Petavatthu(Ghost stories)1.12

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1.12 The Snake

While the Teacher(Buddha) was staying at Jetavana, he told this story.

At Savatthi, it is said, the son of a certain lay disciple died.The father was plunged into lamentation and grief and did not go out; he was unable to do anything and just stayed ill the house. Then the Teacher, rising at dawn from attainment of the great pity was surveying the world with his Buddha-eye; having seen the lay disciple, he took bowl and robe, and stood at the door of his house, The lay disciple quickly went out to meet him, took his bowl, and welcomed him in, The Lord Buddha said to him: " Why, lay disciple, do you appear overcome by grief as it were?" He replied : "Sure yes, Lord, my beloved son has died; therefore, I am overcome with grief." Then Lord Buddha, who dispels grief told him the Serpent Jataka (previous birth-story) :

Once upon a time, in the Kasi country at Benares there was brahman family by the name of Dhammapala, in which the brahman, his wife, their son, daughter , daughter-in-law and maid-servant , all of them, found delight in meditation on death. Whoever among them Went forth from the house would tell the rest of the household and take leave totally unconcerned. Then one day the brahman with his son went to a field and ploughed. while the son set fire to dry grass and sticks. Thereupon a black snake scared came out from a hole in the tree and hit the brahman's son. The latter died and was reborn as Sakka(Indra), king of devas. Then the brahman, having bathed, purified, and anointed himself, and surrounded by his attendants, put the body on the funeral pyre and applied the fire just as though he was burning a heap of wood. He was standing there free from grief, without self-mortification, and having his mind fixed upon the idea of impermanence.

Now the brahman's son, having become Sakka, became our Bodhisatta. Having considered the good deed done in his previous birth and feeling compassion for his father and kinsfolk, he went to their place, disguised as a brahman. When he saw that they were not in mourning, he said : " Hey! You are roasting an animal ; give me meat ; I am hungry." The father replied: "It is not an animal ; brahman, it is a human being." The Bodhisatta asked: "Was that one an enemy of yours?" The father replied : " He was no enemy, but one nurtured in our own bosom, our own tender son of excellent qualities." The Bodhisatta asked: "Why do you not mourn for him ? " Then the brahman said:

1. "Just as the serpent casts aside its old skin and attains a body that is its own;

so also is it when the body is deprived of enjoyment and when the deceased has fulfilled his time."

2. " He! who is being burnt does not know that his kinsmen mourn;

Therefore I do not weep for him; he has gone to his place."

Then Sakka addressed the brahman's wife : " Good woman, what was that dead man to you ?" She replied: "For ten months I bore him in me, I suckled him, I placed his hands and feet; he grew up, my son, sir." He asked: "Even if the father as man does not weep, surely a mother's heart is tender. Why do you not weep ?" Upon hearing him, she said:

3. " Uncalled he came then, unbidden he has gone now.

As he came, so he went. Why here weep?"

4. " He who is being burnt does not know that his kinsmen mourn ;

Therefore I do not weep for him; he has gone to his place. "

Then he asked the sister : " Good woman, what was that one to you?". She said "Sir, he was my brother." He said "Good woman, sisters verily have affection for their brothers. Why do you not weep?" She explained :

5. " If I should weep, I should become weak. What reward would there be for me?

There would be more discomforts for our kinsmen, companions, and friends."

6. " He who is being burnt does not know that his kinsmen mourn ;

Therefore I do not weep for him; he has gone to his place"

Then he asked the widow: " What was that one to you ? ".

She said "Sir, he was my husband. " He asked "My lady, wives verily have affection for their husbands. Why then you do not weep? " She explained :

7. "Just as an infant cries for the moon departing,

so that very same thing does he, who mourns for the departed."

8. " He who is being burnt does not know that his kinsmen mourn;

Therefore I do not weep for him; he has gone to his place."

Then he asked the maid-servant : "Woman, what was that man to you? ". She said "Sir, he was my master." He asked "If so, he probably beat you, and you will have been house keeper; therefore you do not weep, thinking: 'I am happily released of this man who is dead.' " She replied: "My lord, do not speak so to me. It is not fit. The gentleman was to me very full of patience, amity, and kindness, acting properly, like a grown up son nourished." He asked "Then why do you not weep?" She said:

9. "Just as in the case of a brahman a broken water-pot is not restored,

so that same vain effort makes he who bewails the departed."

10. "He who is being burnt does not know that his kinsmen mourn ;

Therefore I do not weep him ; he has gone to his place."

When Sakka had heard their talk, he was pleased and said : "You have rightly developed attention to death. Henceforth you must not do ploughing and other labour." He filled their house with seven royal treasures and advised them with the words: "Diligently donate, observe the moral precepts, and keep the feast-day." Then he revealed himself unto them and went to his own abode. And the brahman and his family then gave donations and performed other meritorious deeds, and having lived to a good old age, were reborn in the world of the devas(angels).

Buddha, when told this story to the grieving lay disciple, he became pacified and then and there he attained the Sotapatti (first path) of liberation.

END OF BOOK - I