122. The Story of an Unwise Person [Dummedha-Jātaka]

When the Buddha was living in the Bamboo Grove temple, once those monks who were assembled in the preaching hall were talking about the monk Devadatta. They said to each other, “Brothers, monk Devadatta even when seeing the Buddha’s physical beauties, such as the thirty-two great marks of a great person [mahāpurisa] and the eighty additional attributes, a fathom wide halo, and physical beauties of the like, does not respect the Buddha and affords him no loving kindness. He has become jealous by thinking, ‘I do not have such physical beauty.’ And he wants to kill the Buddha.”

Then the Buddha came there and sat on his seat. He asked, “Oh monks, what were you discussing before I came?” The monks replied, “Your reverence, we were talking about the monk Devadatta’s jealousy of the Buddha.” The Buddha said, “Monks, it is not only now, but even in the past he was jealous of me.” The monks said, “Please, sir, disclose that story to us.” The Buddha, after that invitation, stated the following story:

Long ago in ancient days, there was a king called Magadha in the city of Rājagaha. The Enlightenment Being was born among elephants, was white, and was very beautiful. He was in service to King Magadha.

Once, King Magadha got onto this white elephant that was well caparisoned and left in a grand procession to go to the city. The citizens, on seeing this elephant’s beautiful body that was well shaped and large, said, “Oh, what a nice elephant. Such a big elephant is good for a universal monarch, and not for a king like this.” Talking so, the people appreciated only the elephant, and not the king. On hearing such appreciation of the elephant, the king got angry, thinking, “These people did not appreciate me, who is their king.” He became in this way jealous of the elephant, and thought of killing him. Thinking so, he summoned the mahout and said, “I want to know whether you trained this royal elephant to be obedient. If so, I want to examine it. Climb with him to the top of Vephulla Mountain.” The mahout did so. And the king followed him with his ministers. He ordered the mahout to lead the elephant to a precipice. The mahout did so. The king then asked the mahout to have the elephant stand on three feet. He did so. Then the king ordered to have the elephant hold up its front two feet. He did so. Then the king asked him to have the elephant raise up its hind legs. He did so. Then he asked the mahout to have the elephant stand on one foot. He did so. And the elephant still did not fall. Then the king said, “Ask the elephant to go forward toward the precipice raising all four legs into the air.”

The mahout thought, “This king wants to kill the elephant. This is just a stratagem.” He said secretly to his elephant, “Your lordship, he is trying to kill you. If you can, get up into the sky and flee away to the city of Benares.” At that very same moment, there arose a certain miraculous power on account of the virtue from previous merit, and miraculously the elephant jumped up into the sky. Then the mahout said to the king, “Your lordship, this elephant is not appropriate for such a person as you who has so little merit. Therefore, this elephant is not fit for such a foolish king as you. You stay there by yourself.” And he had the elephant go through the sky to Benares to the king’s palace grounds. People saw this, and they were surprised and became very happy. They ran to the king and informed him about this. The king came to that place and saw the elephant. And he said with great pleasure, “If this elephant will allow me to mount it, I request you to come down to the ground.” And the elephant came down to the ground.

The mahout got down from the elephant and gave respect to the king. The king asked, “Why, son, did you come with this elephant?” The mahout told him everything. The king thanked him, saying, “You have done a good deed.” Being satisfied, the king took the elephant into his possession. He divided Benares into three parts. He gave one part to the elephant, the second part to the mahout, and the third part he kept for himself. And he ruled righteously. Finally, he passed away according to his Kamma.

The Buddha, finalizing the story, said, “The king of Benares at that time was the Venerable Sāriputta. The mahout was the Venerable Ānanda. And King Magadha was the monk Devadatta. I, who am now the Buddha, was the elephant.” Saying so, the Buddha ended this Jātaka story of an unwise person.

The moral: “While lack of wisdom brings death, wisdom brings happiness.”

122. The Story of an Unwise Person [Dummedha-Jātaka]

Link: https://hhdorjechangbuddhaiiiinfo.com/2025/07/08/122-the-story-of-an-unwise-person-dummedha-jataka/

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