remind me of a two headed bird in one of Buddhist story.
The Bird with Two Heads
Here is another story from the album of Panchatantra. Once upon a time, there lived a strange bird named Bharunda. He lived on a banyan tree near the banks of a river. The strangeness of the bird lies in the fact, that he had two necks, but shared a common stomach. One day, the bird was wandering on the banks of the lake and found a red-golden fruit, which appeared delicious at the first sight. One of the two heads mumbled, “Oh what a fruit. I am sure the heavens have sent it for me. I am so lucky.” He started eating the fruit with immense pleasure and claimed that it was the most delicious fruit he had ever eaten.
Hearing this, the other head said,” O dear, let me also taste the fruit you are praising so much”. The first head laughed and replied "You know that we've only one stomach, whichever head eats, the fruit will go to the same stomach. So, it makes no difference whether I eat it or you eat it. Moreover, I'm the one who found this fruit. So I've the first right to eat it". The other head became silent and disappointed after hearing the first head. This kind of selfishness, on the part of the first head pinched him very much.
Later one day, the other head found a tree bearing poisonous fruits. He took the poisonous fruit and told the first head, “You deceitful fellow. I will eat this poisonous fruit and avenge your insult which you have done to me”.
The first head yelled, "Please don't eat this poisonous fruit. If you eat it, both of us will die, because we've a common stomach to digest it." The other head replied, “Shut up! As I have found this fruit, I have the every right to eat it.” The first head started crying, but the other head didn’t bother and ate the poisonous fruit. In the consequence of this action, both of them lost their lives.
Moral: Sharing of a good thing with others is always good.
As the story goes, in the Sutra on Amida Buddha (Amidakyo), a bird called the "Gumyo Bird" (lit. "share-life bird") is introduced. As shown in the carvings on the large front table in the altar of the Founder's Hall (Goeido) at the Hongwanji, this fictitious bird has two heads, both with the human faces. It can be said that the body represents life, and the two heads symbolize our bonno, or "blind passions."
Bonno are a part of our human nature that we cannot rid ourselves of, and the reason they are referred to as "blind passions" is that we neither see them nor want to acknowledge them. This inability to rid ourselves of our earthly desires is represented by the two heads being linked to the body of the bird. If the two heads were to go in opposite directions, it would only be inviting disaster. If the two heads were to argue, one will eventually fall, with the other immediately following. They will both fall because they are a connected to one body. In other words, their roots are connected to the same life.
This story is about a bird named Two-Headed Bird. This bird is very strange. Why? Because it has two heads, but just one body . We don't have a bird like this in this world. It lives in the Pure Land. It's comes from the Smaller Sutra. I quote below from the Smaller Sutra. 'And again, Shariputra, in that country there are always various wonderful birds of different colors, -- swan, peacock, parrot, Chari, Kalavinka and the bird of double-heads [lit. double-lives]. Six times every day and night all those birds sing in melodious tune, There are six kinds of birds in the Pure Land. They are swan, peacock, parrot, Chari, Kalavinka and the bird of double-heads. The first three birds, swan, peacock, parrot, maybe you know. The Chari is an egret. And the latter two birds, Kalavinka lives just in the Pure Land. It can sing very beautifully. His singing is used to adorn the Pure Land. And last one is The Two headed bird. It's called ¡ÈGumyou-no-tori¡É in Japanese. It means a bird with double-lives. You can see all six birds at the same time. In the Pure Land? In this world we can see them. I'm not kidding. I'm serious. Where can we see them? In our temple, there are six birds. There is a big table in front of Amida Buddha. Six birds are flying as sculpture on facing side of the table. (Six sculptured birds are flying on the front of the table.) Six birds are sculptured there. We can see them. We call the table The Six Birds Table. Rokutyou-onmae-tukue in Japanese. Honzan has the biggest Six Birds Table. Oh, I have to tell you about this story, ¡Ètwo headed bird¡É. This bird has two heads, and one body. The Two heads must share one body. So they have to agree with each other to go anywhere. For example one head wants to go to the sea, but the other wants to go to the mountains. Their ideas are different, so they can't go anywhere because their body is the same, just one. They can't divide their body. If they do that, they would die. Unfortunately the two heads always fight with each other. It is difficult for them to accept the ideas of one another. One day, the bird is in a tree. The tree has red and blue colored fruit. But this tree is strange. Just eating red fruit is no problem. Next day eating just blue fruit is also OK. But eating the red and blue fruit at the same time is no good. Mixing red and blue makes a poison that kills. So these fruits are so strange. They mustn't have red and blue at the same time. As you know two heads are fighting in the tree. One head insists on eating red, and the other one insists on eating blue. They don't agree. They know the fruit well. At last they each eat a red or blue fruit. And then the bird dies. This story is very interesting. It's rather funny. But we can take it easily. War is like this. Some countries are fighting even now. There is a war somewhere in the world. They won't agree. They never stop fighting. Finally what result do they get? Both of them die like two the headed bird. The earth is like a body. Each country is like the two-headed-bird. We might lose the earth itself because of our wars. So we have to take care of our earth. This story suggests not only a world wide thing like war but also our own mind . The heads are so selfish. They only think about themselves, they don't care about others, they don't have thoughtful hearts, sincerity and so on. So the wrong mind causes the tragedy. But I have a mind like this, too. I always think about myself. I can't control my mind by my power. My power is limited. But Amida's power is perfect. So I can take refuge in Amida Buddha. By the way, How is the two headed bird in pure land now? Have they been dead already? No. They have lived now. Do they fight again? NO. Why? Because there is in the pure land. There are no fighting in pure land.