111. The Question about the Donkey

This is set out at length in the Mahā-Ummagga-Jātaka [No. 546].

[When the Enlightenment Being was born in the city of Mithilā while King Videha was ruling the country, King Videha had four erudites who advised him. King Videha, on hearing of the erudition of the Englightenment Being, wanted to summon him to the palace. The four erudites were disturbed on hearing this news, and they prevented the invitation from being made because they were jealous. But on hearing further the splendor of the erudition of the Enlightenment Being, Mahosadha, the king without informing his four erudite ministers decided to go alone to see the Enlightenment Being.

On this journey, the king’s royal horse, stepping on an uneven area in the road, broke its leg. The king had to come back. When he returned to the palace, the four erudite ministers asked, “Your lordship, did not you go to see and bring back the erudite Mahosadha?” The king said, “Yes.” The ministers said, “We asked you not to go there. But without listening to us you wanted to go. See what happened to your horse? Do not be in a hurry.” The king had nothing to say, and he kept silent.

After a while, the king again suggested to the ministers that they invite the erudite Mahosadha to the palace. The ministers saw that this time, they could not prevent the king from inviting him. T

hey said, “Your lordship, if it is so, this time you should not go to him. Last time when you were trying to go to him, your royal horse broke its leg. Therefore, this time, send him a messenger saying, ‘Last time when we were trying to come to see you, our horse’s leg got broken. Therefore, send us a noble horse (assatara)4 or a nobler one.’ If he understands our puzzle, if he sends a noble horse he will come himself. If he sends a nobler one, he will send his father.” The king agreed to do so. Sending a messenger, he did as they agreed.]

The Enlightenment Being, Mahosadha, on hearing the message of the king, thought, “Our lord king is willing to see myself and my father.” And he went to his father, offered him respect, and said, “Father, our lord king would like to see you and me. Therefore, you go first with a thousand other people. Also, do not go empty-handed. Take with you a good box of fresh ghee. When you go there, the king will ask you to sit down in an appropriate chair. Then you may sit in that appropriate chair. While you and the king are talking to each other, I will arrive. Then the king will greet me and talk to me, and will request that I sit in an appropriate seat. When I look at your face, by that sign, you will get up from your seat and say to me, ‘My son, Mahosadha. Sit on this seat.’ Then it will be a puzzle for them.”

The millionaire father accepted what his son said, and as his son had requested, he went first. He arrived near the gate of the palace. The king summoned him. When he entered the palace, he greeted the king, and the king asked, “Where is your son, Mahosadha?” Then he said, “Your lordship, he will come later.”

The king became very happy on hearing that Mahosadha was on his way. The king requested the father to take a seat. The father sat down on an appropriate seat.

The Enlightenment Being, Mahosadha, endowed with beautiful clothes and ornaments, surrounded by a thousand other young princes, went into the city of Mithilā. On the edge of the city, he saw a young donkey grazing on the grass along the ditch around the city proper. He ordered his men to catch him and take him with them in such a fashion that the donkey could not make any noise. At the same time, he instructed them not to let anyone at the palace see the donkey. The young men, hearing the Enlightenment Being’s words, did everything as he advised. The Enlightenment Being, Mahosadha, went to the palace of the king with such a large retinue as if he were the king of the gods.

A crowd gathered to see the millionaire’s son, Mahosadha, on his way to the palace. The people were saying to each other, “Look! He is the prince born to this world carrying a lump of medicine in his hand. He is the erudite prince who solved such a large number of questions and puzzles sent by the king. Look at his splendor.” And they were appreciating the Enlightenment Being, but yet were still not satisfied by seeing him.

The Enlightenment Being reached near the gate of the palace and sent a message with the gatekeeper about his arrival. On hearing the news, the king immediately asked him to come. The Enlightenment Being went with his retinue, made his respects to the king, and kept aside while standing. The king became very happy and talked pleasantly to him. He said, “Erudite Mahosadha, be seated in an appropriate seat.”

Then, the Enlightenment Being, Mahosadha, looked at his father’s face. By that sign, the millionaire father got up from his seat and said, “Erudite, take this seat.” When Mahosadha’s father said this, immediately Mahosadha sat down on his father’s seat.

On seeing Mahosadha take his father’s seat and sit on it, the four erudite ministers and other wise people, clapping their hands, loudly started to laugh. They laughed, saying, “It is said that this prince is a wise person. But he is an unwise person.” The king became very upset, and was silent.

Then the Enlightenment Being asked the king, “Your lordship, are you worried?” The king said, “Yes, erudite. I am worried. On hearing about your nature, I became happy. But on seeing it, I have become unhappy and worried.” Mahosadha said, “What is the reason for being happy on hearing about my nature, but unhappy on seeing it.” The king said, “Because you made your father get up from his seat, and you sat in your father’s seat.”

Mahosadha said, “Tell me, your lordship, do you say that fathers are always more noble than sons?” The king said, “Yes, erudite.” Then the Enlightenment Being said, “Your lordship, you requested me to send a noble horse [assatara] or a nobler one. Saying so, he got up from his seat and requested his retinue to bring the donkey near to the king. Keeping the donkey near the king’s feet, he said, “Your lordship, what is the value of this donkey?” The king said, “If it is working, it will be worth nearly eight gold coins.” Then the Enlightenment Being asked, “How much is the value of a noble horse [ājāniya-sindhava] that is in the womb of a mare impregnated by this one?” The king said, “Erudite, it is invaluable.” Then Mahosadha said, “Your lordship, why do you say so? Just now you said that the father is always nobler than the son. If it is true, in your words, the donkey is more valuable than the noble horse. Look, your lordship. Your erudites do not understand even such a little thing. They clapped their hands and laughed at me. The knowledge of your erudites is amazing! From where did you pick out your erudites?” Saying so, he put those scholiasts in their place. And he said further to the king, “Your lordship, if you think that the father is always nobler than the son, you can take my father for your service in the royal office. If sons can be nobler than their fathers, take me into your service in the royal office.”

The king became very happy. All the people assembled there applauded, showing their appreciation for his having explained the riddle so well. They all shouted, “Well done! Well done!” And they waived their shawls above their heads in a circular fashion. The four erudites, Senaka and the others, could not say anything as they had been defeated and shamed.

There is no being who can understand the value of parents better than the Enlightenment Being. The reason he asked his father to get up from his seat and then sat in that same seat was not to belittle his father. The king had sent him a riddle requesting him to send a noble horse or a nobler one. To solve that riddle, and to convince the gathered assembly that he was wiser than the erudites present, he had to belittle those erudites.

The moral: “Wisdom can change even the position of noble and nobler.”

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