ལས་བརྒྱ་ཐམ་པ་པ 34.28

34.28

“The king summoned the man and said, ‘Listen, man—if you save my life I shall give you a mountain of riches.’ And the man said, ‘Please trust me, Deva. Be strong. As long as I live, you will not pass away.’

“Then the man made a circle of cow dung, built a fire, and recited the mantra. The poisonous snake heard him, approached the circle, and stayed put. Then the man said to him, ‘Here you are! You have two choices—either remove your venom from the king or jump into the fire.’

“The poisonous snake replied, ‘Of the two choices, I will jump, so the king will have to die.’

“The poisonous snake advanced and waited, and to turn him away the man said, ‘You have already thrown away your own life, but you will not take the life of our king. For it would be dishonorable of you not to take your venom from our king.’ No sooner had the poisonous snake heard this than he took his venom from the king. Then the king, in happiness, loaded up a mountain of riches and gave them to the hunter.

“O monks, what do you think? I am the one who was that hunter then, and lived the life of a bodhisattva. The man who informed the king then²¹⁸ is none other than Devadatta. Then, just as now, he did not repay my kindness or have a sense of gratitude, but made a waste of what I did.”

The Story of Deluded

When²¹⁹ the Blessed One was in Śrāvastī, in Śūrpāraka there lived a certain householder. When the time came for him to marry he took a wife, and as they enjoyed themselves and coupled, one day his wife conceived. After nine or ten months had passed, she gave birth to a child