Palāsa-Jātaka

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Source: Adapted from Archaic Translation by H.T. Francis and R.A. Neil
JATAKA No. 307

PALASA-JATAKA

"Why, Brahmin, though," etc.--The Master, when he was stretched upon the bed of death, told this story of the Elder Monk Ananda.

The venerable man, knowing that the Master on this very night at evening would die, said to himself, "I am still under discipline and have duties to perform, and my Master is certainly going to die, and then the service I have rendered to him for five-and-twenty years will be fruitless." And so being overwhelmed with sorrow he leaned upon the monkey-head which formed the bolt of the garden store-room and burst into tears.

And the Master, missing Ananda, asked the Brethren(Monks) where he was, and on hearing what was the matter he sent for him and addressed him as follows: "Ananda, you have laid up a store of merit. Continue to work hard earnestly and you will soon be free from human passion. Grieve not yourself. For which reason should the service you have rendered me prove fruitless now, seeing that your former services in the days of your sinfulness were not without their reward?" Then he told a legend of the past.

Once upon a time when Brahmadatta reigned in Benares, the Bodhisattva came to life in the form of a Judas-tree fairy. Now at this time all the inhabitants of Benares were devoted to the worship of such deities, and constantly engaged in religious offerings and the like.

And a certain poor brahmin thought, "I too will watch over some divinity." So he found a big Judas-tree growing on high ground, and by sprinkling gravel and sweeping all round it, he kept its root smooth and free from grass. Then he presented it with a scented wreath of five bunches and lighting a lamp made an offering of flowers and perfume and incense. And after a respectful salutation he said, "Peace be with you," and then went his way. On the next day he came quite early and asked after its welfare. Now one day it occurred to the tree-fairy, "This brahmin is very attentive to me. I will test him and find out why he thus worships me, and grant him his desire." So when the brahmin came and was sweeping about the root of the tree, the spirit stood near him disguised as an aged brahmin and repeated the first stanza:

Why, brahmin, though yourself with reason blessed, Have you this dull sense lacking tree addressed? Vain is your prayer, your kindly greeting vain, From this dull wood no answer will you gain.

On hearing this the brahmin replied in a second stanza:

Long on this spot a famous tree has stood, Suitable living-place for spirits of the wood; With deepest awe such beings I revere, They guard, I think, some sacred treasure here.

The tree-fairy on hearing these words was so pleased with the brahmin that he said, "O brahmin, I was born as the divinity of this tree. Fear not. I will grant you this treasure." And to reassure him, by a great manifestation of divine power, he stood suspended in the air at the entrance of his celestial mansion, while he recited two more stanzas:

O brahmin, I have noticed your act of love; A pious deed can never fruitless prove. Lo! where the fig-tree casts its ample shade, Due sacrifice and gifts of old were paid. Beneath this fig a buried treasure lies, The gold unearth, and claim it as your prize.

The spirit moreover added these words: "O brahmin, you would be weary, if you have to dig up the treasure and carry it away with you. Do you therefore go your way, and I will bring it to your house and deposit it in such and such a place. Then do you enjoy it all your life long, and give alms and keep the moral law." And after thus speaking to the brahmin, the tree-fairy, by an exercise of divine power, transferred the treasure into the brahmin's house.

The Master here brought his lesson to an end and identified the Birth: "At that time Ananda was the Brahmin, and I myself was the Tree-fairy."