9. A Buddhist Tar-Baby.
Keep the Precepts.
Jātaka 55: i. 272-275.
The man whose heart clings not.This parable was related by the Teacher while he was in residence at Jetavana with reference to a monk who relaxed effort. For, addressing that monk, the Teacher asked: “Monk, is it true, as they allege, that you have relaxed effort?” “True, Exalted One!” “Monk,” said the Teacher, “in former times wise men exerted themselves on an occasion when it was necessary for them to exert themselves, and by so doing attained the glory of dominion.” So saying, he related the following Story of the Past:
The man whose heart clings not.This parable was related by the Teacher while he was in residence at Jetavana with reference to a monk who relaxed effort. For, addressing that monk, the Teacher asked: “Monk, is it true, as they allege, that you have relaxed effort?” “True, Exalted One!” “Monk,” said the Teacher, “in former times wise men exerted themselves on an occasion when it was necessary for them to exert themselves, and by so doing attained the glory of dominion.” So saying, he related the following Story of the Past:
Intimes past, when Brahmadatta ruled at Benāres, the Future Buddha received a new existence as the child of the chief consort of that king. On the day when he received his name, his parents, after delighting eight hundred Brahmans with all of the Pleasures of Sense, inquired regarding the signs. The Brahmans, skilled in the discernment of signs as they were, seeing that he possessed the signs of a Great Man, made the following prediction: “Great king, the prince possesses merit; upon your decease he will attain the sovereignty; he will become the foremost man in the Land of the Rose-apple, and will be celebrated, will be renowned, for his deedswith the five weapons.” His parents, hearing these words of the Brahmans, in selecting a name for the prince, gave him the name Prince Five-weapons.
Now when he reached the age of discretion, when he was about sixteen years of age, the king addressed him. “Son,” said the king, “acquire the arts and crafts.” “Under what teacher shall I acquire them, your majesty?” “Son, go acquire them under a world-renowned teacher who resides in the city of Takkasilā in the kingdom of Gandhāra; here is the fee for you to give to this teacher.” So saying, he gave him a thousand pieces of money and sent him on his way.
The prince went there and acquired the arts and crafts. Having so done, he took the five weapons which his teacher gave him, bowed to his teacher, departed from the city of Takkasilā, and girded with the five weapons, struck into the road leading to Benāres. On the way he came to a certain forest infested by an ogre named Sticky-hair. Now at the mouth of the forest men who saw him tried to dissuade him from entering, saying: “Sir prince, do not enter this forest; an ogre named Sticky-hair lives here; he kills every man he sees.”
The Future Buddha, confident of himself, fearless as a maned lion, entered the forest just the same. When he reached the heart of that forest, thatogre showed himself to the Future Buddha. He had increased his stature to the height of a palm-tree; he had created for himself a head as big as a summer-house with bell-shaped pinnacle, eyes as big as alms-bowls, two tusks as big as giant bulbs or buds; he had the beak of a hawk; his belly was covered with blotches; his hands and feet were dark green.
Having shown himself to the Future Buddha, he said: “Where are you going? halt! you are my prey!” But the Future Buddha said to him: “Ogre, I knew what I was about when I entered this forest. You would do well to be careful about attacking me, for with an arrow steeped in poison will I pierce your flesh and fell you on the spot!” Having thus threatened him, the Future Buddha fitted to his bow an arrow steeped in deadly poison and let fly.
It stuck right to the ogre’s hair. Then he let fly, one after another, fifty arrows. All stuck right to the ogre’s hair. The ogre shook off every one of those arrows, letting them fall right at his feet, and approached the Future Buddha. The Future Buddha threatened him once more, and drawing his sword, smote him with it. The sword, thirty-three inches long, stuck right to the ogre’s hair. Then he hit him with a spear. That also stuck right to his hair. Perceiving that the spear had stuck, he smote him with a club. That also stuck right to his hair.
Then he hit him with a spear.Then he hit him with a spear.
Then he hit him with a spear.
Then he hit him with a spear.
Perceiving that the club had stuck, he said: “Master ogre, you have never heard of me before. I am Prince Five-weapons. When I entered this forest infested by you, I took no account of bows and such-like weapons; when I entered this forest, I took account only of myself. Now I am going to beat you and pound you into powder and dust!” Having thus made known his determination, with a yell he struck the ogre with his right hand. His hand stuck right to the ogre’s hair. He struck him with his left hand. That also stuck. He struck him with his right foot. That also stuck. He struck him with his left foot. That also stuck. Thought he: “I will beat you with my head and pound you into powder and dust!” He struck him with his head. That also stuck right to the ogre’s hair.
The Future Buddha, snared five times, stuck fast in five places, dangled from the ogre’s body. But for all that, he was unafraid, undaunted. As for the ogre, he thought: “This is some lion of a man, some man of noble birth,—no mere man! For although he has been caught by an ogre like me, he appears neither to tremble nor to quake! In all the time I have harried this road, I have never seen a single man to match him! Why, pray, is he not afraid?” Not daring to eat him, he asked: “Youth, why areyou not afraid? why are you not terrified with the fear of death?”
“Ogre, why should I be afraid? for in one state of existence one death is absolutely certain. What’s more, I have in my belly a thunderbolt for weapon. If you eat me, you will not be able to digest that weapon. It will tear your insides into tatters and fragments and will kill you. In that case we’ll both perish. That’s why I’m not afraid!” (In these terms, we are told, the Future Buddha referred to the Weapon of Knowledge within himself.)
Hearing this, the ogre thought: “What this youth says is true, every word of it. From the body of this lion of a man, my stomach would not be able to digest a fragment of flesh even so small as a kidney bean. I’ll let him go!” Terrified with the fear of death, he let the Future Buddha go, saying: “Youth, you’re a lion of a man! I’ll not eat your flesh. Do you, this moment released from my hand, even as the moon is released from the Jaws of Rāhu, go gladden the circle of your kinsfolk and well-wishers!”
Then said the Future Buddha to the ogre: “Ogre, I’ll go presently. But you, because in a former state of existence also you wrought evil, have been reborn as an ogre, cruel, red-handed, feeding on the flesh and blood of others. If in this state of existence also,so long as you live, you do evil deeds, you will go from darkness to darkness. But from the moment you saw me, it has been impossible for you to do evil deeds. Such a crime as taking the life of living beings means rebirth in hell, in the animal kingdom, in the region of the fathers, in the world of the fallen deities; should you be reborn in the world of men, you will live but a short time and soon pass away.”
In such wise did the Future Buddha recite the disadvantages of doing deeds contrary to the Precepts, and the advantages of keeping the Five Precepts. With one reason after another he terrified the ogre, preached the Doctrine to him, subdued him, made him self-denying. Having established him in the Five Precepts, he bade him practice them. Then he transformed him into a spirit entitled to receive offerings in the forest, and having admonished him to be heedful, departed from the forest. At the mouth of the forest he told his story to human beings. Then, girded with the five weapons, he went to Benāres and visited his mother and father. After a time becoming established in the kingdom, he ruled righteously, gave alms and performed the other works of merit, and passed away according to his deeds.