Migālopa Jātaka

The Migalopa Jataka, numbered 381 in the Pali collection and recorded in the Jataka Atthakatha, was told by the Buddha at Jetavana. It concerns an unruly monk. The Master asked him whether he was really unruly, and the monk answered yes. The Buddha then said that this was not the first time the monk had been unruly.

The Buddha said that formerly, too, through unruliness, the monk had not done the bidding of the wise. As a result he had met his death by the Verambha winds (destructive winds said to blow at the furthest heights of the sky, beyond where any bird can safely fly). With this introduction the Master told an old-world tale. The words are brief, but they promise a story in which a refusal to listen has a very high cost.

Once, when Brahmadatta was king in Benares, the Bodhisatta was born as a vulture named Aparannagijjha. He lived with a retinue of vultures on Gijjhapabbata, which means the Vulture Mountain. He was their king, and the flock looked to him for guidance.

He had a son named Migalopa, who was exceedingly strong and mighty. The young vulture flew high above the reach of the other vultures. The flock became uneasy and told their king that his son flew very far. They feared what such flight might bring, and so they brought the matter to the one who could speak to his son.

The Bodhisatta called his son and told him that he had heard he flew too high. If he did so, he said, he would bring death upon himself. Then he spoke three stanzas. The first says that his ways seem unsafe, for he soars above the proper sphere. The second says to turn back when the earth looks like a square field to his sight, and not to dare a higher flight. The third says that other birds who tried lofty flight were struck by furious wind and perished in their pride.

Migalopa, through disobedience, did not do his father's bidding. He rose and rose, and he passed the limit his father had set. When he met the Black Winds, a lesser but still fierce band of high winds, he clove through them. Still he flew upward, until he met the Verambha winds face to face. The boldness that had made him proud now carried him past every sign that told him to turn back.

The Verambha winds struck him. At their mere stroke he fell to pieces and vanished in the air. The translator notes that these winds take their name from a sea of the same name. The tale gives no scene of struggle, only the swift end. A power that had seemed limitless proved small when set against forces that no wing can endure.

The story closes with verses that draw the lesson. They say that Migalopa disdained his aged father's wise commands and went beyond the Black and Verambha winds. His wife, his children and all his household came to ruin through that froward (stubbornly disobedient) bird. So, the verses conclude, those who heed not what their elders say, and who stray beyond bounds like this proud vulture, meet ruin when they disobey right rules.

After the lesson the Master identified the birth. At that time Migalopa was the unruly monk, and Aparannagijjha was the Buddha himself. The monk who had admitted his unruliness was shown that his habit was an old one. He was also shown, by a calm and truthful story, where such a habit leads.

The tale is not hostile to strength. Migalopa's power is real, and the Jataka does not mock it. What it warns against is strength that refuses every limit set by those who see further. The father speaks with affection and repeats his warning in three different ways, yet his son hears only a challenge. The closing verses add a sober point: the cost of such pride rarely stays with one person. A family, a flock and a community can all be brought down by one refusal to listen.