Jataka Vol. I: Book I.--Ekanipāta: No. 2. Vaṇṇupatha-Jātaka
No. 2.
VAṆṆUPATHA-JĀTAKA.
"Untiring, deep they dug."--This discourse was delivered by the Blessed One
whilst he was dwelling at Sāvatthi.
About whom, you ask?
About a Brother who gave up persevering.
Tradition says that, whilst the Buddha was dwelling at Sāvatthi, there came to
Jetavana a scion of a Sāvatthi family, who, on hearing a discourse by the
Master, realised that Lusts breed suffering, and was admitted to the first stage
of the Brotherhood. After five years passed in preparing for admission to full
Brotherhood 1, when he had learnt two summaries and had trained himself in the
methods of Insight, he obtained from the Master a theme for meditation which
commended itself to him. Retiring to a forest, he passed there the rainy season;
but for all his striving during the three months, he could not develope a
glimmer or an inkling of Insight. So the thought came to him, "The Master said
there were four types of men, and I must belong to the lowest of all; in this
birth, methinks, there is neither Path nor Fruit for me. What good shall I do by
living in the forest? Back to the Master I will go, and live my life beholding
the glories of the Buddha's presence and listening to his sweet teachings." And
back again to Jetavana he came.
Now his friends and intimates said, "Sir, it was you who obtained from the
Master a theme for meditation and departed to live the solitary life of a sage.
Yet here you are back again, going about enjoying fellowship. Can it be that you
have won the crown of the Brothers vocation and that you will never know
re-birth?" "Sirs, as I won neither Path nor Fruit, I felt myself doomed to
futility, and so gave up persevering and came back." "You have done wrong, Sir,
in shewing a faint heart when you had devoted yourself to the doctrine of the
dauntless Master. [107] Come, let us bring you to the Buddha's notice." And they
took him with them to the Master.
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When the Master became aware of their coming, he said, "Brethren, you bring with
you this Brother against his will. What has he done?"
"Sir, after devoting himself to so absolutely true a doctrine, this Brother has
given up persevering in the solitary life of a sage, and is come back."
Then said the Master to him, "Is it true, as they say, that you, Brother, have
given up persevering?" "It is true, Blessed One." "But how comes it that, after
devoting yourself to such a doctrine, you, Brother, should be the one to show
yourself not a man desiring little, contented, solitary, and determined, but a
man lacking perseverance? Was it not you who were so stout-hearted in bygone
days? Was it not by you single-handed, thanks to your perseverance, that in a
sandy desert the men and the oxen belonging to a caravan of five hundred carts
got water and were cheered? And how is it that, now, you are giving in?" These
words sufficed to give heart to that Brother.
Hearing this talk, the Brethren asked the Blessed One, saying, "Sir, the present
faintheartedness of this Brother is clear to us; but hidden from us is the
knowledge of how, by the perseverance of this single man, the men and oxen got
water in a sandy desert and were cheered. This is known only to you who are
omniscient; pray tell us about it."
"Hearken, then, Brethren," said the Blessed One; and, having excited their
attention, he made clear the thing that re-birth had concealed from them.
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Once on a time when Brahmadatta was king in Benares in Kāsi the Bodhisatta was
born into a trader's family. When he was grown up, he used to travel about
trading with 500 carts. On one occasion he came to a sandy wilderness sixty
leagues across, the sand of which was so fine that, when grasped, it slipped
through the fingers of the closed fist. As soon as the sun got up, it grew as
hot as a bed of charcoal-embers and nobody could walk upon it. Accordingly,
those traversing it used to take fire-wood, water, oil, rice and so forth on
their carts, and only travelled by night. At dawn they used to range their carts
in a circle to form a laager, with an awning spread overhead, and after an early
meal used to sit in the shade all the day long. When the sun went down, they had
their evening meal; and, so soon as the ground became cool, they used to yoke
their carts and move forward. Travelling on this desert was like voyaging over
the sea; a 'desert-pilot,' as he was called, had to convoy them over by
knowledge of the stars [108]. And this was the way in which our merchant was now
travelling that wilderness.
When he had only some seven more miles before him, he thought to himself,
"To-night will see us out of this sandy wilderness." So, after they had had
their supper, he ordered the wood and water to be thrown away, and yoking his
carts, set out on the road. In the front cart sat the pilot upon a couch looking
up to the stars in the heavens and directing the course thereby. But so long had
he been without sleep that he was tired out and fell asleep, with the result
that he did not mark that the oxen had turned round and were retracing their
steps. All night the oxen kept on their way, but at dawn the pilot woke up, and,
observing the disposition of the stars overhead, shouted out, "Turn the carts
round!
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turn the carts round!" And as they turned the carts round and were forming them
into line, the day broke. "Why this is where we camped yesterday," cried the
people of the caravan. "All our wood and water is gone, and we are lost." So
saying, they unyoked their carts and made a laager and spread the awning
overhead; then each man flung himself down in despair beneath his own cart.
Thought the Bodhisatta to himself, "If I give in, every single one will perish."
So he ranged to and fro while it was still early and cool, until he came on a
clump of kusa-grass. "This grass," thought he, "can only have grown up here
thanks to the presence of water underneath." So he ordered a spade to be brought
and a hole to be dug at that spot. Sixty cubits down they dug, till at that
depth the spade struck on a rock, and everybody lost heart. But the Bodhisatta,
feeling sure there must be water under that rock, descended into the hole and
took his stand upon the rock. Stooping down, he applied his ear to it, and
listened. Catching the sound of water flowing beneath, he came out and said to a
serving-lad, "My boy, if you give in, we shall all perish. So take heart and
courage. Go down into the hole with this iron sledge-hammer, and strike the
rock."
Obedient to his master's bidding, [109] the lad, resolute where all others had
lost heart, went down and struck the rock. The rock which had dammed the stream,
split asunder and fell in. Up rose the water in the hole till it was as high as
a palm-tree; and everybody drank and bathed. Then they chopped up their spare
axles and yokes and other surplus gear, cooked their rice and ate it, and fed
their oxen. And as soon as the sun set, they hoisted a flag by the side of the
well and travelled on to their destination. There they bartered away their goods
for twice and four times their value. With the proceeds they returned to their
own home, where they lived out their term of life and in the end passed away to
fare thereafter according to their deserts. The Bodhisatta too after a life
spent in charity and other good works, passed away likewise to fare according to
his deserts.
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When the Supreme Buddha had delivered this discourse, he, the All-Knowing One
himself, uttered this stanza:
Untiring, deep they dug that sandy track
Till, in the trodden way, they water found.
So let the sage, in perseverance strong,
Flag not nor tire, until his heart find Peace.
[110] This discourse ended, he preached the Four Truths, at the close whereof
the fainthearted Brother was established in the highest Fruit of all, which is
Arahatship.
Having told these two stories, the Master established the connexion linking them
both together, and identified the Birth by saying:--"This fainthearted Brother
of to-day was in those days the serving-lad who, persevering, broke the rock and
gave water to all the people; the Buddha's followers were the rest of the people
of the caravan; and I myself was their leader."
Footnotes
9:1 The terms pabbajjā and upasampadā, which denote the two stages of initiation
for a Brother of the Buddhist Order, and are comparable with the successive
degrees of Bachelor and Master in a Faculty, suggest the successive ordinations
of Deacon and Priest. But, as it is misleading to use Christian phraseology in
speaking of the Buddhist philosophy, these convenient terms have been eschewed
in the translation. As will be seen from the Vinaya (Mahāvagga I. 49-51),
fifteen was the normal age for pabbajjā and twenty for upasampadā, the interval
being that of five years mentioned in the text.
Next: No. 3. Serivāṇija-Jātaka
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