The Hare And The Moon

On a full moon night, if we observe from bare eyes we see that the moon has some carving which looks like a hare. The story below relates to the hare.

Once, Lord Buddha took birth in the form of a hare. He lived in the forest. The hare had three friends, a monkey an otter and a jackal. They played with each other and shared their food amongst themselves.

One day the hare thought of serving others. He told his friends, "We should give alms and serve people. Its a good deed and we'll be rewarded for this." They all agreed and went to gather things.

The monkey gathered the fruits from the trees. The otter went to river to caugh fish. However, the jackel did not know what to bring. So he quietly entered a hut and stole curd. The hare sniffed and ran around to find something in the grass but he was found nothing.

After sonetime, all four of them came together. The hare was sad, and told his friends, "I found nothing, so I have decided to give my body in charity."

Lord Indra heard the hare. He took form of a sage and came to test the hare' s words. He went to the hare and said, " I am hungry. Please give me some food." 

The hare replied, "O holy person. I can offer you my body for food. Please accept it." The hare said so and jumped into the fire. 

But the Lord protected the hare and he was not burnt. The hare was surprised. Lord appeared in His true form and blessed the hare. He said, " Your act of sacrifice is great. People will remember you for ages." Saying this, Lord Indra drew a hare on the moon. 

Even today we see the hare on the moon. It reminds us that we should be kind, generous and truthful. 

Moral : We should be kind and generous.