Sona Kolivisa was the son of a rich merchant who had joined the order of monks of Buddha. Through excess of zeal he had been walking on thorns and the path where he walked was covered with blood. Then he thought: 'And if I were to return to my home and use my wealth in doing good deeds?' Buddha, the Master, knew his thoughts, and went to him and asked him:
'When you were at home, Sona, could you play the lute?' - 'Yes, Master.' 'When the strings of the lute were over-taut, did your lute give proper sounds?' - 'No, Master.' 'When the strings of your lute were neither over-taut nor over-slack the lute gave the proper sounds. Was it not so?' - 'It was so. Master.' 'Even so, Sona, an excess of zeal leads to self-exaltation, and a lack of zeal leads to indolence: have an evenness of zeal, master your powers in harmony. Be this your aim.' And Sona Kolivisa heard the words of the Master and obeyed them; and in a short time reached Nirvana. -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
