Why Bad Things Happens Only to Good People

This story of Buddha's life is very important for those who believe in living a peaceful life. But some people try to take undue advantage of their calm nature. To understand this story has to read till in the end.

Once upon a time, Gautam Buddha was sitting with his disciples under a tree. At the same time, King Ajatshatru reached there and asked Buddha "oh Lord, ever since I became your follower, everyone is exploiting me". Now they are taking undue advantage of my calmness. Before I become your follower, everyone in my country was very afraid of me, because I was a very cruel king. I would not think twice to punish anyone to a death sentence. But after becoming your follower, I don't feel like punishing anyone, nor do I get angry. I have become very peaceful. And I look at everyone with compassion, but some people are taking the bad chance of my calm conduct. This has also put the people of my country in some kind of danger now. Due to this reason, I am facing daily a lot of problems in the governance of my country. Please tell me what should I do now? Hearing this from Kinga Ajatshatru Buddha tells him a story. And the story goes like this...

Once upon a time, there lived a venomous snake in a hole under a large tree. The large tree stood in a corner of a field near a village. The snake attacked people at even the slightest provocation, and many people died because of the snake's deadly bite. People were afraid to go near the tree due to fear of this snake. One day a monk was passing through the village and saw this beautiful large tree. He decided to meditate under the shade of the tree before he moved on. Some villagers who were driving their cars back home saw the monk and warned him about the snake. They told him that this snake is so dangerous that whoever goes near him, bites him. The monk smiled and continued walking towards the large tree. The villagers left from there. As the monk sat down to meditate, the snake came out of his hole. With his angry hiss, and ready to bite. The monk chanted a mantra looking straight into the snake's eyes. And miraculously, Snake started a conversation with him. The snake says to that monk, oh man, don't you fear me? You don't know that this is my area, and no one dares to come here? The monk said with compassion, "my dear friend, what is there to fear in this?" I am not afraid of anything. I don't fear death, nor do I desire to live? Why should I fear you? In fact, you are afraid that no one should kill you, that's why you bite others. To hear this from the monk the snake has astonished. Till now, he had met only the such people who tried to kill him or ran away in fear of him. But he had never met a real person who did not fear him. Hearing this, the snake wraps itself at the feet of the monk and said that "O Lord, you are right, whatever I have done till today, I have done to save my life." If I don't do this, people would kill me. The monk said, "You are right. But my dear friend, remember one thing that, our life will end one day, therefore, it is not appropriate to kill others to save it. Give up this attachment of your life and be filled with love for anyone." The monk left from there after saying this. The snake was influenced by the words of the monk and he decided that from today onwards, he will not bite anyone. He gives up his angry nature and stops biting others, but the result of it turns out to be the opposite. When people say that the snake has stopped biting others. Now they are started taking undue advantage of this. Those who used to fear him and ran away from him now started catching him. Now, most of the people would tease him, scratch him, and hurt him. Now the snake was always wounded and hurt. He was very sad. He was having the hardest time of his life. After some days, that monk once again came to that village and sat under the same tree. Just then he saw that sneak he was very surprised to see him in such a pathetic state. He asked him, "oh my friend, how did you get in such a pathetic condition? Who has injured you? The snake replied that "O, blessed one, you are told me to give up my angry nature and not to bite others." Ever since I left my violent nature and adopted the path to peace. Since then, those people have started misbehaving with me. Now, no one is afraid of me. People come, hurt me, and leave me in a miserable condition. Life has become very difficult for me. Hearing this from the snake, the monk said, "My dear friend, it seems that you have misinterpreted my sermon." I told you not to bite others, but I did not stop you from hissing for your self-defense.

After telling this story, King Ajatshatru, Buddha asked him, "King, what have you understood from this story?" Oh Lord, are you taking my sermon in the wrong way as that snake did? I told you to give up your cruel nature, but I did not tell you to give up the duty of the king. You have to fulfill your duty to be a king by being tough from the outside. So that everyone in your kingdom can be well disciplined. You have to maintain the process of justice in your state by being tough so that people can live peacefully in your kingdom and they don't feel any kind of insecurity. Therefore, you have to rule like a real monk from inside and like a real king from outside. If we see the world around us, we will find that this often happens to good people. People often try to take unwanted advantage of polite people. And because of this reason, those who are very good people, have to face many difficulties in their daily life. Such gentlemen people should learn from this story of Buddha. They need to understand that sometimes people start to exploit your goodness, they try to take undue advantage of your decency. To keep these people within their limits, you have to behave according to the situation. If you have to get angry to keep them in the proper discipline, then you should do it. You can do it without disturbing the inner peace of your peaceful mind. Like an actor who is acting to be angry in a play, but from inside he is not angry, because he knows that it is just a part of the play. Similarly, you have to behave smartly in this world, to keep things in control. This is the art of living, and if you can learn this art, then no one can stop you from living a successful and peaceful life.

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