Manoja Jātaka

Jataka No. 397 of the Pali Canon was told by the Buddha at the Bamboo Grove (Veluvana) in Rājagaha. Devadatta had gained the favour of Prince Ajātasattu, who built him a monastery at Gayāsīsa and sent him five hundred pots of fine rice every day, and Devadatta stayed there with his followers. A monk who had taken vows under the Buddha was persuaded by a friend, a disciple of Devadatta, to eat at Gayāsīsa instead of going on almsround. Other monks found out and brought him to the Dhamma Hall, and the Buddha said that this was not the first time the monk had kept bad company.

In the time of King Brahmadatta of Benares, the Bodhisatta (the Buddha-to-be, in this earlier birth) was a lion king. He and his lioness had a son, Manoja, and a daughter. Manoja grew up, took a lioness as his wife, and hunted buffalo and other animals to feed his family.

In his hunting ground Manoja found a jackal named Giriya, who was lying on his belly and could not run. Manoja took him home to wait on him.

The Bodhisatta warned his son that jackals are wicked and give bad advice, and told Manoja not to bring this one close. Manoja did not listen.

The jackal later wanted horseflesh and suggested taking horses from the riverbank at Benares. Manoja followed this advice and carried a horse back to the den. His father warned him that horses belong to kings, that kings have archers and tricks, and that lions who eat horses do not live long. Manoja kept taking horses.

The king had a bathing tank built inside the city, then a stable with fodder and water, but the lion still got in, even over the wall. The king then hired an archer who promised he could shoot a lion. The archer built a tower near the wall. The jackal waited in a cemetery outside the city while Manoja went in.

As Manoja was leaving, weighed down by the horse, the archer shot him in the hindquarters, and the arrow came out the front. The archer then twanged his bow loudly. Hearing the lion's cry and the bow, the jackal decided his friend was dead and left for the forest, speaking two verses about the bow and the lost friendship. Manoja threw the horse down at the den's entrance and died.

Manoja's parents, sister and wife came out and saw him. Each spoke verses lamenting that he had followed a wicked companion's advice, and warning that those who ignore wise counsel fall from high standing. After his awakening, the Buddha spoke a final verse: those who follow the lowly become lowly, those who keep company with their equals are not betrayed, and one should seek help from the better.

At the end of the teaching, the Buddha identified the characters. The Bodhisatta was the lion father, Rāhulamātā the mother, Khemā the wife and Uppalavaṇṇā the sister. Manoja was the monk who kept bad company, and Devadatta was the jackal. That monk was then established in the fruition of the First Path. In this way the Buddha showed that the monk's fondness for bad company was an old pattern: the one who had once led the lion's son to ruin was, in the present, the one who had led the monk away from his almsround and his teacher.

In the jackal's two verses, the bow has been drawn and Manoja is dead, so the jackal goes back to the woods, since such friendship is worthless. The family's verses say that those led astray by wicked people do not prosper, that a son with bad companions brings no joy to his mother, that those who ignore true and wise friends end up low, and that those who trust the lowly fall from high standing. The Buddha's closing verse adds that companionship shapes one's standing, and that one should seek help from those who are better than oneself.