The Telovāda Jātaka

The Buddha told this story while staying in his gabled chamber near Vesāli, and the Jātaka Atthakatha (the commentary on the Jātaka collection) records it as Jātaka No. 246, the Telovāda Jātaka. It concerns a lay follower named Sīha, the general. After he took refuge in the Buddha, Sīha offered hospitality and served a meal that included meat. When the naked ascetics heard of it, they were angry and displeased, and they wished to do the Buddha harm.

The ascetics went about sneering. "The priest Gotama," they said, "eats meat that was prepared on purpose for him, and he does so with his eyes open." ("Gotama" was the Buddha's own clan name, used here by his critics instead of an honorific.) The accusation was meant to make the Buddha look hypocritical, as though he taught about compassion and then ate the fruit of killing.

The monks discussed the matter in their Hall of Truth, the gathering hall where they met to talk over the Dhamma. "Friends," they said, "the ascetic Nāthaputta, the leader of these naked ascetics, goes about sneering, because he says that Gotama eats meat prepared on purpose for him, with his eyes open." The Master heard them and answered.

He told the monks that this was not the first time Nāthaputta had sneered at him for eating food got ready on purpose for him. The same had happened in former times. Then he told an old-world tale.

Once on a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta was born a brahmin. When he came of age, he embraced the religious life. He came down from the Himalaya to get salt and seasoning. On the next day he walked through the city, begging alms.

A certain wealthy man meant to annoy the ascetic. He brought the Bodhisatta to his house, pointed out a seat, and served him a meal of fish. When the meal was over, the man sat to one side and made his charge. "This food was prepared on purpose for you, by killing living creatures. The wrong does not fall on my head. It falls upon yours."

Then the man spoke the first stanza. The wicked man kills, cooks, and gives to eat, and the one who takes such meat is defiled with sin.

His argument was meant to trap the ascetic. If the Bodhisatta defended himself, he would seem to excuse killing. If he stayed silent, he would seem to admit guilt.

The Bodhisatta heard him and answered with the second stanza. The wicked may slay a wife or a son for the sake of a gift, he said, yet if the holy eat, no sin is done.

His reply put the wrong where it belonged. The one who commits a killing carries that guilt. The holy person who receives an offering with a pure mind is not stained by it.

With these words of instruction, the Bodhisatta rose from his seat and departed. The story does not describe an argument or a reply from the wealthy man. The ascetic said what was true and went on his way.

When the discourse ended, the Master identified the birth. "Nāthaputta, the naked ascetic, was this wealthy man, and I was the ascetic."

The Telovāda Jātaka is a short story with a long reach. It shows the Buddha facing an accusation by telling the monks that the same trick had been tried before, and by showing how it was answered. The Bodhisatta did not shout, bargain, or flatter. He stated where the responsibility lay and left.

The same principle appears in the Buddhist rule for monastic alms. A monk who receives food offered in the ordinary way, without knowing that a creature was killed for him, and without desire or greed, takes no share in the killing. The Jātaka dramatizes this principle with a single meal.

For lay devotees the story offers a different lesson. A person can be provoked into feeling guilty by someone who has set a trap. Calm, truthful speech about what one has actually done, and refusal to carry what belongs to someone else, are a form of non-harming.