The Monkey and the Buffalo

The Monkey and the Buffalo

 Ajanta Caves,Gupta Period, 5th Century CE

          Jataka stories contained lots of wisdom in the form of folklore.  Here is the story of a mischievous monkey who would close the eyes of a buffalo who was a Bodhisattva. The monkey would play with him all day. One day another buffalo stood in place of the kind buffalo. The monkey mistook him to be the kind buffalo.  He closed the eyes of the buffalo.  The buffalo was enraged. He threw the monkey down and gorged him to death. 

           The fable is both about compassion and anger. It is also about genuine gurus and fake ones. We get entangled with fake gurus and are gorged to death. It is also about trusting and not trusting the people. One should be careful in choosing the right kind of friends. A wrong company can lead to injury and death. 

          Through simple stories complex messages were given to the common man. The stories are relevant even today as they contain the wisdom of ages.