121. The Story Regarding a Blade of Kusa Grass

The Buddha delivered this story about Anāthapiϯika’s true friend when he was in the Jetavanārāma of Anāthapiϯika in Sāvatthi. The millionaire Anāthapiϯika had a friend and he helped him as stated earlier in the Kālaka::i-Jātaka [No. 83].

At one time there was a king called Brahmadatta in Benares. At that time the Enlightenment Being lived in the pleasure garden of the king and was a friend of the deity who possessed that park and who lived in the most prominent Sāla tree in the park. The Enlightenment Being lived in a clump of Kusa grass.

The king of Benares lived in a palace that had only one pillar supporting it. One day this pillar was shaken by the wind. The king decided to further support it. He summoned his carpenter and asked him to cut down any good tree with a core from the pleasure garden. The chief carpenter went to the pleasure garden, looked for an appropriate tree to cut down, and not seeing one decided finally with his assistant to cut down the prominent Sāla tree in the garden. He went back to the palace and reported about the problem, and about the prominent tree to the king.

The king said, “Even if it is the prominent tree, you cut it and repair the palace.” Then the carpenter went with his assistant to cut down the tree. They made an appropriate reverence [pūjā], asking the deity who possessed the tree to move away from the tree. Hearing this request, the deity thought, “I do not have any other tree this large in the pleasure garden in which to stay.” He began to cry, and his children also began to cry while they all embraced one another. All the other deities who were visiting there also started to cry. The deity who resided in the clump of Kusa grass also came upon hearing all this crying. He asked the reason for the crying. On hearing the reason, he said, “Please, do not be afraid. I know a way to save the tree.” The next day, when the carpenters came to cut the tree, he made himself into a chameleon. He went through the roots of the tree, came up the tree on the far side so that people could not see him, and went to a top branch of the tree.

On seeing the chameleon on the top branches of the tree, the carpenter and his assistant thought, “This tree is hollow inside.” They gave up the idea of cutting down the tree because it had no core inside.

Then the tree deity summoned the other deities and said, “Even though I was the highest deity in the pleasure garden, I did not know how to save my tree and palace. The deity who lived in a clump of Kusa grass understood how to protect it with his wisdom. Therefore, we must always associate with wise people, and not with the unwise.” In this way, he preached to his fellow deities, and he became friendlier with the deity who possessed the clump of Kusa grass. Later, he passed away.

The pleasure garden deity was the Venerable Ānanda at that time. And I was born as the deity of the clump of Kusa grass.

And in this way, the Buddha finalized the KusanāÀi story.

The moral: “Associate with the wise no matter what their station, not the unwise.”

121. The Story Regarding a Blade of Kusa Grass

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