Sugarcane

1. Once upon a time, two men were planting sugarcane in adjacent fields. The men decided that the one who grew the best cane would receive a reward, while the other with the inferior cane would be punished. 

2. One of the man, who hoped to manipulate the situation to his favour, suddenly had an idea...

3. The next day, he had his field fertilized with sugarcane juice just as he planned... 

4. But instead of yielding an excellent crop, he got only rotten seeds, and all his sugarcane was lost.

Everybody seek happiness. But some does so by relying on violence and wiles. Sometimes even abusing their power, or robbing others in the mistaken belief that owing more will make them happy.


They fail to realize and understand that what goes around comes around, and that in the future they will only experience pain and misfortune. 
Do not be like the fool who squeezed the sugarcane and ended up losing his entire crop.

The Squirrel

Long, long ago, the bodhisattva was born as a squirrel. He lived in a nest with his three little babies on a tree branch that stretched out towards the sea.

One day, a storm whipped through the forest and broke the branch supporting the squirrel's nest. The nest, together with the baby squirrels, fell into the sea.

The father, on seeing his babies floating helplessly, thought of emptying the ocean to save them. Flipping his bushy tail, he tried to empty the sea.

Sakka, the god king of the heaven of thirty-three, saw and approached the squirrel. He asked...

Please with his tenacity, Sakka saved and brought the squirrel's children to him.

Then, with great love and admiration, Sakka gently stroked the father squirrel with his three fingers. 

The three strips still on the back of all squirrels are the result of Sakka's soft stroking.

The Two Archers

One day, there were two expert archers who had different personalities took part in a competition.  

In the first round, both missed their target....

The first archer kept blaming his bow..

But the other archer thought about his aim and realized he needed to improve his concentration..

In the next round ...

the second archer improved his concentration and hit the target!

But the first archer missed it again.

It is easy to blame outside factors when we make mistakes. But in order to improve ourselves, the first step is in accepting that we have some weakness or fault. Only then can we start to improve ourselves. 

Practising Anapana and following the five precepts helps to calm and concentrate the mind and helps you to become more aware when you have made a mistake. Then it helps you keep the resolve to rectify the mistake and not repeat it again.

Anapana Meditation for Children and Teens http://www.children.dhamma.org/en/

Vipassana Meditation for Adult http://www.dhamma.org/

Swimology

Once a young professor was making a sea voyage. He was a highly educated man with a long tail of letters after his name, but he had little experience of life.  

In the crew of the ship on which he was travelling was an illiterate old sailor.

Every evening the sailor would visit the cabin of the young professor to listen to him hold forth on many different subjects.He was very impressed with the learning of the young man.
One evening the sailor was about to leave the cabin after having long conversation, the professor asked,

With a long face the old sailor went away..

Next evening again as the sailor was about to leave the cabin the professor asked him, 

With longer face the sailor went away;

Next evening once again the young professor questioned the old sailor.. 

The old sailor was very unhappy.

The nextday the oldsailor came running to the cabin
and cried..

You may study all the "-ologies" of the world, but if you do not learn swimology, all your studies are useless. You may read and write books on swimming, you may debate on its subtle theoretical aspects, but how will that help you if you refuse to enter the water yourself? You must learn how to swim.

The story of Little Parrot 小鹦鹉的故事

任何人都能重复智者说的道理，但除非我们自己开展智慧，否则我们就像鹦鹉一样，重复着无意义的话。

练习观息法与持守五戒，能帮助我们开展心的力量并使我们平静，如此也就更能避免生活中的难事。
Anyone can repeat the words of wisdom spoken by wise people. But unless each of us develop wisdom within ourselves, we are just like parrots, echoing words that have no meaning to us.
Practising Anapana sati and following the Five Precepts help one to develop strength and calmness of mind such that it becomes easier to avoid bad situations in life.