The happy pilgrim Ben

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Nils
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu May 19, 2022 12:33 pm

The happy pilgrim Ben

Post by Nils »

Ben was a farmer in Tibet. One day he decided to make a pilgrimage to a famous temple. There was a big golden Buddha there who supposedly fulfilled all wishes. Ben was content with his life as a simple farmer. But his wife sometimes annoyed him quite a bit. So he set off for the golden Buddha. His wife did not agree at all. She now had to do all the work on the farm alone. And there was a lot of work there.

Ben hiked for several weeks through the wild mountain landscape of Tibet until he reached the temple. In the center of the temple, on a throne, sat the golden Buddha. Around him, in the dim light of the temple, burned many sacred butter lamps. Other pilgrims had laid down small sacrificial breads before the Buddha. These were small delicious desserts. Ben's mouth watered at the sight, for he had become very hungry from the long pilgrimage.

Ben threw himself on the ground in front of the Buddha several times. The Tibetan prostrations are a form of worship. One puts his hands together in front of the heart chakra, bows to the Buddha and kneels down and then lies stretched out with his forehead on the ground. This is done at least three times. The third time, Ben fell asleep on the floor in front of the Buddha, because he was very tired and exhausted from the long journey. In a dream, the golden Buddha appeared to him in a vision. The Buddha said to Ben, "I welcome you to my temple. You are hungry from all the wandering. You are welcome to eat up the sacrificial bread."

Ben didn't need to be told twice. He immediately woke up and gleefully consumed all the offering breads. Before doing so, he dipped them in the fat of the butter lamps to make them taste even better. Suddenly the door of the temple opened and the temple guard, a high lama, entered. He was horrified to see Ben desecrating the temple. Only the priests of the temple, as representatives of the Buddha, were allowed to eat the sacrificial bread. The Lama shouted, "Good-for-nothing, get out." So Ben did.

On the way back, he kept thinking of the lama's words. Ben thought they were a sacred mantra that the golden Buddha had ultimately given him. Whenever a negative thought came up that bothered Ben, he thought "good-for-nothing, get out." As time went on, his negative thoughts became less and less and Ben became more and more peaceful. He even forgot the wish he wanted to make to the golden Buddha. His wish was to be released from the constant nagging of his wife.

When he arrived back at his farm, the wife had taken another husband in the meantime. The time of the pilgrimage had become too long for her and the work too much. So she had married the farmhand without further ado. When Ben showed up again, she now had one husband too many. Therefore, she shouted to Ben, "Good-for-nothing, get out of here."

Ben spontaneously let go of all attachment to his wife and the farm. He recognized himself as a good-for-nothing and his ego dissolved. The happiness of enlightenment awoke in him. Through the long pilgrimage and his new mantra, he had become a golden Buddha himself. As a happy beggar he wandered through the country and now received many offering breads from his devotees himself. His wish for a bleat-free life had come true. And when a negative thought plagued him, he thought his mantra. He conceived of himself as a good-for-nothing who had no aspirations for anything. He therefore accepted life as it came. He flowed with things as they turned out and thus always remained in peace and happiness. (Freely retold from Tibetan wisdom stories)
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master of puppets
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Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2020 9:52 pm

Re: The happy pilgrim Ben

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