Jataka Vol. II: Book II. Dukanipāta: No. 178. Kacchapa-Jātaka
p. 55
No. 178.
KACCHAPA-JĀTAKA.
"Here was I born," etc.--This story the Master told in Jetavana, how a man got
rid of malaria 1.
It is said that malarial fever once broke out in a family of Sāvatthi. The
parents said to their son: "Don't stay in this house, son; make a hole in the
wall and escape somewhere, and save your life 2. Then come back again--in this
place a great hoard is buried; dig it up, and restore the family fortunes, and a
happy life to you!" The young fellow did as he was bid; he broke through the
wall, and made his escape. When his complaint was cured, he returned and dug the
treasure up, with which he set up his household.
One day, laden with oil and ghee, clothes and raiment, and other offerings, he
repaired to Jetavana, and greeted the Master, and took his seat. The Master
entered into converse with him. "We hear," said he, "that you had cholera in
your house. How did you escape it?" He told the Master all about it. Said he,
"In days of yore, as now, friend layman, when danger arose, there were people
who were too fond of home to leave it, and they perished thereby; while those
who were not too fond of it, but departed elsewhere, saved themselves alive."
And then at his request the Master told an old-world story.
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Once on a time, when Brahmadatta was reigning in Benares, the Bodhisatta was
born in a village as a potter's son. He plied the potter's trade, and had a wife
and family to support.
At that time there lay a great natural lake close by the great river of Benares.
When there was much water, river and lake were one; but when the water was low,
[80] they were apart. Now fish and tortoises know by instinct when the year will
be rainy and when there will be a drought. So at the time of our story the fish
and tortoises which lived in that lake knew there would be a drought; and when
the two were one water, they swam out of the lake into the river. But there was
one Tortoise that would not go into the river, because, said he, "here I was
born, and here I have grown up, and here is my parents' home: leave it I
cannot!"
p. 56
Then in the hot season the water all dried up. He dug a hole and buried himself,
just in the place where the Bodhisatta was used to come for clay. There the
Bodhisatta came to get some clay; with a big spade he dug down, till he cracked
the tortoise' shell, turning him out on the ground as though he were a large
piece of clay. In his agony the creature thought, "Here I am, dying, all because
I was too fond of my home to leave it!" and in the words of these verses
following he made his moan:
"Here was I born, and here I lived; my refuge was the clay;
And now the clay has played me false in a most grievous way;
Thee, thee I call, O Bhaggava 1; hear what I have to say!
"Go where thou canst find happiness, where’er the place may be;
Forest or village, there the wise both home and birthplace see;
Go where there's life; nor stay at home for death to master thee."
[81] So he went on and on, talking to the Bodhisatta, till he died. The
Bodhisatta picked him up, and collecting all the villagers addressed them thus:
"Look at this tortoise. When the other fish and tortoises went into the great
river, he was too fond of home to go with them, and buried himself in the place
where I get my clay. Then as I was digging for clay, I broke his shell with my
big spade, and turned him out on the ground in the belief that he was a large
lump of clay. Then he called to mind what he had done, lamented his fate in two
verses of poetry, and expired. So you see he came to his end because he was too
fond of his home. Take care not to be like this tortoise. Don't say to
yourselves, 'I have sight, I have hearing, I have smell, I have taste, I have
touch, I have a son, I have a daughter, I have numbers of men and maids for my
service, I have precious gold'; do not cleave to these things with craving and
desire. Each being passes through three stages of existence 2." Thus did he
exhort the crowd with all a Buddha's skill. The discourse was bruited abroad all
over India, and for full seven thousand years it was remembered. All the crowd
abode by his exhortation; and gave alms and did good until at last they went to
swell the hosts of heaven.
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When the Master had made an end, he declared the Truths, and identified the
Birth:--at the conclusion of the Truths the young man was established in the
Fruit of the First Path:--saying, "Ānanda was then the Tortoise, and the Potter
was I thyself."
Footnotes
55:1 ahivātarogo occurs in the Comm. on Therīgāthā (P. T. S. 1893), p. 120, line
20, but no hint as to its meaning is given. The word should mean,
"snake-wind-disease," perhaps malarial fever, which e.g. in the Terai is
believed to be due to snake's breath. Or is it possible that ahi, which may mean
the navel, could here be the bowels, and some such disease as cholera be meant?
55:2 It is noteworthy that here the same means is used to outwit the spirit of
disease as is often taken to outwit the ghosts of the dead; who might be
supposed to guard the door, but not the parts of the house where there was no
outlet.
56:1 "Addressing the potter." Schol.
56:2 World of Sense, World of Form, World of formless Existence.
Next: No. 179. Satadhamma-Jātaka
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