ལས་བརྒྱ་ཐམ་པ་པ 34.22

34.22

“The boy took the letter and departed. On the way his younger brothers seized him on the road and demanded, ‘What did you get from Father?’

“ ‘I didn’t get anything from him,’ he said. ‘He just gave me this letter.’

“ ‘You see, Father has deceived us,’ they complained. ‘Get out of here!’

“With that they released him, and in time he came to his house. He rested for a bit, and after he had been there for some time, his mother asked, ‘What did you get from your father?’

“ ‘I didn’t get anything from him,’ her son replied, ‘except I did get this letter.’

“ ‘Boy, your father deceived you,’ his mother said, ‘and you’ve got nothing to show for your trouble.’

“ ‘This is a big country. He didn’t cheat me,’ her son said, and he began to examine the letter. ‘ “From village” refers to where he was born. That’s what he means here by “village.” “To village” refers to where he’ll be disposed of, a charnel ground. The “quickly” in “the one that moves quickly” refers to a horse, and the “karṇa tree” means the aśvakarṇa tree—thus, the letter means “the trunk of the aśvakarṇa tree.” “East of home” means eastward, and “about a yojana away” means exactly that: one yojana away.’

“After analyzing the words in this manner, that night, when no one was about, he went to the charnel ground. Nearby stood the aśvakarṇa tree. Orienting himself to the east, he dug to the depth of a wooden yoke. After a while he discovered a golden jug with a garland of pearls strung around its neck. Elated, he hauled it up, and when he got back home he loosed the garland of pearls and presented it to his mother, Bracelet.

“O monks, what do you think? I am the one who was that householder then. The one who was my son then is none other than Jīvaka. There he understood the intention of my speech. Now as well he has understood the intention of my speech.”