The Stone Lion Opens his Mouth

Nearby a mountain there were two families: one was poor and the other rich. Every day, the head of the poor family went up to the top of the mountain to collect firewood to support the family’s livelihood. When he went up the mountain, he would take a small provision of tsampa for his midday meal and by not returning home during the day he could sell [enough] firewood [to ensure] his livelihood.

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 Since there were no people at the top of the mountain, after collecting a huge load of firewood he would take a rest right next to where there was a stone lion where he would eat his wheat tsampa. At the time of eating the food he put tsampa, butter and cheese down on the stone lion’s plinth. When he was about to eat the food he would say, “Elder brother Stone Lion, please have a little bit of this butter food”. As he spoke, he offered a little bit of tsampa to the stone lion. He did this again and again over many days.

One day, while saying and doing as he usually did, the stone lion replied, “Thank you, brother, you have a big compassionate heart, even though you yourself only have a small provision of tsampa, every day you respectfully serve me food.” he said.

Because of that, initially a feeling of fright arose in the poor man. However, gradually without uttering any words and with the understanding that the stone lion had no harmful intentions towards him he calmed down and made the point: “Elder Brother Lion, since you also have no one to look after you, my offering you a bit of tsampa is an appropriate gesture. Alas, since I am very poor, I do not have anything else to offer.” In response the stone lion said, “Oh, you are a very honest person. In that case, before the sun rises tomorrow morning, come here and I will give you some help. Bring a bag and I will give you something which will fill your bag,” the stone lion said. The impoverished man answered, “I will do as you say” and returned home carrying the firewood.

 Before the crack of dawn the following day, he took his usual tsampa bag and went up to the top of the mountain to collect firewood. When he approached the stone lion, the stone lion said, “Brother, you have arrived!” Only then did he remember what the stone lion had said to him the day before. He answered, “Yes. I have arrived” and the stone lion replied: “Now I will open my mouth and if you put your hand down my throat and dig, gold will come out so extract as much as you are able to and put it in your bag! Before sunrise, you need to retrieve your hand because my mouth will be closed when the sun rises. You must keep that in mind,” thus he spoke. To that the man replied, “Excellent, excellent.” Right after that, as the stone lion opened his mouth, he reached into it and when he began to dig, everything he drew out was gold and immediately the bag became full. As soon as the bag was full, he said, “Honourable elder brother Stone Lion, thank you so very much for your kindness. The stone lion said, “Is your bag full? If you had brought a bigger bag, you could have taken more gold,” he said. To that he replied, “This is enough to last my entire life.” And whilst lifting up the bag, he said, Take a look! Such a lot of gold! Won’t that be enough?” At that time the sun also rose and so he collected firewood and went back home again.

 From that moment onwards, though he did not go up to the top of the mountain to collect firewood he didn’t have to worry about food and clothing since he had a lot of gold. He also acquired horses, yaks and sheep and built a new house.

Since he had all the wealth he could have wished for – as for food and clothing – he had fulfilled the meaning of the saying which goes as follows: “The yard abounds with cattle and the storehouse is brimming with grain”.

 The rich neighbour saw the situation of his neighbour’s household and various thoughts arose in him as follows: “Apart from an old hairless donkey, in the past, this poor person had nothing, but now suddenly he has a large house. So, did he steal or did he rob? In any case, I need to ask him in order to gain some clarity.” So, he approached the poor person’s house posing as a nonchalant person out for a stroll.

 On meeting the neighbour, after exchanging pleasantries, he asked him many questions such as how his household had acquired such abundance and the means he had used to obtain such wealth.

Because he had an honest mind, without keeping any secrets, the poor man revealed everything about how he had obtained the gold.

 As soon as the rich man heard his story, he started drooling with desire and out of immense greed, he became extremely impatient. He wondered why he himself had not encountered such excellent wealth and after a sigh, questioned him precisely about how he collected firewood as well as the exact location of the stone lion. Having reached certainty on all the details, he returned home.  On arriving home, he spent a sleepless night ruminating about going to collect firewood and searching for the stone lion.

From that time onward, whilst wearing a tattered fur-lined sheepskin chuba, every day he pretended to go up to the top of the mountain to collect firewood, taking along a little bit of tsampa which he ate next to the stone lion. Like the poor person, he also spoke sweet words. In this manner, some days went by but nothing happened. He started to feel very worried wondering whether or not the poor man had told him a lie or perhaps the stone lion did not believe him. Despite these concerns, keen to obtain the gold, without becoming unhappy or tiring, he persevered patiently.

 One day, the stone lion spoke: “Firewood collector, my friend, since you have been serving me so reverentially, were you not troubled?” As soon as he heard the words spoken by the stone lion, he became extremely happy and said, “Oh dear, dear, the poverty-stricken state of my household must be evident to you”.

The stone lion replied, “Don’t be impatient! Tomorrow morning, bring a bag and I will help you,” and to that the man replied, “Excellent, excellent!” and saying that he went back home. Early the next morning, bringing a very big leather sack, he went up to the top of the mountain where the stone lion was and while the stone lion opened his mouth, he let him extract the gold. He said, “You shouldn’t forget that you absolutely must take your hand out before sunrise”.

 Having agreed to that, he extracted the gold and put one handful after another into the bag. A long period of time elapsed when the snow lion spoke, “Haven’t you got enough now? The sun is about to rise.” “Excellent, excellent! The leather bag is still not full so it is a good idea to extract a few more handfuls.” He continually took out more and more pieces of gold but even though he put each lump of gold into the bag, it still wasn’t full because the bag was so extremely big.

The stone lion again said, “Isn’t that enough yet? The sun is abo

ut to rise.” Despite making himself clear, the man again said, “Excellent, excellent! It’s still not quite full so I can still take a bit more,” so he kept on and on. While he was stretching his hand down into the throat of the stone lion, the sun rose above the summit of the Eastern snow mountain radiating thousands of rays. The snow lion’s mouth closed with a “Snap”. “Ouch! My hand, my hand!” he cried out in pain but because the mouth of the snow lion had closed, there was no way to withdraw it from the mouth.

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Endnote: As for this lesson, it was especially selected and edited from a very large volume of fables called, “Playful Corpses” which is very popular in Tibet. There are many contradictory narratives as to who the author of this volume is – one states that it is the Lord Protector Nagarjuna.

 Proverbs: “For wealth, please release your fist!” “A cheating man deceives you by smiling; a cheating woman deceives you by crying.”

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