a Leaf

There was a murderer who would give his stolen things as offerings to a goddess. He would chop people’s fingers and put them on a string around his neck, so he became known as ‘Ungali Maal’, which means ‘finger necklace’. He had decided to offer a thousand human fingers to goddess.

As Buddha was traveling around his followers stopped him. They said, “You can’t travel forward in to this jungle. Everyone knows that Ungali Maal lives there. He will surely kill you if you go there.” Buddha calmly continued.
When Ungali Maal saw him coming close he screamed in a terrible and scary voice, “HEY YOU, STOP THERE!” Buddha didn’t seem to hear him. Ungali Maal got closer and yelled at him to stop again. But Buddha just kept on walking.

Ungali Maal didn’t know what to think, so he asked, “Who are you?” Buddha said, “I know who I am. Do you know who you are?” Ungali Maal was confused and surprised.

Buddha told him to go pick a leaf from a tree nearby and bring it back to him. Ungali Maal went and got a leaf. Buddha said, “Now, put the leaf back on the tree right where you got it from.” Ungali Maal said, “That’s not possible! Once I’ve taken the leaf off the tree, I can’t put it back on!” Then Buddha said, “If you cannot put it back on, then you shouldn’t take it off in the first place.”

Ungali Maal bowed down and became a disciple of Buddha.