佛教的故事:The God in the Banyan Tree

　　A Bad Promise

　　In the past， and even in some places today， peoplehave had superstitions. One such is that a large or unusualtree is inhabited by a tree god， or some kind of spirit.People think that they can make a promise to this treegod， so he will help them in some way. When they thinkthe god has helped them， then they must keep theirpromise.

　　Once upon a time， in the city of Kasi in northernIndia， a man came upon a large banyan tree. Heimmediately thought there must be a god living there. Sohe made a promise to this tree god that he would performan animal sacrifice， in return for a wish being granted.

　　It just so happened that his wish was fulfilled， butwhether by a god or a demon or by some other means no one knows. The man was sure the tree god hadanswered his prayer， so he wanted to keep his promise.

　　Since it was a big wish， it called for a big sacrifice.He brought many goats， mules， chickens and sheep. Hecollected firewood and prepared to burn the helplessanimals as a sacrifice.

　　The spirit living in the banyan tree appeared andsaid， Oh friend， you made a promise. You are now boundby that promise. You think you must keep the promise inorder to be released from the bondage to it. But if youcommit such terrible unwholesome acts， even thoughpromised， the unpleasant results will put you in muchgreater bondage. For you will be forced to suffer thoseresults in this life， and even by rebirths in hell worlds! Theway to release yourself into future deliverance is to giveup unwholesome actions， no matter what!

　　And furthermore， since you think Im a true god，what makes you think I eat meat? Havent you heard thatwe gods eat better things， like ambrosia or stardust orsunbeams? I have no need of meat or any other foodofferings. Then he disappeared.

　　Tile foolish man undcrstood the mistake he hadmade. Instead of doing unwllolesomc deeds that wouldfolce unhappy results en him in the future， he began to doonly wholcsome dccds that would benefit himself andothcrs.

　　The moral is： Keeping a bad promise is worse thanmaking it.