120. The Story of Being Released from Bondage

When the Buddha was living in the Jeta Grove, the Buddha related this story regarding the Brahmin girl Ciñcā. Its present story is explained in the Mahāpaduma-Jātaka in the twelfth book [No. 472].

[After the Buddha’s attainment of enlightenment, the Jains and other ascetics found that their gains had fallen. Therefore, the Jain recluses became upset and angry, and they hatched a conspiracy to defame the Buddha. Ciñcā, the Brahmin girl, became their instrument. In accord with the conspiracy, she came from home toward the Jetavana monastery every evening wearing a red cloth. Then she slept at a recluse’s home, and returned to her home each morning as if she were a person coming from Jetavana monastery. People asked, “Where did you go?” She answered, “Do not care about where I go. Do not think about me.” And she behaved so as to create doubts in people’s minds about her.

She continued in this fashion for four months. By doing this, she led people to believe that she was no doubt coming from the Buddha’s chamber. She used to say, “Now I am one month pregnant.” “Now I am two months pregnant.” “Now I am three months pregnant.” And so forth.  When ten months had passed like this, she pretended to be a woman who was about to deliver a baby.⁷ Then she went to the Buddha having stuffed something around her belly, and when Buddha was preaching, in the middle of the congregation she accused the Buddha, saying, “Ah, you are preaching here as if a person who is innocent. I am now ten months pregnant and I have to deliver my baby. I have no home in which to deliver. Why do you not prepare the food and other items that I need for my delivery of the baby? Mention it to King Kosala or to millionaire Anāthapiϯika and arrange someplace for me to stay.”

The Buddha said, “Oh sister, the truth of this incident is known by both of us. Except for the two of us, who will know the truth?” At the same moment, there came four deities as rats. They scurried up her body, and cut the strings holding what was tied around her belly. The cloths that were tightened there fell down to the ground.

Everyone started to censure her. People attacked her because she had falsely accused the Buddha. And they kicked her out of the hall. Suddenly there came a big fire from hell (Avici), and the ground opened and took her.]

Regarding this, there was then discussion in the preaching hall. The Buddha revealed the story of the past thus:

Once the Enlightenment Being was born as a Brahmin advisor to King Brahmadatta, who ruled in Benares. He had a very beautiful queen who loved him very much. Because the king loved her so much, he once said to her, “For whatever you desire, you may ask.” The queen responded, “I have everything I want. I have nothing to ask. And so, I ask you not to look at any other woman with passion. That is my boon.” The king said, “Since there are 16,000 beautiful women in my possession, I may not be able to give that boon.” She then pleaded, again and again. Very ardently, she continued to so plead. Finally, the king was unable to say “no” to her, and agreed.

While they were living in such a manner, deeply in love with one another, there was a riot in a remote village. His minister could not settle it. Finally, the king went there with his fourfold army. Before he left, he summoned his queen and said, “War is doubtful. It is difficult to bring women to the battlefield. One cannot retreat quickly with women beside you. Therefore, I cannot take you to the battlefield. Stay at home.” The queen said, “No. Let me come with you.” But the king was steadfast.

Then the queen said, “If such be so, please inform me of all news every Yojana.⁸” The king and queen both agreed to this. And the king left, asking his ministers to look after the queen. The chief Brahmin advisor undertook her protection within the confines of the city. Every Yojana the king sent a messenger to inform her of his affairs, and to inquire about her well being.

When each messenger came, the queen asked, “Why did you come?” Each messenger replied, “I came to inquire about your safety and happiness.” Thereupon the queen summoned each to her chamber, was intimate with each of them, and then sent each back. Meanwhile, on the battlefield, the king won. During his thirty-two Yojana long trip, the queen was intimate with thirty-two messengers. Coming back, he also sent thirty-two messengers, and each of these was also intimate with the queen. The queen in this way was intimate with sixty-four messengers.

Finally, the king came near the city and camped overnight. He informed the chief Brahmin advisor the news of his arrival. The chief advisor decorated the city to welcome the king and his army. And he went to the palace to inform the queen of the king’s arrival. The queen, seeing the beauty of his body, said, “Come and sit on the bed.” The advisor, who was the Enlightenment Being, said, “Your majesty, the king who is your husband is handsome. I am both afraid of him, and of what might befall me in my next birth.” When she heard this, she said, “Were not those sixty- four messengers who came to me also afraid of the king the same as you are? And were they also not afraid of their next birth?” Then the advisor said, “Even though I have reached my present age, I have never seen a woman with such a lustful mind. Therefore, please do not speak to me in this way.” She said, “If you say ‘no’ to me, then I will ask the king to behead you complaining that you have asked me to be intimate with you.” The advisor, who was the Enlightenment Being, said, “Not only in one life, but also in a thousand lives, even if you have me beheaded, I will not agree to your desires.” Saying so, he left.

The queen got angry. She scratched her body everywhere, and applied oil to the wounds. Wearing a dirty garment, she lay in her bedroom.  She told her servant girls that when the king comes and asks about her, to tell him that she was sick and was lying in her bed.

The Enlightenment Being went forward to welcome the king and his army, who returned to the city triumphantly with a very big procession. The king came into the palace after circumambulating the city and not seeing the queen in the palace, he asked the servant girls about her. They said she was sick. Then the king went into her sleeping room and saw that she was lying in bed. Touching her back, he asked how she was feeling. After asking her two or three times, she turned around toward him and replied, “Ah, your lordship also has come. Now I am with my husband.” Hearing these words, the king asked, “Why do you speak so?” Then she complained about the advisor, saying, “He did what no husband would ask him to do.” And she showed her bruises to the king. The king got very angry, and ordered his security people to handcuff the Brahmin advisor and to kill him.

The security people, hearing these words, took the Brahmin advisor and brought him to the place of execution beating the death drums. Then the Enlightenment Being thought, “This happened because of the queen. But I must use my common sense here.” Thinking so, he said to the executioners, “I know many places where wealth is hidden. Please do not kill me until I show them to the king.” Then they asked, “What can you show the king?” The advisor said, “Because of me, the king has much wealth hidden. If you kill me, he will lose all this wealth not knowing where it is.  Therefore, my death will be a big loss for him.”  The executioners heard this, and thought, “He says the truth.” So they took him back to the king.

On seeing him, the king asked, “You, Brahmin, without having fear or shame did such a bad deed. Why did you do it?” The Enlightenment Being said, “Your lordship, I never did such a thing. From the earliest time I can remember, I have never even killed a louse.  I have never even taken so much as a piece of grass that was not given.  I have never looked at another’s woman with lustful thoughts, and have never looked at another’s woman with head raised.⁹ Even in jest, I have never said falsehoods.  I have never tasted alcohol, even as little as would be on a blade of grass.  The sixty-four messengers are the people who misbehaved with the queen. Even though she trapped me in the same way, I did not get involved. That is why she complained about me.”

On hearing this, the king summoned all the sixty-four messengers and also the queen.  He questioned them as to whether or not this was true.  They all admitted to their wrongdoing. The king ordered all of them to be killed. But the Enlightenment Being said, “Your lordship, these people did what the queen requested. Therefore, it is not right to punish them.”  And they were saved from punishment, and were retained in their positions. And he said further, “This is the nature of women. Therefore, it would be correct to excuse the queen as well.” He in this way saved her also.

Finally he thought, “All this happened to me as I was in the life of a householder. Therefore, it would be good to renounce lay life.”  Thinking so, while his relatives cried, giving up all his wealth behind him, he went to the Himalayan forest and became ordained as an ascetic. After meditating there, he generated the fivefold higher knowledge and the eightfold high achievements of concentration. After his death, he was born in the Brahma world.

Buddha said, “The queen at that time was Ciñcā. The king was the Venerable Ānanda. And the advisor Brahmin was myself, the Buddha.” And in this way he ended the story of release from bondage [bandhanamokkha].

The moral: “Truth always conquers.”

120. The Story of Being Released from Bondage

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The Story of the Rooster That Crows at the Wrong Time

Once when the Buddha was living in Jetavana monastery, there were two monks who did not do their monastic duties at the proper times. They would go to bed late at night, and they did not wake up at the proper time. When they woke up, they made a lot of noise. Because of this, the monks who slept normal hours nearby could not get sound sleep.

This story was spread among the monks who assembled for the evening Dhamma sermon of the Buddha in the preaching hall. The Buddha went in the evening to preach and asked, “Oh monks, what was your discussion before I came here?” The monks said, “Venerable sir, such-and-such monks shout and make noise at improper times during the night. We were discussing that.” Buddha said, “Oh monks, it is not only today but also in the past that these two monks have been noisy at improper times.” Buddha was then invited to disclose the story of the past. He delivered this story to disclose the previous life:

When Brahmadatta was ruling in Benares in the past, the Enlightenment Being was born in a notable Brahmin family. He was well educated, became the chief instructor in the area, and taught 500 students.

The students had a certain rooster who crowed at the proper times. They woke up at the proper time each day, and studied every morning learning their lessons by heart.

Then the rooster died.

After that, one student went to the forest to collect firewood. There he caught a wild rooster. He put it in a cage, and fed it regularly.

That rooster did not crow at the proper times. Sometimes, he would crow at midnight. Hearing the noise of the rooster, the students would get up at midnight and read their lessons so as to learn them by heart. But as it was too early to wake up, they became very upset. Sometimes, this rooster would crow in the middle of the morning. When they got up at that time, they did not have enough time to do their studies during the morning hours. So the rooster became very unpopular among the students. They killed it and complained to the teacher.

The teacher said, “Without teachers and parents, and without proper instruction, this fowl came to such a fate. Therefore, students must follow the guidance of teachers.”

Buddha then compared these two incidents, and finished this story disclosing, “The fowl that crowed at the improper time was one of these monks who has no set time for his work. The students were you who are assembled here. The teacher was I, the Buddha, who attained Nibbāna.”

The moral: “Learn to work at proper times.”

The Story of the Rooster That Crows at the Wrong Time

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117. The Story of the Partridge

When Buddha was living in Jetavana monastery, the Venerable Devadatta’s right hand disciple Kokālika caused a disruption among the monks. Because of that, the Buddha related this Jātaka story. The story of its cause is detailed in the thirteenth book in the Takkāriya-Jātaka [No. 481].

[During a certain spring retreat the two chief disciples of the Buddha, Sāriputta and Moggallāna, went to the monk called Kokālika and said, “With your help to us, and with our help to you, we can live together happily in this temple for this rainy season period of three months.” The two chief disciples said this so as to try to avoid being bothered by the public. Kokālika asked, “What is the happiness that you can gain because of me?” The two chief disciples said, “If you do not disclose to anyone that we are here, then we can live happily. That is the help you can give us. During these three months, we will teach you the discourses (sutta-s) and the philosophical and psychological analyses (abhidhamma) of the Buddha. This is how we can help you.”

Then the Venerable Kokālika prepared shelter for them. This was not known to anyone. At the end of the rainy season retreat, they requested Kokālika to visit the Buddha with them. On the way to seeing the Buddha, they came to a certain village. After the two chief disciples left the village, the Venerable Kokālika came back and said to the villagers, “You devotees are ignorant like animals. Our chief disciples were with me nearby for the last three months. And now, these two have left to go back to Sāvatthi.”

Hearing this, the villagers became very upset and taking many offerings chased after the two chief disciples. Meeting them, they begged pardon and said, “Bhante, we could not recognize you. Please pardon us and accept these offerings.” Then the chief disciples refused to accept the gifts and instructed the villagers even not to give them to Kokālika. The villagers invited the two chief disciples to come back again to the village. Kokālika thought, “The chief disciples did not accept these gifts, and they did not even allow me to accept them.” And he became angry with them.

The two chief disciples, in Sāvatthi with the Buddha for a short time, again left this time with their 500 disciples to go to the village where Kokālika lived. The villagers treated them with the four requisites of monks (food, clothing, shelter, and medicine). Those monks who went with the two chief disciples shared all the gifts given by the villagers with each other, and did not give any to Kokālika.

Because of this, Kokālika got angry and said, “Both Sāriputta and Moggallāna have bad motives. They did not accept the gifts given before by the villagers when they were here alone. Now they are accepting them when they are together with a retinue of 500 monks.” And he accused the two chief disciples in this way, with an evil mind.

However, hearing this the two chief disciples thought, “Kokālika acquires a great amount of demerit because of us. Therefore it is not good to stay here. So, let us go.” And they left the place along with their retinue.

Seeing this, the villagers started to cry and plead with them to stay. But they were firm in their decision. Meanwhile, a young monk spoke to the villagers and said, “Oh villagers, how can the two chief disciples stay here without the consent of Kokālika?”

The villagers got angry and went to Kokālika and requested, “Go, please, and invite the venerable two chief disciples to stay here and beg their pardon. If not, you must leave this village.” Then he became afraid of the villagers and requested the two chief disciples to stay. The two chief disciples said, “You, monk, do not go. You stay here. But we will not come back.”

Kokālika returned, but he could not stay in the village without the help of the villagers. He became very melancholy and taking his robes and books, left to see the Buddha who was in Jetavanārāma. He complained, “Your lordship, Sāriputta and Moggallāna have bad motives. They have gone over to earning gifts.” The Buddha said, “Kokālika, do not say so. They both are very highly virtuous and are endowed with good qualities.”

Then Kokālika said, “Sir, your chief disciples’ words are unwholesome. I know it. And they are not virtuous.” In this way, while Buddha was objecting to his saying so, he left.

Kokālika returned, but he could not stay in the village without the help of the villagers. He became very melancholy and taking his robes and books, left to see the Buddha who was in Jetavanārāma. He complained, “Your lordship, Sāriputta and Moggallāna have bad motives. They have gone over to earning gifts.” The Buddha said, “Kokālika, do not say so. They both are very highly virtuous and are endowed with good qualities.” Then Kokālika said, “Sir, your chief disciples’ words are unwholesome. I know it. And they are not virtuous.” In this way, while Buddha was objecting to his saying so, he left.

Within a short time, everywhere on his body there developed big boils which started to bleed and fester. He could not bear the pain, and screaming lay down near the gate of Jetavanārāma. His bad reputation spread everywhere, even up to the Brahmaloka.

This was seen by a certain higher deity (brahma) named Tudu who thought, “It is my duty now to go and advise Kokālika to beg pardon for his fault.” Staying in the sky, he said, “Kokālika, you have done a very bad deed. Go hurry up and beg pardon.” Then Kokālika asked, “Who are you, sir?” And Tudu said, “I am Tudu, your former master.” “What? You are a non-returner to this world? If so, how can you come from the Brahmaloka to this human world? No doubt, you are like a hungry ghost who comes to a heap of garbage.” Then the deity went back to his place saying, “If you speak so, then you look out for yourself.” And he left. And Kokālika died because of the same disease, and was born in a woeful state called the Hell of Paduma. The Sahāmpati Brahma deity saw this and informed the Buddha. On this occasion, Buddha said, “Kokālika not only in this life, but also in the past, faced difficulties because of his words.”]

Buddha stated that the monk Mahā-Kokālika, by speaking too much, faced death even in the past. The monks requested him to disclose the story. The Buddha explained it thus:

At one time, when a king called Brahmadatta reigned in Benares, the Enlightenment Being was born in a well-known Brahmin family of Benares. After growing up, he became ordained as a Rsi. He became the head of many ascetics and lived in a Himalayan forest.

Then, a certain ascetic who was malnourished, taking an axe, went into the forest to cut firewood so as to warm the hermitage.

Another ascetic came to where he was, and told him, “Cut this, cut this, and cut that.” In this way, he was ordering the first ascetic how to cut the wood. The first ascetic got angry and said, “Are you my teacher, that you are teaching me to cut firewood?” He picked up his sharp axe and he slashed him, killing him.

The Enlightenment Being, hearing the news, made all necessary rites and rituals for the dead ascetic. Meanwhile, near the hermitage where the Enlightenment Being was living, there was a certain partridge that was crying loudly on a fruit tree. A partridge hunter, hearing its cries, caught him and killed him. The Enlightenment Being, not hearing its cries for a few days, asked, “What happened to that partridge that cried up until a few days ago?” The other ascetics told him what happened. On hearing this, the Enlightenment Being compared the stories of the dead ascetic and the partridge. Both clamored uselessly. And he advised his fellow ascetics to meditate. He himself meditated on the fourfold sublime statuses of the mind, and gained rapturous ecstasies [jhāna-s]. Without failing to maintain those achievements, he was born among the Brahma beings.

Buddha finished this story saying, “At that time, the ascetic who got slashed in the head by the axe was the elder Kokālika. The Rsi who became the head of the group of ascetics was myself, the Buddha.”

The moral: “Useless speech brings danger.”

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116. The Story of Disregarded Advice

Once the omniscient one was living in Jetavana monastery. He disclosed this Jātaka story regarding a certain monk who disregarded counsel. This Jātaka story comes in detail in the Gijjha-Jātaka in the ninth book [No. 427].

[A monk was ordained, and after his ordination he became disregardful of his teacher’s advice. He did not follow the precepts and religious practices properly. The elderly monks advised him on many things. He thought, “Why should I be obedient to these elders? I know what to do and what to say.” And he became more and more disrespectful to the elder monks. This was heard by the Buddha, and the Buddha summoned him and said, “Oh monk, you even in the past became disobedient and destroyed your life.”]

Addressing the monks, the omniscient one said, “Oh monks, this monk not only disregarded counsel in this life, but also did so in the past.” And then the monks in the audience requested the Buddha to express the hidden past. The Buddha then spoke this story:

At one time when King Brahmadatta ruled Benares, the Enlightenment Being was born in a family of gymnasts. When he became old enough, he learned how to do somersaults. With his master, he went from village to village displaying gymnastics. Once they came to a certain village and prepared to display their skills. While they were preparing the show, the master set up five javelins instead of four as usual. The pupil asked, “Master, why did you set up five javelins instead of four. It is dangerous to have five. Take one javelin out.” Then the master, as he was intoxicated, said, “Do you not understand my skills?” Saying so, he did somersaults over the javelins. Over the first four javelins, he jumped safely. But he was not skilled enough to clear the fifth javelin, and impaled himself on it, and died.

The student became very sad, and said, “My master died without listening to my advice.” He removed him from the javelin, and cremated him. Buddha disclosed this story, comparing the past story to the present.

“The gymnast who disregarded advice was the monk in the present. And I who am the Buddha today was born his student at that time.”

The moral: “Good advice deserves everyone’s attention.”

116. The Story of Disregarded Advice

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