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Buddha and Ananda arrived at a market one day to find an old man who was selling fish. He was complaining while peddling.
Buddha walked up to the old man and stopped in his tracks to listen.
The old man lamented, “Why is God so unfair? I am already so old, and yet my only son just suddenly passed away! My son was the sole breadwinner of the family. He caught and sold fish for a living. Now that he has passed on, all of his responsibilities have fallen onto my shoulders. What a tough life I am leading! “
Buddha listened attentively to the complaints of the old man. He then closely examined the contents of the fish tank beside the man – a variety of fishes were all placed in shallow waters, many of the smaller fishes were no longer alive, and a few of the larger fishes were struggling to stay alive. Buddha shook his head and a forced smile flashed across his face.
Ananda did not comprehend the old man’s reasoning for his suffering, he then asked Buddha, “There were a lot of factors that contributed to the old man’s current adversity. He had to face the sudden passing of his son, which left him in utter devastation. However, time and the world do not stand still, he had to carry on with life. Even if he is being weighed down by age and his body is deteriorating, he needs to make ends meet by selling fish. By solely focusing on himself, he lacks empathy in the sense that he fails to consider that fishes are like humans, they have their loved ones as well. The casting of one net can catch many fishes regardless of their size. However, won’t this lead to the fishes being forcefully brought apart from their families? Why can’t the old man have more empathy and not focus only on his problems?
Buddha explained, “Mankind has been constantly sacrificing lives and accumulating karma. However, they are not conscious of this fact. Every act carries a consequence and their immediate response to these consequences would be to complain about their hardships. What a pity. The reason for my forced smile is that the extent of people’s foolishness has left me speechless!”
Humans often put themselves first. It’s always “I love, I complain, I hate, I like”, everything starts with “I”. As a result, there will be less good and more evil in the world before we realise it. It is evident as more harmful words are spoken, and there is less empathy for others.
The “six realms of existence” is taught in Buddhism. People who fail to gain wisdom and spread kindness in their current life constantly accumulate bad karma. As a result, the person will fall into the animal realm for its reincarnation path at the time of death. Just like the fishes mentioned in the story, the struggles faced by the fishes in the tank while waiting to be tagged with a price can be a terrifying situation to be in. Therefore, we have to be mindful of our daily thoughts, words and actions.
Translated by Zoe Chua
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