�I know of such a medicine,� Buddha replied. �But to make it, there are certain ingredients I need.�
�What are they?� asked the woman. �I�ll go get them.�
�Bring me some mustard seed,� Buddha instructed her.
She was about to leave then he added, �The mustard seed must come from a house where no child, spouse, parent or servant has died.�
The woman set off to find the mustard seed. People would readily agree to giving her the mustard seed, but she could find no house where there had been no death: in one house a parent, in another a son, in another a servant. She could not find one house free from the suffering of death.
Seeing she was not alone, the woman let go of her child�s body and returned to Buddha. With great compassion he said, �You thought that you alone were suffering, the law of death is that among all creatures, there is no permanence.�
Aesop
BN's own
Zen