5.11 The Story about the Ājīvaka Jambuka
Jambukājīvakavatthu

“From month to month the fool may eat,” [29.130] this Dhamma teaching was given by the Teacher while he was in residence at Veḷuvana with reference to the Ājīvaka Jambuka.

11a Story of the Past: The Jealous Bhikkhu

It seems that in times long past, in the dispensation of the Sambuddha Kassapa, a certain lay disciple dwelling in a village erected a residence for a certain elder, and supplied him with the four requisites during his term of residence there, the elder taking his meals regularly in the lay disciple’s house. Now a certain bhikkhu freed from the pollutants, making his rounds for alms by day, stopped at the door of the lay disciple’s house. When the lay disciple saw him, pleased with his deportment, he invited him into his house, and reverently served him with the choicest viands. And he presented him with a large robe, saying: “Venerable Sir, dye this robe and wear it as an undergarment.” {2.53} And he said further to him: “Venerable Sir, your hair has grown long; I will go fetch a barber to cut your hair. And on my return I will procure you a bed for you to lie on.”

When the bhikkhu who was the lay disciple’s guest, and who took his meals regularly in the lay disciple’s house, saw the attentions bestowed on the visiting bhikkhu by the lay disciple, he became very jealous. And as he went to his residence, he thought to himself: “At the moment this lay disciple is devoting all his attentions to this visiting bhikkhu. But to me, who take my meals in his house regularly, he pays no attention at all.” The visiting bhikkhu, who was his sole companion, dyed the robe which the lay disciple had given him, and put it on and wore it as an undergarment. The lay disciple brought the barber back with him and had him cut the elder’s hair. Having so done, he caused a bed to be spread for the elder and said to him: “Venerable Sir, lie on this very bed.” Then, after inviting the two elders to be his guests on the morrow, he departed.

The resident bhikkhu could endure no longer the attentions bestowed by the lay disciple on the visiting bhikkhu. So in the evening he went to the place where the elder lay, and reviled him by uttering the four [29.131] kinds of insults: “Friend visitor, you might better eat excrement than eat food in the lay disciple’s house. You might better tear out your hair with a palmyra comb than allow your hair to be cut by a barber brought here by the lay disciple. You might better go naked than wear as an undergarment a robe given you by the lay disciple. You might better lie on the ground than lie on a bed brought you by the lay disciple.” Thought the visiting elder: “May this foolish fellow not be destroyed because of me!” Paying no attention to the insults of the resident bhikkhu, he arose early in the morning {2.54} and went whithersoever he wished.

The resident bhikkhu also arose early in the morning, and performed the customary duties about his residence. When it was time for him to set out on his rounds for alms, thinking to himself: “The visiting elder is undoubtedly asleep now, and will awaken at the sound of the bell,” he struck the bell with the outer surface of his finger nail. Having so done, he entered the village. After preparing offerings of food, the lay disciple watched for the two elders to come. Seeing the resident bhikkhu, he asked: “Venerable Sir, where is the visiting elder?” The resident bhikkhu replied: “Friend, what say you? The elder who came to your house yesterday went into an inner room as soon as you departed, and fell asleep. Although I rose very early, he pays no attention either to the noise of my sweeping the residence, or to the sound of the washing of the jars of water for drinking and for refreshment, or to the stroke of the bell.”

Thought the lay disciple to himself: “It is incredible that my noble elder, a bhikkhu so perfect in deportment, should sleep until this time of day. It must be that the venerable elder resident in my household, observing my attentions to him, said something to him.” Accordingly, wise man that he was, the lay disciple reverently served the resident bhikkhu with food; and having so done, washed his bowl carefully, filled it with food flavored with the choicest gravies, and said to him: “Venerable Sir, should you happen to see my noble elder, be good enough to give him this food.” The bhikkhu took the bowl and thought to himself: “If the elder eats such food as this, he will take such a liking to this spot that he will never leave it.” So as he went along the road, he threw away that food. When he reached the elder’s place of residence, he looked for him there, but failed to find him.

Now because the bhikkhu committed this wicked deed, {2.55} the meditations he performed for so long as twenty thousand years were powerless to protect him. When the term of his life was completed, he was [29.132] reborn in the Avīci Hell, where he suffered extreme torment for the space of an interval between two Buddhas.

11b Story of the Present: the Ājīvaka Jambuka

In the dispensation of the present Buddha he was reborn in the city of Rājagaha in a certain household possessed of an abundant store of food and drink. From the time he could walk, he would neither lie on a bed nor eat ordinary food, but ate only his own excrement. His mother and father brought him up, thinking: “He does this because he is too young to know any better.” But also when he grew older, refusing to wear clothes, he went naked, made his bed on the ground, and ate only his own excrement. Thought his mother and father: “This youth is not fit to live in a house. He is fit to live only with the Ājīvakas.” So they took him to the Ājīvakas and committed him to their charge, saying: “Admit this youth to your Saṅgha.” So they admitted him to their Saṅgha. In admitting him they placed him in a pit up to his neck, laid planks over his two collarbones, and seating themselves on the planks, pulled out his hair with palmyra combs. His mother and father invited the Ājīvakas to be their guests on the following day and departed.

On the following day the Ājīvakas said to him: “Come, let us go into the village.” But he refused to go, saying: “You go, but I shall remain right here. They repeatedly urged him to accompany them, but he refused to do so, and they left him behind and went their way. When he knew they were gone, he removed a plank from the public toilet, and descending therein, took up excrement in both his hands, molded it into lumps, {2.56} and ate it. The Ājīvakas sent him food from the village, but he refused to eat it. Repeatedly urged to do so, he said: “I have no need of this food; I get food of my own.” – “Where do you get it?” said they. “Right here,” he said. Likewise on the second day and on the third and on the fourth he refused, in spite of much urging, to accompany them to the village, saying: “I shall remain right here.”

The Ājīvakas said: “Day after day this man refuses to accompany us to the village. Likewise he will have none of the food we send him and says: ‘Right here I procure food of my own.’ What can he be doing? Let us watch him and find out for ourselves.” So when they went to the village, they left two of their number behind to watch him. These men pretended to follow in the train of the other bhikkhus [29.133] and then went and hid themselves. As soon as he thought they had gone, he descended as before into the toilet and began to eat excrement. When the spies saw what he was doing, they told the Ājīvakas. As soon as the Ājīvakas heard the news, they said to themselves: “Oh, what an outrageous thing he has done! If the disciples of the ascetic Gotama should learn of this, they would circulate a wicked report of us, saying: ‘The Ājīvakas make a practice of eating excrement.’ This man is not fit to remain with us.” So they expelled him from their Saṅgha.

Now the public toilet was a pool of considerable size, formed by a depression in the surface of a flat rock. When Jambuka had been expelled by the Ājīvakas, he used to go by night to the public toilet and eat filth. When people came to ease themselves, he would stand leaning with one hand on one side of the rock, {2.57} with one foot raised and resting on his knee, with his mouth wide open, facing in the direction of the wind. When people saw him, they would approach and salute him and ask him: “Venerable Sir, why does your noble self stand there with mouth wide open?” – “I am a wind-eater,” Jambuka would reply, “I have no other food.” – “But, venerable Sir, why do you stand with one foot resting on your knee?” – “I am a man who practices cruel austerities, dreadful austerities. If I walk with my two feet, the earth quakes. Therefore I stand with one foot resting on my knee. I spend my life in a standing posture, never sitting and never lying down.”

For the most part men believed whatever he said. Therefore all the inhabitants of Aṅga and Magadha were greatly agitated and said: “Oh, how wonderful are such ascetics as these! Never before have we seen such ascetics!” And month after month they brought him abundant food. But he was unwilling to accept anything they brought him and said: “I eat only the wind. I have no other food; for were I to eat any other food, it would make an end of my austerities.” But the people replied: “Venerable Sir, do not destroy us. If only an austere ascetic like you would partake of food at our hands, it would ensure our welfare and salvation for a long period of time.” They asked him repeatedly, but other food did not please him. But finally, under the pressure of their entreaties, he placed on the tip of his tongue with the tip of a blade of kusa grass some butter, honey, and molasses they brought him, and dismissed them with the following words: “Go your way now; this will suffice to your welfare and salvation.” In this manner he spent fifty-five years, going naked, [29.134] eating excrement, tearing out his hair, and making his bed on the ground. {2.58}

It is the invariable practice of the Buddhas to survey the world at dawn. Therefore one day, as the Buddha surveyed the world, this Ājīvaka Jambuka entered the net of his knowledge. “What will happen?” pondered the Teacher. Straightaway he perceived that Jambuka possessed the supporting conditions for the attainment of Arahatship with the analytic knowledges. And he became aware of the following: “I will pronounce a single verse, and at the conclusion of the verse, beginning with this ascetic, 84,000 living beings will obtain comprehension of the Dhamma. Through this man a great multitude will reach safety.”

On the following day the Teacher made his rounds for alms in Rājagaha, and when he had returned from his rounds, he said to the Elder Ānanda: “Ānanda, I intend to go to the Ājīvaka Jambuka.” – “Venerable Sir, can it be that you intend to go to him?” – “Yes, Ānanda, I do.” Having so said, as the shadows of evening lengthened, the Teacher set out to go to him. Thereupon the Devatās thought: “The Teacher is going to visit the Ājīvaka Jambuka. Now Jambuka lives on a flat rock polluted by excrement, urine, and toothsticks. We must therefore cause rain to fall.” So by their own supernatural power they caused rain to fall, though but for a moment. Immediately the flat rock was pure and spotless. For the Devatās caused the five kinds of rain to fall upon that rock.

In the evening, therefore, the Teacher went to the Ājīvaka Jambuka. And making a slight noise, he said: “Jambuka!” Jambuka thought to himself: “What wicked fellow is this that addresses me as Jambuka?” And he replied: “Who is it?” – “It is I, an ascetic.” – “What do you wish, great ascetic?” – “Give me lodging here for just one night.” – “There is no lodging to be had here, great ascetic.” {2.59} – “Jambuka, do not act thus; give me lodging for just one night. For ascetics seek the society of ascetics, men the society of men, and animals the society of animals.” – “But are you an ascetic?” – “Yes, I am an ascetic.” – “If you are an ascetic, where is your gourd, where is your wooden spoon, where is your sacrificial thread?” – “I use all these; but because I find it troublesome to carry them about with me to every place I visit, I obtain them within and take them with me when I go.” At this Jambuka was offended and said: “So you intend to take them with you when you go?” Then said the Teacher to him: “Never [29.135] mind, Jambuka; tell me where I can find lodging.” – “There is no lodging to be had here, great ascetic.”

Now there was a certain mountain-cave not far from Jambuka’s place of abode; and the Teacher, pointing to it, asked: “Is there anyone who lives in that mountain-cave?” – “No one lives there, great ascetic.” – “Well then, permit me to lodge there.” – “Suit yourself, great ascetic.” So the Teacher prepared a bed in the mountain-cave and lay down. In the first watch the Four Great Kings came to wait upon the Teacher, illuminating the four quarters with one blaze of light. Jambuka saw the light and thought to himself: “What is that light?” In the second watch Sakka, the Lord of the Devas came. Jambuka saw him and thought to himself: “Who is that?” In the third and last watch Mahā Brahma drew near, illuminating the whole forest, he who with one finger can illuminate one universe, with two fingers two universes, and with ten fingers ten universes. Jambuka {2.60} saw him also and thought to himself: “Who can that be?”

So early the next morning he went to the Teacher, greeted him in a friendly manner, and taking his stand respectfully on one side, asked the Teacher: “Great ascetic, who were they that came to you, illuminating the four quarters as they came?” – “The Four Great Kings.” – “Why did they come to you?” – “To wait upon me.” – “But are you superior to the Four Great Kings?” – “Yes, Jambuka, I am the Great King of the Four Great Kings.” – “And who was it that came to you in the second watch?” – “Sakka, the Lord of the Devas.” – “Why did he come to you?” – “He came also to wait upon me.” – “But are you superior to Sakka, the Lord of the Devas?” – “Yes, Jambuka, I am superior to Sakka. Indeed, Sakka stands to me in the relation of a novice, as it were; one who does for me anything I need to have done; my physician in time of sickness.” – “Who was it that came to you in the third and last watch, illuminating the whole forest as he came?” – “That was Mahā Brahma, to whom blundering, stumbling Brahmins and others cry: ‘Praise be to Mahā Brahma!’” – “But are you superior also to Mahā Brahma?” – “Yes, Jambuka, for I am the Great Brahma over the Brahmas.”

“You are a wonderful person, great ascetic. But I have dwelt here for fifty-five years, and in all these years not a single person has come to wait upon me; indeed, during all this period of time I have lived upon the wind and have remained in a standing posture, and yet none have come to wait upon me.”

Then said the Teacher to him: “Jambuka, you have succeeded in deceiving the foolish multitude [29.136] living in the world, and now you are attempting to deceive me. Is it not a fact that during these fifty-five years you have eaten excrement, made your bed upon the ground, gone naked, and pulled out your hair with a palmyra comb? {2.61} But you have deceived the world, saying: ‘My food is the wind; I stand on one foot; I sit not down; I lie not down.’ Now you are seeking to deceive me also. It is because of the low, wrong views which you held in a previous state of existence that you have all this time eaten excrement, made your bed upon the ground, gone naked, and pulled out your hair with a palmyra comb. So also now you hold only low, wrong views.” – “But, great ascetic, what was it I did in a previous state of existence?” Then the Teacher related to him the wicked deed he had committed in a previous state of existence.

As the Teacher related the story to him, he was deeply moved, a sense of modesty and fear of mortal wrong sprang up within him, and he crouched upon the ground. The Teacher tossed him a bath-robe, and he put it on. Then he worshipped the Teacher and sat down respectfully on one side. When the Teacher had completed his story of Jambuka’s former deed, he taught the Dhamma to him. At the conclusion of the Teacher’s discourse he attained Arahatship together with the analytic knowledges. Then, saluting the Teacher, he arose from his seat and asked the Teacher to give him the going forth and the higher ordination.

Thus finally was exhausted the demerit he acquired by a wicked deed committed in a previous state of existence. For this Jambuka, by reason of the four insults with which he had insulted a great elder who was an Arahat, was tormented in the Avīci Hell until this great earth was elevated a league and three quarters; and because the fruit of his wicked deed was not yet exhausted, he lived in shame for fifty-five years. But because this wicked deed, once the fruit thereof was exhausted, could not destroy the fruit of the meditations which he had performed for twenty thousand years, therefore was it that the Teacher stretched forth his right hand to him and said: “Come, bhikkhu! Lead the holy life.” At that moment his characteristics as a lay disciple vanished, and he took on the form of an elder sixty years old, furnished with the eight requisites. {2.62}

We are told that this was the day when the inhabitants of Aṅga and Magadha came to him with offerings. When, therefore, the inhabitants of both kingdoms came to him with offerings and saw the Realised One, they thought: “Which is the greater of the two, our noble ascetic Jambuka or the ascetic Gotama?” And they came to [29.137] the following conclusion: “Were the hermit Gotama the greater, this ascetic would go to the ascetic Gotama. But by reason of the superior greatness of the Ājīvaka Jambuka, the ascetic Gotama has come to him.” When the Teacher perceived the thought of the multitude, he said: “Jambuka, resolve the doubt of your supporters.”

“Venerable Sir,” replied Jambuka, “this is the very thing I should most like to do.” And forthwith entering into the fourth absorption and arising therefrom, he soared into the air to the height of a palmyra tree. Then he cried out: “Venerable Sir, the Fortunate One is my Teacher, and I am his disciple.” Then he descended to the ground and worshipped the Teacher. After that, again soaring into the air to the height of two palmyra trees, then to the height of three palmyra trees, and so on to the height of seven palmyra trees, he proclaimed his own discipleship and descended.

When the multitude saw this, they thought: “Oh, wonderful indeed and of lofty powers are the Buddhas!” Thereupon the Teacher addressed the multitude, saying: “All this time has this ascetic lived here, placing on the tip of his tongue with the tip of a blade of kusa grass the food which you have brought to him, and saying: ‘Thus I am fulfilling the duties of an ascetic.’ But were he now to abstain from food through a feeling of remorse, these ascetic practices would not be worth a sixteenth part of the meritorious thought which actuates him to abstain from food.” And joining the connection, he expounded the Dhamma by pronouncing the following verse:

70. Māse māse kusaggena bālo bhuñjetha bhojanaṁ,
na so saṅkhātadhammānaṁ kalaṁ agghati soḷasiṁ.

From month to month the fool may eat
food with the tip of kusa-grass,
but he’s not worth a sixteenth part
of those who have mastered Dhamma.

At the end of the teaching 84,000 living beings had comprehension of the Dhamma.