Skayamuni Fables (51) | A MAID AND HER FIVE MASTERS

Story | "Once there were five men who together bought a maid to whom one of them said, "Get my clothes washed.""

Point0fMU | The five Masters represent the original ignorance, the five components of self; often interpreted as the five aggregates in Buddhist philosophy, which are form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness.

Story (cont.) | "Another man also told her to do the same thing. But the maid said he would wash for whoever gave her clothes first. Angrily the second man said, "Since I have bought you with others, how can you wash only for the first one who gave the elder?""

Point0fMU | The maid represents the self. Whereby belief in possessing a body, feeling, perception, thought or experience demands attention. In other words, belief in the master creates the self that must attend to that master. "Washing the clothes" leads to suffering.

Story (cont.) | "Then he beat her ten strokes with a whip. Thus she was whipped as much by each of the five masters. So are the five components of human bodies, which are the sources of annoyances. They whip the sentient beings with birth giving, old age, sickness, death and numerous other miseries."

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