The sami who rescued the ants

A little monk who is not old enough to become ordained is called a "sami".

Once, there is a little sami who studied Buddhism with a very wise Teacher. He was a very good student. He was respectful, sincere and obedient and had learned very quickly in his daily Buddhist studies.

The Teacher was so wise that he could foretell the future, where he knew from the beginning that this little student could not live very long. One day he counted and realized that the little student had only seven days left to live. He felt very sad upon his findings.

He later called the little sami and said to him, "little same, you haven't seen your mother for long time. I think you need a vacation. You run on home and visit your mother and come back eight days from now". He did this so at least the little sami could die in his own parents' house.

When the little sami left for home, the Teacher was very sad. He thought he would never again see his little student.

Eight days later, the little sami suddenly show up and his Teacher was so delighted but he was also puzzled because this little student looked wonderful. He didn't look like someone who had been about to die.

Finally, the Teacher decided to find out what had happened. He told the boy that he had foretold the future many times but had never being wrong. "I send you home because you are doomed to die within seven days but the seven days had already passed, not only you are still alive, but you also looked great. The death image has left you. How did you do this?" asked the Teacher.

The little sami was so shock upon hearing this from his Teacher and he didn't have any idea how to answer his Teacher. So, the Teacher entered the settled state of meditation. Before long, he understood.

The Teacher then began to ask, "son, on the way home did you save some ants?" The little monk answered, "yes, Teacher, on the way home I saw a whole bunch of ants trapped by some water. They were about to drown, so I managed to get a piece of wood and rescued them all".

"That's it then. Your kind heart has earned you a long life". The wise old man said, "saving one life earns more merit than building a temple, a pagoda of seven stories, you had save hundreds of lives, therefore you will live a very long time".

"You have earned a good fortune, but you still have to keep working hard to save living creatures. Spread the message of the Buddha, teach all people to be compassionate, tell everyone not to kill living creatures. Let all animals live in peace", the Teacher added.

The little sami never forgot his Teacher's words and advice. He worked very hard and later became a great respected monk. He lived for a very long time.