The Parrot and the Forest Fire
A traditional Buddhist tale teaches us the tremendous power of compassion
There is an old story in the Jataka Tales about a brave parrot. One day the forest where the parrot lived caught fire and the fire grew so massive it endangered all the beings who lived there. Now a parrot has wings so initially the bird’s instinct was to fly up and away from the fire.
However, she began to hear the noises of her fellow forest-dwellers and was overcome by their suffering. So she decided to do something about it.
She swooped into a nearby river and soaked her feathers, then flew back to the forest to drop whatever water she could on the fire. Back and forth she went, ultimately getting burned herself as she struggled to save everyone.
Up in the god realm (yes, there are six “realms” within Buddhism; this is a good topic for another time) there were beings watching this parrot and laughing at her struggle. Indra, the king of that realm, overheard them and wanted to see what was going on so he transformed himself into a large eagle.
He flew by the parrot and called out to her, saying, “What are you doing? You’re not really doing much good and you’re about to be burned alive. Get out of here!”
The parrot replied, “You’re a much bigger bird than me; why don’t you help me put out this fire? I don’t need your advice; I need your help.”
Indra was moved by the courage and conviction of this small bird such that he began to cry and, because he was god-like, his tears were so powerful that they put out the forest fire. Some tears fell on the parrot herself, healing the burned feathers and making them grow back in colorful ways. Thus the parrot’s courage and compassion led to the fire going out and at the same time she became more beautiful than ever.
What are your take aways from this traditional tale? I’ll offer mine below but drop yours into the comments, because there is a lot we can learn from one another in unpacking this tale.
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