A Bodhisattva story

I was fortunate to be able to study Tibetan, Vajrayana, Buddhism with the Venerable Chhoje Tulku Rinpoche as my teacher in Fairfax California in the early 90's.

  

A short background of Rinpoche...

Chumur Monastery is the seat of the Venerable Chhoje Rinpoche. Located in an extremely remote area of Ladakh, India, it is situated on the northern border close to Tibet, standing at an altitude of 15,500 feet and surrounded by the snowy Himalaya and Karakoram ranges.  It is protected by India so is accessible by Rinpoche.  Rinpoche's family fled Tibet during the Mao Communist Chinese invasion in the late 50's. Rinpoche was educated in a British run boarding school. As well as educated by his Buddhist teachers from the age of 5 years old.

Rinpoche used to tell great stories...Bodhisattva stories.  A Bodhisattva is similar to a saint in the Christian tradition.  Google Bodhisattva for a more in depth definition...

A Bodhisattva wandered into this village. In the village was a woman who's husband had died. She was so distraught that she carried his thigh bone around, retrieving it from the sky burial ground, and she's talking to it,washing it, feeding it, as though he were still alive; she had gone completely mad.  

The Bodhisattva, wanting to help her, went to the burial ground and found a thigh bone and started hanging around the woman, sitting near her as he talked to his bone, washing it, feeding it,  just like she did with her husband's bone.

Eventually she notices this guy sitting and talking with his bone and he begins to chat with her, introducing her to his wife..the bone.  

They start to hangout together talking to each other and their bones, washing their bones; on and on.

In this way the Bodhisattva builds a relationship with this woman.  

One night they were camped by a river beside the village. While the woman was sleeping the Bodhisattva eased her bone from her arms and took his bone and threw both of them into the river. 

When morning came he shook her awake. 

"Wake up!" he shouted. 

She rose groggy from sleep.

"What?" she asked. 

"Something terrible has happened," he said. 

She noticed her bone was gone. She rose to her feet, frantically she searched for it. 

The Boddhisattva said, "Your husband and my wife have run off together and left us both!"

Shocked by her husband's betrayal she began to regain her sanity and eventually was healed.