18.3 The Story about the Elder Tissa
Tissattheravatthu
Dhp 240
Burlingame: The Louse That Would Have His Own
A bhikkhu was so attached to his robes that when he died he was reborn as a louse in them; the bhikkhus went to divide his things, but the Buddha asked them to wait; after the bhikkhu was reborn again the Buddha told the bhikkhus to divide the robes, explained what had happened, and spoke a verse.
Keywords: Discipline, Death, Craving, Similes
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“As a rust stain arises from iron,” this Dhamma teaching was given by the Teacher while he was in residence at Jetavana with reference to a bhikkhu named Elder Tissa.
It seems that a certain youth of respectable family, who lived at Sāvatthī, went forth, and took his higher ordination, becoming known as Elder Tissa. Subsequently, while he was in residence at a monastery in the country, he received a coarse cloth eight cubits in length. Having completed residence, he celebrated the Invitation, and taking his cloth with him, went home and placed it in the hands of his sister. Thought his sister: “This robe-cloth is not suited to my brother.” So with a sharp knife she cut it into strips, pounded them in a mortar, whipped and beat and cleaned the fiber, and, spinning fine yarn, had it woven into a robe-cloth. The elder procured thread and needles, and assembling some young bhikkhus and novices who were skilled makers of robes, went to his sister
She took down a robe-cloth nine cubits in length and placed it in the hands of her youngest brother. He took it, spread it out, and said: “My robe-cloth was a coarse one, eight cubits long, but this is a fine one, nine cubits long. This is not mine; it is yours. I don’t want it. Give me the same one I gave you.” – “Venerable Sir, this cloth is yours; take it.” He refused to do so. Then his sister told him everything she had done and gave him the cloth again, saying: “Venerable Sir, this one is yours; take it.”
Finally he took it, went to the monastery and set the robe-makers to work. His sister prepared rice-gruel, boiled rice, and other provisions for the robe-makers, and on the day when the robe was finished, gave them an extra allowance. Tissa looked at the robe and took a liking to it. He said: “Tomorrow I
During the night, unable to digest the food he had eaten, he died, and was reborn as a louse in that very robe. When his sister learned that he was dead, she flung herself at the feet of the bhikkhus, rolled on the ground, and wept. When the bhikkhus had performed the funeral rites over his body, they said: “Since there was no one to attend him in his sickness, this robe belongs to the Saṅgha of bhikkhus; let us divide it among us.” Thereupon that louse screamed: “These bhikkhus are plundering my property!” And thus screaming, he ran this way and that.
The Teacher, even as he sat in the Perfumed Chamber, heard that sound by the element of the Divine Ear, and said to Elder Ānanda: “Ānanda, tell them to lay aside Tissa’s robe for seven days.” The elder caused this to be done. At the end of seven days that louse died and was reborn in the Tusita Realm.
Having so done, the bhikkhus began the following discussion: “Why was it that the Teacher caused Tissa’s robe to be put aside for seven days, and on the eighth day permitted us to divide it among us and take our several portions?”
The Teacher approached and asked: “Bhikkhus, what are you discussing now as you sit here all gathered together?” When they told him, he said: “Bhikkhus, Tissa was reborn as a louse in his own robe. When you set about to divide the robe among you, he screamed: ‘They are plundering my property.’ And thus screaming, he ran this way and that. Had you taken his robe, he would have cherished a grudge against you, and because of this wrong would have been reborn in Niraya Hell. That is the reason why I directed that the robe should be laid aside. But now he has been reborn in the Tusita Realm, and for this reason I have permitted you to take the robe and divide it among you.”
Again the bhikkhus said: “Venerable Sir, a grievous matter indeed is this thing which is called craving.” – “Yes, bhikkhus,” replied the Teacher: “Craving is indeed a grievous matter among living beings here in the world. Even as rust which springs from iron eats away the iron and corrodes it and renders it useless, so also this thing which is called craving, when it arises among living beings here in the world, causes these same living beings to be reborn in Niraya Hell and plunges
240. Ayasā va malaṁ samuṭṭhitaṁ,
taduṭṭhāya tam-eva khādati,
evaṁ atidhonacārinaṁ –
sakakammāni nayanti duggatiṁ.
As a rust stain arises from iron,
and arisen it then eats it away,
so with one who is overindulgent –
his deeds lead him to a bad destiny.
At the end of the teaching many reached the fruition of Stream-entry and so on.