| J.279 |
Satapatta Jaataka |
A landowner of Benares had lent 1,000 to someone and had died before recovering it.
His wife, lying on her deathbed, asked her son to get it for her while she was still
alive. This he did, but while away his mother died. Because of her great love for
him, the mother was born as a jackal who tried to prevent the son from entering a
wood haunted by a gang of robbers led by the bodhisatva. However, the son didn’t
understand the jackal’s intention and drove her away. A crane, flying overhead, cried
out to the robbers announcing the son’s approach, but he, taking the crane as a lucky
portent, saluted it. The bodhisatva heard both sounds and when his gang captured
the man, he told him that he did not know how to distinguish between friend and foe
and sent him off with a warning. The Jataka was told with reference to the Chabbaggiyas,
Pandu and Lohitaka. They questioned the Buddha’s teachings on certain points and
encouraged others to do the same, the result being trouble and strife. The Buddha
sent for them and told them that this was a foolish policy -- they did not know what
was good for them. |
58/226 |
Jaataka |
Khuddhaka |
J.ii.387ff. |
discerning benefit |