Jataka Vol. II: Book II. Dukanipāta: No. 182. Saṁgāmāvacara-Jātaka
No. 182.
SAṀGĀMĀVACARA-JĀTAKA.
"O Elephant, a hero thou," etc.--This story the Master told while staying at
Jetavana, about Elder Nanda.
The Master, on his first return to Kapila city, had received into the Community
Prince Nanda, his younger brother, and after returned to Sāvatthi and stayed
there. Now Father Nanda, remembering how as he was leaving his home, after
taking the Bowl, in the Master's company, Janapadakalyāṇī was looking out of a
window, with her hair half combed, and she said--"Why, Prince Nanda is off with
the Master!--Come back soon, dear lord!"--remembering this, I say, grew downcast
and despondent, yellower and yellower, and the veins stood knotted over his
skin.
When the Master learnt, of this, he thought, "What if I could establish Nanda in
sainthood!" To Nanda's cell he went, and sat on the seat which was offered him.
"Well, Nanda," he asked, "are you content with our teaching "Sir," replied
Nanda, "I am in love with Janapadakalyāṇī, and I am not content." "Have you been
on pilgrimage in the Himalaya, Nanda?" "No, Sir, not yet." "Then we will go."
"But, Sir, I have no miraculous power; how can I go?" "I will take you, Nanda."
So saying, the Master took him h, the hand, and thus passed through the air.
On the way they passed over a burnt field. There, upon the charred stump of a
tree, with nose and tail half gone, hair scorched off, and hide a cinder,
nothing but skin, all covered with blood, sat a she-monkey. "Do you see that
monkey, Nanda?" the Master asked. "Yes, Sir." "Take a good look at her," said
he. Then he pointed out, stretching over sixty leagues, the uplands of Manosilā,
the seven great lakes, Anotatta and the rest, the five great rivers, the whole
Himalaya highlands, with the magnificent hills named of Gold, of Silver, and of
Gems, and hundreds of other lovely spots. Next he asked, "Nanda, have you ever
seen the abode of the Thirty-three Archangels?" [93] "No, Sir, never," was the
reply. "Come along, Nanda," said he, "and I will show you the abode of the
Thirty-three." Therewith he brought him to the Yellowstone Throne 1, and made
him sit on it. Sakka, king of the gods in two heavens, came with his host
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of gods, gave greeting and sat down on one side. His handmaids to the number of
twenty-five million, and five hundred nymphs with doves' feet, came and made
greeting, then sat down on one side. The Master made Nanda look at these five
hundred nymphs again and again, with desire after them. "Nanda" said he, "do you
see these dove's-foot nymphs? "Yes, Sir." "Well, which is prettiest--they or
Janapadakalyāṇī?" "Oh, Sir! as that wretched ape was in comparison with
Janapadakalyāṇī, so is she compared with these!" "Well, Nanda, what are you
going to do?" "How is it possible, Sir, to win these nymphs?" "By living as an
ascetic, Sir," said the Master, "one may win these nymphs." The lad said, "If
the Blessed One pledges his word that an ascetic life will win these nymphs, an
ascetic life I will lead." "Agreed, Nanda, I pledge my word. Well, Sir," said
he, "don't let us make a long business of it. Let us be off, and I will become
an ascetic."
The Master brought him to Jetavana back again. The Elder began to follow the
ascetic life.
The Master recounted to Sāriputta, the Captain of the Faith, how his younger
brother had made him pledge himself in the midst of the gods in the heaven of
the Thirty-three about the nymphs. In the same manner, he told the story to
Elder Mahāmoggallāna, to Elder Mahākassapa, to Elder Anuruddha, to Elder Ānanda,
the Treasurer of the Faith, eighty great disciples in all; and then, one after
the other, he told it to the other Brethren. The Captain of the Faith, Elder
Sāriputta, asked Elder Nanda, "Is it true, as I hear, friend, that you have the
Buddha's pledged word that you shall win the nymphs of the gods in the heaven of
the Thirty-three, by passing your life as an ascetic? Then," he went on, "is not
your holy life all bound up with womankind and lust? If you live chaste just for
the sake of women, what is the difference between you and a labourer who works
for hire?" [94] This saying quenched all the fire in him and made him ashamed of
himself. In the same way all the eighty chief disciples, and all the rest of the
Brethren, made this worthy father ashamed. "I have been wrong," thought he; in
all shame and remorse, he screwed up his courage, and set to work to develope
his spiritual insight. Soon he attained to sainthood. He came to the Master, and
said, "Sir, I release the Blessed One from his promise." The Master said, "If
you have attained sainthood, Nanda, I am thereby released from my promise."
When the Brethren heard of this, they began to talk it over in their Hall of
Truth. "How docile yon Elder Nanda is, to be sure! Why, friend, one word of
advice awakened his sense of shame; at once he began to live as an ascetic and
now he is a Saint!" The Master came in, and asked what they were talking about
together. They told him. "Brethren," said he, "Nanda was just as docile in
former days as he is now;" and then he told them a story.
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Once upon a time when Brahmadatta was reigning in Benares, the Bodhisatta was
born as an elephant-trainer's son. When he grew up, he was carefully taught all
that pertains to the training of elephants. He was in the service of a king who
was an enemy to the king of Benares. He trained this king's elephant of state to
perfection.
The king determined to capture Benares. Mounting upon his state elephant, he led
a mighty host against Benares, and laid siege to it. Then he sent a letter to
the king of the city: "Fight, or yield:" The king chose to fight. Walls and
gates, towers and battlements he manned with a great host, and defied the foe.
The hostile king armed his state elephant, and clad himself in armour, took a
sharp goad in his hand, and drove his beast city-wards; "Now,"
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said he, "I'll storm this city, and kill my enemy, and get his realms into my
hands:" But at sight of the defenders, who cast boiling mud, and stones from
their catapults, and all kinds of missiles, the elephant was scared out of his
wits and would not come near the place. Thereupon up came the trainer, crying,
"Son, a hero like you is quite at home in the battle-field! [95] in such a place
it is disgraceful to turn tail!" And to encourage his elephant, he uttered these
two verses:
"O Elephant, a hero thou, whose home is in the field:
There stands the gate before thee now: why dost thou turn and yield?
"Make haste! break through the iron bar, and beat the pillars down!
Crash through the gates, made fast for war, and enter in the town!"
The Elephant listened; one word of advice was enough to turn him. Winding his
trunk about the shafts of the pillars, he tore them up like so many toadstools:
he beat against the gateway, broke down the bars, and forcing his way through
entered the city and won it for his king.
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When the Master had finished this discourse, he identified the Birth:--"In those
days Nanda was the Elephant, Ānanda was the king, and the trainer was I myself."
Footnotes
63:1 The throne of Sakka (Indra).
Next: No. 183. Vālodaka-Jātaka
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