can there be
any sense of happiness or contentment for them? Can even a good kamma favor one
who is cheerless? Thus one who is born into the class of Have-nots is handicapped in
all the above four factors, and disease is the inevitable result.

5. How can the Have-nots care for education with their hard struggle for a bare living?
Lack of education breeds an ever-increasing band of ignoramuses and Mr. Zeros.

6. How can a country abounding in ignoramuses and Mr. Zeros ever progress?

It is evident that most of the evils in the world can be traced to the advent of the profit
motive. Do you remember the legend of the Padaythabin (the tree of fulfillment) we heard as
children?
 According to the legend, there was once a time when men and women could get whatever
they wanted from the Padaythabin tree. There was no problem of food or clothes or housing, and
there was no crime. Disease was comparatively unknown. In course of time, however, the people
fell victim to greed and spoiled the tree of fulfillment which eventually disappeared. Then a class
of people who could not afford to eat well, dress well, or live well appeared, and crime became
rampant.

Now I ask you to think of the Padaythabin as the natural wealth of our country, both above
and under the ground. If only this natural wealth is used for the common good of mankind it will
be inexhaustible, besides satisfying the needs of everybody. But greed comes in the way. The
poorest of the poor wants to become rich; the rich want to become richer, and the process goes on
ad infinitum. Spurred on by greed, people are apt to “botanize on their mothers’ graves,” so to say,
in order to become richer. Thus the distribution of wealth becomes unequal. While some can
amass wealth which cannot be spent in ten lives, others have to wallow in extreme poverty with
bare rags on their bodies.

ACTIVITY: Answer the following questions:

1. What is evil and what makes something evil?

2. What are those three evils mentioned?
3. Aside from what was mentioned by U Nu, what other effects may evil bring to us as
humans?
4. Why do you think people are very concerned about wealth?
5. If you were a parent, what would you teach your children to make sure that they do not
grow up to be greedy persons?
6. Is there a specific way to outlaw evil in the society? How?
7. As a student, what can you do to be a catalyst of change in eradicating evil in our society?

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 The Parable of the Prodigal Son

Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, 'Father,
give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.

"Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there
squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in
that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of
that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods
that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and
here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have
sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like
one of your hired men.' So he got up and went to his father.

"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him;
he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

“The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy
to be called your son.'

"But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his
finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate.
For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to
celebrate.

"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and
dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 'Your brother has
come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and
sound.'

"The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with
him. But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never
disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my
friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes
home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'

"'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to
celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is
found'" (Luke 15:11-32).
ACTIVITY: Answer the following questions:

1. What physical gifts has God given to you that you have wasted?
2. What things do you buy (or have your parents buy) that are not essential in your
life?
3. What mistakes have you tried to keep hidden from God or your parents?
4. Give your own reflection on this story.

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 The Good Samaritan
by Sharla Guenther

This is one of the last parables we will be looking at. There are many other parables in the Bible,
so if you want to hear more ask your parents to read them to you.

This next parable started with a man asking Jesus a question. The man who asks Jesus a question
was very smart. Maybe he was trying to trick Jesus and see if he was a good teacher or not. This
is what he asked: "Teacher, what should I do so I can go to Heaven and live forever?"

Jesus replied, "What is written in the Bible? What do you think?"

The man answered, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all
your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself."

"That is right!" Jesus said. "Do this and you will live forever in Heaven."

But the man wanted to know more so asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

Jesus decided to answer this question with a parable to help everyone who was listening
understand.

Jesus said:

"There once was a Jewish man walking along a road. He was coming from Jerusalem and was
heading to Jericho, which was a full day or two of walking.

The road was rocky and there were small hills all around. The man was just humming to himself
and enjoying the nice day when suddenly a group of men jumped out from behind a hill. They
took all his belongings and tore off most of his clothes. They didn't want him to follow them so
they beat him up very badly, and left him lying and bleeding on the side of the road.

A few minutes later, a priest was walking down the same path and noticed the man lying on the
side of the road. Do you know what he did? You'd think he would run over and help the
man. Instead he crossed the road and walked on the other side and acted like he didn't see the
man.

About an hour or so later, another man, called a Levite, was walking down the road. Levites were
people who assisted priests with their work. He would probably help the man. But you know
what he did? He slowed down and walked a little closer to the man, but then kept walking
without helping him at all.

You might be thinking that maybe the man lying by the side of the road looked like he was resting
or something and that is why the priest and the Levite didn't stop to help. The trouble is, it was
easy to tell he was badly hurt. The man was bleeding, had most of his clothes ripped off him, and
he was bruised and hardly breathing.
Just a few minutes later, another man came walking. He was a Samaritan. One thing you should
know about Samaritans is that Jews didn't like them. Jews usually didn't treat Samaritans very
well, so they never got along. The man who was dying on the road was a Jew. So what do you
think the Samaritan did? You would think he would walk by and maybe even laugh at the man.

But as soon as he saw the man, he went over to him and felt compassion for him. He put bandages
on his sores and poured oil and wine (which were quite expensive) on the sores to prevent them
from getting worse. Then he lifted the man on his own donkey and took him to a hotel to take
care of him.

The next day the Samaritan took out enough money so the man could stay at the hotel until he
was well enough to leave. He paid the man at the front desk and asked him to take care of the
man. If he wasn't better after about two months the Samaritan would come back and pay for any
extra cost."

After Jesus finished the story, he asked, "Which of the three men do you think was a neighbor to
the man who was left beaten on the side of the road?"

The man who asked him the question at the beginning replied, "The one who had compassion and
helped him."

Jesus told him, "Go and do the same."

ACTIVITY:

 Create your own mini-lecture about the parable or share the story of the “Good
Samaritan” to any member of the family (mother, father, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, & cousins).
Take a video of your conversation/lecture or presentation to your family (maximum
of 5-minute video).

Discussion & Reflection Questions

Help your love ones/family members make connections between the people in this parable
and their own experiences in life. Use these Good Samaritan reflection questions as a
guide:

1. When have you been like the victim in the story? Who was your Good Samaritan?
2. When have you been like the priest or the Levite in the story? Why was it hard to
help someone in need?
3. When have you been like the good Samaritan in the story? What made you want
to help someone in need?
4. What does the story teaches us as a human being?