Classic Parable | The Mustard Seed

*The Mustard Seed* is a Buddhist story about grief, loss and the realisation that suffering is not something that happens only to us.
This is a story about the universality of loss and about how, sometimes, recognising that we are not alone in our suffering can be the beginning of healing.

Transcript

Hello there. Thank you so much for joining me for this reading of another classic parable. This one is an ancient Buddhist story about a young mother who is overcome with grief after the death of her only son. It is a quiet, Tender story about loss, Love, And the realisation that none of us walks through grief entirely alone. This is a universal human experience, As much as bereavement can often feel intensely personal and private. Death is a topic that is very close to my own heart. As some of you may know, I have been running death cafes for quite a few years now on a couple of continents. And the conversations, The explorations, The stories shared in those death cafe conversations have all been deeply enriching for my own journey. I think this parable is a wonderful example, A very touching story of how death is the one inevitability facing everybody in their life path. So before we get into the story here, Let's just take a moment to have a nice deep breath. Exhale letting go of the day. Letting go of whichever baggage we might be bringing along with us into this moment. For right now. There's nowhere else we have to go. Nothing else we have to be doing. So we can just relax, Get ourselves comfortable and enjoy this ancient Buddhist parable. The mustard seed. Once in the city of Savati. There lived a woman named Kisa Gotami. She came from a poor family. And when she married, She was looked down upon by her husband's family. But then. . . She had. A sun. With the birth of her son. Everything changed. She was no longer treated with scorn. She was respected. Because she had given birth to a child. But, One day. . . While the boy was still young. He died. Kisugatami could not accept that he was dead. Overcome with grief. She took the body of her son and carried him with her through the city. Going from house to house. Give me medicine for my son. She pleaded. The people who saw her understood that there was nothing that could be done. Some rebuked her. Some asked what medicine she thought could possibly help. She did not understand what they were telling her. She was consumed by her grief. Then a wise man saw her. And understood that her mind had been overwhelmed by sorrow. He told her that there was one person who might know how to help her. He sent her to the Buddha. So Kisagatami went to the Buddha, Still carrying the body of her son. Blessed One. She said, Give me medicine for my son. The Buddha. Looked at her. And said, Go into the city. And find a household. When no one. Has ever. Died. From that house bring me a mustard seed. Kisagatami was glad. A mustard seed was an ordinary thing. She believed that surely she would be able to find one. She went into the city. She came to the first house and asked for a mustard seed. The people there were willing to give her one. Kisagatami asked them. Has anyone ever died in this house? Yes, They told her. Many had died there. Setting. She went to another house. Again, The people were willing to give her a mustard seed. Again, She asked, Has anyone ever died here? Yes, They said. And so she went from house to house. At every house, She discovered the same thing. There were mustard seeds everywhere, But there was no household untouched. By death. Someone's father had died. Someone's mother. A husband, A wife. A child, A relative. Everywhere she went, Death had been there before her. And as Kisagatami went from one house to another. Something began to change within her. She began. To understand. She understood that the death of her son was not a sorrow belonging only to her. Death. Had touched. Every. Family. The people around her had lost those they loved just as she had. She understood that this was not the fate of one household, Or one village, Or one family. It was the nature of life. She could not find the mustard seed she had been sent to obtain because there was no household. That had known no death. At last. Her mind. Became clear. She took her son to the charnel ground. And lead his body there. And she realised that impermanence was not a truth belonging to one person alone. It was true for every living being. Then she returned to the Buddha. The Buddha asked her, Gotami. Have you obtained the mustard seed? And she replied that. . . The matter of the mustard seed was. . . Finished. She had understood. What it was necessary to understand. She had seen that death comes. To all. Cannot be undone. But her relationship with death. And with her own grief. Could change. She discovered. That she was not. Alone. What had happened to her? Had happened and would happen. To countless others. And in seeing the universality of loss. She began to find her way. Beyond her own. Suffering.