Kukku-Jātaka

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Source: Adapted from Archaic Translation by H.T. Francis and R.A. Neil
JATAKA No. 396

KUKKU-JATAKA

"The peak's an arm length," etc--The Master told this while living in Jetavana monastery, concerning the advice to a king. The occasion will appear in the Tesakuna-Birth. (*1)

Once upon a time when Brahmadatta was reigning in Benares, the Bodhisattva was his councillor in things worldly and spiritual. The king was set on the way of the evil courses, ruled his kingdom unrighteously and collected wealth by oppressing the people. The Bodhisattva wishing to admonish him goes about looking for a parable. Now the king's bedchamber was unfinished and the roof was not complete upon it: the rafters supported a peak but were only just set in position. The king had gone and taken his time enjoying in the park: when he came to his house he looked up and saw the round peak: fearing it would fall upon him he went and stood outside, then looking up again he thought "How is that peak resting so? and how are the rafters?" and asking the Bodhisattva he spoke the first stanza:-

The peak's a arm length and a half in height, Eight spans will compass it in circuit round, Of simsapa and sara built properly: Why does it stand so sound?

Hearing him the Bodhisattva thought "I have now got a parable to admonish the king," and spoke these stanzas:-

The thirty rafters bent, of sara wood, Set equally, surrounded it around, They press it tightly, for their hold is good: It is set properly and sound.

So is the wise man, surrounded by faithful friends, By devoted advisers and pure: Never from height of fortune he descends: As rafters hold the peak secure.

While the Bodhisattva was speaking, the king considered his own conduct, "If there is no peak, the rafters do not stand fast; the peak does not stand if not held by the rafters; if the rafters break, the peak falls: and even so a bad king, not holding together his friends and ministers, his armies, his brahmins and householders, if these break up, is not held by them but falls from his power: a king must be righteous." At that instant they brought him a citron as a present. The king said to the Bodhisattva, "Friend, eat this citron." The Bodhisattva took it and said, "O king, people who know not how to eat this make it bitter or acid: but wise men who know take away the bitter, and without removing the acid or spoiling the citron-flavour they eat it," and by this parable he showed the king the means of collecting wealth, and spoke two stanzas:-

The rough-skinned citron bitter is to eat, If it remain untouched by carver's steel: Take but the pulp, O king, and it is sweet: You spoil the sweetness if you add the peel.

Even so the wise man without violence, Gathers king's dues in village and in town, Increases wealth, and yet gives no offence: He walks the way of right and of renown.

The king taking advice with the Bodhisattva went to a lotus-tank, and seeing a lotus in flower, with a color like the new-risen sun, not defiled by the water, he said: "Friend, that lotus grown in the water stands undefiled by the water." Then the Bodhisattva said, "O king, so should a king be," and spoke these stanzas in advice:-

Like the lotus in the pool, White roots, waters pure, sustain it; In the sun's face flowering full, Dust nor mud nor wet can stain it.

So the man whom virtues rule, Meek and pure and good we style him: Like the lotus in the pool Stain of sin cannot defile him.

The king hearing the Bodhisattva's advice, afterwards ruled his kingdom righteously, and doing good actions, charity and the rest, became destined for heaven.

After the lesson, the Master explained the truths and identified the Birth: "At that time the king was Ananda, the wise minister myself."

Footnotes:

(1)No. 521