Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Ekanipata - Maluta Jataka

Jataka Vol. I: Book I.--Ekanipāta: No. 17. Māluta-Jātaka



No. 17.
MĀLUTA-JĀTAKA.
"In light or dark."--This story was told by the Master while at Jetavana about
two Brethren who had joined the Brotherhood in their old age. Tradition says
[165] that they were living in a forest-dwelling in the Kosala country, and that
one was named the Elder Dark and the other the Elder Light. Now one day Light
said to Dark, "Sir, at what time does what is called cold appear?" "It appears
in the dark half of the month." And one day Dark said to Light, "Sir, at what
time does what is called cold appear?" "It appears in the light half of the
month."
As the pair of them together could not solve the question, they went to the
Master and with due salutation asked, saying, "Sir, at what time does what is
called cold appear?"
After the Master had heard what they had to say, he said, "Brethren, in bygone
days also, I answered for you this same question; but your previous existences
have become confused in your minds 1." And so saying, he told this story of the
past.
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p. 51
Once on a time at the foot of a certain mountain there were living together in
one and the same cave two friends, a lion and a tiger. The Bodhisatta too was
living at the foot of the same hill, as a hermit.
Now one day a dispute arose between the two friends about the cold. The tiger
said it was cold in the dark half of the month, whilst the lion maintained that
it was cold in the light half. As the two of them together could not settle the
question, they put it to the Bodhisatta. He repeated this stanza
In light or dark half, whensoe’er the wind
Doth blow, ’tis cold. For cold is caused by wind.
And, therefore, I decide you both are right.
Thus did the Bodhisatta make peace between those friends.
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[166] When the Master had ended his lesson in support of what he had said as to
his having answered the same question in bygone days, he preached the Four
Truths, at the close whereof both of the Elders won the Fruit of the First Path.
The Master shewed the connexion and identified the Birth, by saying, "Dark was
the tiger of those days, Light the lion, and I myself the ascetic who answered
the question."



Footnotes
50:1 The compound bhavasaṁkhepagatattā occurs here and in the next Jātaka, and
also Vol. i. p. 463 and Vol. ii. p. 137. The meaning of the word appears to be
that by re-birth events in previous existences have become jumbled up together
so that no distinct memory remains. A Buddha has the power of remembering the
whole of his past existences.



Next: No. 18. Matakabhatta-Jātaka