'My dear wife,' he said, 'I loved you day and night, I took
care of you throughout my whole life. Now I am about to die, will you please go
with me wherever I go after my death?'
He expected her to answer yes. But she answered, 'My dear
husband, I know you always loved me. And you are going to die. Now it is time
to separate from you. Goodbye, my dear.'
He called his second wife to his sickbed and begged her to
follow him in death. He said, 'my dear second wife, you know how I loved you.
Sometimes I was afraid you might leave me, but I held on to you strongly. My
dear, please come with me.'
The second wife expressed herself rather coldly. 'Dear
husband, your first wife refused to accompany you after your death. How can I
follow you? You loved me only for your own selfish sake.'
Lying in his deathbed, he called his third wife and asked
her to follow him. The third wife replied, with tears in her eyes, 'My dear, I
pity you and I feel sad for myself. Therefore I shall accompany you to the
graveyard. This is my last duty to you.' The third wife thus also refused to
follow him to death.
Three wives had refused to follow him after his death. Now
he recalled that there was another wife, his fourth wife, for whom he didn't
care very much. He had treated her like a slave and had always shown much
displeasure with her. He now thought that if he asked her to follow him to
death, she certainly would say no.
But his loneliness and fear were so severe that he made the
effort to ask her to accompany him to the other world. The fourth wife gladly
accepted her husband's request.
'My dear husband,' she said, 'I will go with you. Whatever
happens, I am determined to be with you forever. I cannot be separated from
you."
'Every man and woman has four wives or husbands. What do
these wives signify?'
THE FIRST WIFE
The first 'wife' is our body. We love our bodies day and
night. In the morning, we wash our faces, put on clothing and shoes. We give
food to our bodies. We take care of our body like the first wife in this story.
But unfortunately, at the end of our life, the body, the first 'wife' cannot follow
us to the next world. As it is stated in a commentary, 'When the last breath
leaves our body, the healthy color of the face is transformed, and we lose the
appearance of radiant life. Our loved ones may gather around and lament but to
no avail. When such an event occurs, the body is being buried.' This is the
destination of our bodies.
THE SECOND WIFE
The second 'wife' stands for our fortune, our material
things, money, property, fame, position, and job that we worked hard to attain.
We are attached to these material possessions. We are afraid to lose these
material things and wish to possess much more. There is no limit. At the end of
our life, these things cannot follow us to death. Whatever fortune we have piled
up, we must leave it. We came into this world with empty hands. During our life
in this world, we have the illusion that we obtained a fortune. At death, our
hands are empty. We can't hold our fortune after our death, just as the second
wife told her husband: 'You hold me with your ego-centered selfishness. Now it
is time to say goodbye.'
THE THIRD WIFE
Everyone has a third 'wife'. This is the relationship of our
parents, sister and brother, all relatives, friends, and society. They will go
as far as the graveyard, with tears in their eyes. They are sympathetic and
saddened...
Thus, we cannot depend on our physical body, our fortune,
and our society. We are born alone and we die alone. No one will accompany us
after our death.
THE FOURTH WIFE
The fourth 'wife' is our mind. When we deeply observe and
recognize that our minds are filled with anger, greed, and dissatisfaction, we
are having a good look at our lives. The anger, greed, and dissatisfaction are
Karma, the law of causation. We cannot be separated from our own karma. As the fourth wife told her dying husband, 'I will follow you wherever you go.'"
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