289-The Plague God- Buddhism in daily life

The Plague God

Many years ago, an old wanderer was sitting under a tree, taking a rest.

Then the god of plagues passed by his place, the man was frightened and fear overtook him. Nevertheless, he greeted the god and asked him what he was doing in this area, why he was here.

The plague god answered him that he was on his way to the next town to kill 100 inhabitants there, that was his task, he had to do that.

Glad that the god did not want to kill him, the man said goodbye to the scary figure, took a bottle of wine from his sack and emptied it in one go, he fell into a deep sleep and began to dream deeply.

Madness had seized him, now he saw the city in front of him, many people died a terrible death, everywhere was fire, smoke, stench and screams. In his imagination he also saw the plague god roaming through the city, touching people with a stick, and then they started screaming and running away in panic, an apocalypse was taking place in his imagination.

All of a sudden, the plague god turned around, looked directly at the wanderer, in a dream, without warning. The wanderer gathered all his courage and addressed the god: "You told me under the tree that you wanted to kill 100 people, yes you had to, but now thousands are already dead and many more will die, why are you doing this, why are you killing more inhabitants than it corresponds to your task"?

The plague god answers: "But I have killed only 100, the other people die from their fear, from the fear, from the horror. And from the events that arise from this horror; I have only done my job and killed 100, the rest die from the consequences for which the people themselves are responsible, not because of me, I have set the cause, yes, but the other consequences are not my fault".

The man woke up in a sweat, took his bundle and went his way, he never came back to that city again!

What do we learn from this story?

With our attitude of mind we determine our ego, we affect our environment with it, we influence everything around us, people, animals, things.

The horror creeps from house to house, ringing all people out.

I now dismantle my doorbell, turn off my phone, and otherwise, I am no longer accessible for the horror.

Wisdom grows in quiet places!

Great wisdom has no outward form, good things take a long time, strong sounds are rarely heard.

- Lü Buwei - Chinese philosopher - 300 to 236 B.C.

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