Finding Happiness: What the Buddha's Story Teaches Us About Letting Go of Our 'Cows'

One day, the Buddha was sitting in the woods with thirty or forty monks. They had an excellent lunch and were enjoying each other's company. A farmer passed by, appearing very unhappy. He asked the Buddha and the monks if they had seen his cows passing by. The Buddha replied that they had not seen any cows passing by.

The farmer expressed his distress, saying, "Monks, I'm so unhappy. I have twelve cows, and I don't know why they all ran away. I also have a few acres of sesame seed plantation, and the insects have eaten up everything. I suffer so much that I think I am going to kill myself."

The Buddha responded, "My friend, we have not seen any cows passing by here. You may want to look for them in the other direction."

Grateful, the farmer thanked him and hurried away. The Buddha then turned to his monks and said, "My dear friends, you are the happiest people in the world. You don't have any cows to lose. If you have too many cows to take care of, you will be very busy.

"That is why, to be happy, you must learn the art of cow releasing (laughter). You release the cows one by one. Initially, you believed those cows were essential to your happiness, striving to acquire more and more cows. Now, you realize that cows are not true conditions for your happiness; they hinder your happiness.

Therefore, you are determined to release your cows."

Nice one!

There is a similar story of Club 99!

In this story, there are two people. One is very rich with many lands and production, while the other one is a small farmer with one piece of land and a small house.

Every day, the rich person noticed that the poor farmer was very happy with his family and managed to spend a lot of time with his wife and kid. There was no sign of unhappiness or stress in his life.

On the other hand, I am in stress all the time, managing my lands and counting things. He asked his manager to explain to him the situation. His manager replied, "Sir, the answer is very simple; he does not belong to Club 99."

The rich person did not understand and asked, "What is Club 99?"

The manager said, "You have to understand it on your own. Just give 99 gold coins to the poor farmer and then wait and watch."

The next day, the rich person left the money at the farmer's door. As the poor farmer saw it, he started counting it - it was 99. He counted it again, and it was still 99. He stored the money in a secure place and began working hard to earn that one more coin, losing all his happiness in the process of obtaining that one more coin.

Thus, the rich person understood the concept of "Club 99."

Moral: We should be satisfied with what we have to be happy in life.