The Festival of Fools: A Tale of Wisdom : หน้า 159/263

Once there was a festival which had been organized by fools. It was called the ‘Festival of Fools’ and lasted for seven full days. The fools of the town would sit in a circle and get drunk before going around the neighbourhood shouting crude words outside peoples’ houses. If the inhabitant of a house paid them some money, they would go and shout elsewhere. A certain group of the Buddha’s followers had already attained ‘stream-entry’ (Sotāpana fruit). Having paid the shouting fools their dues, they locked themselves in their houses for seven days, meditating on the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Saṅgha. Only when the Fools’ Festival was over did they emerge from their houses and go to visit the Buddha. They told him that they had confined themselves to their houses because of a festival by fools possessed of False Speech and for that reason had not been able to attend to the Buddha. The Buddha subsequently gave the teaching that “Fools know neither benefit in this lifetime or the next. They are unable to find wisdom and are constantly established in recklessness. By contrast, the wise who know benefit in this lifetime and the next are constantly established in non-recklessness — in just the same way that the heir of seven sorts of jewel from a family wealthy in the past would take good care of his legacy.” Such disciples were maintaining Right Speech at the transcendental level. 4. Right Action Right Action is the practice of abstaining from killing, stealing and adultery.