The grateful elephant : $b And other stories translated from the PāliBurlingame, Eugene Watson
Religion
The grateful elephant : $b And other stories translated from the Pāli
Burlingame, Eugene Watson
Buddhist legends
Perceiving that the club had stuck, he said: “Master ogre, you have
never heard of me before. I am Prince Five-weapons. When I entered
this forest infested by you, I took no account of bows and such-like
weapons; when I entered this forest, I took account only of myself. Now
I am going to beat you and pound you into powder and dust!” Having thus
made known his determination, with a yell he struck the ogre with his
right hand. His hand stuck right to the ogre’s hair. He struck him with
his left hand. That also stuck. He struck him with his right foot. That
also stuck. He struck him with his left foot. That also stuck. Thought
he: “I will beat you with my head and pound you into powder and dust!”
He struck him with his head. That also stuck right to the ogre’s hair.
The Future Buddha, snared five times, stuck fast in five places,
dangled from the ogre’s body. But for all that, he was unafraid,
undaunted. As for the ogre, he thought: “This is some lion of a man,
some man of noble birth,--no mere man! For although he has been caught
by an ogre like me, he appears neither to tremble nor to quake! In
all the time I have harried this road, I have never seen a single man
to match him! Why, pray, is he not afraid?” Not daring to eat him, he
asked: “Youth, why are you not afraid? why are you not terrified with
the fear of death?”
“Ogre, why should I be afraid? for in one state of existence one death
is absolutely certain. What’s more, I have in my belly a thunderbolt
for weapon. If you eat me, you will not be able to digest that weapon.
It will tear your insides into tatters and fragments and will kill
you. In that case we’ll both perish. That’s why I’m not afraid!” (In
these terms, we are told, the Future Buddha referred to the Weapon of
Knowledge within himself.)
Hearing this, the ogre thought: “What this youth says is true, every
word of it. From the body of this lion of a man, my stomach would not
be able to digest a fragment of flesh even so small as a kidney bean.
I’ll let him go!” Terrified with the fear of death, he let the Future
Buddha go, saying: “Youth, you’re a lion of a man! I’ll not eat your
flesh. Do you, this moment released from my hand, even as the moon is
released from the Jaws of Rāhu, go gladden the circle of your kinsfolk
and well-wishers!”
Then said the Future Buddha to the ogre: “Ogre, I’ll go presently. But
you, because in a former state of existence also you wrought evil, have
been reborn as an ogre, cruel, red-handed, feeding on the flesh and
blood of others. If in this state of existence also, so long as you
live, you do evil deeds, you will go from darkness to darkness. But
from the moment you saw me, it has been impossible for you to do evil
deeds. Such a crime as taking the life of living beings means rebirth
in hell, in the animal kingdom, in the region of the fathers, in the
world of the fallen deities; should you be reborn in the world of men,
you will live but a short time and soon pass away.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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