True Love – A Zen Buddhist Spiritual Story

The Bodhisattva came back once as the God of Birds, Garuda. He changed his form to a handsome young man and often played dice with the king of Benaras who had a beautiful queen called Sussondi. Once, while playing dice, Garuda saw Sussondi and fell for her beauty. “I need to have this beautiful lady as my wife,” thought Garuda and decided to marry her.

With his supernatural powers, Garuda raised a storm in the city and covered it with dark clouds. Under the cover of darkness, he carried Sussondi with him. The king was full of grief for his queen and called his most trusted minister Sagga, unaware that his friend Garuda had carried away his wife. “O, wise friend. Please help me find my beloved queen. Search in every nook and corner and bring her back to me,” the king requested Sagga. So Sagga along with a few soldiers went looking for the queen.

Meanwhile, Garuda kept coming to play dice with the king, so he was never suspected. Sailing for days together, Sagga at last came to the island where Garuda had kept Sussondi. Garuda was away playing dice and Sagga took advantage of his absence. He secretly climbed into the queen’s chamber and called out, “Your Highness, the king is heartbroken without you. His majesty has sent me to take you back to him safely.” He then carried back the queen to the king. The king embraced his queen with tears of joy and seeing their love, Garuda realized his mistake.

The author of this story is unknown and greatly appreciated!

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