January 18th, 1968
Thursday, January 18th, 1968Rev. S. Suzuki
January 18, 1968
In (Agama) Sutra there is a funny story. A man who had…There was a man who had four wives. One wife always lived with him and he complied with everything that she wanted, providing good furniture for her rooms and everything. Whatever she wanted he bought it for her. And the second wife was…he did not like the second wife so much, but when she was not with him he missed her very much and when he did not see her he felt very uneasy. That was the second wife. The third one was almost like the second, but the difference was that whenever something serious happened to him he would go and talk to her about what had happened to him. And once in awhile on New Years Day or Christmas, he would visit her or she would visit his home. That was the third one and the fourth one was like a servant. She was with him always, and helped him like a servant but he never said, ‘Thank you’ to her. That was the fourth one.
I was rather interested in this story. Moreover, when the man was going to die he felt so lonely that he asked the first wife to die with him. But the first wife refused. And so he asked the second one to go to heaven or hell with him, but she said, “Why should I go with you when the first wife refused. So I won’t go”. And the third one said…the third one, who had not much relationship between them, of course refused him, but when he asked the fourth one to die with him she said, “Of course I will. When I was…when I came to you I already fixed my mind to be with you forever, so I will die with you.”