315-The wise ruler- Buddhism in daily life

The wise ruler

In a beautiful land once ruled a king, but on his territory the people were poor, the harvests were changeable, the soil difficult to cultivate. The subjects feared the king and because of the many famines they were dissatisfied and disappointed, they blamed their ruler for their predicament.

Now the ruler truly could not change anything about the circumstances, he tried his best, but his possibilities were limited.

On a particularly beautiful day, the ruler called his subjects together in the main square; he had news to announce. With grumbling the inhabitants of his capital gathered, full of fear and curiosity they waited closely for the appearance of their regent.

What will come, what is so important to call a meeting?

The worries of the waiting people increased, the clamor of voices reached its peak when finally the monarch appeared in front of his palace. The king greeted the waiting crowd politely and with great kindness, the people's worries quickly diminished, the people hung spellbound on his lips.

My son shall not grow up as a prince, the king said, he shall get to know the life of the people normally, like any other child of my people in my country, without privileges, without status. Only then will he become a good king, only then will he truly understand his subjects. So I gave my son to a family some time ago, his new parents do not know who he is, I exchanged the child of a simple family with my son, the other child is now growing up here in the palace.

But I instruct you to take good care of my son, no harm shall come to him, if something happens to him I will call you all to account!

Then the ruler said goodbye and went back to his palace. The crowd remained perplexed, and after a while they all went their separate ways.

But in the minds of the subjects what they had heard remained ever present, no one forgot the words of the monarch. And they began to treat all the children in the city and in the country very well, after all, every child could be the king's child.

Time passed, year after year passed, the children grew up, had children of their own, still no one knew who the prince was.

Through the love and new cohesion of the community among themselves, the city and the country developed splendidly, the territory of the ruler developed rapidly, there were many

Schools, libraries and hospitals were built, and children's voices were also heard more than in other countries; a child's opinion now carried great weight in this country.

People were content and happy, achieved a certain prosperity, the country was unrecognizable.

And why?

Because everybody treated everybody like a king.

WHAT YOU TELL ME, I FORGET. WHAT YOU SHOW ME, I REMEMBER. WHAT YOU MAKE ME DO, I UNDERSTAND.

- CONFUCIUS - KONG FUZI (CHINESE 孔夫子) - CHINESE PHILOSOPHER - 551 B.C. CHR. UNTIL 479V. CHR.

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