| J.041 |
Losaka Jaataka |
In the time of Kassapa Buddha, there lived a monk who was maintained by a rich man
of the district. One day a wandering arahant visited the temple too, and was invited
by the supporter to stay. The original monk became jealous of the new rival and told
the supporter that the newcomer was lazy and good for nothing. Instead of giving
the new monk some food sent by the supporter for the original monk he secretly threw
it in the fire. The arahant, knowing that prolonging his stay would only add to the
evil of his fellow monk, left and went elsewhere. The monk was seized with remorse
andwas born in hell. For five hundred successive births he was a yakkha with never
enough to eat, for another five hundred births he was a dog. He was finally born
as Mittavindaka in a poor family in Kasi. Because of him, dire misfortune befell
the family and he was outcast. In Benares, he became a charity scholar under the
bodhisatva, who was a teacher there, but he was so quarrelsome that again he was
outcast. He married a poor woman and had two children. For a while he was a teacher,
but the village where he lived earned the kingís displeasure seven times, their houses
caught fire and the water dried up. Having discovered the cause, Mittavindaka and
his family were banished. In a haunted forest, Mittavindakaís wife and children were
eaten up by demons. In his wanderings, Mittavindaka came to the coastal village of
Gambhira where he took service on a ship. However, on the seventh day of the voyage,
the ship suddenly stopped sailing mid-ocean. In search for the jinx, lots cast fell
on Mittavindaka seven times, so they put him on a raft and lowered him overboard.
He was cast ashore on an island inhabited by four vimana-petas in palaces of crystal,
and he enjoyed happiness with them for seven days. From there he went to an island
inhabited by eight goddesses in palaces of silver and from there to another where
there were sixteen in palaces of jewels and from there to another where there were
thirty-two in palaces of gold. In each he stayed for seven days. From the last he
went to an island of ogres. There he seized an ogress wandering about in the form
of a goat, but she kicked him from one side of the ocean to the other and he landed
in a dry moat in Benares. There goatherds were keeping watch for thieves, and when
Mittavindaka seized a goat, hoping to be kicked back to his original place, he was
caught. As he was being led away, the Bodhisatva saw and recognized him and persuaded
the goatherds to allow him to take on Mittavindaka as his slave. The Jataka was told
in reference to Losaka-Tissa who ordained as a monk but whose food always disappeared
from his bowl as a result of his past evil and who had to be helped by Sariputta.
Losaka-Tissa is identified with Mittavindaka. |
56/001 |
Jaataka |
Khuddhaka |
J.i.234ff. |
jealousy |