The Cow In The Ravine, A Beautiful Moral

The history of this morality took place in a distant place, precisely where there was a monastery of Buddhist priests. A worried young man came one day. He wanted to become wise and to know the mechanisms that governed the life that priests led. He was received with pleasure.

“AcThe young man spent time in public service activities. He cleaned the stables, served the food and did the housework. He also took care of feeding and caring for the animals as well as ensuring their welfare.

After a while, the wisest of the monastery  realized that he was a humble and obedient young man. So they decided that the time had come to promote it.

He was then assigned to one of the wisest priests, responsible for training him. The disciple was happy. The teacher tells him that they should travel the world, because the great secrets of life are to be found by following the path. They packed some provisions and some clothes and left early in the morning for an uncertain destination.

A meeting that left its mark

The days passed and, with the clothes they wore, fatigue accumulated. One day, when night was already threatening to take over, in the distance, they spotted a house and went there to ask for food and shelter. However, the inhabitants of this humble house had very little. The walls barely stood up and the fields around them were deserted. Despite this, the teacher told the disciple to knock on that door and ask for help. What the young man did.

The family received them with open arms, warning them that they were very poor, but that they were going to keep them for the night anyway. They also shared their dinner with the two travelers. Once at the table,  the teacher asked them what they lived on. And them to answer that they had a dairy cow, thanks to which they could make cheese and butter. They sold everything in the village, and that allowed them to live.

The teacher was silent. Then he informed them that he and his disciple would leave early the next morning. He thanked them for their kindness, the dinner and the refuge. Then he withdrew to go to sleep until the first hour of dawn. The teacher and his disciple got up and prepared to leave.

An unusual order

Once outside, the teacher said to his disciple  : “ It is time for you to learn your first big lesson ”. Then he asked her to go to the barn, untie the cow and take her with them. The disciple hesitated. How was it possible that his teacher asked him such a thing? How was stealing from a humble family a lesson? Despite everything, as usual, he obeyed.

They both left with the cow. After a few kilometers, they came to a place full of cliffs and where there was also a ravine. There  the teacher asked the disciple to throw the cow into the ravine. Again, the disciple doubted. Was his teacher bad? Why cause this family so much trouble? At that time, the disciple did not know the meaning of these acts.

The young man ended up doing what his teacher had asked him to do. He took the cow, which resisted, and with great effort he carried out his master’s orders. The cow fell and they continued on the road. The teacher smiled and the disciple didn’t know why. He also didn’t understand what kind of lesson he was giving her.

cow

A story with a moral

Master and disciple then visited many places. In each of them the young disciple learned many lessons about the secrets of life. Several years passed and the sage to whom his education had been entrusted thought that the phase of formation was over. Both then returned to the monastery.

The young sage was very calm and very happy. He felt he was another man. However,  he was tormented by the memory of this humble family, devoid of means of subsistence. No matter how hard he thought about it, he didn’t understand the meaning of this lesson. Therefore, as soon as he had the chance, he returned to where it had all happened. He wanted to ask forgiveness from this family.

Once there, the site looked little like his memories. In place of the modest house of yesteryear, there was now a beautiful mansion. The abandoned fields had become fertile and full of life. The young man furtively knocked on the door. His past hosts opened the door to him, who looked very happy at the time.

They were happy to see him. They explained to him that the cow had disappeared, just after their passage. Necessity  then forced them to work in the fields in order to be able to cultivate them and establish new commercial relations. They had done well, and that’s how they had progressed. The young man then understood the teaching of his teacher.

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