Once upon a time there was this girl who had four boyfriends.
She loved the 4th boyfriend the most and adorned him with rich robes and treated him to the finest ofdelicacies. She gave him nothing but the very best.
She also loved the 3rd boyfriend very much and was always showing him off to neighboring kingdoms. However, she feared that one day he would leave her for another.
She also loved her 2nd boyfriend. He was her confidant and was always kind, considerate and patient with her. Whenever this girl faced a problem, she could confide in him, and he would help her get through the difficult times.
The girls 1st boyfriend was a very loyal partner and had made great contributions in maintaining her wealth and kingdom. However, she did not love the first boyfriend. Although he loved her deeply, she hardly took notice of him!
One day, the girl fell ill and she knew her time was short. She thought of her luxurious life and wondered, I now have four boyfriends with me, but when I die, I'll be all alone."
Thus, she asked the 4th boyfriend, "I loved you the most, endowed you with the finest clothing and showered great care over you. Now that I'm dying, will you follow me and keep me company?"
"No way!", replied the 4th boyfriend, and he walked away without another word.
His answer cut like a sharp knife right into her heart.
The sad girl then asked the 3rd boyfriend, "I loved you all my life. Now that I'm dying, will you follow me and keep me company?"
"No!", replied the 3rd boyfriend. "Life is too good! When you die, I'm going to marry someone else!"
Her heart sank and turned cold.
She then asked the 2nd boyfriend, "I have always turned to you for help and you've always been there for me. When I die, will you follow me and keep me company?"
"I'm sorry, I can't help you out this time!", replied the 2nd boyfriend. "At the very most, I can only walk with you to your grave."
His answer struck her like a bolt of lightning, and the girl was devastated..
Then a voice called out: "I'll go with you. I'll follow you no matter where you go.."
The girl looked up, and there was her first boyfriend. He was very skinny as he suffered from malnutrition and neglect.
Greatly grieved, the girl said, "I should have taken much better care of you when I had the chance!"
In truth, you have 4 boyfriend's in your lives:
Your 4th boyfriend is your body. No matter how much time and effort you lavish in making it look good, it will leave you when you die.
Your 3rd boyfriend is your possessions, status and wealth. When you die, it will all go to others.
Your 2nd boyfriend is your family and friends. No matter how much they have been there for you, the furthest they can stay by you is up to the grave.
And your 1st boyfriend is your Soul. Often neglected in pursuit of wealth, power and pleasures of the world.
However, your Soul is the only thing that will follow you where ever you go. Cultivate, strengthen and cherish it now, for it is the only part of you that will follow you to the throne of God and continue with you throughout Eternity.
Most of us is just like in the story...we all care for ourselves the most...we wanted to look pretty in front of people, close our weakness and show our nice and cool self up...just like with the 4th boyfriend....of course then our most valuable stuff...money, laptop, hand phone...etc....like the third boyfriend....then the most that we interacted is often our family and friends....the one closest to us.... they bring joy and sorrow to us in our everyday life....they let us feel warm but sometime feel cold.....that is the excitement of life....it can be unpredictable and it usually wont go our way....but always we neglected our soul.....our heart and mind....we often find sensual pleasure to filled our heart and mind but often forget to purify our mind....juz like yee mun say:"only the soul follow us when we die, so what are u doing now??? step up and pray now!!"
well in buddhism we should know that nothing can follow us to death except for what we done in the past that determine how we are going to be in the future.....so juz like my friend yee mun say step up and do it NOW!!! no more next time as we all don know if we can live through today....so just help anyone or anything when u have the chance....don hesistate....do it NOW before it is too late....don worry coz we are learning....so let us learn together and spread the joy and happiness of the dhamma around......do our best and believe that u will be rewarded....^^
1 comment:
hey, i read about the same story too~ but it's a forward email from my friend, and the characters in the story is change to a king who has four wives.. but basically, the concept is the same.. and i like the meaning that is brought out by this story! hehe..
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