There was a monk who was a sincere and ascetic practitioner. He was scholarly and had great understanding. He lived in a monastery with eight hundred monks. The Buddha’s teachings went straight to his heart, engendering compassion, kindness, and humility. He never cared to sit on a high throne or be a leader of any kind. He always sat in the last row and took a small portion of what was left to eat. But one day, a patron came to the monastery with buckets of yogurt to offer the monks. The patron began serving yogurt to the monks in the first row, filling their large bowls. This monk enjoyed yogurt very much and grew concerned as he thought to himself, “He’s giving them so much yogurt, when he reaches my row, there may not be any left for me.” When the patron reached the last row, the monk could see that there was still plenty of yogurt in the bucket. The patron went to put a serving into the monk’s bowl, but this monk immediately turned his bowl upside down. The surprised patron asked, “What’s wrong?” The monk replied, “This greedy monk already had his yogurt when you were serving the front row. He doesn’t deserve any more.”

adapted from Natural Solutions Magazine by Shyalpa Tenzin Rinpoche, 3/2012

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