Buddhist Stories: “The Merits of Saving a Life” (Part 2 of 2) August 3, 2015

Once, the Buddha was in a country called Rajagariha (modern Rajgir) in another garden, the Bamboo Garden. In that country, there were court officials like the second prime minister of that country. He was very, very rich, but he didn’t have any children. So of course, the lady of the prime minister, after pleading with the god, not too long after, she was pregnant, of course, and then gave birth to a son who was very beautiful. Whatever he learns, he will excel at it. It’s that he prefers more learning the teaching of the Truth. And then he will want to become a monk. So the son sensed that the parents did not agree with his request, so he bowed to them and got out. And from then on, day and night, he was very, very miserable. And he was thinking to himself, “If I kill myself, if I kill this physical body, and then I will be reborn again, then I will be able to become a monk as I wanted.” And then he found so many, many other ways to kill himself. No. No success. He was still alive. And then the King Ajātaśatru kneelet down in front of the Buddha and pleaded with the Buddha to explain to him what kind of merit this son of the prime minister had earned. The Buddha reminded the King Ajātaśatru thus, “Your Majesty should know that the prime minister who saved only one person’s life that time, is this boy. Because of that, whenever, wherever he’s born he never dies too early.” “And because of that also, today he can meet me personally and become my monk.”