This story is “The Tortoise King,” which was one of the incarnations of Shakyamuni Buddha, in the magazine named “Từ Bi Âm” (“Compassionate Sound”). […] A long, long, long, long… time ago, there was a Tortoise King who meditated diligently, day and night. He meditated two and half hours a day. He was vegan, not eating eggs. This means the Tortoise King kept the Five Precepts, meditated two and half hours every day, went to group meditation regularly. He was very diligent, hard-working, with high morals. […]
And the tortoise(-people) in the herd were absolutely respecting the Tortoise King. Therefore they elected Him as the King, because He was not inherently their King. But normally, He is caring for the whole herd like that, and reconciling disagreements in that herd. So, the other tortoise(-people), the initiates… At that time, they weren’t fellow practitioners yet. They were called “comrades.” What kind of “comrade” would you call Auntie Hải? If I say “our comrades” then some newspapers (in USA) would condemn me as a communist. Is there another word for it? […] Talking about labeling, I just remembered a very good joke. […]
