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 - Puta-Dusaka Jataka

Jataka Vol. II: Book III. Tika-Nipāta: No. 280. Puṭa-Dūsaka-Jātaka



No. 280.
PUṬA-DŪSAKA-JĀTAKA.
"No doubt the king," etc.--This story the Master told in Jetavana, about one who
destroyed pottles. At Sāvatthi, we learn, a certain courtier invited the Buddha
and his company, and made them sit in his park. [391] As he was distributing to
them, during the meal, he said, "Let those who wish to walk about the park, do
so." The Brothers walked about the park. At that time the gardener climbed up a
tree which had leaves upon it, and said, taking hold of some of the large
leaves, "This will do for flowers, this one for fruit," and making them into
potties he dropt them to the foot of the tree. His little son destroyed each as
soon as it fell. The Brothers told this to the Master. "Brothers," said the
Master, "this is not the first time that this lad has destroyed pottles: he did
it before." And he told them an old-world tale.
_____________________________
p. 267
Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta was born
in a certain family of Benares. When he grew up, and was living in the world as
a householder, it happened that for some reason he went into a park, where a
number of monkeys lived. The gardener was throwing down his pottles as we have
described, and the chief of the monkeys was destroying them as they fell. The
Bodhisatta, addressing him, said, "As the gardener drops his pottles, the monkey
thinks he is trying to please him by tearing them up 1," and repeated the first
stanza:
No doubt the king of beasts is clever
In pottle-making; he would never
Destroy what's made with so much pother,
Unless he meant to make another."
On hearing this the Monkey repeated the second stanza:
"Neither my father nor my mother
Nor I myself could make another.
What others make, we tear to pieces:
The proper way of monkeys, this is!"
[392] And the Bodhisatta responded with the third:
If this is proper monkey nature,
What's the improper way of such a creature!
Be off--it does not matter whether
You're proper or improper--both together!"
and with these words of blame he departed.
_____________________________
When the Master had ended this discourse, he identified the Birth: "At that time
the monkey was the boy who has been destroying the potties; but the wise man was
I myself."



Footnotes
267:1 Should we read, "... Kātukāmo ti maññe" ti?



Next: No. 281. Abbhantara-Jātaka

Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Tika-Nipata - Satapatta Jataka

Jataka Vol. II: Book III. Tika-Nipāta: No. 279. Satapatta-Jātaka



p. 264
No. 279.
SATAPATTA-JĀTAKA.
"As the youth upon his way," etc. This story the Master told in Jetavana, about
Paṇḍuka and Lohita. Of the Six Heretics, two--Mettiya and Bhummaja--lived hard
by Rājagaha; two, Assaji and Punabbasu, near Kīṭāgiri, and at Jetavana near
Sāvatthi the two others, Paṇḍuka and Lohita. They questioned matters laid down
in the doctrine; whoever were their friends and intimates, they would encourage,
saying, "You are no worse than these, brother, in birth, lineage, or character;
if you give up your opinions, they will have much the better of you," and by
saying this kind of thing they prevented their giving up their opinions, and
thus strifes and quarrels and contentions arose. The Brethren told this to the
Blessed One. The Blessed One assembled the Brethren for that cause, to make
explanation; and causing Paṇḍuka and Lohita to be summoned, addressed them: "Is
it true, Brethren, that you really yourselves question certain matters, and
prevent people from giving up their opinions?" "Yes," they replied. "Then," said
he, "your behaviour is like that of the Man and the Crane;" and he told them an
old-world tale.
_____________________________
Once on a time, when Brahmadatta was reigning in Benares, the Bodhisatta was
born to a certain family in a Kāsi village. When he grew up, instead of earning
a livelihood by farming or trade, [388] he gathered five hundred robbers, and
became their chief, and lived by highway robbery and housebreaking.
Now it so happened that a landowner had given a thousand pieces of money to some
one, and died before receiving it back again. Some time after, his wife lay on
her deathbed, and addressing her son, said,
"Son, your father gave a thousand pieces of money to a man, and died without
getting it back; if I die too, he will not give it to you. Go, while I yet live,
get him to fetch it and give it back."
So the son went, and got the money.
The mother died; but she loved her son so much, that she suddenly reappeared 1
as a jackal on the road by which he was coming. At that time, the robber chief
with his band lay by the road in wait to plunder travellers. And when her son
had got to the entrance of the wood, the Jackal returned again and again, and
sought to stay him; saying, "My son, don't enter the wood! there are robbers
there, who will slay thee and take thy money!
p. 265
But the man understood not what she meant. "Ill luck!" said he, "here's a jackal
trying to stop my way!" he said; and he drove her off with sticks and clods, and
into the wood he went.
And a crane flew towards the robbers, crying out--"Here's a man with a thousand
pieces in his hand! Kill him, and take them!" The young fellow did not know what
it was doing, so he thought, "Good luck! here's a lucky bird! now there is a
good omen for me!" He saluted respectfully, crying, "Give voice, give voice, my
lord!"
The Bodhisatta, who knew the meaning of all sounds, observed what these two did,
and thought: "Yon jackal must be the man's mother; so she tries to stop him, and
tell him that he will be killed and robbed; but the crane must be some
adversary, and that is why it says 'Kill him, and take the money;' and the man
does not know what is happening, [389] and drives off his mother, who wishes his
welfare, while the crane, who wishes him ill, he worships, under the belief that
it is a well-wisher. The man is a fool."
(Now the Bodhisattas, even though they are great beings, sometimes take the
goods of others by being born as wicked men; this they say comes from a fault in
the horoscope.)
So the young man went on, and by and bye fell in with the robbers. The
Bodhisatta caught him, and "Where do you live?" said he.
"In Benares."
"Where have you been?"
"There was a thousand pieces due to me in a certain village; and that is where I
have been."
"Did you get it?"
"Yes, I did."
"Who sent you?"
"Master, my father is dead, and my mother is ill; it was she sent me, because
she thought I should not get it if she were dead."
"And do you know what has happened to your mother now?"
"No, master."
"She died after you left; and so much did she love you, that she at once became
a jackal, and kept trying to stop you for fear you should get killed. She it was
that you scared away. But the crane was an enemy, who came and told us to kill
you, and take your money. You are such a fool that you thought your mother was
an illwisher, when she wished you well, and thought the crane was a wellwisher
when it wished ill to you. He did you no good, but your mother was very good to
you. Keep your money, and be off!" And he let him go.
p. 266
When the Master had finished this discourse, he repeated the following stanzas:
"As the youth upon his way
Thought the jackal of the wood
Was a foe, his path to stay,
While she tried to do him good:
That false crane his true friend deeming
Which to ruin him was scheming:
"Such another, who is here,
Has his friends misunderstood;
They can never win his ear
Who advise him for his good.
[390] "He believes when others praise--
Awful terrors prophesying:
As the youth of olden days
Loved the crane above him flying 1."
When the Master had enlarged upon this theme, he identified the Birth: "At that
time the robber chief was I myself."



Footnotes
264:1 The word implies a creature not born in the natural way, but taking shape
without the need of parents.
266:1 The scholiast adds the following lines:
The friend who robs another without ceasing;
He that protests, protests incessantly;
The friend who flatters for the sake of pleasing;
The boon companion in debauchery;--
These four the wise as enemies should fear,
And keep aloof, if there be danger near.



Next: No. 280. Puṭa-Dūsaka-Jātaka

Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Tika-Nipata - Mahisa Jataka

Jataka Vol. II: Book III. Tika-Nipāta: No. 278. Mahisa-Jātaka



No. 278. 1
MAHISA-JĀTAKA.
[385] "Why do yore patiently," etc. This story the Master told at Jetavana,
about a certain impertinent monkey. At Sāvatthi, we are told, was a tame monkey
in a certain family; and it ran into the elephant's stable, and perching on the
back of a virtuous elephant, voided excrement, and began to walk up and down.
The elephant, being both virtuous and patient, did nothing. But one day in this
elephant's place stood a wicked young one. The monkey thought it was the same,
and climbed upon its back. The elephant seized him in his trunk, and dashing him
to the ground, trod him to pieces. This became known in the meeting of the
Brotherhood; and one day they. all began to talk about it. "Brother, have you
heard how the impertinent monkey mistook a had elephant for a good one, and
climbed on his back, and how he lost his life for it?" In came the Master, and
asked, "Brethren, what are you talking of as you sit here?" and when they told
him, "This is not the first time," said he, "that this impertinent monkey
behaved so; he did the same before:" and he told them an old-world tale.
_____________________________
Once on a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Behaves, the Bodhisatta was born in
the Himalaya region as a Buffalo. He grew up strong and
big, and ranged the hills and mountains, peaks and caves, tortuous woods a many.
Once, as he went, he saw a pleasant tree, and took his food, standing under it.
p. 263
Then an impertinent monkey came down out of the tree, and getting on his back,
voided excrement; then he took hold of one of the Buffalo's horns, and swung
down from it by his tail, disporting himself. The Bodhisatta, being full of
patience, kindliness, and mercy, took no notice at all of his misconduct. This
the monkey did again and again.
But one day, the spirit that belonged to that tree, standing upon the
tree-trunk, asked him, saying, [386] "My lord Buffalo, why do you put up with
the rudeness of this bad Monkey? Put a stop to him!" and enlarging upon this
theme he repeated the first two verses as follows:
"Why do you patiently endure each freak
This mischievous and selfish ape may wreak?
"Crush underfoot, transfix him with your horn!
Stop him or even children will show scorn."
The Bodhisatta, on hearing this, replied, "If, Tree-sprite, I cannot endure this
monkey's ill-treatment without abusing his birth, lineage, and powers, how can
my wish ever come to fulfilment? But the monkey will do the same to any other,
thinking him to be like me. And if he does it to any fierce Buffalos, they will
destroy him indeed. When some other has killed him, I shall be delivered both
from pain and from blood-guiltiness." And saying this he repeated the third
verse:
"If he treats others as he now treats me,
They will destroy him; then I shall be free."
A few days after, the Bodhisatta went elsewhither, and another Buffalo, a savage
beast, went and stood in his place. The wicked Monkey, [387] thinking it to be
the old one, climbed upon his back and did as before. The Buffalo shook him off
upon the ground, and drove his horn into the Monkey's heart, and trampled him to
mincemeat under his hoofs..
_____________________________
When the Master had ended this teaching, he declared the Truths, and identified
the Birth: "At that time the bad buffalo was he who now is the bad elephant, the
bad monkey was the same, but the virtuous noble Buffalo was I myself."



Footnotes
262:1 Jātaka Mālā, no. 33 (Mahisa); Cariyā-Piṭaka, II. 5.



Next: No. 279. Satapatta-Jātaka

Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Tika-Nipata - Romaka Jataka

Jataka Vol. II: Book III. Tika-Nipāta: No. 277. Romaka-Jātaka



No. 277.
ROMAKA-JĀTAKA.
[382] "Here in the hills," etc.--This story was told by the Master when at the
Bamboo-grove, about attempted murder. The circumstances explain themselves.
_____________________________
p. 261
Once on a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta became a
Pigeon, and with a large flock of pigeons he lived amidst the woodland in a cave
of the hills. There was an ascetic, a virtuous man, who had built him a hut near
a frontier village not far from the place where the pigeons were, and there in a
cave of the hills he lived. Him the Bodhisatta visited from time to time, and
heard from him things worth hearing.
After living there a long time, the ascetic went away; and there came a sham
ascetic, and lived there. The Bodhisatta, attended by his flock of pigeons,
visited him and greeted him respectfully; they spent the day in hopping about
the hermit's abode, and picking up food before the cave, and returned home in
the evening. There the sham ascetic lived for more than fifty years.
One day the villagers gave him some pigeon's flesh which they had cooked. He was
taken with the flavour, and asked what it was. "Pigeon," said they. Thought he,
"There come flocks of pigeons to my hermitage; I must kill some of them to eat."
So he got rice and ghee, milk and cummin and pepper, and put it by all ready; in
a corner of his robe he hid a staff, and sat down at the hut door watching for
the pigeons' coming.
The Bodhisatta came, with his flock, and spied out what wicked thing this sham
ascetic would be at. "Yon wicked ascetic sitting there goes under false
pretences! Perhaps he has been feeding on some of our kind; I'll find him out!"
So he alighted to leeward, and scented him. [383] "Yes," said he, "the man wants
to kill us and eat us; we must not go near him;" and away he flew with his
flock. On seeing that he kept aloof, the hermit thought, "I will speak words of
honey to him, and make friends, and then kill and eat him!" and he uttered the
two first stanzas:
"Here in the hills, for one and fifty years,
O feathered fowl! the birds would visit me,
Nothing suspecting, knowing nought of fears,
In sweet security!
"These very children of the eggs now seem
To fly suspicious to another hill.
Have they forgotten all their old esteem?
Are they the same birds still?"
[384] Then the Bodhisatta stept back and repeated the third:
"We are no fools, and we know you;
We are the same, and you are too:
You have designs against our weal,
So, heretic, this fear we feel."
"They have found me out!" thought the false ascetic. He threw his
p. 262
staff at the bird, but missed him. "Get away!" said he--"I've missed you!"
"You have missed us," said the Bodhisatta, "but you shall not miss the four
hells! If you stay here, I'll call the villagers and make them catch you for a
thief. Run off, quick!" Thus he threatened the man, and flew away. The hermit
could live there no longer.
_____________________________
The Teacher having ended this discourse, identified the. Birth: "At that time
Devadatta was the ascetic; the first ascetic, the good one, was Sāriputta; and
the chief of the Pigeons was I myself."



Next: No. 278. Mahisa-Jātaka

Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Tika-Nipata - Kurudhamma Jataka

Jataka Vol. II: Book III. Tika-Nipāta: No. 276. Kurudhamma-Jātaka



p. 251
No. 276.
KURUDHAMMA-JĀTAKA 1.
"Knowing thy faith," etc.--This. story the Master told whilst dwelling in
Jetavana, about a Brother that killed a wild goose. [366] Two Brothers, great
friends, who came from Sāvatthi, and had embraced the religious life, after
taking the higher orders used generally to go about together. One day they came
to Aciravatī. After a bath, they stood on the sand, basking in the sunlight and
talking pleasantly together. At this moment two wild geese flew over their
heads. One of the young fellows picked up a stone. "I'm going to hit that goose
bird in the eye!" says he. "You can't," says the other. "That I can," says the
first, "and not only that--I can hit either this eye or that eye, as I please."
"Not you!" says the other. "Look here, then!" says the first; and picking up a
three-cornered stone, threw it after the bird. The bird turned its head on
hearing the pebble whizz through the air. Then the other, seizing a round
pebble, threw it so that it hit the near eye and came out of the other. The
goose with a loud cry turned over and over and fell at their very feet.
The Brothers who were standing about saw what had occurred, and ran up,
reproaching him. "What a shame," said they, "that you, who have embraced such a
doctrine as ours, should take the life of a living creature!" They made him go
before the Tathāgata with them. "Is what they say true?" asked the Master. "Have
you really taken the life of a living creature?" "Yes, Sir," replied the
Brother. "Brother," said he, "how is it that you have done this thing, after
embracing so great salvation? Wise men of old, before the Buddha appeared,
though they lived in the world, and the worldly life is impure, felt remorse
about mere trifles; but you, who have embraced this great doctrine, have no
scruples. A Brother ought to hold himself in control in deed, word, and
thought." Then he told a story.
_____________________________
Once upon a time, when Dhanañjaya was king of Indapatta City, in the Kuru
kingdom, the Bodhisatta was born as a son of his Queen Con-sort. By and bye he
grew up, and was educated at Takkasilā. His father made him Viceroy, [367] and
afterwards on his father's death he became king, and grew in the Kura
righteousness, keeping the ten royal duties. The Kuru righteousness means the
Five Virtues; these the Bodhisatta observed, and kept pure; as did the
Bodhisatta, even so did queen-mother, queen-consort, younger brother, viceroy,
family priest, brahmin, driver, courtier, charioteer, treasurer, master of the
granaries, noble, porter, courtesan, slave-girl--all did the same.
King, mother, consort, viceroy, chaplain too,
Driver and charioteer and treasurer,
And he that governed the king's granaries,
Porter, and courtesan, eleven in all,
Observed the rules of Kuru righteousness.
p. 252
Thus all these did observe the Five Virtues, and kept them untarnished. The king
built six Almonries,--one at each of the four city gates, one in the midst of
the city, and one at his own door; daily he distributed 600,000 pieces of money
in alms, by which he stirred up the whole of India. All India was overspread by
his love and delight in charity.
At this period there was in the city of Dantapura, in the kingdom of Kāliṅga, a
king named King Kāliṅga. In his realms the rain fell not, and because of the
drought there was a famine in the land. The people thought that lack of food
might produce a pestilence; and there was fear of drought, and fear of
famine--these three fears were ever present before them. The people wandered
about destitute hither and thither, leading their children by the hand. All the
people in the kingdom gathered together, and came to Dantapura; and there at the
king's door they made outcry.
As the king stood, by the window, he heard the noise, and asked why the people
were making all that noise. [368]
"Oh, Sire," was the reply, "three fears have seized upon all your kingdom: there
falls no rain, the crops fail, there is a famine. The people, starving,
diseased, and destitute, are wandering about with their little ones by the hand.
Make rain for us, O king!"
Said the king, "What used former monarchs to do, if it would not rain?"
"Former monarchs, O king, if it would not rain, used to give alms, to keep the
holy day, to make vows of virtue, and to lie down seven days in their chamber on
a grass pallet: then the rain would fall."
"Very good," the king said; and even so did he. Still even so there came no
rain. The king said to his court,
"As you bade me, so I have done; but there is no rain. What am I to do?"
"O king, in the city of Indapatta, there is a state elephant, named
Añjana-vasabho, the Black Bull. It belongs to Dhanañjaya, the Kura king. This
let us fetch; then the rain will come."
"But how can we do that? The king and his army are not easy to overcome."
"O king, there is no need to fight him. The king is fond of giving, he loves
giving: were he but asked, he would even cut off his head in all its
magnificence, or tear out his gracious eyes, or give up his very kingdom. There
will be no need even to plead for the elephant. He will give it without fail."
"But who is able to ask him?" said the king.
"The Brahmins, great king!"
The king summoned eight Brahmins from a Brahmin village, and with all honour and
respect sent them to ask for the elephant. They took
p. 253
money for their journey, and donned travelling garb, and without resting past
one night in a place, travelled quickly until after a few days they took their
meal at the almshall in the city gate. When they had satisfied their bodily
wants, they asked, "When does the king come to the Almonry?"
The answer was, [369] "On three days in the fortnight--fourteenth, fifteenth,
and eighth; hut to-morrow is the full moon, so he will come to-morrow also."
So early the next morning, the brahmins went, and entered by the eastern gate.
The Bodhisatta also, washed and anointed, all adorned and rarely arrayed,
mounted upon a fine elephant richly caparisoned, came with a great company to
the Almshall at the eastern gate. There he dismounted, and gave food to seven or
eight people with his own hand. "In this manner give," said he, and mounting his
elephant departed to the south gate. At the eastern gate the brahmins had had no
chance, owing to the force of the royal guard; so they proceeded to the south,
and watched when the king should come. When the king reached a rising ground not
far from the gate, they raised their hands, and hailed the king victorious. The
king guided his animal with the sharp goad to the place where they were. "Well,
Brahmins, what is your wish?" asked he. Then the brahmins declared the virtues
of the Bodhisatta in the first stanza:
"Knowing thy faith and virtue, Lord, we come;
For this beast's sake our wealth we spent at home 1.
[370] To this the Bodhisatta made answer, "Brahmins, if all your wealth has been
exhausted in getting this elephant, never mind--I give him to you with all his
splendour." Thus comforting them, he repeated these two verses:
"Whether or no ye serve for livery,
Whatever creature shall come here to me,
As my preceptors taught me long ago,
All that come here shall always welcome be.
"This elephant to you for gift I bring:
’Tis a king's portion, worthy of a king!
Take him, with all his trappings, golden chain,
Driver and all, and go your ways again."
[371] Thus spake the great Being, mounted upon his elephant's back; then,
dismounting, he said to them--"If there is a spot on him unadorned, I will adorn
it and then give him to you." Thrice he went about the creature, turning towards
the right, and examined him; but he found no spot on him without adornment. Then
he put the trunk into the brahmins'
p. 254
hands; he besprinkled him with scented water from a fine golden vase, and made
him over to them. The brahmins accepted the elephant with his belongings, and
seating themselves upon his back rode to Dantapura, and handed him over to their
king. But although the elephant was come, no rain fell yet.
Then the king asked again--"What can be the reason?"
They said, "Dhanañjaya, the Kuru King, observes the Kuru righteousness;
therefore in his realms it rains every ten or fifteen days. That is the power of
the king's goodness. If in this animal there is any good, how little it must
be!" Then said the king, "Take this elephant, caparisoned as he is, with all his
belongings, and give it hack to the king. Write upon a golden plate the Kuru
righteousness which he observes, and bring it hither." With these words he
despatched the brahmins and courtiers.
These came before the king, and restored his elephant, saying, "My lord, even
when your elephant came, [372] no rain fell in our country. They say that you
observe the Kuru righteousness. Our king is wishful himself to observe it; and
he has sent us, bidding us write it upon a golden plate, and bring it to him.
Tell us this righteousness!"
"Friends," says the king, "indeed I did once observe this righteousness; but now
I am in doubt about this very point. This righteousness does not bless my heart
now: therefore I cannot give it you."
Why, you may ask, did not virtue bless the king any longer? Well, every third
year, in the month of Kattika 1 the kings used to hold a festival, called the
Kattika Feast. While keeping this feast, the kings used to deck themselves out
in great magnificence, and dress up like gods; they stood in the presence of a
goblin named Cittarāja, the King of Many Colours, and they would shoot to the
four points of the compass arrows wreathed in flowers, and painted in divers
colours. This king then, in keeping the feast, stood on the bank of a lake, in
the presence of Cittarāja, and shot arrows to the four quarters. They could see
whither three of the arrows went; but the fourth, which was shot over the water,
this they saw not. Thought the king, "Perchance the arrow which I have shot has
fallen upon some fish!" As this doubt arose, the sin of life-taking made a flaw
in his virtue; that is why his virtue did not bless him as before. This the king
told them; and added, "Friends, I am in doubt about myself, whether or no I do
observe the Kuru righteousness; but my mother keeps it well. You can get it from
her."
"But, O king," said they, "you had no intent to take life. Without the intent of
the heart there is no taking of life. Give us the Kuru righteousness which you
have kept!"
p. 255
"Write, then," said he. And he caused them to write upon the plate of gold:
"Slay not the living; take not what is not given; [373] walk not evilly in lust;
speak no lies; drink no strong drink." Then he added,
"Still, it does not bless me; you had better learn it from my mother."
The messengers saluted the king, and visited the Queen-mother. "Lady," said
they, "they say you keep the Kuru righteousness: pass it on to us!"
Said the Queen-mother, "My sons, indeed I did once keep this righteousness, but
now I have my doubts. This righteousness does not make me happy, so I cannot
give it to you." Now we are told that she had two sons, the elder being king,
and the younger viceroy. A certain king sent to the Bodhisatta perfumes of fine
sandal wood worth an hundred thousand pieces, and a golden neckband worth an
hundred thousand. And he, thinking to do his mother honour, sent the whole to
her. Thought she: "I do not perfume myself with sandal-wood, I do not wear
necklets. I will give them to my sons' wives." Then the thought occurred to
her--"My elder son's wife is my lady; she is the chief queen: to her will I give
the gold necklet; but the wife of the younger is a poor creature,--to her I will
give the sandal perfume." And so to the one she gave the necklet, and the
perfume gave she to the other. Afterward she bethought her, "I keep the Kuru
righteousness; whether they be poor or whether they be not poor is no matter. It
is not seemly that I should pay court to the elder. Perchance by not doing this
I have made a flaw in my virtue!" And she began to doubt; that is why she spoke
as she slid.
The messengers said, "When it is in your hands, a thing is given even as you
will. If you have scruples about a thing so small as that, what other sin would
you ever do? Virtue is not broken by a thing of that kind. [374] Give us the
Kuru righteousness!" And from her also they received it, and wrote it upon the
golden plate.
"All the same, my sons," said the Queen-mother, "I am not happy in this
righteousness. But my daughter-in-law observes it well. Ask her for it."
So they took their leave respectfully, and asked the daughter in the same way as
before. And, as before, she replied, "I cannot, for I keep it myself no
longer!"--Now one day as she sat at the lattice, looking down she saw the king
making a solemn procession about the city; and behind him on the elephant's back
sat the viceroy. She fell in love with him, and thought, "What if I were to
strike up a friendship with him, and his brother were to die, and then he were
to become king, and take me to wife!" Then it flashed across her mind--"I who
keep the Kuru righteousness, who am married to a husband, I have looked with
love
p. 256
upon another man! Here is a flaw in my virtue!" Remorse seized upon her. This
she told the messengers.
Then they said, "Sin is not the mere uprising of a thought. If you feel remorse
for so small a thing as this, what transgression could you ever commit? Not by
such a small matter is virtue broken; give us this righteousness!" And she
likewise told it to them, and they wrote it upon a golden plate. But she said,
"However, my sons, my virtue is not perfect. But the viceroy observes these
rules well; go ye and receive them from him."
Then again they repaired to the viceroy, and as before asked him for the Kuru
righteousness.--Now the viceroy used to go and pay his devoirs to the king at
evening; and when they came to the palace courtyard, in his car, if he wished to
eat with the king, and spend the night there, he would throw his reins and goad
upon the yoke; and that was a sign for the people to depart; and next morning
early they would come again, and stand awaiting the viceroy's departure. And the
charioteer [375] would attend the car, and come again with it early in the
morning, and wait by the king's door. But if the viceroy would depart ht the
same time, he left the reins and goad there in the chariot, and went in to wait
upon the king. Then the people, taking it for a sign that he would presently
depart, stood waiting there at the palace door. One day he did thus, and went in
to wait upon the king. But as he was within, it began to rain; and the king,
remarking this, would not let him go away, so he took his meal, and slept there.
But a great crowd of people stood expecting him to come out, and there they
stayed all night in the wet. Next day the viceroy came out, and seeing the crowd
standing there drenched, thought he--"I, who keep the Kuru righteousness, have
put all this crowd to discomfort! Surely here is a flaw in my virtue!" and he
was seized with remorse. So he said to the messengers: "Now doubt has come upon
me if indeed I do keep this righteousness; therefore r cannot give it to you;"
and he told them the matter.
"But," said they, "you never had the wish to plague those people. What is not
intended is not counted to one's score. If you feel remorse for so small a
thing, in what would you ever transgress?" So they received from him too the
knowledge of this righteousness, and wrote it on their golden plate. "However,"
said he, "this righteousness is not perfected in me. But my chaplain keeps it
well; go, ask him for it." Then again they went on to the chaplain.
Now the chaplain one day had been going to wait upon the king. On the road he
saw a chariot; sent to the king by another king, coloured like the young sun.
"Whose chariot?" he asked. "Sent for the king," they said. Then he thought, "I
am an old man; if the king were to give me that chariot, how time it would he to
ride about in it!" When he
p. 257
came before the king, and stood by after greeting him with the prayer for
prosperity, [376] they showed the chariot to the king. "That is a most beautiful
car," said the king; "give it to my teacher." But the chaplain did not like
taking it; no, not though he was begged again and again. Why was this? Because
the thought came into his mind--"I, who practise the Kuru righteousness, have
coveted another's goods. Surely this is a flaw in my virtue!" So he told the
story to these messengers, adding, "My sons, I am in doubt about the Kuru
righteousness; this righteousness does not bless me now; therefore I cannot
teach it to you."
But the messengers said, "Not by mere uprising of covetise is virtue broken. If
you feel a scruple in so small a matter, what real transgression would you ever
do?" And from him also they received the righteousness, and wrote it on their
golden plate. "Still, this goodness does not bless me now," said he; "but the
royal driver 1 carefully practises it. Go and ask him." So they found the royal
driver, and asked him.
Now the driver one day was measuring a field. Tying a cord to a stick, he gave
one end to the owner of the field to hold, and took the other himself. The stick
tied to the end of the cord which he held came to a crab's lurk-hole. Thought
he, "If I put the stick in the hole, the crab in the hole will be hurt: if I put
it on the other side, the king's property will lose; and if I put it on this
side, the farmer will lose. What's to be done?" Then he thought again--"The crab
ought to be in his hole; but if he were, he would show himself;" so he put the
stick in the hole. The crab made a click! inside. Then he thought, "The stick
must have struck upon the crab, and it must have killed him! I observe the Kuru
righteousness, and now here's a flaw in it!" [377] So he told them this, and
added, "So now I have my doubts about it, and I cannot give it to you."
Said the messengers, "You had no wish to kill the crab. What is done without
intent is not counted to the score; if you feel a scruple about so small a
matter, what real transgression would you ever do?" And they took the
righteousness from his lips likewise, and wrote it on their golden plate.
"However," said he, "though this does not bless me, the charioteer practises it
carefully; go and ask him."
So they took their leave, and sought out the charioteer. Now the charioteer one
day drove the king into his park in the car. There the king took his pleasure
during the day, and at evening returned, and entered the chariot. But before he
could get back to the city, at the time of sunset a storm cloud arose. The
charioteer, fearing the king might get wet, touched up the team with the goad:
the steeds sped swiftly home.
p. 258
[paragraph continues] Ever since, going to the park or coming from it, from that
spot they went at speed. Why was this? Because they thought there must be some
danger at this spot, and that was why the charioteer had touched them with the
goad. And the charioteer thought, "If the king is wet or dry, ’tis no fault of
mine; but I have given a touch of the goad out of season to these well-trained
steeds, and so they run at speed again and again till they are tired, all by my
doing. And I observe the Kuru righteousness! Surely there's a flaw in it now!"
This he told the messengers, and said, "For this cause I am in doubt about it,
and I cannot give it to you." "But," said they, "you did not mean to tire the
horses, and what is done without meaning is not set down to the score. If you
feel a scruple about so small a matter, what real transgression could you ever
commit?" And they learnt the righteousness from him also, [378] and wrote it
down upon their golden plate. But the charioteer sent them in search of a
certain wealthy man, saying, "Even though this righteousness does not bless me,
he keeps it carefully."
So to this rich man they came, and asked him. Now he one day had gone to his
paddy field, and seeing a head of rice bursting the husk, went about to tie it
up with a wisp of rice; and taking a handful of it, he tied the head to a post.
Then it occurred to him--"From this field I have yet to give the king his due,
and I have taken a handful of rice from an untithed field! I, who observe the
rules of Kuru righteousness! Surely I must have broken them!" And this matter he
told to the messengers, saying, "Now I am in doubt about this righteousness, and
so I cannot give it to you."
"But," said they, "you had no thought of thieving; without this one cannot be
proclaimed 1 guilty of theft. If you feel scruples in such a small matter, when
will you ever take what belongs to another man?" And from him too they received
the righteousness, and wrote it down on their golden plate. He added, "Still,
though I am not happy in this matter, the Master of the Royal Granaries keeps
these rules well. Go, ask him for them." So they betook them to the Master of
the Granaries.
Now this man, as he sat one day at the door of the granary, causing the rice of
the king's tax to be measured, took a grain from the heap which was not yet
measured, and put it down for a marker. At that moment rain began to fall. The
official counted up the markers, so many, and then swept them all together and
dropt them upon the heap which had been measured. Then he ran in quickly and sat
in the gate-house. "Did I throw the markers on the measured heap or the
unmeasured?" he wondered; and the thought came into his mind--[379] "If I threw
them on what was already measured, the king's property has been increased,
p. 259
and the owners have lost; I keep the Kuru righteousness; and now here's a flaw!"
So he told this to the messengers, adding that therefore he had his doubts about
it, and could not give it to them. But the messengers said, "You had no thought
of theft, and without this no one can be declared guilty of dishonesty. If you
feel scruples in a small matter like this, when would you ever steal any thing
belonging to another?" And from him too they received the righteousness, and
wrote it on their golden plate. "But," added he, "although this virtue is not
perfect in me, there is the gatekeeper, who observes it well: go and get it from
him." So they went off and asked the gatekeeper.
Now it so happened that one day, at the time for closing the city gate, he cried
aloud three times. And a certain poor man, who had gone into the woodland
a-gathering sticks and leaves with his youngest sister, hearing the sound came
running up with her. Says the door keeper--"What! don't you know that the king
is in the city'? Don't you know that the gate of this town is shut betimes? Is
that why you go out into the woods, making love?" Said the other, "No, master,
it is not my wife, but my sister." Then the porter thought, "How unseemly to
address a sister as a wife! And I keep the rules of the Kurus; surely I must
have broken them now!" This he told the messengers, adding, "In this way I have
my doubts whether I really keep the Kuru righteousness, and so I cannot give it
to you." But they said, "You said it because you thought so; [380] this does not
break your virtue. If you feel remorse on so slight a cause, how could you ever
tell a lie with intent?" And so they took down those virtues from him too, and
wrote them on their golden plate.
Then he said, "But though this virtue does not bless me, there is a courtesan
who keeps it well; go and ask her." And so they did. She refused as the others
had done, for the following reason. Sakka, king of the gods, designed to try her
goodness; so putting on the shape of a youth, he gave her a thousand pieces,
saying, "I will come by and bye." Then he returned to heaven, and did not visit
her for three years. And she, for honour's sake, for three years took not so
much as a piece of betel from another man. By degrees she got poor; and then she
thought--"The man who gave me a thousand pieces has not come these three years;
and now I have grown poor. I cannot keep body and soul together. Now I must go
tell the Chief Justices, and get my wage as before." So to the court she came,
and said, "There was a man three years ago gave me a thousand pieces, and never
came back; whether he be dead I know not. I cannot keep body and soul together;
what am I to do, my lord'?" Said he, "If he does not come for three years, what
can you do? Earn your wage as before." As soon as she left the court, after this
award, there came a man who offered her a thousand. As she held out her hands to
take it, Sakka showed himself. Said she, "Here is the man who gave me
p. 260
a thousand pieces three years ago: I must not take your money;" and she drew
back her hand. Then Sakka caused his own proper shape to be seen, and hovered in
the air, shining like the sun fresh risen, and gathered all the city together.
Sakka, in the midst of the crowd, [381] said, "To test her goodness I gave her a
thousand pieces three years ago. Be like her, and like her keep your honour;"
and with this monition, he filled her dwelling with jewels of seven kinds, and
saying, "Henceforth be vigilant," he comforted her, and went away to heaven. So
for this cause she refused, saying, "Because before I had earned one wage I held
out my hand for another, therefore my virtue is not perfect, and so I cannot
give it to you." To this the messengers replied, "Merely to hold out the hand is
not a breach of virtue: that virtue of yours is the highest perfection!" And
from her, as from the rest, they received the rules of virtue, and wrote them on
their golden plate. They took it with them to Dantapura, and told the king how
they had fared.
Then their king practised the Kuru precepts, and fulfilled the Five Virtues. And
then in all the realm of Kāliṅga the rain fell; the three fears were allayed;
the land became prosperous and fertile. The Bodhisatta all his life long gave
alms and did good, and then with his subjects went to fill the heavens.
_____________________________
When the Teacher had ended this discourse, he declared the Truths, and explained
the Birth-tale. At the conclusion of the Truths, some entered the First Path,
some the Second, some entered the Third, and some became saints. And the
Birth-tale is thus explained:--
"Uppalavaṇṇā was the courtesan,
Puṇṇa the porter, and the driver was
Kuccāna; Kolita, the measurer;
The rich man, Sāriputta; he who drove
The chariot, Anuruddha; and the priest
Was Kassapa the Elder; he that was
The Viceroy, now is Nandapaṇḍita;
Rāhula's mother has the queen-consort,
The Queen-mother was Māyā; and the King
Was Bodhisatta.--Thus the Birth is clear."




Footnotes
251:1 Cf. Cariyā-Piṭaka, I. 3; Dhammapada, p. 416.--In this story the king
appears as a rain-maker, and on certain occasions dresses like the gods.
253:1 i.e. we spent all we had on food, trusting that you would give us the
elephant when we asked for it.
254:1 October-November.
257:1 Some difference there must be between rajjugāhahaamacco and sāratthi (the
same words occur in Dhp. p. 416). I would suggest that the former is the more
important, and may answer to the Greek παραιβάτης, Skr. savyéṣṭher.
258:1 I.e. in the saṁgha (ñatti is a 'resolution').



Next: No. 277. Romaka-Jātaka

Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Tika-Nipata

Jataka Vol. II: Book III. Tika-Nipāta: No. 275.



No. 275.
[365] "Who is this pretty Crane," etc.--This story the Master told at Jetavana
about some greedy Brother. The two stories are just the same as the last. And
these are the verses:--
_____________________________
"Who is this pretty Crane, and why
Does he in my Crow's basket lie?
An angry bird, my friend the Crow!
This is his nest, I'd have you know!"
"Do you not know me, friend, indeed?
Together we were used to feed!
I would not do as I was told,
So now I'm plucked, as you behold."
"You'll come to grief again, I know--
It is your nature to do so.
When people make a dish of meat
’Tis not for little birds to eat."
As before, the Bodhisatta said--"I can't live here any more," and flew away some
whither.
_____________________________
When this discourse was ended, the Master declared the Truths and identified the
Birth:--at the conclusion of the Truths, the greedy Brother attained the Fruit
of the Third Path:--"The greedy Brother was the Crow, and I was the Pigeon."



Next: No. 276. Kurudhamma-Jātaka

Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Tika-Nipata - Lola Jataka

Jataka Vol. II: Book III. Tika-Nipāta: No. 274. Lola Jataka



p. 248
No. 274
LOLA-JĀTAKA 1.
"Who is this tufted crane," etc.--This story the Master told in Jetavana about a
greedy Brother. He too was brought to the Audience Hall, when the Master
said--"It is not only now that he is greedy; greedy he was before, and his greed
lost him his life; and by his means wise men of old were driven out of house and
home." Then he told a story.
_____________________________
Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, a rich merchant's cook
of that town hung up a nest-basket in the kitchen to win merit by it. The
Bodhisatta at that time was a Pigeon; and he came and lived in it.
Now a greedy Crow as he flew over the kitchen was attracted by the fish which
lay about in great variety. He fell a-hungering after it. "How in the world can
I get some?" [362] thought he. Then his eye fell upon the Bodhisatta. "I have
it!" thinks he, "I'll make this creature my cat's-paw." And this is how he
carried out his resolve.
When the Pigeon went out to seek his day's food, behind him, following,
following, came the Crow.
"What do you want with me, Mr Crow?" says the Pigeon. "You and I don't feed
alike."
"Ah, but I like you," says the Crow. "Let me be your humble servant, and feed
with you."
The Pigeon agreed. But when they went feeding together, the Crow only pretended
to eat with him; ever and anon he would turn back, peck to bits some lump of
cow-dung, and get a worm or two. When he had had his bellyful, up he
flies--"Hullo, Mr Pigeon! what a time you take over your meal! You never know
where to draw the line. Come, let's be going back before it is too late." And so
they did. When they got back together, the Cook, seeing that their Pigeon had
brought a friend, hung up another basket.
In this way things went on for four or five days. Then a great purchase of fish
came to the rich man's kitchen. How the Crow longed
p. 249
for some! There he lay, from early morn, groaning and making a great noise. In
the morning, says the Pigeon to the Crow:
"Come along, old fellow,--break fast!"
"You can go," says he, "I have such a fit of indigestion!"
"A Crow with indigestion? Nonsense!" says the Pigeon. "Even a lamp-wick hardly
stays any time in your stomach; and anything else you digest in a trice, as soon
as you eat it. Now you do what I tell you. [363] Don't behave in this way just
for seeing a little fish!"
"Why, Sir, what are you saying? I tell, you I have a bad pain inside!
"All right, all right," says the Pigeon; "only do take care." And away he flew.
The Cook got all the dishes ready, and then stood at the kitchen door, mopping
the sweat off him. "Now's my time!" thinks Mr Crow, and alights on a dish with
some dainty food in it. Click! The cook heard the noise, and looked round. Ah!
in a twinkling he caught the Crow, and plucked off all his feathers, except one
tuft on the top of his head; then he powdered ginger and cinnamon, and mixt it
up with buttermilk, and rubbed it in well all over the bird's body. "That's for
spoiling my master's dinner, and making me throw it away!" said he, and threw
him into his basket. Oh, how it hurt!
By and by, in came the Pigeon from his hunt. The first thing he saw was our
Crow, making a great to-do. What fun he did make of him, to be sure! He dropt
into poetry, as follows:--
"Who is this tufted crane 1 I see
Where she has no right to be?
Come out! my friend the Crow is near,
Who will do you harm, I fear!"
[364] To this the Crow answered with another verse:--
"No tufted crane am I--no, no!
Nothing but a greedy Crow.
I would not do as I was told
So I'm plucked, as you behold."
And the Pigeon rejoined with a third:--
"You'll come to grief again, I know--
It is your nature to do so.
If people make a dish of meat,
’Tis not for little birds to cat."
p. 250
Then the Pigeon flew away, saying--"I can't live with this creature." And the
Crow lay there groaning until he died.
_____________________________
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:--"The greedy Brother in those days was the greedy Crow; and I
was the Pigeon."



Footnotes
248:1 The same story occurs in vol. i. p. 112 (no. 42). It has been also
translated and slightly shortened by the writer, in Jacobs' Indian Fairy Tales,
page 222. The two birds and the nest-basket seem to be figured on the Bharhut
Stalin (Cunningham, pl. XLV. 7).
249:1 The epithet "whose grandfather is the cloud (lit. swift one)" is added. I
hope the reader will pardon its omission; it is unmanageable. The scholiast
explains it by the curious superstition:--Cranes are conceived at the sound of
thunder. Hence thunder is called their father, and the thundercloud their
grandfather.



Next: No. 275.

Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Tika-Nipata - Kacchapa Jataka

Jataka Vol. II: Book III. Tika-Nipāta: No. 273. Kacchapa-Jātaka



No. 273.
KACCHAPA-JĀTAKA.
[359] "Quis pateram extendens," etc.--This story the Master told during a. stay
in Jetavana, how a quarrel was made up between two magnates of the king's court
in Kosala 1. The circumstances have been told in the Second Book.
_____________________________
Brahmadatta quondam Benari regnante, Bodisatta sacerdotali genere regno Kasensi
natus, postquam ad puberem aetatem pervenit, in urbe Takkasila studiis se dedit,
et mox, cum lubidines tandem compressisset, solitarius homo in agro Himavanto
prope ripam Gangae frondibus ramisque arborum mapale contexit ubi habitaret,
Facultates Potentiasque magicas foveret, gaudium perpetuae cogitationis
perciperet. Tum quidem hoc modo nato ita mens erat placida placataque ut ad
summam patientiam unus pervenerit.
p. 247
Quem in limine casae sedentem visitabat Simius quidam impudentissimus
pessimusque, inque aurem eius semen emittere solebat, neque tamen eius commovere
poterat, sed sedebat porro summa animi tranquillitate Bodisatta. Accidit quondam
ut ex aqua Testudo egressa somnum ore aperto captaret, in sole apricans. Quam
cum vidisset Simius ille impudens, nec mora, pene in os inserto incepit futuere.
Continuo Testudo experrecta os velut cistellam conclusit dentibusque comprendit
id quod incertum erat. Simius cum nequiret nimium dolorem mulcere 'quo eam,'
inquit, 'cui persuadeam ut hoc dolore me liberet?' Fore ut liberaretur ratus si
ad Bodisattam pervenisset, Testudine ambabus manibus sublata ad Bodisattam
pergit: qui ludos fecit Simium versibus his: [360]
"quis pateram extendens 1 nostram mendicat ad aulam?
unde venis? precibus quae, precor, esca datast?"
Quibus auditis Simius respondit:
"quod tetigisse nefas, tetigi: sum simius amens:
eripe me! creptus mox nemora alta petam."
Continuo pergit Bodisatta, Simium allocutus:
"Cassapa testudo genus est: Condannus at ille:
Cassapa Condannum mitte fututa precor 2."
[361] His verbis valde delectata Testudo Simium omisit: qui Bodisattae dicta
salute, se in fugam dedit, neque umquam postea eum locum ne oculis quidem
usurpavit. Testudo quoque cum salutem dixisset abiit, at Bodisatta, defixo in
contemplatione perpetua animo, tandem in eum locum, cuius dominus Brahma deus,
pervenit.
_____________________________
When this discourse was ended, the Master declared the Truths and identified the
Birth: "The two magnates were the Monkey and Tortoise, and I was the hermit."



Footnotes
246:1 Compare Nos. 154, 165.
247:1 The tortoise looked like a begging bowl.
247:2 A curious verse, as bearing on the laws of marriage. Kassapa means
'belonging to the Tortoise clan' (for which sec e.g. Muir, Sanskrit Texts, i.
438). The scholiast's note is: "The Tortoises are of the Kassapa clan, monkeys
of the Koṇḍañña" = Skr. Kauṇḍinya, "between which two clans there is
intermarriage (āvāhavivāhasambandho); now that it is consummated, let go."



Next: No. 274. Lola-Jātaka

Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Tika-Nipata - Vyaggha Jataka

Jataka Vol. II: Book III. Tika-Nipāta: No. 272. Vyaggha-Jātaka



No. 272.
VYAGGHA-JĀTAKA.
"What time the nearness," etc.--[356] This story the Master told whilst living
at Jetavana, about Kokālika 1. The circumstances of this story will be given in
the Thirteenth Book, and the Takkāriya-jātaka 2. Here again Kokālika said, "I
will take Sāriputta and Moggallāna with me." So having left Kokālika's country,
he travelled to Jetavana, greeted the Master, and went on to the
p. 245
[paragraph continues] Elders. He said, "Friends, the citizens of Kokālika's
country summon you. Let us go thither!!" "Go yourself, friend, we won't," was
the answer. After this refusal he went away by himself.
The Brethren got talking about this in the Hall of Truth. "Friend! Kokālika
can't live either with Sāriputta and Moggallāna, or without them! He can't put
up with their room or their company!" The Master came in, and enquired what they
were all talking about together. They told him. He said, "In olden days, just as
now, Kokālika couldn't live with Sāriputta and Moggallāna, or without them." And
he told a story.
_____________________________
Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta was a
tree-spirit living in a wood. Not far from his abode lived another tree-spirit,
in a great monarch of the forest. In the same forest dwelt a lion and a tiger.
For fear of them no one durst till the earth, or cut down a tree, no one could
even pause to look at it, And the lion and tiger used to kill and eat all manner
of creatures; and what remained after eating, they left on the spot and
departed, so that the forest was full of foul decaying stench.
The other spirit, being foolish and knowing neither reason nor unreason, one day
bespoke thus the Bodhisatta:
"Good friend, the forest is full of foul stench all because of this lion and
this tiger. I will drive then away."
Said he, "Good friend, it is just these two creatures [357] that protect our
homes. Once they are driven off, our homes will be made desolate. If men see not
the lion and the tiger tracks, they will cut all the forest down, make it all
one open space, and till the land. Please do not do this thing! "and then he
uttered the first two stanzas:
"What time the nearness of a bosom friend
Threatens your peace to end,
If you are wise, guard your supremacy
Like the apple of your eye.
"But when your bosom friend does more increase
The measure of your peace,
Let your friend's life in everything right through
Be dear as yours to you."
When the Bodhisatta had thus explained the matter, the foolish sprite
notwithstanding did not lay it to heart, but one day assumed an awful shape, and
drove away the lion and tiger. The people, no longer seeing the footmarks of
these, divined that the lion and tiger must have gone to another wood, and cut
down one side of this wood. Then the sprite came up to the Bodhisatta [358] and
said to him,
"All, friend, I did not do as you said, but drove the creatures away; and now
men have found out that they are gone, and they are cutting down the wood! What
is to be done?" The reply was, that they were
p. 246
gone to live in such and such a wood; the sprite must go and fetch them back.
This the sprite did; and, standing in front of them, repeated the third stanza,
with a respectful salute:
"Come back, O Tigers! to the wood again,
And let it not be levelled with the plain;
For, without you, the axe will lay it low;
You, without it, for ever homeless go."
This request they refused, saying, "Go away! we will not come." The sprite
returned to the forest alone. And the men after a very few
(lays cut down all the wood, made fields, and brought them under cultivation.
When the sprite had ended this discourse, he declared the Truths and identified
the Birth:--"Kokālika was then the foolish Sprite, Sāriputta the Lion,
Moggallāna the Tiger, and the wise Sprite was I myself."



Footnotes
244:1 Kokālika was a follower of Devadatta.
244:2 No. 481.



Next: No. 273. Kacchapa-Jātaka

Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Tika-Nipata - Udapana-Dusaka Jataka

Jataka Vol. II: Book III. Tika-Nipāta: No. 271. Udapāna-Dūsaka-Jātaka



No. 271.
UDAPĀNA-DŪSAKA-JĀTAKA.
"This well a forest-anchorite," etc.--This story the Master told whilst dwelling
at Isipatana, about a Jackal that fouled a well.
We learn that a Jackal used to foul a well where the Brethren used to draw
water, and then used to make off. One clay the novices pelted him with clods of
earth, and made it uncomfortable for him. After that he never came to look at
the place again.
The Brethren heard of this and began to discuss it in the Hall of Truth.
"Friend, the jackal that used to foul our well has never come near it since the
novices chased him away with clods!" The Master came in, and asked what they
were talking about now as they sat together. They told him. Then he replied,
"Brethren, this is not the first time that this jackal fouled a well. He did the
sane before;" and then he told an old-world tale.
_____________________________
p. 244
Once on a time, in this place near Benares called Isipatana was that very well.
At that time the Bodhisatta was born of a good family. When he grew up he
embraced the religious life, and with a body of followers dwelt at Isipatana. A
certain Jackal fouled the well as has been described, and took to his heels. One
day, the ascetics surrounded him, and having caught him somehow, they led him
before the Bodhisatta. He addressed the Jackal in the lines of the first
stanza:--
"This well a forest-anchorite has made
Who long has lived a hermit in the glade.
And after all his trouble and his toil
Why did you try, my friend, the well to spoil?"
[355] On hearing this, the Jackal repeated the second stanza:--
"This is the law of all the Jackal race,
To foul when they have drunk in any place:
My sires and grandsires always did the same;
So there is no just reason for your blame."
Then the Bodhisatta replied with the third:
"If this is 'law' in jackal polity
I wonder what their 'lawlessness' can be!
I hope that I have seen the last of you,
Your actions, lawful and unlawful too."
Thus the Great Being admonished him, and said, "Do not go there again."
Thenceforward he did not even pause to look at it.
When the Master had ended this discourse he declared the Truths and identified
the Birth:--"The Jackal that fouled the well is the same in both cases; and I
was the chief of the ascetic band."



Next: No. 272. Vyaggha-Jātaka

Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Tika-Nipata - Uluka Jataka

Jataka Vol. II: Book III. Tika-Nipāta: No. 270. Ulūka-Jātaka



No. 270.
ULŪKA-JĀTAKA.
"The owl is King," etc.--This story the Master told while living at Jetavana,
about a quarrel between Crows and Owls.
At the period in question, the Crows used to eat Owls during the day, and at
night, the Owls flew about, nipping off the heads of the Crows as they slept,
and thus killing them. There was a certain brother who lived in a cell on the
outskirts of Jetavana. When the time came for sweeping, there used to be a
quantity of crows' heads to throw away, which had dropt from the tree, enough to
fill seven or eight potties. He told this to the brethren. In the Hall of Truth
the Brethren began to talk about it. "Friend, Brother So-and-so finds over so
many crows' heads to throw away every day in the place where he lives!" [352]
The Master came in, and asked what they were talking about as they sat together.
They told him. They went on to ask how long it was since the Crows and Owls fell
a-quarrelling. The Master replied, "Since the time of the first age of the
world;" and then he told them an old-world tale.
_____________________________
Once upon a time, the people who lived in the first cycle of the world gathered
together, and took for their king a certain man, handsome, auspicious,
commanding, altogether perfect. The quadrupeds also gathered, and chose for king
the Lion; and the fish in the ocean chose them a fish called Ānanda. Then all
the birds in the Himalayas assembled upon a flat rock, crying,
"Among men there is a king, and among the beasts, and the fish have one too; but
amongst us birds king there is none. We should not live in anarchy; we too
should choose a king. Fix on some one fit to be set in the king's place!"
They searched about for such a bird, and chose the Owl; "Here is the bird we
like," said they. And a bird made proclamation three times to all that there
would be a vote taken on this matter. After patiently hearing this announcement
twice, on the third time up rose a Crow, and cried out,
"Stay now! If that is what he looks like when he is being consecrated king, what
will he look like when he is angry? If he only looks at us in anger, we shall be
scattered like sesame seeds thrown on a hot
p. 243
plate. I don't want to make this fellow king!" and enlarging upon this he
uttered the first stanza:--[353]
"The owl is king, you say, o'er all bird-kind:
With your permission, may I speak my mind?"
The Birds repeated the second, granting him leave to speak:--
"You have our leave, Sir, so it be good and right:
For other birds are young, and wise, and bright."
Thus permitted, he repeated the third:--
"I like not (with all deference be it said)
To have the Owl anointed as our Head.
Look at his face! if this good humour be,
What will he do when he looks angrily?"
Then he flew up into the air, cawing out "I don't like it! I don't like it!" The
Owl rose and pursued him. Thenceforward those two nursed enmity one towards
another. And the birds chose a golden Goose for their king, and dispersed.
_____________________________
[354] When the Master had ended this discourse, he declared the Truths and
identified the Birth:--"At that time, the wild Goose chosen for king was I
myself."



Next: No. 271. Udapāna-Dūsaka-Jātaka

Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Tika-Nipata - Sujata Jataka

Jataka Vol. II: Book III. Tika-Nipāta: No. 269. Sujāta-Jātaka



No. 269.
SUJĀTA-JĀTAKA.
"Those who are dowered," etc.--This story the Master told while living in
Jetavana about one Sujātā, a daughter-in-law of Anātha-piṇḍika, daughter of the
great merchant Dhanañjaya, and youngest sister of Visākhā.
We are told that she entered the house of Anātha-piṇḍika full of haughtiness,
thinking how great a family she had come from, and she was obstinate, violent,
passionate, and cruel; refused to do her part towards her new father and mother,
or her husband; and went about the house with harsh words and hard blows for
everyone.
One day, the Master and five hundred brothers visited Anātha-piṇḍika's house,
and took their seats. The great merchant sat beside the Blessed One, hearkening
to his discourse. At the same time Sujātā happened to be scolding the servants.
The Master ceased speaking, and asked what that noise was. The merchant
explained that it was his rude daughter-in-law; that she did not behave properly
towards her husband or his parents, she gave no alms, and had no good points;
faithless and unbelieving, she went about the house scolding day and night. The
Master bade send for her.
The woman came, and after saluting the Master, she stood on one side. Then the
Master addressed her thus:
"Sujātā, there are seven kinds of wife a man may have; of which sort are you?"
She replied, "Sir, you speak too shortly for me to understand; please explain."
"Well," said the Master, "listen attentively," and he uttered the following
verses:
"One is bad-hearted, nor compassionates
The good; loves others, but her lord she hates.
Destroying all that her lord's wealth obtains 1,
This wife the title of Destroyer gains. p. 240
"Whate’er the husband gets for her by trade,
Or skilled profession, or the farmer's spade,
[348] She tries to filch a little out of it.
For such a wife the title Thief is fit.
"Careless of duty, lazy, passionate,
Greedy, foul-mouthed, and full of wrath and hate,
Tyrannical to all her underlings
All this the title High and Mighty brings.
"Who evermore compassionates the good,
Cares for her husband as a mother would,
Guards all the wealth her husband may obtain--
This wife the title Motherly will gain.
"She who respects her husband in the way
Young sisters reverence to elders pay,
Modest, obedient to her husband's will,
The Sisterly is this wife's title still.
"She whom her husband's sight will always please
As friend that friend after long absence sees,
High-bred and virtuous, giving up hen life
To him--this one is called the Friendly wife.
"Calm when abused, afraid of violence,
No passion, full of dogged patience,
True-hearted, bending to her husband's will,
Slave is the title given to her still."
[349] "These, Sujātā, are the seven wives a man may have. Three of these, the
Destructive wife, the Dishonest wife, and Madam High and Mighty are reborn in
hell; the other four in the Fifth Heaven.
"They who are called Destroyer in this life,
The High and Mighty, or the Thievish wife,
Being angry, wicked, disrespectful, go
Out of the body into hell below.
"They who are called the Friendly in this life,
Motherly, Sisterly, or Slavish wife,
By virtue and their long self-mastery
Pass into heaven when their bodies die."
Whilst the Master was explaining these seven kinds of wives, Sujātā attained to
the Fruit of the First Path; and when the Master asked to which class she
belonged, she answered, "I am a slave, Sir!" and respectfully saluting the
Buddha, gained pardon of him.
Thus by one admonition the Master tamed the shrew; and after the meal, when he
had declared their duties amidst the Brotherhood, he entered his scented
chamber.
Now the Brethren gathered together in the Hall of Truth, and sang the Master's
praises. "Friend, by a single admonition the Master has tamed a shrew, and
raised her to Fruition of the First Path!" The Master entered, and asked what
they were talking of as they sat together. They told him. Said he, "Brethren,
this is not the first time that I have tamed Sujātā by a single admonition." And
he proceeded to tell an old-world tale.
_____________________________
Once upon a time, while Brahmadatta reigned over Benares, the Bodhisatta was
born as the son of his Queen Consort. When he grew up
p. 241
he received his education at Takkasilā, and after the death of his father,
became king and ruled in righteousness.
His mother was a passionate woman, cruel, harsh, shrewish, ill-tongued. The son
wished to admonish his mother; but he felt he must not do anything so
disrespectful; so he kept on the look-out for a chance of dropping a hint.
One day he went down into the grounds, and his mother went with him. [350] A
blue jay screeched on the road. At this all the courtiers stopped their ears,
crying--
"What a harsh voice, what a shriek!--don't make that noise!"
While the Bodhisatta was walking through the park with his mother, and a company
of players, a cuckoo, perched amid the thick leaves of a sāl 1 tree, sang with a
sweet note. All the bystanders were delighted at her voice; clasping their
hands, and stretching them out, they besought leer--"Oh, what a soft voice, what
a kind voice, what a gentle voice!--sing away, birdie, sing away!" and there
they stood, stretching their necks, eagerly listening.
The Bodhisatta, noting these two things, thought that here was a chance to drop
a hint to the queen-mother. "Mother," said he, "when they heard the jay's cry on
the road, every body stopped their ears, and called out--Don't make that noise!
don't make that noise! and stopped up their ears: for harsh sounds are liked by
no body." And he repeated the following stanzas:
"Those who are dowered with a lovely-hue,
Though ne’er so fair and beautiful to view,
Yet if they have a voice all harsh to hear
Neither in this world nor the next are dear.
"There is a bird that you may often see;
Ill-favoured, black, and speckled though it be,
Yet its soft voice is pleasant to the ear:
How many creatures hold the cuckoo dear!
"Therefore your voice should gentle be and sweet,
Wise-speaking, not puffed up with self-conceit.
And such a voice--how sweet the sound of it!--
Explains the meaning of the Holy Writ 2."
When the Bodhisatta had thus admonished his mother with these three verses, he
won her over to his. way of thinking; and ever afterwards sin followed a right
course of living. And he having by one word made his mother a self-denying woman
afterwards passed away to fare according to his deeds.
_____________________________
p. 242
[351] When the Master had ended this discourse, he thus identified the Birth:
"Sujātā was the mother of the king of Benares, and I was the king himself."



Footnotes
239:1 It is not clear whether vadhena kītassa is 'the thing bought by his
wealth,' or the 'person'; probably both.
241:1 Shorea Robusta.
241:2 The last stanza comes from Dhammapada, v. 363, not quoted word for word,
but adapted to the context.



Next: No. 270. Ulūka-Jātaka

Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Tika-Nipata - Arama Dusa Jataka

Jataka Vol. II: Book III. Tika-Nipāta: No. 268. Arama Dusa Jataka



No. 268 1.
ĀRĀMA-DŪSA-JĀTAKA.
"Best of all," etc.--This story the Master told whilst dwelling in the country
near Dakkhiṇāgiri, about a gardener's son.
After the rains, the Master left Jetavana, and went on alms-pilgrimage in the
p. 238
district about Dakkhiṇāgiri. A layman invited the Buddha and his company, and
made them sit down in his grounds till he gave them of rice and cakes, Then he
said, "If any of the holy Fathers care to see over the grounds, they might go
along with the gardener;" and he ordered the gardener to supply them with any
fruit they might fancy.
By and bye they came upon a bare spot. "What is the reason," they asked "that
this spot is bare and treeless?" "The reason is," answered the gardener, "that a
certain gardener's son, who had to water the saplings, thought he had better
give them water in proportion to the length of the roots; so he pulled them all
up to see, and watered them accordingly. The result was that the place became
bare."
The Brethren returned, and told this to their Master. Said he, "Not now only has
the lad destroyed a plantation; he did just the same before;" and then he told
them an old-world tale.
_____________________________
Once upon a time, when a king named Vissasena was reigning over Benares,
proclamation was made of a holiday. The park keeper thought he would go and keep
holiday; so calling the monkeys that lived in the park, he said:
"This park is a great blessing to you. I want to take a week's holiday. Will you
water the saplings on the seventh day?" "Oh, yes," said they; he gave them the
watering-skins, and went his way.
The monkeys drew water, and began to water the roots.
The eldest monkey cried out: "Wait, now! It's hard to get water always. We must
husband it. Let us pull up the plants, [346] and notice the length of their
roots; if they have long roots, they need plenty of water; but short ones need
but a little." "True, true," they agreed; then some of them pulled up the
plants; then others put them in again, and watered them.
The Bodhisatta at the time was a young gentleman living in Benares. Something or
other took him to this park, and he saw what the monkeys were doing.
"Who bids you do that?" asked he.
"Our chief," they replied.
"If that is the wisdom of the chief, what must the rest of you be like!" said
he; and to explain the matter, he uttered the first stanza:
"Best of all the troop is this:
What intelligence is his!
If he was chosen as the best,
What sort of creatures are the rest!"
Hearing this remark, the monkeys rejoined with the second stanza:
"Brahmin, you know not what you say
Blaming us in such a way!
If the root we do not know,
How can we tell the trees that grow?"
p. 239
To which the Bodhisatta replied by the third, as follows:
"Monkeys, I have no blame for you,
Nor those who range the woodland through.
The monarch is a fool, to say
'Please tend my trees while I'm away.'"
_____________________________
[347] When this discourse was ended, the Master identified the Birth: "The lad
who destroyed the park was the monkey chief, and I was the wise man."



Footnotes
237:1 This is the same story as No. 46 (vol. i. of the translation, p. 118): it
is briefer, and the verses are not the same. See Folk-Lore Journal, iii. 251;
Cunningham, Bharhut, v.v. 5.



Next: No. 269. Sujāta-Jātaka

Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Tika-Nipata - Kakkata Jataka

Jataka Vol. II: Book III. Tika-Nipāta: No. 267. Kakkatā-Jātaka



No. 267.
KAKKATĀ-JĀTAKA 1.
"Gold-clawed creature," etc.--[341] This story the Master told while dwelling at
Jetavana, about a certain woman.
We are told that a certain land-owner of Sāvatthi, with his wife, was on a
journey into the country for the purpose of collecting debts, when he fell among
robbers. Now the wife was very beautiful and charming. The robber chief was so
taken by her that he purposed killing the husband to get her. But the woman was
good and virtuous, a devoted wife. She fell at the robber's feet, crying, "My
lord, if you kill my husband for love of me, I will take poison, or stop my
breath, and kill myself too! With you I will not go. Do not kill my husband
uselessly!" In this way she begged him off.
They both got back safe to Sāvatthi. Then it occurred to them as they passed the
monastery in Jetavana, that they would visit it and salute the Master. So to the
perfumed cell they went, and after salutation sat down on one side. The Master
asked them where they had been. "To collect our debts," they replied. "Did your
journey pass off without mishap?" he asked next. "We were captured by robbers on
the way," said the husband, "and the chief wanted to murder me; but my wife here
begged me off, and I owe my life to her." Then said the Master, "You are not the
only one, layman, whose life she has saved. In days of yore she saved the lives
of other wise men." And then at his request the Master told an old-world tale.
_____________________________
Once on a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, there was a great lake in
Himalaya, wherein was a great golden Crab. Because he lived there, the place was
known as the Crab Tarn. The Crab was very large, as big round as a threshing
floor; it would catch elephants, and kill
p. 236
and eat them; and from fear of it [342] the elephants durst not go down and
browse there.
Now the Bodhisatta was conceived by the mate of an elephant, the leader of a
herd, living hard by this Crab Tarn. The mother, in order to be safe till her
delivery, sought another place on a mountain, and there she was delivered of a
son; who in due time grew to years of wisdom, and was great and mighty, and
prospered, and he was like a purple mountain of collyrium.
He chose another elephant for his mate, and he resolved to catch this Crab. So
with his mate and his mother, he sought out the elephant herd, and finding his
father, proposed to go and catch the Crab.
"You will not be able to do that, my son," said he.
But he begged the father again and again to give him leave, until at last he
said, "Well, you may try."
So the young Elephant collected all the elephants beside the Crab Tarn, and led
them close by the lake. "Does the Crab catch them when they go down, or while
they are feeding, or when they come up again?"
They replied, "When the beasts come up again."
"Well then," said he, "do you all go down to the lake and eat whatever you see,
and come up first; I will follow last behind you." And so they did. Then the
Crab, seeing the Bodhisatta coming up last, caught his feet tight in his claw,
like a smith who seizes a lump of iron in a huge pair of tongs. The Bodhisatta's
mate did not leave him, but stood there close by him. The Bodhisatta pulled at
the Crab, but could not make him budge. Then the Crab pulled, and drew him
towards himself. At this in deadly fear the Elephant roared and roared; hearing
which all the other elephants, in deadly terror, ran off trumpeting, and
dropping excrement. Even his mate could not stand, but began to make off. [343]
Then to tell her how he was held a prisoner, he uttered the first stanza, hoping
to stay her from her flight:
"Gold-clawed 1 creature with projecting eyes,
Tarn-bred, hairless, clad in bony shell,
He has caught me! hear my woful cries!--
Mate! don't leave me--for you love me well!"
Then his mate turned round, and repeated. the second stanza to his comfort:
"Leave you? never! never will I go--
Noble husband, with your years threescore.
All four quarters of the earth can show
None so dear as thou hast been of yore."
p. 237
this s way she encouraged him; and saying, "Noble sir, now I will talk to the
Crab a while to make him let you go," she addressed the Crab in the third
stanza: [344]
"Of all the crabs that in the sea,
Ganges, or Nerbudda be,
You are best and chief, I know:
Hear me--let my husband go!"
As she spoke thus, the Crab's fancy was smitten with the sound of the female
voice, and forgetting all fear he loosed his claws from the Elephant's leg, and
suspected nothing of what he would do when he was set free. Then the Elephant
lifted his foot, and stepped upon the Crab's back; and at once his eyes startled
out. The Elephant shouted the joy-cry. Up ran the other elephants all, pulled
the Crab along and set him upon the ground, and trampled him to mincemeat. His
two claws broken from his body lay apart. And this Crab Tarn, being near the
Ganges, when there was a flood in the Ganges, was filled with Ganges water; when
the water subsided it ran from the lake into the Ganges. Then these two claws
were lifted and floated along the Ganges. One of them reached the sea, the other
was found by the ten royal brothers while playing in the water, and they took it
and made of it the little drum called Ānaka. The Titans found that which reached
the sea, and made it into the drum called Āḷambara. These afterwards being
worsted in battle with Sakka, ran off and left it behind. Then Sakka caused it
to be kept for his own use; and it is of this they say, "There is thunder like
the Āḷambara cloud!
_____________________________
When this discourse was ended, the Master declared the Truths, and identified
the Birth:--at the conclusion of the Truths both husband and wife attained the
'Fruit of the First Path:--[345] "In those days, this lay sister was the
she-elephant, and I myself was her mate."



Footnotes
235:1 f. Morris in Contemp. Rev. 1881, vol. 89, p. 742; Cunningham, Stupa of
Bharhut, p1. xxv. 2.
236:1 Siṅgī means either 'horned' or 'gold,' and the scholiast gives both
interpretations. As the word suggested both to the writer, I use a word which
expresses both in English.



Next: No. 268. Ārāma-Dūsa-Jātaka

Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Tika-Nipata - Vatagga-Sindhava Jataka

Jataka Vol. II: Book III. Tika-Nipāta: No. 266. Vātagga-Sindhava-Jātaka



p. 233
No. 266.
VĀTAGGA-SINDHAVA-JĀTAKA.
"He for whose sake," etc.--This story the Master told at Jetavana, about a
certain land-owner.
At Sāvatthi, we learn, a handsome woman saw this man, who was also handsome, and
fell in love. The passion within her was like a fire burning her body through
and through. She lost her senses, both of body and of mind; she cared nothing
for food; she only lay down hugging the frame of the bedstead.
Her friends and handmaidens asked her what troubled her at heart that she lay
hugging the bedstead; what was the matter, they wished to know. The first few
times she answered nothing; but as they continued pressing her, she told them
what it was.
"Don't worry," said they, "we'll bring him to you;" and they went and had a talk
with the man. At first he refused, but by their much asking he at last
consented. They got his promise to come at a certain hour on a fixed day, and
told the woman.
She prepared her chamber, and dressed herself in her finery, and sat on the bed
waiting until he came. He sat down beside her. Then a thought came into her
mind. [338] "If I accept his addresses at once, and make myself cheap, my pride
will be humbled. To let him have his will the very first day he comes would be
out of place. I will be capricious to-day, and afterwards I will give way." So
no sooner had he touched her, and begun to dally, she caught his hands, and
spoke roughly to him, bidding him go away, as she did not want him. He shrank
back angrily, and went off home.
When the women found out what she had done, and that the man had gone off, they
reproached her. "Here you are," they said, "in love with somebody, and lie down
refusing to take nourishment; we had great difficulty in persuading the man, but
at last we bring him; and then you'll have nothing to say to him!" She told them
why it was, and they went off; warning her that she would get talked about.
The man never even came to look at her again. When she found she had lost him,
she would take no nourishment, and soon died. When the man heard of her death,
he took a quantity of flowers, scents, and perfumes, and went to Jetavana, where
he saluted the Master and sat on one side.
The Master asked him, "How is it, lay brother, that we never see you here?" He
told him the whole story, adding that he had avoided waiting on the Buddha all
this time for shame. Said the Master, "Layman, on this occasion the woman sent
for you through her passion, and then would have nothing to do with you and sent
you away angry; and just so in olden days, she fell in love with wise persons,
sent for them, and when they came refused to have anything to do with them, and
thus plagued them and sent them to the right-about." Then at his request the
Master told an old-world tale.
_____________________________
Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta was a
Sindh horse, and they called him Swift-as-the-Wind; and he was the king's horse
of ceremony. The grooms used to take him to bathe in the Ganges. There a certain
she-ass saw him, and fell in love.
p. 234
[paragraph continues] Trembling with passion, [339] she neither ate grass nor
drank water; but pined away and became thin, until she was nothing but skin and
bone. Then a foal of hers, seeing her pining away, said, "Why do you eat no
grass, mother, and drink no water; and why do you pine away, and lie trembling
in this place or that? What is the matter?" She would not say; but after he had
asked again and again, she told him the matter. Then her foal comforted her,
saying,
"Mother, do not be troubled; I will bring him to you."
So when Swift-as-the-Wind went down to bathe, the foal said, approaching him,
"Sir, my mother is in love with you: she takes no food, and she is pining away
to death. Give her life!"
"Good, my lad, I will," said the horse. "When my bath is over, the grooms let me
go awhile to exercise on the river bank. Do you bring your mother to that
place."
So the foal fetched his mother, and turned her loose in the place; then he hid
himself hard by.
The groom let Swift-as-the-Wind go for a run; he spied the she-ass, and came up
to her.
Now when the horse came up and began to sniff at her, thought the ass to
herself, "If I make myself cheap, and let him have his way as soon as he has
come here, my honour and pride will perish. I must make as though I did not wish
it." So she gave him a kick on the lower jaw, and scampered away. It broke his
jaw, and half killed him. "What does she matter to me?" thought
Swift-as-the-Wind; [340] he felt ashamed and made off.
Then the ass repented, and lay down on the spot in grief. And her son the foal
came up, and asked her a question in the following lines:
"He for whose sake you thin and yellow grew,
And would not eat a bite,
That dear beloved one is come to you;
Why do you take to flight?"
Hearing her son's voice, the ass repeated the second verse:
"If at the very first, when by her side
He stands, without delay
A woman yields, all humbled is her pride:
Therefore I ran away."
In these words she explained the feminine nature to her son.
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p. 235
The Master, in his perfect wisdom, repeated the third stanza:
"If she refuse a suitor nobly born
Who by her side would stay,
As Kundalī mourned Windswift, she must mourn
For many a long day."
When this discourse was ended, the Master declared the Truths and identified the
Birth:--at the conclusion of the Truths, this land-owner entered on the Fruit of
the First Path:--"This woman was the she-ass, and I was Swift-as-the-Wind."



Next: No. 267. Kakkatā-Jātaka

Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Tika-Nipata - Khurappa Jataka

Jataka Vol. II: Book III. Tika-Nipāta: No. 265. Khurappa-Jātaka



No. 265.
KHURAPPA-JĀTAKA.
"When many a bow," etc.--This story the Master told in Jetavana, about a Brother
who had lost all energy. The Master asked, was it true that this Brother had
lost his energy. Yes, he replied. "Why," asked he, "have you slackened your
energy, after embracing this doctrine of salvation? In days of yore, wise men
were energetic even in matters which do not lead to salvation;" and so saying he
told an old-world tale.
_____________________________
p. 232
Once on a time, while Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta was born
into the family of a forester. When he grew up, he took the lead of a band of
five hundred foresters, and lived in a village at the entrance to the forest. He
used to hire himself out to guide men through it.
Now one day a man of Benares, a merchant's son, arrived at that village with a
caravan of five hundred waggons. Sending for the Bodhisatta, he offered him a
thousand pieces to be his guide through the forest. He agreed, and received the
money from the merchant's hand; and as he took it, he mentally devoted his life
to the merchant's service. Then he guided him into the forest.
In the midst of the forest, up rose five hundred robbers. As for the rest of the
company, no sooner did they see these robbers, than they grovelled upon their
belly: the head forester alone, shouting and leaping and dealing blows, put to
flight all the five hundred robbers, and led the merchant across the wood in
safety. Once across the forest, the merchant encamped his caravan; [336] he gave
the chief forester choice meats of every kind, and himself having broken his
fast, sat pleasantly by him, and talked with him thus: "Tell me," said he, "how
it was that even when five hundred robbers, with arms in their hands, were
spread all around, you felt not even any fear in your heart?" And he uttered the
first stanza:
"When many a bow the shaft at speed let fly--
Hands grasping blades of tempered steel were nigh--
When Death had marshalled all his dread array--
Why, 'mid such terror, felt you no dismay?"
On hearing this the forester repeated the two verses following:
"When many a bow the shaft at speed let fly--
Hands grasping blades of tempered steel were nigh--
When Death had marshalled all his dread array--
I felt a great and mighty joy this day.
"And this my joy gave me the victory;
I was resolved to die, if need should be;
He must contemn his life, who would fulfil
Heroic deeds and be a hero still."
[337] Thus did he send forth his words like a shower of arrows; and having
explained how he had done heroically through being free from the desire to live,
he parted from the young merchant, and returned to his own village; where after
giving alms and doing good he passed away to fare according to his deserts.
_____________________________
When the Master had ended this discourse, he declared the Truths, and identified
the Birth:--at the conclusion of the Truths the disheartened Brother attained to
Sainthood:--"At that time I was the chief of the foresters."



Next: No. 266. Vātagga-Sindhava-Jātaka

Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Tika-Nipata - Maha-Panada Jataka

Jataka Vol. II: Book III. Tika-Nipāta: No. 264. Maha-Panada Jataka



No. 264.
MAHĀ-PANĀDA-JĀTAKA 1.
"’Twas king Panāda," etc.--This story the Master told when he was settled on the
bank of the Ganges, about the miraculous power of Elder Bhaddaji.
On one occasion, when the Master had passed the rains at Sāvatthi, he thought he
would show kindness to a young gentleman named Bhaddaji. So with all the
Brethren who were with him, he made his way to the city of Bhaddiya, and stayed
three months in Jātiyā Grove, waiting until the young man should mature and
perfect his knowledge. Now young Bhaddaji was a magnificent person, the only son
of a rich merchant in Bhaddiya, with a fortune of eight hundred millions. He had
three houses for the three seasons, in each of which he stayed four months; and
after spending this period in one of them, he used to migrate with all his kith
and kin to another in the greatest pomp. On these occasions all the town was
a-flutter to see the young man's magnificence; and between these houses used to
be erected seats in circles on circles and tiers above tiers.
When the Master had been there three months, he informed the townspeople that he
intended to leave. Begging him to wait until the morrow, the townsfolk on the
following day collected magnificent gifts for the Buddha and his attendant
Brethren; and set up a pavilion in the midst of the town, decorating it and
laying out seats; then they announced that the hour had come. The Master
p. 230
with his company went and took their seats there. Everybody gave generously to
them. After the meal was over, the Master in a voice sweet as honey returned
thanks to them.
At this moment, young Bhaddaji was passing from one of his residences to
another. [332] But that day not a soul came to see his splendour; only his own
people were about him. So he asked his people how it was. Usually all the city
was in aflutter to see him pass from house to house; circles on circles and
tiers above tiers the seats were built; but just then there was nobody but his
own followers! What could be the reason?
The reply was, "My lord, the Supreme Buddha has been spending three months near
the town, and this day he leaves. He has just finished his meal, and is holding
a discourse. All the town is there listening to his words."
"Oh, very well, we will go and hear him too," said the young man. So, in a blaze
of ornaments, with his crowd of followers about him, he went and stood on the
skirt of the crowd; as he heard the discourse, he threw off all his sins, and
attained to high fruition and sainthood.
The Master, addressing the merchant of Bhaddiya, said, "Sir, your son, in all
his splendour, while hearing my discourse has become a saint; this very day he
should either embrace the religious life, or enter Nirvana."
"Sir," replied he, "I do not wish my son to enter Nirvana. Admit him to the
religious order; this done, come with him to my house to-morrow."
The Blessed One accepted this invitation; he took the young gentleman to the
monastery, admitted him to the brotherhood, and afterward to the lesser and
greater orders. For a week the youth's parents showed generous hospitality to
him.
After remaining these seven days, the Master went on alms-pilgrimage, taking the
young man with him, and arrived at a village called Koṭi. The villagers of Koṭi
gave generously to the Buddha and his followers. At the end of this meal, the
Master began to express his thanks. While this was being done, the young
gentleman went outside the village, and by a landing-place of the Ganges he sat
down under a tree, and plunged in a trance, thinking that he would rise as soon
as the Master should come. When the Elders of greatest age approached, he did
not rise, but he rose as soon as the Master came. The unconverted folk were
angry because he behaved as though he were a Brother of old standing, not rising
up even when he saw the eldest Brethren approach.
The villagers constructed rafts. This done, [333] the Master asked where
Bhaddaji was. "There he is, Sir." "Come, Bhaddaji, come aboard my raft." The
Elder rose, and followed him to his raft. When they were in mid-river, the
Master asked him a question.
"Bhaddaji, where is the palace you lived in when Great Panāda was king?" "Here,
under the water," was the reply. The unconverted said one to the other, "Elder
Bhaddaji is showing that he is a saint!" Then the Master bade him disperse the
doubt of his fellow-students.
In a moment, the Elder, with a bow to his Master, moving by his mysterious power
1, took the whole pile of the palace on his finger, and rose in the air bearing
the palace with him (it covered a space of twenty-five leagues); then he made a
hole in it and showed himself to the present inhabitants of the palace below,
and tossed the building above the water first one league, then two, then three.
Then those who had been his kinsfolk in this former existence, who had now
become fish or tortoises, water-snakes or frogs, because they loved the palace
so much, and had come to life in the very same place, wriggled out of it when it
rose up, and tumbled over and over into the water again. When the Master saw
this, he said, "Bhaddaji, your relations are in trouble." At his Master's words
the Elder let the palace go, and it sank to the place where it had been before.
The Master passed to the further side of the Ganges. Then they prepared
p. 231
him a seat just on the river bank. On the seat prepared for the Buddha, he sat,
like the sun fresh risen pouring forth his rays. Then the Brethren asked him
when it was that Elder Bhaddaji had lived in that palace. The Master answered,
"In the days of king Great Panāda," and went on to tell them an old-world tale.
_____________________________
Once upon a time, a certain Suruci was king of Mithilā, which is a town in the
kingdom of Videha. He had a son, named Suruci likewise, and he again had a son,
the Great Panāda. They obtained possession of that mansion. They obtained it by
a deed done in a former existence. A father and son made a hut of leaves with
canes and branches of the fig-tree, as a dwelling for a Paccekabuddha.
_____________________________
The rest of the story will be told in the Suruci Birth, Book XIV. 1
[334] The Master, having finished telling this story, in his perfect wisdom
uttered these stanzas here following:--
"’Twas king Panāda who this palace had,
A thousand bowshots high, in breadth sixteen.
A thousand bowshots high, in banners clad;
An hundred storeys, all of emerald green.
"Six thousand men of music to and fro
In seven companies did dance withal:
As Bhaddaji has said, ’twas even so:
I, Sakka, was your slave, at beck and call."
[335] At that moment the unconverted people became resolved of their doubt.
When the Master had ended this discourse, he identified the Birth:--"Bhaddaji
was the Great Panāda, and I was Sakka."



Footnotes
229:1 Cp. Divyāvadāna, p. 57.
230:1 For an explanation of this phrase, aññaṁ vyākaroti, see Mahāvagga r. v. 19
with the translators' note (S. B. E., Vinaya Texts ii. p. 10).
231:1 No. 489.



Next: No. 265. Khurappa-Jātaka