2021-05-19 Sutta Stories - The Lady and Her Servant

Insight Meditation Center13min

Gil Fronsdal

00:02

I will continue today with some stories from the suttas, the ancient discourses of the Buddha. The Buddha himself was a storyteller. He tells innumerable stories as part of his teachings. Some of them may be events that he experienced. Some of them, I think he made up for the purposes of teaching. He also makes up many analogies and metaphors. He is a wonderful storyteller. He has a rich vocabulary of storytelling techniques for helping us understand better.

Gil Fronsdal

00:55

Here is a story the Buddha told. It seems that there was a monk who would easily get upset, get angry, when someone pointed out that he was not behaving properly. So the Buddha told this story,

Gil Fronsdal

01:16

Once there was a lady, Vedehikā, who was known for being gentle, kind, and peaceful. She had a reputation around town that this was how she was. This lady had a servant by the name of Kāḷī. Kāḷī worked hard. She was very clever, competent and neat in her work. She cooked delicious food and did everything for the household, which made everything go smoothly and easily.

Gil Fronsdal

02:05

One day Kāḷī, the servant, thought to herself, "It seems that people have this idea that the lady is kind, gentle and peaceful. I wonder if this is really the case. Let me find out." The next morning, when usually Kāḷī would wake up before the lady and get everything ready for the day. But on this day, Kāḷī slept in.

Gil Fronsdal

02:40

The lady woke up and found that the servant was still sleeping. She said to her, "What is the matter, Kāḷī, that you are sleeping?" Kāḷī said, "Nothing is the matter. I am just sleeping in." The lady got upset and angry, and spoke harshly to her. "Don't do that again. You shouldn't. You can't. You have to do your work."

Gil Fronsdal

03:15

On the next day, Kāḷī slept in again. The lady asked, "What's the matter?" Kāḷī said, "Nothing is the matter. I am just sleeping in." The lady got even more upset, and spoke even more harshly. The following day the same thing happened. This time the lady got really upset. She got a rolling pin from the kitchen and started hitting the servant over the head. "Terrible, you're wicked, you're bad. How could you do such a thing?"

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