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The story of Angulimala — a murderer who killed 999 people, yet was transformed by a single sentence from the Buddha and attained arhatship. Buddhism's most dramatic story of transformation.
Through the story of a traveler and a bamboo raft, the Buddha revealed the ultimate wisdom of practice—the Dharma is like a raft: after crossing the river, you need not carry it.
Devadatta was the Buddha's cousin and greatest adversary. He tried to kill the Buddha and split the sangha. Yet in the Mahayana sutras, the Buddha says: Devadatta too will become a Buddha. In a single moment, gravel can turn to gold.
A destitute beggar doesn't know a priceless pearl is sewn into his clothes. He wanders begging, suffering cold and hunger. Then an old friend tells him: you were never poor — the jewel was always with you. Everyone has Buddha-nature; they just haven't discovered it yet.
The Buddha scoops up a grain of sand from the Ganges and asks his disciples: How many grains are there? Uncountable, they reply. The karma of sentient beings, he says, is even more vast. Every grain is a cause; every drop of water is an effect.
A man struck by a poisoned arrow refuses treatment until he knows who shot it and what it's made of. The Buddha used this story to teach: solve the suffering at hand first.