Buddhist stories with moral: The box of forgiveness
A teacher gave each of her students the task for the following week to take a cardboard box and for each person who annoys them, whom they do not like and cannot forgive, put a peach in the box for the following week, with a label with the name of the person.
Forgiveness is the remission of sins.For a week, the students had to carry this box with them at all times, to their homes, to their cars, to classes, even to their beds at night. The students found the task fun at first and were all eager to write the names they had remembered from childhood.
Another difficult problem was that they were obliged to carry it with them at all times, taking care not to forget it in shops, on the bus, in restaurants, meetings, canteens, baths, especially as the name and address of each student and the subject of the experiment were written on the box.
In addition, the cardboard box was also beginning to disintegrate, leaving it in a deplorable state: carrying its heavy load with difficulty. They all quickly and clearly understood the lesson the teacher was trying to explain to them at the end of the week, that is, the weight of the box they had been carrying around for a week was merely the weight of the spiritual heaviness we carry around with us when we carry hatred, envy, contempt for others.
We often think we are exercising mercy by forgiving others.
But in reality, this is the greatest favor we can do for OURSELVES!
