The Urn with Butter and The Urn with Stones

Many years back, at one time, there was this priests that were charging money for ritual prayers and he promised that all the rituals that he performed will release the soul of a dead relative from hell and would be able to reach the stairs to heaven.

In the ritual, the priests are supposed to strike an urn filled with stones with a hammer and if the urn broke, the stones will fell out and it was suppose to be a sign that these soul was released from the hell realm, according to the priests. Frankly speaking, how can a clay urn withstand the blow of a heavy metal hammer?

A young Buddhist, sad over his uncle's recent death, went to Lord Buddha and asked him for similar ritual which can release his poor uncle's soul from hell. Lord Buddha asked him to get two ritual urns from the priests, one to be filled with butter and the other urn with stones.
The young Buddhist believed that he was getting a far more powerful ritual, was very happy and excited and did as Lord Buddha requested.

He then returned with the two urns from the priests, Lord Buddha asked him to carefully place both the urns in the river, and the rim of both the urn has to be just below the surface. Lord Buddha also instructed him to recite the prayer that the priests recite during rituals, and strike both the urns under the water with a metal hammer, at the usual point in the ritual and the young man must go back and describe to Lord Buddha on what happen.

The young Buddhist being tremendously excited as he will be the first person to be taught this powerful new ritual, did exactly as he instructed by Lord Buddha. After the ritual, on his return, Lord Buddha asked him to describe what happened and what did he saw.

The young man replied, “Nothing unusual, when I struck the urns with the metal hammer, the stones fell out from the broken urn and sank to the bottom of the river and when I hit the urn filled butter, the butter floated on the surface of the river and was washed away."

Lord Buddha said, you must ask the priests to come and pray so that the butter will sink to the bottom of the river and the stones shall float to the surface! The young man, was shocked by ridiculousness of the request answered, "But Lord, no matter how good the priests is, it is impossible for the stones to float and the butter to sink."

Lord Buddha replied, "Exactly! And will be the same with your uncle.” Whatever good deeds and loving actions that he did during his lifetime will ensure him to rise to heaven, and whatever bad and selfish actions he has made this lifetime will make him sank towards hell realm.

There is no such prayer or rituals of anyone can do to alter even small a tiny part of the results of his actions on this lifetime!