Buddhist Stories: Pathika the Naked Ascetic, Part 1 of 4

Today, I’ll read you a story. “Thus I have heard, the wife of a certain householder, ministered to the needs of a naked ascetic, named Pathika, treating him as she would her own son. Of her nearest neighbors, those who went to hear the Buddha teach the Dharma returned praising the virtues of the Buddhas in manifold ways. She desired to go to the monastery and hear the Dharma herself.” That’s in India, 2,500 years ago. Don’t copy. I will not be responsible for anything that happens to you, if you copy this Naga monk. Naga means naked. How simple life can be if we don’t have to need so many things. The less we need, the less we are slaves to this material world which is really kind of binding us very, very, very tightly. “‘Noble Sir, I desire to go and hear the Buddha.’ But as often as she made her request, the naked ascetic dissuaded her from going. The woman thought to herself, ‘Since this naked ascetic will not permit me to go to the monastery and hear the Dharma, I will invite the Teacher to my own house and hear the Dharma right here.’”