The Jātaka, vol. II (nos. 151-300)

"If any man, yet full of am, should dare To don the yellow robe, in whom no care For temperance is found, or love of truth, He is not worthy such a robe to wear. He who has spued out sin, who everywhere Is firm in virtue, and whose chiefest care Is to control his passions, and be true. He well deserves the yellow robe to wear." [199] With these words, the Bodhisatta rebuked the man, and bade him never come there again, else he should die for it. Thus he drove him away. After this discourse was ended, the ^Master identified the Birth : — "Devadatta was the man who killed the elephants, and the head of the herd was I." 1 One who has attained the knowledge needful for attaining Nirvana, but does not preach it to men. 140 JTiC Jataka. Book II.

" / call to mind" etc. — This story the Master told whilst dwelling in the Bamboo Gi'ove, about Devadatta. One day the brethren fell a-talking in the Hall of Truth : " Friend, that man Devadatta is harsh, cruel, and tyrannical, full of baneful devices against the Supreme Buddha. He flung a stone '■^, he even used the aid of Nalagiri^; pity and compassion there is none in him for the Tathagata." The Master came in, and asked what they were talking about as they sat there. They told him. Then he said, "This is not the first time. Brethren, that Devadatta has been harsh, cruel, merciless. He was so before." And he told them an old-world tale. Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta became a Monkey named Nandiya, or Jolly; and dwelt in the Himalaya region ; and his youngest brother bore the name of Jollikin. They two headed a band of eighty thousand monkeys, and they had a blind mother in their home to care for. They left their mother in her lair in the bushes, and went amongst the trees to find sweet wild fruit of all kinds, which they sent back home to her. The messengers did not deliver it ; and, tormented with hunger, she became nothing but skin and bone. Said the Bodhisatta to her,

" Mother, we send you plenty of sweet fruits : then what makes you so thin?" " My son, I never get it ! " [200] The Bodhisatta pondered. " While I look aftei- my herd, my mother will perish ! I will leave the herd, and look after my mother alone." So calling his brother, "Brother," said he, "do you tend the herd, and I will care for our mother." "Nay, brother," replied he, "what care I for ruling a herd] I too will care for only our mother ! " So the two of them were of one mind, and leaving the herd, they brought their mother down out of Himalaya, and took up their abode in a banyan tree of the border- land, where they took care of her. ' Questions of Milbula, iv. 4. 24 (traus. in S.B. E., xxxv. 287). 2 For the stone-throwing see Cullavagga vii. 3. 9 ; Hardy, Manual, p. 320. ^ A fierce elephant, let loose at Devadatta's request to kill the Buddha. See Cullavagga vii. 3. 11 f. {Vinaya Texts, S.B.E., iii. 247 f.); Milinda, iv. 4. 44 (where he is called Dhanaprdaka, as snjora vol. i. 57); Hardy, Manual, p. 320.

Now a certain Brahmin, who lived at Takkasila, had received his education from a famous teacher, and afterward he took leave of him, saying that he would depart. This teacher had the power of divining from the signs on a man's l)ody ; and thus lie perceived that his pupil was harsh, cruel, and violent. "My son," said he, "you are harsh, and cruel, and violent. Such persons do not prosper at all seasons alike ; they come to dire woe and dire destruction. Be not harsh, nor do what you will afterwards repent." With this counsel, he let him go. The youth took leave of his teacher, and went his way to Benares. There he married and settled down ; and not being able to earn a livelihood by any other of his arts, he determined to live by his bow. So he set to work as a huntsman ; and left Benares to earn his living. Dwelling in a border village, he would range the woods girt with bow and quiver, and lived by sale of the flesh of all manner of beasts which he slew. One day, as he was returning homewards after having caught nothing at all in the forest, he observed a banyan tree standing on the verge of an open glade. "Perhaps," thought he, "there may be something here." And he turned his face towards the banyan tree. Now the two brothers had just fed their mother with fruits, and were sitting behind her in the tree, when they saw the man coming.

"Even if he sees our mother," said they, "what will he dol" and they hid amongst the branches. Then this cruel man, as he came up to the tree and saw the mother monkey weak with age, and blind, thought to himself, "Why should I return empty-handed? I will shoot this she-monkey first!" [201] and lifted up his bow to shoot her. This the Bodhisatta saw, and said to his brother, "Jollikin, my dear, this man wants to shoot our mother ! I will save her life. When I am dead, do you take care of her." So saying, down he came out of the tree, and called out,

"O man, don't shoot my raothei" ! she is blind, and weak for age. I will save her life; don't kill her, but kill me instead!" and when the other had promised, he sat down in a place within bowshot. The hunter pitilessly shot the Bodhisatta ; when he dropped, the man prepared his bow to shoot the mother monkey. Jollikin saw this, and thought to himself, "Yon hunter wants to shoot my mother. Even if she only lives a day, she will have received the gift of life; I will give my life for hers." Accordingly, down he came from the tree, and said, " O man, don't shoot my mother ! I give my life for hers. Shoot me — take both us brothers, and spare our mother's life ! " The hunter consented, and Jollikin squatted down within bowshot. The hunter shot this one too, and killed him — "It will do for my children at home," thought he — and he shot the mother too ; hung them all three on his carrying pole, and set his face homewards. At that moment a thunderbolt fell ujH)n the 142 TJie Jdtaka. Book II. house of this wicked man, and biirut up his wife and two children with the house: nothing was left but the voof and the bamboo uprights.

A man met him at the entering in of the village, and told him of it. Sorrow for his wife and children overcame him : down on the spot he dropped his pole with the game, and his bow, threw off his gai-ments, and naked he went homewards, wailing with hands outstretched. Then the bamboo uprights broke, and fell upon his head, and crushed it. The earth yawned, flame rose from hell. As he was being swallowed up in the earth, he thought upon his master's warning: [202] "Then this was the teaching that the Brahmin Piirasariya gave me!" and lamenting he uttered these stanzas : — " I call to mind my teacher's words : so this was what he meant ! Be careful you should nothing do of which you might repent. "Whatever a man does, the same he in himself will find; The good man, good ; and evil he that evil has designed ; And so our deeds are all like seeds, and bring forth fruit in kind." Lamenting thus, he went down into the earth, and came to life in the depths of hell. When the Master had ended this discourse, by which he showed how in other days, as then, Devadatta had been harsh, cruel, and merciless, he identified the Birth in these words : " In those days Devadatta was the hunter, Sariputta was the famous teacher, Ananda was Jollikin, the noble Lady Gotami was the mother, and I was the monkey Jolly."

" Honour for honour,'' e^c— This story the Master told in Jetavana, about a landed proprietor. Tradition has it that once a landowner who was a citizen of Savatthi did business with a landowner from the country. [203] Taking his wife with him, he \nsited this man, his debtor; but the debtor averred that he could not pay. The other, in anger, set out for home without having broken his fast. On the road, some people met him ; and seeing how famished the man was, gave him food, bidding him share it with his wife. When he got this, he grudged his wife a share. So addressing lier he sjiid, "Wife, this is a well-known haunt of thieves, so you had better go in front." Having thus got rid of her, he ate all the food, and then showed her the pot empty, saying — "Look here, wife! they gave me an empty pot!" She guessed that be had eaten it all up himself, and was much annoyed. As they both passed by the monastery in Jetavana, they thought they would go into the park and get a drink of water. There sat the blaster, waiting on purpose to see them, like a hunter on the trail, feeated under the shade (jf his perfumed cell. He gi-eeted thenl kindly, and said, " Lay Sister, is your husliand kind and loving?" "I love him, sir," .she replied, "but he does not love me; let alone other days, this very day he was given a pot of food on the way, and gave not a bit to me, but ate it all himself" " Lay Sister, so it has always been — you loving and kind, and he loveless ; but when by the help of the wise he learns yoiu* worth, he will do you all honour." Then, at her request, he told an old-world tale.

On a time, while Brahmadatta was king in Benares, the Bodhi.satta was the son of one of the king's court. On coming of age he became the king's adviser in things temporal and spiritual. It happened that the king was afraid of his son, lest he might injure him ; and sent him away. Taking his wife, the son departed from that city, and came to a village of Kasi, where he dwelt. By and by when the father died, his son liearLng of it set out to go back to Benares; "that I may receive the kingdom which Ls my birthright," said he. On his way one gave him a mess of pottage, saying, " Eat, and give to your wife also." But he gave her none, and did eat it all himself. [204] Thought she — " A cruel man this, indeed !" and she was full of sorrow. When he had come to Benares, and received his kingdom, he made her the queen consort; but thinking — "A little is enough for her," he showed her no other consideration or honour, not so much as to ask her how she did. "This queen," thought the Bodhisatta, "serves the king well, and loves him ; Vjut the king spends not a tliought upon her. I will make him show her respect and honour."

So he came to the queen, and made salutation, and stood aside. " What is it, dear sir ] " she asked. "Lady," he asked, "how can we serve you'? ought you not to give the old Fathers a piece of cloth or a dish of rice ? " "Dear sir, I never receive anything myself; what shall I give to you] When I received, did I not give? But now the king gives me nothing at all : let alone giving anything else, as he was going along the road he received a bowl of rice, and never gave me a bit — he ate it all himself." " Well, madam, will you be able to say this in the king's presence 1 " " Yes," she replied. 144 The, Jataka. Book II. '« Very well then. To-day, when I stand before the king, when I ask my question do yon give the same answer : this very day will I make your goodness known." So the Bodhisatta went on before, and stood in the king's presence. And she too went and stood near the king. Then said the Bodhisatta, " Madam, you are very cruel. Ought you not to give the Fathers a piece of cloth or a dish of food ] " And she made answer, " Good sir, I myself receive nothing from the king : what can I give to you 1 "

" Are you not the queen consort 1" quoth he, "Good sir," said she, " what boots the place of a queen consort, when no respect is paid ? What will the king give me now ? When he received a dish of i-ice on the road, [205] he gave me none, but ate it all himself." And the Bodhisatta asked him, "Is it so, O king?" And the king assented. When the Bodhisatta saw that the king assented, "Then lady," quoth he, " why dwell here with the king after he has become unkindly 1 In the world, union without love is painful. While you dwell here, loveless union with the king will bring you sorrow. These folk honour him that honours, and when one honours not — as soon as you see it, you should go elsewhither ; they that dwell in the world are many." And he repeated the stanzas following : — " Honour for honour, love for love is due : Do good to him who does the same to you : Observance breeds observance ; but 'tis plain None need help him who will not help again. " Return neglect for negligence, nor stay To comfort him whose love is past away. The world is wide; and when the birds desciy That trees have lost their fruit — away they fly."

Hearing this, the king gave his queen all honour ; and from that time forward they dwelt together in friendship and harmony. [206] "When the Master had ended this discourse, he declared the Truths, and identified the Birth :— at tlie conclusion of the Truths the husband and wife entered on the Fruit of the First Path :— " The husband and wife are the same in both cases, and the wise counsellor was I myself."

"0 Ape," etc. — This story the Master told at the Bamboo Grove, alwut Devadatta. "O Ape, these virtues four bring victory: Truth, "Wisdom, Self-control, and Piety. "Without these blessings is no victory — Truth, Wisdom, Self-control, and Piety."

" There is a man" etc. — This story the Master told at Jetavana, about the king of Kosala. A very uscfvil subordinate intrigued in the harem. Even though he knew the culprit, the king pocketed the affront, V)ecause tlie fellowwas useful, and told the ]\Iaster of it. The Master said, "Other kings in days long gone by have done the same;" and at his request, told the following story. Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, a man of his court fell into an intrigue in the king's harem, and an attendant of this courtier did the same thing in the courtier's house. The man could not endure to be thus affronted. So he led the other before the king, saying, "My lord, [207] I have a servant who does all manner of work, and he has made me a cuckold: what mu.st I do with him 1" and with the question he uttered this first verse following : — "There is a man within my house, a zealous servant too; He has betrayed my trust, O king! Say — what am 1 to do?" 146 The Jataha. Booh 11. On hearing this, the king uttered the second verse : —

" I too a zealous servant have ; and here he stands, indeed ! Good men, I trow, are rare enow : so patience is my rede." The courtier saw that these words of the king were aimed at him ; and for the future dui'st do no wrong in the king's house. And the servant likewise, having come to know that the matter had been told to the king, durst for the future do that thins no more. This discourse ended, the Master identified the Birth: — "I was the king of Benares." And the courtier on this occasion found out that the king had told of him to the Master, and never did such a thing again.

[208] " There is a time" etc. — A story told by the Master at Jetavana, about the king of Kosala. This king started to quell a border rising at a bad season of the year. Tlie circumstances have been described already ^ The Master as before told the king a story. Once on a time, the king of Benares having started for the field of war at an unseasonable time, set up a camp in his park. At that time an Owl entered a thicket of bamboos, and hid in it. There came a flock of Crows : " We will catch him," said they, " so soon as he shall come out." And they compassed it around. Out he came before his time, nor did he wait until the sun should set; and tried to make his escape. The crows surrounded him, and pecked him with their beaks till he fell to the ground. The king asked the Bodhisatta : " Tell me, wise sir, why are the crows attacking this owH " And the Bodhisatta made answer, "They that leave their dwelling before the right time, great king, fall into just such misery as this. Therefore before the time one should not leave one's

1 See no. 176, p. 51 above. dwelling place." And to make the matter clear, he uttered this pair of verses : "There is a time for every thing: who forth from liome will go One man or many, out of time, will .surely meet some woo ; As dill the Owl, unlucky fowl! pecked dead by many a crow. " Who masters quite eacli j-ule and rite ; who others' weakness knows ; Like wise owls, he will happy be, and contpier all his foes." [209] When the king heard this, he turned back home again. This discourse ended, the Master identified the Birth : — " Ananda was then the king, and the wise courtier was I myself."

" Well matched," etc. — This story the Master told while dwelling at Jetavana, about one of the Brethren. There stood at that time, about three-quarters ^ of a league from Jetiivana, a market town, where a great deal of rice was distributed l)y ticket, and special meals were given. Here lived an inquisitive lout, who pestered the young men and novices who came to share in the distribution — [^^10] "Who are for solid food? who for drink? who for moist food?" And he made those who could not answer feel ashamed, and they dreaded Mm so much that to that village they would not go. One day, a brother came to the ticket-hall, with the question, " Any food for distribution in such-and-such a village, sir?" "Yes, friend," was the answer, "but there's a lubber here asking questions* if you can't answer them, he abu.ses and reviles you. He is such a pest that nobody will go near the place." " Sir," said the other, " give me an order on the place, and I'll humble him, and make him modest, and so influence him that whenever he sees you after this, he'll feel inclined to run away."

The brothers agreed, and gave the necessary order. The man walked to our village, and at the gate of it he put on his robe. The loafer si)ied him — was at him like a mad ram, with "Answer me a question, priest!" "Layman, let me go first about the village for my broth, and then come back with it to the waiting hall." When he returned with his meal, the man repeated his question. The brother answered, "Leave me to finish my broth, to sweep the room, and to fetch my ticket's worth of rice." So he fetched the rice; then placing his bowl in this very man's hands, he said, " Come, now I'll answer your question." ' G(lriit(i(ldh<iyoj(iV(iiii(itti'. It may possHily mean 'an oi^'litli.' 148 The Jdtaka. Booh II. Then he led him outside the village, folded his outer robe, put it on his shoulder, and taking the bowl from the other, stood waiting for him to begin. The man said, " Priest, answer me one question." " Very well, so I will," said the brother ; and with one blow he felled him to the ground, bruised his eyes, beat him, dropped tilth in his face, and went off, with these parting words to frighten him, " If ever again you ask a question of any Brother who comes to this village, I'll see about it !"

After this, he took to his heels at the mere sight of a Brother. By and bye all this became known among the Brotherhood. One day they were talking about it in the Hall of Truth: "Friend, I hear that Brother So-and-so dropped filth in the face of that loafer, and left him!" The Master came in, and wanted to know what they were all talking about as they sat there. They told him. Said he, "Brethren, this is not the first time this brother attacked the man with dirt, but he did just the same before." Then he told them an old-world tale. [211] Once on a time, those citizens of the kingdoms of Aiiga and Magadha who were travelling from one land to the other, used to stay in a house on the marches of the two kingdoms, and there they drank liquor and ate the flesh of fishes, and early in the morning they yoked their carts and went away. At the time when they came, a certain dung-beetle, led by the odour of dung, came to the place where they had drunken, and saw some liquor shed upon the ground, and for thirst he drank it, and returned to his lump of dung intoxicated. When he climbed upon it the moist dung gave way a little. " The world cannot bear my weight ! " he bawled out. At that very instant a maddened Elephant came to the spot, and smelling the dung went back in disgust. The Beetle saw it. " Yon creature," he thought, " is afraid of me, and see how he runs away ! — I must fight with him !" and so he challenged him in the first stanza : —

" Well matched ! for we are heroes both : here let us issue try : Turn back, turn back, friend Elephant ! Why would you fear and fly 1 Let Magadha and Aiiga see how great our bravery!" The Elephant listened, and heard the voice ; he turned back towards the Beetle, and said the second stanza, by way of rebuke :— " Non pede, longinquave manu, non dentibus utar : Stercore, cui stercus cura, perisse decet." [212] And so, dropping a great piece of dung upon him, and making water, he killed him then and there ; and scampered into the forest, trumpeting. When this discovirse was ended, the Master identified the Birth :— " In those days, this lout was the dung-beetle, the Brother in question was the elephant, and I was the tree-sprite who saw it all from that clump of trees."

"Three foi'ts," etc. — This story the Master told at Jetfivana about a brahmin named Kauianita. Tlie circumstances will be explained in the Twelfth Book, and the Kama-Jataka'. [The king of Benares had two sons.] And of these two sons the elder went to Benares, and became king : the youngest was the vicei'oy. He that was king was given over to the desire of riches, and the lust of the flesh, and greedy of gain. At the time, the Bodhisatta was Sakka, king of the gods. And as he looked out upon India, and observed that the king of it was given over to these lusts, he said to himself, " I Avill chastise that king, and make him ashamed." So taking the semblance of a young bi'ahmin, he went to the king and looked at him. " What wants this young fellow 1 " the king asked. Said he, " Great king, I see three towns, prosperous, fertile, having elephants, horses, chariots and infantry in plenty, full of ornaments of gold and fine gold. These may be taken with a very small army. I have come hither to offer to get them for you ! " " When shall we go, young man 1 " asked the king.

" Then leave me now ; to-morrow early shall you go," "Good, my king: hasten to prepare the army ! " And so saying [21.3] Sakka went back again to his own place. Next day the king caused the drum to beat, and an army to be made ready ; and having summoned his courtiers, he thus bespoke them : — " Yesterday a young brahmin came and said that he would conquer for me three cities — Uttarapaiicala, Indapatta, and Kekaka. Wherefore now we will go along with that man and conquer those cities. Summon him in all haste ! " " What place did you assign him, my lord, to dwell in 1 " " I gave him no place to dwell in," said the king. " But you gave him wherewith to pay for a lodging 1 " 150 The Jdtaka. Book II. " Nay, not even that," " Then how shall we find him ?" " Seek him in the streets of the city," said the king. They sought, but found him not. So they came before the king, and told him, " O king, we cannot see him." Great sorrow fell upon the king. " What glory has been snatched from me!" he groaned; his heart became hot, his blood became disordered, dysentery attacked him, the physicians could not cure him.

After the space of three or four days, Sakka meditated, and was ware of his illness. Said he, " I will cure him : " and in the semblance of a brahmin he went and stood at his door. He caused it to be told the king, " A brahmin physician is come to cure you." On bearing it, the king answered, " All the great physicians of the court have not been able to cure me. Give hini a fee, and let him go." Sakka listened, and made reply : " I want not even money for ray lodging, nor will I take fee for my leechcraft. I will cure him : let the king see me !" " Then let him come in," said the king, on receiving this message. Then Sakka went in, and wishing victory to the king, sat on one side. "Are you going to cure me?" the king asked. He replied, "Even so, my lord." " Cure me, then !" said the king. " Very good. Sire. Tell me the symptoms of your disease, and how it came about, — what you have eaten or drunken, to bring it on, or what you have heard or seen."

" Dear friend, my disease was brought upon me by something that I heard." Then the other asked, "What was it %" [214] "Dear Sir, there came a young brahmin who offered to win and give me power over three cities : and I gave him neither lodging, nor wherewithal to pay for one. He must have grown angry with me, and gone away to some other king. So when I bethought me how great glory had been snatched away from me, this disease came upon me ; cure, if you can, this which has come upon me for my covetousness." And to make the. matter clear he uttered the first stanza ; — "Three forts, each builded high upon a mount, I want to take, whose names I hei-e recount ^ : And there is one thing further that I need- — Cure me, 0 brahmin, me the slave of greed!" Then Sakka said, "0 king, by simples made with roots you cannot ^ The names of Paficala, Kuru, and Kekaka are given. be cured, but you must be cured with the siinijle of knowledge:" and ho uttered the second verse as follows : [215] "There are, who ciu-e the bite of a black snake; The wise can heal tlie wounds that goblins make. The slave (if greed no doctor can make whole ; What cm-c is tliere for the backslidi;ig souH"

So spake the great Being to explain his meaning, and he added this yet beyond : "O king, what if you were to get those three cities, then while you reigned over these four cities, could you wear four pairs of robes at once, eat out of four golden dishes, lie on four state beds ? 0 king, one ought not to be mastered by desire. Desire is the root of all (^vil ; when desire is increased, he that cherishes her is cast into the eight great hells, and the sixteen lowest hells, and into all kinds and manner of misery." So the great Being terrified the king with fear of hell and misery, and discoursed to him. And the king, by hearing his discourse, got rid of his heartbreak, and in a moment he Ijecame whole of his disease. [216] And Sakka after giving him instruction, and establishing him in virtue, went away to the world of gods. And the king thenceforward gave alms and did good, and he passed away to fare according to his deserts. When this discourse was ended, the Master identified the Birth : — " The Brother who is a slave to his desires was at that time the king ; and I myself was Sakka."

"Zo, my elephants" etc. — This story the Master told at Jetavana, about a mendicant, with vagrant tastes. He traversed the whole of India for the puq^osc of arguing, and found no one to contradict him. At last he got as far as Savatthi, and asked was tliero any one there who could argue with him. The people said, "Tliere is One who could argue with a thousand such — all-wise, chief of men, the mighty Gotama, lord of the faith, who bears down all opposition, there is no adversary in all India who can dispute with Him. As the billows break upon tlie shore, so all arguments break against his feet, and are dashed to spray." Thu.s thoy described the qualities of the Buddha. 152 TJie Jataka. Book 11. "Where is ho now?" asked the mendicant. He was at Jetavana, they replied. " Now I'll get up a disputation with him !" said the mendicant. So attended by a large crowd he made his way to Jetavana. On seeing the gate towers of Jetavana*, which Prince Jeta had built at a cost of ninety millions of money, he asked whether that was the palace where the Priest Gotama lived. The gateway of it, they said. "If this be the gateway, what will the dwelling be like!" he cried. "There's no end to the perfumed chambers!" the people said. "Who could argue with such a i)riest as this?" he asked; and hurried off at once.

The crowd shouted for joy, and thronged into the park. " What brings you here before your time?" asked the Master. They told him what had happened. Said he, " This i.s not the fii-st time, laymen, that he hurried away at the mere sight of the gateway of my dwelling. He did the same before." And at their request, he told an old-world tale. [217] Once upon a time, it befel that the Bodhisatta reigned king in Takkasila, of the realm of Gandhara, and Brahmadatta in Benares. Brahmadatta resolved to capture Takkasila ; wherefore with a great host he set forth, and took up a position not far from the city, and set his army in array : " Here be the elephants, here the horses, the chariots here, and here the footmen : thus do ye charge and hurl with your weapons ; as the clouds pour forth rain, so pour ye forth a rain of arrows ! " and he uttered this i)air of stanzas : — "Lo, my elephants and horses, like the storm-cloud in the sky! Lo, my surging sea of chariots shooting arrow-spray on high ! Lo, my host of warriors, striking sword in hand, with blow and thrust, Closing in upon the city, till their foes shall bite the dust!

"Rush against them — fall upon them! shout the war-cry — loudly sing! While the elephants in concert raise a clamorous trumpeting! As the thunder and the lightning flash and rumble in the sky, So be now your voice uplifted in the loud long battle-cry!" [218] So cried the king. And he made his army march, and came before the gate of the city ; and when he saw the towers on the city gate, he asked whether was that the king's dwelling. " That," said they, "is the gate tower." "If the gate tower be such as this, of what sort will the king's palace be 1 " he asked. And they replied, " Like to Vejayanta, the palace of Sakka ! " On hearing it, the king said, " With so glorious a king we shall never be able to fight ! " And having seen no more than the tower set upon the city gate, he turned and fled away, and came again to Benares. This discourse ended, the Master identified the Birth:— "Our mendicant gadabout was then the king of Benares, and I was the king of Takkasila myself." 1 The Jetavana monastery is represented on the Bharhut Stupa (Cunningham, pi. Lvii) ; for the gandhaknfi, see pi. xxviii, fig. 3.

" CoiuUless are my banners" etc. — [219] This story the Master told whilst living at Jetavana, about this same gadabout mendicant. At that time, the Miister, with a large company round him, sitting on the beautifully adorned throne of the truth, upon a vermilion dais, was discoursing like a young lion roaring with a lion's roar. The mendicant, seeing the l>uiUlha's form like the form of Brahma, his face like the gloiy of the full moon, and his forehead like a plate of gold, turned round where he had come, in the midst of the crowd, and ran off, saying, '* Wlio could overcome a man like this?" The crowd went in chase, then came back and told the Master. He said, " Not only now has this mendicant tied at the mere sight of my golden face ; he did the same before." And he told an old-world talc. Once on a time, the Bodhisatta was king in Benares, and in Takkasila reigned a certain king of Gandhara. This king, desiring to capture Benares, went and compassed the city about with a complete army of four divisions. And taking his stand at the city gate, he looked upon his army, and said he, " Who shall be able to conquer so great an army as this?" and describing his army, he uttered the first stanza : —

" Countless are my banners : rival none they own : Flocks of crows can never stem the rolling sea — Never can the storm-blast beat a mountain down : — So, of all the living none can conquer me!" [220] Then the Bodhisatta disclosed his own glorious countenance, in fashion as the full moon; and threatening him, thus spoke : "Fool, babble not vainly ! Now will I destroy your host, as a maddened elephant crushes a thicket of reeds ! " and he repeated the second stanza : — " Fool ! and hast thou never yet a rival found ? Thou art hot with fever, if thou seekst to wound Solitary savage elephants like me ! As they crush a reed-stalk so will I crush thee ! " When the king of Gandhara heard him threaten thus, [221] he looked up, and beholding his wide forehead like a plate of gold, for fear of being captured himself he turned and ran away, and came again even unto his own city. This discourse ended, the Master identified the Birth: — "The vagivuit gadabout was at that time the king of Gandhara, and the king of Benares was I myself."

154 The Jdtaka. Book II.

"As vjhen a pair of shoes," etc. — This story the Master told iu the Bamboo Grove, about Devadatta. The Brethren gathered together in the Hall of Trnth, and began to discuss the matter. " Friend, Devadatta having repudiated his teachei', and become the foe and adversary of the Tathagata, has come to utter destruction." The Master came in, and asked what they were talking about as they sat thei'e. They told him. The Master said, " Brethren, this is not the first time that Devadatta has repudiated his teacher, and become my enemy, and come to utter destruction. The same thing happened before." Then he told them au old-world tale. Once on a time, while Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta was born as the son of an elephant trainer. When he grew up, he was taught all the art of managing the elephant. And there came a young villager from Kasi, and was taught of him. Now when the future Buddhas teach any, they do not give a niggardly dole of leai-ning ; but according to their own knowledge so teach they, keeping nothing back. So this yovith learnt all the branches of knowledge from the Bodhisatta, without omission ; and when he had learnt, said he to his master : [222]

" Master, I will go and serve the king." " Good, my son," said he : and he went before the king, and told him how that a pupil of his would serve the king. Said the king, "Good, let him serve me." "Then do you know what fee to give?" says the Bodhisatta. " A pupil of yours will not receive so much as you ; if you receive an hundred, he shall have fifty; if you receive two, to him shall one be given." So the Bodhisatta went home, and told all this to his pupil. " Master," said the youth, " all your knowledge do I know, piece for piece. If I shall have the like payment, I will serve the king ; but if not, then I will not serve him." And this the Bodhisatta told to the king. Said the king, " If the young man could do even as you — if he is able to show skill for skill with you, he shall receive the like." And the Bodhisatta told this to the pupil, and the pupil made answer, "Very good, I will." "Tomori'ow," said the king, "do you make exhibition of your skill." "Good, I will ; let proclamation be made by beat of drum." And the king caused it to be proclaimed, "To-morrow the master and the pupil will

make show togethei* of their skill in managing the elephant. To-niorrow let all that wish to see gather together in the courtyard of the palace, and see it." "My pupil," thought the teacher to himself, "does not know all my resources." So he chose an elephant, and in one night he taught him to do all things awry. He taught him to back when bidden go forward, and to go on when told to back ; to lie down when bidden rise, and to rise when bidden lie down ; to drop when told to pick up, and to pick up when told to drop. Next day mounting his elephant he came to the palace yard. And his Ijupil also was there, mounted upon a beautiful elephant. There was a great concourse of people. They both showed all their skill. But the Bodhisatta made his elephant reverse orders ; [223] " Go on ! " said he, and it backed ; " Back ! " and it ran forward ; " Stand up ! " and it lay down ; " Lie ! " and it stood up ; " Pick it up : " and the creature dropped it ; " Drop it ! " and he picked it up. And the crowd cried, " Go to, you rascal ! do not raise your voice against your master ! You do not know your own measure, and you think you can match yourself against him ! " and they assailed him with clods and staves, so that he gave up the ghost then and there. And the Bodhisatta came down from his ele[)hant, and approaching the king, addressed him thus —

" 0 mighty king ! for their own good men get them taught; but there was one to whom his learning brought misery with it, like an ili-iuade shoe;" and he uttered these two stanzas : — " As when a pair of shoes which one has bought For help and comfort cause but misery. Chafing the feet till they grow burning hot And making them to fester by and bye: "Even so an underbred ignoble man, Having learnt all that he can learn from you, By your own teaching proves your very bane': The lowbred churl is like the ill-made shoe." [224] The king was delighted, and heaped honours upon the Bodhisatta. When this discourse was ended, the Master identified this Birth a.s follow.s: — " Devadatta was the pupil, and I myself was the teacher." 1 The schol. would take tavi as for ntulnam, "he hurts himself," not "thee," but this is hardly possible. The verses do not seem to fit the story very exactly. 156 The Jataka. Book II.

" Your own idea" e^c— This story the Master told while staying at Jetavana, about a young lady. She was the only daughter of a rich merchant of Savatthi. She noticed that in her fother's ho\ise a great fuss was made over a fine bull, and asked her nurse what it meant. "Who is this, nurse, that is honoiu-ed so?" The nurse replied that it was a right royal bull. Another day she was looking from an upper storey down the street, when lo, she spied a hunchback. [225] Thought she, "In the cow tribe, the leader has a hump. I suppose it's the same with men. That must be a right royal man, and I must go and be his humble follower." So she sent her maid to say that the merchant's daughter wished to join herself to him, and he was to wait for her in a certain spot. She collected her treasures together, and disguising herself, left the mansion and went off with the hunchback. By and bye all this became known in the town and among the Brotherhood. In the Hall of Truth, brothers discussed its bearings : " Friend, there is a merchant's daughter who has eloped with a hunchback !" The Master came in, and asked what they were all talking about together. They told him. He replied, " This is not the first time. Brethren, that she has fallen in love with a hunchback. She did the same before." And he told them an old-world tale.

Once on a time, while Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta was born of a rich man's family in a certain market town. When he came of age, he lived as a householdei', and was blessed with sons and daughters, and for his son's wife he chose the daughter of a rich citizen of Benares, and fixed the day. Now the girl saw in her home honour and reverence ofi'ered to a bull. She asked of her nurse, "What is that? "— " A right royal bull," said she. And afterward the girl saw a hunchback going through the street. "That must be a right royal man ! " thought she ; and taking with her the best of her belongings in a bundle, she went off with him. The BodhLsatta also, having a mind to fetch the girl home, set out for Benares with a great company ; and he travelled by the same road. The pair went along the road all night long. All night long the hunchback was overcome with thirst ; and at the sunrise, he was attacked by colic, and great pain came upon him. So he went off the road, dizzy with pain, and fell down, like a broken lute-stick, huddled together ; the girl too sat down at his feet. The Bodhisatta observed her sitting at the hunchback's feet, and recognised her. Approaching, he talked with her, repeating the first stanza : [226]

" Your own idea ! this foolish man can't move without a guide, This foolish hunchback ! 'tis not meet you should be by his side." And lieai'ing his voice, the girl answered by the second stanza : — "I thought the crookback king of men, and loved him tor liis wortli, — Who, hke a hito with broken strings, hes huddled on the earth." And when the Bodhisatta perceived that she had only followiMl him in disguise, he caused her to bathe, and adorned, her, and took lier into his carriage and went to his home. When this discourse wa.s ended, the Master identified the Birth : — " The girl is the same in both cases ; and the merchant of Benares was I myself."

[227] " The barb is in your bach" etc. — This story the Master told while dwelling in Jetavana, about a backsliding brother. He was brought into the Hall of Truth, and asked if he were really backsliding; to which he replied yes. When asked why, he replied "Because of the quality of desire." The Master said, " Desire is like twy-barbed arrows for getting lodgement in the heart ; once there, they kill, as the barbed arrows killed the crocodile." Then he told them an old-world tale. Once upon a time, the Bodhisatta was king of Benares, and a good king he was. One day he entered his pai-k, and came to the side of a lake. And those who were clever with dance and song began to dance and to sing. The fish and tortoises, eager to hear the sound of song, flocked together and went along beside the king. And the king, seeing a mass of fish as long as a palm trunk, asked his courtiers, " Now why do these fish follow me? " Said the courtiers, " They are coming to offer their services to their lord." The king was pleased at this saying, that they were come to serve him, and ordered rice to be given to tluun regularly. At the time of feeding some of the fish came, and some did not; and rice was wa.sted. They told the king of it. "Henceforward," said the king, "at the time for

158 Tlie Jdtaka. Booh II. the giving of rice let a drum be sounded ; and at the sound of the drum, when the fish flock together, give the food to tliem." From thenceforth the feeder caused a drum to sound, and wlien they flocked together gave rice to the fish. As thoy were gathered thus, eating the food, came a crocodile and ate some of the fish. The feeder told the king. The king listened. " When the crocodile is eating the fish," said he, " pierce him with a harpoon, and capture him." [228] " Good," the man said. And he went aboard a boat, and so soon as the crocodile was come to eat the fish, he pierced him with a harpoon. It went into his back. Mad with pain, the crocodile went ofi" with the harpoon. Perceiving that he was wounded, the feeder spake to him by this stanza : — "The barb is in your back, go where you may. The beat of drum, calling my fish to feed. Brought you, pursuing, greedy, on the way Which brought you also to your direst need." When the crocodile got to his own place, he died. To explain this matter, the Master having become perfectly enlightened spake the second verse as follows :

" So, when the world tempts any man to sin Who knows no law but his own will and wish, He perishes amid his friends and kin. Even as the Crocodile that ate the fish." [229] When this discourse was ended, the Master declared the Truths and identified the Birth : — at the conclusion of the Truths, the backsliding Brother reached the Fruit of the First Path : — " In those days I was the king of Benares."

" Noio desire has gone" etc. — This story the Master told while staying at Jetavana, about a young girl. Tradition tells us that a certain man at Savatthi, a servant of the Master's two chief disciples, had one beautiful and happy daughter. When she grew up, she married into a family as good as her own. The hu,sl)and, witlioiit consulting anybody, used to enjoy himself elsewhere at his own sweet will. She took no notice of his disrespect; but invited the two chief discijjlcs, made them presents, and listened to their preaching, until she reachetl the Fruit of the First Path. After this she si)ent all iier time in the enjoyment of the Path and the Fniit; at last, thinking that as her husband did not want her, there w;is no need for her to remain in the household, she determined to embrace the religious life. She informed her parents of her plan, carried it out, and became a saint. Her story became known amongst the Brotherhood; and one day they were discussing it in the Hall of Truth. " Friend, the daughter of such and such a family strives to attain the highest good. Finding tliat her husband did not care for her, she made rich pi'esents to the chief discii)les, listened to their preaching, and gained the Fruit of the First Path; she took leave of her parents, became a religious, and then a saint. So, friend, the girl sought the highest good."

While they were talking, the blaster came in and asked what it was all about. They told him. He .said, "This is not the first time, Pwcthren, that she .seeks the highest; she did so in olden days as well." And he told an old-world tale. Once on a time, when Brahmadatta was king in Benares, the Bodliisatta was living as an ascetic, in the Himalaya region; and he had cultivated the Faculties and the Attainments. Then the king of Benares, observing how niagnifical was the pomp of his son Prince Brahmadatta, was filled with suspicion, and banished his son from the realm. [230] The youth with his wife Asitabhu made his way to Himalaya, and took up his abode in a liut of leaves, with fish to eat, and all manner of wild fruits. He saw a woodland sprite, and became enamoured of her. " Her will I make my wife ! " said he, and nought recking of Asitabhu, he followed after her steps. His wife seeing that he followed after the sprite, was wroth. " The man cares nought for me," she thought ; "what have I to do with himT' So .she came to the Bodhisatta, and did him reverence : she learnt what she must needs do to be initiated, and gazing at the mystic object, she developed the Faculties and the Attainments, bade the Bodhisatta farewell, and returning stood at tlie door of her hut of leaves.

Now Brahmadatta followed the sprite, but saw not l»y what way she went ; and baulked of his desire he set his face again for the hut. Asitabhu saw him coming, and rose up in the air ; and poised upon a plane in the air of the colour of a precious stone, she said to him— " My young lord ! 'tis through you that I have attained this ecstatic bliss!" and she uttered the first stanza: — " Now desire has gone. Thanks to you, and found its ending: Like a tusk, once sawn, None can make it one by mending." 160 The Jdtaha. Book II. So saying, as he looked, she rose up and departed to another place. And when she had gone, he uttered the second stanza, lamenting : — [231] " Greed that knows no stay, Lust, the senses all confusing. Steals oiu" good away. Even as now my wife I'm losing." And having made his moan in this stanza, he dwelt alone in the forest, and at his father's death he received the sovereignty. After this discourse was ended, the Master identified the Birth: — "These two people were then the prince and princess, and I was the hermit."

" Houses in the ivorld are sweet" etc. — This story the Master told at Jetavana, about Roja the Mallian. We learn that this man, who was a lay friend of Ananda's, sent the Elder a message that he should come to him. The Elder took leave of the Master, and went. He served the Elder with all sorts of food, and sat down on one side, engaging him in a pleasant conversation. Then he offered the Elder a share of his house, tempting him by the five channels of desire. " Ananda, Sir, I have at home great store of live and dead stock. I will divide it and give you half ; let us live in one house together!" The Elder declared to him the suffering which is involved in desire ; then rose from his seat, and returned to the monastery. When the Master asked whether he had seen Roja, he replied that he had. " What did he say to you?" " Sir, Roja invited me to return to the world ; then I explained to him the sufiering involved in desires and the worldly life." The Master said, "Ananda, this is not the first time that Roja the Mallian has invited anchorites to retimi to the world; he did the same before;" and then, at his request, he told a story of the olden time.

[232] Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta was one of a family of brahmins who lived in a certain market town. Coming to years, he took up the religious life, and dwelt for a long time amid the Himalayas. He went to Benares to purchase salt and seasoning, and abode in the king's grounds ; next day he entered Benares. Now a certain rich man of the place, pleased at his behaviour, took him home, gave him to eat, and receiving his promise to abide with him, caused him to dwell in the garden and attended to his wants. And they conceived a friendship each for the other. One day, the rich man, by reason of his love and friendship for the Bodhisatta, thought this within himself : " The life of an ascetic is unhappy. I will persuade my friend Yacchanakha to unfrock himself; I will part my wealth in two, and give half to him, and we both will dwell together." So one day, when the meal was done, he spake sweetly to his friend and said — "Good Vacchanakha, unhappy is the hermit's life; 'tis pleasant to live in a house. Come now, let us both together take our pleasure as we will." So saying, he uttered the first stanza : —

" Houses in the world are sweet, Full of food, and full of treasure; There you have your fill of meat — Eating, drinking at your pleasure." The Bodhisatta on hearing him, thus replied : " Good Sir, from ignorance you have become greedy in desire, and call the householder's life good, and the life of the ascetic bad ; listen now, and I will tell you how bad is the householder's life ; " and he uttered the second stanza : [233] "He that hath houses peace can never know. He lies and cheats, he must deal many a blow On others' shoulders : nought this fault can cure : Then who into a house would willing go?" With these words the great Buddha told the defects of a householder's life, and went into the garden again. When the Master had ended this discourse, he identified the Birth :— " Roja the Mallian was the Benares merchant, and I was Yacchanakha the mendicant."

''See that twice-born bird," etc.— This story the Master told while staying in Jetavana, about a hypocrite. When he was brought before the Master, the Master said, "Brethren, he was a hypocrite of old just as he is now," and told the following story. 162 The Jataha. Booh 11. [234] Once on a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta became a Fish in a certain pond in the Himalaya region, and a great shoal went with him. Now a Crane desired to eat the fish. So in a place near the pond he drooped his head, and spread out his wings, and looked vacantly, vacantly at the fish, waiting till they were ofi" their guard'. At the same moment the Bodhisatta with his shoal came to that place in search of food. And the shoal of fish on seeing the crane uttered the first stanza : — "See that twice-born''^ bird, how white — Like a water-lily seeming; Wings outspread to left and right — Oh, how pious! dreaming, dreaming!" Then the Bodhisatta looked, and uttered the second stanza : — "What he is ye do not know. Or you would not sing his praises. He is our most treacherous foe ; That is why no wing he I'aises."

Thereupon the fish splashed in the water and drove the crane away. When this discourse was ended, the Master identified the Birth : — " This hypocrite was the Crane, and I was the chief of the shoal of fish."

" Why are hearts cold" etc. — This story the Master told during a stay near Saketa, about a brahmin named Saketa. Both the circumstances that suggested the story and the story itself have already been given in the First Book^. ^ "A crane's sleep " is au Indian proverb for trickery. 2 dijo is used of a bird as born in the egg and from the egg. It is also applied to Brahmins, and so conveys an additional notion of piety, ^ No. 68. [235]... And when the Tathagata had gone to the monastery, the Brother asked, " How, Sir, did the love begin ? " and repented the first stanza : — " Why are hearts cold to one — 0 Buddha, tell ! — And love another so exceeding well?" The Master explained the nature of love by the second stanza : — " Those love they who in other lives were dear, As siu'e as grows the lotus in the mere." After this discourse was ended, the Master identified the Birth : — " These two people were the brahmin and his wife in the story ; and I waa their son."

[236] " Tell me one word" eic— This story the Master told in Jetavana, about a certain landowner. We are told that there was a landowner who lived at Savatthi. One day, his son sitting on his hip asked him what is called the "Doori" question. He replied, " That question requires a Buddha ; nobody else can answer it." So he took his son to Jetavana, and saluted the Master. " Sir," .said he, " as my son .sat on my hip, he asked me the question called the ' Door.' I didn't know the answer, so here I am to ask you to give it." Said the Master, " This is not the first time, layman, that the lad has been a seeker after the way to accompli.sh his ends, and asked wise men this question ; he did so before, and wise men in olden days gave him the answer; but by reason of the dimness caused by re-birth, he has forgotten it." And at his request the Master told a tale of the olden time. Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was reigning in Benares, the Bodhisatta came into this world as a rich merchant's son. He grew u]>, and when in course of time the father died, he took his father'.s place as a merchant.

1 This question referred to the means of entering on the Paths. 164 The Jfitaka. Book 11. And his son, a young boy, sitting on his hip, asked him a question. "Father," said he, "tell me a thing in one word which embraces a wide range of meaning;" and he repeated the first stanza : — " Tell me one word that all things comprehends : By what, in short, can we attain our ends?" His father replied with the second : — " One thing for all things precious — that is skill : Add virtue and add patience, and you will Do good to friends and to your foes do ill." [237] Thus did the Bodhisatta answer his son's question. The son used the way which his father pointed out to accomplish his purposes, and by and bye he passed away to fare according to his deserts. When this discourse was ended, the Master declared the Truths and identified the Birth :— at the conclusion of the Truths father and son reached the Fruit of the First Path: — "This man was then the son, and I was the merchant of Benares myself"

" When I tvas in their cage," etc. — This story the Master told while dwelling in the Bamboo-grove, about Ajatasattu. Maha-Kosala, the king of Kosala's father, when he married his daughter to king Bimbisara, had given her a village in Kasi for bath-money. After Ajatasattu murdered Bimbisara, his father, the queen very soon died of love for him. Even after his mother's death, Ajatasattu still enjoyed the revenues of this village. But the king of Kosala determined that no parricide should have a village which was his by right of inheritance, and made war upon him. Sometimes the uncle got the best of it, and sometimes the nephew. And when Ajatasattu was victor, he raised his banner and marched through the country back to his capital in triumph ; but when he lost, all downcast he returned without letting any one know. It happened on a day that the Brethren sat talking about it in ihe Hall of Truth. "Friend" — so one would say — "Ajatasattu is delighted when he beats his uncle, and when he loses he is cast down." The Master, entering the Hall, asked what they were discussing this time ; [238] and they told him. He said, "Brethren, this is not the first time that the man has been happy when he conquered, and miserable when he did not." And he told them an old-world tale.

Once upon a time, when Brahraadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta became a Green Frog. At the time people set wicker cages in all pits and holes of the rivers, to catch fish withal. Tn one cage were a large number of fish. And a Water-snake, eating "fish, went into the trap himself. A number of the fish thronging together fell to biting him, until he was covered with blood. Seeing no help f6r it, in fear of his life he slipped out of the mouth of the cage, and lay down full of pain on the edge of the water. At the same moment, the Green Frog took a leap and fell into the mouth of the trap. The Snake, not knowing to whom he could appeal, asked the Frog that he saw there in the trap ~" Fi-icud Frog, are you pleased with the behaviour of yonder Fish?'' arid he uttered the first stanza : — "When I was in their cage, the fish did bite Me, though a snake. Green Frog, does that seem right?" Then the Frog answered him, " Yes, friend Snake, it does : why not ? if you eat fish which get into your demesne, [239] the fish eat you when you get into theirs. In his own place, and district, and feeding ground no one is weak." So saying, he uttered the second stanza : —

" Men rob as long as they can compass it ; And when they cannot — why, the biter's bit ! " The Bodhisatta having pronounced his opinion, all the fish observing the Snake's weakness, cried, "Let us seize our foe !" and came out of the cage, and did him to death then and there, and then departed. When the Master had ended this discourse, he identified the Birth : — " Ajatasattu was the Water-snake, and the Green Frog was I."

'■'The Yelloic Kitig^' etc. — This story the Master told at the -Jetavana Park, about Devadatta the heretic. Devadatta for nine months had ti-ied to compass the destruction of the future Buddha, and had sunk down into the earth by the gateway of Jetavana. 1 Folk-Loie Journal, iii. Viiu 166 The Jdtaha. Booh II. Then they that dwelt at Jetavana and in all the country round about were delighted, saying, " Devadatta the enemy of Buddha has been swallowed up in the earth: the adversary is slain, and the ^Master has become perfectly enlightened!" [240] And hearing these words sicken many a time and oft, the people of all the continent of India, and all the goblins, and living creatures, and gods were delighted likewise. One day, all the brethren were talking together in the Hall of Truth, and thus would they say: "Brother, since Devadatta sank into the earth, what a number of people are glad, saying, Devadatta is swallowed up by the earth!" The Teacher entered, and asked, "What are ye all talking about here, brethren?" They told him. Then said he, "This is not the first time, O brethren, that multitudes have rejoiced and laughed aloud at the death of Devadatta. Long ago they rejoiced and laughed as they do now." And he told them an old-world tale.

Once upon a time reigned at Benares a wicked and unjiist king named Maha-pingala, the Great Yellow King, who did sinfully after his own will and pleasure. With taxes and fines, and many mutilations' and robberies, he crushed the folk as it were sugar-cane in a mill ; he was cruel, fierce, ferocious. For other people he had not a grain of pity ; at home he was harsh and implacable towards his wives, his sons and daughters, to his brahmin courtiers and the householders of the country. He was like a speck of dust that falls in the eye, like gravel in the broth, like a thorn sticking in the heel. Now the Bodhisatta was a son of king Maha-pihgala. After this king had reigned for a long time, he died. When he died all the citizens of Benares were overjoyed and laughed a great laugh ; they burnt his body with a thousand cartloads of logs, and quenched the place of burning with thousands of jai's of water, and consecrated the Bodhisatta to be king : they caused a drum of rejoicing to beat about the streets, for joy that they had got them a righteous king. They raised flags and banners, and decked out the city ; at every door was set a pavilion, and scattering parched corn and flowers, they sat them down upon the decorated platforms under fine canopies, and did eat and drink. The Bodhisatta himself sat upon a fine divan [241] on a great raised dais, in great magnificence, with a white parasol stretched above him. The courtiers and householders, the citizens and the doorkeepers stood around their king.

But one doorkeeper, standing not far from the king, was sighing aiid sobbing. " Good Porter," said the Bodhisatta, observing him, " all the people are making merry for joy that my father is dead, but you stand weeping. Come, was my father good and kind to you?" And with the question he uttered the first stanza : — ^ -jamghakahapanadigahanetia I take to mean 'the taking away of legs, money, etc' Possibly jam(//id (taking it independently) may mean something like ' boot ' or ' stocks,' but I can find no authority for this. " The Yellow King was ci*uel to all men ; Now he is dead, all freely breatlie again. Was he, the yellow-eyed, so very dear? Oi", Porter, why do yoii stand weeping here?" The man heard, and answered: "I am not weeping for sorrow that Pirigala is dead. My head would be glad enough. For King Piiigala, every time he came down from the palace, or went uj) into it, would give me eight blows over the head with his list, like the blows of a blacksmith's hammer. So when he goes down to the other world, he will deal eight blows on the head of Yama, the gatekeeper of hell, as though he were striking me. Then the people there will cry — He is too cruel for us ! and will send him up again. And I fear he will come and deal fisticuffs on my head again, and that is why I weep." To explain the matter he uttered the second stanza: — [2-12]

" The Yellow King was anything but dear : It is his coming back again I fear. "What if he beat the king of Death, and then The king of Death should send him back again?" Then said the Bodhisatta: "That king has been burnt with a thousand cartloads of wood; the place of his burning has been soaked with water from thousands of pitchers, and the ground has been dug up all round ; beings that have gone to the other world, except by force of fate', do not return to the same bodily shape as they had befoi-e ; do not be afraid I" and to comfort him, he repeated the following stanza : — "Thousands of loads of wood have burnt him quite. Thousands of pitchers quenched what still did burn ; The earth is dug about to left and right — Fear not — the king will never more return. After that, the porter took comfort. And the Bodhisatta ruled in righteousness; and after giving gifts and doing other good acts, he passed away to fare according to his deserts. When the Master had ended this discourse, he identified the Birth : "Devadatta was Pingala ; and his son was I myself."

• Reading afimtra gativascl, ' except by the power of re-birth.' 168 The Jdtaka. Book II. " Even as the Jackal,'' etc. This story the Master told while staying in the Bamboo-grove, about Devadatta. Devadatta, having won favour in the eyes of Ajatasattu, yet could not make the repute and support which he received last any time. Ever since they saw the miracle''' done when Nalagiri was sent against him, the reputation and receipts of Devadatta liegan to fall off. [243] So one day, the Brethren were all talking about it in the Hall of Truth : "Friend, Devadatta managed to get reputation and support, yet could not keep it up. This happened in olden days in just the same way." And then he told them an old-world tale. Once upon a time, Brahmadatta was king of Benares, and the Bodhisatta was his chaplain; and he had mastered the three Vedas and the eighteen branches of knowledge. He knew the spell entitled ' Of subduing the World.' (Now this spell is one which involves religious meditation.) One day, the Bodhisatta thought that he would recite this spell ; so he sat down in a place apart upon a flat stone, and there went through his reciting of it. It is said that this spell could be taught to no one without use of a special rite ; for which reason he recited it in the place just described. It so happened that a Jackal lying in a hole heard the spell at the time that he was reciting it, and got it by heart. We are told that this jackal in a previous existence had been some brahmin who had learnt the charm ' Of subduing the World.'

The Bodhisatta ended his recitation, and rose up, saying — "Surely I have that spell by heart now." Then the Jackal arose out of his hole, and cried — " Ho, brahmin ! I have learnt the spell better than you know it yourself ! " and off he ran. The Bodhisatta set off in chase, and followed some way, crying — " Yon jackal will do a great mischief — catch him, catch him \ " But the jackal got clear off into the forest. The Jackal found a she-jackal, and gave her a little nip upon the body. "What is it, master? " she asked. "Do you know me," he asked, "or do you not?" "^I do not know you." He repeated the spell, and thus had 1 Folk-Lore Journal, iv. 60. - A great elephant was let loose for the purpose of destroying the Buddha, but only did him reverence : Cullavagga, vii. 3. 11 (S. B. E., Vinaya Texts, iii. 247) ; Hardy, Manual of Buddhism, p. 320; Milinda-panha iv. 4. 30 (trans, in S.B.E., i. 288). ■* Perhaps ajdnami " 1 do know you." under his orders several hundreds of jackals, and gathered round him all the elephants and horses, lions and tigers, swine and deer, and all other fourfooted creatures ; [244] and their king lie became, under the title of Sabbudatha, or Alltusk, and a she-jackal he made his consort. On the back of two elephants stood a lion, and on the lion's back sat Sabbadatha, the jackal king, along with his cOnsort the she-jackal ; and great honour was paid to them.

Now the Jackal was tempted by his great honour, and became putfed up with pride, and he resolved to capture the kingdom of Benares. So with all the fourfooted creatures in his train, he came to a place near to Benares. His host covered twelve leagues of ground. From his position there he sent a message to the king, " Give up your kingdom, or fight foiit." The citizens of Benares, smitten with terror, shut close their gates and stayed within. Then the Bodhisatta drew near the king, and said to him, " Fear not, mighty king 1 leave me the task of fighting with the jackal king, Sabbadatha. Except only me, no one is able to fight with him at all." Thus he gave heart to the king and the citizens. "I will ask him at once," he went on, " what he will do in order to take the city." So he mounted the tower over one of the gates, and cried out — "Sabbadatha, what will you do to get possession of this realm 1 " " I will cause the lions to roar, and with the roaring I will frighten the multitude : thus will I take it ! "

" Oh, that's it," thought the Bodhisatta, and down he came from the tower. He made proclamation by beat of drum that all the dwellers in the great city of Benares, over all its twelve leagues, must stop uj) their ears with flour. The multitude heard the command; they stopped up their own ears with 6our, so that they could not hear each other speak : — nay, they even did the same to their cats and other animals. Then the Bodhisatta went up a second time into the tower, and cried out " Sabbadatha ! " " What is it, Brahmin ? " quoth he. " How will you take this realm 1 " he asked. " I will cau.se the lions to roar, and I will frighten the people, and destroy them ; thus will I take it ! " he said. "You will not be able to make the lions roar; these noble lions, with their tawny paws and shaggy manes, will never do the bidding of an old jackal like you I " The jackal, stubborn with pride, [245] answered, " Not only will the other lions obey me, but I'll even make this one, upon whose back I sit, roar alone ! "

" Very well," said the Bodhisatta, " do it if you can." So he tapped with his foot on the lion which he sat upon, to roar. 170 The Jdtaka. Book II. And the lion resting his mouth upon the Elephant's temple, roared thrice, without any manner of doubt. The elephants were terrified and dropped the Jackal down at their feet ; they tramjjled upon his head and crushed it to atoms. Then and there Sabbadatha perished. And the elephants, hearing the roar of the lion, were frightened to death, and wounding one another, they all perished there. The rest of the creatures, deer and swine, down to the hares and cats, perished then and there, all except the lions ; and these ran off and took to the woods. There was a heap of carcases covering the ground for twelve leagues. The Bodhisatta came down from the tower, and had the gates of the city thrown open. By beat of drum he caused proclamation to be made throughout the city : " Let all the people take the flour from out of their ears, and they that desire meat, meat let them take ! " The people all ate what meat they could fresh, and the rest they dried and preserved.

It was at this time, according to tradition, that people first began to dry meat. The Master having finished this discourse, identified the Birth by the following verses, full of divine wisdom : — "Even as the Jackal, stiff" with pride, Craved for a mighty host on every side, And all toothed creatures came Flocking around, until he won great fame : "Even so the man who is supplied With a great host of men on every side, As great renown has he As had the Jackal in his sovranty." [246] " In those days Devadatta was the Jackal, Ananda was the king, and 1 was the chaplain."

'■'■Foolhh Dog" etc. This story the Master told whilst living in Jetavana, about a dog that used to be fed in the resting hall by the Ambala tower. It is said that from a puppy this dog had been kept there and fed by some water-carriers. In course of time it grew up there to be a big dog. Once a villager happened to see him ; and he bought him from the water-carriers for an upper garment and a rupee ; then, fastening liim to a chain, led the dog away. The dog was led away, unresisting, making no sound, and followed and followed the new master, editing whatever was offered. "He's fond of me, no doul)t,'' thought the man ; and let him fi'ce from the chain. No sooner did the dog Hiid himself free, than off he went, and never stoi)ped until he came back to the place he started from. Seeing him, the Brethren guessed what had happened ; and in the evening, when they were gathered in the Hall of Truth, they began talking about it. "Friend — here's the dog back again in our resting hall I how clever he nui.st have been, to get rid of his chain I No sooner free, than back he rani"' The Master, entering, asked what they were all talking about as they sat together. They told him. He rejoined, " Brethren, tins is not the first time our dog was clever at getting rid of his chain ; he was just tlie same before." And he told them an old-world tale.

Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta was born in a rich family of the kingdom of Kasi ; and when he grew up, he set up a house of his own. There was a man in Benares who had a dog which had been fed on I'ice till it grew fat. [247] And a certain villager who had come to Benares saw the dog ; and to the owner he gave a fine garment and a piece of money for the dog, which he led off bound by a strap. Arrived at the outskirts of a forest, he entered a hut, tied up the dog, and lay down to sleep. At that moment the Bodhisatta entered the forest on some errand, and beheld the dog made fast by a thong ; whereat he uttered the first stanza : — " Foolish Dog ! why don't you bite Through that strap that holds you tight I In a trice you would be free. Scampering oft" merrily ! " On hearing this stanza, the Dog uttered the second : — " Eesolute — determined, I Wait my opportunity : Careful watch and ward I keep Till the people are asleep."

So spake he ; and when the company were asleep, he gnawed through the strap, and returned to his master's house in great glee. [248] "When this discourse was ended, the Master identified the Birth : — " The dogs are the same, and I was the wise man." 172 The Jdfrdri. Book IL

" / had a pupil once" etc. — This story the Master told in the Bamboo-grove, about Devadatta. Oil this occasion the Brethren said to Devadatta: "Friend Devadatta, the Supreme Buddha is your teacher ; of him you learnt the Three Pitakas and how to produce the Four kinds of Ecstasy ; you really should not act the enemy to your own teacher!" Devadatta replied: "AVhy, friends, — Gotama the Ascetic my teacher ? Not a bit : was it not by my own power that I learnt the Three Pitakas, and produced the Four Ecstasies?" He refused to acknowledge his teacher. The Brethren fell a-talking of this in the Hall of Truth. "Friend! Devadatta repudiates his teacher ! he has become an enemy of the Supreme Buddha ! and what a miserable fate has befallen him 1" In came the Master, and enquired what they were all talking of together. They told him. "Ah, Brethren," said he, " this is not the first time that Devadatta has repudiated his teacher, and shown himself my enemy, and come to a miserable end. It was ju.st the same before." And then he told the following story. Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was reigning in Benares, the Bodhisatta was born in a musician's family. His name was Master Guttila. When he grew up, he mastered all the bi-anches of music, and under the name of Guttila the Musician he became the chief of his kind in all India. He married no wife, but maintained his blind parents'.

At that time certain traders of Benai'es made a journey to Ujjeni for trade. A holiday was proclaimed ; they all clubbed together ; they procured scents and perfumes and ointments, and all manner of foods and meats. " Pay the hire," they cried, " and fetch a musician! " It happened that at the time a certain Musila [249] was the chief musician in Ujjeni. Him they sent for, and made him their musician. Musila was a player on the lute ; and he tuned his lute up to the highest key, to play upon. But they knew the playing of Guttila the Musician, and his music seemed to them like scratching on a mat. So not one of them showed pleasure. When Musila saw that they expressed no pleasure, he said to himself — " Too sharp, I suppose," and tuning his lute down to the middle tone, he played it so. Still they sat indifferent. Then thought he, "I suppose they know nothing about it;" and making as though he 1 Guttila is one of the four men who " even in their earthly bodies attained to glory in the city of the gods." Milinda, iv. 8. 25 (trans, in ,s;. B. K., ii. 145).

too were ignorant, he played with the strings all loose. As before, they made no sign. Then Musila asked them, " Good merchants, why do you not like my playing? " "What! are you playing?" cried they. " We imagined that you must be tuning up." " Why, do you know any better musician,'' he asked, "or are you too ignorant to like my playing 1 " Said the merchants, " We have heard the music of Guttila the Musician, at Benares ; and yours sounds like women crooning to soothe their babies." " Here, take your money back," said he, " I don't want it. Only when you go to Benares, please take me with you." They agi*eed, and took him back to Benares with them ; they pointed out the dwelling of Guttila, and departed eveiy man to his own house. Musila entered the Bodhisatta's dwelling ; he saw his beautiful lute where it stood, tied up : he took it down, and played \i|)on it. At this the old parents, who could not see him because they were blind, [2-50] cried out — "The mice are gnawing at the lute ! Shoo ! shoo ! the rats are biting the lute to pieces ! "

At once Musila put down the lute, and greeted the old folks. "Where do you come from?" asked they. He replied, " I come from Ujjeni to learn at the feet of the teacher." "Oh, all right," said they. He asked where the teacher was. " He is out, father ; but he will be back to-day," came the answer. Musila sat down and waited until he came ; then after some friendly words, he told his errand. Now the Bodhisatta was skilled in divining from the lineaments of the body. He perceived that this was not a good man ; so he refused. "Go, my son, this art is not for you." Musila clasped the feet of the Bodhisatta's parents, to help his suit, and prayed them — "Make him teach me!" Again and again his parents besought the Bodhisatta to do so ; until he could not stand it any longer, and did as he was asked. And Musila went along with the Bodhisatta into the king's palace. " Who is this, master ? " asked the king, on seeing him. "A pupil of mine, great king!" was the reply. By and bye he got the ear of the king.

Now the Bodhisatta did not stint his knowledge, but taught his pupil everything which he knew himself. This done, he said, " Your knowledge is now perfect." Thought Musila, " I have now mastered my art. This city of Benares is the chief city in all India. My teacher is old ; here tiierefore must I 174 'file Jdtaka. Book II. stay," So he said to his teacher, "Sir, 1 would serve the king." "Grood, my son," replied he, " I will tell the king of it." He came before the king, and said, " My pupil is wishful to serve yoiir Highness. Fix what his fee shall be." The king answered, " His fee shall be the half of yours." And he came and told it to Musila. Musila said, " If I receive the same as you, I will serve; but if not, then I will not serve him." [251] " Why?" "Say : do I not know all that you know]" " Yes, you do." "Then why does he offer me the half?" The Bodhisatta informed the king what had passed. The king said, "If he is as perfect in his art as you, he shall receive the same as you do." This saying of the king the Bodhisatta told to his pupil. The pupil consented to the bargain ; and the king, being informed of this, replied — "Very good. What day will you compete together?" "Be it the seventh day from this, O king."

The king sent for Musila. " I understand that you are ready to try issue with your master ? " " Yes, your Majesty," was the reply. The king would have dissuaded him. " Don't do it," said he, " there should be never rivalry between master and pupil." "Hold, 0 king !" cried he — "yes, let there be a meeting between me and my teacher on the seventh day ; we shall know which of us is master of his art." So the king agreed ; and he sent the drum beating round the city with this notice : — " Oyez ! on the seventh day Guttila the Teacher, and Musila the Pupil, will meet at the door of the royal palace, to show their skill. Let the people assemble from the city, and see their skill ! " The Bodhisatta thought within himself, " This Musila is young and fresh, I am old and my strength is gone. What an old man does will not prosper. If my pupil is beaten', there is no great credit in that. If he beats me, death in the woods is better than the shame which will be my portion." So to the woods he went, bvit he kept returning through fear of death and going back to the wood through fear of shame. And in this way six days passed by. The grass died as he walked, and his feet wore away a path.

At that time, Sakka's throne became hot. Sakka meditated, and perceived what had happened. "Guttila the Musician is suffering much sorrow in the foi'est by reason of his pupil. [252] I must help him ! " So he went in haste and stood before the Bodhisatta. " Master," said he, " why have you taken to the woods ? " " Who are you ? " asked the other. Then said the Bodhisatta, " I was in fear of being worsted by my pupil, 0 king of the gods ; and therefoi-e did I flee to the woods." And he repeated the tiist stanza ' : — "I had a pupil once, who learnt of me The seven-stringed lute's melodiou's minstrelsy ; He now would fain his teacher's skill outdo. 0 Kosiya- 1 do thou my helper be!" " Fear not," said Sakka, " I am your defence and refuge : " and litrepeated the second stanza :— " Fear not, for I \yill help thee at thy neud ; For honour is the teacher's rightful meed. Fear not ! thy pupil shall not rival thee, But thou shalt prove the better man indeed." "As yon play, you shall break one of the strings of your lute, and play upon six; and the music shall be as good as before. Musila too shall break a string, and he shall not be able to make music with his lute ; then shall he be defeated.

And when you see that he is defeated, you shall break the second string of your lute, and the third, even unto the seventh, and you shall go on playing with nothing but the body; and from the ends of the broken strings the sound shall go forth, and fill all the land of Benares for a space of twelve leagues." [253] With these words he gave the Bodhisatta three playing-dice, and went on: "When the sound of the lute has filled all the city, you must throw one of these dice into the air ; and three hundred nymphs shall descend and dance before you. While they dance throw up the second, and three hundred shall dance in front of your lute ; then the third, and then three hundred more shall come down and dance within the arena. I too will come with them ; go on, and fear not!"

In the morning the Bodhisatta returned home. At the palace door ii pavilion was set up, and a throne was set apart for the king. He came down from the palace, and took his seat upon the divan in the gay pavilion. All around him were thousands of slaves, women beauteously apparelled, courtiers, brahmins, citizens. All the people of the town had come together. In the courtyard they wei-e fixing the seats circle on circle, tier above tier. The Bodhisatta, washed and anointed, had eaten of all manner of finest meats ; and lute in hand he sat waiting in his appointed place. Sakka was there, invisible, poised in the air, surrounded ' These stanzas, together with those which follow on page 255, and others, occur in the Vimdna-vatthu, no. 33 (p. 28 in the P. T. S. ed.), Guttila-vimdtia. - A title of Indra; the word means an Owl (Skr. Kaiiqika) : it is one of tho many Indian clan names that are al.so names of animals, 176 The Jcitaka. Booh II. by a great company. However, the Bodhisatta saw him. Musila too was there, and sat in his own seat. All around was a great concourse of people.

First the two played each the same piece. When they played, both the same, the multitude was delighted, and gave abundant applause. Sakka spoke to the Bodhisatta, from his place in the air : "Break one of the strings ! " said he. Then the Bodhisatta brake the bee-string ; and the string, though broken, gave out a sound from its broken end ; it seemed like mxisic divine. Musila too broke a string ; but after that no sound came out of it. His teacher broke the second, and so on to the seventh string : he played upon the body alone, and the sound continued, and filled the town : — the multitude in thousands waved and waved their kerchiefs in the air, in thousands they shouted applause. [254] The Bodhisatta threw up one of the dice into the air, and three hundred nymphs descended and began to dance. And when he had thrown the second and third in the same manner, there were nine hundred nymphs adancing as Sakka had said. Then the king made a sign to the multitude ; up rose the multitude, and cried — " You made a great mistake in matching yourself against your teacher ! You know not your measure!' Thus they cried out against Musila ; and with stones and staves, and anything that came to hand, they beat and bruised him to death, and seizing him by the feet, they cast him upon a dustheap.

The king in his delight showered gifts upon the Bodhisatta, and so did they of the city. Sakka likewise spake pleasantly to him, and said, " Wise Sir, I will send anon my charioteer Matali with a car drawn by a thousand thoroughbreds ; and you shall mount upon my divine car, drawn by a thousand steeds, and travel to heaven"; and he departed. When Sakka was returned, and sat upon his throne, made all of a precious stone, the daughters of the gods asked him, " Where have you been, 0 kingl" Sakka told them in full all that had happened, and praised the virtues and good parts of the Bodhisatta. Then said the daughters of the gods, "O king, we long to look upon this teacher; fetch him hither!" Sakka summoned Matali. "The nymphs of heaven," said he, "desire to look upon Guttila the Musician. Go, seat him in my divine car, and bring him hither," The charioteer went and brought the Bodhisatta. Sakka gave him a friendly greeting. "The maidens of the gods," said he, "wish to hear your music, Master." " We musicians, O great king," said he, " live by practice of our art. For a recompense I will play."

" Play on, and I will recompense you." " I care for no other recompense but this. Let these daughters of the gods tell me what acts of virtue brought them here ; then will I play." [255] Then said the daughters of the gods, " Gladly will we tell you after of the virtues that we have practised ; but first do you play to us, Master." For the space of a week the Bodhisatta played to them, and his music surpassed the music of heaveu. On the seveuth day he asked the daughters of the gods of their virtiious lives, beginning from the first. One of them, in the time of the Buddha Kassapa, had giveii an uppca" garment to a certain Brother ; and having renewed existence as an attendant of Sakka, had become chief among the daughters of the gods, with a retinue of a thousand nymphs : of her the Bodhisatta asked — " What did you do in a previous existence, that has bi-ought you here?" The manner of his question and the gift she had given have been told in the Vimana story : they spoke as follows : — " 0 brilliant goddess, like the morning star. Shedding thy light of beauty near and far^. Whence springs this beauty ? whence this hapi)iness ? Whence all the blessings that the heart can bless? I ask thee, goddess excellent in might, Whence comes this all-pervading wondrous light ? When thou wert mortal woman, what didst thou To gain the glory that surrounds thee now?"

"Chief among men and chief of women she Who gives an uj^per robe in charity. She that gives pleasant things is sure to win A home divine and fair to enter in. Behold this habitation, how divine ! As fruit of my good deeds this home is mine : A thousand nymphs stand ready at ray call ; Fair nymphs — and I the fairest of them all. And therefore am I excellent in might ; Hence comes this all-pervading wondrous light!" [25G] Another had given flowers for worship to a Brother who craved an alms. Another had been asked for a scented wreath of five sprays for the shrine, and gave it. Another had given sweet fruits. Another had given fine essences. Another had given a scented five-spray to the shrine of the Buddha Kassaj)a. Another had heard the discourse of Brethren or Sisters in wayfaring, or such as had taken up their abode in the house of some family. Another had stood in the water, and given water to a Brother who had eaten his meal on a boat. Anotlier living in the world had done her duty by motlier-in-law and father-in-law, never losing her temper. Another had divided even the share that she received, and so did eat, and was virtuous. Another, who had been a slave in some household, without anger and without pride had given away a share of lier own portion, and had been born again as an attendant upon the king of

^ These two lines occur in the Comm. to the Dhaminapada, j). <•>'.). See also note on the First Stanza, above. 178 The Jataka. Book II. the gods. So also all those who are written in the story of Guttilavimana, thirty and seven daughters of the gods, were asked by the Bodhisatta what each had done to come there, and they too told what they had done in the same way by verses. On hearing all this, the Bodhisatta exclaimed: '"Tis good for me, in sooth, truly 'tis very good for me, that I came here, and heard by how very small a merit great glory has been attained. Henceforward, when I return to the world of men, I will give all manner of gifts, and perform good deeds." And he uttered this aspiration : — " 0 happy dawn ! 0 happy must I be ! ' O happy pilgrimage, whereby I see These daughters of the gods, divinely fair, [257] And hear their sweet discom\se ! Henceforth I swear Full of sweet peace, and generosity. Of temperance, and truth my life shall be, Till I come there where no more sorrows are." Then after seven days had passed, the king of heaven laid his commands upon Matali the charioteer, and he seated Guttila in the chariot and sent him to Benares. And when he came to Benares, he told the people what he had seen with his own eyes in heaven. From that time the people resolved to do good deeds with all their might.

Wlien this discourse was ended, the Master identified the Birth : " In those days Devadatta was MCisila, Anm-uddha was Sakka, Ananda was the king, and I was Guttila the Musician."

" What he sees," etc. — This story the Master told at Jetavana, about a turntail vagrant who wandered about the country. It is said that this man could not find any one to argue with him in all India ; till he came to Sfivatthi, and asked whether any one could dispute with him. Yes— he was told — the Supreme Buddha; hearing which, he and a multitude with him repaired to Jetavana, and put a question to the Master, * J'imdna-vutthu, p. 31. whilst he was discoursing in the midst of the four kinds of discipl&s. The Master answered his question, and tlien put one to him in retni-n. This tlio man failed to answer, got up, and turned tail. The crowil sitting round exclaimed, "One word. Sir, vanquished tlie itinerant!" Saiil the Master, " Ves, Brethren, and just as I have vanquished him now with one word, so I did hcforc." Then he told a story of olden days. Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta was born a brahmin in the kingdom of Kasi. He grew up, and mastered his passions; and embracing the religious life, [^.IS] he dwelt a long time in the Himalayas.

He came down from tlie highlands, and took up his abode near a considerable town, in a hut of leaves built be.side a bend of the river Ganges. A certain pilgrim, who found no one that could answer him throughout all India, came to that town. " Is there anyone," asked ho, " who can argue with me?" Yes, they said, and told him the power of the Bodhisatta. So, followed by a great multitude, he made his way to the place wliere the Bodhisatta dwelt, and after greeting him, took a seat. '• Will you drink," he asked, " of the Ganges water, infused with wild wood odours?" The pilgrim tried to catch him in his words. "What is Ganges'? Ganges may be sand, Ganges may be water, Ganges may be the near bank, Ganges may be the far bank ! " Said the Bodhisatta to the pilgi-im, " Besides the sand, the water, the hither and the further bank, what other Ganges can you have?" The pilgrim had no answer for this; he rose up, and went away. When he had gone the Bodhisatta spake these verses by way of discourse to the assembled multitude : — " What he sees, he will not have ; What he sees not he will crave. He may go a long way yet — What he wants he will not get.

" He contemns what he has got ; Once 'tis gained, he wants it not. He craves everything always : Who craves nothing earns our praise." [259] When this discourse was ended, the Master identilied the Eirth : " The vagrant is the same in both cases, and I myself was then the ascetic." 180 Tlie Jataka. Book II.

" Time all consumes" etc. — This is a story told by the Master while he stayed near Ukkattha, in the Subhagavana Park, in connexion with the Chapter on the Succession of Causes. At that time, it is said, five hundred brahmins who had mastered the three Vedas, having embraced salvation, studied the Three Pitakas. These learnt, they became intoxicated with pride, thinking to themselves — "The Supreme Buddha knows just the Three Pitakas, and we know them too. So what is the difterence between usi" They discontinued their waiting upon the Buddha, and went about with an equal following of their own. One day the Master, when these men were seated before him, repeated the Chapter on the Succession of Cavises, and adorned it with the Eight Stages of Knowledge. They did not understand a word. The thought came into their mind — "Here we have been believing that there were none so wise as we, and of this we understand nothing. There is none so wise as the Buddhas : 0 the excellence of the Buddhas !" After this they were humbled, as quiet as serpents with their fangs extracted. When the Master had stayed as long as he wished in Ukkattha, he departed to Vesali ; and at Gotama's shrine he repeated the Chapter on Gotama. There was a quaking of a thousand worlds ! Hearing this, these Brothers became saints.

But however, after the Master had finished repeating the Chapter on the Succession of Causes, during his visit to Ukkattha [260] the Brethren discussed the whole afi^air in the Hall of Truth. "How great is the power of the Buddhas, friend ! Why, these brahmin mendicants, who used to be so drunk with pride, have been humbled by the lesson on the Succession of Causes!" The Master entered and asked what their talk was about. They told him. He said, " Brethren, this is not the first time that I have humbled these men, who used to carry their heads so high with pride ; I did the same before." And then he told them a tale of the olden time. Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta reigned in Benares, the Bodhisatta was born a brahmin; who when he grew up, and mastered the Three Vedas, became a far-famed teacher, and instructed five hundred pupils in sacred verses. These five hundred, having given their best energy to their work, and perfected their learning, said within themselves, "We know as much as our teacher: there is no difference." Proud and stubborn, they would not come before their teacher's face, nor do their round of duty.

One day, they saw their master seated beneath a jujube tree; and desiring to mock him, they tapped upon the tree with their fingers. " A. worthless tree!" said they. The Bodhisatta observed that they were mocking him. "My pupils," he said, "I will ask you a question." They were delighted. "Speak on," .said they, "we will answer." Their teacher asked the question by repeating the first stanza : — "Time all consumes, oven time itself as well. Who is't consumes the all-consumer? — tellM" [261] The youths listened to the problem; Ijut not one amongst tlieni could answer it. Then said the Bodhisatta, "Do not imagine that this question is in the Three Veilas. You imagine that you know all that I know, and so you act like the jujube tree*. You don't know that I know a great deal which is unknown to you. Leave me now: I give you seven days — think over this question for so long." So they made salutation, and departed each to his own house. There for a week they pondered, yet they could make neither head nor tail of the problem. On the seventh day, they came to their teacher, and greeted him, sitting down.

"Well, ye of auspicious speech, have you solved the question?" " No, we have not," said they. Again the Bodhisatta spoke in reproof, uttering the second stanza; — "Heads grow on necks, and hair on heads will grow: How many heads have ears, 1 wish to know?" " Fools are ye," he went on, rebuking the youths : " ye have ears with holes in them, but not wisdom ;" and he solved the pi'oblem. [262] They listened. "Ah," said they, "great are our Teachers !" and they craved his pardon, and quenching their pride they waited iipon the Bodhisatta. When the Master had ended this discourse, he identified the Birth: "At tliat time these Brothers were the live hundred pupils; and I my.self was their teacher." ^ Kdlaghaso, the 'consumer of time,' is he who, by destroying the thirst for existence, so lives as not to be born again (SchoUast's explanation). 2 The jujube fruit is often contrasted with the cocoa nut, as being only externally pleasing, see Hitop. i. 95. 182 The Jdtaha. Book II.

" The wicked kills," etc.— Thin is a story which the Master told while staying iu his gabled chamber near Vesali, about Sihasenapati. It is said that this man, after he had fled to the Refuge, offered hospitality and then gave food with meat in it. The naked ascetics on hearing this were angry and displeased ; they wanted to do the Buddha a mischief; "The priest Gotama," sneered they, "with his eyes open, eats meat prepared on purpose for him." The Brethren discussed this matter in their Hall of Truth: "Friend, Nathaputta the Ascetic i goes about sneering, because, he says, 'Priest Gotama eats meat prepared on piu-pose for him, with his eyes open '." Hearing this, the Master rejoined:— "This is not the first time. Brethren, that Nathaputta has been sneering at me for eating meat which was got ready for me on purpose ; he did just so in former times." And he told them an old-world tale. Once on a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta was born a brahmin. When he came of age he embraced the I'eligious life. He came down from Himalaya to get salt and seasoning, and next day walked the city, begging alms. A certain wealthy man designed to annoy the ascetic. So he brought him to his dwelling, and pointed out a seat, and then served him with fish. After the meal, the man sat on one side, and said,

"This food was pi'epared on purpose for you, by killing living creatures. Not upon my head is this wrong, but upon yours!" And he repeated the first stanza : — " The wicked kills, and cooks, and gives to eat : He is defiled with sin that takes such meat." [263] On hearing this, the Bodhisatta recited the second stanza : — "The wicked may for gift slay wife or son. Yet, if the holy eat, no sin is donc'-^." 1 He is one of the six titthiyas (Heretics), and generally called Ndtapiitta (which is probably the right spelling here). The ' naked ascetics ' were probably the Jains. - "...Those who take life are in fault, but not the persons who eat the flesh ; my priests have permission to eat whatever food it is customary to eat in any place or country, so that it be done without the indulgence of the appetite, or evil desire." Hardy, Manual, p. 327. And the Bodhisatta with these words of instruction rose from his seat and departed. This discourse ended, the Master identified the Bii-th : "Nfithaputti tlio Naked Ascetic was this wealthy man, and I was the ascetic."

" >Su>-el>/ this lad,'" etc. — This story the Master told wliilc dwelling in Jetavaua, about the Elder Laludayi. One day, it is said, the two chief disciples were discussing a question. The Brethren who heard the discussion praised the Elders. Elder Lfiludayi, who sat amongst the company, curled his lip with the tliought — "What is their knowledge compared with mine?" When the Bretliren noticed this, they left him. The company broke up. The Brethren were talking about it in the Hall of Truth. "Friend, did ynn see how LfJudayi curled his lip in scorn of the two chief disciples?" On hearing which the Master said, " Brethren, in olden days, as now, Laludayi had no other answer but a curl of the lip." Then he told thein an old-world tale. [264] Once upon a time, when king Brahmadatta was reigning in Benares, the Bodhisatta was his adviser in things spiritual and temporal. Now the king had a son, Piidafijali by name, an idle lazy loafer. By and bye the king died. His obsequies over, the courtiers talked of consecrating his son Padanjali to be king. But the Bodhisatta said, " 'Tis a lazy fellow, an idle loafer, — shall we take and consecrate him king 1 "

The courtiers held a trial. Tliey sat the youth down before them, and made a wrong decision. They adjudged something to the %vrong owner, and asked him, " Young sir, do we decide rightly ? " The lad curled his lip. "He is a wise lad, I think," thought the Bodhisatta; "he niu.st know that we have decided wrongly :" and he recited the first verse : — "Surely the lad is wise beyond all men. lie curls liis lip— he nuist see through us, then!" 184 The Jdtaka. Book II. Next day, as before, they arranged a trial, but this time judged it aright. Again they asked him what he thought of it. Again he curled his lip. Then the Bodhisatta perceived that he was a blind fool, and repeated the second verse : — " Not right from wrong, nor bad from good he knows : He curls his lip — but no more sense he shows." The courtiers became aware that the young man Padanjali was a fool, and they made the Bodhisatta king. When the ]\Iastcr had ended this discourse, he identified the Birth : "Laludayi was Padaiijali, and I was the wise com'tier."

[265] '■^ All have seen" etc. — This story the Master told whilst staying at Jetavana, on the Chapter about the Judas tree^. Four Brothers, approaching the Tathagata, asked him to exj^lain the means by which ecstasy may be induced. This he explained. This done, they dispersed to the several i)laces 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 tlieni ; 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 treel" As they requested him to tell them about it, he repeated a tale of bygone days. Once on a time Brahmadatta the king of Benai'es had four sons. One day they sent for the charioteer, and said to him, " We want to see a Judas tree ; show us one ! "

^ Khhsuka — Butea Frundosa. "Very well, I will," the charioteer replied. But he ditl not show it to them all together. He took the eldest at once- to tlio forest in the chariot, and showed him tin; trtie at the time when tlie hiids wcrt^ just sprouting from the stem. To the second he showed it when the leaves were green, to the third at tlu; time of blossoming, and to the fourth when it was bearing fruit. After this it happened tliat 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' !" 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!" Tiie Master, having explained the matter, then addressed the Bretln-cn : "Now as the four brothers, because they did not make a distinrtion and ask, fell in doubt about the tree, so you have fallen in doubt about tlie right" : aiul 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." 1 It has pink flowers. 186 The Jataka. Book II.

"ZiXc m>i own son," etc.— Th'm story the Master told whilst living in Jetavana, about a distinguished Elder. It is said that he had ordained a youth, whom he treated unkindly. The novice at last could stand it no longer, and returned to the world. Then the Elder tried to coax him. [267] " Look here, lad," said he, " your robe shall be your own, and your bowl too ; I have another bowl and robe which I'll give you. Join us again !" At first he refused, but at last after much asking he did so. From the day he joined the brotherhood the Elder maltreated him as before. Again the lad found it too much, and left the order. As the Elder begged him again several times to join, the lad replied, " You can neither do with me nor without me ; let me alone — I will not join !" The Brethren got talking about this in the Hall of Truth. "Friend," said they, "a sensitive lad that! He knew the Elder too well to join us." The IMaster came in and asked what they were talking about. They told him. He rejoined, "Not only is the lad sensitive now, Brethren, but he was just the same of old ; when once he saw the faults of tliat man, he would not accept him again." And he told a story of the olden time.

Once upon a time, in the reign of Brahmadatta king of Benares, the Bodhisatta was born into a landowner's family, and gained a living by selling corn. Another man, a snake-charmer, had trained a monkey, made him swallow an antidote, and making a snake play with the monkey he gained his livelihood in this way. A merrymaking had been proclaimed ; this man wished to make merry at the feast, and he entrusted the monkey to this merchant, bidding him not neglect it. Seven days after he came to the merchant, and asked for his monkey. The monkey heard his master's voice, and came out quickly from the grain shop. At once the man beat him over the back with a piece of bamboo ; then he took him off to the woods, tied him up and fell asleep. So soon as the monkey saw that he was asleep, he loosed his bonds, scampered off and climbed a mango tree. He ate a mango, and dropped the stone upon the snake-charmer's head. The man awoke, and looked up: there was the monkey. "I'll wheedle him!" he thought, "and when he comes down from the tree, I'll catch him ! " So to wheedle him, he repeated the first vex'se : —