There are lots of nice similes and lots of nice little stories in the scriptures. I'd have to say that my favorite story is the "Keeper of Patience". Supposedly this is a story of the Buddha in a past life, before he was a Buddha and was a Bodhisattva, a being working to develop the Paramis in order to become a Buddha. Many of you have heard this already and you're going to hear it again, because some of you haven't heard it.
Once upon a time, a long, long time ago the Buddha was a wise monk living in the woods by himself. And for that entire lifetime he was trying to perfect patience. By now you've all been taught the 10 Paramis, all important qualities we want to develop, and it's said that the Bodhisattva sometimes spent an entire lifetime trying to work on only one Parami.
So in this particular lifetime the Buddha was practicing patience as a wise monk in the woods. Now whenever anyone came to talk with him, all he talked about was patience, all he'd teach was patience, every time he answered a question he related it to patience. He was called the Keeper of Patience.
One day he was in some woods near a big lake. On the other side of the lake was one of the King's pleasure gardens. The King came with 15 to 20 of his women, some of his servants and guards and they had a picnic. He became drunk and fell asleep. The women said to themselves, "Oh good, we're out of the palace, let's go in the woods and see what we can do, we don't get out that often." So the women wandered around the lake and they saw the Keeper of Patience meditating, and they said, " Oh good, a wise man, let's go and ask him to teach us!" So they went to the Bodhisattva, they sat down in front of him and asked him, "Please teach us." Then he talked about patience, patience, patience.
Meanwhile the King woke up and seeing his women were gone, he became angry, he was furious, "Where are they, where are my women, they're supposed to always serve me?" The guards replied, "Sir, don't you worry, we know where they are, they are safe. They're just around the lake listening to the Keeper of Patience.
And the king said, "The Keeper of Patience took my women?" He was infuriated and he raced around the lake taking his guards and soldiers with him. As he got closer, he heard the Keeper of Patience talking about patience. He was so angry he ran up to the wise man and said "Patience? Patience? We'll see what kind of patience you have!" Then he told his guards, "Cut off his legs!" - so they cut off his legs. Blood squirts out and the Keeper of Patience says, "King, do you think my patience is in my legs?" The King says, "Cut off his arms!" - so they cut off his arms. He says, "King, do you think my patience is in my arms?" The King is mad by now, he is crazy and orders, "Cut off his nose and ears!" - which they did.
The Keeper of Patience is lying there and says, "King, do you think my patience is in my nose and my ears?" The story says that the earth opened up and swallowed the King, because it was so horrified with what was happening. The guards then got down on their knees and prayed to the wise man, "Please, please, wise Sage, don't cast a spell over us, please have mercy on all of us, we were only doing our duty." The Keeper of Patience, as he was lying there, dying, said, "May you and the King be happy and peaceful forever" - and he died.
Quiet an important story. Can we be like the Keeper of Patience who had love in his heart for the King, even though the King killed him in such a horrible way, yet maintained his own state of mind during the torture? That is a high goal. The Keeper of Patience is about one of the highest goals we can possibly imagine, and to me it is a goal to try to prepare for.