The lady and the Ogress
ONCE THERE WAS A MAN who was becoming impatient with his wife for not being able
to bear him any children. At the same time, his wife was becoming increasingly
anxious because she was not able to give him the children he longed for.
Fearing that her husband would one day abandon her, she coaxed him into taking
another wife. But each time she learned that the new wife was pregnant, she
caused her to miscarry by putting some drugs into her food.
The second wife eventually figured out what was going on, but it was
too late to do anything about it, for she was already near
death’s door from being poisoned so often. Before she finally died, however,
she swore that she would pay the first wife back for all the suffering she was
caused should their paths cross again in future lives.
And indeed
their paths did cross again. Once they were reborn as a cat and a hen, and
another time as a leopardess and a doe, and each time they were after each
other’s off springs, creating
more and more hatred between themselves. Finally, they were reborn as the
daughter of a nobleman and an ogress.
One day,
the ogress in all her fury was chasing after the nobleman’s daughter and her
baby. The mother, in desperation, fled to the monastery where the Buddha was
staying and begged the Buddha to save her child from the hungry ogress.
The
Buddha, instead, admonished her, as well as the ogress, for the folly of their
unabated vengeance. He then related to them how their mutual hatred began and
how, because of that hatred, they had been killing off each other’s babies in
their successive lifetimes. He made them realize that hatred only caused more
hatred, and that hatred ceased only through goodwill and compassion. The lady
and the ogress then felt great remorse for their past actions and asked each
other for forgiveness. In that way, after many lifetimes of unbroken rivalry
filled with hatred, they finally made peace with each other.
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