How Buddha's Lake Story Teaches Us to Calm Our Minds Effortlessly

Once Buddha was walking from one town to another with a few of his followers. This was in the initial days. While they were traveling, they happened to pass a lake. They stopped there, and Buddha told one of his disciples, “I am thirsty. Do get me some water from that lake there.”

The disciple walked up to the lake. When he reached it, he noticed that right at that moment, a bullock cart started crossing through the lake. As a result, the water became very muddy and turbid. The disciple thought, “How can I give this muddy water to Buddha to drink!”

So he came back and told Buddha, “The water in there is very muddy. I don't think it is fit to drink.” After about half an hour, Buddha again asked the same disciple to go back to the lake and get him some water to drink. The disciple obediently went back to the lake.

This time too, he found that the lake was muddy. He returned and informed Buddha about the same. After some time, Buddha again asked the same disciple to go back. The disciple reached the lake to find it absolutely clean and clear with pure water in it. The mud had settled down, and the water above it looked fit to be had. So he collected some water in a pot and brought it to Buddha.

Buddha looked at the water, and then he looked up at the disciple and said, “See what you did to make the water clean. You let it be, and the mud settled down on its own—and you got clear water. Your mind is also like that! When it is disturbed, just let it be. Give it a little time. It will settle down on its own. You don't have to put in any effort to calm it down. It will happen. It is effortless.

Regards

Hi Guys, good one, but in reality, all issues/escalations in real life are bound by definite timeliness/deadlines. In this scenario, how can one remain calm?

Thank you.

Really good story, and what God Buddha said is 100% correct. When our mind is disturbed, we have to give it some time; afterwards, it will become normal.

Thanks a lot for sharing this nice motivational story.

Regards.

A nice posting - resembles the Karma sayings of Hinduism. And the reply for Sanjay & Jyothi is: Just let it be... not idly but with you doing what's in your hands wholeheartedly and not just because you are being pressured (by self or something external) into doing it - the difference is in the intention & feeling, that's all.

Regards,
TS

Handling Stress and Deadlines

Good one, but in reality, all issues/escalations in real life are bound by definite timeliness/deadlines. In this scenario, how can one remain calm?

Do we have any other alternative to that? If not, is it better to remain calm or let it be? We just need to work with full dedication to put things in a smooth way.

Regards,

Very inspiring story.

@sanjay: In real life, when facing issues, escalations, or pressure situations, what you can learn from this story is to take time and keep your mind relaxed. Give yourself some time to get things settled. Remember, time is the best healer. When you are under tension, you rarely find a solution. The problem with pressure situations is that we often fail to identify the root cause and end up searching everywhere except at the core for the answer. By maintaining a patient mindset, we can always find solutions.

Regards,
Aditya Sharma

Thank you for sharing this story. It is more relevant in today's context. Remember, never make a decision when you are angry or agitated; this is the lesson learned.

Thanks and regards,
Col. Virendra

Thank you. This is indeed a nice and calming message. I was always taught to count to 10 slowly when angry. Being somewhat short-tempered and never one to suffer fools gladly, I never paid much serious attention to this advice. But the few times I did, it had a calming effect on my mind. Thanks again.

Thank you for sharing the story that teaches us to calm our disturbed mind.

Dear Ashafalashroff, as you said in your comments, "lots of such stories in Osho's books," why don’t you share something with all of us? But here, at least, we must appreciate Doondi Reddy for sharing something with everyone.

Regards,
Singh S

Hi, nice one. But sometimes, even though you want to get settled down, storms of many problems come and stir your integrity. I think this might be faced by everyone. How to tackle this? Can anybody answer?

Good one... These are the stories from "Jataka Stories," which claim to tell the stories of previous births of Buddha in both human and animal forms. Jati refers to the previous births of Gautama Buddha (I suppose some 550 births or something, I am not clear...).

The same kind of story is referred to somewhere, which speaks about the importance of the Bhagavad Gita.

An old farmer lived on a farm in the mountains with his young grandson. Each morning, Grandpa was up early, sitting at the kitchen table reading his Bhagavad Gita. His grandson wanted to be just like him and tried to imitate him in every way he could.

One day the grandson asked, "Grandpa! I try to read the Bhagavad Gita just like you, but I don't understand it, and what I do understand I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Bhagavad Gita do?"

The Grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and replied, "Take this coal basket down to the river and bring me back a basket of water."

The boy did as he was told, but all the water leaked out before he got back to the house. The grandfather laughed and said, "You'll have to move a little faster next time," and sent him back to the river with the basket to try again.

This time the boy ran faster, but again the basket was empty before he returned home. Out of breath, he told his grandfather that it was impossible to carry water in a basket, and he went to get a bucket instead. The old man said, "I don't want a bucket of water; I want a basket of water. You're just not trying hard enough," and he went out the door to watch the boy try again.

At this point, the boy knew it was impossible, but he wanted to show his grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would leak out before he got back to the house.

The boy again dipped the basket into the river and ran hard, but when he reached his grandfather, the basket was again empty. Out of breath, he said, "See Grandpa, it's useless!"

"So you think it is useless?" The old man said, "Look at the basket."

The boy looked at the basket and, for the first time, realized that the basket was different. It had been transformed from a dirty old coal basket and was now clean, inside and out.

"Son, that's what happens when you read the Bhagavad Gita. You might not understand or remember everything, but when you read it, you will be changed, inside and out. That is the work of Krishna in our lives."

There are so many beautiful stories in Jataka too, compared to Panchatantra, VikramBethala, Akbar Birbal, Tenali Ramakrishna... They are very informative as well as refreshing...