The cat came before the cave where the mice lived. Standing on one foot, he turned to face the sun and opened his mouth wide. Seeing this, the mice grew curious...

When the Buddha was alive, he led a large group of monks in learning the dharma and cultivating themselves spiritually. One morning, many of the monks gathered and talked about a monk whom they considered a hypocrite. In public, the monk in question was all eloquence and uprightness, but in private he often acted wrongfully. The monks could not decide whether they should tell the Buddha about this.

The Buddha happened to walk by while they were still debating and he asked what they were talking about. After hearing their explanation, he told them that the monk really did want to cultivate himself, only he had some bad habits that were hard to change, not only in his present life, but in his previous lives as well. He then told them about one of this monk's previous lives.

A long time ago, a tribe of mice lived on a mountain, ruled by a king mouse. The tribe lived a regular life, foraging for food in the mornings and returning in the evenings to rest in their cave.

One day, a cat came to this mountain and thought about settling down here for good. He thought about what he would feed on, preferably without having to work too hard for his meals. Suddenly he saw a long line of mice led by a king mouse entering a cave. The cat was struck with a brilliant idea.

The next morning, he came to a spot in front of the cave. Lifting up three of his feet, he stood on only one foot and faced toward the sun with his mouth wide open. He stood quite still in this position. As the king mouse and his tribe walked out from the cave, they were intrigued by the cat's peculiar posture.

The king mouse marched toward the cat and asked why he was acting this way. "I can't bear to burden the earth with my weight, so I stand on only one foot," the cat replied. "By facing the sun, I can absorb the sunshine and practice the exercise of brightness. My mouth is wide open because I eat only the wind and nothing else."

The king mouse was truly moved by what he thought were the words of a virtuous spiritual practitioner. From then on, every morning before they left to search for food, the king mouse and the tribe would first salute the cat. In the evenings, the gesture was repeated before the mice went back to their cave.

Some time had passed when the mice began to wonder why their originally crowded cave seemed to be getting more and more spacious. Was it because there were fewer mice? The issue was brought up to the king mouse who, after careful consideration, suspected it was the cat's doing.

The following morning, the king mouse told the other mice to line up as usual and pay their respects to the cat, while he himself came last in line. The cat tried its old trick of grabbing the last mouse in line, but the king mouse was too agile and he escaped. He called for the other mice to turn back and together they overpowered the cat.

The king mouse said to the cat, "You used fraud and deceit to get your meals--you should be ashamed of yourself."

When the Buddha ended his story, he told the monks: "The cat was reborn as the monk you are talking about today, and I myself was the king mouse. For many lifetimes I have been trying to teach and influence him, but he has not tried hard to change his bad habits. Therefore, his bad habits remain and everyone detests him."

* * * * *

The old saying goes: "Your teacher can show you the way, but your cultivation depends on you." It is essential for you to get up the determination and perseverance needed to rectify your weaknesses. Otherwise, even with perpetual guidance from such a great educator as the Buddha, you will be like the monk in the story, never able to get rid of your bad habits and always despised by everyone around you.

A thought is a seed. Whatever seed you plant in your heart, its fruit will grow in the future. We should actively nurture good thoughts and unwaveringly eliminate evil thoughts. Thus our blessings and wisdom will increase every day. Fail to do so, and the bad deeds that accumulate life after life will result in endless anxiety and unspeakable suffering.