I think I can explain why I appreciate Buddhism as a pearl of great price, by retelling a well-known story…

Once there was a woman, who as a child was orphaned and poor, but was eventually able to marry and begin a better life. However, as was the custom in those times, he status in her husband’s family depended on her having a son.

By and by she did concieve and gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, who immediately became the jewel of her new home and a symbol of her new life. Not too long after his birth, the boy became quick ill, and soon died.

The woman became maniacal in her grief, and refused to accept this fact, and carried the corpse from place to place asking for someone to give her medicine for her “sick baby”. She heard of a great teacher who was simply called, The Awakened, and came to him.

“Good lord, Buddha, I have heard that you are renowned as a great, compassionate and fully enlightened human being, and also as a skilled teacher and a miraculous healer. I pray that you give me some medicine for my sick baby.”

Allow me to interupt this story briefly… Think how this story would end if this woman was sent to Jesus, Muhammed, Odin, or some other legendary figure. My reason for appreciating Buddhism may come across by how differently this story turns out than from the stories of other cultural traditions.

The Buddha told her that he could make a medicine for her if she could bring him a mustard seed collected from a house where death had not visited. She left to the village with great hope, for every house would have seeds of mustard, and the task would quickly be accomplished.

However, she went from house to house, and to village to village, and could not find a single house that had not had a visit from Death. She realized that death visits every one, from the King to the peasant. So after burying her son, she returned to the Buddha, but this time with greater hope.

Yes, I suppose that all I am doing is holding up a flower, but if the pearl wasn’t obvious, you may have to ask me again.