Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Tika-Nipata - Paduma Jataka

Jataka Vol. II: Book III. Tika-Nipāta: No. 261. Paduma-Jātaka



No. 261.
PADUMA-JĀTAKA.
"Cut, and cut, and cut again," etc. This story the Master told at Jetavana,
about some Brethren who made offering of garlands under Ānanda's tree. The
circumstances will be given in the Kāliṅga-bodhi Birth 1. This was called
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[paragraph continues] Ānanda's tree, because Ānanda planted it. All India heard
tell haw the Elder had planted this tree by the gate of Jetavana.
Some Brethren who lived in the country thought they would make offerings before
Ānanda's tree. They journeyed to Jetavana, did their devoirs to the Master, and
next day wended their way to Sāvatthi, to the Lotus Street; but not a garland
could they get. So they told Ānanda, how they had wished to make an offering to
the tree, but that not a garland was to be had in all the Lotus Street. The
Elder promised to fetch some; so he went off to the Lotus Street, and returned
with many handfuls of blue lotus, which he gave them. With these they made their
offering to the tree.
When the Brethren got wind of this, they began discussing the Elder's merits in
the Hall of Truth: "Friend, some brothers of little merit from the country could
not get a single nosegay in the Lotus Bazaar; but the Elder went and fetched
them some." The Master entered, and asked what they were talking of as they sat
there; and they told him. Said he, [322] "Brethren, this is not the first time
that the clever tongue has gained a garland for clever speaking; it was the same
before." And he told them an old-world tale.
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Once on a time, when Brahmadatta reigned in Benares, the Bodhisatta was a rich
merchant's son. In the town was a tank, in which the lotus flowered. A man who
had lost his nose looked after the tank.
It happened one day that they proclaimed holiday in Benares; and the three sons
of this rich man thought that they would put wreaths upon them, and go a
merrymaking. "We'll flatter up the old lacknose fellow, and then we'll beg some
flowers of him." So at the time when he used to pluck the lotus flowers, to the
tank they went, and waited. And one of them uttered the first stanza:
"Cut, and cut, and cut again,
Hair and whiskers grow amain;
And your nose will grow like these,
Give me just one lotus, please!"
But the man was angry, and gave none. Then the second said the second stanza:
"In the autumn seeds are sown
Which ere long are fully grown;
May your nose sprout up like these.
Give me just one lotus, please!"
Again the man was angry, and gave no lotus. Then the third of them repeated the
third stanza:
"Babbling fools! to think that they
Can get a lotus in this way.
Say they yes, or say they no,
Noses cut no more will grow.
See, I ask you honestly:
Give a lotus, air, to me!"
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[323] On hearing this the lake keeper said, "The other two lied, but you have
spoken the truth. You deserve to have some lotuses." So he gave him a great
bunch of lotus, and went back to his lake.
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When the Master had ended this discourse, he identified the Birth: "The boy who
got the lotus was I myself."



Footnotes
222:1 No. 479.



Next: No. 262. Mudu-Pāṇi-Jātaka