The Monkey King's Sacrifice

While dwelling at the Jetavana monastery in Savatthi, the Blessed One recounted this sacred teaching, according to the Jatakatthavannana, on the subject of devotion to one's own kin. The occasion arose after King Vidudabha of Kosala, discovering that his mother had been born to a Sakyan slave woman rather than to a true Sakyan noblewoman, set out to destroy the Sakya clan in revenge. The Buddha placed himself in Vidudabha's path three times to spare his own kinsmen, and each time the king turned back out of respect; but on the fourth occasion, seeing that the ripening of past karma could not be forestalled forever, the Buddha did not intervene again, and the Sakyas met their end. In the days that followed, the Buddha spoke to his bhikkhus of how, across countless lifetimes in Samsara, the Bodhisattva had placed the welfare of his own kin above his own physical life, and told them this Jataka of Mahakapi Jataka No. 407 as its illustration.

In the distant ages of antiquity, when King Brahmadatta ruled the holy kingdom of Varanasi, the Bodhisattva was reborn into the animal realm as a noble, magnificent monkey king (Mahakapi). Endowed with monumental physical strength, radiant golden fur, and wisdom that surpassed human scholars, he governed a peaceful troupe of eighty thousand monkeys in a dense Himalayan grove.

Deep within this sanctuary on the banks of the sacred river Ganga stood an enormous, miraculous mango tree (Ambapukkha). Its boughs were heavy with divine, ambrosial fruit of incomparable fragrance and sweetness. Aware that humanity's insatiable desires could bring destruction upon his troop, the wise Bodhisattva gave a strict command: not a single ripe fruit must ever be permitted to fall into the waters of the Ganga. The monkeys diligently picked every blossom and fruit growing on branches overhanging the river.

Despite their vigilance, one ripe mango, hidden behind an ant's nest upon an overhanging branch, dropped silently into the rushing river. It floated downstream and became entangled in the fishing net of King Brahmadatta of Varanasi as he bathed with his retinue. Enchanted by the divine aroma of the fruit, the king tasted it. Overwhelmed by its celestial sweetness, he became obsessed with discovering its origin.

Following the course of the Ganga upstream into the remote Himalayan foothills with a formidable contingent of royal archers and foresters, the king discovered the majestic bower tree laden with fruits and teeming with eighty thousand monkeys. Desiring the ambrosial fruit exclusively for the royal court, the King of Varanasi ordered his archers to encircle the tree completely at nightfall and shoot every single monkey at dawn.

Trapped between the bows of hundreds of archers and the roaring gorge of the Ganga, the eighty thousand monkeys wept in mortal terror and took refuge in their noble king. The Bodhisattva comforted them with fearless composure: "Weep not, my beloved subjects; your king will deliver you into safety across the river."

Ascending to the highest bower, the Bodhisattva gathered his strength and leaped eighty cubits across the rushing chasm onto the opposite cliff. Finding a sturdy bamboo cane growing on the riverbank, he fastened one end securely to a rocky crag and tied the other end to his own ankles. He then leaped back toward the grove. However, the bamboo was slightly too short to span the full expanse of the gorge. Without a second's hesitation, the Bodhisattva reached out with both hands and firmly grasped the limb of the mango tree, extending his own living torso across the void to complete the bridge.

"Run swiftly across my back, step by step, to freedom!" commanded the heroic king. One by one, all eighty thousand monkeys raced across his outstretched body to safety on the opposite cliff. Among the troop was Devadatta in a previous incarnation—a jealous, malicious monkey who had long resented the Bodhisattva's authority. Seeing his noble leader stretched taut and helpless, Devadatta climbed to a high branch and jumped violently with both feet onto the Bodhisattva's spine, fracturing his backbone with deliberate cruelty before escaping to the other side.

King Brahmadatta, watching the entire spectacle from the riverbank, was shattered with awe and remorse. He commanded his attendants to place a soft canvas sheet beneath the monkey king and gently cut down the bamboo cord, catching the Bodhisattva before he could fall into the rapids. The king had the noble ape bathed in scented water, rubbed his wounds with healing oils, and draped him in royal yellow silk upon a soft bed.

Gazing with tears into the eyes of the dying monkey king, King Brahmadatta asked:

"O noble beast, you made yourself a bridge for those who fled across your broken frame. You knew it meant your death. What was their debt to you, and what was your gain in this horrific sacrifice?"

The Bodhisattva spoke with serenity:

"O great King, I was their sovereign and their guardian. A true ruler seeks not tribute or pleasure from his subjects, but bears their sorrows and shields them from harm at the cost of his own life. Hearken to my final counsel, O King: rule your kingdom with righteousness (Dharma). Let compassion be your royal scepter, and truth your fortress. Treat your ministers, your citizens, your animals, and even the humblest tree of the forest as a father treats his only child. He who rules with righteousness reaps bliss in this world and liberation in the heavenly realms."

With these words of eternal wisdom, the Mahakapi closed his eyes and passed into the celestial realms. King Brahmadatta gave him a royal state funeral with honors befitting a universal emperor (Chakravarti), erecting a white stupa over his sacred remains and ruling his kingdom in perfect justice and ahimsa for the remainder of his days.

At the conclusion of the discourse at Jetavana, the Buddha made the canonical connection, as recorded in the Jatakatthavannana's telling of Jataka No. 407:

"At that time, the king was Ananda; the wicked monkey was Devadatta; the monkey's retinue was this very assembly; and I myself was the monkey king."