Good morning. Happy birthday everybody. Since we all are Buddha and all have Buddha nature, then it's all of our birthdays today. We're celebrating all of our birthdays today. as well, for them to celebrate. So usually, Mel sends his regrets. He's usually here. I can't remember a Buddha's birthday that he's missed, but he had to be at another ceremony in Tassajara today with one of his students, and it was really important that he be here. He trusted that we could carry on without him to do this ceremony and celebrate the Buddha's birthday in the proper fashion. Usually he tells the story of the Buddha's birth and I thought for a change I would forego that.

[01:15]

Some of you have heard the story before. That's right. I thought I could do something a little different and tell you a story of an earlier life of the Buddha, one of the Jataka tales, which are stories that the Buddha told about how in lives that he remembered in the past, he took different forms, took animal forms. forms of a king or forms of a lay person and saved sentient beings of all kinds. Saved other animals, other people, other lands and trees and waters. And I thought it would be nice to tell you one of those stories today. Some of the kids may have heard this story before but they haven't heard it quite the way it's going to come out and neither have I. So this is a story of

[02:21]

The Foolish Rabbit and the Noble Lion. And while I was thinking of this story that I heard my friend Rafe Martin tell, I thought of this little tune that is not a Buddhist tune, or it's not an Indian tune, or not a Japanese tune, but it's a little tune called Little Rabbit. And I thought maybe I could play you that tune and then tell you the story of the Little Rabbit, the Foolish Rabbit, and the Noble Lion. Mel usually has this stick. It's wood. So this is the little rabbit. do [...]

[03:36]

So, long ago, and in a jungle far away, there was a little rabbit. And this little rabbit was sleeping under a big apple tree. And he was just kind of half sleeping, half waking. and letting all kinds of thoughts bubble up into his mind. And he had this kind of scary thought. And he doesn't know where it came from, but all of a sudden he thought, what if the earth broke up? What if the earth was breaking up? What a terrible, scary thing that would be. And he was just lying there thinking, what if the earth broke up? And all of a sudden there was this And he jumped up, and he ran off into the jungle, and he said, the Earth's breaking up! The Earth's breaking up! Everybody run for your life! The Earth's breaking up!

[05:12]

He was terrified. And he ran by another little rabbit who was sitting outside his hole. And he didn't even stop. And the guy said, where are you going? Where are you hurrying to? What's happening? And he just kind of looked back over his shoulder and said, the Earth's breaking up! Run! Run for your life! Earth's breaking up. Well, I better get going, too." And he went hopping down the road behind that first rabbit. And they came to a second rabbit. And they said, Where are you guys going? What's the hurry? Wait, wait, wait! Wait for me! And they just said, We can't wait for anything! The Earth's breaking up! Come on! You can come with us if you want! And so he joined the parade. And pretty soon there were three rabbits, there were four rabbits, five, 10, 20, 50, 100 rabbits hopping and charging through the jungle. And while they were charging through the jungle, they passed their brother bear, who was sitting outside his den, just kind of sleeping and dozing.

[06:22]

He kind of lifted his eyes and saw all this commotion tearing through the brush. And he said, what's going on? What's your hurry? Where are you all going? And they didn't stop for anything. They just said, the Earth's breaking up. The Earth's breaking up. We got to go. And he said, the Earth's breaking up. Oh my gosh, well, if the Earth's breaking up, then I'd better get moving too. And so he started lumbering on. And when a bear starts to lumber, they look kind of big and slow. But actually, they roll along pretty quick. So, a hundred rabbits, and you had this big lumbering bear, just lumbering along. And pretty soon he'd found, he'd passed his sister bear. And she said, whoa, where are you going?

[07:25]

He just looked over his shoulder and said, the Earth's breaking up. The Earth's breaking up. I'm following the rabbits. And she said, the Earth's breaking up. I better get going, too." So then he had a hundred rabbits, two bears, and they met a third bear. And he said, well, where are you bears going? He said, we're going with the rabbits. The earth's breaking up, and we're getting out of here. And he said, the earth's breaking up? Ah! I better get running, too. So he ran off with the other bears. And then you had five bears, 10 bears, 20 bears, 50 bears, 100 bears, following 100 rabbits. And they were tearing through the jungle. And as they were going along, under a big palm tree, there was a giant elephant.

[08:28]

And the elephant was just sitting there. It was a hot day. souping up the water out of the pond, and sprinkling it back over his back, and fanning himself with his big ears. And he heard all this commotion in the jungle. And he said, hey, where are you going? What's happening? What's your hurry? Where's everybody going? And they just said, the earth's breaking up! The earth's breaking up! And he said, the earth's breaking up? Oh, my gosh. Well, if the earth is really breaking up, I am the biggest and the heaviest thing around, and I'm going to be the first one to fall in. So I better get going, too. So he started out with his tail sticking straight out back, and his trunk sticking straight out in front, trumpeting, ma! Ma! And the other elephants heard him and said,

[09:30]

earth is that?" And he just said, the earth's breaking up, I'm getting out of here. So he told his second elephant friend, and then he told the third, and pretty soon they had a whole line of 20, 30, 50, 100 elephants. What a trumpeting, growling, hopping sound they had going through the jungle. It was pretty awesome. And that elephant, he didn't let anything get in the way. None of those elephants. They saw a tree, they just ripped the tree out by the roots and flung it off. There was a boulder in their way, they just threw it out over the side. And they cut a path through the jungle like a big freeway. trumpeting and running, raising a big cloud of dust. And as they were going through the jungle, out on a flat, hot rock, they saw, they passed by a snake. And that big snake was sunning himself and he said, say, what's the hurry?

[10:40]

Where are you all going in such a rush? And the elephants just look back over their shoulders and say, the earth's breaking up. We're getting out of here. The earth's breaking up. The snakes say, well, if the earth's breaking up, I'm so close to the ground, I'm going to be in big trouble. So what am I going to do? I better get sly. And so he started sliding off, just sliding off over the rocks and over the stumps and around the ponds. And so you had big, whole big caravan, rabbits and bears and elephants and snakes. And then following them, you had rhinoceroses and giraffes. And what else was there? Monkeys. Monkeys. What other kind of animals do you think? Grass. What? Gorillas. Gorillas. And turtles.

[11:42]

Turtles. And crocodiles. Crocodiles. And lobsters. Lobsters, too. So you had a whole parade of crabs, too. You had all these animals charging and scuttling and clawing their way through the jungle. Right. Alligators, we said already. You forgot ducks. Forgot what? Ducks. Ducks were waddling. Everybody was just going through the jungle. They didn't know where they were going, but they were headed right towards the end of the jungle. And up on the hilltop... How about birds? Birds, too. They were flying along. Everything was moving along in the same direction, except up on the hilltop, there was a big golden lion. And that lion was just kind of half awake in the sun. Everybody was sleeping because it was a hot day. He looked down and he said, he heard all the noise and he saw all the rushing and all this turmoil and he said, I wonder where they're all going.

[12:52]

And he said, they're gonna be in big trouble though because they're running towards the end of the jungle. And at the end of the jungle, there's a big cliff And if somebody doesn't help them and stop them, they're going to all run right off that cliff and fall down 1,000 feet and die. And somebody should help them. And I'll help them. And so he drew himself up, and he got all his strength together, and he took a big breath, and he took three giant lion leaps out over his hillside, out over the whole jungle, and landed smack in front of all those animals. And he just went, rawr! And they went, rawr! And they all screeched to a stop right in front of him. And he said, wait a minute. Where are you all going?" And they said, The Earth's breaking up!

[13:53]

The Earth's breaking up! We've got to get out of here! The Earth's breaking up! And he said, Wait a minute. The Earth's not breaking up. He touched the ground with his paw. He said, Here it is. Solid as it ever was. He said, Now, look around you. Do you see the Earth's breaking up? And they said, He looked around, and he said, hmm, not so sure. He said, well, who told you that the earth would break? Rabbit! And the crab said it was the lobsters, and the lobsters said it was the alligators, and the alligators said it was the birds, and the birds said it was the snakes, and the snakes said it was the elephants, the elephants said it was the bears, and the bears said it was the rabbits, and the rabbits said, him, [...] him! And they pointed to that first little rabbit, The lion turned to the rabbit and said, was it you who started running through the jungle saying, the earth's breaking up?

[14:59]

He said, it was me, the earth's breaking up, we've got to get out of here, the earth's breaking up. He said, how do you know the earth's breaking up? Because when I was under that apple tree, way back across in the jungle, I heard a terrible crashing sound. And the earth's breaking up. And the lion said, wait, didn't I just show you that the earth's breaking up? And the rabbit said, well, maybe. Maybe you showed me. He said, let's go back to that tree. Can you show me where that tree is? He said, oh, no. No way I'm going back there. Forget it. I'm not going back to that tree. It's too scary. And the earth's breaking up. And the lion went, rawr! He said, OK. And the lion said, get on. And that rabbit just jumped on board the lion's back. And the lion took another big breath. It took a big lion leap, three big lion leaps, and went right back to that apple tree.

[16:04]

And the rabbit got off. And they were looking around through the bush. And the lion was just kind of pawing around through the brush. And all of a sudden, do you know what he found? What? What do you think he found under that apple tree? Apple. Apple. Good guess. He found a big, red, juicy apple. And he said, what do you think the sound was when this apple came falling out of the tree into the jungle? Was that your crashing sound? The monkey said, the rabbit said, kind of sheepishly, well, maybe, maybe that was the crash. Is that the sound that you heard and you thought the earth was breaking up? Well, well, maybe it was, maybe it was. And the lion said, I think it was. He said, I think we need to go back and tell all your friends that this was your earth breaking up. Get on board.

[17:08]

So that rabbit climbed back on board, the lions back, and they took three more big lion leaps, and they ended up right in back of all of their friends, the crabs, and the alligators, and the birds, and the giraffes, and the snakes, and the elephants, and the bears, and the rabbits, and the lions that well killed them. And the fishes. And the fishes. I think maybe the earth really wasn't breaking up. What I heard was this apple. And they all got so furious, said, what? What? You made us run all the way through the jungle because of that? And they gathered around him, and they were going to tear and live for them. And the lion said, rar! Wait just a minute. Didn't you follow this foolish rabbit? Did any of you stop to look and see?

[18:11]

if the earth was breaking up, if there was anything really to be afraid of? And they said, well, gee, no. He said, well, the next time, he slipped a line, he said, the next time something scares you, the next time you feel like you're gonna run off and do something and just follow somebody, check it out. Check out for yourself what's really happening. Is there really something to be scared of? You can ask them to stop and think. What was it that scared them? Use your sense. Use your ability to think about things. And they all thought that was a really good idea. And they slowly walked back to all the places that they lived in the jungle. That rabbit turned to the lion and said, in a kind of embarrassed way, thank you.

[19:16]

Thank you for showing me that the earth's not breaking out. And the lion said, well, you're very welcome. And he took another breath and took three big lion leaps back to his hilltop, where he just lay down. And that little rabbit tucked his apple under his arm and hopped back under his apple tree all the way across the jungle. And he lay down there, and he kind of patted the ground, and he looked up at the sky, and he took a big bite of that juicy red apple. And that's the story of the foolish rabbit and the noble lion. Are there any questions? Isn't that what we do at the end of lecture? Isn't that why rabbits stomp their feet?

[20:19]

Oh, they're afraid that the earth's breaking up, right? They're just kind of patting it all in place. Sue? You don't happen to know the song Mr. Rabbit, Mr. Rabbit, do you? No, I don't. Do you? Not well enough. Maybe we can have an encore. No, I don't think so. Well, thank you. I hope you enjoyed that story. And I hope you will enjoy the rest of Buddha's birthday. Now we're going to all bathe the baby Buddha and then have some refreshments. So we'll hope you all join in. Yingsha.

[21:04]

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