Namo Buddhaya!!! Children’s Dhamma Program Noble Dhamma for Little Hearts
The Story of Pandita the Novice monk
Udakaṁ hi nayanti nettikā - Usukārā namayanti tejanaṁ, Dāruṁ namayanti tacchakā - Attānaṁ damayanti paṇḍitā.
Irrigators guide water to wherever it is needed.Arrow makers shape arrows to fit task. Carpenters fashion wood for the desired design. The wise tame themselves in the same way.
Dear children,
Pandita was a young son of a rich man of Savatthi. He became a samanera(a novice monk) at the age of seven. On the eighth day after becoming a samanera, as he was following great Arahanth Sariputta on a Pindapatha(alms-round), he saw some farmers channeling water into their fields and asked the Arahanth, "Can water which has no thinking power be guided to flow wherever a person wants ?" The Arahanth replied, "Yes Samanera, it can be guided to flow wherever a person wishes."As they continued on their way, the Samanera next saw some fletchers(who make and sell arrows) heating their arrows with fire and straightening them. Further on, he came across some carpenters cutting, sawing and preparing timber to make it into things like cart-wheels. Then he thought, "If water which is without mind or thinking ability can be guided to flow wherever one likes, if a crooked bamboo which is without same can be straightened, and if timber which is without same can be made into useful things, why should I, having a mind with thinking ability, be unable to tame my mind and practise Samatha(tranquillity) and Vipassana(insight) meditation?"