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
Then the monkey awoke and went out of the cave, and seeing the wise
boar reduced to a heap of bones, became greatly excited and exclaimed:
“What reduced you to a heap of bones? Tell me, O friend, if you
can.” So the wise boar told him the whole story. Then the monkey did
reverence to the wise boar, and said to him: “Tell me what you wish me
to do, and I will do it.” The wise boar replied: “I wish only to have
my body restored to me like as it was before, and to have the lioness
that died of hunger restored to life again, that she may satisfy her
hunger with my body and blood.” Thereupon, as the fruit of the merit
which the wise boar had acquired, he was transformed into a sage, and
the monkey into a sage likewise.
_26. Fairy-Prince and Griffin._
“_Eat me, O griffin!_”
Adapted from C. H. Tawney, Ocean of the Streams of Story
(Kathāsaritsāgara), Chapters 22 and 90.
On a ridge of the Himālaya stands a city called the Golden City, for it
gleams from afar like the rays of the sun. And in that city, once upon
a time, lived the king of the fairies, and his name was Jīmūta-ketu.
And in the garden of his palace grew a wishing-tree, and its name
was Granter of Desires, for it granted all desires. By the favor of
that tree the king obtained a son, who was none other than the Future
Buddha, and his name was Jīmūta-vāhana. He was valiant in generosity,
of mighty courage, and compassionate towards all living beings.
When Jīmūta-vāhana was become of age, his father made him crown-prince.
Thus did he become the fairy-prince. And when he had become the
fairy-prince, the ministers of the kingdom came to him and said: “O
fairy-prince, do reverence always to this wishing-tree, for it grants
all desires, and cannot be resisted by any living creature. For so
long as we possess this tree, we cannot suffer injury of any kind from
anyone, even from Indra, king of the gods, much less from any other.”
When Jīmūta-vāhana heard these words, he thought to himself: “Alas!
our forefathers, for all their possession of this noble tree, obtained
by the favor of this tree naught but wealth and victory over their
enemies; thus did they demean themselves, and thus did they demean
this tree likewise. For no such purposes as these will I employ this
tree. For I know that the good things of this world endure but for a
short while, and then perish and vanish utterly. But friendliness and
compassion and generosity towards all living beings yield abundant
fruit, both in this world and in the next. As for wealth, if it be
not used for the benefit of others, it is like lightning which for an
instant stings the eye, and then flickers and vanishes. Therefore if
this wishing-tree which we possess, and which grants all desires, be
employed for the benefit of others, we shall reap from it all the fruit
that it can give. Accordingly I will so act that by the wealth of this
tree all living beings shall be delivered from poverty and distress.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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