Not a Buddha story — 2

Once a father along with his 15 year old son came to see Buddha. He bowed before the enlightened soul and said “Buddha, my Son is brilliant and is a top ranking student in school but he is very worried and afraid of taking the board exams. I have tried to convince him that the exams don’t matter as long as he enjoys the effort he puts in. But that hasn’t helped him. Please advise us.”

Buddha was silent for a while and then called the boy near him. As the boy came close he said “I would love to see you get the highest score in your exams. Work hard and you will achieve that”. The boy’s face lit up. He nodded his head and went back to his father and said to him cheerfully “I will do my best father”.

The father could not believe this magic. He had been talking all things and couldn’t make his son any better. But Buddha said few words and his son became alright. He thanked Buddha and left.

The disciple near Buddha was equally surprised. He asked Buddha on how he could bring such a big transformation in the boy.

Buddha smiled and said “The father is even more anxious to see his son get high scores in the exams. The boy can feel what his father is thinking and becomes nervous about the exams. Even when the father tells him scores are not important, he knows that that is not the truth. Sometimes you should just be plain with the truth and not add colors to hide it. I just spoke the truth. I asked the boy to go for it all out. That made the goal very clear with no agenda. The boy got relieved knowing what he needs to do”.

As you would have known from this this is not a Buddha story.