The Bodhisatta was once an ascetic. He lived in the wilderness at the foot of a mountain, and two friends, a lion and a tiger, lived in a nearby cave. One day the pair argued about the cold. The tiger thought the dark half of the month (the half of the lunar cycle when the moon is less than half illuminated) was the coldest period, while the lion believed it was the light half. Unable to convince each other, they asked the Bodhisatta who was right. Both, he answered, because cold is caused by wind, not light or dark. Thus the two friends made peace with each other.
In the Lifetime of the Buddha
The lion and the tiger were earlier births of two forest-dwelling disciples, Elder Junha (“Light”) and Elder Kala (“Dark”), who had the same disagreement about when cold appeared during the lunar cycle. When they asked the Buddha about it, he told them he had once answered this same question for them in the past and told them this story.
