*Tricycle's Daily Dharma*
Elements of Buddhism
Kisagotami was a poor widow who had suffered many cruel reversals in
life. Then, a final twist of the knife, the beloved baby that was all
she had in the world died. She was inconsolable and would not have the
child's body cremated. Despairing, some of her fellow villagers
suggested she go to see the Buddha. She arrived before him, still
clutching the child's corpse in her arms. "Give me some special medicine
that will cure my child," she begged.
The Buddha knew at once that the woman could not take the bald truth, so
he thought for a while. Then he said, "Yes, I can help you. Go and get
me three grains of mustard seed. But they have to come from a house in
which no death has ever occurred."
Kisagotami set off with new hope in her heart. But as she went from door
to door, she heard one heart-rending tale of bereavement after another.
That evening, when she returned to the Buddha, she had learned that
bereavement was not her own personal tragedy but a feature of the human
condition—and she had accepted the fact.
Sadly, she laid down her dead child's body and bowed to the Buddha.
--John Snelling, /Elements of Buddhism/
