Buddha: the horse wisperer

I am increasingly using the images of 'A pictorial Biography of Sakyamuni Buddha' (the author is written in Chinese characters) and shorter version in 'Buddhist studies for primary students' by Danuse Murty, Buddhist Council of New South Wales, 2003.

The original texts and illustrations are by Gunapayuta et.al, and are very popular, used in many Buddhist books. Similar books can be downloaded from BuddhaNet.

In recent weeks I have tried to take 2-3 'frames' of Buddha's life and make a little short story, trying to relate his life to things that children understand.

Th first is the popular story of the Horse taming contest.

When the Buddha was about to marry, the King organized a contest. In the horse riding activity the Buddha had his white horse Kanthaka, the fastest horse in town. All competitors said that with that horse he would always win, in fact anyone with that horse would win. The King then decided that instead of their horses, everyone should try to mount a fierce black horse that threw everyone in the ground. Prince Anirudha tried first, being one of the best riders in the country, he mounted the horse without effort, then he wiped it hard to force him to run around the yard. When he did this the horse went wild and threw him off to the ground. Helpers had to rush in to help and save the prince's life.

Next was Prince Siddharta. He approached the horse from the front, and instead of immediately jumping on it, he started petting him in the cheek, and then on the neck. He whispered some words with a soft voice. Before riding the horse he explained what he needed to do and asked the horse for permission.

Everybody was then surprised that the fierce black horse had calmed down, and let the Prince ride gently, moving forward and backwards in front of all the country's audience.

When I finished telling the story we discussed why asking for permission might have worked better. Do we behave better when we are asked nicely or when we are forced to do things?