Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Dukanipata - Kimsukopama Jataka

Jataka Vol. II: Book II. Dukanipāta: No. 248. Kiṁsukopama-Jātaka



No. 248.
KIṀSUKOPAMA-JĀTAKA.
[265] "All have seen," etc.--This story the Master told whilst staying at
Jetavana, on the Chapter about the Judas tree 1.
Four Brothers, approaching the Tathāgata, asked him to explain the means by
which ecstasy may be induced. This he explained. This done, they dispersed to
the several places where they spent their nights and days. One of them, having
learnt the Six Spheres of Touch, became a saint; another did so after learning
the Five Elements of Being, the third after learning the Four Principal
Elements, the fourth after learning the Eighteen Constituents of Being. Each of
them recounted to the Master the particular excellence which he had attained. A
thought came into the mind of one of them; and he asked the Master, "There is
only one Nirvana for all these modes of meditation; how is it that all of them
lead to sainthood?" Then the Master asked, "Is not this like the people who saw
the Judas tree?" As they requested him to tell them about it, he repeated a tale
of bygone days.
_____________________________
Once on a time Brahmadatta the king of Benares had four sons. One day they sent
for the charioteer, and said to him,
"We want to see a Judas tree; show us one!"
p. 185
"Very well, I will," the charioteer replied. But he did not show it to them all
together. He took the eldest at once to the forest in the chariot, and showed
him the tree at the time when the buds were just sprouting from the stem. To the
second he showed it when the leaves were green, to the third at the time of
blossoming, and to the fourth when it was bearing fruit.
After this it happened that the four brothers were sitting together, and some
one asked, "What sort of a tree is the Judas tree?" Then the first brother
answered,
"Like a burnt stump!"
And the second cried, "Like a banyan tree!"
And the third--"Like a piece of meat 1!"
And the fourth said, "Like the acacia!"
They were vexed at each other's answers, and ran to find their father. "My
lord," they asked, "what sort of a tree is the Judas tree?"
"What did you say to that?" he asked. They told him the manner of their answers.
Said the king,
"All four of you have seen the tree. Only when the charioteer showed you the
tree, you did not ask him 'What is the tree like at such a time?' [266] or 'at
such another time?' You made no distinctions, and that is the reason of your
mistake." And he repeated the first stanza
"All have seen the Judas tree--
What is your perplexity?
No one asked the charioteer
What its form the livelong year!"
_____________________________
The Master, having explained the matter, then addressed the Brethren: "Now as
the four brothers, because they did not make a distinction and ask, fell in
doubt about the tree, so you have fallen in doubt about the right": and in his
perfect wisdom he uttered the second verse:
"Who know the right with some deficiency
Feel doubt, like those four brothers with the tree."
When this discourse was ended, the Master identified the Birth: "At that time I
was the king of Benares."



Footnotes
184:1 Kiṁsuka = Butea Frondosa.
185:1 It has pink flowers.



Next: No. 249. Sālaka-Jātaka