Karma demon
A long time ago, there was a boy who lived in the village. He was very intelligent, but had one serious shortcoming. This flaw became apparent to everyone as he grew older.
The boy was so proud of how smart he was, he thought everything was beneath him. He pretended to listen carefully to the teachings of his school and his elders, but their important lessons never reached his heart.
Pride sows the seeds of karma.
The boy gradually drifted away from his circle of friends. In his solitude, the boy spent a lot of time thinking. He thought forbidden thoughts and questioned things better left alone.
Unclean thoughts cause karma to grow unchecked.
In time, loneliness became his only friend. No one spoke to him. The seeds of karma took root in the soil of loneliness. It flourished and grew rampant on his thoughts.
Unbeknownst to him, the young boy’s karma grew and grew. One day, he ceased to be human. He became a karma demon.
Before anyone knew, the village was empty; everyone had fled in fear of the karma demon. It went to live in the forest, but all animals there disappeared too.
As the karma demon walked, the plants and trees twisted and rotted. As the karma demon touched, the food it tried to eat instantly turned into lethal poison. As the karma demon breathed, the air around it shimmered and turned sour.
Eventually, it left the darkness of the forest. In the distance, wreathed in a glittering radiance, it saw a deep lake nestled in the mountains.
It walked into the lake, thinking that water as pure as this would cleanse it of its karma. But the water surrounding it instantly became dark and murky, and started turning poisonous.
The karma demon realized it shouldn’t be living in this world. “Karma demons mustn’t be allowed to exist.” Upon coming to this realization, it vanished into the depths of the lake.