Page:Henry Mulford Tichenor - The Buddhist Philosophy of Life.djvu/46

 44 The fish, swimming lustily in the river, was playing with his mate. She, swimming ahead, perceived the meshes of a net, and changing her course escaped being caught; but he, blinded by his infatuation, swam straight into the mouth of the net. The fisherman pulled up the net, and the imprisoned fish, bemoaning his fate, said: "This, then, is the bitter fruit of my folly"; and would have died had not a Bodhisatta (one who has only to be born once more to enter Nirvana) chanced to pass that way, and took pity on him. He bought the fish from the fisherman, and said to him: "My good fish, had I not discovered thee, thou wouldst have lost thy life. I will save thee, but hereafter avoid the temptation of lust." With these words he threw the fish back into the river.

My son, make the best of the time that is offered to thee in thy present existence. Guard against the evils that lead only to suffering.

A tailor, who prided himself on his ability to outwit his customers, entered upon a business transaction with a stranger, in whom he found his master in fraudulent practices, and suffered a heavy loss.

The Buddha said: In other incarnations this tailor had lived greedy lives, and suffered many losses. Many generations gone he had lived as a crane near a pond, and, when the dry season set in, he said to the fishes: "Are you not anxious for your future welfare? There