Winds of Change.NET: Calling Mrs. Tu

August 14, 2004

Calling Mrs. Tu

by Joe Katzman at August 14, 2004 2:55 AM

This story comes to us via the famous Buddhist monk and author Thich Nhat Hanh. Finding Our True Home is a translation of the Amitabha Sutra, as well as an accessible commentary and introduction to the Pure Land school of Buddhism.

"There was an elderly lady who recited the name of the Buddha dutifully. Every morning she would light incense and she had a bell and wooden fish as is proper. She had been reciting the Buddha's name like that for more than 10 years but her personality had not changed one bit; she was an extremely bad tempered lady and all her neighbours were wary of her unskillful speech.

A man in the village wanted to teach her a lesson...

One morning when she was before her shrine, he came and stood at the gate and called her name: "Mrs. Tu! Mrs. Tu!"

Hearing this, she grumbled to herself: "If you have come here why don't you just come in, instead of standing out there shouting?"She began to grow very irritated. She invited the bell and the wooden fish as loudly as she could and she recited the name of the Buddha at the top of her voice in order to send the message that she was reciting the name of the Buddha and it was very impolite of her neighbour to interrupt. The neighbour, however, pretended not to hear. He just stood outside the gate and continued to call her name. In the meantime, she was trying to recite even more loudly. Both of them were shouting loudly and the neighbour persisted in pretending not to hear the recitation and to call the lady.

Finally she could bear it no longer. She pushed the bell and wooden fish out of the way and went outside, with her hands on her hips, to reprimand him: "Don't you know that this is the time when I practice recitation of the Buddha's name? Your behaviour is extremely impolite and improper."

The neighbour laughed loudly and said: "Heavens above! I only called your name twenty or thirty times and it has made you so angry, but every day you call on the Buddha for a whole hour; the Buddha must be very angry with you by now."

...And the lesson of this story is?

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Comments

#1 from Samuel Tai at 6:53 pm on Aug 14, 2004

Jeez. Mrs. Tu could give the Pharisees pointers in false piety.

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