Greed destroys peace of mind | story on peace
There was a woodcutter in a town. Every day he went to the forest, cut firewood sold it to people and lived with that income. In this work, he got less income. However, he lived with peace of mind.
One day, while he was cutting firewood as usual in the forest, he heard a voice from the side of a big tree, “Do you want seven jars of gold?” said the voice.
The woodcutter went near the tree. “I am the demon living in this tree. Under this royal tree, there are seven jars full of gold. Dig it if you need it,” said the voice.
He was very happy when he heard it and said “seven jars of gold”. He hurriedly dug a hole under the tree. Just as the demon had said, there were seven jars inside the pit he dug. He opened all the jars. They contained gold.
But only one jar contained half of the gold. Thinking, “It’s only half… he decided that he could fill this up anyway” he brought all the seven jars to his house. When he got home, he put the gold jewellery he already had, in the half-gold jar.
Then he started to earn money by working harder than before to add more gold to the jar. He turned his earnings into gold and put it in that jar.
No matter how much gold he put in the jar, the jar was never full, it remained half as before. He did not even rest from cutting the firewood, he worked day and night to add the jar full of gold. This made him feel tired and sleepy. He forgot to eat.
Finally, he became ill. One day he saw his friend. His friend felt sorry for the condition of the woodcutter. He asked what was the cause of his condition. He told all the incidents that happened.
He heard the woodcutter’s words and replied, “My friend, did you bring that jar from under the big tree in the forest?” he asked. Oh, yes, how do you know this? he looked at his friend and asked.
He said, “I too am the one who desired these seven jars of gold and spoiled my peace of mind.” So what should I do now? asked the woodcutter. The man said to return the seven jars from the place he took them and asked him to tell the giant tree that he didn’t need this gold.
The next day after cutting the wood, he took the seven jars as his friend told him and buried them under the giant tree and told the demon as his friend had told him and came to his house. After that, the woodcutter’s greed was completely quenched. He lived in peace.
Moral: If we are greedy for something, our peace of mind will be damaged. Therefore, one should learn to live with satisfaction.