Araka-Jātaka

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Source: Adapted from Archaic translation by W.H.D. Rouse
JATAKA No. 169

ARAKA-JATAKA

"The heart that boundless pity feels," etc.--This story the Master told at Jetavana monastery, about the Scripture on Lovingkindness.

On one occasion the Master thus addressed the Brotherhood(Monks): "Brethren, charity practised with all devotion of thought, meditated upon, increased, made a vehicle of progress, made your one object, practised, well begun, may be expected to produce Eleven Blessings (*1), What are these eleven? Happy he sleeps and happy he awakes; he sees no bad dreams; men love him; spirits guard him; fire, poison, and sword come not near him; quickly he becomes absorbed in mind; his look grows calm; he dies undismayed; without need of further wisdom he goes to Brahma's upper heaven. Charity, Brethren, practised with renunciation of one's wishes"--and so on--"may be expected to produce these Eleven Blessings. Praising the Charity which holds these Eleven Blessings, Brethren(Monks), a Brother(Monk) should show kindness to all creatures, whether expressly commanded or not, he should be a friend to the friendly, yes a friend to the unfriendly, and a friend to the indifferent: thus to all without distinction, whether expressly asked or not, he should show Charity: he should show sympathy with joy and sorrow and practise equanimity; he should do his work by means of the Four Excellences. By so doing he will go to Brahma's upper heaven even without Path or Fruit. Wise men of old by cultivating charity for seven years, have lived in Brahma's upper heaven seven ages, each with its one period to grow and one to decline." And he told them a story of the past.

Once upon a time, in a former age, the Bodhisattva was born in a brahmin's family. When he grew up, he gave up his lusts and embraced the religious(ascetic) life, and attained the Four Excellences. His name was Araka, and he became a Teacher, and lived in Himalaya region, with a large body of followers. Addressing his band of sages, he said, "A hermit must show Charity, sympathetic must he be both in joy and sorrow, and full of equanimity; for this thought of charity attained by resolve prepares him for Brahma's upper heaven." And explaining the blessing of charity, he repeated these verses:-

"The heart that boundless pity feels for all things that have birth,   In heaven above, in realms below, and on this middle earth,

"Filled full of pity infinite, infinite charity,   In such a heart nothing narrow or confined can ever be."

Thus did the Bodhisattva discourse to his pupils on the practice of charity and its blessings. And without a moment's interruption of his mystic trance, he was born in the heaven of Brahma, and for seven ages, each with his time to grow and decline, he came no more to this world.

After finishing this discourse, the Master identified the Birth: "The band of sages of that time are now the Buddha's followers; and I myself am he that was the Teacher Araka."

Footnotes:

(1)The Eleven Blessings are discussed in the Question of Milinda