he carried with him in order to reach the pleasant land the sooner. The
Jataka entitled On True Divinity contains a very beautiful story about
three brothers, the Sun prince, the Moon prince, and the future Buddha
or Bodisat. The king, their father, expelled the Moon prince and the
future Buddha in order to secure the succession to the Sun prince alone.
But the Sun prince could not bear to be separated from his brothers, and
secretly followed them into exile. They journeyed together until they
came to a certain lake. This lake was inhabited by an evil spirit, to
whom power had been given to destroy all who entered his territory
unless they could redeem their lives by answering the question, "What is
truly divine?" So the Sun prince was asked first, and he answered, "The
sun and the moon and the gods are divine." But that not being the
correct answer, the evil spirit seized and imprisoned him in his cave.
Then the Moon prince was asked, and he answered, "The far-spreading sky
is called divine." But he, too, was carried away to the same place to be
destroyed. Then the future Buddha was asked, and he answered: "Give ear,
then, attentively, and hear what divine nature is;" and he uttered the
words--
"The pure in heart who fear to sin,
The good, kindly in word and deed,
These are the beings in the world
Whose nature should be called divine."
And when the evil spirit heard these words, he bowed, and said: "I will
give up to you one of your brothers." Then the future Buddha said, "Give
me the life of my brother, the Sun prince, for it is on his account
that we have been driven away from our home and thrust into exile." The
evil spirit was overcome by this act of generosity, and said, "Verily, O
teacher, thou not only knowest what is divine, but hast acted divinely."
And he gave him the life of both his brothers, the Sun prince as well as
the Moon prince.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account