Buddhist shelf · Pali Canon · Jātaka 351 · Pañcakanipāta · Maṇikuṇḍalavagga
MaṇikuṇḍalajātakaJātaka 351 · Volume 3, translated by H. T. Francis and R. A. Neil (1897)
Public domain. H. T. Francis and R. A. Neil’s translation was published in 1897. The Pali is the Mahāsaṅgīti edition published by SuttaCentral under CC0. The canonical Pali Jātaka consists of the verses only (5 verses here); the prose story around them comes from the later commentary, which the English translates in full. So the verses are shown beside the whole English story, not verse by verse.
Pali verses
“Jīno rathassaṁ maṇikuṇḍale ca,
Putte ca dāre ca tatheva jīno;
Sabbesu bhogesu asesakesu,
Kasmā na santappasi sokakāle”.
“Pubbeva maccaṁ vijahanti bhogā,
Macco vā te pubbataraṁ jahāti;
Asassatā bhogino kāmakāmi,
Tasmā na socāmahaṁ sokakāle.
Udeti āpūrati veti cando,
Atthaṁ tapetvāna paleti sūriyo;
Viditā mayā sattuka lokadhammā,
Tasmā na socāmahaṁ sokakāle”.
“Alaso gihī kāmabhogī na sādhu,
Asaññato pabbajito na sādhu;
Rājā na sādhu anisammakārī,
Yo paṇḍito kodhano taṁ na sādhu.
Nisamma khattiyo kayirā,
nānisamma disampati;
Nisammakārino rāja,
yaso kitti ca vaḍḍhatī”ti.
English Francis and Neil 1897
[153] "Stript of all the joys of life," etc.—This story the Master, while dwelling at Jetavana, told concerning a councillor who was guilty of misconduct in the harem of the king of Kosala. The incident that gave rise to the story has been given in full before. 1
Here too the Bodhisatta became king in Benares. The wicked councillor called in the king of Kosala and got him to seize upon the kingdom of Kāsi, and to throw the Bodhisatta into prison. The king of Benares developed ecstatic meditation and sat cross-legged in the air. A fierce heat sprang up in the body of the marauding king, and he drew nigh to the king of Benares and repeated the first stanza:
Stript of all the joys of life,
Jewelled earrings, horse and car,
Robbed of child and loving wife,
Nought thy pleasure seems to mar.
[154] On hearing him the Bodhisatta recited these verses:—
Pleasures soon make haste to leave us,
Pleasures soon must all forego,
Sorrow has no power to grieve us,
Joy itself soon turns to woe.
Moons with new-born orb appearing
Wax awhile, to wane and die,
Suns with warmth all nature cheering,
Haste to set in yonder sky.
Change is this world's law I see,
Sorrow has no pangs for me.
Thus now did the Great Being expound the Truth to the usurper king, and bringing his conduct to the test, repeated these stanzas 1:—
The idle sensual layman I detest,
The false ascetic is a rogue confest. A bad king will a case unheard decide;
Wrath in the sage can ne’er be justified.
The warrior prince a well-weighed verdict gives,
Of righteous judge the fame for ever lives.
[155] The king of Kosala having thus gained the forgiveness of the Bodhisatta and given him back his kingdom, departed to his own country.
The Master, having ended his discourse, thus identified the Birth: "At that time Ānanda was the king of Kosala, and I myself was the king of Benares."
Translator’s notes (1)
p. 102, n. 1 See no. 282, Vol. ii. and no. 303 supra.