The Panic of the Hares: A Lesson in Wisdom and Belief

In an earlier life, the Bodhisatta was a lion living in a forest. One day, a hare, deep in thought, wondered, “What if the earth were to break apart? Where would I go?” At that very moment, a bael fruit fell from a tree and landed on a palm leaf, making a loud noise. Startled by the sound, the hare immediately panicked, believing the earth was collapsing. He ran as fast as he could, without looking back.

Seeing the hare fleeing in fear, another hare asked what had caused the panic. The first hare, still terrified, explained that the earth was breaking apart. Without questioning, the second hare joined in the flight, and soon, a large group of animals heard the commotion and joined the stampede. A hundred thousand animals, all fleeing in a wild panic, rushed in fear of the supposed end of the world.

The Bodhisatta, upon seeing the chaos and hearing the reason behind it, knew that the earth was not breaking apart. If the animals were left unchecked, they would run straight into the ocean and perish. So, the Bodhisatta ran ahead of them and let out a mighty roar, stopping them in their tracks.

He then asked the animals where they had seen the earth breaking up. The elephants claimed to know, but when asked further, they said they had only heard it from the lions. The lions had heard it from the tigers, the tigers from the rhinoceroses, and so on down the line of animals until the trail led back to the first hare.

The Bodhisatta approached the first hare and asked what he had seen. The hare admitted he had seen nothing, but had only heard the noise. Now, the Bodhisatta understood what had happened. He told the hare to jump onto his back, and they set off together to investigate the cause of the noise. The hare led the Bodhisatta to the exact spot where the sound had come from, and they found the ground intact with a ripe fruit lying there.

Realizing the earth was not collapsing, the Bodhisatta rushed back to the herd of animals and informed them that there was no danger. The panic ended, and all the animals returned to their homes, safe and sound.

In the Lifetime of the Buddha

One day, some of the Buddha’s disciples observed certain false ascetics lying on beds of thorns and subjecting themselves to other forms of extreme suffering, believing that such practices were beneficial. They were curious whether any good came from such actions. After returning to the monastery, they asked the Buddha for his opinion.

The Buddha replied that these extreme practices brought no real benefit, just as the panic among the animals had been caused by a false belief. He used the story of the hare’s mistaken fear to illustrate that simply following something based on hearsay, without understanding or wisdom, leads to unnecessary suffering and confusion.

To help his disciples understand, the Buddha told them the story of the Bodhisatta and the panicked animals. He explained that like the false ascetics, these animals were suffering because they had acted on a baseless belief without examining the truth of the situation. Only through wisdom and understanding could one avoid unnecessary hardship.

Moral: This story teaches the importance of critical thinking and wisdom in overcoming panic and false beliefs. Just as the animals were misled by hearsay, people can be misled into suffering by blindly following misguided practices. True understanding comes from seeking the truth, not from acting on unfounded fears or secondhand information.