146. The Story of a Crow [Kāka-Jātaka]

At one time Buddha was living in the Jeta Grove monastery. There was a group of aged gentlemen landowners, and jointly they did meritorious deeds. One day, they got together and while they were chatting, they thought that as they were in old age, it would be good to become ascetics, and by doing so they would be able to obtain Arahant-ship [sainthood]. They approached the Buddha and said, “Venerable sir, kindly ordain us. If you can do so, it would be a great thing for us.” Buddha agreed to their request, and they were ordained.

After their ordination, they made little huts for themselves beside Jetavanārāma. And as they had been ordained in old age, they could not study anything. Even by practicing meditation in accord with the Buddha’s guidance, they failed to achieve any results.¹⁷ When they went on alms rounds, they usually went to their own former family members’ homes.  They would take what they obtained to the home of the former wife of the chief monk of the group and eat it there, obtaining from her special sauces cooked by her for their food. In the course of time, this chief monk of the group’s wife fell into sickness and died. On hearing this news those old monks, lamenting that the old woman who was skilled in cooking had now passed away, started to cry together.

While they were crying together, other monks heard their cries and came to see what the trouble was. They asked the old monks why they were crying. The old monks said, “We cry because our benefactress who was clever in cooking sauces for us has died. It is because of this that we cry.” After hearing this, the monks who came in the evening to the preaching hall were talking about this when the Buddha entered. Buddha asked, “Monks, what were you talking about before my coming?” The monks mentioned the news about the passing away of the wife of the chief monk of the group of old monks, and how the old monks were crying.

Then the Buddha said, “Oh monks, this old chief monk and the group of old monks cry not only in this life. They did so even in the past when the old chief monk’s wife died, and they were trying to bail out the water from the ocean and they failed to do it. At that time, because of the help of a good advisor they did not die on account of their futile exertions.” The monks requested the Buddha to disclose the past story.

The Buddha said:

At one time, King Brahmadatta was ruling in Benares. At that time, the Enlightenment Being was born as a divine being of the ocean.

Once, some people got together and made offerings to deities and Nāga-s who lived in the ocean with rice, meat, and alcoholic beverages in accord with vows they had made. They placed all these food items on the sand of the beach. When they left, a certain crow and his hen, wandering on the sand, saw these food items there and ate and drank as much as they could. They became intoxicated thereby from both the alcoholic beverages and the rich food. Because they were intoxicated, they decided, using poor judgment, to take a bath in the ocean. While they were bathing in the ocean, a big wave came. It swept the hen-crow out to sea, and a big fish came and swallowed her. On seeing this, the male crow thought that a wave had swallowed his hen. He cried with sorrow.

When they heard his cries, other crows came around and they asked, “Why are you crying?” He told them, “Your friend, the hen-crow who was my wife, was taken by the ocean.” The other crows also became very upset. They said, “We have such a large number of crows here. Why should we not just bail the water out of the ocean?”

They then all got together and started to bail out the water of the ocean with their beaks. In this way, they tried for a long time to empty the ocean until they became tired. They then stopped to rest on the sand of the beach, with their beaks being sore from the salty water, their throats being dry, their cheeks being irritated, and their eyes being red from having gotten salt water in them. Very tired from their task, they began to cry, “We have lost our beautiful hen-crow who had a beautiful beak like a parrot, a beautiful color like a peacock, and a sweet voice like a cuckoo. Our beautiful hen- crow was stolen by the thief-like ocean.” Saying so, they cried in one voice.

The Enlightenment Being, who had been born as a divine being of the ocean, on hearing the noise of the crows, assumed a dreadful disguise as a bird of prey. Coming there, he made them go away. In this way, he stopped them from being sad any longer.

The Buddha said:

The hen-crow at that time was the dainty woman who today cooked sauces for the old monks. The male crow was the chief monk of the group of old monks. The other crows were the group of old monks. And the divine being of the ocean of whom they were made to be afraid, thereby causing them to fly away, was I who am today the Buddha.

Thus he finished the story.

The moral: “Grieving for the lost is vain.” Also,

“Think before acting out of grief.”

¹⁷ When a person gets old, his mind is not as sharp as when he was young, his memory does not work as well, and he cannot concentrate the same as a young person. Because of this, it is difficult for him to study or meditate. Ideally, a person should be ordained when he is young.

146. The Story of a Crow [Kāka-Jātaka]

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