Just as Night Follows Day, Sorrow Walks with Joy

One day, a young woman named Kisa Gotami came to the Buddha, cradling her lifeless child in her arms. Her eyes were swollen from tears, and her voice trembled as she pleaded, “Lord, please, bring my son back to life.”

The Buddha looked at her kindly and said, “There is a way. But first, you must bring me a single mustard seed from a household that has never known death or sorrow.”

Hope ignited in Kisa Gotami’s heart as she ran from house to house. But in every home, she was met with the same answer: “We too have lost a son… a daughter… a mother… a loved one.”

By nightfall, she returned to the Buddha, empty-handed, her grief transformed. “I understand now,” she whispered. “There is no house untouched by sorrow. Death is part of life.”

The Buddha gently replied, “Just as night follows day, sorrow walks with joy. To seek only happiness is to deny half of life. Peace comes not by avoiding sorrow, but by embracing all that is.”

From that day on, Kisa Gotami followed the Buddha’s path—not in search of joy alone, but of understanding. And in accepting life’s sorrow, she found a deeper happiness.