XIX. The Story of the Lotus Stalks  - SE Quadrant, Upper Register, Reliefs 65 - 68

THE JATAKAMALA
Table of Contents:

The Tigress
The King of the Sibis
Small Portion of Gruel
Head of a Guild
The Invincible One
The Hare
The Sage Agastya
Maitribala
Prince Visvantara
The Sacrifice
Lord of the Devas
The Brahman
Unmadayanti
Suparaga
Lord of Fishes
The Quail's Young
The Story of the Jar
The Childless One
The Lotus Stalks
The Treasurer
Kuddabodhi
The Holy Swan
Mahabodhi
The Great Ape
Sarabha
The Ruru Deer
The Monkey Chief
Kshantivadin
The Brahmaloka Inhabitant
The Elephant
Sutasoma
Ayogriha
The Buffalo
The Woodpecker

Adapted from the 19th century translation by J. S Speyer

"This is the necessary order of things in the world
and a source of grief and excessive pain.
Death ever separates us at last from those
with whom we have lived together for a time, however long.
For this reason I desire to walk homeless
on that laudable road to salvation,
before our foe Death can seize me in the unenviable state
of being attached to the householder's life."

Those who have learnt to appreciate the happiness of detachment are hostile to worldly pleasures. They will oppose them just as one might opposes a deception or an injury. This will be taught as follows.

One time the Bodhisattva was born in an illustrious family of Brahmans, far-famed for their virtues and their freedom from reprehensible vices. In this existence the Bodhisattva had six younger brothers who were endowed with virtues similar to his, and who out of affection and esteem for him always imitated him. In addition, he also had a sister, who was the seventh.

Having studied the Vedas and their auxiliary sciences, likewise the the four sciences of medicine, music, mechanics and the Atharva-veda, respectively (the Upavedas), he obtained great renown on account of his learning as well as the high respect of the people. Attending on his father and mother with the utmost piety--yea, worshipping them like deities--he instructing his brothers in the different branches of science like a spiritual teacher or a father would.

While he dwelt in the world, being skilled in the art of dealing with worldly affairs, he was distinguished by his good manners. In course of time his parents died; their loss deeply moved his soul. Having performed the funeral ceremonies for them and after spending some days in mourning, he assembled his brothers and spoke these words:

"This is the necessary order of things in the world and a source of grief and excessive pain. Death ever separates us at last from those with whom we have lived together for a time, however long. For this reason I desire to walk homeless on that laudable road to salvation, before our foe Death can seize me in the unenviable state of being attached to the life of a householder.

"Continue in good behavior, observe your daily studies of the Vedas, and delight in almsgiving, keeping the state of a householder as it ought to be kept. In this way not only will your reputation increase, not only will you extend your virtue and your wealth as the right substance of welfare, but you may also expect your passage into the next life to be happy. Do not commit, therefore, any inadvertence while living the householder's life."

The Bodhisattva's brothers, however, after hearing him speak of the homeless life, felt their hearts fill with grief at the though of the impending separation. With their faces wet with the tears of sorrow, they respectfully bowed they spoke these words unto their brother:

"The wound caused by the sorrow-arrow of our father's death has not yet healed. Pray do not rub it open anew with the salt of this new assault of grief. Retract your resolution, wise brother, or if indeed you are convinced that attachment to the house is unfit, or that the happiness of the forest-life is the road to salvation, why depart for the forest alone, thereby depriving us of our protector? For the state of life which is yours, that will be ours also. We too will renounce the world."

"People who have not familiarized themselves with Detachment cannot but follow after worldly desires," replied the Bodhisattva. "As a rule they look upon it as the same thing to give up the world as to fall over a precipice. Thus considering, I restrained myself and did not exhort you to adopt the homeless life, though I do indeed know the difference between these two states. But if my choice please you too, why, let us abandon our home together!"

And so all seven brothers, together with their sister as the eighth, gave up their wealthy estate and precious goods, took leave of their weeping friends, kinsmen and relations, and resorted to the state of homeless ascetics. And out of affection a male comrade, as well as one male and one female servant, joined them as they set out for the forest.

Within that forest was a large lake of pure, blue water that exhibited a resplendent fiery beauty whenever its lotus-beds became expanded. It presented a gay aspect whenever its groups of water lilies disclosed their calyxes due to the swarms of bees that were always humming there.

On the shore of that lake they built as many huts of leaves as they numbered, placing them at some distance from one another. Hidden by the shadows of the trees and surrounded by lovely solitude, they devoted themselves to their self-imposed vows and observances with their minds that were bound to meditation.

On each fifth day they were in the habit of going to the Bodhisattva in order to listen to him preach the Law at which time he would deliver an edifying discourse to show them the way to tranquillity and placidity of mind. During those discourses he would encourage them to meditate. He asserted the sinfulness of worldly pleasures by blaming hypocrisy, loquacity, idleness and other vices. Expounding upon the sense of satisfaction that is the result of detachment, he ever made a deep impression on his audience.

Prompted by respect and affection, their maid servant did not cease to attend upon them even though they were now residing in the forest. She drew eatable lotus-stalks out of the lake and put equal shares of them upon large lotus-leaves that had been placed at a clean location on the lake-shore. When she had thus prepared the meal, she would announce the time by taking two pieces of wood and clashing them against each other, after which she would withdrew.

Then after performing the proper and usual prayers and libations, those holy men would come to the lake-side, one after another according to their age, and after each had taken his share of the stalks in succession, they would return to their individual huts. There each one would enjoy the meal in the prescribed manner and pass the remainder of the time absorbed in meditation. In this manner, they avoided seeing each other except when they gathered to hear the Bodhisattva preach the Law.

Due to their irreproachable morals, behavior, love of detachment, and prone-ness to meditation, these holy men became renowned everywhere. He who lives in the depth of the forest without any desire and intent on calmness of mind, such a man causes reverence for his virtues to arise in the hearts of the pious. Hearing of their good reputation, Sakra, the Lord of the Devas, came to their abode. When he perceived their predisposition to meditation, their purity from bad actions, their freedom from lusts and the constancy of their serene calmness, he became all the more anxious to try them.

Sakra watched as the maid-servant gathering her provision of eatable lotus-stalks, which were as white and tender as the teeth of a young elephant. She washed them and arranged them in equal portions on lotus-leaves that had the green hue of emeralds, taking care to adorn each share by adding to it some petals and filaments of the lotuses. Then after announcing the mealtime to the holy ascetics by clashing together pieces of wood, she withdrew.

Sakra hit upon the idea of trying the Bodhisattva by making the very first share disappear from its lotus-leaf, reasoning that the constancy of the virtuous can be clearly measured whenever mishap arises and happiness disappears.

When the Bodhisattva approached the emerald-green leaf and perceived that the eatable stalks were missing and that the adornment of petals and filaments had been disarranged, he thought: "Somebody has taken my share of food."

Without feeling agitation or anger in his heart, he returned to his hut and entered upon his practices of meditation as he was wont to do. He did not inform the other holy ascetics of the matter in order to avoid grieving their hearts. The others, believing that the Bodhisattva had taken his usual share of the stalks, took their portions as usual and ate them in their huts, after which they became absorbed in meditation.

Although Sakra continued to conceal the Bodhisattva's portion of the lotus-stalks on each of the next four days, the effect was ever the same. The Great Being remained as calm in mind as ever, entirely free from trouble because the virtuous consider the agitation of the mind to be death, rather than the extinction of life itself. For this reason the wise never become alarmed, not even when their very existence is in danger.

On the afternoon of that fifth day, the Rishis went up to the Bodhisattva's leaf-hut of the Bodhisattva in order to listen to his preaching of the Law. Upon seeing him, they perceived the leanness of his body. His cheeks were hollow, his eyes sunken, the splendor of his face had faded, and his sonorous voice had lost its full sound. Yet, however emaciated, he was as lovely to behold as the crescent moon, for his virtues, wisdom, constancy, tranquillity had not in any way diminished.

After coming into Bodhisattva's presence and paying their respects, they anxiously inquired as to the cause of his emaciation and so the Bodhisattva explained what had happened. Not supposing that anyone among themselves could have committed such an unbecoming action, they were quite alarmed over the Bodhisattva's pain. Expressed their sorrow by making exclamatory remarks, they kept their eyes fixed upon the ground in shame.

Sakra used his powers to obstruct their free exercise of the ways in which the holy men could obtain knowledge; they were therefore unable to arrive at a conclusion as to the cause of the food's disappearance. Revealing his alarmed mind as well as his guiltlessness, one of the Bodhisattva's brothers made the following extraordinary statement:

"May he who took your lotus-stalks, 0 Brahman, obtain a house betokening the wealth of its owner through is rich decoration. May he obtain the wife of his heart's desire, and may he be blessed with many children and grandchildren!"

The second brother said: "May he who took your lotus-stalks, 0 foremost-Brahman, be tainted with a strong attachment to worldliness, may he wear wreaths and garlands and sandal-powder and fine garments and ornaments, touched by his playing children!"

The third brother said: "May he who took your lotus-stalks become a husband who--having obtained wealth in consequence of his husbandry and delighting in the prattle of his children--enjoys the home-life without thinking of the time when he must retire from the world!"

The fourth brother spoke: "May he who prompted by cupidity took your lotus-stalks rule the whole earth as a monarch who is worshipped by kings with the humble attitude of slaves that lower their trembling heads before their master!"

The fifth brother spoke: "May he who took your lotus stalks be a king's family-priest in the possession of evil-charming mantras and the like. May he also be treated with distinction by his king!"

The sixth brother said: "May he who has been eager to possess your lotus-stalks in preference to your virtues, be a famous teacher who is well-versed in the Vedas and who is worshipped as an ascetic by the people who crowd together to see him!"

The Bodhisattva's male friend said: "May he who could not subdue his greediness for your lotus-stalks obtain from the king an excellent village that is endowed with the four plenties of population, corn, wood and water and may he die without having subdued his passions!"

The male servant said: "May he be the head of a village, cheerfully living with his comrades, exhilarated by the dancing and chanting of women, and may he never meet with harm from the king's side, he who destroyed his own interest for the sake of those lotus-stalks!"

The Bodhisattva's sister said: "May that person who ventured to take the lotus-stalks of such a being as you, be a woman of resplendent beauty and figure, may a king make her as his wife and put her at the head of his zenana of a thousand females!"

The maid-servant said: "May she much delight in eating sweetmeats alone stealthily, disregarding the pious, and be greatly rejoiced when she gets a dainty dish, she who set her heart on thy lotus-stalks, not on thy righteousness!'

Now at that time three inhabitants of the forest had also come to that place to hear the Bodhisattva's preaching of the Law, namely a Yaksha, an elephant, and a monkey. After to this conversation, they were overcome with the utmost shame and confusion. The Yaksha attested his innocence, uttering in their presence this solemn protestation:

"May he who trespassed against you for the sake of the lotus stalks have his residence in the Great Monastery. Entrusted with the charge of making reparations in the town of Kakangala, may he make one window every day!" (1)

The elephant spoke: "May he come into captivity from the lovely forest into the company of men, fettered with six-hundred solid chains, and suffer pain from the sham goads of his driver, he who took those lotus-stalks 0 most excellent of Munis!"

The monkey said: "May he who moved by greediness took those lotus-stalks wear a flower-garland and a tin collar that rubs his neck. While being beaten with a stick, may he pass before the face of a serpent, and with a long wreath hanging-from his shoulder may he live in the houses of men!"

In reply, the Bodhisattva addressed them all with words both persuasive and kind that indicated the deep-rooted nature of his state of dispassion.

"May he who falsely said 'they have disappeared,' though he had them, obtain as his heart's desire worldly pleasures and die a householder. May the same be the fate of him who suspects you of a similar action!"

All of these extraordinary protestations, which were indicative of their abhorrence of the enjoyment of worldly pleasures, acted to rouse Sakra's astonishment and respect. Making himself visible in his own brilliant shape, he drew near to those Rishis and said as if with resentment:

"You ought not to speak so. Everyone who longs for happiness strives after the enjoyments that you have each mentioned. They toil after them to such a degree as to banish sleep from their eyes and will undertake any form of penance and toil. These you censure by calling them 'worldly pleasures!' Why do you judge them so?"

The Bodhisattva spoke: "Sensual enjoyments are accompanied by endless sins, sir. I shall tell you concisely what it is that the Munis see that causes them to blame sensual enjoyments. It is on account of them that men incur captivity and death, grief, fatigue, danger, in short a manifold of sufferings. For the sake of them, kings are eager to oppress righteousness, and consequently fall into hell after their deaths.

"When the ties of friendship are suddenly loosened, when men enter that unclean path of falseness called political wisdom, when they lose their good reputation and hereafter encounter suffering--is it not sensual enjoyments that are the cause thereof? Since worldly pleasures tend to the destruction of the highest, the middle and the lowest, both in this world and in the next, the Munis, 0 Sakra, who long only for the Self, keep aloof from them, just as they would from angry serpents."

Approving the Bodhisattva's words, Sakra said: "Well spoken." Now that he had been propitiated by the greatness of mind of those Rishis, the Lord of the Devas confessed that he himself had committed the theft.

"A high opinion of virtue may be tested by trial. Thus considering, I hid the lotus-stalks in order to try you. How fortunate is the world in that it possesses such Munis as you, whose glory has been tested by fact. Here, take these lotus-stalks as a proof of your constant holy behavior."

With these words Sakra handed the missing stalks over to the Bodhisattva. Finally aware of unbecoming and audacious way that Sakra had proceeded to test him, the Bodhisattva addressed the Lord of the Devas in terms that were modest, yet were expressive of noble self-esteem.

"We are not your kinsfolk, nor your comrades, nor are we actors or buffoons. What, then, is the reason for your coming here, O Lord of the Devas, to play with Rishis in this manner?"

Divested himself of his brilliant earrings, head-ornament, and lightning, Sakra respectfully bowed to the Bodhisattva, and attempted to appease him with these words:

"0 you who are free from all selfishness, deign to forgive the thoughtless deed that I committed for the purpose of testing you. Pray pardon that act as would a father or a teacher! It is proper, indeed, to those whose eyes are not yet opened to wisdom, to offend against others, be they even their equals. Likewise it is proper for the wise who know the Self, to pardon such offenses. For this reason, pray do not feel anger in your heart concerning that deed!"

Having thus appeased the Bodhisattva, Sakra disappeared from his sight.

In this manner, then, those who have learnt to appreciate the happiness of detachment are hostile to worldly pleasures; they will oppose them like one opposes a deception, an injury.

(1) According to the translator, this is an allusion to the story of a certain devaputra who in the time of the Buddha Kasyapa dwelt in the said monastery and was obliged to do the labor imposed on him, whereby he suffered much.

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