Kisha-Gotami's story (2)

"He told her empathetically that he would surely help her, but she must first accomplish a simple task. She must go back down to the village and beg for a few grains of mustard seeds and bring them back up to him on the mountain. These grains must come, however, from a house where no one had ever died.

She rushed away, still clutching her baby and at the first house she saw she begged for some mustard seeds. These were readily given to her, as mustard seeds were a common household item. As she was departing she remembered to ask if anyone had died in that house, and the woman answered that only last week, her old father-in-law had died in the very premises. Kisha sadly gave back the seeds and went on to the next house, only to find that there too a death had recently taken place. And from house to house she went throughout the entire village, and the neighboring village as well, disappointed at every turn, as she discovered that Death had stalked every door.

She climbed back up the mountain without any mustard seeds and knelt before the Buddah, placing the dead baby at his feet. She said but two words, "I understand," and wept. The scriptures go on to tell how she became a dedicated disciple of the sacred teachings that free one from suffering . . . ."

Eugene Pascal (1992). Jung to Live by. pp. 75-6.