Many, many years ago there was a pagoda in one city, famous for its miraculous power throughout the entire area.
At the foot of this pagoda there was a well, and in that well a huge snake settled, which patronized good people and cruelly punished bad ones.
In a small village not far from the pagoda there lived a woodcutter and his wife. They had heard a lot about the miraculous power of the pagoda, but they themselves had never had the opportunity to visit there. One day a wife says to her husband:
– Ko Phou Do, all we do is work and work. This can't go on any longer! It's time for us to take care of our souls. We have not yet done anything good, and fate constantly bypasses us with its mercy. Let's go to the famous pagoda and pay homage to Buddha. This will be both pleasant and useful for us.
“Are you out of your mind, Ma Yei Khin!” - exclaimed the husband. – Is this conceivable? We don’t have any savings, what we earn is what we eat! How can we quit our business? However, it is very unpleasant for me to serve as an obstacle to your plan! You know what? You go alone, and I’ll pray next time. And while you are walking, I will work for two – for you and for myself.
After grumbling a little, the wife agreed. Rising the next day before dawn, she prepared food, collected everything she needed and hit the road.
And at that time it was just the day of fasting, and a great crowd of parishioners crowded around the pagoda. Some approached the abbot of the monastery to confess, others gathered in small groups and animatedly discussed something. However, many parishioners, wandering completely alone, focused on their rosary beads, whispering prayers as they did so. Stunned by everything she saw, Ma Yei Khin also took her rosary and approached the Buddha statue.
“Auntie,” she turned to the elderly woman standing next to her, “please tell me how to finger the rosary.”
Without even listening to Ma Yei Khin’s question, the woman casually replied:
- Yes, very simple. Say: I’ll come. That's all the wisdom for you!
Ma Yei Khin accepted her words as truth and, perched at the foot of the statue, began to finger her rosary, carefully whispering “I’ll come.” So she sat until late in the evening, directing all her thoughts to the Buddha and endlessly repeating the only one she knew. prayer.
“What a pitiful and downtrodden woman,” the snake thought, “she is completely illiterate, that’s why she repeats such ridiculous words. However, you can immediately see that she is a good woman, she reveres Buddha. We need to help her."
And the snake gave the woman many precious pearls. Joyful, Ma Yei Khin returned home and told her husband about everything that had happened to her. The husband and wife sold some of the pearls, and decided to donate some to the pagoda. The woman who taught Ma Yei Khin to whisper “I’ll come” was also present at the offering ceremony.
Ma Yei Khin rushed to thank her:
But it was you who helped me get rich,” she said. You taught me to finger the rosary, and when I said your prayer “I’ll come, I’ll come,” a snake crawled and presented me with a lot of pearls.
The woman became envious, and, taking her rosary, she went to the pagoda the next day. Fingering her rosary, overwhelmed with impatience, the woman began babbling in a loud and harsh voice: “I’m coming, I’m coming, I’m coming, I’m coming.” She hoped that the snake would appreciate her zeal and, like Ma Yei Khin, give her pearls.
However, the wise snake figured out her cunning plan. She got tired of listening to the screams of the careless parishioner, and, approaching her, the snake hissed:
“Get out of here immediately, or I’ll kill you.”
With a cry of “I’m coming,” the woman rushed to run away as fast as she could.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru