Jataka Vol. II: Book III. Tika-Nipāta: No. 276. Kurudhamma-Jātaka
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No. 276.
KURUDHAMMA-JĀTAKA 1.
"Knowing thy faith," etc.--This. story the Master told whilst dwelling in
Jetavana, about a Brother that killed a wild goose. [366] Two Brothers, great
friends, who came from Sāvatthi, and had embraced the religious life, after
taking the higher orders used generally to go about together. One day they came
to Aciravatī. After a bath, they stood on the sand, basking in the sunlight and
talking pleasantly together. At this moment two wild geese flew over their
heads. One of the young fellows picked up a stone. "I'm going to hit that goose
bird in the eye!" says he. "You can't," says the other. "That I can," says the
first, "and not only that--I can hit either this eye or that eye, as I please."
"Not you!" says the other. "Look here, then!" says the first; and picking up a
three-cornered stone, threw it after the bird. The bird turned its head on
hearing the pebble whizz through the air. Then the other, seizing a round
pebble, threw it so that it hit the near eye and came out of the other. The
goose with a loud cry turned over and over and fell at their very feet.
The Brothers who were standing about saw what had occurred, and ran up,
reproaching him. "What a shame," said they, "that you, who have embraced such a
doctrine as ours, should take the life of a living creature!" They made him go
before the Tathāgata with them. "Is what they say true?" asked the Master. "Have
you really taken the life of a living creature?" "Yes, Sir," replied the
Brother. "Brother," said he, "how is it that you have done this thing, after
embracing so great salvation? Wise men of old, before the Buddha appeared,
though they lived in the world, and the worldly life is impure, felt remorse
about mere trifles; but you, who have embraced this great doctrine, have no
scruples. A Brother ought to hold himself in control in deed, word, and
thought." Then he told a story.
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Once upon a time, when Dhanañjaya was king of Indapatta City, in the Kuru
kingdom, the Bodhisatta was born as a son of his Queen Con-sort. By and bye he
grew up, and was educated at Takkasilā. His father made him Viceroy, [367] and
afterwards on his father's death he became king, and grew in the Kura
righteousness, keeping the ten royal duties. The Kuru righteousness means the
Five Virtues; these the Bodhisatta observed, and kept pure; as did the
Bodhisatta, even so did queen-mother, queen-consort, younger brother, viceroy,
family priest, brahmin, driver, courtier, charioteer, treasurer, master of the
granaries, noble, porter, courtesan, slave-girl--all did the same.
King, mother, consort, viceroy, chaplain too,
Driver and charioteer and treasurer,
And he that governed the king's granaries,
Porter, and courtesan, eleven in all,
Observed the rules of Kuru righteousness.
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Thus all these did observe the Five Virtues, and kept them untarnished. The king
built six Almonries,--one at each of the four city gates, one in the midst of
the city, and one at his own door; daily he distributed 600,000 pieces of money
in alms, by which he stirred up the whole of India. All India was overspread by
his love and delight in charity.
At this period there was in the city of Dantapura, in the kingdom of Kāliṅga, a
king named King Kāliṅga. In his realms the rain fell not, and because of the
drought there was a famine in the land. The people thought that lack of food
might produce a pestilence; and there was fear of drought, and fear of
famine--these three fears were ever present before them. The people wandered
about destitute hither and thither, leading their children by the hand. All the
people in the kingdom gathered together, and came to Dantapura; and there at the
king's door they made outcry.
As the king stood, by the window, he heard the noise, and asked why the people
were making all that noise. [368]
"Oh, Sire," was the reply, "three fears have seized upon all your kingdom: there
falls no rain, the crops fail, there is a famine. The people, starving,
diseased, and destitute, are wandering about with their little ones by the hand.
Make rain for us, O king!"
Said the king, "What used former monarchs to do, if it would not rain?"
"Former monarchs, O king, if it would not rain, used to give alms, to keep the
holy day, to make vows of virtue, and to lie down seven days in their chamber on
a grass pallet: then the rain would fall."
"Very good," the king said; and even so did he. Still even so there came no
rain. The king said to his court,
"As you bade me, so I have done; but there is no rain. What am I to do?"
"O king, in the city of Indapatta, there is a state elephant, named
Añjana-vasabho, the Black Bull. It belongs to Dhanañjaya, the Kura king. This
let us fetch; then the rain will come."
"But how can we do that? The king and his army are not easy to overcome."
"O king, there is no need to fight him. The king is fond of giving, he loves
giving: were he but asked, he would even cut off his head in all its
magnificence, or tear out his gracious eyes, or give up his very kingdom. There
will be no need even to plead for the elephant. He will give it without fail."
"But who is able to ask him?" said the king.
"The Brahmins, great king!"
The king summoned eight Brahmins from a Brahmin village, and with all honour and
respect sent them to ask for the elephant. They took
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money for their journey, and donned travelling garb, and without resting past
one night in a place, travelled quickly until after a few days they took their
meal at the almshall in the city gate. When they had satisfied their bodily
wants, they asked, "When does the king come to the Almonry?"
The answer was, [369] "On three days in the fortnight--fourteenth, fifteenth,
and eighth; hut to-morrow is the full moon, so he will come to-morrow also."
So early the next morning, the brahmins went, and entered by the eastern gate.
The Bodhisatta also, washed and anointed, all adorned and rarely arrayed,
mounted upon a fine elephant richly caparisoned, came with a great company to
the Almshall at the eastern gate. There he dismounted, and gave food to seven or
eight people with his own hand. "In this manner give," said he, and mounting his
elephant departed to the south gate. At the eastern gate the brahmins had had no
chance, owing to the force of the royal guard; so they proceeded to the south,
and watched when the king should come. When the king reached a rising ground not
far from the gate, they raised their hands, and hailed the king victorious. The
king guided his animal with the sharp goad to the place where they were. "Well,
Brahmins, what is your wish?" asked he. Then the brahmins declared the virtues
of the Bodhisatta in the first stanza:
"Knowing thy faith and virtue, Lord, we come;
For this beast's sake our wealth we spent at home 1.
[370] To this the Bodhisatta made answer, "Brahmins, if all your wealth has been
exhausted in getting this elephant, never mind--I give him to you with all his
splendour." Thus comforting them, he repeated these two verses:
"Whether or no ye serve for livery,
Whatever creature shall come here to me,
As my preceptors taught me long ago,
All that come here shall always welcome be.
"This elephant to you for gift I bring:
’Tis a king's portion, worthy of a king!
Take him, with all his trappings, golden chain,
Driver and all, and go your ways again."
[371] Thus spake the great Being, mounted upon his elephant's back; then,
dismounting, he said to them--"If there is a spot on him unadorned, I will adorn
it and then give him to you." Thrice he went about the creature, turning towards
the right, and examined him; but he found no spot on him without adornment. Then
he put the trunk into the brahmins'
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hands; he besprinkled him with scented water from a fine golden vase, and made
him over to them. The brahmins accepted the elephant with his belongings, and
seating themselves upon his back rode to Dantapura, and handed him over to their
king. But although the elephant was come, no rain fell yet.
Then the king asked again--"What can be the reason?"
They said, "Dhanañjaya, the Kuru King, observes the Kuru righteousness;
therefore in his realms it rains every ten or fifteen days. That is the power of
the king's goodness. If in this animal there is any good, how little it must
be!" Then said the king, "Take this elephant, caparisoned as he is, with all his
belongings, and give it hack to the king. Write upon a golden plate the Kuru
righteousness which he observes, and bring it hither." With these words he
despatched the brahmins and courtiers.
These came before the king, and restored his elephant, saying, "My lord, even
when your elephant came, [372] no rain fell in our country. They say that you
observe the Kuru righteousness. Our king is wishful himself to observe it; and
he has sent us, bidding us write it upon a golden plate, and bring it to him.
Tell us this righteousness!"
"Friends," says the king, "indeed I did once observe this righteousness; but now
I am in doubt about this very point. This righteousness does not bless my heart
now: therefore I cannot give it you."
Why, you may ask, did not virtue bless the king any longer? Well, every third
year, in the month of Kattika 1 the kings used to hold a festival, called the
Kattika Feast. While keeping this feast, the kings used to deck themselves out
in great magnificence, and dress up like gods; they stood in the presence of a
goblin named Cittarāja, the King of Many Colours, and they would shoot to the
four points of the compass arrows wreathed in flowers, and painted in divers
colours. This king then, in keeping the feast, stood on the bank of a lake, in
the presence of Cittarāja, and shot arrows to the four quarters. They could see
whither three of the arrows went; but the fourth, which was shot over the water,
this they saw not. Thought the king, "Perchance the arrow which I have shot has
fallen upon some fish!" As this doubt arose, the sin of life-taking made a flaw
in his virtue; that is why his virtue did not bless him as before. This the king
told them; and added, "Friends, I am in doubt about myself, whether or no I do
observe the Kuru righteousness; but my mother keeps it well. You can get it from
her."
"But, O king," said they, "you had no intent to take life. Without the intent of
the heart there is no taking of life. Give us the Kuru righteousness which you
have kept!"
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"Write, then," said he. And he caused them to write upon the plate of gold:
"Slay not the living; take not what is not given; [373] walk not evilly in lust;
speak no lies; drink no strong drink." Then he added,
"Still, it does not bless me; you had better learn it from my mother."
The messengers saluted the king, and visited the Queen-mother. "Lady," said
they, "they say you keep the Kuru righteousness: pass it on to us!"
Said the Queen-mother, "My sons, indeed I did once keep this righteousness, but
now I have my doubts. This righteousness does not make me happy, so I cannot
give it to you." Now we are told that she had two sons, the elder being king,
and the younger viceroy. A certain king sent to the Bodhisatta perfumes of fine
sandal wood worth an hundred thousand pieces, and a golden neckband worth an
hundred thousand. And he, thinking to do his mother honour, sent the whole to
her. Thought she: "I do not perfume myself with sandal-wood, I do not wear
necklets. I will give them to my sons' wives." Then the thought occurred to
her--"My elder son's wife is my lady; she is the chief queen: to her will I give
the gold necklet; but the wife of the younger is a poor creature,--to her I will
give the sandal perfume." And so to the one she gave the necklet, and the
perfume gave she to the other. Afterward she bethought her, "I keep the Kuru
righteousness; whether they be poor or whether they be not poor is no matter. It
is not seemly that I should pay court to the elder. Perchance by not doing this
I have made a flaw in my virtue!" And she began to doubt; that is why she spoke
as she slid.
The messengers said, "When it is in your hands, a thing is given even as you
will. If you have scruples about a thing so small as that, what other sin would
you ever do? Virtue is not broken by a thing of that kind. [374] Give us the
Kuru righteousness!" And from her also they received it, and wrote it upon the
golden plate.
"All the same, my sons," said the Queen-mother, "I am not happy in this
righteousness. But my daughter-in-law observes it well. Ask her for it."
So they took their leave respectfully, and asked the daughter in the same way as
before. And, as before, she replied, "I cannot, for I keep it myself no
longer!"--Now one day as she sat at the lattice, looking down she saw the king
making a solemn procession about the city; and behind him on the elephant's back
sat the viceroy. She fell in love with him, and thought, "What if I were to
strike up a friendship with him, and his brother were to die, and then he were
to become king, and take me to wife!" Then it flashed across her mind--"I who
keep the Kuru righteousness, who am married to a husband, I have looked with
love
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upon another man! Here is a flaw in my virtue!" Remorse seized upon her. This
she told the messengers.
Then they said, "Sin is not the mere uprising of a thought. If you feel remorse
for so small a thing as this, what transgression could you ever commit? Not by
such a small matter is virtue broken; give us this righteousness!" And she
likewise told it to them, and they wrote it upon a golden plate. But she said,
"However, my sons, my virtue is not perfect. But the viceroy observes these
rules well; go ye and receive them from him."
Then again they repaired to the viceroy, and as before asked him for the Kuru
righteousness.--Now the viceroy used to go and pay his devoirs to the king at
evening; and when they came to the palace courtyard, in his car, if he wished to
eat with the king, and spend the night there, he would throw his reins and goad
upon the yoke; and that was a sign for the people to depart; and next morning
early they would come again, and stand awaiting the viceroy's departure. And the
charioteer [375] would attend the car, and come again with it early in the
morning, and wait by the king's door. But if the viceroy would depart ht the
same time, he left the reins and goad there in the chariot, and went in to wait
upon the king. Then the people, taking it for a sign that he would presently
depart, stood waiting there at the palace door. One day he did thus, and went in
to wait upon the king. But as he was within, it began to rain; and the king,
remarking this, would not let him go away, so he took his meal, and slept there.
But a great crowd of people stood expecting him to come out, and there they
stayed all night in the wet. Next day the viceroy came out, and seeing the crowd
standing there drenched, thought he--"I, who keep the Kuru righteousness, have
put all this crowd to discomfort! Surely here is a flaw in my virtue!" and he
was seized with remorse. So he said to the messengers: "Now doubt has come upon
me if indeed I do keep this righteousness; therefore r cannot give it to you;"
and he told them the matter.
"But," said they, "you never had the wish to plague those people. What is not
intended is not counted to one's score. If you feel remorse for so small a
thing, in what would you ever transgress?" So they received from him too the
knowledge of this righteousness, and wrote it on their golden plate. "However,"
said he, "this righteousness is not perfected in me. But my chaplain keeps it
well; go, ask him for it." Then again they went on to the chaplain.
Now the chaplain one day had been going to wait upon the king. On the road he
saw a chariot; sent to the king by another king, coloured like the young sun.
"Whose chariot?" he asked. "Sent for the king," they said. Then he thought, "I
am an old man; if the king were to give me that chariot, how time it would he to
ride about in it!" When he
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came before the king, and stood by after greeting him with the prayer for
prosperity, [376] they showed the chariot to the king. "That is a most beautiful
car," said the king; "give it to my teacher." But the chaplain did not like
taking it; no, not though he was begged again and again. Why was this? Because
the thought came into his mind--"I, who practise the Kuru righteousness, have
coveted another's goods. Surely this is a flaw in my virtue!" So he told the
story to these messengers, adding, "My sons, I am in doubt about the Kuru
righteousness; this righteousness does not bless me now; therefore I cannot
teach it to you."
But the messengers said, "Not by mere uprising of covetise is virtue broken. If
you feel a scruple in so small a matter, what real transgression would you ever
do?" And from him also they received the righteousness, and wrote it on their
golden plate. "Still, this goodness does not bless me now," said he; "but the
royal driver 1 carefully practises it. Go and ask him." So they found the royal
driver, and asked him.
Now the driver one day was measuring a field. Tying a cord to a stick, he gave
one end to the owner of the field to hold, and took the other himself. The stick
tied to the end of the cord which he held came to a crab's lurk-hole. Thought
he, "If I put the stick in the hole, the crab in the hole will be hurt: if I put
it on the other side, the king's property will lose; and if I put it on this
side, the farmer will lose. What's to be done?" Then he thought again--"The crab
ought to be in his hole; but if he were, he would show himself;" so he put the
stick in the hole. The crab made a click! inside. Then he thought, "The stick
must have struck upon the crab, and it must have killed him! I observe the Kuru
righteousness, and now here's a flaw in it!" [377] So he told them this, and
added, "So now I have my doubts about it, and I cannot give it to you."
Said the messengers, "You had no wish to kill the crab. What is done without
intent is not counted to the score; if you feel a scruple about so small a
matter, what real transgression would you ever do?" And they took the
righteousness from his lips likewise, and wrote it on their golden plate.
"However," said he, "though this does not bless me, the charioteer practises it
carefully; go and ask him."
So they took their leave, and sought out the charioteer. Now the charioteer one
day drove the king into his park in the car. There the king took his pleasure
during the day, and at evening returned, and entered the chariot. But before he
could get back to the city, at the time of sunset a storm cloud arose. The
charioteer, fearing the king might get wet, touched up the team with the goad:
the steeds sped swiftly home.
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[paragraph continues] Ever since, going to the park or coming from it, from that
spot they went at speed. Why was this? Because they thought there must be some
danger at this spot, and that was why the charioteer had touched them with the
goad. And the charioteer thought, "If the king is wet or dry, ’tis no fault of
mine; but I have given a touch of the goad out of season to these well-trained
steeds, and so they run at speed again and again till they are tired, all by my
doing. And I observe the Kuru righteousness! Surely there's a flaw in it now!"
This he told the messengers, and said, "For this cause I am in doubt about it,
and I cannot give it to you." "But," said they, "you did not mean to tire the
horses, and what is done without meaning is not set down to the score. If you
feel a scruple about so small a matter, what real transgression could you ever
commit?" And they learnt the righteousness from him also, [378] and wrote it
down upon their golden plate. But the charioteer sent them in search of a
certain wealthy man, saying, "Even though this righteousness does not bless me,
he keeps it carefully."
So to this rich man they came, and asked him. Now he one day had gone to his
paddy field, and seeing a head of rice bursting the husk, went about to tie it
up with a wisp of rice; and taking a handful of it, he tied the head to a post.
Then it occurred to him--"From this field I have yet to give the king his due,
and I have taken a handful of rice from an untithed field! I, who observe the
rules of Kuru righteousness! Surely I must have broken them!" And this matter he
told to the messengers, saying, "Now I am in doubt about this righteousness, and
so I cannot give it to you."
"But," said they, "you had no thought of thieving; without this one cannot be
proclaimed 1 guilty of theft. If you feel scruples in such a small matter, when
will you ever take what belongs to another man?" And from him too they received
the righteousness, and wrote it down on their golden plate. He added, "Still,
though I am not happy in this matter, the Master of the Royal Granaries keeps
these rules well. Go, ask him for them." So they betook them to the Master of
the Granaries.
Now this man, as he sat one day at the door of the granary, causing the rice of
the king's tax to be measured, took a grain from the heap which was not yet
measured, and put it down for a marker. At that moment rain began to fall. The
official counted up the markers, so many, and then swept them all together and
dropt them upon the heap which had been measured. Then he ran in quickly and sat
in the gate-house. "Did I throw the markers on the measured heap or the
unmeasured?" he wondered; and the thought came into his mind--[379] "If I threw
them on what was already measured, the king's property has been increased,
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and the owners have lost; I keep the Kuru righteousness; and now here's a flaw!"
So he told this to the messengers, adding that therefore he had his doubts about
it, and could not give it to them. But the messengers said, "You had no thought
of theft, and without this no one can be declared guilty of dishonesty. If you
feel scruples in a small matter like this, when would you ever steal any thing
belonging to another?" And from him too they received the righteousness, and
wrote it on their golden plate. "But," added he, "although this virtue is not
perfect in me, there is the gatekeeper, who observes it well: go and get it from
him." So they went off and asked the gatekeeper.
Now it so happened that one day, at the time for closing the city gate, he cried
aloud three times. And a certain poor man, who had gone into the woodland
a-gathering sticks and leaves with his youngest sister, hearing the sound came
running up with her. Says the door keeper--"What! don't you know that the king
is in the city'? Don't you know that the gate of this town is shut betimes? Is
that why you go out into the woods, making love?" Said the other, "No, master,
it is not my wife, but my sister." Then the porter thought, "How unseemly to
address a sister as a wife! And I keep the rules of the Kurus; surely I must
have broken them now!" This he told the messengers, adding, "In this way I have
my doubts whether I really keep the Kuru righteousness, and so I cannot give it
to you." But they said, "You said it because you thought so; [380] this does not
break your virtue. If you feel remorse on so slight a cause, how could you ever
tell a lie with intent?" And so they took down those virtues from him too, and
wrote them on their golden plate.
Then he said, "But though this virtue does not bless me, there is a courtesan
who keeps it well; go and ask her." And so they did. She refused as the others
had done, for the following reason. Sakka, king of the gods, designed to try her
goodness; so putting on the shape of a youth, he gave her a thousand pieces,
saying, "I will come by and bye." Then he returned to heaven, and did not visit
her for three years. And she, for honour's sake, for three years took not so
much as a piece of betel from another man. By degrees she got poor; and then she
thought--"The man who gave me a thousand pieces has not come these three years;
and now I have grown poor. I cannot keep body and soul together. Now I must go
tell the Chief Justices, and get my wage as before." So to the court she came,
and said, "There was a man three years ago gave me a thousand pieces, and never
came back; whether he be dead I know not. I cannot keep body and soul together;
what am I to do, my lord'?" Said he, "If he does not come for three years, what
can you do? Earn your wage as before." As soon as she left the court, after this
award, there came a man who offered her a thousand. As she held out her hands to
take it, Sakka showed himself. Said she, "Here is the man who gave me
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a thousand pieces three years ago: I must not take your money;" and she drew
back her hand. Then Sakka caused his own proper shape to be seen, and hovered in
the air, shining like the sun fresh risen, and gathered all the city together.
Sakka, in the midst of the crowd, [381] said, "To test her goodness I gave her a
thousand pieces three years ago. Be like her, and like her keep your honour;"
and with this monition, he filled her dwelling with jewels of seven kinds, and
saying, "Henceforth be vigilant," he comforted her, and went away to heaven. So
for this cause she refused, saying, "Because before I had earned one wage I held
out my hand for another, therefore my virtue is not perfect, and so I cannot
give it to you." To this the messengers replied, "Merely to hold out the hand is
not a breach of virtue: that virtue of yours is the highest perfection!" And
from her, as from the rest, they received the rules of virtue, and wrote them on
their golden plate. They took it with them to Dantapura, and told the king how
they had fared.
Then their king practised the Kuru precepts, and fulfilled the Five Virtues. And
then in all the realm of Kāliṅga the rain fell; the three fears were allayed;
the land became prosperous and fertile. The Bodhisatta all his life long gave
alms and did good, and then with his subjects went to fill the heavens.
_____________________________
When the Teacher had ended this discourse, he declared the Truths, and explained
the Birth-tale. At the conclusion of the Truths, some entered the First Path,
some the Second, some entered the Third, and some became saints. And the
Birth-tale is thus explained:--
"Uppalavaṇṇā was the courtesan,
Puṇṇa the porter, and the driver was
Kuccāna; Kolita, the measurer;
The rich man, Sāriputta; he who drove
The chariot, Anuruddha; and the priest
Was Kassapa the Elder; he that was
The Viceroy, now is Nandapaṇḍita;
Rāhula's mother has the queen-consort,
The Queen-mother was Māyā; and the King
Was Bodhisatta.--Thus the Birth is clear."
Footnotes
251:1 Cf. Cariyā-Piṭaka, I. 3; Dhammapada, p. 416.--In this story the king
appears as a rain-maker, and on certain occasions dresses like the gods.
253:1 i.e. we spent all we had on food, trusting that you would give us the
elephant when we asked for it.
254:1 October-November.
257:1 Some difference there must be between rajjugāhahaamacco and sāratthi (the
same words occur in Dhp. p. 416). I would suggest that the former is the more
important, and may answer to the Greek παραιβάτης, Skr. savyéṣṭher.
258:1 I.e. in the saṁgha (ñatti is a 'resolution').
Next: No. 277. Romaka-Jātaka
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