The worm and his lovely pile of dung!

Like in the story says… I too wonder how many of us grasp the deep meanings of pure Buddhism and gain the eternal results which possible to achieve in this moment it self!

Here is the story in brief...

Two monks had been close friends all their life. After they dies, one was reborn a deva (a heavenly being) in a beautiful heaven world, while his friend was reborn as a worm in a pile of dung. The deva soon began to miss his old friend and wondered where he'd been reborn. He couldn't find his friend anywhere in this own heaven world, so he looked in all the other heaven realms too. His friend wasn't there. Using his heavenly powers, the deva searched the world of human beings but couldn't find his friend there either.

Surely, he thought, his friend wouldn't have taken rebirth in the animal realms, but he checked there just in case. Still there was no sign of his friend from the previous life. So, next, the deva searched the world of what we call the "creepy - crawlies" and to his great surprise, there the found his friend reborn as a worm in a disgusting pile of stinking dung! The deva felt he had to rescue his old companion from such an unfortunate rebirth, no matter what karma had let to it. So the deva appeared in front of the foul pile of dung and called out,

"Hey, worm! Do you remember me? We were monks together in our past life and you were my best friend, you've been reborn in this revolting pile of cow - shit. Don't be worried, though, because I can take you to heaven with me. Come on, old friend!"

"Hang on a moment!" said the worm, "What's so great about this "heaven world" you are twittering on about? I'm very happy there with my fragrant, delicious pile of delectable dung, thank you very much."

"You don't understand," said the deva, and he gave the worm a brilliant description of the delights and pleasures of heaven. "Is there any dung up there, then?" asked the worm, getting to the point. "Of course not!" sniffed the deva. "Then I am not going!" replied the worm firmly. "Nick off!" And the worm burrowed into the center of the dung pile. The deva thought that if only the worm could see heaven for himself, then he would understand.

So the deva held his nose and thrust his soft hand into the repulsive pile of dung, searching for the worm. He found him and began to pull him out.

"Hey! Leave me alone!" screamed the worm. "Help! May Day! I'm being worm - napped!" and the little slippery worm wriggled and squirmed till he got free, then he dived back into the dung pile to hide. The kind deva plunged his fingers into the stinking faeces again, found the worm and tried once more to the pull him out. The deva almost got the worm out, but because the worm caped a second time and hi even deeper in the dung pile.

108 times the deva tried to lead the poor worm out from his miserable dung pile, but the worm was so attached to his lovely pile of dung that he always wriggled back! So, eventually, the deva had to go back up to heaven and leave the foolish worm to his "lovely pile of dung". You can read the full story clearly in here!   These kind of stories also will be in this Editorial section with little bit of my idea.

I share this story to remind you that not to become a worm of a pile of dung!

The unlimited desires, hatred & ignorance (unawareness) are like the pile of dung. Knowingly or unknowingly, we have become the worm in that pile of dung. The dhamma is there to show us the path to be free from that miserable place. But we don’t like to accept the fact and we keep running away from the practice of dhamma… in to the deep inside of the pile of dung… just like a worm…  

Like in this story, deva couldn’t save the worm forcefully. Likewise, Great Samma Sambuddha (Lord Buddha) or I or anyone else in this dhamma cannot force anyone to be with dhamma or practice it. It is totally up to you to make your own decision, whether to love our pile of dung or save ourselves from it.

Dhamma or the sharer just explain the advantages & disadvantages about the pile of dung and the results of dhamma. If one is wise enough they will consider them and make their decision.

We shouldn't ignore the offer at once or accept the offer at once without examine it clearly. If we refuse to accept the offer like the worm did, we never realize what we are actually missing... if we accept the offer without examine it, we may get something which don’t like. So it’s up to you to be a wise being!

Let’s see what’s in this pile of dung and how one can free from it through “Nirvana Dhamma”! Don’t forget to observe clearly with an open mind. Without having proper observation & examination you won’t be get it right!