148. The Story of a Jackal [Sigāla-Jātaka]

The Buddha disclosed this Jātaka story while he was in the Jetavanārāma in Sāvatthi. While he was there in Jetavanārāma, there were 500 new monks who had just come into the order. In the middle of a certain night, in all their minds, they all had lustful thoughts. Buddha, at that same time, was examining the minds of his disciples, thinking out of compassion, “What do my disciples have on their minds?” He realized that these 500 new monks all had lustful thoughts, and he thought, “This is as if a group of enemies have entered into a Universal Monarch’s city. While I am living in my temple, these monks have developed lustful thoughts in their minds. I have to remove these lustful thoughts immediately by preaching to them.” Thinking so, he addressed the Venerable Ānanda.

Venerable Ānanda was the Buddha’s chief attendant for 25 years. Among other things, he helped the Buddha by watching over the temple during the night. He was guarding the temple, walking around carrying a lamp in his hand. On hearing the Buddha address him, he came to the Buddha and said, “Yes, sir.” Meanwhile, the Buddha was thinking, “It would be good to summon all those monks who were experiencing confusion, and it would be good to preach to them to eliminate their unwholesome thoughts. But if I preach to them, they will know that the Buddha realized that they had bad thoughts on their minds, and they will be agitated on account of that. They will not be able to listen to the Dhamma. When the mind is agitated, it cannot realize the Dhamma. My preaching will not help them realize a higher state. Therefore, I will preach to all the monks at the same time.” He then asked the Venerable Ānanda to summon all the monks.

Hearing the Buddha’s words, the Venerable Ānanda took the keys for the doors of all the chambers in the monastery, and went from door to door informing everyone of the Buddha’s request. The monks all came to the preaching hall where the Buddha was like a golden rock covered by a golden cloth, and they paid obeisance to him by kneeling down, and then sat around him.

The Buddha was shining with rays of the six colors¹⁸, which became like an aura around him equal in brightness to a thousand suns and a thousand moons. Sitting, with such an appearance, he started to preach. “Oh, monks, there are three types of thoughts that monks must not think—lustful thoughts, angry thoughts, and injurious thoughts. If you think even a little about women, it may cause you to acquire much demerit. The reason is this: If a snake bites you, the wound is very small, but the venom goes through your whole body and kills you. From a small place where lightning has struck, many trees and creepers may be caused to burn and turn into ashes.  Lustful thoughts and women are also like that. By being attached to women, the same thing may happen as what happened to a jackal who became attached to an elephant carcass that he thought could give him unlimited meat.” The monks asked about the story of the jackal. The Buddha then disclosed this story of the past:

At one time when King Brahmadatta was ruling in Benares, the Enlightenment Being was born as a jackal living in the forest.   Once, he saw the dead body of an elephant lying in the forest. He thought, “This is enough food for me to eat for my whole lifetime. I would not have to go anywhere else in search of food. Thinking so, he approached the elephant carcass and took a bite of the trunk. It felt as if he were biting a plough handle. Then he bit the tusk. It felt as if it were the hard core of hard wood. Then he bit the stomach. It felt as if it were bamboo matting. Then he bit the anus. It felt like an oil cake. Then he was satisfied, thinking that he had finally found soft meat. He then ate his way into the belly and decided he could live there as if in a den with plenty of meat to eat and blood to drink. When he got sleepy, he would place his head on the lungs as if two pillows and he would lie on the liver as if it were a soft mattress. While he was living like this, he thought, “Why should I ever leave this place?” He decided to live inside the elephant carcass permanently, and he spent days on end in it. After such a situation went on for days on end, there came a severe drought. The elephant’s skin dried and shrunk. The whole carcass of the elephant also dried up and shrunk. The meat became very tough and there was no longer any blood. Inside, the hollow in which he was living became dark as if it were the dark space between worlds.

The jackal became afraid, and started to think about a way to get out. He could not find an exit, and so he ran to and fro, and jumped up and down, until he became exhausted. In the meantime, there was a rainfall. The elephant carcass became wet and absorbed water, and light came through the hole through which he had originally entered like a star. The jackal backed up as far as the head of the elephant and darted toward the hole with all his strength as fast as he could. When he jumped like that, all the fur from his body stuck inside the hole in the elephant and his body became smooth like the skin of a Palmyra palm. Seeing his body like this, be became fearful and thought, “Due to my strong craving, I have become like this. I will never again be greedy or eat meat from an elephant carcass.”

Saying this, the Buddha preached the four noble truths.

He finalized this story, emphasizing them.

After the disclosure of this Jātaka story, the 500 monks, ending their old defilements, became Arahant-s. Other monks attained to the mental status of those who have entered the stream entrance state of mind [sotāpanna-s], of those who have attained the once-returner state of mind¹⁹ [sakadāgāmin-s], and of those who have attained the non- returner state of mind²⁰ [anāgāmin-s], and this Dhamma sermon further became very helpful to many others.

The Buddha added, “I was born as the jackal at that time.”

The moral: “Uncontrolled greed leads to difficulty.”

¹⁸ The six colors are blue, yellow, red, white, amber, and all the colors mixed.

¹⁹ That is, of those who will not be reborn on earth more than once.

²⁰ That is, of those who do not return, those who are not reborn.

148. The Story of a Jackal [Sigāla-Jātaka]

Link: https://hhdorjechangbuddhaiiiinfo.com/2026/01/13/148-the-story-of-a-jackal-sigala-jataka/

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