Banyan Deer was Bodhisattva. After saving the life of a doe once, Banyan further advised the king of Benaras to follow Brahma vihara (Four Sublime states of the Bodhisattva). The king understood and accepted the advice and let the two herds return to the forest. Banyan wisely led his herd of deer into the forest. However, as time passed, the deer moved to the village fields in search of food. The villagers complained to the king that the deer destroyed their crops. As soon as Banyan heard about this, he stopped his herd from eating the villagers’ crops. Then, he advised the villagers to fence their fields with the bunches of leaves. Thus, began the custom of marking fields with tied up leaves. Both Banyan Deer and the King of Benaras lived up to a ripe old age and were reborn as monks.
Moral: Great people have great lessons to teach.
