Jataka Vol. II: Book III. Tika-Nipāta: No. 263. Culla-Palobhana-Jātaka
p. 227
No. 263.
CULLA-PALOBHANA-JĀTAKA.
[328] "Not through the sea," etc. This story the Master told at Jetavana, also
about a backsliding Brother. The Master had him brought into the Hall of Truth,
and asked if it were true that he was a backslider. Yes, said he, it was.
"Women," said the Master, "in olden days made even believing souls to sin." Then
he told a story.
_____________________________
Once on a time Brahmadatta, the king of Benares, was childless. He said to his
queen, "Let us offer prayer for a son." They offered prayer. After a long time,
the Bodhisatta came down from the world of Brahma, and was conceived by this
queen. So soon as he was born, he was bathed, and given to a serving woman to
nurse. As he took the breast, he cried. He was given to another; but while a
woman held him, he would not be quiet. So he was given to a man servant; and as
soon as the man took him, he was quiet. After that men used to carry him about.
When they suckled him, they would milk the breast for him, or they gave him the
breast from behind a screen. Even when he grew older, they could not show him a
woman. The king caused to be made for him a separate place for sitting or what
not, and a separate room for meditation, all by himself.
When the lad was sixteen years old, the king thought thus within himself. "Other
son have I none, and this one enjoys no pleasures. He will not even wish for the
kingdom. What's the good of such a son?"
And there was a certain dancing girl, clever at dance and song and music, young,
able to gain ascendancy over any man she came across. She approached the king,
and asked what he was thinking about; the king told her what it was. [329]
"Let be, my lord," said she: "I will allure him, I will make him love me."
"Well, if you can allure my son, who has never had any dealings whatsoever with
women, he shall be king, and you shall be his chief queen!"
"Leave that to me, my lord," said she; "and don't be anxious." So she came to
the people of the guard, and said, "At dawn of day I will go to the sleeping
place of the prince, and outside the room where he meditates apart I will sing.
If he is angry, you must tell me, and I will go away; but if he listens, speak
my praises." This they agreed to do.
p. 228
So in the morning time she took her stand in that place, and sang with a voice
of honey, so that the music was as sweet as the song, and the song as sweet as
the music. The prince lay listening. Next day, he commanded that she should
stand near and sing. The next day, he commanded her to stand in the private
chamber, and the next, in his own presence; and so by and bye desire arose in
him; he went the way of the world, and knew the joy of love. "I will not let
another have this woman," he resolved; and taking his sword, he ran amuck
through the street, chasing the people. The king had him captured, and banished
him from the city along with the girl.
Together they journeyed to the jungle, away down the Ganges. There, with the
river on one side and the sea on the other, they made a hut, and there they
lived. She sat indoors, and cooked the roots and bulbs; the Bodhisatta brought
wild fruits from the forest.
One day, when he was away in search of fruits, a hermit from an island in the
sea, who was going his rounds to get food, saw smoke as he passed through the
air, and alighted beside this hut.
"Sit down until it is cooked," said the woman; then her woman's charms seduced
his soul, and brought it down from his mystic trance, making a breach in his
purity. And he, like a crow with broken wing, [330] unable to leave her, sat
there the whole day till he saw the Bodhisatta coming, and then ran off quickly
in the direction of the sea. "This must be an enemy," thought he, and drawing
his sword set off in chase.
But the ascetic, making as though he would rise in the air. fell down into the
sea. Then thought the Bodhisatta,
"Yon man is doubtless an ascetic who came hither through the air; and now that
his trance is broken, he has fallen into the sea. I must go help him." And
standing on the shore he uttered these verses:
"Not through the sea, but by your magic power,
You journeyed hither at an earlier hour;
Now by a woman's evil company
You have been made to plunge beneath the sea.
"Full of seductive wiles, deceitful all,
They tempt the most pure-hearted to his fall.
Down--down they sink: a man should flee afar
From women, when he knows what kind they are.
"Whomso they serve, for gold or for desire,
They burn him up like fuel in the fire 1."
p. 229
When the ascetic heard these words which the Bodhisatta spake, he stood up in
the midst of the sea, and resuming his interrupted trance, he rose through the
air, and went away to his dwelling place. Thought the Bodhisatta, "Yon ascetic,
with so great a burden, goes through the air like a fleck of cotton. [331] Why
should not I like him cultivate the trance, and pass through the air!" So he
returned to his hut, and led the woman among mankind again; then he told her to
be gone, and himself went into the jungle, where he built him a hut in a
pleasant spot, and became an ascetic; he prepared for the mystic trance,
cultivated the Faculties and the Attainments, and became destined for the world
of Brahma.
_____________________________
When this discourse was ended, the Master declared the Truths: (now at the
conclusion of the Truths the backsliding Brother became established in the Fruit
of the First Path:) "At that time," said he, "I was myself the youth that had
never had anything to do with women."
Footnotes
228:1 The Scholiast gives the following lines in his note:
Hallucination, sorrow, and disease,
Mirage, distress (and solid bonds are these),
The snare of death, deep-seated in the mind--
Who trusts in these is vilest of his kind.
Next: No. 264. Mahā-Panāda-Jātaka
Showing posts with label Jataka. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jataka. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Tika-Nipata - Mudu Pani Jataka
Jataka Vol. II: Book III. Tika-Nipāta: No. 262. Mudu Pani Jataka
No. 262.
MUDU-PĀṆI-JĀTAKA.
"A soft hand," etc. This story the Master told at Jetavana, about a back-sliding
Brother. They brought him to the Hall of Truth, and the Master asked him if he
were really a backslider? He replied, yes, he was. Then said the Master, "O
Brethren! It is impossible to keep women from going after their desires. In
olden days, even wise men could not guard their own daughters; while they stood
holding their fathers' hand, without their fathers' knowing, they went away
wrong-doing with a paramour"; and he told them an old-world tale.
_____________________________
Once upon a time, while king Brahmadatta reigned in Benares, the Bodhisatta was
horn as the son of his Queen Consort. Growing up, he was educated at Takkasilā,
and on his father's death he became king in his stead, and reigned righteously.
There dwelt with him a daughter and a nephew, both together in his house. One
day as he sat with his court, he said,
"When I am dead my nephew will be king, [324] and my daughter will be his chief
queen."
Afterwards, when they were grown up, he was sitting again amidst his court; and
he said to them,
"I will bring home some other man's daughter for my nephew, and my own daughter
will I marry into another king's family. In this way I shall have many
relations." The courtiers agreed. Then the king assigned to the nephew a house
outside the palace, and forbade his coming to the palace.
p. 225
But these two were in love with each other. Thought the youth, "How shall I get
the king's daughter outside the house?--Ah, I have it." He gave a present to the
nurse.
"What am I to do for this, master?" she asked.
"Well, mother, I want to get a chance of bringing the princess out of doors."
"I will talk it over with the princess," said she, "and then tell you." "Very
good, mother," he replied.
To the princess she came. "Let me pick the insects out of your head," said she.
She sat the princess upon a low stool, and herself sitting on a higher one, she
put the princess's head upon her lap, and in looking for the insects, she
scratched the princess's head. The princess understood. She thought, "She has
scratched me with my cousin the prince's nail, not her own.--Mother," asked she,
"have you been with the prince?"
"Yes, my daughter."
"And what did he say?"
"He asked how he could find a way of getting you out of doors."
"If he is wise, he will know," said the princess; and she recited the first
stanza, bidding the old woman learn it and repeat it to the prince:--
"A soft hand, and a well-trained elephant,
And a black rain-cloud, gives you what you want."
The woman learnt it, and returned to the prince.
"Well, mother, what did the princess say?" he asked.
"Nothing, [325] but only sent you this stanza," replied she; and she repeated
it. The prince took it in, and dismissed her.
The prince understood exactly what was meant. He found a beautiful and
soft-handed page lad, and prepared him. He bribed the keeper of a state
elephant, and having trained the elephant to be impassive, he bided his time.
Then, one fast-day of the dark fortnight, just after the middle watch, rain fell
from a thick black cloud. "This is the day the princess meant," thought he; he
mounted the elephant, and placed the lad of the soft hands on its back, and set
out. Opposite the palace he fastened the elephant to the great wall of an open
courtyard, and stood before a window getting drenched.
Now the king watched his daughter, and let her rest nowhere but upon a little
bed, in his presence. She thought to herself, "To-day the prince will come!" and
lay down without going to sleep.
"Father," said she, "I want to bathe."
"Come along, my daughter," said the king. Holding her hands, he led her to the
window; he lifted her, and placed her on a lotus ornament outside it, holding
her by one hand. As she bathed herself, she held out a
p. 226
hand to the prince. He loosed off the bangles from her arm, and fastened them on
the arm of his page boy; then he lifted the lad, and placed him upon the lotus
beside the princess. [326] She took his hand, and placed it in her father's, who
took it, and let go his daughter's hand. Then she loosed the ornaments from her
other arm, and fastened them on the other hand of the lad, which she placed in
her father's, and went away with the prince. The king thought the lad to be his
own daughter; and when the bathing was over, he put him to sleep in the royal
bedchamber, shut to the door, and set his seal on it; then setting a guard, he
retired to his own chamber, and lay down to rest.
When the daylight came, he opened the door, and there he saw this lad. "What's
this?" cried he. The lad told how she was fled along with the prince. The king
was cast down. "Not even if one goes along and holds hands," thought the king,
"can one guard a woman. Thus women it is impossible to guard;" and he uttered
these other two stanzas:--
"Though soft of speech, like rivers hard to fill,
Insatiate, nought can satisfy their will:
Down, down they sink: a man should flee afar
From women, when he knows what kind they are.
Whomso they serve for gold or for desire,
They burn him up like fuel in the fire 1."
[327] So saying, the great Being added, "I must support my nephew;" so with
great honour he gave his daughter to this very man, and made him viceroy. And
the nephew at his uncle's death became king himself.
_____________________________
When the Master had ended this discourse, he declared the Truths and identified
the Birth:--at the conclusion of the Truths, the backsliding Brother was firmly
established in the Fruit of the First Path: "In those days, I was the king."
Footnotes
226:1 The following verses are given by the commentator:
"'Where women rule, the seeing lose their sight,
The strong grow weak, the mighty have no might.
Where women rule, virtue and wisdom fly:
Reckless the prisoners in durance lie.
Like highway robbers, all they steal away
From their poor victims, careless come what may--
Reflection, virtue, truth, and reasoning
Self-sacrifice, and goodness--everything.
As fire burns fuel, for each careless wight
They burn fame, glory, learning, wit, and might."
The word for fire is the archaic jātaveda, used already in no. 35. See note in
vol. i. p. 90.
Next: No. 263. Culla-Palobhana-Jātaka
No. 262.
MUDU-PĀṆI-JĀTAKA.
"A soft hand," etc. This story the Master told at Jetavana, about a back-sliding
Brother. They brought him to the Hall of Truth, and the Master asked him if he
were really a backslider? He replied, yes, he was. Then said the Master, "O
Brethren! It is impossible to keep women from going after their desires. In
olden days, even wise men could not guard their own daughters; while they stood
holding their fathers' hand, without their fathers' knowing, they went away
wrong-doing with a paramour"; and he told them an old-world tale.
_____________________________
Once upon a time, while king Brahmadatta reigned in Benares, the Bodhisatta was
horn as the son of his Queen Consort. Growing up, he was educated at Takkasilā,
and on his father's death he became king in his stead, and reigned righteously.
There dwelt with him a daughter and a nephew, both together in his house. One
day as he sat with his court, he said,
"When I am dead my nephew will be king, [324] and my daughter will be his chief
queen."
Afterwards, when they were grown up, he was sitting again amidst his court; and
he said to them,
"I will bring home some other man's daughter for my nephew, and my own daughter
will I marry into another king's family. In this way I shall have many
relations." The courtiers agreed. Then the king assigned to the nephew a house
outside the palace, and forbade his coming to the palace.
p. 225
But these two were in love with each other. Thought the youth, "How shall I get
the king's daughter outside the house?--Ah, I have it." He gave a present to the
nurse.
"What am I to do for this, master?" she asked.
"Well, mother, I want to get a chance of bringing the princess out of doors."
"I will talk it over with the princess," said she, "and then tell you." "Very
good, mother," he replied.
To the princess she came. "Let me pick the insects out of your head," said she.
She sat the princess upon a low stool, and herself sitting on a higher one, she
put the princess's head upon her lap, and in looking for the insects, she
scratched the princess's head. The princess understood. She thought, "She has
scratched me with my cousin the prince's nail, not her own.--Mother," asked she,
"have you been with the prince?"
"Yes, my daughter."
"And what did he say?"
"He asked how he could find a way of getting you out of doors."
"If he is wise, he will know," said the princess; and she recited the first
stanza, bidding the old woman learn it and repeat it to the prince:--
"A soft hand, and a well-trained elephant,
And a black rain-cloud, gives you what you want."
The woman learnt it, and returned to the prince.
"Well, mother, what did the princess say?" he asked.
"Nothing, [325] but only sent you this stanza," replied she; and she repeated
it. The prince took it in, and dismissed her.
The prince understood exactly what was meant. He found a beautiful and
soft-handed page lad, and prepared him. He bribed the keeper of a state
elephant, and having trained the elephant to be impassive, he bided his time.
Then, one fast-day of the dark fortnight, just after the middle watch, rain fell
from a thick black cloud. "This is the day the princess meant," thought he; he
mounted the elephant, and placed the lad of the soft hands on its back, and set
out. Opposite the palace he fastened the elephant to the great wall of an open
courtyard, and stood before a window getting drenched.
Now the king watched his daughter, and let her rest nowhere but upon a little
bed, in his presence. She thought to herself, "To-day the prince will come!" and
lay down without going to sleep.
"Father," said she, "I want to bathe."
"Come along, my daughter," said the king. Holding her hands, he led her to the
window; he lifted her, and placed her on a lotus ornament outside it, holding
her by one hand. As she bathed herself, she held out a
p. 226
hand to the prince. He loosed off the bangles from her arm, and fastened them on
the arm of his page boy; then he lifted the lad, and placed him upon the lotus
beside the princess. [326] She took his hand, and placed it in her father's, who
took it, and let go his daughter's hand. Then she loosed the ornaments from her
other arm, and fastened them on the other hand of the lad, which she placed in
her father's, and went away with the prince. The king thought the lad to be his
own daughter; and when the bathing was over, he put him to sleep in the royal
bedchamber, shut to the door, and set his seal on it; then setting a guard, he
retired to his own chamber, and lay down to rest.
When the daylight came, he opened the door, and there he saw this lad. "What's
this?" cried he. The lad told how she was fled along with the prince. The king
was cast down. "Not even if one goes along and holds hands," thought the king,
"can one guard a woman. Thus women it is impossible to guard;" and he uttered
these other two stanzas:--
"Though soft of speech, like rivers hard to fill,
Insatiate, nought can satisfy their will:
Down, down they sink: a man should flee afar
From women, when he knows what kind they are.
Whomso they serve for gold or for desire,
They burn him up like fuel in the fire 1."
[327] So saying, the great Being added, "I must support my nephew;" so with
great honour he gave his daughter to this very man, and made him viceroy. And
the nephew at his uncle's death became king himself.
_____________________________
When the Master had ended this discourse, he declared the Truths and identified
the Birth:--at the conclusion of the Truths, the backsliding Brother was firmly
established in the Fruit of the First Path: "In those days, I was the king."
Footnotes
226:1 The following verses are given by the commentator:
"'Where women rule, the seeing lose their sight,
The strong grow weak, the mighty have no might.
Where women rule, virtue and wisdom fly:
Reckless the prisoners in durance lie.
Like highway robbers, all they steal away
From their poor victims, careless come what may--
Reflection, virtue, truth, and reasoning
Self-sacrifice, and goodness--everything.
As fire burns fuel, for each careless wight
They burn fame, glory, learning, wit, and might."
The word for fire is the archaic jātaveda, used already in no. 35. See note in
vol. i. p. 90.
Next: No. 263. Culla-Palobhana-Jātaka
Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Tika-Nipata - Paduma Jataka
Jataka Vol. II: Book III. Tika-Nipāta: No. 261. Paduma-Jātaka
No. 261.
PADUMA-JĀTAKA.
"Cut, and cut, and cut again," etc. This story the Master told at Jetavana,
about some Brethren who made offering of garlands under Ānanda's tree. The
circumstances will be given in the Kāliṅga-bodhi Birth 1. This was called
p. 223
[paragraph continues] Ānanda's tree, because Ānanda planted it. All India heard
tell haw the Elder had planted this tree by the gate of Jetavana.
Some Brethren who lived in the country thought they would make offerings before
Ānanda's tree. They journeyed to Jetavana, did their devoirs to the Master, and
next day wended their way to Sāvatthi, to the Lotus Street; but not a garland
could they get. So they told Ānanda, how they had wished to make an offering to
the tree, but that not a garland was to be had in all the Lotus Street. The
Elder promised to fetch some; so he went off to the Lotus Street, and returned
with many handfuls of blue lotus, which he gave them. With these they made their
offering to the tree.
When the Brethren got wind of this, they began discussing the Elder's merits in
the Hall of Truth: "Friend, some brothers of little merit from the country could
not get a single nosegay in the Lotus Bazaar; but the Elder went and fetched
them some." The Master entered, and asked what they were talking of as they sat
there; and they told him. Said he, [322] "Brethren, this is not the first time
that the clever tongue has gained a garland for clever speaking; it was the same
before." And he told them an old-world tale.
_____________________________
Once on a time, when Brahmadatta reigned in Benares, the Bodhisatta was a rich
merchant's son. In the town was a tank, in which the lotus flowered. A man who
had lost his nose looked after the tank.
It happened one day that they proclaimed holiday in Benares; and the three sons
of this rich man thought that they would put wreaths upon them, and go a
merrymaking. "We'll flatter up the old lacknose fellow, and then we'll beg some
flowers of him." So at the time when he used to pluck the lotus flowers, to the
tank they went, and waited. And one of them uttered the first stanza:
"Cut, and cut, and cut again,
Hair and whiskers grow amain;
And your nose will grow like these,
Give me just one lotus, please!"
But the man was angry, and gave none. Then the second said the second stanza:
"In the autumn seeds are sown
Which ere long are fully grown;
May your nose sprout up like these.
Give me just one lotus, please!"
Again the man was angry, and gave no lotus. Then the third of them repeated the
third stanza:
"Babbling fools! to think that they
Can get a lotus in this way.
Say they yes, or say they no,
Noses cut no more will grow.
See, I ask you honestly:
Give a lotus, air, to me!"
p. 224
[323] On hearing this the lake keeper said, "The other two lied, but you have
spoken the truth. You deserve to have some lotuses." So he gave him a great
bunch of lotus, and went back to his lake.
_____________________________
When the Master had ended this discourse, he identified the Birth: "The boy who
got the lotus was I myself."
Footnotes
222:1 No. 479.
Next: No. 262. Mudu-Pāṇi-Jātaka
No. 261.
PADUMA-JĀTAKA.
"Cut, and cut, and cut again," etc. This story the Master told at Jetavana,
about some Brethren who made offering of garlands under Ānanda's tree. The
circumstances will be given in the Kāliṅga-bodhi Birth 1. This was called
p. 223
[paragraph continues] Ānanda's tree, because Ānanda planted it. All India heard
tell haw the Elder had planted this tree by the gate of Jetavana.
Some Brethren who lived in the country thought they would make offerings before
Ānanda's tree. They journeyed to Jetavana, did their devoirs to the Master, and
next day wended their way to Sāvatthi, to the Lotus Street; but not a garland
could they get. So they told Ānanda, how they had wished to make an offering to
the tree, but that not a garland was to be had in all the Lotus Street. The
Elder promised to fetch some; so he went off to the Lotus Street, and returned
with many handfuls of blue lotus, which he gave them. With these they made their
offering to the tree.
When the Brethren got wind of this, they began discussing the Elder's merits in
the Hall of Truth: "Friend, some brothers of little merit from the country could
not get a single nosegay in the Lotus Bazaar; but the Elder went and fetched
them some." The Master entered, and asked what they were talking of as they sat
there; and they told him. Said he, [322] "Brethren, this is not the first time
that the clever tongue has gained a garland for clever speaking; it was the same
before." And he told them an old-world tale.
_____________________________
Once on a time, when Brahmadatta reigned in Benares, the Bodhisatta was a rich
merchant's son. In the town was a tank, in which the lotus flowered. A man who
had lost his nose looked after the tank.
It happened one day that they proclaimed holiday in Benares; and the three sons
of this rich man thought that they would put wreaths upon them, and go a
merrymaking. "We'll flatter up the old lacknose fellow, and then we'll beg some
flowers of him." So at the time when he used to pluck the lotus flowers, to the
tank they went, and waited. And one of them uttered the first stanza:
"Cut, and cut, and cut again,
Hair and whiskers grow amain;
And your nose will grow like these,
Give me just one lotus, please!"
But the man was angry, and gave none. Then the second said the second stanza:
"In the autumn seeds are sown
Which ere long are fully grown;
May your nose sprout up like these.
Give me just one lotus, please!"
Again the man was angry, and gave no lotus. Then the third of them repeated the
third stanza:
"Babbling fools! to think that they
Can get a lotus in this way.
Say they yes, or say they no,
Noses cut no more will grow.
See, I ask you honestly:
Give a lotus, air, to me!"
p. 224
[323] On hearing this the lake keeper said, "The other two lied, but you have
spoken the truth. You deserve to have some lotuses." So he gave him a great
bunch of lotus, and went back to his lake.
_____________________________
When the Master had ended this discourse, he identified the Birth: "The boy who
got the lotus was I myself."
Footnotes
222:1 No. 479.
Next: No. 262. Mudu-Pāṇi-Jātaka
Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Tika-Nipata - Duta Jataka
Jataka Vol. II: Book III. Tika-Nipāta: No. 260. Duta Jataka
p. 221
No. 260.
DŪTA-JĀTAKA 1.
"O king, the Belly's messenger," etc. This story the Master told while staying
at Jetavana, about a Brother who was addicted to covetousness. The circumstances
will be given at large under the Kāka 2 Birth, in Book the Ninth. Here again the
Master told the Brother, [319] "You were greedy before, Brother, as you are now;
and in olden days for your greed you had your head cleft with a sword." Then he
told an old-world story.
_____________________________
Once on a time, when Brahmadatta was king over Benares, the Bodhisatta was born
as his son. He grew up, and finished his education at Takkasilā. On his father's
death, he inherited the kingdom, and he was very dainty in his eating;
accordingly he earned the name of King Dainty. There was so much extravagance
about his eating, that on one dish he spent an hundred thousand pieces. When he
ate, he ate not within doors; but as he wished to confer merit 3 upon many
people by showing them the costly array of his meals, he caused a pavilion
adorned with jewels to be set up at the door, and at the time of eating, he had
this decorated, and there he sat upon a royal dais made all of gold, under a
white parasol with princesses all around him, and ate the food of an hundred
delicate flavours from a dish which cost an hundred thousand pieces of money.
Now a certain greedy man saw the king's manner of eating, and desired to have a
taste. Unable to master his craving, he girt up his loins tight, and ran up to
the king, calling out loudly--"Messenger! messenger! O king"--with his hands
held up. (At that time and in that nation, if a man called out "Messenger!" no
one would stay him; and so it was that the multitude divided and gave him way to
pass.)
The man ran up swiftly, and catching a piece of rice from the king's dish, he
put it in his mouth. The swordsman drew his sword, to cleave the man's head. But
the king stayed him. "Smite not," said he; then to the man, "fear nothing, eat
on!" He washed his hands, and sat down.
p. 222
[paragraph continues] [320] After the meal, the king caused his own drinking
water and betel nut to be given to the man, and then said--
"Now my man, you had tidings, you said. What are your tidings?"
"O king, I am a messenger from Lust and the Belly. Says Lust to me, Go! and sent
me here as her messenger;" and with these words he spake the first two
stanzas:--
"O king, the Belly's messenger you see:
O lord of chariots, do not angry be!
For Belly's sake men very far will go,
Even to ask a favour of a foe.
"O king, the Belly's messenger you see;
O lord of chariots, do not angry be!
The Belly holds beneath his puissant sway
All men upon the earth both night and day."
When this the king heard, he said, "That is true; Belly-messengers are these;
urged by lust they go to and fro, and lust makes them go. How prettily this man
has put it!" he was pleased with him, and uttered the third stanza:--
"Brahmin, a thousand red kine I present
To thee; thereto the bull, for complement.
One messenger may to another give;
For Belly's messengers are all that live."
So said the king; and continued, "I have heard something I never heard before,
or thought of, said by this great man." And so pleased was he, that he showered
honours upon him.
_____________________________
[321] When the Master had ended this discourse, he declared the Truths and
identified the Birth:--at the conclusion of the Truths the greedy Brother
reached the Fruit of the Third Path, and many others entered the other
Paths:--"The greedy man is the same in both stories, and I was King Dainty."
Footnotes
221:1 See Morris, Folk-lore Journal, iv. 54.
221:2 There is no such heading in Book IX. There is a Kaka-Jātaka in Book VI.
no. 395, where the Introd. Story is not given, but said to be "the same as
before."
221:3 The Talmud says that one should always run to meet the kings of Israel and
even gentile kings.
Next: No. 261. Paduma-Jātaka
p. 221
No. 260.
DŪTA-JĀTAKA 1.
"O king, the Belly's messenger," etc. This story the Master told while staying
at Jetavana, about a Brother who was addicted to covetousness. The circumstances
will be given at large under the Kāka 2 Birth, in Book the Ninth. Here again the
Master told the Brother, [319] "You were greedy before, Brother, as you are now;
and in olden days for your greed you had your head cleft with a sword." Then he
told an old-world story.
_____________________________
Once on a time, when Brahmadatta was king over Benares, the Bodhisatta was born
as his son. He grew up, and finished his education at Takkasilā. On his father's
death, he inherited the kingdom, and he was very dainty in his eating;
accordingly he earned the name of King Dainty. There was so much extravagance
about his eating, that on one dish he spent an hundred thousand pieces. When he
ate, he ate not within doors; but as he wished to confer merit 3 upon many
people by showing them the costly array of his meals, he caused a pavilion
adorned with jewels to be set up at the door, and at the time of eating, he had
this decorated, and there he sat upon a royal dais made all of gold, under a
white parasol with princesses all around him, and ate the food of an hundred
delicate flavours from a dish which cost an hundred thousand pieces of money.
Now a certain greedy man saw the king's manner of eating, and desired to have a
taste. Unable to master his craving, he girt up his loins tight, and ran up to
the king, calling out loudly--"Messenger! messenger! O king"--with his hands
held up. (At that time and in that nation, if a man called out "Messenger!" no
one would stay him; and so it was that the multitude divided and gave him way to
pass.)
The man ran up swiftly, and catching a piece of rice from the king's dish, he
put it in his mouth. The swordsman drew his sword, to cleave the man's head. But
the king stayed him. "Smite not," said he; then to the man, "fear nothing, eat
on!" He washed his hands, and sat down.
p. 222
[paragraph continues] [320] After the meal, the king caused his own drinking
water and betel nut to be given to the man, and then said--
"Now my man, you had tidings, you said. What are your tidings?"
"O king, I am a messenger from Lust and the Belly. Says Lust to me, Go! and sent
me here as her messenger;" and with these words he spake the first two
stanzas:--
"O king, the Belly's messenger you see:
O lord of chariots, do not angry be!
For Belly's sake men very far will go,
Even to ask a favour of a foe.
"O king, the Belly's messenger you see;
O lord of chariots, do not angry be!
The Belly holds beneath his puissant sway
All men upon the earth both night and day."
When this the king heard, he said, "That is true; Belly-messengers are these;
urged by lust they go to and fro, and lust makes them go. How prettily this man
has put it!" he was pleased with him, and uttered the third stanza:--
"Brahmin, a thousand red kine I present
To thee; thereto the bull, for complement.
One messenger may to another give;
For Belly's messengers are all that live."
So said the king; and continued, "I have heard something I never heard before,
or thought of, said by this great man." And so pleased was he, that he showered
honours upon him.
_____________________________
[321] When the Master had ended this discourse, he declared the Truths and
identified the Birth:--at the conclusion of the Truths the greedy Brother
reached the Fruit of the Third Path, and many others entered the other
Paths:--"The greedy man is the same in both stories, and I was King Dainty."
Footnotes
221:1 See Morris, Folk-lore Journal, iv. 54.
221:2 There is no such heading in Book IX. There is a Kaka-Jātaka in Book VI.
no. 395, where the Introd. Story is not given, but said to be "the same as
before."
221:3 The Talmud says that one should always run to meet the kings of Israel and
even gentile kings.
Next: No. 261. Paduma-Jātaka
Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Tika-Nipata - Tirita-Vaccha Jataka
Jataka Vol. II: Book III. Tika-Nipāta: No. 259. Tirīṭa-Vaccha-Jātaka
No. 259.
TIRĪṬA-VACCHA-JĀTAKA.
"When all alone," etc. This story the Master told whilst living at Jetavana,
about the gift of a thousand garments, how the reverend Ānanda received five
hundred garments from the women of the household of the king of Kosala, and five
hundred from the king himself. The circumstances have been described above, in
the Sigāla Birth, of the Second Book 2.
_____________________________
Once on a time, while Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta was born
as the son of a brahmin in Kāsi. On his nameday they called him Master
Tirīṭavaceha. In due time he grew up, and studied at Takkasilā. He married and
settled down, but his parents' death so distressed him [315] that he became an
ascetic, and lived in a woodland dwelling, feeding upon the roots and fruits of
the forest.
p. 219
Whilst he lived there, arose a disturbance on the frontiers of Benares. The king
repaired thither, but was worsted in the fight; fearing for his life, he mounted
an elephant, and fled away covertly through the forest. In the morning,
Tirīṭavaceha had gone abroad to gather wild fruit, and meanwhile the king came
upon his hut. "A hermit's hut!" quoth he; down he came from his elephant, weary
with wind and sun, and athirst; he looked about for a waterpot, but none could
he find. At the end of the covered walk he spied a well, but he could see no
rope and bucket for the drawing of water. His thirst was too great to bear; he
took off the girth which passed under the elephant's belly, made it fast on the
edge, and let himself down into the well. But it was too short; so he tied on to
the end of it his lower garment, and let himself down again. Still he could not
reach the water. He could just touch it with his feet: he was very thirsty! "If
I can but quench my thirst," thought he, "death itself will be sweet!" So down
he dropped, and drank his fill; but he could not get up again, so he remained
standing there in the well. And the elephant, so well trained was he, stood
still, waiting for the king.
In the evening, the Bodhisatta returned, laden with wild fruits, and espied the
elephant. "I suppose," thought he, "the king is come; but nothing is to be seen
save the armed elephant. What's to do?" And he approached the elephant, which
stood and waited for him. He went to the edge of the well, and saw the king at
the bottom. "Fear nothing, O king!" he called out; then he placed a ladder, and
helped the king out; he chafed the king's body, and anointed him with oil; after
which he gave him of the fruits to eat [316], and loosed the elephant's armour.
Two or three days the king rested there; then he went away, after making the
Bodhisatta promise to pay him a visit.
The royal forces were encamped hard by the city; and when the king was perceived
coming, they flocked around him.
After a month and half a month, the Bodhisatta returned to Benares, and settled
in the park. Next day he came to the palace to ask for food. The king had opened
a great window, and stood looking out into the courtyard; and so seeing the
Bodhisatta, and recognising him, he descended and gave him greeting; he led him
to a dais, and set him upon the throne under a white umbrella; his own food the
king gave him to eat, and ate himself of it. Then he took him to the garden, and
caused a covered walk and a dwelling to be made for him, and furnished him with
all the necessaries of an ascetic; then giving him in charge of a gardener, he
bade farewell, and departed. After this, the Bodhisatta took his food in the
king's dwelling: great was the respect and honour paid to him.
But the courtiers could not endure it. "If a soldier," said they, "were to
receive such honour, how would he behave!" They betook
p. 220
them to the viceroy: "My lord, our king is making too much of an ascetic! What
can he have seen in the man? You speak with the king about it." The viceroy
consented, and they all went together before the king. And the viceroy greeted
the king, and uttered the first stanza:
"There is no wit in him that I can see;
He is no kinsman, nor a friend of thee;
Why should this hermit with three bits of wood 1,
Tirīṭavaceha, have such splendid food?"
[317] The king listened. Then he said, addressing his son,
"My son, you remember how once I went to the marches, and how I was conquered in
war, and came not back for a few days?"
"I remember," said be.
"This man saved my life," said the king; and he told him all that had happened.
"Well, my son, now that this my preserver is with me, I cannot requite him for
what he has done, not even were I to give him my kingdom." And he recited the
two stanzas following:--
"When all alone, in a grim thirsty wood,
He, and no other, tried to do me good;
In my distress he lent a helping hand;
Half-dead he drew me up and made me stand.
"By his sole doing I returned again
Out of death's jaws back to the world of men.
To recompense such kindness is but fair;
Give a rich offering, nor stint his share."
[318] So spake the king, as though he were causing the moon to rise up in the
sky; and as the virtue of the Bodhisatta was declared, so was declared his own
virtue everywhere; and his takings increased, and the honour shown to him. After
that neither his viceroy nor his courtiers nor any one else durst say anything
against him to the king. The king abode in the Bodhisatta's admonition; and he
gave alms and did good, and at the last went to swell the hosts of heaven. And
the Bodhisatta, having cultivated the Perfections and the Attainments, became
destined to the world of Brahma.
_____________________________
Then the Master added, "Wise men of old gave help too;" and having thus
concluded his discourse, he identified the Birth as follows: "Ānanda was the
king, and I was the hermit."
Footnotes
218:2 No. 152, page 4, where however there is no word of this incident; it
really occurs in No. 156, p. 17 of this volume.
220:1 To hang his waterpot upon.
Next: No. 260. Dūta-Jātaka
No. 259.
TIRĪṬA-VACCHA-JĀTAKA.
"When all alone," etc. This story the Master told whilst living at Jetavana,
about the gift of a thousand garments, how the reverend Ānanda received five
hundred garments from the women of the household of the king of Kosala, and five
hundred from the king himself. The circumstances have been described above, in
the Sigāla Birth, of the Second Book 2.
_____________________________
Once on a time, while Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta was born
as the son of a brahmin in Kāsi. On his nameday they called him Master
Tirīṭavaceha. In due time he grew up, and studied at Takkasilā. He married and
settled down, but his parents' death so distressed him [315] that he became an
ascetic, and lived in a woodland dwelling, feeding upon the roots and fruits of
the forest.
p. 219
Whilst he lived there, arose a disturbance on the frontiers of Benares. The king
repaired thither, but was worsted in the fight; fearing for his life, he mounted
an elephant, and fled away covertly through the forest. In the morning,
Tirīṭavaceha had gone abroad to gather wild fruit, and meanwhile the king came
upon his hut. "A hermit's hut!" quoth he; down he came from his elephant, weary
with wind and sun, and athirst; he looked about for a waterpot, but none could
he find. At the end of the covered walk he spied a well, but he could see no
rope and bucket for the drawing of water. His thirst was too great to bear; he
took off the girth which passed under the elephant's belly, made it fast on the
edge, and let himself down into the well. But it was too short; so he tied on to
the end of it his lower garment, and let himself down again. Still he could not
reach the water. He could just touch it with his feet: he was very thirsty! "If
I can but quench my thirst," thought he, "death itself will be sweet!" So down
he dropped, and drank his fill; but he could not get up again, so he remained
standing there in the well. And the elephant, so well trained was he, stood
still, waiting for the king.
In the evening, the Bodhisatta returned, laden with wild fruits, and espied the
elephant. "I suppose," thought he, "the king is come; but nothing is to be seen
save the armed elephant. What's to do?" And he approached the elephant, which
stood and waited for him. He went to the edge of the well, and saw the king at
the bottom. "Fear nothing, O king!" he called out; then he placed a ladder, and
helped the king out; he chafed the king's body, and anointed him with oil; after
which he gave him of the fruits to eat [316], and loosed the elephant's armour.
Two or three days the king rested there; then he went away, after making the
Bodhisatta promise to pay him a visit.
The royal forces were encamped hard by the city; and when the king was perceived
coming, they flocked around him.
After a month and half a month, the Bodhisatta returned to Benares, and settled
in the park. Next day he came to the palace to ask for food. The king had opened
a great window, and stood looking out into the courtyard; and so seeing the
Bodhisatta, and recognising him, he descended and gave him greeting; he led him
to a dais, and set him upon the throne under a white umbrella; his own food the
king gave him to eat, and ate himself of it. Then he took him to the garden, and
caused a covered walk and a dwelling to be made for him, and furnished him with
all the necessaries of an ascetic; then giving him in charge of a gardener, he
bade farewell, and departed. After this, the Bodhisatta took his food in the
king's dwelling: great was the respect and honour paid to him.
But the courtiers could not endure it. "If a soldier," said they, "were to
receive such honour, how would he behave!" They betook
p. 220
them to the viceroy: "My lord, our king is making too much of an ascetic! What
can he have seen in the man? You speak with the king about it." The viceroy
consented, and they all went together before the king. And the viceroy greeted
the king, and uttered the first stanza:
"There is no wit in him that I can see;
He is no kinsman, nor a friend of thee;
Why should this hermit with three bits of wood 1,
Tirīṭavaceha, have such splendid food?"
[317] The king listened. Then he said, addressing his son,
"My son, you remember how once I went to the marches, and how I was conquered in
war, and came not back for a few days?"
"I remember," said be.
"This man saved my life," said the king; and he told him all that had happened.
"Well, my son, now that this my preserver is with me, I cannot requite him for
what he has done, not even were I to give him my kingdom." And he recited the
two stanzas following:--
"When all alone, in a grim thirsty wood,
He, and no other, tried to do me good;
In my distress he lent a helping hand;
Half-dead he drew me up and made me stand.
"By his sole doing I returned again
Out of death's jaws back to the world of men.
To recompense such kindness is but fair;
Give a rich offering, nor stint his share."
[318] So spake the king, as though he were causing the moon to rise up in the
sky; and as the virtue of the Bodhisatta was declared, so was declared his own
virtue everywhere; and his takings increased, and the honour shown to him. After
that neither his viceroy nor his courtiers nor any one else durst say anything
against him to the king. The king abode in the Bodhisatta's admonition; and he
gave alms and did good, and at the last went to swell the hosts of heaven. And
the Bodhisatta, having cultivated the Perfections and the Attainments, became
destined to the world of Brahma.
_____________________________
Then the Master added, "Wise men of old gave help too;" and having thus
concluded his discourse, he identified the Birth as follows: "Ānanda was the
king, and I was the hermit."
Footnotes
218:2 No. 152, page 4, where however there is no word of this incident; it
really occurs in No. 156, p. 17 of this volume.
220:1 To hang his waterpot upon.
Next: No. 260. Dūta-Jātaka
Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Tika-Nipata - Mandhatu Jataka
Jataka Vol. II: Book III. Tika-Nipāta: No. 258. Mandhātu-Jātaka
p. 216
No. 258 1.
MANDHĀTU-JĀTAKA.
"Wherever sun and moon," etc. This story the Master told during a stay at
Jetavana, about a backsliding brother.
We are told that this brother, in traversing Sāvatthi for his alms, saw a finely
dressed woman and fell in love with her. Then the Brethren led him to the Hall
of Truth, and informed the Master that he was a backslider. The Master asked
whether it were true; and was answered, yes, it was. [311]
"Brother," said the Master, "when will you ever satisfy this lust, even while
you are a householder? Such lust is as deep as the ocean, nothing can satisfy
it. In former days there have been supreme monarchs, who attended by their
retinue of men held sway over the four great continents encircled by two
thousand isles, ruling even in the heaven of the four great kings, even when
they were kings of the gods in the Heaven of the Thirty Three, even in the abode
of the Thirty Six Sakkas,--even these failed to satisfy their lust, and died
before they could do so; when will you be able to satisfy it?" And he told an
old-world tale.
_____________________________
Long ago, in the early ages of the world, there lived a king named Mahāsammata,
and he had a sun Roja, who had a son Vararoja, who had a son Kalyāṇa, who had a
son Varakalyāṇa, and Varakalyāṇa had a son named Uposatha, and Uposatha had a
son Mandhātā. Mandhātā was endowed with the Seven Precious Things and the Four
Supernatural Powers; and he was a great monarch. When he clenched his left hand,
and then touched it with his right, there fell a rain of seven kinds of jewels,
knee-deep, as though a celestial rain-cloud had arisen in the sky; so wondrous a
man was he. Eighty-four thousand years he was a prince, the same number he took
some share in ruling the kingdom, and even so many years he ruled as supreme
king; his life lasted for countless ages.
One day, he could not satisfy some desire, so he showed signs of discontent.
"Why are you cast down, my lord?" the courtiers asked him.
"When the power of my merit is considered, what is this kingdom? Which place
seems worth desiring?"
"Heaven, my lord."
p. 217
So rolling along the Wheel of Empire, with his suite [312] he went to the heaven
of the four great kings. The four kings, with a great throng of gods, came to
meet him in state, bearing celestial flowers and perfumes; and having escorted
him into their heaven, gave him rule over it. There he reigned in state, and a
long time went by. But not there either could he satisfy his craving; and so he
began to look sick with discontent.
"Why, mighty king," said the four monarchs, "are you unsatisfied? "And the king
replied,
"What place is more lovely than this heaven?"
They answered, "My lord, we are like servants. The Heaven of the Thirty-three is
more lovely than this!"
Mandhātā set the Wheel of Empire a-rolling, and with his court all round him
turned his face to the Heaven of the Thirty-three. And Sakka, king of the Gods,
bearing celestial flowers and perfumes, in the midst of a great throng of gods,
came to meet him in state, and taking charge of him showed him the way he should
go. At the time when the king was marching amidst the throng of gods, his eldest
son took the Wheel of Empire, and descending to the paths of men, came to his
own city. Sakka led Mandhātā into the Heaven of the Thirty-three, and gave him
the half of his own kingdom. After that the two of them ruled together. Time
went on, until Sakka had lived for sixty times an hundred thousand years, and
thirty millions of years, then was born on earth again; another Sakka grew up,
and he too reigned, and lived his life, and was born on earth. In this way six
and thirty Sakkas followed one after another. Still Mandhātā reigned with his
crowd of courtiers round him. As time went on, the force of his passion and
desire grew stronger and stronger.
"What is half a realm to me?" said he in his heart; "I will kill Sakka, and
reign alone!" But kill Sakka he could not. This desire and greed of his was the
root of his misfortune. The power of his life began to wane; old age seized upon
him; [313] but a human body does not disintegrate in heaven. So from heaven he
fell, and descended in a park. The gardener made known his coming to the royal
family; they came and appointed him a resting-place in the park; there lay the
king in lassitude and weariness. The courtiers asked him,
"My lord, what word shall we take from you?"
"Take from me," quoth he, "this message to the people: Mandhātā, king of kings,
having ruled supreme over the four quarters of the globe, with all the two
thousand islands round about, for a long time having reigned over the people of
the four great kings, having been king of Heaven during the lifetime of six and
thirty Sakkas, now lies dead." With these words he died, and went to fare
according to his deserts.
_____________________________
p. 218
This tale ended, the Master became perfectly enlightened and uttered the
following stanzas:--
"Wherever sun and moon their courses run
All are Mandhātā's servants, every one:
Where'er earth's quarters see the light of day,
There king Mandhātā holds imperial sway.
"Not though a rain of coins fall from the sky 1
Could anything be found to satisfy.
Pain is desire, and sorrow is unrest:
He that knows this is wise, and he is blest.
"Where longing is, there pleasure takes him wings,
Even though desire be set on heavenly things.
Disciples of the Very Buddha try
To crush out all desire eternally."
[314] When the Master had ended this discourse, he declared the Four Truths, and
identified the Birth:--at the conclusion of the Truths the back-sliding Brother
and many others attained to the Fruit of the First Path:--"At that time, I was
the great king Mandhātā."
Footnotes
216:1 See Divyāvadāna, p. 210; Thibetan Tales, p. 1-20, King Māndhātar. This
king is named as one of the four persons who have attained in their earthly
bodies to glory in the city of the gods; Milinda, iv. 8. 25 (ii. p. 145 in the
trans., S. B. E.).
218:1 See Dhammapada, verses 186 and 187, which are the last two of these
stanzas.
Next: No. 259. Tirīṭa-Vaccha-Jātaka
p. 216
No. 258 1.
MANDHĀTU-JĀTAKA.
"Wherever sun and moon," etc. This story the Master told during a stay at
Jetavana, about a backsliding brother.
We are told that this brother, in traversing Sāvatthi for his alms, saw a finely
dressed woman and fell in love with her. Then the Brethren led him to the Hall
of Truth, and informed the Master that he was a backslider. The Master asked
whether it were true; and was answered, yes, it was. [311]
"Brother," said the Master, "when will you ever satisfy this lust, even while
you are a householder? Such lust is as deep as the ocean, nothing can satisfy
it. In former days there have been supreme monarchs, who attended by their
retinue of men held sway over the four great continents encircled by two
thousand isles, ruling even in the heaven of the four great kings, even when
they were kings of the gods in the Heaven of the Thirty Three, even in the abode
of the Thirty Six Sakkas,--even these failed to satisfy their lust, and died
before they could do so; when will you be able to satisfy it?" And he told an
old-world tale.
_____________________________
Long ago, in the early ages of the world, there lived a king named Mahāsammata,
and he had a sun Roja, who had a son Vararoja, who had a son Kalyāṇa, who had a
son Varakalyāṇa, and Varakalyāṇa had a son named Uposatha, and Uposatha had a
son Mandhātā. Mandhātā was endowed with the Seven Precious Things and the Four
Supernatural Powers; and he was a great monarch. When he clenched his left hand,
and then touched it with his right, there fell a rain of seven kinds of jewels,
knee-deep, as though a celestial rain-cloud had arisen in the sky; so wondrous a
man was he. Eighty-four thousand years he was a prince, the same number he took
some share in ruling the kingdom, and even so many years he ruled as supreme
king; his life lasted for countless ages.
One day, he could not satisfy some desire, so he showed signs of discontent.
"Why are you cast down, my lord?" the courtiers asked him.
"When the power of my merit is considered, what is this kingdom? Which place
seems worth desiring?"
"Heaven, my lord."
p. 217
So rolling along the Wheel of Empire, with his suite [312] he went to the heaven
of the four great kings. The four kings, with a great throng of gods, came to
meet him in state, bearing celestial flowers and perfumes; and having escorted
him into their heaven, gave him rule over it. There he reigned in state, and a
long time went by. But not there either could he satisfy his craving; and so he
began to look sick with discontent.
"Why, mighty king," said the four monarchs, "are you unsatisfied? "And the king
replied,
"What place is more lovely than this heaven?"
They answered, "My lord, we are like servants. The Heaven of the Thirty-three is
more lovely than this!"
Mandhātā set the Wheel of Empire a-rolling, and with his court all round him
turned his face to the Heaven of the Thirty-three. And Sakka, king of the Gods,
bearing celestial flowers and perfumes, in the midst of a great throng of gods,
came to meet him in state, and taking charge of him showed him the way he should
go. At the time when the king was marching amidst the throng of gods, his eldest
son took the Wheel of Empire, and descending to the paths of men, came to his
own city. Sakka led Mandhātā into the Heaven of the Thirty-three, and gave him
the half of his own kingdom. After that the two of them ruled together. Time
went on, until Sakka had lived for sixty times an hundred thousand years, and
thirty millions of years, then was born on earth again; another Sakka grew up,
and he too reigned, and lived his life, and was born on earth. In this way six
and thirty Sakkas followed one after another. Still Mandhātā reigned with his
crowd of courtiers round him. As time went on, the force of his passion and
desire grew stronger and stronger.
"What is half a realm to me?" said he in his heart; "I will kill Sakka, and
reign alone!" But kill Sakka he could not. This desire and greed of his was the
root of his misfortune. The power of his life began to wane; old age seized upon
him; [313] but a human body does not disintegrate in heaven. So from heaven he
fell, and descended in a park. The gardener made known his coming to the royal
family; they came and appointed him a resting-place in the park; there lay the
king in lassitude and weariness. The courtiers asked him,
"My lord, what word shall we take from you?"
"Take from me," quoth he, "this message to the people: Mandhātā, king of kings,
having ruled supreme over the four quarters of the globe, with all the two
thousand islands round about, for a long time having reigned over the people of
the four great kings, having been king of Heaven during the lifetime of six and
thirty Sakkas, now lies dead." With these words he died, and went to fare
according to his deserts.
_____________________________
p. 218
This tale ended, the Master became perfectly enlightened and uttered the
following stanzas:--
"Wherever sun and moon their courses run
All are Mandhātā's servants, every one:
Where'er earth's quarters see the light of day,
There king Mandhātā holds imperial sway.
"Not though a rain of coins fall from the sky 1
Could anything be found to satisfy.
Pain is desire, and sorrow is unrest:
He that knows this is wise, and he is blest.
"Where longing is, there pleasure takes him wings,
Even though desire be set on heavenly things.
Disciples of the Very Buddha try
To crush out all desire eternally."
[314] When the Master had ended this discourse, he declared the Four Truths, and
identified the Birth:--at the conclusion of the Truths the back-sliding Brother
and many others attained to the Fruit of the First Path:--"At that time, I was
the great king Mandhātā."
Footnotes
216:1 See Divyāvadāna, p. 210; Thibetan Tales, p. 1-20, King Māndhātar. This
king is named as one of the four persons who have attained in their earthly
bodies to glory in the city of the gods; Milinda, iv. 8. 25 (ii. p. 145 in the
trans., S. B. E.).
218:1 See Dhammapada, verses 186 and 187, which are the last two of these
stanzas.
Next: No. 259. Tirīṭa-Vaccha-Jātaka
Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Tika-Nipata - Gamani-Canda Jataka
Jataka Vol. II: Book III. Tika-Nipāta: No. 257. Gāmaṇi-Caṇḍa-Jātaka
p. 207
No. 257.
GĀMAṆI-CAṆḌA-JĀTAKA 1.
[297] "It is not a clever builder," etc.--This story the Master told while
sojourning at Jetavana, about the praise of wisdom. In the Hall of Truth sat the
Brethren, praising the wisdom of the Buddha: "The Blessed One has wisdom great
and wide, wisdom witty and quick, wisdom sharp and penetrating. He excels this
world and the world of gods in wisdom."
The Master entered, and asked what they were talking of now as they sat there.
They told him. He answered, "This is not the first time, Brethren, that the
Blessed One has been wise; he was the same before." And he told an old-world
tale.
_____________________________
Once upon a time, Brethren, when Janasandha was reigning in Benares, the
Bodhisatta came to life as the son of his chief queen. His face was resplendent,
wearing a look of auspicious beauty, like a golden mirror well polished. On the
day of his naming they called him Ādāsa-mukha, Prince Mirror-face.
Within the space of seven years his father caused him to be taught the Three
Vedas, and all the duties of this world; and then he died, when the lad was
seven years old. The courtiers performed the king's obsequies with great pomp,
and made the offerings for the dead; and on the seventh day they gathered
together in the palace court, and talked together. The prince was very young,
they thought, and he could not be made king.
Before they made him king, they would test him. So they prepared a court of
justice, and set a divan. Then they came into the prince's presence, and said
they, "You must come, my lord, to the law-court." To this the prince agreed; and
with a great company he repaired thither, and sat upon the dais.
Now at the time when the king sat down for judgement, the courtiers had dressed
up a monkey, in the garb of a man who is skilled in the lore which tells what
are good sites for a building. They made him go upon two feet, and brought him
into the judgement hall.
p. 208
"My lord," said they, "in the time of the king your father this man was one who
divined by magic as to desirable sites, and well did he know his art. [298] Down
in the earth as deep as seven cubits he can see a fault. By his help there was a
place chosen for the king's house; let the king provide for him, and give him a
post."
The prince scanned him from head to foot. "This is no man, but a monkey," he
thought; "and monkeys can destroy what others have made, but of themselves can
neither make anything nor carry out such a thing." And so he repeated the first
stanza to his court:--
"It is not a clever builder, but an ape with a wrinkled face;
He can destroy what others make; that is the way of his race."
"It must be so, my lord!" said the courtiers, and took him away. But after a day
or two they dressed this same creature in grand clothes, and brought him again
to the judgement hall. "In the king your father's time, my lord, this was a
judge who dealt justice. Him should you take to help you in the awarding of
justice."
The prince looked at him. Thought he, "A man with mind and reason is not so
hairy as all that. This witless ape cannot dispense justice;" and he repeated
the second stanza:--
"There's no wit in this hairy creature; he breeds no confidence;
He knows nought, as my father taught: the animal has no sense!"
[299] "So it must be, my lord!" said the courtiers, and led him away. Yet once
again did they dress up the very same monkey, and bring him to the hall of
judgement. "Sire," said they, "in the time of the king your father this man did
his duty to father and mother, and paid respect to old age in his family. Him
you should keep with you."
Again the prince looked at him, and thought--"Monkeys are fickle of mind; such a
thing they cannot do." And then he repeated the third stanza:--
"One thing Dasaratha 1 has taught me: no help such a creature would send
To father or mother, to sister or brother, or any who call him friend!"
"So must it be, my lord!" answered they, and took him away again. And they said
amongst themselves, "’Tis a wise prince; he will be able to rule"; [300] and
they made the Bodhisatta king; and throughout the city by beat of drum they made
proclamation, saying, "The edicts of king Mirror-face!"
From that time the Bodhisatta reigned righteously; and his wisdom was noised
abroad throughout all India. To show forth the matter of
p. 209
this wisdom of his, these fourteen problems were brought to him to decide:--
"An ox, a lad, a horse, a basket-knight,
A squire, a light-o’-love, and a young dame,
A snake, a deer, a partridge, and a sprite,
A snake, ascetics, a young priest I name."
This happened as we shall now explain. When the Bodhisatta was inaugurated king,
a certain servant of king Janasandha, named Gāmaṇi-caṇḍa, thus considered within
himself: "This kingdom is glorious if it be governed by aid of those who are of
an age with the king. Now I am old, and I cannot wait upon a young prince: so I
will get me a living by farming in the country." So he departed from the city a
distance of three leagues, and abode in a certain village. But he had no oxen
for farming. And so, after rain had fallen, he begged the loan of two oxen from
a friend; all day long he ploughed with them, and then he gave them grass to
eat, and went to the owner's house to give them back again. At the moment it
happened that the owner sat at meat with his wife; and the oxen entered the
house, quite at home. As they entered, the master was raising his plate, and the
wife putting hers down. Seeing that they did not invite him to share the meal,
Gāmaṇi-caṇḍa departed without formally making over the oxen. During the night,
thieves broke into the cow-pen, and stole the oxen away.
Early on the morrow, the owner of these oxen entered the cow-shed, but cattle
there were none; he perceived that they had been stolen away by thieves. "I'll
make Gāmaṇi pay for it!" thought he, and to Gāmaṇi he went. [301]
"I say, return me my oxen!" cried he.
"Are not they in their stall?"
"Now did you return them to met"
"No, I didn't."
"Here's the king's officer: come along."
Now this people have a custom that they pick up a bit of stone or a potsherd,
and say--"Here's the king's officer; come along! "If any man refuses to go, he
is punished. So when Gāmaṇi heard the word "officer," he went along.
So they went together towards the king's court. On the way, they came to a
village where dwelt a friend of Gāmaṇi's. Said he to the other,
"I say, I'm very hungry. Wait here till I go in and get me something to eat!"
and he entered his friend's house.
But his friend was not at home. The wife said,
"Sir, there is nothing cooked. Wait but a moment; I will cook at once and set
before you."
She climbed a ladder to the grain store, and in her haste she fell to the
p. 210
ground. And as she was seven months gone with child, a miscarriage followed.
At that moment, in came the husband, and saw what had happened. "You have struck
my wife," cried he, "and brought her labour upon her untimely! Here's a king's
officer for you--come along!" and he carried him off. After this they went on,
the two of them, with Gāmaṇi between.
As they went, there was a horse at a village gate; and the groom could not stop
it, but it ran along with them. The horsekeeper called out to Gāmaṇi--
"Uncle 1 Caṇḍagāmaṇi, hit the horse with something, and head him back!" Gaillard
picked up a stone, and threw it at the horse. The stone struck his foot, and
broke it like the stalk of a castor-oil plant. Then the man cried,
"Oh, you've broken my horse's leg! Here's a king's officer for you!" and he laid
hold of him.
Gāmaṇi was thus three men's prisoner. As they led him along, he thought: "These
people will denounce me to the king;' [302] I can't pay for the oxen; much less
the fine for causing an untimely birth; and then where shall I get the price of
the horse? I were better dead." So, as they went along, he saw a wood hard by
the road, and in it a hill with a precipice on one side of it. In the shadow of
it were two basket-makers, father and son, weaving a mat. Said Gāmaṇi,
"I say, I want to retire for a moment: wait here, while I go aside"; and with
these words he climbed the hill, and threw himself down the precipice. He fell
upon the back of the elder basket-maker, and killed him on the spot. Gāmaṇi got
up, and stood still.
"Ah, you villain! you've murdered my father!" cried the younger basket-maker;
"here's the king's officer!" He seized Gāmaṇi's hands, and came out of the
thicket.
"What's this?" asked the others.
"The villain has murdered my father!"
So on they went, the four of them, with Gāmaṇi in the middle.
They came to the gate of another village. The headman was there, who hailed
Gāmaṇi: "Uncle 1 Caṇḍa, whither away?"
"To see the king," says Gāmaṇi.
"Oh indeed, to see the king. I want to send him a message; will you take it?"
"Yes, that I will."
"Well--I am usually handsome, rich, honoured, and healthy; but now I am
miserable and have the jaundice too. Ask the king why this is.
p. 211
[paragraph continues] He is a wise man, so they say; he will tell you, and you
can bring me his message again."
To this the other agreed.
At another village a light-o’-love called out to him--"Whither bound, Uncle 1
Caṇḍa 4"
"To see the king," says he.
"They say the king is a wise man; take him a message from me," says the woman.
[303] "Aforetime I used to make great gains; now I don't get the worth of a
betel-nut, and nobody courts me. Ask the king how this may be, and then you can
tell me."
At a third village, there was a young woman who told Gāmaṇi, "I can live neither
with my husband nor with my own family. Ask the king how this is, and then tell
me."
A little further on there was a snake living in an ant-hill near the road. He
saw Gāmaṇi, and called out,
"Whither away, Caṇḍa?"
"To see the king."
"The king is wise; take him a message from me. When I go out to get my food, I
leave this ant-hill faint and famishing, and yet I fill the entrance hole with
my body, and I get out with difficulty, dragging myself along. But when I come
in again, I feel satisfied, and fat, yet I pass quickly through the hole without
touching the sides. How is this? ask the king, and bring me his answer."
And further on a deer saw him, and said--"I can't eat grass anywhere but
underneath this tree. Ask the king the reason." And again a partridge said,
"When I sit at the foot of this ant-heap, and utter my note, I can make it
prettily; but nowhere else. Ask the king why." And again, [304] a tree spirit
saw him, and said,
"Whither away, Caṇḍa?"
"To the king."
"The king's a wise man, they say. In former times I was highly honoured; now I
don't receive so much as a handful of twigs. Ask the king what the reason is."
And further on again he was seen by a serpent-king, who spoke to him thus: "The
king is said to be a wise man: then ask him this question. Heretofore the water
in this pool has been clear as crystal. Why is it that now it has become turbid,
with scum all over it?"
Further on, not far from a town, certain ascetics who dwelt in a park saw him,
and said, in the same way, "They say the king is wise. Of yore there were in
this park sweet fruits in plenty, now they have grown tasteless and dry. Ask him
what the reason is." Further on again, he was accosted by some brahmin students
who were in a hall at the gate of a town. They said to him,
p. 212
"Where are you going, Caṇḍa, eh?"
"To the king," says Caṇḍa.
"Then take a message for us. Till now, whatever passage we learnt was bright and
clear; now it does not stay with us, it is not understood, but all is
darkness,--it is like water in a leaky jar. Ask the king what the reason is."
Gāmaṇi-caṇḍa came before the king with his fourteen questions. When the king saw
him, he recognised him. "This is my father's servant, who used to dandle me in
his arms. Where has he been living all this time?" And "Caṇḍa," said he, "where
have you been living all this time? [305] We have seen nothing of you for a long
while; what brings you here?"
"Oh, my lord, when my lord the late king went to heaven, I departed into the
country and kept myself by farming. Then this man summoned me for a suit
regarding his cattle, and here he has brought me."
"If you had not been brought here, you had never come; but I'm glad that you
were brought anyhow. Now I can see you. Where is that man?"
"Here, my lord."
"It is you that summoned our friend Caṇḍa?"
"Yes, my lord."
"Why?"
"He refuses to give back my pair of oxen!"
"Is this so, Caṇḍa?"
"Hear my story too, my lord!" said Caṇḍa; and told him the whole. When he had
heard the tale, the king accosted the owner of the oxen. "Did you see the oxen,"
said he, "entering the stall?"
"No, my lord," the man replied.
"Why, man, did you never hear my name? They call me king Mirror-face. Speak out
honestly."
"I saw them, my lord!" said he.
"Now, Caṇḍa," said the king, "you failed to return the oxen, and therefore you
are his debtor for them. But this man, in saying that he had not seen them, told
a direct lie. Therefore you with your own hands shall pluck his eyes out, and
you shall yourself pay him twenty-four pieces of money as the price of the
oxen." Then they led the owner of the oxen out of doors.
"If I lose my eyes, what do I care for the money?" thought he. And he fell at
Gāmaṇi's feet, and besought him--"O master Caṇḍa, keep those twenty-four pieces,
and take these too!" and he gave him other pieces, and ran away.
The second man said, "My lord, this fellow struck my wife, [306] and
p. 213
made her miscarry." "Is this true, Caṇḍa?" asked the king. Caṇḍa begged for a
hearing, and told the whole story.
"Did you really strike her, and cause her to miscarry?" asked the king.
"No, my lord! I did no such thing."
"Now, can you"--to the other--"can you heal the miscarriage which he has
caused?"
"No, my lord, I cannot."
"Now, what do you want to do?"
"I ought to have a son, my lord."
"Now then, Caṇḍa--you take the man's wife to your house; and when a son shall be
born to you, hand him over to the husband."
Then this man also fell at Caṇḍa's feet, crying, "Don't break up my home,
master!" threw down some money, and made off.
The third man then accused Caṇḍa of laming his horse's foot. Caṇḍa as before
told what had happened. Then the king asked the owner, "Did you really bid Caṇḍa
strike the horse, and turn him back?"
"No, my lord, I did not." But on being pressed, he admitted that he had said so.
"This man," said the king, "has told a direct lie, in saying that he did not
tell you to head back the horse. You may tear out his tongue; and then pay him a
thousand pieces for the horse's price, which I will give you." But the fellow
even gave him another sum of money, and departed.
Then the basket-maker's son said,
"This fellow is a murderer, and he killed my father!"
"Is it so, Caṇḍa?" asked the icing. "Hear me, my lord," said Caṇḍa, and told him
about it.
"Now, what do you want?" asked the king.
"My lord, I must have my father." [307]
"Caṇḍa," said the king, "this man must have a father. But you cannot bring him
back from the dead. Then take his mother to your house, and do you be a father
to him."
"Oh, master!" cried the man, "don't break up my dead father's home!" He gave
Gāmaṇi a sum of money, and hurried away.
Thus Gāmaṇi won his suit, and in great delight he said to the king, "My lord, I
have several questions for you from several persons; may
I tell you them?"
"Say on," said the king.
So Gāmaṇi told them all in reverse order, beginning with the young brahmins. The
king answered them in turn. To the first question, he answered: "In the place
where they lived there used to be a crowing cock that knew the time. When they
heard his crow, they used to rise up, and repeat their texts, until the sun
rose, and thus they did not forget
p. 214
what they learnt. But now there is a cock that crows out of season; he crows at
dead of night, or in broad day. When he crows in the depth of night, up they
rise, but they are too sleepy to repeat the text. When he crows in broad day,
they rise up, but they have not the chance to repeat their texts. Thus it is,
that whatever they learn, they soon forget."
To the second question, he answered: "Formerly these men used to do all the
duties of the ascetic, and they induced the mystic trance. Now they have
neglected the ascetic's duties, and they do what they ought not to do; the
fruits which grow in the park they give to their attendants; they live in a
sinful way, exchanging their alms 1. This is why this fruit does not grow sweet.
[308] If they once more with one consent do their duty as ascetics, again the
fruit will grow sweet for them. Those hermits know not the wisdom of kings; tell
them to live the ascetic life."
He heard the third question, and answered, "Those serpent chiefs quarrel one
with another, and that is why the water becomes turbid. If they make friends as
before, the water will be clear again." After hearing the fourth, "The
tree-spirit," said he, "used formerly to protect men passing through the wood,
and therefore she received many offerings. Now she gives them no protection, and
so she receives no offerings. If she protects them as before, she will receive
choice offerings again. She knows not that there are kings in the world. Tell
her, then, to guard the men who go up into that wood." And on hearing the fifth,
"Under the ant-hill where the partridge finds himself able to utter a pleasant
cry is a crock of treasure; dig it up and get it." To the sixth he answered, "On
the tree under which the deer found he could eat grass, is a great honey-comb.
He craves the grass on which this honey has dropped, and so he can eat no other.
You get the honeycomb, send the best of it to me, and eat the rest yourself."
Then on hearing the seventh, "Under the snake's ant-heap lies a large
treasure-crock, and there he lives guarding it. So when he goes out, from greed
for this treasure his body sticks fast; but after he has fed, his desire for the
treasure prevents his body from sticking, and be goes in quickly and easily. Dig
up the treasure, and keep it." Then he replied to the eighth question, "Between
the villages where dwell the young woman's husband and her parents [309] lives a
lover of hers in a certain house. She remembers him, and her desire is toward
him; therefore she cannot stay in her husband's house, but says she will go and
see her parents, and on the way she stays a few days with her lover. When she
has been at home a few days, again she remembers him, and saying she will return
to her husband, she goes again to her lover. Go, tell her there are kings in the
land; say, she must dwell with her husband,
p. 215
and if she will not, let her have a care, the king will cause her to be seized,
and she shall die." He heard the ninth, and to this he said, "The woman used
formerly to take a price from the hand of one, and not to go with another until
she was off with him 1, and that is how she used to receive much. Now she has
changed her manner, and without leave of the first she goes with the last, so
that she receives nothing, and none seek after her. If she keeps to her old
custom, it will be as it was before. Tell her that she should keep to that." On
hearing the tenth, he replied, "That village headman used once to deal justice
indifferently, so that men were pleased and delighted with him; and in their
delight they gave him many a present. This is what made him handsome, rich, and
honoured. Now he loves to take bribes, and his judgement is not fair; so he is
poor and miserable, and jaundiced. If he judges once again with righteousness,
he will be again as he was before. He knows not that there are kings in the
land. Tell him that he must use justice in giving judgement."
And Gāmaṇi-car a told all these messages, as they were told to him. And the king
having resolved all these questions by his wisdom, like Buddha omniscient, [310]
gave rich presents to Gāmaṇi-caṇḍa; and the village where Caṇḍa dwelt he gave to
him, as a brahmin's gift, and let him go. Caṇḍa went out of the city, and told
the king's answer to the brahmin youths, and the ascetics, to the serpent and to
the tree-spirit; he took the treasure from the place where the partridge sat,
and from the tree beneath which the deer did eat, he took the honeycomb, and
sent honey to the king; he broke into the snake's ant-hill, and gathered the
treasure out of it; and to the young woman, and the light-o’-love, and the
village headman he said even as the king had told him. Then he returned to his
own village, and dwelt there so long as he lived, and afterward passed away to
fare according to his deserts. And king Mirror-face also gave alms, and wrought
goodness, and finally after his death went to swell the hosts of heaven.
_____________________________
When the Master had ended this discourse, to show that not now only is the
Blessed One wise, but wise he was before, he declared the Truths, and identified
the Birth: (now at the conclusion of the Truths many persons entered on the
First Path, or the Second, or the Third, or the Fourth:) "At that time Ānanda
was Gāmaṇi-Caṇḍa; but king Mirror-face was I myself."
Footnotes
207:1 See Morris, Folk-Lore Journal, iii. 337; Tawney, Phil. Journ. xii.
112-119; Academy, Aug. 6, 1887, no. 796. Problems to be solved are a common part
of the machinery of fairy tales; e.g. Grimm, no. 29, The Devil with the Three
Golden Hairs, and the editors' notes.
208:1 Dasaratha is another name for his father (Schol.).
210:1 It is worth noting that this term of affection means a mother's brother.
211:1 See note, p. 210.
214:1 Some staying at home, while others beg for all, to save trouble. See p.
57, note 1.
215:1 Literally, "until she had made him enjoy his money's worth," ajirāpetvā.
Next: No. 258. Mandhātu-Jātaka
p. 207
No. 257.
GĀMAṆI-CAṆḌA-JĀTAKA 1.
[297] "It is not a clever builder," etc.--This story the Master told while
sojourning at Jetavana, about the praise of wisdom. In the Hall of Truth sat the
Brethren, praising the wisdom of the Buddha: "The Blessed One has wisdom great
and wide, wisdom witty and quick, wisdom sharp and penetrating. He excels this
world and the world of gods in wisdom."
The Master entered, and asked what they were talking of now as they sat there.
They told him. He answered, "This is not the first time, Brethren, that the
Blessed One has been wise; he was the same before." And he told an old-world
tale.
_____________________________
Once upon a time, Brethren, when Janasandha was reigning in Benares, the
Bodhisatta came to life as the son of his chief queen. His face was resplendent,
wearing a look of auspicious beauty, like a golden mirror well polished. On the
day of his naming they called him Ādāsa-mukha, Prince Mirror-face.
Within the space of seven years his father caused him to be taught the Three
Vedas, and all the duties of this world; and then he died, when the lad was
seven years old. The courtiers performed the king's obsequies with great pomp,
and made the offerings for the dead; and on the seventh day they gathered
together in the palace court, and talked together. The prince was very young,
they thought, and he could not be made king.
Before they made him king, they would test him. So they prepared a court of
justice, and set a divan. Then they came into the prince's presence, and said
they, "You must come, my lord, to the law-court." To this the prince agreed; and
with a great company he repaired thither, and sat upon the dais.
Now at the time when the king sat down for judgement, the courtiers had dressed
up a monkey, in the garb of a man who is skilled in the lore which tells what
are good sites for a building. They made him go upon two feet, and brought him
into the judgement hall.
p. 208
"My lord," said they, "in the time of the king your father this man was one who
divined by magic as to desirable sites, and well did he know his art. [298] Down
in the earth as deep as seven cubits he can see a fault. By his help there was a
place chosen for the king's house; let the king provide for him, and give him a
post."
The prince scanned him from head to foot. "This is no man, but a monkey," he
thought; "and monkeys can destroy what others have made, but of themselves can
neither make anything nor carry out such a thing." And so he repeated the first
stanza to his court:--
"It is not a clever builder, but an ape with a wrinkled face;
He can destroy what others make; that is the way of his race."
"It must be so, my lord!" said the courtiers, and took him away. But after a day
or two they dressed this same creature in grand clothes, and brought him again
to the judgement hall. "In the king your father's time, my lord, this was a
judge who dealt justice. Him should you take to help you in the awarding of
justice."
The prince looked at him. Thought he, "A man with mind and reason is not so
hairy as all that. This witless ape cannot dispense justice;" and he repeated
the second stanza:--
"There's no wit in this hairy creature; he breeds no confidence;
He knows nought, as my father taught: the animal has no sense!"
[299] "So it must be, my lord!" said the courtiers, and led him away. Yet once
again did they dress up the very same monkey, and bring him to the hall of
judgement. "Sire," said they, "in the time of the king your father this man did
his duty to father and mother, and paid respect to old age in his family. Him
you should keep with you."
Again the prince looked at him, and thought--"Monkeys are fickle of mind; such a
thing they cannot do." And then he repeated the third stanza:--
"One thing Dasaratha 1 has taught me: no help such a creature would send
To father or mother, to sister or brother, or any who call him friend!"
"So must it be, my lord!" answered they, and took him away again. And they said
amongst themselves, "’Tis a wise prince; he will be able to rule"; [300] and
they made the Bodhisatta king; and throughout the city by beat of drum they made
proclamation, saying, "The edicts of king Mirror-face!"
From that time the Bodhisatta reigned righteously; and his wisdom was noised
abroad throughout all India. To show forth the matter of
p. 209
this wisdom of his, these fourteen problems were brought to him to decide:--
"An ox, a lad, a horse, a basket-knight,
A squire, a light-o’-love, and a young dame,
A snake, a deer, a partridge, and a sprite,
A snake, ascetics, a young priest I name."
This happened as we shall now explain. When the Bodhisatta was inaugurated king,
a certain servant of king Janasandha, named Gāmaṇi-caṇḍa, thus considered within
himself: "This kingdom is glorious if it be governed by aid of those who are of
an age with the king. Now I am old, and I cannot wait upon a young prince: so I
will get me a living by farming in the country." So he departed from the city a
distance of three leagues, and abode in a certain village. But he had no oxen
for farming. And so, after rain had fallen, he begged the loan of two oxen from
a friend; all day long he ploughed with them, and then he gave them grass to
eat, and went to the owner's house to give them back again. At the moment it
happened that the owner sat at meat with his wife; and the oxen entered the
house, quite at home. As they entered, the master was raising his plate, and the
wife putting hers down. Seeing that they did not invite him to share the meal,
Gāmaṇi-caṇḍa departed without formally making over the oxen. During the night,
thieves broke into the cow-pen, and stole the oxen away.
Early on the morrow, the owner of these oxen entered the cow-shed, but cattle
there were none; he perceived that they had been stolen away by thieves. "I'll
make Gāmaṇi pay for it!" thought he, and to Gāmaṇi he went. [301]
"I say, return me my oxen!" cried he.
"Are not they in their stall?"
"Now did you return them to met"
"No, I didn't."
"Here's the king's officer: come along."
Now this people have a custom that they pick up a bit of stone or a potsherd,
and say--"Here's the king's officer; come along! "If any man refuses to go, he
is punished. So when Gāmaṇi heard the word "officer," he went along.
So they went together towards the king's court. On the way, they came to a
village where dwelt a friend of Gāmaṇi's. Said he to the other,
"I say, I'm very hungry. Wait here till I go in and get me something to eat!"
and he entered his friend's house.
But his friend was not at home. The wife said,
"Sir, there is nothing cooked. Wait but a moment; I will cook at once and set
before you."
She climbed a ladder to the grain store, and in her haste she fell to the
p. 210
ground. And as she was seven months gone with child, a miscarriage followed.
At that moment, in came the husband, and saw what had happened. "You have struck
my wife," cried he, "and brought her labour upon her untimely! Here's a king's
officer for you--come along!" and he carried him off. After this they went on,
the two of them, with Gāmaṇi between.
As they went, there was a horse at a village gate; and the groom could not stop
it, but it ran along with them. The horsekeeper called out to Gāmaṇi--
"Uncle 1 Caṇḍagāmaṇi, hit the horse with something, and head him back!" Gaillard
picked up a stone, and threw it at the horse. The stone struck his foot, and
broke it like the stalk of a castor-oil plant. Then the man cried,
"Oh, you've broken my horse's leg! Here's a king's officer for you!" and he laid
hold of him.
Gāmaṇi was thus three men's prisoner. As they led him along, he thought: "These
people will denounce me to the king;' [302] I can't pay for the oxen; much less
the fine for causing an untimely birth; and then where shall I get the price of
the horse? I were better dead." So, as they went along, he saw a wood hard by
the road, and in it a hill with a precipice on one side of it. In the shadow of
it were two basket-makers, father and son, weaving a mat. Said Gāmaṇi,
"I say, I want to retire for a moment: wait here, while I go aside"; and with
these words he climbed the hill, and threw himself down the precipice. He fell
upon the back of the elder basket-maker, and killed him on the spot. Gāmaṇi got
up, and stood still.
"Ah, you villain! you've murdered my father!" cried the younger basket-maker;
"here's the king's officer!" He seized Gāmaṇi's hands, and came out of the
thicket.
"What's this?" asked the others.
"The villain has murdered my father!"
So on they went, the four of them, with Gāmaṇi in the middle.
They came to the gate of another village. The headman was there, who hailed
Gāmaṇi: "Uncle 1 Caṇḍa, whither away?"
"To see the king," says Gāmaṇi.
"Oh indeed, to see the king. I want to send him a message; will you take it?"
"Yes, that I will."
"Well--I am usually handsome, rich, honoured, and healthy; but now I am
miserable and have the jaundice too. Ask the king why this is.
p. 211
[paragraph continues] He is a wise man, so they say; he will tell you, and you
can bring me his message again."
To this the other agreed.
At another village a light-o’-love called out to him--"Whither bound, Uncle 1
Caṇḍa 4"
"To see the king," says he.
"They say the king is a wise man; take him a message from me," says the woman.
[303] "Aforetime I used to make great gains; now I don't get the worth of a
betel-nut, and nobody courts me. Ask the king how this may be, and then you can
tell me."
At a third village, there was a young woman who told Gāmaṇi, "I can live neither
with my husband nor with my own family. Ask the king how this is, and then tell
me."
A little further on there was a snake living in an ant-hill near the road. He
saw Gāmaṇi, and called out,
"Whither away, Caṇḍa?"
"To see the king."
"The king is wise; take him a message from me. When I go out to get my food, I
leave this ant-hill faint and famishing, and yet I fill the entrance hole with
my body, and I get out with difficulty, dragging myself along. But when I come
in again, I feel satisfied, and fat, yet I pass quickly through the hole without
touching the sides. How is this? ask the king, and bring me his answer."
And further on a deer saw him, and said--"I can't eat grass anywhere but
underneath this tree. Ask the king the reason." And again a partridge said,
"When I sit at the foot of this ant-heap, and utter my note, I can make it
prettily; but nowhere else. Ask the king why." And again, [304] a tree spirit
saw him, and said,
"Whither away, Caṇḍa?"
"To the king."
"The king's a wise man, they say. In former times I was highly honoured; now I
don't receive so much as a handful of twigs. Ask the king what the reason is."
And further on again he was seen by a serpent-king, who spoke to him thus: "The
king is said to be a wise man: then ask him this question. Heretofore the water
in this pool has been clear as crystal. Why is it that now it has become turbid,
with scum all over it?"
Further on, not far from a town, certain ascetics who dwelt in a park saw him,
and said, in the same way, "They say the king is wise. Of yore there were in
this park sweet fruits in plenty, now they have grown tasteless and dry. Ask him
what the reason is." Further on again, he was accosted by some brahmin students
who were in a hall at the gate of a town. They said to him,
p. 212
"Where are you going, Caṇḍa, eh?"
"To the king," says Caṇḍa.
"Then take a message for us. Till now, whatever passage we learnt was bright and
clear; now it does not stay with us, it is not understood, but all is
darkness,--it is like water in a leaky jar. Ask the king what the reason is."
Gāmaṇi-caṇḍa came before the king with his fourteen questions. When the king saw
him, he recognised him. "This is my father's servant, who used to dandle me in
his arms. Where has he been living all this time?" And "Caṇḍa," said he, "where
have you been living all this time? [305] We have seen nothing of you for a long
while; what brings you here?"
"Oh, my lord, when my lord the late king went to heaven, I departed into the
country and kept myself by farming. Then this man summoned me for a suit
regarding his cattle, and here he has brought me."
"If you had not been brought here, you had never come; but I'm glad that you
were brought anyhow. Now I can see you. Where is that man?"
"Here, my lord."
"It is you that summoned our friend Caṇḍa?"
"Yes, my lord."
"Why?"
"He refuses to give back my pair of oxen!"
"Is this so, Caṇḍa?"
"Hear my story too, my lord!" said Caṇḍa; and told him the whole. When he had
heard the tale, the king accosted the owner of the oxen. "Did you see the oxen,"
said he, "entering the stall?"
"No, my lord," the man replied.
"Why, man, did you never hear my name? They call me king Mirror-face. Speak out
honestly."
"I saw them, my lord!" said he.
"Now, Caṇḍa," said the king, "you failed to return the oxen, and therefore you
are his debtor for them. But this man, in saying that he had not seen them, told
a direct lie. Therefore you with your own hands shall pluck his eyes out, and
you shall yourself pay him twenty-four pieces of money as the price of the
oxen." Then they led the owner of the oxen out of doors.
"If I lose my eyes, what do I care for the money?" thought he. And he fell at
Gāmaṇi's feet, and besought him--"O master Caṇḍa, keep those twenty-four pieces,
and take these too!" and he gave him other pieces, and ran away.
The second man said, "My lord, this fellow struck my wife, [306] and
p. 213
made her miscarry." "Is this true, Caṇḍa?" asked the king. Caṇḍa begged for a
hearing, and told the whole story.
"Did you really strike her, and cause her to miscarry?" asked the king.
"No, my lord! I did no such thing."
"Now, can you"--to the other--"can you heal the miscarriage which he has
caused?"
"No, my lord, I cannot."
"Now, what do you want to do?"
"I ought to have a son, my lord."
"Now then, Caṇḍa--you take the man's wife to your house; and when a son shall be
born to you, hand him over to the husband."
Then this man also fell at Caṇḍa's feet, crying, "Don't break up my home,
master!" threw down some money, and made off.
The third man then accused Caṇḍa of laming his horse's foot. Caṇḍa as before
told what had happened. Then the king asked the owner, "Did you really bid Caṇḍa
strike the horse, and turn him back?"
"No, my lord, I did not." But on being pressed, he admitted that he had said so.
"This man," said the king, "has told a direct lie, in saying that he did not
tell you to head back the horse. You may tear out his tongue; and then pay him a
thousand pieces for the horse's price, which I will give you." But the fellow
even gave him another sum of money, and departed.
Then the basket-maker's son said,
"This fellow is a murderer, and he killed my father!"
"Is it so, Caṇḍa?" asked the icing. "Hear me, my lord," said Caṇḍa, and told him
about it.
"Now, what do you want?" asked the king.
"My lord, I must have my father." [307]
"Caṇḍa," said the king, "this man must have a father. But you cannot bring him
back from the dead. Then take his mother to your house, and do you be a father
to him."
"Oh, master!" cried the man, "don't break up my dead father's home!" He gave
Gāmaṇi a sum of money, and hurried away.
Thus Gāmaṇi won his suit, and in great delight he said to the king, "My lord, I
have several questions for you from several persons; may
I tell you them?"
"Say on," said the king.
So Gāmaṇi told them all in reverse order, beginning with the young brahmins. The
king answered them in turn. To the first question, he answered: "In the place
where they lived there used to be a crowing cock that knew the time. When they
heard his crow, they used to rise up, and repeat their texts, until the sun
rose, and thus they did not forget
p. 214
what they learnt. But now there is a cock that crows out of season; he crows at
dead of night, or in broad day. When he crows in the depth of night, up they
rise, but they are too sleepy to repeat the text. When he crows in broad day,
they rise up, but they have not the chance to repeat their texts. Thus it is,
that whatever they learn, they soon forget."
To the second question, he answered: "Formerly these men used to do all the
duties of the ascetic, and they induced the mystic trance. Now they have
neglected the ascetic's duties, and they do what they ought not to do; the
fruits which grow in the park they give to their attendants; they live in a
sinful way, exchanging their alms 1. This is why this fruit does not grow sweet.
[308] If they once more with one consent do their duty as ascetics, again the
fruit will grow sweet for them. Those hermits know not the wisdom of kings; tell
them to live the ascetic life."
He heard the third question, and answered, "Those serpent chiefs quarrel one
with another, and that is why the water becomes turbid. If they make friends as
before, the water will be clear again." After hearing the fourth, "The
tree-spirit," said he, "used formerly to protect men passing through the wood,
and therefore she received many offerings. Now she gives them no protection, and
so she receives no offerings. If she protects them as before, she will receive
choice offerings again. She knows not that there are kings in the world. Tell
her, then, to guard the men who go up into that wood." And on hearing the fifth,
"Under the ant-hill where the partridge finds himself able to utter a pleasant
cry is a crock of treasure; dig it up and get it." To the sixth he answered, "On
the tree under which the deer found he could eat grass, is a great honey-comb.
He craves the grass on which this honey has dropped, and so he can eat no other.
You get the honeycomb, send the best of it to me, and eat the rest yourself."
Then on hearing the seventh, "Under the snake's ant-heap lies a large
treasure-crock, and there he lives guarding it. So when he goes out, from greed
for this treasure his body sticks fast; but after he has fed, his desire for the
treasure prevents his body from sticking, and be goes in quickly and easily. Dig
up the treasure, and keep it." Then he replied to the eighth question, "Between
the villages where dwell the young woman's husband and her parents [309] lives a
lover of hers in a certain house. She remembers him, and her desire is toward
him; therefore she cannot stay in her husband's house, but says she will go and
see her parents, and on the way she stays a few days with her lover. When she
has been at home a few days, again she remembers him, and saying she will return
to her husband, she goes again to her lover. Go, tell her there are kings in the
land; say, she must dwell with her husband,
p. 215
and if she will not, let her have a care, the king will cause her to be seized,
and she shall die." He heard the ninth, and to this he said, "The woman used
formerly to take a price from the hand of one, and not to go with another until
she was off with him 1, and that is how she used to receive much. Now she has
changed her manner, and without leave of the first she goes with the last, so
that she receives nothing, and none seek after her. If she keeps to her old
custom, it will be as it was before. Tell her that she should keep to that." On
hearing the tenth, he replied, "That village headman used once to deal justice
indifferently, so that men were pleased and delighted with him; and in their
delight they gave him many a present. This is what made him handsome, rich, and
honoured. Now he loves to take bribes, and his judgement is not fair; so he is
poor and miserable, and jaundiced. If he judges once again with righteousness,
he will be again as he was before. He knows not that there are kings in the
land. Tell him that he must use justice in giving judgement."
And Gāmaṇi-car a told all these messages, as they were told to him. And the king
having resolved all these questions by his wisdom, like Buddha omniscient, [310]
gave rich presents to Gāmaṇi-caṇḍa; and the village where Caṇḍa dwelt he gave to
him, as a brahmin's gift, and let him go. Caṇḍa went out of the city, and told
the king's answer to the brahmin youths, and the ascetics, to the serpent and to
the tree-spirit; he took the treasure from the place where the partridge sat,
and from the tree beneath which the deer did eat, he took the honeycomb, and
sent honey to the king; he broke into the snake's ant-hill, and gathered the
treasure out of it; and to the young woman, and the light-o’-love, and the
village headman he said even as the king had told him. Then he returned to his
own village, and dwelt there so long as he lived, and afterward passed away to
fare according to his deserts. And king Mirror-face also gave alms, and wrought
goodness, and finally after his death went to swell the hosts of heaven.
_____________________________
When the Master had ended this discourse, to show that not now only is the
Blessed One wise, but wise he was before, he declared the Truths, and identified
the Birth: (now at the conclusion of the Truths many persons entered on the
First Path, or the Second, or the Third, or the Fourth:) "At that time Ānanda
was Gāmaṇi-Caṇḍa; but king Mirror-face was I myself."
Footnotes
207:1 See Morris, Folk-Lore Journal, iii. 337; Tawney, Phil. Journ. xii.
112-119; Academy, Aug. 6, 1887, no. 796. Problems to be solved are a common part
of the machinery of fairy tales; e.g. Grimm, no. 29, The Devil with the Three
Golden Hairs, and the editors' notes.
208:1 Dasaratha is another name for his father (Schol.).
210:1 It is worth noting that this term of affection means a mother's brother.
211:1 See note, p. 210.
214:1 Some staying at home, while others beg for all, to save trouble. See p.
57, note 1.
215:1 Literally, "until she had made him enjoy his money's worth," ajirāpetvā.
Next: No. 258. Mandhātu-Jātaka
Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Tika-Nipata - Jarudapana Jataka
Jataka Vol. II: Book III. Tika-Nipāta: No. 256. Jarudapāna-Jātaka
No. 256.
JARUDAPĀNA-JĀTAKA.
"Some merchants," etc.--This story the Master told while living at Jetavana,
about some traders whose home was at Sāvatthi.
The tradition is that these men had acquired wares in Sāvatthi, which they
loaded on carts. 'When the time came for them to set about their business, they
gave an invitation to the Blessed One, and offered him rich alms; they received
the Refuges, were strengthened in the Precepts, and took their leave of the
Master with these words, "Sir, we are going a long way. When we have parted with
our wares, if we are fortunate and return in safety, we will come and wait upon
you again." Then they set off on their journey.
In a difficult part of their road they observed a disused well. There was no
water in it that they could see, and they were athirst; so they resolved to dig
deeper. As they dug, [295] they came upon successive layers of minerals of all
sorts, from iron to lapis lazuli. This find contented them; they filled their
waggons with these treasures, and got back safe to Sāvatthi. They stowed away
the treasure which they had brought; and then bethought them, that having been
so lucky they would give food to the brotherhood. So they invited the Blessed
One, and made him presents; and when they had respectfully greeted him, and sat
down on one side, they recounted how they had found their treasure. Said he,
"You, good laymen, are content with your find, and accept your wealth and your
livelihood with all moderation. But in other days there were men not content,
immoderate, who refused to do as wise men advised them, and so lost their life."
And he told at their request an old-world tale.
_____________________________
Once on a time, when Brahmadatta was reigning in Benares, the Bodhisatta was
born into the family of a business man; and grew up to be a great merchant. At
one time he had filled his waggons with goods, and in company with a large
caravan he came to this very same wood and saw this very same well. No sooner
had the traders seen it, than they wanted to drink, and began to dig, and as
they dug they came upon a
p. 206
quantity of metal and gems. But though they got a great deal of treasure, they
were discontented. "There must be another treasure here, better than this!" they
thought, and they dug and dug.
Then said the Bodhisatta to them, "Merchants, greed is the root of destruction.
Ye have won a great deal of wealth; with this be ye content, and dig no more."
But they digged yet the more notwithstanding.
Now this well was haunted by serpents. The Serpent-king, incensed at the falling
of clods and earth, slew them with the breath of his nostrils 1, all saving the
Bodhisatta, [296] and destroyed them; and he came up from the serpent world, and
put the oxen to the carts, filled them with jewels, and seating the Bodhisatta
upon a fine waggon, he made certain young serpents drive the carts, and brought
him to Benares. He led him into his house, set the treasure in order, and went
away again to his own place in the serpent land. And the Bodhisatta spent his
treasure, so that he made much stir throughout all India by his almsgiving, and,
having undertaken the deeds of virtue, and kept the holy day, at the end of his
life he came to paradise.
_____________________________
The Master, after telling this tale, in his perfect wisdom, uttered the
following lines:
"Some merchants, wanting water, dug the ground
In an old well, and there a treasure found:--
Tin, iron, copper, lead, silver and gold,
Beryls and pearls and jewels manifold.
"But not content, still more they did desire,
And fiery serpents slew them all with fire.
Dig if thou wilt, but dig not to excess;
For too much digging is a wickedness.
"Digging bestowed a treasure on these men;
But too much digging lost it all again."
When the Master had finished this discourse, he identified the Birth:--"At that
time, Sāriputta was the Serpent-king, and the master of the caravan was I
myself."
Footnotes
206:1 Nāsikavātena. Perhaps this throws light on the disease ahivātarogo, p. 55
note.
Next: No. 257. Gāmaṇi-Caṇḍa-Jātaka
No. 256.
JARUDAPĀNA-JĀTAKA.
"Some merchants," etc.--This story the Master told while living at Jetavana,
about some traders whose home was at Sāvatthi.
The tradition is that these men had acquired wares in Sāvatthi, which they
loaded on carts. 'When the time came for them to set about their business, they
gave an invitation to the Blessed One, and offered him rich alms; they received
the Refuges, were strengthened in the Precepts, and took their leave of the
Master with these words, "Sir, we are going a long way. When we have parted with
our wares, if we are fortunate and return in safety, we will come and wait upon
you again." Then they set off on their journey.
In a difficult part of their road they observed a disused well. There was no
water in it that they could see, and they were athirst; so they resolved to dig
deeper. As they dug, [295] they came upon successive layers of minerals of all
sorts, from iron to lapis lazuli. This find contented them; they filled their
waggons with these treasures, and got back safe to Sāvatthi. They stowed away
the treasure which they had brought; and then bethought them, that having been
so lucky they would give food to the brotherhood. So they invited the Blessed
One, and made him presents; and when they had respectfully greeted him, and sat
down on one side, they recounted how they had found their treasure. Said he,
"You, good laymen, are content with your find, and accept your wealth and your
livelihood with all moderation. But in other days there were men not content,
immoderate, who refused to do as wise men advised them, and so lost their life."
And he told at their request an old-world tale.
_____________________________
Once on a time, when Brahmadatta was reigning in Benares, the Bodhisatta was
born into the family of a business man; and grew up to be a great merchant. At
one time he had filled his waggons with goods, and in company with a large
caravan he came to this very same wood and saw this very same well. No sooner
had the traders seen it, than they wanted to drink, and began to dig, and as
they dug they came upon a
p. 206
quantity of metal and gems. But though they got a great deal of treasure, they
were discontented. "There must be another treasure here, better than this!" they
thought, and they dug and dug.
Then said the Bodhisatta to them, "Merchants, greed is the root of destruction.
Ye have won a great deal of wealth; with this be ye content, and dig no more."
But they digged yet the more notwithstanding.
Now this well was haunted by serpents. The Serpent-king, incensed at the falling
of clods and earth, slew them with the breath of his nostrils 1, all saving the
Bodhisatta, [296] and destroyed them; and he came up from the serpent world, and
put the oxen to the carts, filled them with jewels, and seating the Bodhisatta
upon a fine waggon, he made certain young serpents drive the carts, and brought
him to Benares. He led him into his house, set the treasure in order, and went
away again to his own place in the serpent land. And the Bodhisatta spent his
treasure, so that he made much stir throughout all India by his almsgiving, and,
having undertaken the deeds of virtue, and kept the holy day, at the end of his
life he came to paradise.
_____________________________
The Master, after telling this tale, in his perfect wisdom, uttered the
following lines:
"Some merchants, wanting water, dug the ground
In an old well, and there a treasure found:--
Tin, iron, copper, lead, silver and gold,
Beryls and pearls and jewels manifold.
"But not content, still more they did desire,
And fiery serpents slew them all with fire.
Dig if thou wilt, but dig not to excess;
For too much digging is a wickedness.
"Digging bestowed a treasure on these men;
But too much digging lost it all again."
When the Master had finished this discourse, he identified the Birth:--"At that
time, Sāriputta was the Serpent-king, and the master of the caravan was I
myself."
Footnotes
206:1 Nāsikavātena. Perhaps this throws light on the disease ahivātarogo, p. 55
note.
Next: No. 257. Gāmaṇi-Caṇḍa-Jātaka
Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Tika-Nipata - Suka Jataka
Jataka Vol. II: Book III. Tika-Nipāta: No. 255. Suka-Jātaka
No. 255.
SUKA-JĀTAKA.
"What time the bird," etc.--This story the Master told while dwelling at
Jetavana, about a Brother who died of over-eating.
[2921 On his death, the brethren assembled in the Hall of Truth, and discussed
his demerits on this fashion: "Friend, Brother So-and-so was ignorant how much
he could safely eat. So he ate more than he could digest, and died in
consequence." The Master entered, and asked what they talked of now as they sat
together; and they told him. "Brethren," he said, "this is not the first time
our friend died of surfeit; the same has happened before." Then he told them an
old-world tale.
_____________________________
Once on a time, when king Brahmadatta reigned over Benares, the Bodhisatta
became a Parrot, and dwelt in the Himalaya region. He was king over several
thousands of his kind, who lived on the seaward side of the Himalayas; and one
son was his. When his son grew up to be strong, the father Parrot's eyes became
weak. The truth is, that parrots fly with great swiftness; wherefore when they
be old it is the eye that weakens first. His son kept his parents in the nest,
and would bring them food to feed them.
It happened one day that our young Parrot went to the place where he found his
food, and alighted upon a mountain-top. Thence he looked over the ocean, and
beheld an island, in which was a mango grove full of sweet golden fruit. So next
day, at the time of the fetching of food, he rose in the air and flew to this
grove of mangoes, where he sucked the mango juice,
p. 204
and took of the fruit, and bore it home to his mother and father. As the
Bodhisatta ate of it, he knew the taste.
"My son," said he, "this is a mango of such and such an island," naming it.
"Even so, father!" replied the young Parrot.
"Parrots that go thither, my son, have not length of life," he said. "Go not to
that island again!"--But the son obeyed him not, and went yet again.
Then one day it befel that he went as usual, and drank much of the mango juice.
With a mango in his beak [293] he was passing over the ocean, when he grew worn
out with so long carrying, and sleep mastered him; sleeping he flew on, and the
fruit which he carried fell from out of his beak. And by degrees he left his
path, and sinking down skimmed the surface of the water, till in the end he fell
in. And then a fish caught and devoured him. 'When he should have returned, he
returned not, and the Bodhisatta knew that he must have fallen into the water.
Then his parents, receiving no sustenance, pined away and died.
_____________________________
The Master, having told this tale, in his perfect wisdom, uttered the following
stanzas:
"What time the bird without excess did eat,
He found the way, and brought his mother meat.
"But once he ate too much, forgot the mean,
He fell; and afterward was no more seen.
"So be not greedy; modest be in all.
To spare is safe; greed goeth before a fall 1."
p. 205
When the Master had ended this discourse, he declared the Truths (at the
conclusion of which many persons entered the First Path, or the Second, or
Third, or Fourth), and identified the Birth: "At that time, the brother who has
over-eaten was the young Parrot, and the king of the Parrots was I myself."
Footnotes
204:1 The Scholiast adds the following lines:
"Be moderate in eating wet or dry,
And this thy hunger's need will satisfy.
Who eats with care, whose belly is not great,
Will be a holy hermit soon or late.
[291] Four or five mouthfuls,--then a drink is right;
Enough for any earnest eremite.
A careful moderate eater has small pain,
Slowly grows old, lives twice as long again."
And these:
"When sons bring meat to fathers in the wood,
Like ointment to the eye, ’tis very good.
Thus for bare life, with weariness forspent,
He nourished him upon such nourishment."
Next: No. 256. Jarudapāna-Jātaka
No. 255.
SUKA-JĀTAKA.
"What time the bird," etc.--This story the Master told while dwelling at
Jetavana, about a Brother who died of over-eating.
[2921 On his death, the brethren assembled in the Hall of Truth, and discussed
his demerits on this fashion: "Friend, Brother So-and-so was ignorant how much
he could safely eat. So he ate more than he could digest, and died in
consequence." The Master entered, and asked what they talked of now as they sat
together; and they told him. "Brethren," he said, "this is not the first time
our friend died of surfeit; the same has happened before." Then he told them an
old-world tale.
_____________________________
Once on a time, when king Brahmadatta reigned over Benares, the Bodhisatta
became a Parrot, and dwelt in the Himalaya region. He was king over several
thousands of his kind, who lived on the seaward side of the Himalayas; and one
son was his. When his son grew up to be strong, the father Parrot's eyes became
weak. The truth is, that parrots fly with great swiftness; wherefore when they
be old it is the eye that weakens first. His son kept his parents in the nest,
and would bring them food to feed them.
It happened one day that our young Parrot went to the place where he found his
food, and alighted upon a mountain-top. Thence he looked over the ocean, and
beheld an island, in which was a mango grove full of sweet golden fruit. So next
day, at the time of the fetching of food, he rose in the air and flew to this
grove of mangoes, where he sucked the mango juice,
p. 204
and took of the fruit, and bore it home to his mother and father. As the
Bodhisatta ate of it, he knew the taste.
"My son," said he, "this is a mango of such and such an island," naming it.
"Even so, father!" replied the young Parrot.
"Parrots that go thither, my son, have not length of life," he said. "Go not to
that island again!"--But the son obeyed him not, and went yet again.
Then one day it befel that he went as usual, and drank much of the mango juice.
With a mango in his beak [293] he was passing over the ocean, when he grew worn
out with so long carrying, and sleep mastered him; sleeping he flew on, and the
fruit which he carried fell from out of his beak. And by degrees he left his
path, and sinking down skimmed the surface of the water, till in the end he fell
in. And then a fish caught and devoured him. 'When he should have returned, he
returned not, and the Bodhisatta knew that he must have fallen into the water.
Then his parents, receiving no sustenance, pined away and died.
_____________________________
The Master, having told this tale, in his perfect wisdom, uttered the following
stanzas:
"What time the bird without excess did eat,
He found the way, and brought his mother meat.
"But once he ate too much, forgot the mean,
He fell; and afterward was no more seen.
"So be not greedy; modest be in all.
To spare is safe; greed goeth before a fall 1."
p. 205
When the Master had ended this discourse, he declared the Truths (at the
conclusion of which many persons entered the First Path, or the Second, or
Third, or Fourth), and identified the Birth: "At that time, the brother who has
over-eaten was the young Parrot, and the king of the Parrots was I myself."
Footnotes
204:1 The Scholiast adds the following lines:
"Be moderate in eating wet or dry,
And this thy hunger's need will satisfy.
Who eats with care, whose belly is not great,
Will be a holy hermit soon or late.
[291] Four or five mouthfuls,--then a drink is right;
Enough for any earnest eremite.
A careful moderate eater has small pain,
Slowly grows old, lives twice as long again."
And these:
"When sons bring meat to fathers in the wood,
Like ointment to the eye, ’tis very good.
Thus for bare life, with weariness forspent,
He nourished him upon such nourishment."
Next: No. 256. Jarudapāna-Jātaka
Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Tika-Nipata - Kundaka-Kucchi-Sindhava Jataka
Jataka Vol. II: Book III. Tika-Nipāta: No. 254. Kuṇḍaka-Kucchi-Sindhava-Jātaka
No. 254.
KUṆḌAKA-KUCCHI-SINDHAVA-JĀTAKA.
"Grass and the scum of gruel," etc.--This story the Master told at Jetavana
about the Elder Sāriputta.
It once fell out that the Buddha had been spending the rainy season in Sāvatthi,
and afterwards had been on alms-pilgrimage. On his return, the inhabitants
determined to welcome his home-coming and they made their gifts to the Buddha
and his following. They posted the clerk who used to sound the
p. 200
call for preaching, to distribute the Brethren amongst all comers, according to
the number they wished to provide for.
There was one poor old woman, who had prepared one portion. The Brethren were
assigned, some to this giver, some to that. At sunrise, the poor woman came to
the clerk, and said, "Give a Brother to me!" He answered, "I have already
distributed them all; but Elder Sāriputta is still in the monastery, and you may
give your portion to him." At this she was delighted, and waited by the gate of
Jetavana until the Elder came out. She gave him greeting, took his bowl from his
hand, and leading him to her house, offered him a seat.
Many pious families heard a rumour that some old woman had got Sāriputta to sit
down at her door. Amongst those who heard it was king Pasenadi the Kosala. He at
once sent her food of all sorts, together with a garment and a purse of a
thousand pieces, with the request, "Let her who is. entertaining the priest, put
on this robe, and spend this money, and thus entertain the Elder." As the king
did, so did Anātha-piṇḍika, [287] the younger Anātha-piṇḍika, the lay sister
Visākhā (a great lady),--all sent the same: other families sent one hundred, two
hundred or so, as their means allowed. Thus in a single day the old woman got as
much as a hundred thousand pieces of money.
Our Elder drank the broth which she gave him, and ate her food, and the rice
that she cooked; then he thanked her, and so edified her that she was converted.
Then he returned to the monastery.
In the Hall of Truth, the brethren discussed the Elder's goodness. "Friend, the
Captain of the Faith has rescued an old housewife from poverty. He has been her
mainstay. The food she offered he did not disdain to eat."
The Master entered, and asked what they were talking of now as they sat
together. They told him. And he said, "This is not the first time, Brethren,
that Sāriputta has been the refuge of this old woman; nor the first time he did
not disdain to eat the food she offered. He did the same before." And he told an
old-world tale.
_____________________________
It happened once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, that the
Bodhisatta was born into a trader's family in the Northern province. Five
hundred people of that country, horse-dealers, used to convey horses to Benares,
and sell them there.
Now a certain dealer took the road to Benares with five hundred horses for sale.
On this road, not far off Benares, there is a town, where had formerly lived a
rich merchant. A vast dwelling once was his; but his family had gradually gone
down in the world, and only one old woman was left, who lived in the family
house. The dealer took up his lodging for a certain hire in that house, and kept
his horses hard by.
On that very day, as luck would have it, a thoroughbred mare of his foaled. He
tarried two or three days, and then taking his horses with him went off to visit
the king. Thereat the old woman asked him for the hire of the house.
"All right, mother, I'll pay you," said he. [288]
"When you pay me, my son," she said then, "give me this foal, and deduct its
value from the hire." The dealer did as she asked and went his way. The woman
loved the foal like a son; and she fed him upon parched rice drippings, on
broken meats, and grass.
Some time after, the Bodhisatta, on his way with five hundred horses,
p. 201
took lodging in this house. But the horses scented this highbred foal, that fed
on red rice-powder, and not one of them would enter the place. Then said the
Bodhisatta to the dame,
"There seems to be some horse in the place, mother?"
"Oh, my son, the only horse there is a young foal which I keep here as tenderly
as it were my son!"
"Where is he, mother?"
"Gone out to graze."
"When will he return?"
"Oh, he'll soon come back."
The Bodhisatta kept the horses without, and sat down to wait until the
foal should come in; and soon the foal returned from his walk. When he set eyes
on the fine foal with his belly full of rice powder, the Bodhisatta noted his
marks, and thought he, "This is a priceless thoroughbred; I must buy him of the
old woman."
By this time the foal had entered the house and gone to his own stable. At once
all the horses were able to go in too.
There abode the Bodhisatta for a few days, and attended to his horses. Then as
he made to go, "Mother," said he to the old woman, "let me buy this foal of
you."
"What are you saying! one mustn't sell one's own foster child!"
"What do you give him to eat, mother?"
"Rice boiled, and rice gruel, and parched rice; broken meats and grass; and
rice-broth to drink."
"Well, mother, if I get him, I'll feed him on the daintiest of fare; [289] when
he stands, he shall have a cloth awning spread over him; I will give him a
carpet to stand on."
"Will you, my son? Then take this child of mine, and go, and may he be happy!"
And the Bodhisatta paid a separate price for the foal's four feet, for his tail
and for his head; six purses of a thousand pieces of money he laid down, one
for' each; and he caused the dame to robe herself in a new dress, and decked her
with ornaments, and set her in front of the foal. And the foal opened his eyes,
and looked upon his mother, and shed tears. She stroked his back, and said, "I
have received the recompense for what I have done for thee: go, my son!" and
then he departed.
Next day the Bodhisatta thought he would make trial of the foal, whether he knew
his own power or no. So after preparing common food, he caused red rice gruel to
be poured out, presented to him in a bucket. But this he could not swallow; and
refused to touch any such food. Then the Bodhisatta to test him, uttered the
first verse:
"Grass and the scum of gruel you thought good
In former times: why don't you eat your food?"
p. 202
On hearing which, the Foal answered with the two other couplets following:--
"When people do not know one's birth and breed,
Rice-scum is good enough to serve one's need.
"But I am chief of steeds, as you are ware;
Therefore from you I will not take this fare."
[290] Then answered the Bodhisatta, "I did this to try you; do not be angry";
and he cooked the fine food and offered it to him. When he came to the king's
courtyard, he set the five hundred horses on one side, and on the other an
embroidered awning, under which he laid a carpet, with a canopy of stuff over
it; and here he lodged the foal.
The king coming to inspect the horses asked why this horse was housed apart.
"O king," was the reply, "if this horse be not kept apart, he will let loose
these others."
"Is he a beautiful horse?" the king asked.
"Yes, O king."
"Then let me see his paces."
The owner caparisoned him, and mounted on his back. Then he cleared the
courtyard of men, and rode the horse about in it. The whole place appeared to be
encircled with lines of horses, without a break!
Then said the Bodhisatta, "See my horse's speed, O king!" and let him have his
head. Not a man could see him at all! Then he fastened a red leaf upon the
horse's flank; and they saw just the leaf. And then he rode him over the surface
of a pond in a certain garden of the city. Over he went, and not even the tips
of his hoofs were wet. Again, he galloped over lotus leaves, [291] without even
pushing one of them under water.
When his master had thus showed off the steed's magnificent paces, he
dismounted, clapped his hands, and held out one, palm upwards. The horse got
upon it, and stood on the palm of his master's hand, with his four feet close
together. And the Bodhisatta said, "O mighty king! not even the whole circle of
the ocean would be space enough for this horse to show off all his skill." The
king was so pleased that he gave him the half of his kingdom: the horse he
installed as his horse of state, sprinkling him with ceremonial water. Dear was
he and precious to the king, and great honour was done him; and his dwelling
place was made like the chamber where the king dwelt, all beautiful: the floor
was sprinkled with all the four manners of perfumes, the walls were hung with
wreaths of flowers and frequent garlands; up in the roof was an awning of cloth
spangled with golden stars; it was all like a lovely pavilion round about. A
lamp of scented oil burnt always; and in the retiring closet was set a golden
jar. His food was always fit for a king. And after he came there,
p. 203
the lordship over all India came into this king's hand. And the king did good
deeds and almsgiving according to the Bodhisatta's admonition, and became
destined for paradise.
_____________________________
When the Master had ended this discourse, he declared the Truths, and identified
the Birth: (now at the conclusion of the Truths many entered the First Path, or
the Second, or the Third:) "At that time the old woman was the same, Sāriputta
was the thoroughbred, Ānanda was the king, and the horsedealer was I myself."
Next: No. 255. Suka-Jātaka
No. 254.
KUṆḌAKA-KUCCHI-SINDHAVA-JĀTAKA.
"Grass and the scum of gruel," etc.--This story the Master told at Jetavana
about the Elder Sāriputta.
It once fell out that the Buddha had been spending the rainy season in Sāvatthi,
and afterwards had been on alms-pilgrimage. On his return, the inhabitants
determined to welcome his home-coming and they made their gifts to the Buddha
and his following. They posted the clerk who used to sound the
p. 200
call for preaching, to distribute the Brethren amongst all comers, according to
the number they wished to provide for.
There was one poor old woman, who had prepared one portion. The Brethren were
assigned, some to this giver, some to that. At sunrise, the poor woman came to
the clerk, and said, "Give a Brother to me!" He answered, "I have already
distributed them all; but Elder Sāriputta is still in the monastery, and you may
give your portion to him." At this she was delighted, and waited by the gate of
Jetavana until the Elder came out. She gave him greeting, took his bowl from his
hand, and leading him to her house, offered him a seat.
Many pious families heard a rumour that some old woman had got Sāriputta to sit
down at her door. Amongst those who heard it was king Pasenadi the Kosala. He at
once sent her food of all sorts, together with a garment and a purse of a
thousand pieces, with the request, "Let her who is. entertaining the priest, put
on this robe, and spend this money, and thus entertain the Elder." As the king
did, so did Anātha-piṇḍika, [287] the younger Anātha-piṇḍika, the lay sister
Visākhā (a great lady),--all sent the same: other families sent one hundred, two
hundred or so, as their means allowed. Thus in a single day the old woman got as
much as a hundred thousand pieces of money.
Our Elder drank the broth which she gave him, and ate her food, and the rice
that she cooked; then he thanked her, and so edified her that she was converted.
Then he returned to the monastery.
In the Hall of Truth, the brethren discussed the Elder's goodness. "Friend, the
Captain of the Faith has rescued an old housewife from poverty. He has been her
mainstay. The food she offered he did not disdain to eat."
The Master entered, and asked what they were talking of now as they sat
together. They told him. And he said, "This is not the first time, Brethren,
that Sāriputta has been the refuge of this old woman; nor the first time he did
not disdain to eat the food she offered. He did the same before." And he told an
old-world tale.
_____________________________
It happened once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, that the
Bodhisatta was born into a trader's family in the Northern province. Five
hundred people of that country, horse-dealers, used to convey horses to Benares,
and sell them there.
Now a certain dealer took the road to Benares with five hundred horses for sale.
On this road, not far off Benares, there is a town, where had formerly lived a
rich merchant. A vast dwelling once was his; but his family had gradually gone
down in the world, and only one old woman was left, who lived in the family
house. The dealer took up his lodging for a certain hire in that house, and kept
his horses hard by.
On that very day, as luck would have it, a thoroughbred mare of his foaled. He
tarried two or three days, and then taking his horses with him went off to visit
the king. Thereat the old woman asked him for the hire of the house.
"All right, mother, I'll pay you," said he. [288]
"When you pay me, my son," she said then, "give me this foal, and deduct its
value from the hire." The dealer did as she asked and went his way. The woman
loved the foal like a son; and she fed him upon parched rice drippings, on
broken meats, and grass.
Some time after, the Bodhisatta, on his way with five hundred horses,
p. 201
took lodging in this house. But the horses scented this highbred foal, that fed
on red rice-powder, and not one of them would enter the place. Then said the
Bodhisatta to the dame,
"There seems to be some horse in the place, mother?"
"Oh, my son, the only horse there is a young foal which I keep here as tenderly
as it were my son!"
"Where is he, mother?"
"Gone out to graze."
"When will he return?"
"Oh, he'll soon come back."
The Bodhisatta kept the horses without, and sat down to wait until the
foal should come in; and soon the foal returned from his walk. When he set eyes
on the fine foal with his belly full of rice powder, the Bodhisatta noted his
marks, and thought he, "This is a priceless thoroughbred; I must buy him of the
old woman."
By this time the foal had entered the house and gone to his own stable. At once
all the horses were able to go in too.
There abode the Bodhisatta for a few days, and attended to his horses. Then as
he made to go, "Mother," said he to the old woman, "let me buy this foal of
you."
"What are you saying! one mustn't sell one's own foster child!"
"What do you give him to eat, mother?"
"Rice boiled, and rice gruel, and parched rice; broken meats and grass; and
rice-broth to drink."
"Well, mother, if I get him, I'll feed him on the daintiest of fare; [289] when
he stands, he shall have a cloth awning spread over him; I will give him a
carpet to stand on."
"Will you, my son? Then take this child of mine, and go, and may he be happy!"
And the Bodhisatta paid a separate price for the foal's four feet, for his tail
and for his head; six purses of a thousand pieces of money he laid down, one
for' each; and he caused the dame to robe herself in a new dress, and decked her
with ornaments, and set her in front of the foal. And the foal opened his eyes,
and looked upon his mother, and shed tears. She stroked his back, and said, "I
have received the recompense for what I have done for thee: go, my son!" and
then he departed.
Next day the Bodhisatta thought he would make trial of the foal, whether he knew
his own power or no. So after preparing common food, he caused red rice gruel to
be poured out, presented to him in a bucket. But this he could not swallow; and
refused to touch any such food. Then the Bodhisatta to test him, uttered the
first verse:
"Grass and the scum of gruel you thought good
In former times: why don't you eat your food?"
p. 202
On hearing which, the Foal answered with the two other couplets following:--
"When people do not know one's birth and breed,
Rice-scum is good enough to serve one's need.
"But I am chief of steeds, as you are ware;
Therefore from you I will not take this fare."
[290] Then answered the Bodhisatta, "I did this to try you; do not be angry";
and he cooked the fine food and offered it to him. When he came to the king's
courtyard, he set the five hundred horses on one side, and on the other an
embroidered awning, under which he laid a carpet, with a canopy of stuff over
it; and here he lodged the foal.
The king coming to inspect the horses asked why this horse was housed apart.
"O king," was the reply, "if this horse be not kept apart, he will let loose
these others."
"Is he a beautiful horse?" the king asked.
"Yes, O king."
"Then let me see his paces."
The owner caparisoned him, and mounted on his back. Then he cleared the
courtyard of men, and rode the horse about in it. The whole place appeared to be
encircled with lines of horses, without a break!
Then said the Bodhisatta, "See my horse's speed, O king!" and let him have his
head. Not a man could see him at all! Then he fastened a red leaf upon the
horse's flank; and they saw just the leaf. And then he rode him over the surface
of a pond in a certain garden of the city. Over he went, and not even the tips
of his hoofs were wet. Again, he galloped over lotus leaves, [291] without even
pushing one of them under water.
When his master had thus showed off the steed's magnificent paces, he
dismounted, clapped his hands, and held out one, palm upwards. The horse got
upon it, and stood on the palm of his master's hand, with his four feet close
together. And the Bodhisatta said, "O mighty king! not even the whole circle of
the ocean would be space enough for this horse to show off all his skill." The
king was so pleased that he gave him the half of his kingdom: the horse he
installed as his horse of state, sprinkling him with ceremonial water. Dear was
he and precious to the king, and great honour was done him; and his dwelling
place was made like the chamber where the king dwelt, all beautiful: the floor
was sprinkled with all the four manners of perfumes, the walls were hung with
wreaths of flowers and frequent garlands; up in the roof was an awning of cloth
spangled with golden stars; it was all like a lovely pavilion round about. A
lamp of scented oil burnt always; and in the retiring closet was set a golden
jar. His food was always fit for a king. And after he came there,
p. 203
the lordship over all India came into this king's hand. And the king did good
deeds and almsgiving according to the Bodhisatta's admonition, and became
destined for paradise.
_____________________________
When the Master had ended this discourse, he declared the Truths, and identified
the Birth: (now at the conclusion of the Truths many entered the First Path, or
the Second, or the Third:) "At that time the old woman was the same, Sāriputta
was the thoroughbred, Ānanda was the king, and the horsedealer was I myself."
Next: No. 255. Suka-Jātaka
Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Tika-Nipata - Mani-Kantha Jataka
Jataka Vol. II: Book III. Tika-Nipāta: No. 253. Mani-Kantha Jataka
p. 197
No. 253.
MAṆI-KAṆṬHA-JĀTAKA 1.
"Rich food and drink," etc.--This story the Master told while he was dwelling at
the shrine of Aggālava, near Ālavī, about the rules for building cells.
Some Brethren who lived in Ālavī 2 were begging 3 from all quarters the
materials for houses which they were getting made for themselves. They were for
ever dinning and dunning; "Give us a man, give us somebody to do servant's
work," and so forth. Everybody was annoyed at this begging and solicitation. So
much annoyed were they, that at sight of these Brethren they were startled and
scared away.
It happened that the reverend father Mahākassapa entered Ālavī, and traversed
the place in quest of alms. The people, as soon as they saw the Elder, ran away
as before 4. After mealtime, having returned from his rounds, he summoned the
brethren, and thus addressed them: "Once Ālavī was a capital place for alms; why
is it so poor now?" They told him the reason.
Now the Blessed One was at the time dwelling at the Aggālava shrine. To the
Blessed One came the Elder, and told him all about it. The Master convened the
Brethren touching this matter. [283] "I hear," said he, "that you are building
houses and worrying everybody for help. Is this true?" They said it was. Then
the Master rebuked them, adding these words: "Even in the serpent world,
Brethren, full as it is of the seven precious stones, this kind of begging is
distasteful to the serpents. How much more to men, from whom it is as hard to
get a rupee as it is to skin a flint!" and he told an old-world tale.
_____________________________
Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta reigned in Benares, the Bodhisatta was born
as a rich brahmin's son. When he was old enough to run about, his mother gave
birth to another wise being. Both the brothers, when they grew up, were so
deeply pained at their parents' death, that they became anchorites, and dwelt in
leaf-huts which they made them at a bend of the Ganges river. The elder had his
lodge by the upper Ganges, and the younger by the lower river.
One day, a Serpent-King (his name was Maṇikaṇṭha, or Jewel-throat) left his
dwelling-place, and taking the shape of a man, walked along the river bank until
he came to the younger brother's hermitage. He greeted
p. 198
the owner, and sat down at one side. They conversed pleasantly together; and
such friends did they become, that there was no living apart for them. Often and
often came Jewel-throat to visit the younger recluse, and sat talking and
chatting; and when he left, so much did he love the man, he put off his shape,
and encircled the ascetic with snake's folds, and embraced him, with his great
hood upon his head; there he lay a little, till his affection was satisfied;
then he let go his friend's body, and bidding him farewell, returned to his own
place. For fear of him, the hermit grew thin; he became squalid, lost his
colour, grew yellower and yellower, and the veins stood out upon his skin.
It happened one day that he paid a visit to his brother. "Why, brother," said
he, "what makes you thin? how did you lose your colour? why are you so yellow,
and why do your veins stand out like this upon your skin?"
The other told him all about it.
"Come tell me," said the first, "do you like him to come or not?" [284]. "No, I
don't."
"Well, what ornament does the Serpent-King wear when he visits you?"
"A precious jewel!"
"Very well. When he comes again, before he has time to sit down, ask him to give
you the jewel. Then he will depart without embracing you in his snaky folds.
Next day stand at your door, and ask him for it there; and on the third ask him
just as he emerges from the river. He will never visit you again."
The younger promised so to do, and returned to his hut. On the morrow, when the
Serpent had come, as he stood there the hermit cried, "Give me your beautiful
jewel!" The Serpent hurried away without sitting down. On the day following, the
hermit stolid at his door, and called out as the Serpent came--"You would not
give me your jewel yesterday! now to-day you must!" And the Serpent slipt off
without entering the hut. On the third day, the man called out just as the
Serpent was emerging from the water--"This is the third day that I have asked
you for it: come, give this jewel to me!" And the Serpent, speaking from his
place in the water, refused, in the words of these two stanzas:
"Rich food and drink in plenty I can have
By means of this fine jewel which you crave:
You ask too much; the gem I will not give;
Nor visit you again while I shall live.
"Like lads who wait with tempered sword in hand,
You scare me as my jewel you demand,
You ask too much--the gem I will not give,
Nor ever visit you while I shall live!"
p. 199
[285] With these words, the King of the Serpents plunged beneath the water, and
went to his own place, never to return.
Then the ascetic, not seeing his beautiful Serpent-King again, became thinner
and thinner still; he grew more squalid, lost his colour worse than before, and
grew more yellow, and the veins rose thicker on his skin!
The elder brother thought he would go and see how his brother was getting on. He
paid him a visit, and found him yellower than he had been before.
"Why, how is this? worse than ever!" said he.
His brother replied, "It is because I never see the lovely King of Serpents!"
"This hermit," said the elder, on hearing his answer, "cannot live without his
Serpent-King; "and he repeated the third verse:--
"Importune not a man whose love you prize,
For begging makes you hateful in his eyes.
The brahmin begged the Serpent's gem so sore
He disappeared and never cane back more."
Then he counselled his brother not to grieve, and with this consolation, left
him and returned to his own hermitage. And after that [286] the two brothers
cultivated the Faculties and the Attainments, and became destined for the heaven
of Brahma.
_____________________________
The Master added, "Thus, Brethren, even in the world of serpents, where are the
seven precious stones in plenty, begging is disliked by the serpents: how much
more by men!" And, after teaching them this lesson, he identified the
Birth:--"At that time, Ānanda was the younger brother, but the elder was I
myself."
Footnotes
197:1 I think this Jātaka is represented on the Stupa of Bharhut. In pl. XLII. 1
we see a man sitting before a hut, apparently conversing with a great
five-headed cobra. The story is also told in the Vinaya Piṭaka, Suttavibhaṅga,
VI. 1. 3.
197:2 The introductory story occurs in the Vinaya, Suttavibhaṅga, Saṁghūdisesa,
vi. 1. The sin was importunity.
197:3 Reading saṁyācikāya (as in Suttavibhaṅga).
197:4 Reading patipajjīsu.
Next: No. 254. Kuṇḍaka-Kucchi-Sindhava-Jātaka
p. 197
No. 253.
MAṆI-KAṆṬHA-JĀTAKA 1.
"Rich food and drink," etc.--This story the Master told while he was dwelling at
the shrine of Aggālava, near Ālavī, about the rules for building cells.
Some Brethren who lived in Ālavī 2 were begging 3 from all quarters the
materials for houses which they were getting made for themselves. They were for
ever dinning and dunning; "Give us a man, give us somebody to do servant's
work," and so forth. Everybody was annoyed at this begging and solicitation. So
much annoyed were they, that at sight of these Brethren they were startled and
scared away.
It happened that the reverend father Mahākassapa entered Ālavī, and traversed
the place in quest of alms. The people, as soon as they saw the Elder, ran away
as before 4. After mealtime, having returned from his rounds, he summoned the
brethren, and thus addressed them: "Once Ālavī was a capital place for alms; why
is it so poor now?" They told him the reason.
Now the Blessed One was at the time dwelling at the Aggālava shrine. To the
Blessed One came the Elder, and told him all about it. The Master convened the
Brethren touching this matter. [283] "I hear," said he, "that you are building
houses and worrying everybody for help. Is this true?" They said it was. Then
the Master rebuked them, adding these words: "Even in the serpent world,
Brethren, full as it is of the seven precious stones, this kind of begging is
distasteful to the serpents. How much more to men, from whom it is as hard to
get a rupee as it is to skin a flint!" and he told an old-world tale.
_____________________________
Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta reigned in Benares, the Bodhisatta was born
as a rich brahmin's son. When he was old enough to run about, his mother gave
birth to another wise being. Both the brothers, when they grew up, were so
deeply pained at their parents' death, that they became anchorites, and dwelt in
leaf-huts which they made them at a bend of the Ganges river. The elder had his
lodge by the upper Ganges, and the younger by the lower river.
One day, a Serpent-King (his name was Maṇikaṇṭha, or Jewel-throat) left his
dwelling-place, and taking the shape of a man, walked along the river bank until
he came to the younger brother's hermitage. He greeted
p. 198
the owner, and sat down at one side. They conversed pleasantly together; and
such friends did they become, that there was no living apart for them. Often and
often came Jewel-throat to visit the younger recluse, and sat talking and
chatting; and when he left, so much did he love the man, he put off his shape,
and encircled the ascetic with snake's folds, and embraced him, with his great
hood upon his head; there he lay a little, till his affection was satisfied;
then he let go his friend's body, and bidding him farewell, returned to his own
place. For fear of him, the hermit grew thin; he became squalid, lost his
colour, grew yellower and yellower, and the veins stood out upon his skin.
It happened one day that he paid a visit to his brother. "Why, brother," said
he, "what makes you thin? how did you lose your colour? why are you so yellow,
and why do your veins stand out like this upon your skin?"
The other told him all about it.
"Come tell me," said the first, "do you like him to come or not?" [284]. "No, I
don't."
"Well, what ornament does the Serpent-King wear when he visits you?"
"A precious jewel!"
"Very well. When he comes again, before he has time to sit down, ask him to give
you the jewel. Then he will depart without embracing you in his snaky folds.
Next day stand at your door, and ask him for it there; and on the third ask him
just as he emerges from the river. He will never visit you again."
The younger promised so to do, and returned to his hut. On the morrow, when the
Serpent had come, as he stood there the hermit cried, "Give me your beautiful
jewel!" The Serpent hurried away without sitting down. On the day following, the
hermit stolid at his door, and called out as the Serpent came--"You would not
give me your jewel yesterday! now to-day you must!" And the Serpent slipt off
without entering the hut. On the third day, the man called out just as the
Serpent was emerging from the water--"This is the third day that I have asked
you for it: come, give this jewel to me!" And the Serpent, speaking from his
place in the water, refused, in the words of these two stanzas:
"Rich food and drink in plenty I can have
By means of this fine jewel which you crave:
You ask too much; the gem I will not give;
Nor visit you again while I shall live.
"Like lads who wait with tempered sword in hand,
You scare me as my jewel you demand,
You ask too much--the gem I will not give,
Nor ever visit you while I shall live!"
p. 199
[285] With these words, the King of the Serpents plunged beneath the water, and
went to his own place, never to return.
Then the ascetic, not seeing his beautiful Serpent-King again, became thinner
and thinner still; he grew more squalid, lost his colour worse than before, and
grew more yellow, and the veins rose thicker on his skin!
The elder brother thought he would go and see how his brother was getting on. He
paid him a visit, and found him yellower than he had been before.
"Why, how is this? worse than ever!" said he.
His brother replied, "It is because I never see the lovely King of Serpents!"
"This hermit," said the elder, on hearing his answer, "cannot live without his
Serpent-King; "and he repeated the third verse:--
"Importune not a man whose love you prize,
For begging makes you hateful in his eyes.
The brahmin begged the Serpent's gem so sore
He disappeared and never cane back more."
Then he counselled his brother not to grieve, and with this consolation, left
him and returned to his own hermitage. And after that [286] the two brothers
cultivated the Faculties and the Attainments, and became destined for the heaven
of Brahma.
_____________________________
The Master added, "Thus, Brethren, even in the world of serpents, where are the
seven precious stones in plenty, begging is disliked by the serpents: how much
more by men!" And, after teaching them this lesson, he identified the
Birth:--"At that time, Ānanda was the younger brother, but the elder was I
myself."
Footnotes
197:1 I think this Jātaka is represented on the Stupa of Bharhut. In pl. XLII. 1
we see a man sitting before a hut, apparently conversing with a great
five-headed cobra. The story is also told in the Vinaya Piṭaka, Suttavibhaṅga,
VI. 1. 3.
197:2 The introductory story occurs in the Vinaya, Suttavibhaṅga, Saṁghūdisesa,
vi. 1. The sin was importunity.
197:3 Reading saṁyācikāya (as in Suttavibhaṅga).
197:4 Reading patipajjīsu.
Next: No. 254. Kuṇḍaka-Kucchi-Sindhava-Jātaka
Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Tika-Nipata - Tila Mutthi Jataka
Jataka Vol. II: Book III. Tika-Nipāta: No. 252. Tila-Muṭṭhi-Jātaka
No. 252.
TILA-MUṬṬHI-JĀTAKA.
"Now I bethink me," etc.--This story the Master told in Jetavana, about a
passionate man. We learn that there was a Brother who was full of bitterness. No
matter how little was said to him, he fell in a rage and spoke roughly; showing
wrath, hatred, and mistrust. In the Hall of Truth the Brethren discussed the
matter. "Friend, how angry and bitter is Brother So-and-so! He goes snapping
about for all the world like salt in the fire. Though he has adopted this
peaceful religion, yet he cannot even restrain his anger." The Master heard this
and sent a brother to fetch the man in question. "Are you really as passionate
as they say?" he asked. The man said he was. Then the Master added, "This is not
the first time, Brethren, that this man has been passionate. He was just the
sane before;" and he told them an old-world tale.
_____________________________
Once on a time, Brahmadatta the king of Benares had a son named Prince
Brahmadatta. Now kings of former times, though there might be a famous teacher
living in their own city, often used to send their sons to foreign countries
afar off to complete their education, that by this means they might learn to
quell their pride and highmindedness, and endure heat or cold, and be made
acquainted with the ways of the world. So did this king. Calling his boy to
him--now the lad was sixteen years old--he gave him one-soled sandals, a
sunshade of leaves, and a thousand pieces of money, with these words:
"My son, get you to Takkasilā, and study there."
[278] The boy obeyed. He bade his parents farewell, and in due course arrived at
Takkasilā. There he enquired for the teacher's dwelling, and reached it at the
time when the teacher had finished his lecture, and
p. 194
was walking up and down at the door of the house. When the lad set eyes upon the
teacher, he loosed his shoes, closed his sunshade, and with a respectful
greeting stood still where he was. The teacher saw that he was weary, and
welcomed the new-corner. The lad ate, and rested a little. Then he returned to
the teacher, and stood respectfully by him.
"Where have you come from?" he asked.
"From Benares."
"Whose son are you?"
"I am the son of the king of Benares."
"What brings you here?"
"I come to learn," replied the lad.
"Well, have you brought a teacher's fee? or do you wish to attend on me in
return for teaching you?"
"I have brought a fee with me:" and with this he laid at the teacher's feet his
purse of a thousand pieces.
The resident pupils attend on their teacher by day, and at night they learn of
him: but they who bring a fee are treated like the eldest sons in his house, and
thus they learn. And this teacher, like the rest, gave schooling to the prince
on every light and lucky day 1. Thus the young prince was taught.
Now one day, he went to bathe along with his teacher. There was an old woman,
who had prepared some white seeds, and strewed them out before her: there she
sat, watching them. The youth looked upon these white seeds, and desired to eat;
he picked up a handful, and ate them.
"Yon fellow must be hungry," thought she; but she said nothing, and sat silent.
Next day the same thing happened at the same time. Again the woman said nothing
to him. On the third day, he did it again; then the old dame cried out, saying,
"The great Teacher is letting his pupils rob me!" and uplifting her arms she
raised a lamentation.
The Teacher turned back. [279] "What is it, mother?" he asked.
"Master, I have been parching some seeds, and your pupil took a handful and ate
them! This he has done to-day, he did it yesterday, and he did it the day
before! Surely he will eat me out of house and home!"
"Don't cry, mother: I will see that you are paid."
"Oh, I want no payment, master: only teach your pupil not to do it again."
"See here, then, mother," said he; and he caused two lads to take the
p. 195
young fellow by his two hands, and smote him thrice upon the back with a bamboo
stick, bidding him take care not to do it again.
The prince was very angry with his teacher. With a bloodshot glare, he eyed him
from his head to foot. The teacher observed how angry he was, and how he eyed
him.
The youth applied himself to his work, and finished his courses. But the offence
he hid away in his heart, and determined to murder his teacher. When the time
came for him to go away, he said to him,
"O my Teacher, when I receive the kingdom of Benares, I will send for you. Then
come to me, I pray." And so he exacted a promise most affectionately.
He returned to Benares, and visited his parents, and showed proof of what he had
learnt. Said the king, "I have lived to see my son again, and while I yet live,
I will see the magnificence of his rule." So he made his son king in his stead.
When the prince enjoyed the splendour of royalty, he remembered his grudge, and
anger rose within him. "I will be the death of that fellow!" he thought, and
sent off a messenger to fetch his teacher.
"I shall never be able to appease him while he is young," thought the teacher;
so he came not. But when the prince's time of rule was half over, he thought he
could appease him then; and he came, and stood at the king's door, and sent to
say that the teacher from Takkasilā had arrived. The king was glad, and caused
the brahmin to be led in. Then his anger rose, and his eyes grew bloodshot. He
beckoned to those about him. "Ha, the place which my teacher struck still hurts
me to-day! He has come here with death written upon his forehead, [280] to die!
To-day his life must end!" and he repeated the first two verses:--
"Now I bethink me, for a few poor seeds, in days of yore,
You seized me by the arm, and beat me with a stick full sore.
Brahmin, are you in love with death, and do you nothing fear
For seizing me and beating me, that now you venture here?"
Thus he threatened him with death. As he heard, the teacher uttered the third
verse:
"The gently born 1 who uses blows ungentleness to quell--
This is right discipline, not wrath: the wise all know it well."
p. 196
"And so, great king, understand this yourself. Know that this is no just cause
for anger. Indeed, if you had not been taught this lesson by me, you would have
gone on taking cakes and sweets, fruit, and the like, until you became covetous
through these acts of theft; then by degrees you would have been lured on to
house-breaking, highway robbery, and murder about the villages; the end would
have been, that you would have been taken red-handed and haled before the king
for a public enemy and a robber; and you would have come in fear of public
punishment, when the king should say, 'Take this man, and punish him according
to his crimes.' Whence could have come all this prosperity which you now enjoy?
Is it not through me that you have attained to such magnificence?"
Thus did his teacher talk over the king. [282] And the courtiers, who stood
round, said when they heard his speech, "Of a truth, my lord, all your
magnificence really belongs to your teacher!"
At once the king recognised the goodness of his teacher, and said to him,
"All my power I give to you, my teacher! receive the kingdom!" But the other
refused, saying, "No, my lord king; I have no wish for the kingdom."
And the king sent to Takkasilā for the teacher's wife and family; he gave them
great power, and made him the royal priest; he treated him like a father, and
obeyed his admonitions; and after bestowing gifts and doing good deeds he became
destined for paradise.
_____________________________
When the Master had ended this discourse, he declared the Truths:--at the
conclusion of the Truths the passionate brother attained the Fruit of the Third
Path, and many others entered on the First, or Second, or Third:--"At that time
the passionate Brother was the king; but the Teacher was I myself."
Footnotes
194:1 There are four nakkhattas called laku, 'light'; there is another reading
subhanakkhattena, 'every fair day'. The meaning is by no means clear.
195:1 The Scholiast explains what 'gentle breeding' means. It may be used of
conduct, both in men and animals; as--
"’Tis gentle to respect old age, red Goose:
Go where you will: I set your husband loose:"
p. 196 or of form, 'noble,' 'thoroughbred': as--[281]
"Your mien shows breeding, and your clear calm eye:
You must have left some noble family.
What made you wish to leave your home and wealth
To be an anchorite for your soul's health?"
and adds yet this other:
"Clad in a semblance of fair piety
But all deceitful, boldly forth leapt he,
A babbler of vain sayings, mean and base,
Intemperate, the ruin of his race."
(The last four line; occur in Sutta Nipāta, verse 89.)
Next: No. 253. Maṇi-Kaṇṭha-Jātaka
No. 252.
TILA-MUṬṬHI-JĀTAKA.
"Now I bethink me," etc.--This story the Master told in Jetavana, about a
passionate man. We learn that there was a Brother who was full of bitterness. No
matter how little was said to him, he fell in a rage and spoke roughly; showing
wrath, hatred, and mistrust. In the Hall of Truth the Brethren discussed the
matter. "Friend, how angry and bitter is Brother So-and-so! He goes snapping
about for all the world like salt in the fire. Though he has adopted this
peaceful religion, yet he cannot even restrain his anger." The Master heard this
and sent a brother to fetch the man in question. "Are you really as passionate
as they say?" he asked. The man said he was. Then the Master added, "This is not
the first time, Brethren, that this man has been passionate. He was just the
sane before;" and he told them an old-world tale.
_____________________________
Once on a time, Brahmadatta the king of Benares had a son named Prince
Brahmadatta. Now kings of former times, though there might be a famous teacher
living in their own city, often used to send their sons to foreign countries
afar off to complete their education, that by this means they might learn to
quell their pride and highmindedness, and endure heat or cold, and be made
acquainted with the ways of the world. So did this king. Calling his boy to
him--now the lad was sixteen years old--he gave him one-soled sandals, a
sunshade of leaves, and a thousand pieces of money, with these words:
"My son, get you to Takkasilā, and study there."
[278] The boy obeyed. He bade his parents farewell, and in due course arrived at
Takkasilā. There he enquired for the teacher's dwelling, and reached it at the
time when the teacher had finished his lecture, and
p. 194
was walking up and down at the door of the house. When the lad set eyes upon the
teacher, he loosed his shoes, closed his sunshade, and with a respectful
greeting stood still where he was. The teacher saw that he was weary, and
welcomed the new-corner. The lad ate, and rested a little. Then he returned to
the teacher, and stood respectfully by him.
"Where have you come from?" he asked.
"From Benares."
"Whose son are you?"
"I am the son of the king of Benares."
"What brings you here?"
"I come to learn," replied the lad.
"Well, have you brought a teacher's fee? or do you wish to attend on me in
return for teaching you?"
"I have brought a fee with me:" and with this he laid at the teacher's feet his
purse of a thousand pieces.
The resident pupils attend on their teacher by day, and at night they learn of
him: but they who bring a fee are treated like the eldest sons in his house, and
thus they learn. And this teacher, like the rest, gave schooling to the prince
on every light and lucky day 1. Thus the young prince was taught.
Now one day, he went to bathe along with his teacher. There was an old woman,
who had prepared some white seeds, and strewed them out before her: there she
sat, watching them. The youth looked upon these white seeds, and desired to eat;
he picked up a handful, and ate them.
"Yon fellow must be hungry," thought she; but she said nothing, and sat silent.
Next day the same thing happened at the same time. Again the woman said nothing
to him. On the third day, he did it again; then the old dame cried out, saying,
"The great Teacher is letting his pupils rob me!" and uplifting her arms she
raised a lamentation.
The Teacher turned back. [279] "What is it, mother?" he asked.
"Master, I have been parching some seeds, and your pupil took a handful and ate
them! This he has done to-day, he did it yesterday, and he did it the day
before! Surely he will eat me out of house and home!"
"Don't cry, mother: I will see that you are paid."
"Oh, I want no payment, master: only teach your pupil not to do it again."
"See here, then, mother," said he; and he caused two lads to take the
p. 195
young fellow by his two hands, and smote him thrice upon the back with a bamboo
stick, bidding him take care not to do it again.
The prince was very angry with his teacher. With a bloodshot glare, he eyed him
from his head to foot. The teacher observed how angry he was, and how he eyed
him.
The youth applied himself to his work, and finished his courses. But the offence
he hid away in his heart, and determined to murder his teacher. When the time
came for him to go away, he said to him,
"O my Teacher, when I receive the kingdom of Benares, I will send for you. Then
come to me, I pray." And so he exacted a promise most affectionately.
He returned to Benares, and visited his parents, and showed proof of what he had
learnt. Said the king, "I have lived to see my son again, and while I yet live,
I will see the magnificence of his rule." So he made his son king in his stead.
When the prince enjoyed the splendour of royalty, he remembered his grudge, and
anger rose within him. "I will be the death of that fellow!" he thought, and
sent off a messenger to fetch his teacher.
"I shall never be able to appease him while he is young," thought the teacher;
so he came not. But when the prince's time of rule was half over, he thought he
could appease him then; and he came, and stood at the king's door, and sent to
say that the teacher from Takkasilā had arrived. The king was glad, and caused
the brahmin to be led in. Then his anger rose, and his eyes grew bloodshot. He
beckoned to those about him. "Ha, the place which my teacher struck still hurts
me to-day! He has come here with death written upon his forehead, [280] to die!
To-day his life must end!" and he repeated the first two verses:--
"Now I bethink me, for a few poor seeds, in days of yore,
You seized me by the arm, and beat me with a stick full sore.
Brahmin, are you in love with death, and do you nothing fear
For seizing me and beating me, that now you venture here?"
Thus he threatened him with death. As he heard, the teacher uttered the third
verse:
"The gently born 1 who uses blows ungentleness to quell--
This is right discipline, not wrath: the wise all know it well."
p. 196
"And so, great king, understand this yourself. Know that this is no just cause
for anger. Indeed, if you had not been taught this lesson by me, you would have
gone on taking cakes and sweets, fruit, and the like, until you became covetous
through these acts of theft; then by degrees you would have been lured on to
house-breaking, highway robbery, and murder about the villages; the end would
have been, that you would have been taken red-handed and haled before the king
for a public enemy and a robber; and you would have come in fear of public
punishment, when the king should say, 'Take this man, and punish him according
to his crimes.' Whence could have come all this prosperity which you now enjoy?
Is it not through me that you have attained to such magnificence?"
Thus did his teacher talk over the king. [282] And the courtiers, who stood
round, said when they heard his speech, "Of a truth, my lord, all your
magnificence really belongs to your teacher!"
At once the king recognised the goodness of his teacher, and said to him,
"All my power I give to you, my teacher! receive the kingdom!" But the other
refused, saying, "No, my lord king; I have no wish for the kingdom."
And the king sent to Takkasilā for the teacher's wife and family; he gave them
great power, and made him the royal priest; he treated him like a father, and
obeyed his admonitions; and after bestowing gifts and doing good deeds he became
destined for paradise.
_____________________________
When the Master had ended this discourse, he declared the Truths:--at the
conclusion of the Truths the passionate brother attained the Fruit of the Third
Path, and many others entered on the First, or Second, or Third:--"At that time
the passionate Brother was the king; but the Teacher was I myself."
Footnotes
194:1 There are four nakkhattas called laku, 'light'; there is another reading
subhanakkhattena, 'every fair day'. The meaning is by no means clear.
195:1 The Scholiast explains what 'gentle breeding' means. It may be used of
conduct, both in men and animals; as--
"’Tis gentle to respect old age, red Goose:
Go where you will: I set your husband loose:"
p. 196 or of form, 'noble,' 'thoroughbred': as--[281]
"Your mien shows breeding, and your clear calm eye:
You must have left some noble family.
What made you wish to leave your home and wealth
To be an anchorite for your soul's health?"
and adds yet this other:
"Clad in a semblance of fair piety
But all deceitful, boldly forth leapt he,
A babbler of vain sayings, mean and base,
Intemperate, the ruin of his race."
(The last four line; occur in Sutta Nipāta, verse 89.)
Next: No. 253. Maṇi-Kaṇṭha-Jātaka
Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Tika-Nipata - Sankappa Jataka
Jataka Vol. II: Book III. Tika-Nipāta: No. 251. Sankappa Jataka
p. 189
BOOK III.--TIKA-NIPĀTA.
No. 251.
SAṀKAPPA-JĀTAKA.
[271] "No archer," etc.--This story the Master told at Jetavana, about a
backsliding Brother.
A young nobleman, living in Sāvatthi, gave his heart to the doctrine of the
Treasures 1, and embraced the religious life. But one day, as he went his rounds
in Sāvatthi, he happened to see a woman dressed in gay apparel. Passion sprang
up in his heart; he became disconsolate. When his teachers, counsellors and
friends saw him thus, they at once asked him the cause. Seeing that he longed to
return to the world, they said to one another, "My friend, the Master can remove
the sins of those who are tormented by the sin of lust and the like, and by
declaring the Truths, he brings them to enjoy the fruition of sanctity. Come,
let us lead him to the Master." So to the Master they brought him. Said he, "Why
do you bring me this youth against his will, Brothers? They told him the reason.
"Is this true," he asked, "that you are a backslider, as they say?" He assented.
The Master asked the reason, and he recounted what had happened. Said he, "O
Brother, it has happened before that these women have caused impurity to spring
up even in pure beings whose sins have been stayed by the power of ecstasy. Why
should not vain men like you be defiled, when defilement comes even to the pure?
Even men of the highest repute have fallen into dishonour; how much more the
unpurified! Shall not the wind that shakes Mount Sineru also stir a heap of old
leaves? [272] This sin has troubled the enlightened Buddha himself, sitting on
his throne, and shall it not trouble such an one as you?" and at their request
he told them an old-world tale.
_____________________________
Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta was born
into a great brahmin family, which had wealth to the amount of eight hundred
millions of money. He grew up, and received his education at Takkasilā, and
returned to Benares. There he married a wife; and on his parents’ death, he
performed their obsequies.
p. 190
[paragraph continues] Then, as he inspected his treasure, he reflected--"The
treasure is still here, but they who gathered it are here no more!" He was
overcome with grief, and the sweat poured from his body.
He lived a long time at home, and gave much in alms; he mastered his passions;
then he left his weeping friends, and went into the Himalayas, where he built a
hut in a delightful spot, and lived upon the wild fruits and roots of the
forest, which he found in his goings to and fro. Ere long he cultivated the
Faculties and the Attainments, and lived awhile in the bliss of joyous
meditation.
Then a thought came to him. He would go amongst mankind, to buy salt and
seasoning; thus his body would grow strong, and he would wander about on foot.
"All that shall give alms to a virtuous man like me," thought he, "and greet me
with respect, shall fill the heavenly regions." So down he came from Himalaya,
and by and bye, as he tramped onwards, he came to Benares at the time of the sun
setting. He looked about for a place to bide in, and spied the royal park.
"Here," said he, "is a place fit for retirement; here will I dwell." So he
entered the park, and sat at the foot of a tree, and spent the night in the joy
of meditation.
Next day in the forenoon, having seen to his bodily needs, and adjusted his
matted hair, his skin and robes of bark, he took up his alms-bowl; all his
senses were quiet, his pride was calmed, he bore himself nobly, looking no more
than a plough's length before him; by the glory of his appearance, which was
perfect in every way, [273] he drew upon him the eyes of the world. In this
fashion he entered the city, and begged from door to door, till he came to the
king's palace.
Now the king was upon his terrace, walking to and fro. He spied the Bodhisatta
through a window. He was pleased with his bearing; "If," thought he, "there is
such a thing as perfect quietude, it must be found in this man." So he sent one
of his courtiers, bidding him fetch the ascetic. The man came up with a
greeting, and took his alms-bowl, saying, "The king sends for you, Sir."
"Noble friend," replied the Bodhisatta, "the king does not know me!"
"'Then, Sir, please remain here until I return." So he told the king what the
beggar had said. Then said the king,
"We have no confidential priest: go, fetch him;" and at the same time he
beckoned out of the window, calling to him--"Here, come in, Sir!"
The Bodhisatta gave up his alms-bowl to the courtier, and mounted upon the
terrace. Then the king greeted him, and set him upon the king's couch, and
offered him all the foods and meats prepared for himself. When he had eaten, he
put a few questions to him; and the answers which
p. 191
were given pleased him ever more and more, so that with a word of respect, he
asked,
"Good Sir, where do you live? whence did you come hither?"
"I dwell in Himalaya, mighty king, and from Himalaya have I come."
The king asked, "Why?"
"In the rainy season, O king, we must seek a fixed abode."
"Then," the king said, "abide here in my royal park, you shall not lack for the
four things needful; I shall acquire the merit which leads to heaven."
The promise was given; and having broken his fast he went with the Bodhisatta
into the grounds, and caused a hut of leaves to be built there. A covered walk
he had made, and prepared all the places for his living by night and by day. All
the furniture and requisites for an anchorite's life he had brought, and bidding
him be comfortable he gave him in charge to the park-keeper.
For twelve years after this, [274] the Bodhisatta had his dwelling in that
place.
Once it so happened that a frontier district rose in rebellion. The king desired
to go himself to quell it. Calling his queen, he said--"Lady, either you or I
must stay behind."
"Why do you say that, my lord?" she asked.
"For the sake of the good ascetic."
"I will not neglect him," said she. "Mine be it to attend upon the holy father;
do you go away without anxiety."
So the king departed; and then the queen waited attentively upon the Bodhisatta.
Now the king was gone; at the fixed season the Bodhisatta came.
When it pleased him, he would come to the palace, and take his meal there. One
day, he tarried a long time. The queen had made ready all his food; she bathed
and adorned herself, and prepared a low seat; with a clean robe thrown loosely
over her, she reclined, waiting for the Bodhisatta to come. Now the Bodhisatta
noted the time of day; he took up his alms-bowl, and passing through the air,
came up to the great window. She heard his bark robes rustle, and as she rose
hastily, her yellow dress slipped. The. Bodhisatta let this unusual sight
penetrate his senses, and looked upon her with desire. Then the evil passion
that had been calmed by the power of his ecstasy, rose as a cobra rises
spreading his hood, from the basket in which he is kept: he was like a milky
tree struck by the axe. As his passion gained force, his ecstatic calm gave way,
his senses lost their purity; he was as it were a crow with a broken wing. He
could not sit down as before, and take his meal; not though she begged him to be
seated, could he take his seat. So the queen placed all the food together in his
alms-bowl; [275] but that day he could not do as he used
p. 192
to do after his meal, and go out of the window through the air; taking the food,
he went down by the great staircase, and so into the grove.
When he came there, he could eat nothing. He set down the food at the foot of
his bench, murmuring, "What a woman! lovely hands, lovely feet! what a waist,
what thighs!" and so forth. Thus he lay for seven days. The food all went bad,
and was covered with a cloud of black flies.
Then the king returned, having reduced his frontier to order. The city was all
decorated; he went round it in solemn procession, keeping it always on the
right, and then proceeded to the palace. Next he entered the grove, wishing to
see the Ḅodhisatta. He noticed the dirt and rubbish about the hermitage, and
thinking he must be gone, he pushed back the hut door, and stepped in. There lay
the anchorite. "He must he ill," thought the king. So he had the putrid food
thrown away, and the hut set in order, and then asked,
"What is the matter, Sir?"
"Sire, I am wounded!"
Then the king thought, "I suppose my enemies must have done this. They could not
get a chance at me, so they determined to do a mischief to what I love." So he
turned him over, looking for the wound; but no wound could he see. Then he
asked, "Where's the place, Sir?"
"No one has hurt me," replied the Bodhisatta, "only I have wounded my own
heart." And he rose, and sat upon a seat, and repeated the following verses:
"No archer drew an arrow to his ear
To deal this wound; no feathered shaft is here
Plucked from a peacock's wing, and decked out fine
By skilful fletchers:--’tis this heart of mine,
"Once cleansed from passion by my own firm will,
And keen intelligence, which through desire
Hath dealt the wound that bids me fair to kill,
And burns through all the limbs of me like fire.
[276] "I see no wound from which the blood might flow:
My own heart's folly ’tis that pierces so."
Thus did the Bodhisatta explain matters to the king by these three stanzas. Then
he made the king retire from the hut, and induced the mystic trance; and so he
recovered his interrupted ecstasy. Then he left the hut, and sitting in the air,
exhorted the king. After this the declared that he would go up to Himalaya. The
king would have dissuaded him, but he said,
"O king, see what humiliation has come upon me while I dwelt here! I cannot live
here." And although the king entreated him, he uprose in
p. 193
the air, and departed to Himalaya, where he abode his life long, and then went
to Brahma's world.
_____________________________
[277] When the Master had ended this discourse, he declared the Truths and
identified the Birth:--at the conclusion of the Truths the backsliding Brother
became a Saint, and some entered the First Path, some the Second, and some the
Third:--"Amanda was the king, and I was the hermit."
Footnotes
189:1 Buddha, the Law, the Order.
Next: No. 252. Tila-Muṭṭhi-Jātaka
p. 189
BOOK III.--TIKA-NIPĀTA.
No. 251.
SAṀKAPPA-JĀTAKA.
[271] "No archer," etc.--This story the Master told at Jetavana, about a
backsliding Brother.
A young nobleman, living in Sāvatthi, gave his heart to the doctrine of the
Treasures 1, and embraced the religious life. But one day, as he went his rounds
in Sāvatthi, he happened to see a woman dressed in gay apparel. Passion sprang
up in his heart; he became disconsolate. When his teachers, counsellors and
friends saw him thus, they at once asked him the cause. Seeing that he longed to
return to the world, they said to one another, "My friend, the Master can remove
the sins of those who are tormented by the sin of lust and the like, and by
declaring the Truths, he brings them to enjoy the fruition of sanctity. Come,
let us lead him to the Master." So to the Master they brought him. Said he, "Why
do you bring me this youth against his will, Brothers? They told him the reason.
"Is this true," he asked, "that you are a backslider, as they say?" He assented.
The Master asked the reason, and he recounted what had happened. Said he, "O
Brother, it has happened before that these women have caused impurity to spring
up even in pure beings whose sins have been stayed by the power of ecstasy. Why
should not vain men like you be defiled, when defilement comes even to the pure?
Even men of the highest repute have fallen into dishonour; how much more the
unpurified! Shall not the wind that shakes Mount Sineru also stir a heap of old
leaves? [272] This sin has troubled the enlightened Buddha himself, sitting on
his throne, and shall it not trouble such an one as you?" and at their request
he told them an old-world tale.
_____________________________
Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta was born
into a great brahmin family, which had wealth to the amount of eight hundred
millions of money. He grew up, and received his education at Takkasilā, and
returned to Benares. There he married a wife; and on his parents’ death, he
performed their obsequies.
p. 190
[paragraph continues] Then, as he inspected his treasure, he reflected--"The
treasure is still here, but they who gathered it are here no more!" He was
overcome with grief, and the sweat poured from his body.
He lived a long time at home, and gave much in alms; he mastered his passions;
then he left his weeping friends, and went into the Himalayas, where he built a
hut in a delightful spot, and lived upon the wild fruits and roots of the
forest, which he found in his goings to and fro. Ere long he cultivated the
Faculties and the Attainments, and lived awhile in the bliss of joyous
meditation.
Then a thought came to him. He would go amongst mankind, to buy salt and
seasoning; thus his body would grow strong, and he would wander about on foot.
"All that shall give alms to a virtuous man like me," thought he, "and greet me
with respect, shall fill the heavenly regions." So down he came from Himalaya,
and by and bye, as he tramped onwards, he came to Benares at the time of the sun
setting. He looked about for a place to bide in, and spied the royal park.
"Here," said he, "is a place fit for retirement; here will I dwell." So he
entered the park, and sat at the foot of a tree, and spent the night in the joy
of meditation.
Next day in the forenoon, having seen to his bodily needs, and adjusted his
matted hair, his skin and robes of bark, he took up his alms-bowl; all his
senses were quiet, his pride was calmed, he bore himself nobly, looking no more
than a plough's length before him; by the glory of his appearance, which was
perfect in every way, [273] he drew upon him the eyes of the world. In this
fashion he entered the city, and begged from door to door, till he came to the
king's palace.
Now the king was upon his terrace, walking to and fro. He spied the Bodhisatta
through a window. He was pleased with his bearing; "If," thought he, "there is
such a thing as perfect quietude, it must be found in this man." So he sent one
of his courtiers, bidding him fetch the ascetic. The man came up with a
greeting, and took his alms-bowl, saying, "The king sends for you, Sir."
"Noble friend," replied the Bodhisatta, "the king does not know me!"
"'Then, Sir, please remain here until I return." So he told the king what the
beggar had said. Then said the king,
"We have no confidential priest: go, fetch him;" and at the same time he
beckoned out of the window, calling to him--"Here, come in, Sir!"
The Bodhisatta gave up his alms-bowl to the courtier, and mounted upon the
terrace. Then the king greeted him, and set him upon the king's couch, and
offered him all the foods and meats prepared for himself. When he had eaten, he
put a few questions to him; and the answers which
p. 191
were given pleased him ever more and more, so that with a word of respect, he
asked,
"Good Sir, where do you live? whence did you come hither?"
"I dwell in Himalaya, mighty king, and from Himalaya have I come."
The king asked, "Why?"
"In the rainy season, O king, we must seek a fixed abode."
"Then," the king said, "abide here in my royal park, you shall not lack for the
four things needful; I shall acquire the merit which leads to heaven."
The promise was given; and having broken his fast he went with the Bodhisatta
into the grounds, and caused a hut of leaves to be built there. A covered walk
he had made, and prepared all the places for his living by night and by day. All
the furniture and requisites for an anchorite's life he had brought, and bidding
him be comfortable he gave him in charge to the park-keeper.
For twelve years after this, [274] the Bodhisatta had his dwelling in that
place.
Once it so happened that a frontier district rose in rebellion. The king desired
to go himself to quell it. Calling his queen, he said--"Lady, either you or I
must stay behind."
"Why do you say that, my lord?" she asked.
"For the sake of the good ascetic."
"I will not neglect him," said she. "Mine be it to attend upon the holy father;
do you go away without anxiety."
So the king departed; and then the queen waited attentively upon the Bodhisatta.
Now the king was gone; at the fixed season the Bodhisatta came.
When it pleased him, he would come to the palace, and take his meal there. One
day, he tarried a long time. The queen had made ready all his food; she bathed
and adorned herself, and prepared a low seat; with a clean robe thrown loosely
over her, she reclined, waiting for the Bodhisatta to come. Now the Bodhisatta
noted the time of day; he took up his alms-bowl, and passing through the air,
came up to the great window. She heard his bark robes rustle, and as she rose
hastily, her yellow dress slipped. The. Bodhisatta let this unusual sight
penetrate his senses, and looked upon her with desire. Then the evil passion
that had been calmed by the power of his ecstasy, rose as a cobra rises
spreading his hood, from the basket in which he is kept: he was like a milky
tree struck by the axe. As his passion gained force, his ecstatic calm gave way,
his senses lost their purity; he was as it were a crow with a broken wing. He
could not sit down as before, and take his meal; not though she begged him to be
seated, could he take his seat. So the queen placed all the food together in his
alms-bowl; [275] but that day he could not do as he used
p. 192
to do after his meal, and go out of the window through the air; taking the food,
he went down by the great staircase, and so into the grove.
When he came there, he could eat nothing. He set down the food at the foot of
his bench, murmuring, "What a woman! lovely hands, lovely feet! what a waist,
what thighs!" and so forth. Thus he lay for seven days. The food all went bad,
and was covered with a cloud of black flies.
Then the king returned, having reduced his frontier to order. The city was all
decorated; he went round it in solemn procession, keeping it always on the
right, and then proceeded to the palace. Next he entered the grove, wishing to
see the Ḅodhisatta. He noticed the dirt and rubbish about the hermitage, and
thinking he must be gone, he pushed back the hut door, and stepped in. There lay
the anchorite. "He must he ill," thought the king. So he had the putrid food
thrown away, and the hut set in order, and then asked,
"What is the matter, Sir?"
"Sire, I am wounded!"
Then the king thought, "I suppose my enemies must have done this. They could not
get a chance at me, so they determined to do a mischief to what I love." So he
turned him over, looking for the wound; but no wound could he see. Then he
asked, "Where's the place, Sir?"
"No one has hurt me," replied the Bodhisatta, "only I have wounded my own
heart." And he rose, and sat upon a seat, and repeated the following verses:
"No archer drew an arrow to his ear
To deal this wound; no feathered shaft is here
Plucked from a peacock's wing, and decked out fine
By skilful fletchers:--’tis this heart of mine,
"Once cleansed from passion by my own firm will,
And keen intelligence, which through desire
Hath dealt the wound that bids me fair to kill,
And burns through all the limbs of me like fire.
[276] "I see no wound from which the blood might flow:
My own heart's folly ’tis that pierces so."
Thus did the Bodhisatta explain matters to the king by these three stanzas. Then
he made the king retire from the hut, and induced the mystic trance; and so he
recovered his interrupted ecstasy. Then he left the hut, and sitting in the air,
exhorted the king. After this the declared that he would go up to Himalaya. The
king would have dissuaded him, but he said,
"O king, see what humiliation has come upon me while I dwelt here! I cannot live
here." And although the king entreated him, he uprose in
p. 193
the air, and departed to Himalaya, where he abode his life long, and then went
to Brahma's world.
_____________________________
[277] When the Master had ended this discourse, he declared the Truths and
identified the Birth:--at the conclusion of the Truths the backsliding Brother
became a Saint, and some entered the First Path, some the Second, and some the
Third:--"Amanda was the king, and I was the hermit."
Footnotes
189:1 Buddha, the Law, the Order.
Next: No. 252. Tila-Muṭṭhi-Jātaka
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