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Devadhamma-Jataka:

Two princes going down to a haunted pool are seized by an ogre;the third, by correctly defining ‘godlike,’ saves his brothers.

Pictured by: PongPang
Coloured by: Pupay

The Origin of the Story

Devadhamma-Jātaka
Two princes going down to a haunted pool are seized by an ogre; the third, by
correctly defining ‘godlike,’ saves his brothers.

        Tradition tells us that, on the death of his wife, a squire of Savatthi joined the monkhood. When he was joining, he caused to be built for himself a chamber to live in, a room for the fire, and a storeroom and not till he had stocked his storeroom with ghee, rice, and the like, did he finally join. Even after he had become a monk, he used to send for his servants and make them cook him what he liked to eat. He was richly provided with the requisites:—having an entire change of clothing for night and another for day and he dwelt aloof on the outskirts of the monastery.

        One day when he had taken out his cloths and bedding and had spread them out to dry in his chamber, a number of monks from the country who were on a pilgrimage from monastery to monastery came in their journeying to his cell and found all these belongings. He was arraigned before the Lord Buddha, he pulled off his robes and stood only in his waist cloth.

       The Lord Buddha told him it was not the first time he had had to show him the error of his ways.

        Then, as a moral support to him, the Lord Buddha said to him was it not you, monk, who in bygone days were a seeker after the shamefacedness that fears to sin and even when you were a water demon lived for twelve years seeking after that shamefacedness? How then comes it that, after vowing to follow the weighty doctrine of the Buddha, you have flung off your outer robes and stand here devoid of shame?

        At the Blessed One’s word, his sense of shame was restored; he donned his robes again and saluting the Buddha, seated himself at the side. The monks having asked the Blessed One to explain to them the matter he had mentioned, the Blessed One made clear what had been concealed from them by re-birth.

The story of Jātaka
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The revealing of the identities
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What are learned from the story:

      1. The story shown that even the Buddha-to-be was criticized and satirized by others; thus we should not pay too much attention to groundless sarcasm.
      2. Being rational and impartial earn others’ faith to the person as well as countless fortune.
 

The End