Imprisoning The Buddha

Anecdotes

oi-Priya Devi

By Priya Devi

Thursday, April 22, 2010, 17:25

A short Buddhist story portrays the spontaneous intelligence of a judge.

Once a merchant bearing about fifty rolls of cotton goods on his shoulder, out of fatigue, rested under the shade of a large stone Buddha. Since it was a hot day, the merchant instantly fell asleep. On waking up, he found that his goods were robbed.

He immediately took it to the notice of the police. Soon a judge named O-oka arrived to hear the case. The stone Buddha must have robbed the goods," said the judge
“He is supposed to be responsible for the welfare of the people, but has failed to do His duty. So arrest Him!" ordered the judge.

So the Buddha was carried to the court, followed by a curious crowd to watch the arrest of the stone Buddha.
The judge flew into a rage on seeing the gathering laughing and joking about the strange judgement.

“Why are you laughing and joking? By doing so you have earned the contempt of the court. I strongly condemn it. All of you are under arrest and are liable to pay a fine!"

The gathered people took no time to apologise. The judge said, “I will remit the amount provided you each bring a roll of cotton within three days. If you fail you will be arrested!"

The merchant easily recognized his cotton roll among the gathered rolls and the thief was identified. The merchant got back his stolen goods and the cotton rolls were given back to the people.