Good kamma was also made by the elephant and the monkey who served the Buddha during one rainy season. The Buddha had been staying at the monastery near Kosambi but the bhikkhus there had proved to be quarrelsome so he left to dwell alone in the forest:
In that forest the Buddha spent the rains retreat happily, attended by an elephant named Pālileyyaka.324 That elephant had left his herd and entered the jungle thicket seeking ease and comfort. “Here I live crowded by male elephants, female elephants, young elephants and baby elephants. They chew up all the grass and break all the branches and they foul the water I want to drink. When I come out of the water after bathing the female elephants come and rub their bodies against me. What if I were to go away and live alone?”
Entering the forest he saw the Buddha sitting at the root of a sāl tree.325 The elephant approached the Buddha and paid homage to him. Taking a branch from the sāl tree he used it as a broom and swept the ground, and picking up the Buddha’s water-pot with his trunk he fetched water fit for drinking. Then the elephant made a fire with a fire-drill and threw heated stones into a small rock pool, to provide the Buddha with hot water for bathing. After that he gathered various wild fruits for the Buddha to eat.326
When the Buddha went for his alms-round in the village the elephant carried his robes and bowl on his head, although the Buddha forbade him from entering the human village. When the Buddha had returned to his place in the forest and finished his meal, the elephant put away his robes and bowl and taking a branch stood fanning him. During the night the elephant, taking up a stout branch in his trunk, paced up and down through the forest until dawn. Thinking “I shall protect the teacher” he kept away danger from wild beasts. Ever after that forest was called the Pālileyyakarakkhitavanasaṇḍo, “The Protected by Pālileyyaka Jungle Thicket.”
A certain monkey saw the elephant doing all these duties for the Buddha and he thought, “I shall do something too.” One day he found a honey-comb on a branch and he brought it to the Buddha. The monkey wondered, “Will he eat it or will he not?” When the Buddha put aside the comb without eating it, the monkey investigated the reason why and discovered that there were larvae in the comb. These he carefully removed and gave the comb back to the Buddha, who now ate the honey.
The monkey was so happy that he began leaping and dancing among the tree branches. But one of the branches he grasped broke off and he fell to the ground and was impaled on a broken stump. With his mind purified by thoughts of the Teacher (satthari pasanneneva cittena) the monkey died and was reborn in a thirty yojana golden vimāna in Tāvatiṃsa attended by a thousand accharās, he there he was known as Makkaṭadevaputto, “Monkey Deva”.
When the rains retreat ended, a party of bhikkhus led by Ānanda arrived to take the Buddha back. As they were leaving the forest, the elephant stood across the Buddha’s path, not wishing to see him leave. The Buddha spoke to him, saying “Pālileyyaka, I am leaving now and I will not return. In this form of existence (attabhāva) you cannot practice jhāna (one-pointed meditative absorption) or vipassāna (meditative insight into reality), nor attain the paths and fruit. The abodes of humans are an obstacle and a danger for you, you must turn back.” The elephant stood sobbing with his trunk in his mouth and as soon as he lost sight of the Buddha he died of a broken heart and was reborn in a thirty yojana golden vimāna in Tāvatiṃsa attended by a thousand accharās. There he was known as Pālileyyakadevaputta (Dhp-a 1:5).
When Siddhattha left home to seek Buddhahood, he rode his loyal horse Kanthaka as far as to the river Anomā. After his master left him, Kanthaka also died of a broken heart and was immediately reborn in Tāvatiṃsa (Vv-a 81).
An example of an animal making unskilful kamma is the dog who had previously been a haughty brahmin named Todeyya. He had treated the Buddha with contempt, addressing him with the familiar “bho“ as a deliberate insult. As a result he was reborn as a dog in his own home, with his former son as his master. When the Buddha came by this house on his alms round, the dog barked at him and as result was reborn in Avīci niraya (DN-a 10).
Beings cannot gain spiritual awakening in the animal form. We have seen the Buddha explaining this to the elephant Pālileyyaka. In no story does an animal, even a nāga, gain the stage of sotāpanna. The state of tiracchāna is listed as one of the nine inopportune times for hearing the Dhamma (DN 33). Whenever we encounter animals performing spiritually positive actions, the end result is always a deva-realm rebirth. Of course, escape from the lower realms is itself a significant spiritual accomplishment and in their new state awakening now becomes a possibility. In Buddhism, there is no eternal damnation.
A Note on Plants: Plant life (bhūtagāma) is not considered sentient and cannot make kamma or experience the result of kamma. Vegetable life is called ekindriya (“one-facultied”) meaning that it has life only but not consciousness (Vin Sd 7). Killing a plant is not a violation of the first precept. There is, however, a vinaya rule for bhikkhus which forbids taking plant life (Vin Pāc 11). The story explaining the rationale for this rule is somewhat ambiguous. It begins with a bhikkhu who was chopping down a tree and in the process injured a deva living in that tree. To be precise, while chopping, he accidentally severed the arm of the deva’s son. There is more than a hint here that the deva is not only inhabiting the tree, but in some manner identified with it: chopping a branch is the equivalent of chopping off his arm. But the identification is not complete, the deva and his son are not killed with the tree but are able to move into a better tree given them by the Buddha.327 Despite this story, the reason given for the rule in the end is that the lay people were scandalized to see bhikkhus cutting down trees, an action deemed inappropriate for samaṇas. In other words, the rationale for the rule was not given as compassion for plant life, but preserving the good reputation of the saṅgha. The ambiguity in the story speaks to a prevalent animist view in Indian society which was not accepted in mainstream Buddhist theory.
3:2:2 ANIMALS IN THE JĀTAKA TALES
One hundred thousand kappas ago the ascetic Sumedha made an aspiration for Buddhahood in the presence of Dīpankara Buddha, and was duly recognized by him as a Bodhisatta, a being on the path to Buddhahood. The path of a Bodhisatta is long and arduous, encompassing many hundreds or thousands of life-times. Sumedha was eventually reborn as Siddhattha Gotama, the Buddha of our present age. The Jātakas are a collection of stories recounting episodes in some of the previous lives of Gotama Buddha during his long career as a Bodhisatta.328
The Jātaka collection in the Theravāda canon consists of five hundred and forty-seven separate stories. Of these, more than a third of the total feature animals as prominent characters. The Bodhisatta himself was some kind of animal in one hundred and seventeen stories. The following table summarizes the various animal births of the Bodhisatta:
One of the eighteen kinds of birth that a Bodhisatta cannot take is an animal birth lesser than a quail (tiracchānayoniyaṃ vaṭṭakato pacchimattabhāvo), (Sn-a 1:3) a statement which implies a hierarchy among the animal species. Very often the Bodhisatta is represented as the king of a group of animals. Thus, in Jātaka 15 he is a deer followed by a herd of deer, in Jātaka 140 he is a king of the crows (kākarājā), in Jātaka 20 he is a monkey king (kapirājā), in Jātaka 129 he is a rat-king (mūsikarājā) and so forth. Sometimes his animal followers are identified as previous births of his contemporary disciples, the buddhaparisā or “Buddha assembly” (e.g. Jāt 20). In other instances, the animal followers are identified as previous births of the Sakyan clan (Jāt 502).
Many other characters known from the suttas had previously taken animal births and featured in the Jātaka tales:
Devadatta, the Buddha’s cousin who turned evil and tried to kill him three times, features in twenty-eight animal Jātakas, seven times as a jackal and three times as a crocodile, animals considered to have a low moral character. Devadatta also took birth as a deer, lion, monkey (five times), elephant, quail, crow, hawk, cormorant, parrot, chameleon and
snake. The animal forms of Devadatta consistently represent the villains in the stories.
Ānanda, another cousin of the Buddha who served as his loyal attendant for many years, appears in animal form in twenty-one Jātakas. He took birth in a wide range of animal forms: as a deer, bull, dog, jackal, monkey, otter, goose, vulture, pigeon, parrot, crab, nāga and tortoise. He usually played the role of a junior companion of the Bodhisatta.
Sāriputta, one of the Buddha’s two chief disciples, the one renowned for his penetrating wisdom also appears as an animal in twenty-one Jātakas in a wide range of species, having been born as a deer, horse, lion, monkey, goose, crow, owl, osprey, supaṇṇa, snake, nāga and tortoise.
Moggallāna, the other chief disciple, who was renowned for his mastery of the psychic powers, appears as an animal in fifteen Jātakas in the form of a tiger, jackal, monkey, elephant, rat, goose and supaṇṇa. In three separate stories the two chief disciples are big cats and companions, Sāriputta always being a lion and Moggallāna a tiger.
Kokālika, the evil-minded bhikkhu who disparaged the chief disciples, was an animal in seven Jātakas, appearing as a donkey, jackal, crow, and crocodile. His animal character is always evil, foolish or both.
Uppalavaṇṇā, one of the two chief female disciples took an animal birth in five stories, appearing as a deer, mynah bird, monitor lizard and nāga.
The Buddha’s former wife Rāhulamātā featured as an animal in four stories, as the Bodhisatta’s mate. Likewise his son Rāhula appeared in three animal Jātakas but only once as the offspring of the Bodhisatta.329
Several other persons from the Buddha’s time had taken one or two animal births in the Jātakas. Particularly interesting is the birth of Māra as a snake (Jāt 389) and the Jain founder, known to the Buddhist sources as Nigantha Nātaputta, as a crow (Jāt 339).
Of the animal species featured in the Jātakas, monkeys are the most common, appearing in thirty stories. There are three Pali words translated as “monkey”: kapi, makkaṭa and vānara. The word vānara means “forest dweller” and likely represents a generic word for monkeys of any kind,330 but the other two words seem to indicate separate species. In the stories, kapi monkeys and makkaṭa monkeys display very different characters. Whenever the Bodhisatta takes rebirth as a monkey, it is always as a kapi (or a vānara) and such monkeys are portrayed as having a clever or even a heroic character.
At one time when the Buddha was travelling with a company of bhikkhus, they stopped by the banks of Naḷakapāna (“Drinking Reed”) Pond. There the novices gathered reeds to be made into needle-cases for the bhikkhus, but they were found to be hollow throughout, without a single knot from root to tip, thus useless for that purpose. The bhikkhus asked the Buddha if there were any reason for the unusual reeds growing here. In answer, the Buddha told a story of the past.
In bygone times, there had been a dakarakkhasa (“water ogre”) living in this pond, who used to devour all who came to drink from it. At that time, the Bodhisatta had come to birth as a king of the monkeys (kapirājā). He was as big as a young deer and was the leader of a troop of eighty thousand monkeys (vānara) whom he protected from danger in their forest home.
When the troop came to the pond of the dakarakkhasa, the Bodhisatta saw that while there were foot-prints of animals leading into the water, there were none leading out, so he knew that a rakkhasa lived there and was eating the animals that came to drink. When the monkeys refrained from going down into the water, the rakkhasa came out in a horrible form and challenged the monkey-king. The Bodhisatta said to him that his entire troop of eighty-thousand monkeys would be able to drink from the pond without being eaten.
The Bodhisatta had a reed brought to him, and reflecting upon the pāramis (spiritual perfections) he blew into the reed and it became hollow throughout, without a single knot. Then the Bodhisatta determined (adhiṭṭhāsi), “May all the reeds around this lake become hollow.” Now, through the greatness of a Bodhisatta’s goodness, his determinations (adhiṭṭhāna)331 always succeed. So, all the reeds around the pond became hollow through and through. The monkey-king and his entire troop of eighty-thousand monkeys each took one of the hollow reeds and sitting safely on the bank of the pond, drank their fill before returning unharmed to the forest.
The reeds of Naḷakapāna Pond have remained hollow ever since, and will remain hollow for the duration of a kappa. The hollowing of those reeds is one of the four Kappa-long Miracles (kappaṭṭhiyapāṭihāriyāni) which will endure until the end of this world-cycle.
At the conclusion of the story, the Buddha identified the characters. “At that time, Devadatta was the dakarakkhasa, the eight-thousand monkeys were my followers (buddhaparisā) and I myself was the monkey-king.” (Jāt 20)
Makkaṭa monkeys are portrayed quite differently; they are mischievous, destructive and foolish. This fits the macaque or rhesus monkey. Macaque is a Portuguese word, but it may have been borrowed from a local dialect.332
Long ago, when Brahmadatta was King of Bārāṇasi, the Bodhisatta was born as a brahmin who renounced sense pleasures to live as a hermit by the banks of the Gaṅgā in the Himavā. One day while he was sitting in the doorway of his hut, a bold and wicked monkey (makkaṭa) came up and tried to put its penis in his ear. The Bodhisatta prevented him from doing this, and retained his equanimity.
Sometime later, it happened that a tortoise came up out of the Gaṅgā River and lay sleeping on the bank with its mouth open. The naughty monkey (lola-vānara) seeing this stuck its penis into the tortoise’s mouth. Waking up, the tortoise snapped its jaws shut like someone closing the lid of a chest, which was very painful for the monkey.
Unable to bear the pain, the monkey wondered, “Who can free me from this suffering? Who can I go to for help? Only the ascetic can free me, it is proper that I go and see him.” Carrying the tortoise in his hands, the monkey went to see the Bodhisatta who spoke to him in verse:
What, is that your alms-bowl?
You have quite a handful, brahmin.
Where did you go for alms?
What lay followers did you approach?
The monkey replied, also in verse:
I am a foolish monkey (kapi),
I have touched that which should not be touched.
If you would be so good as to free me,
I will go away to the mountains.
The Bodhisatta then addressed the tortoise:
Tortoises are of the Kassapa clan,
Monkeys (makkaṭa) are Koṇḍañña clansmen.
Kassapa, release Kondañña,
You are committing sexual misconduct.
The tortoise was pleased with the words of the Bodhisatta and released the monkey’s penis. Being freed, the monkey bowed to the Bodhisatta and ran away without looking back.333
The conclusion of the story may seem obscure: the internal commentary to the Jātaka explains that by the caste rules, the Kassapa and Kondañña clans do not inter-marry and for them to have intimate relations is considered sexual misconduct. The monkey in the story is referred to in the prose section as a makkaṭa. That he refers to himself as a kapi may just be an attempt to appear more respectable in the eyes of the hermit. The tortoise and the monkey were identified as previous births of two chief ministers in the Kosalan government.
Jackals (Pali siṅgāla) also feature prominently in the Jātakas, appearing in twenty-two tales. The character of jackals is portrayed in the Jātakas as generally low, nasty, tricky and cunning. Jackals are called “the most ignoble of animal births” (adhamo migajātānaṃ) (Jāt 172).
At one time an ox carcass was dragged by some villagers and left under a castor-oil tree (eraṇḍarukkha). A jackal came along to feed on it, and a crow sat in the branches of the tree hoping to get some too. The deva of the tree spoke this verse:
Of beasts, the jackal is the lowest (anto),
The crow the least of birds,
The castor-oil the least of trees;
Here all three are met to
gether!334
When a jackal was caught defecating in a well, his excuse was “This is the law of jackals, passed down from our fore-fathers. Jackals defecate wherever we drink, so there is no cause for blame.” HIs captor remarks, “If this is the law (dhamma) of jackals, what can their lawlessness (adhamma) be?” (Jāt 271)
Given the low and nasty character of jackals, it is not surprising that Devadatta took birth as one in seven Jātaka stories. A common motif parallels the way Devadatta attempted to imitate the Buddha and become a great teacher in his own right:
At one time the Bodhisatta was a lion and Devadatta a jackal. The lion was returning home from the hunt one day when he came across the jackal. Unable to escape, the jackal lay down on his belly and said he wished to serve the lion. The lion accepted and took him to his dwelling place and there day by day the jackal grew fat on the scraps of the lion’s kills.
One day a feeling of pride arose in the jackal and he said to the lion, “I am ever a burden to you, my lord. You always bring back the meat which I eat. Today, you remain here and I shall go forth and kill an elephant.” The lion told him, “Jackal, you are not of the kind which can kill elephants. Elephants are big and strong. You remain here and I will kill an elephant.”
The Buddhist Cosmos Page 22