Devadhamma Jātaka

The Blessed One told this story at Jetavana, about a wealthy monk. After his wife died, a squire of Sāvatthi joined the Brotherhood. Before joining he had a chamber built for himself, a room for the fire and a store-room, and he stocked the store-room with ghee and rice.

Even after he became a monk, he sent for servants to cook what he liked. He kept an entire change of clothing for night and another for day, and he lived apart on the outskirts of the monastery.

One day he spread his cloths and bedding to dry in his room. A group of monks from the country, who were going from monastery to monastery, came to his cell and found them. They asked whose they were, and he said they were his alone.

They reminded him that the Blessed One had sanctioned only three cloths, though the Buddha was simple in his wants. So they took him before the Master.

The Master asked whether it was true that he had amassed so many belongings, and the monk said yes. The Master reminded him that he praised the virtues of wanting little, of contentment and of solitude. Angered, the monk cried that he would go about as they wished, and flung off his outer clothing to stand in only his waist-cloth.

To steady him, the Master said that in a past life this same monk, as a water-demon, had spent twelve years seeking the shamefacedness that fears to sin. How could he stand here now, devoid of shame? At these words his sense of shame returned. He put his robes on again, bowed to the Master and sat at one side. The tale is numbered 6 in the Jātaka, the collection of birth stories in the Pali Canon.

Once, while Brahmadatta reigned in Benares in Kāsi, the Bodhisatta, the Buddha himself in an earlier birth, was born as the king's son by his queen, and was named Prince Mahiṃsāsa. A second son was born, Prince Moon. Then the Bodhisatta's mother died, and the king took another queen whom he loved. She bore a son, Prince Sun.

In his joy the king promised to grant her any boon she might ask on the child's behalf. She treasured the promise until her son had grown. Then she asked the king to make her son king.

The king answered that he had two sons radiant as flaming fires and could not give the kingdom to hers. But the queen pressed her request again and again. Fearing she would plot against his sons, the king sent for the two older princes.

He told them to retire to the forest and return at his death to rule in the city that was theirs by right. With tears he kissed them on the head and sent them away. Young Prince Sun saw them leaving, learned why, and chose to go with his brothers.

The three came to the region of the Himalayas. The Bodhisatta turned aside from the road and sat at the foot of a tree. He asked Prince Sun to run down to a pool, drink and bathe, and bring back water in a lotus leaf.

That pool had been given over to a water-sprite by Vessavaṇa. The sprite could devour everyone who went down into the water, except those who knew what is truly godlike. Over those who did not enter the water, he had no power.

Prince Sun went down unsuspecting, and the water-sprite seized him and asked whether he knew what is truly godlike. He said the sun and moon. The sprite said he did not know, and took him to his own dwelling in the depths.

When Prince Sun did not return, the Bodhisatta sent Prince Moon. He too was seized and asked. He answered that the four quarters of heaven are godlike. The sprite said he did not know, and imprisoned him in the same place.

When the second brother also stayed away, the Bodhisatta went himself and followed their footprints down to the water. He understood that the pool must belong to a water-sprite. He girded on his sword, took up his bow and waited without entering the water.

The sprite saw that the Bodhisatta would not go in. He took the shape of a forester and urged him to bathe, drink and deck himself with lotuses. The Bodhisatta knew him at once for a demon and said that he had seized his brothers. The sprite admitted it, explaining that all who go into the pool are his, except those who know what is truly godlike.

The sprite asked whether the Bodhisatta wished to know the godlike, and promised to tell him. The Bodhisatta said he would gladly speak, but he was travel-stained. So the sprite bathed him, gave him food and water, decked him with flowers and perfumes, and laid a couch in a pavilion.

The Bodhisatta sat on the couch with the sprite at his feet and spoke a stanza. Those only are called godlike, it said, who shrink from sin, the white-souled and tranquil who delight in the good.

The demon was pleased and said he would give back one brother. Which should he bring? The Bodhisatta answered, "The youngest." The sprite objected that he did not act on what he knew, for he chose the younger over the elder.

The Bodhisatta replied that he both knew and practised the godlike. They had gone into the forest on account of this boy, whose mother had asked the kingdom, and the boy had come with them and never thought of turning back. Nobody would believe him if he said a demon had devoured the boy. He feared the blame. The demon cried out in approval and gave back both brothers.

The Bodhisatta then spoke gently to the sprite. His present birth as a demon living on the flesh and blood of others came from evil done in the past. He was continuing to do evil now. That conduct would bar him from escape from hell and other states of woe. So from now on he should renounce evil and live virtuously.

The Bodhisatta stayed at that place under the sprite's protection. One day he read in the stars that his father was dead. He took the sprite with him to Benares and took the kingdom. He made Prince Moon his viceroy and Prince Sun his generalissimo, and gave the sprite a pleasant home with garlands, flowers and food. He ruled in righteousness until he passed away to fare according to his deeds.

The Master preached the Truths, and at their close the wealthy monk won the Fruit of the First Path, the first stage of awakening on the way to full enlightenment. Then the Buddha tied the frame to the past and identified the birth. The wealthy monk was the water-demon of those days, Ānanda was Prince Sun, Sāriputta was Prince Moon, and the Master himself was the eldest brother, Prince Mahiṃsāsa.

The sprite's question is simple, but it asks for a whole way of life. To be godlike, in this story, is to shrink from sin, and the monk in the frame had lost that shrinking when he threw off his robes in anger. The Bodhisatta's answer is not a theory. It is shown in his choice to save the youngest, at the cost of seeming unfair, out of care for the boy's good name and his own conscience.

The tale also shows patience toward a fierce being. The Bodhisatta does not strike the sprite, and he does not scorn him. He answers the question, gives a warning and keeps him in his own protection afterwards. For a devotee this shows that a firm refusal to harm can open a door that force never reaches.