by Andy Rotman
“Uncles,” he said to them, “don’t take these loads of wood to the market. Put them in my house. That way I can pay you in a lump sum.”676 And so they put their loads of wood in his house.
Now one time there passed a week of rainy weather. The boy sold those loads of wood and made a lot of profit. [Nevertheless,] he reflected, “This wood business is a terrible business.677 Even the sandalwood business is the same. I really should set up a sweet shop.”678 So he set up a sweet shop, and he conducted his business according to dharma. He made a lot of profit.679 Then he reflected, “This sweet shop business is a terrible business. I really should set up a perfume shop.” So he set up a perfume shop, [501] and he made a lot of profit.680 Then he reflected, “This is also a terrible business. [I really should set up a goldsmith’s shop. So he set up a goldsmith’s shop, and he conducted his business according to dharma. He made a lot a of profit.]681 He surpassed all the other goldsmiths. And so he came to be known as Mūṣikāhairaṇyaka (Mouse Goldsmith).
Those goldsmiths said to each other, “Gentlemen, this Mūṣikāhairaṇyaka has surpassed all of us. Let’s appeal to his vanity. We’ll get him to set sail in the great ocean. Right there, straightaway, he’ll meet with his death.”
Standing not far from him they chatted among themselves: “Friends, to be sure, a man who once traveled on the back of an elephant may now travel by horseback, and one who traveled by horseback may now travel by palanquin, and one who traveled by palanquin may now travel on foot. And in just this way, Mūṣikāhairaṇyaka’s fathers and forefathers [were once maritime merchants who] did their business on ships in the ocean, while Mūṣikāhairaṇyaka himself now struggles to make a living running a goldsmith’s shop!”
Hearing this, Mūṣikāhairaṇyaka said, “What are you saying?”682
“Your father and forefathers [were maritime merchants who] did their business on ships,” they said. “And now683 you struggle to make a living running a goldsmith’s shop.”
He went home and asked his mother, “Mom, is it true that my father and forefathers [were maritime merchants who] did their business on ships in the great ocean?”
His mother reflected, “He must have heard something from someone. Well, it wouldn’t be right if I deceived him by telling lies.”
“Son, it’s the truth.”
“Give me permission,” he said. “I too will set sail in the great ocean.”
“Son, you’re to stay right here,” she said.
Again and again he told her that he was going. Finally, realizing that he was absolutely determined, she gave him permission. Then he had bells rung [in town] for the following proclamation: “Whoever among you is eager to set sail in the great ocean with Mūṣikāhairaṇyaka [as your caravan leader],684 while being exempt from customs, transit, and freight fees, gather up goods for export across the great ocean.” Five hundred traders then gathered up goods for export across the great ocean.
Then [the caravan leader]685 Mūṣikāhairaṇyaka performed auspicious rituals and benedictions for a safe journey, loaded his goods in carts, carriers, containers, and baskets and on camels, bulls, and donkeys, and then set out for the great ocean.686 [502] Eventually he arrived at the shore of the great ocean.687
When the merchants saw the great ocean, they were afraid. They couldn’t bring themselves to board the ship.
The caravan leader Mūṣikāhairaṇyaka said to the captain, “Tell us! Tell us,688 my friend, of the glory of the great ocean as it really is!”
Then the captain proclaimed: “In the great ocean there are treasures such as these—jewels, pearls, beryl, and conch, quartz, coral, silver, and gold, emeralds, sapphires, red pearls, and right-spiraling conch shells. Whoever among you is eager to make himself happy with such treasures, and to delight his mother, father, wife, and children, servants, maids, workers, and laborers, friends, counselors, kinsmen, and relatives, and whoever wants, from time to time, to present to ascetics and brahmans gifts that guide one upward,689 are a just reward for noble words, result in pleasure, and lead to heaven in the future, he should set sail in the ocean.”
People desire wealth, so soon a crowd of people boarded. The ship couldn’t take it.
“What can I say now so that they’ll disembark?” the caravan leader reflected. “My friend,” he said to the captain, “proclaim690 for us the infamy691 of the great ocean as it really is!”
“Listen, honorable merchants of Jambudvīpa (Black Plum Island)!” the captain proclaimed. “In the great ocean there are also great, great dangers—the danger of sea monsters like the Timi, the Timiṅgila, and the Timitimiṅgila, the danger of whirlpools, the danger of crocodiles, the danger of gharials,692 and the danger of running into reefs. Thieves in black and white [clothes]693 may also come to steal your money.694 They will completely and utterly destroy you. Whoever among you would give up his own dear life,695 and give up his mother, father, wife, and children, servants, maids, workers, and laborers, friends, counselors, kinsmen, and relatives, he should set sail in the ocean.”
Few men are brave. Many are cowards. A great many people disembarked, and the ship righted itself.
After the captain made this announcement three times, he released one of the ship’s ropes, [503] then a second and a third.696 And so the ship, urged on by powerful winds and well controlled by the great captain, set off like a great cloud.697 And it met with favorable winds until it reached Ratnadvīpa (Treasure Island).
Then the captain made an announcement: “Listen, honorable merchants of Jambudvīpa! There are glass jewels just like diamonds here in Ratnadvīpa. You should examine them carefully, one by one, as you collect them. Let’s not have any regrets after you’ve arrived back in Jambudvīpa. And here in Ratnadvīpa there live demonesses known as kroñca maidens. They’ll sweet-talk a man in various ways, and right there, straightaway, he’ll meet with his death. And there are also intoxicating fruits here in Ratnadvīpa. Whoever eats them will be in a stupor for seven nights. You mustn’t eat them! And nonhumans live here in Ratnadvīpa as well. They’ll put up with humans for seven days, but after seven days, they’ll let loose a wind that will carry off a ship, regardless of whether one’s work is finished.”
After listening to this, the merchants remained attentive and on guard. They carefully examined the treasures one by one, and they filled their ship with them as one would with sesame seeds, rice, jujube berries, or horse gram. Then, with the help of favorable winds, they arrived back in Jambudvīpa. And it went on like this until they had successfully completed seven voyages. Then, at last, they returned home.
“Son,” Mūṣikāhairaṇyaka’s mother said to him, “you should get married here and settle down.”
“First I have to pay off a debt,”698 he said. “After that I’ll get married.”
“Son,” she said to him, “neither your father nor your forefathers accrued any debt.699 How did you get into debt?”
“Mother,” he said, “this is something only I know.” Then he had four mice prepared from four kinds of jewels. He filled a chest with gold, placed those four mice on the chest’s four sides, and then went to the guildmaster’s home.
Meanwhile the guildmaster was standing there praising none other than Mūṣikāhairaṇyaka: “Look, gentlemen. Mūṣikāhairaṇyaka is very powerful because of his merit. Whatever he takes, whether a blade of grass or a clump of dirt, it all turns into gold!”
While the guildmaster stood there chatting like this, the doorkeeper went to him and announced, [504] “Mūṣikāhairaṇyaka is standing at the door.”
“Send him in,” he said. “Or better yet, bring Mūṣikāhairaṇyaka to me.”700
Mūṣikāhairaṇyaka entered and said, “This is your capital. This is your profit. Please accept them.”
“I don’t remember . . . Is it true that I gave you something?” the guildmaster said.
“I’ll remind you,” Mūṣikāhairaṇyaka said. So he reminded him.
“Whose son are you?” he
asked.
“Such-and-such householder’s.”
“You are my friend’s son,” the guildmaster said. “It is I who have something to give to you! When your father was going [off to the great ocean], he placed [a lot of]701 money in my hands.”
Then the guildmaster adorned his daughter with all kinds of ornaments and offered her to Mūṣikāhairaṇyaka as a wife.
“What do you think, monks? That guildmaster was none other than me at that time and at that juncture. Mūṣikāhairaṇyaka was none other than Panthaka at that time and at that juncture. Back then as well I inspired him with a small teaching702 and established him in great lordship. And now too I inspired him with a small teaching,703 delivered him from the hardships of saṃsāra, and established him in the unsurpassed supreme security that is nirvāṇa.”
The monks asked the Lord Buddha, “Bhadanta, what deed did Panthaka do that resulted in his becoming a fool, an absolute fool, an idiot, a complete idiot?”
“Monks, the deeds that Panthaka himself has performed [and accumulated have now come together, and their conditions have matured. They remain before him like an oncoming flood and will certainly come to pass. Those deeds were performed and accumulated by Panthaka. Who else will experience their results?]704 For those deeds that are performed and accumulated, monks, do not mature outside of oneself—neither in the element of earth nor in the element of water, in the element of fire or in the element of wind. Instead, those [deeds that are performed and accumulated],705 both good and bad, mature in the aggregates, elements, and sense bases that are appropriated when one is reborn.
Actions never come to naught,
even after hundreds of millions of years.
When the right conditions gather and the time is right,
then they will have their effect on embodied beings.”
The Pork Dealer and Five Hundred Solitary Buddhas
Long ago, monks, when people lived for twenty thousand years, there arose in the world a teacher named Kāśyapa,
who was a tathāgata,
an arhat,
a perfectly awakened being,
perfect in knowledge and conduct,
a sugata,
a knower of the world,
an unsurpassed guide for those in need of training,
a teacher of gods and humans,
a buddha,
and a blessed one. [505]
He stayed near Vārāṇasī with a following of twenty thousand monks.706 One monk there possessed the knowledge of the Tripiṭaka of Kāśyapa’s teachings, but since he was stingy707 he wouldn’t teach even a single verse to anyone there.
Now at a later time,708 in a certain market town, there was a pork dealer. Across from that market town on the other side of the river there was also another market town, and in that other market town a lunar holiday was being celebrated.
The pork dealer reflected, “If I slaughter some pigs and bring them to the other market town, there might not be anyone to buy the meat, and it will go bad. Instead, I’ll take the pigs there while they’re still alive.709 Then I can slaughter them and bring them to wherever the buyers are.”
He tied a large group of pigs together by their legs,710 put them on board a boat, and set out. Those pigs began to shuffle about and made the boat flip over.711 Right there, straightaway, the pigs met with their death.712 As for the pork dealer, he was carried away by the current toward Vārāṇasī.
On the banks of that river there lived five hundred solitary buddhas. One of those solitary buddhas went to the river for water. He saw the pork dealer and reflected, “Is he dead or is he still alive?” He saw that he was still living, so he stretched out his arm like the trunk of an elephant and picked him up. Then he smoothed out the sand and there he placed him face down.713 Water flowed out of the pork dealer’s body.
In time the pork dealer got up. Seeing human footprints, he followed them until he saw those five hundred solitary buddhas. He began to serve them, providing them with leaves, flowers, fruits, and dental sticks. They gave him the leftover food from their bowls. And so he ate.
When714 those solitary buddhas sat with their legs crossed and meditated, he would sit off to one side, cross his legs, and meditate as well. In this way he produced an unconscious state of mind715 and was reborn among those divine beings who are unconscious.
“What do you think, monks? That monk who possessed the knowledge of the Tripiṭaka of the perfectly awakened Kāśyapa’s teachings and who later became a pork dealer was none other than the monk Panthaka. Since he was stingy716 and didn’t teach a single verse to anyone, and since he butchered pigs, [he later passed away] from among the unconscious beings and was reborn here. As a result of that action, he became a fool, an absolute fool, an idiot, a complete idiot.” [506]
The Venerable Panthaka and Jīvaka Kumārabhūta
When the venerable Panthaka went forth as a monk according to the dharma and monastic discipline that have been so well expressed, Jīvaka heard just that: “Panthaka has gone forth as a monk according to the dharma and monastic discipline that have been so well expressed.” Then Jīvaka reflected, “If the Blessed One will come to Rājagṛha, I will feed the entire community of monks led by the Buddha but not Bhadanta Panthaka.”717
Meanwhile the Blessed One, after staying in Śrāvastī as he long as he pleased, set out traveling toward Rājagṛha. Traveling along, he eventually arrived in Rājagṛha, and in Rājagṛha he stayed in the bamboo grove at Kalandakanivāpa (Squirrel Feeding Place).
Jīvaka Kumārabhūta (Forever Young) heard that the Blessed One, after traveling through the Magadha countryside, was now staying in the bamboo grove at Kalandakanivāpa. When he heard this, he approached the Blessed One and, having approached, placed his head in veneration at the Blessed One’s feet and then sat down at a respectful distance. The Blessed One instructed, incited, inspired, and delighted Jīvaka Kumārabhūta, who was seated at a respectful distance, with a discourse on the dharma. After he instructed, incited, inspired, and delighted him in many ways with this discourse on the dharma, he became silent.
Jīvaka Kumārabhūta then got up from his seat, properly arranged his robe on one shoulder, bowed toward the Blessed One with his hands respectfully folded, and said this to him: “May the Blessed One, along with the community of monks, accept this invitation to eat at my home tomorrow.”
Now lord buddhas are difficult to approach and their presence is difficult to bear, so Jīvaka Kumārabhūta wasn’t able to say anything to the Blessed One about excluding Bhadanta Panthaka. [Nevertheless,]718 Jīvaka Kumārabhūta rejoiced and delighted in the words of the Blessed One,719 left the Blessed One’s presence, and approached the venerable Ānanda. Having approached, he placed his head in veneration at the venerable Ānanda’s feet and then sat down at a respectful distance. Sitting down at a respectful distance, Jīvaka Kumārabhūta said this to the venerable Ānanda: “Please be informed, Bhadanta Ānanda, that I have invited the entire community of monks led by the Buddha to eat in my home tomorrow but not Bhadanta Panthaka.”
“And so, Jīvaka, this will lead to an increase in your religious merit,”720 the venerable Ānanda said.
Jīvaka Kumārabhūta rejoiced and delighted in the words of the venerable Ānanda, placed his head in veneration at the venerable Ānanda’s feet, and then departed.
When the venerable Ānanda was sure that Jīvaka Kumārabhūta had departed, [507] he approached the venerable Panthaka. Having approached, he said this to him: “There is something you should know, venerable Panthaka. Jīvaka Kumārabhūta has invited the entire community of monks led by the Buddha to eat in his home tomorrow but not the venerable Panthaka.”
“And so, Bhadanta Ānanda, this will lead to an increase in his religious merit,” [the venerable Panthaka said].
That very night Jīvaka Kumārabhūta prepared hard and soft foods, both fresh and fine, and then at daybreak he got up, prepared the seats, and set out pitchers of water. Then he had a messenger infor
m the Blessed One that it was now the appropriate time: “It is time, Bhadanta. The food is ready. Now the Blessed One may do as the time permits.”
Later in the morning the Blessed One got dressed, took his bowl and robe, and, leading the community of monks that surrounded him, approached Jīvaka Kumārabhūta’s home. Having approached, he sat down in front of the community of monks in the seat specially prepared for him. After sitting down, the Blessed One addressed the venerable Ānanda: “Leave aside a place for Panthaka.”721
Jīvaka Kumārabhūta took a golden water pitcher and stood in the area of the elders. The Blessed One wouldn’t accept the stream of water [that he poured].722
“Why won’t the Blessed One accept the stream of water [that I pour]?”723 Jīvaka Kumārabhūta asked.
“The entire community of monks still hasn’t assembled,” the Blessed One said. “It isn’t complete.”724
“Blessed One, who hasn’t come?” Jīvaka Kumārabhūta asked.
“The monk Panthaka,”725 the Blessed One said.
“Blessed One,” Jīvaka said, “I didn’t invite him,”
“Jīvaka, didn’t you invite the community of monks led by the Buddha?” the Blessed One asked.
“Yes, Blessed One, that is who I invited.”
“Is Panthaka outside the community of monks?
“No, he isn’t.”726
“Then go and send for him,” the Blessed One said to Jīvaka.
Jīvaka Kumārabhūta reflected, “I’ll send for him out of deference to the Blessed One, but I won’t serve him with respect.”
He sent off a messenger: “Go and inform Bhadanta Panthaka.”
Meanwhile the venerable Panthaka magically created thirteen hundred monks727 and stood there among them. [508] The messenger went there and called out, “Panthaka!” Many monks replied. So the messenger returned to Jīvaka and said, “The bamboo grove at Kalandakanivāpa is filled with monks just as it was before.”728