Stories of the Buddha: Being Selections from the Jataka
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Stories of the Buddha: Being Selections from the Jataka
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| ISBN-13: | 9780486119113 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Dover Publications |
| Publication date: | 02/06/2013 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 288 |
| File size: | 875 KB |
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Stories of the Buddha
Being Selections from the Jataka
By Caroline A. F. Rhys Davids
Dover Publications, Inc.
Copyright © 1989 Dover Publications, Inc.All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-486-11911-3
CHAPTER 1
THE SANDY ROAD JATAKA
(Vannupatha-jtaka)
"UNWEARIED digging ..."—This lesson the Blessed One taught while living at Savatthi. About what? About a monk who gave up effort.
It is said that, the Tathâgata residing at Savatthi, a man of the Savatthi families went to the Jetavana and heard the Teacher teaching the Right. Pleased in mind and seeing the danger of sense-desires, and being now a five-yearer since his ordination, and having learnt two Summaries and trained himself in method of insight, he received from the Teacher a subject of exercise which appealed to his mind, and entering the forest he passed the rainy season striving. But he was unable to bring forth either aura or after-image. Then this occurred to him: "Four (types of) men have been taught by the Teacher; among these I ought to become of the highest grade. There is, methinks, for me in this birth neither Way nor Fruit. What shall I make of forest-life? Going back to the Teacher I will live contemplating the supremely beautiful Buddha-body, listening to the honeyed teaching of the Dhamma." And he went back to the Jetavana.
His companions and messmates said: "Reverend, you took an exercise from the Teacher, saying 'I will work at recluseship.' Now you are back again and going about in the enjoyment of society. What then? Have you won the top of a religieux' duties; are you become a not-rebirth-er?" "Reverends, I have got neither Way nor Fruit ; I am to become one of the 'incapable men.' I am come back because I have given up effort." "There is no reason, Reverend, in what you have done, in giving up effort when you had left the world in the religion of a Teacher mighty in effort. Come, we will show you to the Tathâgata." And taking him they went to the Teacher. Seeing them he said: "Monks, you are come bringing a monk who is unwilling. What has happened to him?" "Reverend sir, this monk, having left the world in such an away-leading religion and working at recluseship, is returned having given up effort." Then the Teacher said: "Is it true, monk, that you have given up effort?" "It is true, Blessed One." "How comes it, monk, that when you have left the world in such a religion you should not be known as either of little desires, or contented, or secluded, or of strenuous effort, but have given up effort? Was it not you who were full of effort in bygone days? Was it not on account of what you did alone, that when five hundred carts were in a sand-desert, men and oxen obtained water and were made well? Why have you given up effort now?"
Thereat that monk was encouraged. But when they heard that saying, the monks begged the Blessed One: "Reverend sir, that this monk is now lost to effort is clear to us, but what you say he did in the past is hidden from us ; only to your all-knowing knowledge is it clear. Tell us this matter." "Well then, monks, listen!" And the Blessed One, calling up in them mindfulness, made clear what through rebirth was hidden.
In the past, when Brahmadatta was reigning at Benares, the Bodhisat, taking rebirth in the family of the leader of a caravan, had come of age and went about doing trade with five hundred carts. He one day was passing through a sand-desert of sixty leagues. In the desert the sand was so fine that when grasped with the fist it did not stay in the hand; from sunrise it became hot as a heaped-up fire—no man could walk on it. Hence they who passed through it took oil and wood and rice in their carts and travelled by night, placing at sunrise the carts in a circle and spreading an awning on top, and after a timely meal passed the day sitting in the shade. At sunset they ate supper and, when the ground was become cool, yoked the carts and went on. The going was like sea-going: it was necessary to get a "land-pilot"; he brought the caravan through by his knowledge of the stars.
On that occasion, too, the caravan-leader was travelling by this method through that desert. And when they had gone fifty-nine leagues he said: "Now in one night we shall pass out of the desert." So after supper he had all the wood thrown away, and with the carts harnessed he went forward. The land-pilot had spread a cushion on the leading cart, and lay down watching the stars in the sky and would be saying, "Go forward this way." But, having gone for a long time without sleep, he was weary and fell asleep, and was unaware that the oxen had turned round and were going the way they had come. The oxen went on all night. Towards dawn the land-pilot awaked and, looking at the stars, said: "Turn the carts, turn!" As they turned the carts and made up the line, the dawn rose up, the men saying, "This is just where we camped yesterday! We have lost wood and water; now we are lost!" Loosing the carts and placing them in a circle and making the awning above, they lay down grieving, each by his own cart.
The Bodhisat thinking "If I give up effort all will be lost," early while it was yet cool looked around, and seeing a patch of dabba grass he thought:
"These grasses will have come up because there is water oozing beneath." And, taking a spade, he made them dig in that spot. They dug for sixty cubits. Digging thus far a spade of the diggers struck a rock, and at its striking they gave up all effort. But the Bodhisat, thinking "Beneath this rock there must be water," got down, and standing on the rock, he bent his ear and listened for a sound, and he heard the sound of water flowing beneath. Hearing it, he came up and said to a boy-attendant: "Tata, if you give up effort we shall all be lost. Do not you give up effort. Take this hammer, get down into the hole and strike on that rock." He obeyed, and though all stood by with effort given up, he not giving up went down and struck the rock. The rock split in the middle and fell below and remained no longer keeping down the stream. And a spout of water rose up as high as a palm tree. All drank and bathed. They chopped up their spare axles, cooked rice and ate, made the oxen eat, and when the sun set, they set up a flag by the waterhole and went whither they wished. They sold the goods at double and fourfold profit, and with wares returned to their homes. So living their life long they went according to their deeds. And the Bodhisat working merit in giving and the like went according to his deeds.
The Rightly Enlightened then said this verse:
"In sandy desert digging never tired,
in thoroughfare 'twas there they water found.
So the wise man with effort and with strength
untiring (works till) he finds peace of heart."
The Teacher joined on the series and assigned the Jataka: "Then the boy-attendant who did not give up effort was this monk who has given up effort; the others were the Buddha- company, but the caravan-leader was just I."
[No. 6]
THE DIVINE NATURE JATAKA
(Deva-dhamma-jataka)
"THEY who are modest and discreet."—This the Blessed One told while living at the Jetavana about a monk of many goods. It is said that a landowner living at Savatthi left the world on the death of his wife. So doing he had a hermitage made for his own use and a fire-room and a store-house. When ordained he had this filled with butter and rice and the like; he then as monk sent for his slaves and had what he liked prepared for his food. And in monk-requisites he was richly equipped, clothing himself one way by night, another by day. And he dwelt on the outskirts of the monastery.
One day, when he had taken out clothes and bedding and spread them in the hermitage to dry, monks from the country on more than a day's tour and seeking a lodging came to his hermitage, and seeing the clothes, asked: "Whose are these?" He said, "Mine, reverends." "Reverend, this upper robe and that one, this undercloth and that one and the bedding—is all just yours?" "Yes, mine." "Reverend, three cloths are allowed by the Blessed One; you who have entered the Order of so-little-wanting a Buddha have become so richly equipped! Come, we will lead you to the Ten-Powered." And they did so. The Teacher, seeing them, said: "Why now, monks, are you bringing a monk against his will?" "Reverend sir, this monk is of many goods, much equipment." "Is it true, monk, what they say?" "It is true, Blessed One." "But why are you a man of many goods? Am I not one who praises few wants and content and the rest, also seclusion and stirring up of energy?" He, hearing the Teacher's word and vexed, said: "Now will I go about stripped like this!" And, laying aside his cloak, he stood with but one garment. Then the Teacher, coming to his support, said: "Was it not you, monk, who of old were a seeker after modesty and discretion and, though you were a waterdemon, for twelve years you lived in that quest? Why do you who have now left the world in so reverent an Order as the Buddha's lay aside before the four companies your cloak and stand lost to modesty and discretion?" He, hearing the Teacher's word, was set up in modesty and discretion, donned his cloak, bowed before the Teacher and sat down. The monks begged the Teacher to make clear the matter. The Blessed One made manifest an affair hidden by intervening becoming.
In the past Brahmadatta was king at Benares in the kingdom of Kasi. Then the Bodhisat took birth as the child of the chief queen and was named Mahingsasa. When he could get about, running to and fro, another son was born to the king, and they named him Chanda (Moon). But when he could get about, running to and fro, the Bodhisat's mother died. The king appointed another his chief queen. She was dear and charming to him. She living in love brought forth a son, and they named him Suriya (Sun). The king, seeing his son, was gratified, and said: "Lady dear, for the son I grant you a choice." The queen put by the choice to be claimed when a wish would arise.
When her son was of age she said to the king: "By the lord at my son's birth a choice was given: give me for my son the kingdom." The king refused her, saying "I have two sons like flames of fire in their goings; I am not able to give the kingdom to your son." When he saw her begging for this again and again he thought "She may be devising evil against my sons," and sending for the sons he said: "Tatas, when Suriya was born I gave a choice, and now his mother begs for the kingdom for him. I am not willing to give it him. Woman is wicked; she might devise evil against you; do you go into the forest. When I am gone you may reign over the kingdom which belongs to our family." And, weeping and sobbing, he kissed their heads and let them go. They saluted their father and descended from the palace. Suriya saw them as he was playing in the courtyard, and learning the affair, "I will go with my brothers," he said, and went forth with them.
They entered the Himâlaya region. The Bodhisat, turning aside from the way, sat down beneath a tree and bade Suriya: "Tata Suriya, go down to that lake, bathe and drink and fetch us some water in lotus-leaves." Now the lake had been got by a waterdemon from Vessavana, and Vessavana had said to him: "Excepting those who know what it is to be divine, you can take and eat all who come down to that lake; them you do not get." From that day that demon, asking them who came down to that lake about what is divine, ate those who did not know. Then Suriya, going to that lake and not scrutinising, the demon seized him and asked: "Do you know what is divine?" He said: "Chanda, Suriya are divine." Then he was told, "You don't know what is divine," and he was made to enter the water and placed in the demon's abode. The Bodhisat, seeing he was a long time, sent Chanda. The demon, seizing him too, asked him: "Know you what is divine?" "Yes, I know; the four quarters (of the firmament) are divine." And he, too, was taken and put there. He also tarrying, the Bodhisat thought "There will have been an accident," and himself going there, and seeing the track of feet descending, he thought "There will be a haunting of this lake by a demon," and he drew his sword and grasped his bow, and waited. The waterdemon, seeing he did not descend to the water, became like a forester, and said to the Bodhisat: "Sir man, you are weary with the way; why don't you descend to the lake, bathe and drink, eat lotus-stalks, deck yourself with lotuses and go where you will?" The Bodhisat saw and knew him for a sprite, and said: "You have seized my little brothers." "Yes, I have." "Why?" "I win those who descend to this lake." "What, do you win all?" "Not them who know what is divine: I get all the rest." "Have you but need of what is divine?" "Yes, I have." "If that is so I will tell you the divine things." "Well then, tell; I will listen what are divine things." The Bodhisat said: "I would tell about the divine ones but my limbs are weary." The sprite bathed the Bodhisat, made him eat and drink, decked him with flowers, anointed him with perfumes, spread a seat for him in an ornate pavilion. The Bodhisat, sitting down and making the sprite sit at his feet, said this verse:
"Those who are modest and discreet,
On things that are pure intent,
The holy men, the lovely men,
These the world calls divine."
The sprite, hearing this righteous teaching spoken, was pleased, and to the Bodhisat: "Wise man, I am pleased with you; I give you one brother; which shall I bring?" "Bring the younger." "Wise man, you know thoroughly just what are divine things; but you do not act accordingly." "How is that?" "Putting the elder aside for some reason you bid me bring the younger, and do not carry out what is due to an elder." "I both know who are divine, sprite, and I act accordingly. It was on that boy's account that we entered this forest; it was for that boy's sake that his mother begged the kingdom of our father; now our father, not granting her choice, enjoined us for our safety's sake to live in the forest; that boy never turning back came with us; were it to be said 'he was devoured in the forest by a sprite' no one would believe us; wherefore out of fear of blame I bid you bring that one." "Very good, very good, wise man, you both know what are divine things and you act accordingly." And, pleased in mind, the sprite, applauding the Bodhisat, gave him back both brothers.
Then the Bodhisat said to him: "My good man, through what you have done in the past that was evil you have been re-born as a sprite, eating flesh and blood of others. You are still doing evil. This evil-doing of yours will not grant you release from hell and the rest. Wherefore from henceforth put away evil and do well!" And he succeeded in taming him. Continuing there to dwell with the sprite as guardian, he one day reading the stars saw that his father had died. And taking the sprite he went to Benares, and seizing the kingdom, and making Chanda viceroy and Suriya general, and appointing a pleasant spot as abode for the sprite, so that he got the best garlands, best flowers and best food: these things he did. And ruling righteously, he went according to his deeds.
The Teacher ... having told the double story, joined on the series, and assigned the Jataka: "Then the waterdemon was the monk of many goods, Suriya was nanda, Chanda was Sriputta, the elder brother Mahingssa was just I."
[No. 7]
THE FAGGOT-BRINGER JATAKA
(Katthahri-jataka)
"YOUR son am I, your majesty."—This the Teacher. told while living at the Jetavana about Vasabha the noble lady. The story is amplified in the twelfth Jataka book, the Lucky Hall Jataka. It is said she was the daughter of Mahanama the Sakyan by a slave girl named Nagamunda, and that she became the chief queen of the king of Kosala. She bore a son to the king. The king, having come to know that she was of a slave, degraded her position and degraded also the position of her son Vid-dabha. Both kept always within the palace.
The Teacher, learning of the matter, came early with a retinue of five hundred monks to the palace and took his seat on the seat prepared. And he said: "Your majesty, where is Vasabha the princess?" The king told him of the matter. "Your majesty, whose daughter is Vasabha the princess?" "Mahanama's, reverend sir." "Coming, to whom came she?" "To me, reverend sir." "Your majesty, she is a king's daughter, she is come to a king, because of the king she got a child; how comes it that this son is not as of the master in the kingdom owned by his father? Of old kings gave a kingdom to the son of a mere faggot-bringer, after the briefest intercourse (with her)." The king begged the Blessed One to make the matter clear. The Blessed One made manifest the affair hidden by intervening becoming (i.e. re-births).
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Stories of the Buddha by Caroline A. F. Rhys Davids. Copyright © 1989 Dover Publications, Inc.. Excerpted by permission of Dover Publications, Inc..
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
IntroductionThe Sandy Road Jataka (No. 2)
The Divine Nature Jataka (No. 6)
The Faggot-Bringer Jataka (No. 7)
The Banyan-Deer Jataka (No. 12)
The Dead Men's Food Jataka (No. 18)
The Cane-Drinking Jataka (No. 20)
The Antelope Jataka (No. 21)
The Bhoja-Thoroughbred Jataka (No. 23)
The Nestling Jataka (No. 31)
The Mosquito Jataka (No. 44)
The Park-Spoiling Jataka (No. 46)
The Unwise Folk Jataka (No. 50)
The Great Silava-King Jataka (No. 51)
The Bar of Gold Jataka (No. 56)
The Monkey-Lord Jataka (No. 57)
The Blindfold Jataka (No. 62)
The Hard-to-know Jataka (No. 64)
The Apronfull Jataka (No. 67)
The Saketa Jataka (Nos. 68 and 237)
The Gate of Weal Jataka (No. 84)
The Kings Lesson Jataka (No. 151)
The Gagga Jataka (No. 155)
The Vulture Jataka (No. 164)
The Falcon Jataka (No. 168)
The Advantage of Morality Jataka (No. 190)
The Gem-Theif Jataka (No. 194)
The Cloudhorse Jataka (No. 196)
The Shoes Jataka (No. 231)
The One-Course Jataka (No. 238)
The Tawny King Jataka (No.240)
The Guttila Jataka (No.243)
The Judis-Tree Jataka (No. 248)
The Decayed Well Jataka (No. 256)
The Crab Jataka (No. 267)
The Hundred-Feathered Jataka (No. 279)
The Sujata Jataka (No. 306)
The Hare Jataka (No. 316)
The Kanavera and Indriya Jataka (Nos.318 and 423)
The Sujata (well-born) Jataka (No. 352)
The Karandiya Jataka (No. 356)
The Great Ape Jataka (No. 407)
The Chanda-Fairy Jataka (No. 485)
The Ummadanti Jataka (No. 527)
The Six(-rayed) Tusker Jataka (No.514)
The Kusa Jataka (No. 531)
The Sama Jataka (No. 540)
The Nimi Jataka (No. 541)
Index