The tricky peddler and the honest peddler
A long long time ago, there was two jewelry peddlers. They always traveled together. One day, they came to the same district. One entered the district from the west, and one entered from the east.
The peddler from western arrived first at the home of poor old woman, who lived with her granddaughter. The granddaughter wanted some jewelry; so the old woman brought out old rusty plate to exchange with some jewelry. To check the material quality, the peddler scratched the plate with a pin and found that the rusty plate is actually a golden plate. He realized that the plate worth hundred thousand coins. He had a plan to own the plate for free, so he told the old woman that the plate had no value. He thought that he would come back later and get it for free or paid with least money.
After a big while, the peddler from eastern had arrived. When the old woman brought the plate to exchange with jewelry, the peddler held the plate and noticed the unusual weight of the plate. He picked up a pin to scratch the plate and found that the plate was actually a golden plate. He told the truth to the old woman.
The old woman said “This may be your luck because previous peddler just told me that this plate has no value. You just give me some jewelry to exchange with this plate.”
The peddler said “All my jewelry worth only 500 coins. I’ll give all my jewelry and all my money to you.”
After exchanging, the peddler brought the plate and left the district.
When the tricky peddler came back and known the story, he shocked and fainted. After got consciousness, he hurriedly got up and pursued the honest peddler but the honest peddler was already in a river-crossing boat and almost arrived at the other side of the river. The tricky peddler shouted and called the honest merchant to come back, but he doesn’t.
With anger, the tricky peddler said that “May I hurt you in every next life.” And then he was dead.
The tricky peddler finally reincarnated as Devadatta and the honest peddler finally reincarnated as the Buddha.
Moral: Greediness and dishonesty are not good at all.
Note: This is the reason why Devadatta revenges the Buddha for many lives.