140. The Story of One Who Had Lost in Two Ways [Ubhatobhaææha-Jātaka]
The enlightened one told this story while he was at Jetavanārāma monastery on a certain occasion when he was assisting his own relatives. Its present story appears in the Bhaddasāla-Jātaka in the tenth book [No. 465].
[While Buddha was living in Jetavanārāma, King Kosala wanted to give alms to the monks. But on that day there was not even a single monk in the monastery. The king thought, “I always give alms. But the monks do not have full confidence in me because I am not a relative of the Buddha. If I became a relative, the monks will be more confident in and friendly to me.” Therefore, he sent a message to the Sākya king requesting him to give a Sākya virgin princess as his queen. So the Sākya king, who was afraid of the king of Kosala because he was mighty and powerful, thought, “It is good to give a girl to him. But we ought not give him a real Sākya girl. We will give him a half Sākya girl.” Thinking so, he gave him the princess Vāsabhakhattiyā, who was the daughter of the Sākya Mahānāma by a slave girl. After she had given birth to a son for him, named Vi¯ū¯abha, King Kosala eventually came to understand what had happened. At that time, he cut off Vāsabhakhattiyā’s and Vi¯ū¯abha’s royal allowances, and treated them as he would slaves.
Buddha interceded, and convinced him to reinstate Vāsabhakhattiyā and Vi¯ū¯abha to their noble status.
Eventually Vi¯ū¯abha, after he had become king of Kosala, as he harbored resentment toward the Sākyas for their insult to his father, attacked the Sākyas at Kapilavatthu. On the way, three times, Buddha met him and persuaded him not to attack. On the fourth time, the Buddha understood that because of the Sākyas’ previous Kamma, he could not prevent the attack. At that time, Vi¯ū¯abha destroyed all the Sākya families.
This news spread even among the monks. They were discussing this news one day in the Dhamma Hall, saying that the Buddha had not been able to prevent the killing of the Sākyas because of their Kamma, even though he had tried to intercede three times. Three times, however, the Buddha turned back Vi¯ū¯abha. Fully three times the Buddha tried to save his relatives from danger. Buddha is a helpful friend to his kin.]
Buddha entered and asked, “Oh monks, what were you talking about before I entered?” They said, “Bhante, we were talking about the helpfulness of yourself to your relatives, and the destruction of your relatives.” Then the Buddha said, “Monks, not only this time, but even in my previous lives I have been helpful to my relatives, protecting them from danger.” The monks said, “Please, bhante, tell us the past story, as we understand the present.” The enlightened one said:
At one time, King Brahmadatta was ruling in Benares. On a certain occasion, his Brahmin advisor was wandering in the street. At that time, there were two crows seated on an archway. One crow said to the other, “I would like to make droppings on this Brahmin.” The other crow said, “This Brahmin is a very powerful person. By doing so, you will make him angry. And then he will be angry with us. If he gets angry, there is no doubt that he can kill us all. Therefore, do not do it.” The first crow said, “Right now I cannot stop from putting a dropping on him. Therefore, I will do it. Whatever may happen, so be it.” The second crow said, “Do whatever you like. The results will come upon you. I am not responsible.” Saying this, he went away. When the Brahmin came to the archway, the crow put droppings on him. The Brahmin, seeing this, got very angry and kept this in his mind.
At that time, a certain slave woman placed a little bit of paddy grain on the ground in the sunshine. A shaggy goat came there and started to eat the grain. The woman, carrying a club, hit him and chased him away. Several times, the goat came back. Each time, she hit him and chased him away. The last time, the old woman thought, “If this goat comes again to eat my grain, I may lose my profits.” So, taking a wooden branding iron in her hand and lying in hiding in a nearby spot, when the goat came again, she hit him on his matted hair which caught fire.
The burning goat, thinking of putting out the fire, ran to the king’s elephant stables where he saw a pile of hay. He rolled in the hay in order to try to put out the fire. Then the hay started to burn. And the whole elephant stable caught fire and began to burn. The elephants that were tethered there also got burnt and wounded. The king’s elephant physicians said that it would be difficult to treat the burnt and wounded elephants. The king summoned his Brahmin advisor, and asked him how to best treat the elephants.
Hearing this, the Brahmin advisor said, “Your lordship, if you can get some crow fat, then I know how to treat them.” The king, hearing these words, ordered his subjects to kill crows. In accord with this order, all citizens who lived in the city started to kill thousands of crows and made a pile of crow carcasses.
At this time, the Enlightenment Being was a king of a large group of 84,000 crows that lived near a certain cemetery. This king of crows heard the news. He thought, “It is my responsibility to save the lives of my relatives. No one else can do it.” So he, thinking of his fulfillment of the ten-fold perfections and the spreading of his loving kindness upon all living beings, said to his subjects, “I have heard that our relatives are being killed by the king. I am going to protect my relatives. Everyone will have to come with me. If this determination of mine to save their lives is in accord with truth [sacca], no harm will come to anyone.” With such a determination, he quickly went to the king’s palace. Through an open window he entered the king’s palace and perched atop the king’s throne.
Then one of the king’s security men saw the crow and came near to seize him. At this point, the crow said to the king, “Your lordship, is it good to do something just on the basis of a man’s word without looking into the truth of it? It is a very bad thing to kill all crows. It is not good for a king to act from anger. A king must examine things before he does them.” Hearing these words pleased the king. He entertained the Enlightenment Being by applying to his feathers medicinal oil prepared with hundreds of medicines, which made the Enlightenment Being very strong, and by feeding the Enlightenment Being food prepared for himself. The king laid out for the Enlightenment Being a golden cloth on which to sit, and asked him, “Why is it that crows have no fat? [I have had thousands of crows killed, and yet have obtained no crow fat.]”
The Enlightenment Being started to talk, his voice resonating through the whole palace building. “Your lordship, when a crow sees a human being, even a little child, he is afraid of him and flies away since he is always threatened by humans. Because of this, there is no fat in the body of a crow since he is living with fear, be it in the present, the past, or the future. Your Brahmin advisor wanted to destroy the entire community of crows as he was angry with us.” And he explained the story to the king. The king became very sad, and was pacified toward all crows. The king was very pleased with the Enlightenment Being, and said, “I would like to offer you my kingdom as a gift. Please accept it.” The Enlightenment Being said, “Your lordship, what is the advantage to me in having a kingdom? Be kind enough just to let my relatives live freely in your kingdom.”
The king, who was pleased with the words of the crow, gave freedom in his kingdom to all living beings. He especially advised his subjects not to kill any crows. And further, every day he laid out for the crows six bushels of variously delicately flavored cooked rice. In this way, the king did very many meritorious deeds. He eventually died according to the results of his previous deeds.
“The king of Benares at that time was the Venerable Ānanda. And I who am now the Buddha was the king of crows.” Saying so, the Buddha disclosed the Jātaka story of crows.
The moral: “Anger and vengeance cause fear and unhappiness. Loving kindness and compassion bring fearlessness and peace.”
140. The Story of One Who Had Lost in Two Ways [Ubhatobhaææha-Jātaka]
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頂禮 H.H. 第三世多杰羌佛- 眾善奉行 