法苑珠林 31.7

31.7

As the Jātaka Sūtra states: The Buddha addressed the monks: Countless kalpas ago in the past, there were a sister and brother. The sister had a son, who along with his uncle was employed in weaving for the royal court's imperial treasury. Seeing the rare treasures and fine items in the treasury, they conferred together, saying: 'We weave and toil with great bitterness, while the treasury's goods are so vast! Should we not take some together to relieve our poverty?' Watching for the night when people were settled, they tunneled an underground burrow and stole incalculable amounts of royal goods. The next morning, the overseer of the treasury noticed that the goods were diminished and reported this to the king. The king issued a decree to him, saying: 'Do not publicize it far and wide so as to let outsiders hear of it.' The thieves, uncle and nephew, thought that the king had not noticed. The king said: 'In days to come they will surely return again. Let us strictly guard and watch to wait for them. If anyone is caught, seize and capture him; do not let him get away.' The treasury overseer received the decree and immediately reinforced the guard. After a long while, they returned to steal. The nephew instructed the uncle: 'Uncle, you are advanced in years, your body is weak and your strength is meager. If you are caught by the guards, you will not be able to free yourself. My strength is vigorous, so I should pull and rescue you.' Just as the uncle entered the burrow, he was seized by the guards. The captors shouted for the others. The nephew could not pull him free, and fearing that daylight would reveal his identity, he forthwith cut off the uncle's head, exited the burrow, and took it home. At dawn, the treasury overseer reported the full details to the king. The king again decreed: 'Carry his corpse out and place it at a four-way intersection. Whoever cries over it and takes the dead body is the chief of the bandits.' It was discarded at the crossroads and guarded for successive days. Men and horses crowded and blocked the road in a chaotic rush. The thief took advantage of the commotion to load two carts of firewood and place them over the corpse. The guards reported to the king. The king decreed that they secretly observe: 'If someone sets fire to it, bind and deliver him here.' Thereupon, the nephew taught children to hold torches and dance in play, causing the crowd to fall into total commotion. He threw fire onto the firewood, and the firewood blazed fiercely. The guards did not notice and reported the full details to the king. The king again decreed: 'When the cremation is complete, increase the strict observation even further; whoever comes to collect the bones is the mastermind.' The nephew noticed this as well. He secretly brewed a large quantity of wine to make it exceptionally rich and strong. He went to the guards and quietly sold it to them. Because the guards had been hungry and thirsty for nights on end, seeing the wine they drank together in a flock; having drunk to excess, all fell into a drunken slumber. Filling a wine jar with the bones, he left. The guards did not notice. The next morning they reported again to the king. The king again decreed: 'Despite successive watches, we still have not captured him. The thief is crafty; we must devise another plan.' The king then brought forth his daughter, adorned her with jewels and ornaments, and settled her in a chamber by the great water, with a crowd of attendants guarding and watching without negligence: 'Whoever covets her beauty will surely come to approach the girl. Embrace and seize him, call out, and have the people capture him.' On another night on a different day, the nephew quietly stole over. Using the water, he released a tree stump so that it drifted downstream. Shouting loudly, he made a splashing rush; the guards were startled and ran over, thinking it was a strange person, only to see a tree stump. This continued for several successive nights without change. When the guards fell asleep, the nephew rode a stump and arrived at the girl's chamber. The girl took hold of his clothes. The nephew told the girl: 'Why pull at my clothes? You may grasp my arm.' The nephew was innately cunning and fierce; in advance he had taken the arm of a dead person to give to the girl. She released the clothes, took hold of the arm, and shouted loudly. The guards were slow to awaken, and the nephew managed to escape. The next morning they reported the full details to the king. The king again decreed: 'This person's expedients are unrivaled among hundreds! We have sought him for so long without catching him—what is to be done?' The girl then became pregnant, and after ten months gave birth to a boy. The boy was extremely handsome. The king had a wet-nurse carry him around throughout the kingdom: 'If anyone sees and kisses him, bind and deliver him here.' The wet-nurse carried the child all day, but no one went up to kiss him. The nephew had become a baker standing under a baking oven. The child cried from hunger, and the wet-nurse, holding the child, approached the baking oven to buy cakes to feed him. The nephew, seeing the child, kissed him. The wet-nurse reported the full details to the king. The king again decreed: 'Why did you not bind and deliver him?' The wet-nurse replied: 'The child cried from hunger, and the baker gave him a cake and thereby kissed him. I did not know he was the thief, so on what grounds could I report him?' The king again sent the nurse out carrying the child: 'Whoever comes near the child, bind and bring him here.' The nephew sold fine wine, invited the nurse and the watchers, urged them to drink until they were drunkenly asleep, and then stole the child away. When they awoke and found the child gone, they reported the full details to the king. The king again decreed: 'You fools were greedy for and indulged in this maddening water! Not only did you fail to catch the thief, but you lost the child as well.' At that time, the nephew took the child and carried him to another kingdom. He presented himself before the king of that state, performing formal greetings, answering queries, and citing scriptures to expound doctrine. That king was greatly pleased and immediately bestowed upon him stipends and rank, appointing him as a great minister, and said to him: 'In my entire kingdom, none matches your wisdom and skill in expedients. I wish to give you either a minister's daughter or my own daughter in marriage; do as you please.' He replied: 'I would not presume. If Your Majesty takes pity on me, what I truly desire is the daughter of the king of such-and-such kingdom.' That king said: 'Splendid! It shall be as you wish.' The king then regarded him as his own son and sent an envoy to ask for that king's daughter. That king consented. An envoy was sent to welcome the king's daughter, and five hundred mounted escorts of the crown prince were ordered to be fully equipped and in order. The nephew was a bandit-minister, and he harbored fear: 'If I arrive in that kingdom, that king will surely recognize me, and I will be seized without doubt.' He then reported to his king: 'If Your Majesty sends me, you must order that the men, horses, garments, saddles, and bridles are entirely uniform without any difference; only then can we go to receive the bride.' The king approved of his words. The king ordered two hundred and fifty riders in front and two hundred and fifty riders behind. The nephew was in their midst, astride his horse without dismounting. The girl's father came out himself and repeatedly observed them. The king entered among the riders, personally took hold of the nephew, and brought him out: 'Are you he or not? Through all my previous expedients, why was it impossible to capture you?' Bowing his head, he replied: 'Indeed, it was I.' The king said: 'Your intelligence and craftiness are unrivaled under heaven.' The king gave his daughter in marriage according to his wish, and they became husband and wife. The Buddha addressed the monks: 'If you wish to know who the nephew was at that time, it was my own self. The king of the other kingdom was Śāriputra. The uncle was none other than Devadatta today. The father-in-law was King Śuddhodana. The mother-in-law was Queen Māyā. The wife was Gopā. The child was Rāhula.' When the Buddha spoke this, everyone rejoiced.