a young child died; the father had died, and the woman was living only for this child. That young child was her whole life and her only hope; otherwise, there was nothing for her to live for. And the child died. She was almost on the verge of going crazy. She wouldn’t allow people to take the child to the crematorium. She was hugging the child in the hope that perhaps he might start breathing again. She was ready to give her life if the child could live.

The people said, “This is not possible, it is against the law of nature.” But she was in such misery, she could not listen to anybody. Then somebody said, “The best way is, let us take this woman to Gautam Buddha who, just by chance, is in the village.”

This appealed to the woman. A man like Gautam Buddha can do anything, and this is a small miracle — nothing much — that the child starts breathing again. She went, crying and weeping, put the child’s dead body at the feet of Buddha, and asked him, “You are a great master, you know the secrets of life and death, and I have come with great hope. Make my child alive again.”

Buddha said, “That I will do, but you have to fulfill a condition before I do it.”

She said, “I am ready to fulfill any condition. I am ready to give my life, but let my child live.”

Buddha said, “No, the condition you have to fulfill is very simple. You just go around the village and find a few mustard seeds from a house where death has never happened.”

She was in such despair, she went from one house to another. And those people said, “We can give you as many mustard seeds as you want, but those mustard seeds will not help you. Not only one, but many have died in our family; perhaps thousands have died.”

By the evening, a great awakening had happened to the woman. She had gone through the whole village, and the same reply…. They were all ready to help her but they said, “These mustard seeds won’t help. Buddha has made it clear to you, `Bring the mustard seeds from a family where nobody has ever died.'”

By the evening, when she returned, she was a totally different woman. She was not the same woman who had come in the morning. She had become absolutely aware that death is a reality of life — it cannot be changed.

And what is the point? “Even if my child lives for a few years, he will have to die again. In the first place it is not possible; in the second place, even if it were possible, it is pointless.”

Now there were no more tears in her eyes, she was very quiet, serene. A tremendous understanding had come to her: that she was asking for the impossible. She dropped that desire. She came and fell at Buddha’s feet.

Buddha said, “Where are the mustard seeds? I have been waiting the whole day.”

The woman instead of crying, laughed. She said, “You played a good joke. Forget all about the child, what is gone is gone.

Now I have come to be initiated and to become a sannyasin. The way you have found the truth which never dies, I also want to find. I am no longer concerned with the child or anybody else. My concern is now, how to find the truth which never dies, which is life itself.”

Buddha said, “Forgive me that I had to ask you for something I knew was impossible. But it was a simple device to bring you to your senses, and it worked.” – Osho, Buddha; his life and teachings and impact on humanity