Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Tika-Nipata - Labha-Garaha Jataka

Jataka Vol. II: Book III. Tika-Nipāta: No. 287. Labha-Garaha Jataka



p. 287
No. 287.
LĀBHA-GARAHA-JĀTAKA.
"He that hath madness," etc.--This story the Master told at Jetavana, about a
fellow-priest of the Elder Sāriputta. [421] This brother came and greeted the
Elder, and sitting on one side, he asked him to tell the way in which one could
get gain, and how he could get dress and the like. The Elder replied, "Friend,
there are four qualities which make a man successful in getting gain. He must
get rid of modesty from his heart, must resign his orders, must seem to be mad
even if he is not; he must speak slander; he must behave like a dancer; he must
use unkind words everywhere." Thus he explained how a man gets a great deal. The
brother objected to this method, and went away. The Elder went to his Master,
and told him about it. The Master said, "This is not the first time that this
brother spoke in dispraise of gain; he did the same before;" and then, at the
request of the Elder, he told an old-world tale.
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Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta was born
in a Brahmin family. When he grew up to the age of sixteen years, he had already
mastered the three Vedas and the eighteen accomplishments; and he became a
far-famed teacher, who educated a body of five hundred young men. One young man,
a youth of virtuous life, approached his teacher one day with the question, "How
is it these people get gain?
The teacher answered, "My son, there fife four qualities which procure gain for
those people;" and he repeated the first stanza:--
"He that hath madness, he that slanders well,
That hath an actor's tricks, ill tales doth tell,
Such is the man that wins prosperity
Where all are fools: let this your maxim be."
[422] The pupil, on hearing his master's words, expressed his disapproval of
gain-getting in the two following stanzas:--
"Shame upon him that gain or glory wins
By dire destruction and by wicked sins.
"With bowl in hand a homeless life I'll lead
Rather than live in wickedness and greed."
[423] Thus did the youth praise the quality of the religious life; and straight
became a hermit, and craved alms with righteousness, cultivating the
Attainments, until he became destined to Brahma's world.
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When the Master had ended this discourse he thus identified the Birth:--"At that
time the brother who disapproved of gain was the young man, but his teacher was
I myself."



Next: No. 288. Macch-Uddāna-Jātaka