My favorite story is from the Lotus Sutra. It is about two friends. One man goes to the other friend’s house and they spend the evening talking. After a while, one man falls sound asleep. The other man decides to sew a precious jewel into the hem of his friend’s cloak. After he does this he leaves on a long trip. The next morning the man awakens to find his friend is gone so he decides to leave too.

He traveled to many places seeking food, clothing and shelter. The travels were very difficult for this man but he was satisfied with what little he could do for himself never knowing that hidden in the hem of his cloak was a valuable jewel. One day the friends crossed paths again rather unexpectedly. The wealthy man asked his old friend why he was still wandering about destitute.

He explained that all this time he had a jewel sewn in his cloak that he had never discovered. He took hold of his friends cloak hem and removed the stitching revealing the jewel he had put there long ago.

The Buddha is like this friend. He has given us many valuable teachings but we may still be unaware of them or choose not to use them. He seeks to inspire in us the determination to seek the highest wisdom.