The Tale of the Selfless Hare

 The Tale of the Selfless Hare

Long ago, the Bodhisattva was reborn as a hare. He lived in a leafy forest that was rich with fruits and bordered by a river of pure water as blue as lapis lazuli.

The hare had three friends—a monkey, a jackal, and an otter—who looked to the wise hare as their leader. He taught them the importance of keeping moral laws, observing holy days, and giving alms. Whenever a holy day approached, the hare advised his friends that if someone asked them for food, they were to give freely and generously from the food they had gathered for themselves.

Sakra, lord of devas, was watching the four friends from his great palace of marble and light on the peak of Mount Meru, and on one holy day, he decided to test their virtue.

That day, the four friends separated to find food. The otter found seven red fish on a riverbank; the jackal found a lizard and a vessel of milk someone had abandoned; the monkey gathered mangoes from the trees.

 

Sakra took the form of a Brahman, or priest, and he went to the otter and said, "Friend, I am hungry. I need food before I can perform my priestly duties. Can you help me?"  The otter offered the Brahman the seven fish he had gathered for his own meal.

He also asked the same thing to both the jackal and the monkey, and they also generously offered the Brahman the foods they had looked forward to eating for themselves.

Then the Brahman went to the hare and asked for food, but the hare had no food other than the grass growing in the forest. So, the hare told the Brahman to build a fire, and when the fire was burning, he said, "I have nothing to give you to eat but myself!" Then, the hare threw himself into the fire.

 

The disguised lord of deva was astonished and deeply moved. He caused the fire to go instantly cold so that the hare was not burned, and then revealed his true form to the selfless little hare. "Dear hare," he said, "your virtue will be remembered through the ages." And then Sakra painted the wise hare's likeness on the pale face of the moon for all to see.

Sakra returned to his home on Mount Meru, and the four friends lived long and happily in their beautiful forest. And to this day, those who look up at the Moon can see the image of the selfless hare.