A compassionate teacher and the disciple who was a thief
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| Long time ago, there was a Buddhist teacher who was wise and compassionate. He had many bright students, he taught them meditation and other practices. They held him in high respect. But there was this one thing in the monastery that they couldn't tolerate. There was an young disciple who would often steal from his brother monks, he would steal their money, he would steal small things in the monastery.
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Monks complained about him to their teacher "Master! he steals things from us, please advise him"
The wise one said "Give him some time, he will learn. I'll talk to him", wise one called the young disciple after everyone had left "These things are puny, only right practice will give you what you crave for, work hard on your practice, stop stealing things.
The young monk prostrated before the wise one in respect and left, he was ashamed of his habit, he was determined to try and stop his habit. He was an intelligent and good person, like most people who come on the path, but it was too difficult for him to change his mental pattern (isn't it often difficult for everyone).
Few days passed without any trouble, but he could not resist the temptation for long, he fell and unfortunately for him he was caught again, monks paraded again to the wise one taking the culprit along, the wise one dismissed them saying "Give him some time he will learn".
They caught him few more times and brought him in front of the wise one for justice, he would simply dismiss them saying "Don't mind him, do your practices. He will learn to behave". Monks were all growing impatient with their teacher for his strange behavior. They couldn't understand why he wouldn't send him out of monastery.
It happened once again, they submitted the young monk in front of him, and not surprisingly he neglected the case without saying much. This time monks were determined, they wanted a permanent decision from the Guru's part. They said in chorus "Master we can't take it anymore, you can keep us here or this thief, we will not stay here if he stays".
"Alright then, you all may leave. I'm not going to abandon him." came the reply, monks were all surprised at the unexpected answer.
"Oh master! O master! Please" pleaded the disciples in gentle voice.
"You are all good disciples, you will get admission into any monastery. But he won't be accepted anywhere else, I'm not going to leave him." said the compassionate one.
The young monk who was watching all this commotion was touched by the compassion of the great one, his resolve was so strong that he gave up stealing thereafter for good.
Moral of the story: True love can often change even the toughest hearts