12.6 The Story about Devadatta
Devadattavatthu
Dhp 162
Burlingame: Devadatta Seeks to Slay the Realised One
Compare: Dhp-a 1.12
Devadatta sought to kill the Buddha and take over the running of the Saṅgha; the Buddha explained that he also tried to kill him in other existences, but it all worked to Devadatta’s downfall, and then he spoke a verse about him.
Keywords: Murder, Past Lives
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“The one who lacks virtue,”
For on a certain day the bhikkhus began a discussion in the Dhamma Hall: “Friends, Devadatta, whose was of bad character, whose had a bad nature, because of his bad character, whose craving waxed string, was treated kindly by Ajātasattu, who bestowed rich gain and high honor upon him, incited Ajātasattu to the murder of his father, and afterwards, conspiring with him, went about seeking by some means or other to slay the Realised One.”
At that moment the Teacher drew near and asked them: “Bhikkhus, what are you discussing now as you sit here all gathered together?” When they told him, he said: “Bhikkhus, this is not the first time Devadatta has gone about seeking by some means or other to slay me; he did the same thing in a previous state of existence also.” So saying, he related the Birth Story about the Antelope AJ: Ja 206, Devadatta was a hunter who sought to kill the Bodhisatta in his life as an antelope. and other Birth Stories.
Then he said: “Bhikkhus, when a man allows his wickedness to pass beyond all bounds, the wicked desire which springs up because of his wickedness, like a creeper which wraps itself about a Sāla tree and finally crushes it, flings him forth to Niraya Hell or to one of the other states of suffering.” So saying, he pronounced the following verse:
162. Yassa accantadussīlyaṁ māluvā Sālam-ivotataṁ
karoti so tathattānaṁ yathā naṁ icchatī diso.
The one who lacks virtue,
like deadly creeper on tree,
makes himself just as his
foe wishes him to be.
At the end of the teaching many reached the fruition of Stream-entry and so on.
