23.3 The Story about the Old Brahmin’s Sons
Parijiṇṇabrāhmaṇaputtavatthu

“The tusker Dhanapālaka,” this Dhamma teaching was given by the Teacher while he was in residence at Sāvatthī with reference to the sons of a certain old Brahmin. {4.7}

It seems that there lived in Sāvatthī a certain Brahmin who had four sons and whose wealth amounted to 800,000 coins. When his sons reached marriageable age, he arranged marriages for them and gave them 400,000 coins. After the sons had married, the Brahmin’s wife died, whereupon the sons took counsel together, saying: “If this Brahmin marries again, the family fortune will be divided among her children and there will be nothing left of it. Come then! Let us succor our father and win his favor.” Accordingly they waited upon him faithfully, providing him with the choicest food and the finest clothes, rubbing his hands and feet and performing all of the other duties.

One day they went to wait upon him and found that he had fallen asleep, although it was broad daylight. As soon as he awoke, they rubbed his hands and his feet, and while thus engaged, spoke to him of the disadvantage of living in separate houses. Said they: “We will wait upon you after this manner so long as you live; give us the rest of your wealth also.” In compliance with their request the Brahmin gave each of them 100,000 more. Naught but under and upper garments did he keep for himself; all the rest of his wealth and possessions he divided into four portions and handed over to his sons.

For a few days his oldest son ministered to his needs. One day, [30.202] however, as he was returning to the house of his oldest son after his bath, {4.8} his daughter-in-law, who stood at the gate, saw him and said to him: “Did you give your oldest son a hundred or a thousand coins more than you gave your other sons? You certainly gave each of your sons 200,000 coins. Do you not know the way to the house of any of your other sons?” The Brahmin answered angrily: “Perish, vile woman!” and went to the house of his second son. But in a few days he was driven from the house of his second son as he had been from the house of the first, and in like manner from the houses of his two youngest sons. Finally he found himself without a single house he could enter.

Having gone forth in the (Brahminical) Paṇḍaraṅga ordination, begging his food from door to door, in course of time he became worn out by old age, and his body withered away as the result of the poor food he ate and the wretched quarters in which he was obliged to sleep. One day, after he had returned from his begging rounds, he lay down on his back and fell asleep. When he awoke from sleep and sat up and surveyed himself and reflected that there was no one of his sons to whom he might go for refuge, he thought to himself: “They say that the ascetic Gotama has a countenance that does not frown, a face that is frank and open, that his manner of conversing is pleasant, and that he greets strangers in a kind and friendly way. Possibly if I go to the ascetic Gotama, I shall receive a friendly greeting.” So adjusting his under and upper garments, taking his alms-bowl, and grasping his staff, he went to the Fortunate One, even as it is said: AJ: see SN 7.13.

Now a certain Brahmin, a man who had formerly possessed wealth and social position, rough, clad in rough garments, drew near to where the Fortunate One was, and having drawn near, sat down respectfully on one side. And as he sat respectfully on one side, the Fortunate One greeted him in a pleasant manner and said this to him: “How comes it, {4.9} Brahmin, that you are rough and clad in rough garments?” – “Dear Gotama, I have four sons living in the world, but instigated by their wives, they have driven me out of their houses.” – “Well then, Brahmin, learn these verses thoroughly, and when the people are gathered together in the hall and your sons are gathered together with them, recite them before the assembled company:

Those at whose birth I rejoiced, and
those whose existence I desired,
they, at the behest of their wives
ward me off like a pig.

Wicked and wretched, it is said,
they call on me: “Father, father!” [30.203]
Rakkhasas in the form of sons,
they reject me when old in years.

Like a horse aged and useless,
is led away from sustenance,
an old father of the foolish,
begs in the houses of strangers.

Better for me the staff, it seems,
than disobedient children,
which keeps off savage bulls,
and keeps off savage dogs.

In the dark he was earlier,
in the deep he gained firm footing,
by the power of staff
he stands after stumbling. {4.10}

The Brahmin, taught by the Teacher, learned these verses by heart. On the day appointed for the Brahmins to assemble, the sons of the Brahmin pushed their way into the hall, dressed in their costliest garments, adorned with all their jewels, and sat down on a costly seat in the midst of the Brahmins. Thereupon the Brahmin said to himself: “Now is my opportunity.” So he entered the hall, made his way into the midst of the assembly, lifted up his hand, and said: “I desire to recite certain verses to you; pray listen to me.” – “Recite them, Brahmin; we are listening.” So the Brahmin stood there and recited the verses which he had learned from the Teacher.

Now at that time this was the law of mankind: If any devour the substance of mother and father, and support not mother and father, he shall be put to death. Therefore the sons of that Brahmin fell at their father’s feet and begged him to spare their lives, saying: “Dear father, spare our lives!” Out of the softness of a father’s heart the Brahmin said: “Sirs, do not kill my sons; they will support me.” The men said to his sons: “Sirs, if from this day you do not take proper care of your father, we will kill you.”

The sons, thoroughly frightened, seated their father in a chair, raised the chair with their own hands, {4.11} and carried their father home. They anointed the body of their father with oil, flying this way and that in their haste, bathed him, employing perfumes and aromatic powders, and having so done, summoned their wives and said to them: “From this day forth you are to take proper care of our father; if you neglect this duty, we shall punish you.” And they set the choicest viands before him.

As the result of the wholesome food which the Brahmin had to eat and the comfortable quarters in which he slept, strength came back to him after a few days and his senses were refreshed. As he surveyed his person, he thought to himself: “I have gained this success through the ascetic Gotama.” So desiring to make him a present, he took a pair of cloths and went to the Fortunate One, and after exchanging friendly greetings, took his seat respectfully on one side. Then he laid the pair of cloths at the feet of the Fortunate One, and said to him: “Dear Gotama, we Brahmins desire that a teacher shall receive [30.204] the tribute which is his due; may my lord Gotama, my teacher, accept the tribute which is due to him as a teacher.” Out of compassion for the Brahmin, the Teacher accepted the present which he had brought, and taught the Dhamma to him. At the conclusion of the sermon the Brahmin was established in the refuges. Thereupon the Brahmin said to the Teacher: “Dear Gotama, my sons provide me regularly with four meals; two of these I give to you.” The Teacher replied: “That is well, Brahmin; but we shall go only to such houses as we please.” So saying, he dismissed him.

The Brahmin went home and said to his sons: “Dears, the ascetic {4.12} Gotama is my friend, and I have given him two of the meals with which you regularly provide me. When he arrives, be not heedless of your duty.” – “Very well,” replied his sons, promising to do as he said. On the following day the Teacher set out on his almsround and stopped at the door of the house of the Brahmin’s oldest son. When the Brahmin’s oldest son saw the Teacher, he took his bowl, invited him into the house, seated him on a costly couch, and gave him the choicest of food. On the succeeding days the Teacher went to the houses of the other sons in order, and in all of them he received respect.

One day when a holiday was at hand, the eldest son said to his father: “Dear father, in whose honor shall we make merry?” The Brahmin replied: “The ascetic Gotama is my friend, and I know no others.” – “Well then, invite him for tomorrow with his five hundred bhikkhus.” The Brahmin did so.

So on the following day the Teacher came to the house with his attendant bhikkhus. The house was smeared with fresh cow-dung and decked in festive array. The Brahmin provided seats within the house for the Saṅgha of bhikkhus presided over by the Buddha, and served them with rich porridge sweetened with honey and with the choicest of food, both hard and soft.

In the course of the meal the Brahmin’s four sons seated themselves before the Teacher and said to him: “Dear Gotama, we care tenderly for our father; we never neglect him. Just look at him!” The Teacher replied: “You have done well. Wise men of old likewise cared tenderly for their mother and father.” {4.13} So saying, he related in detail the Mātuposaka Nāgarāja Birth Story, BG: Ja 455. found in the Eleventh Book, in which the story is told of how the olibane and [30.205] the kuṭaja plant grew up and blossomed in the absence of the elephant. Having so done, he pronounced the following verse:

324. Dhanapālakŏ nāma kuñjaro
kaṭukappabhedano dunnivārayo,
baddho kabalaṁ na bhuñjati,
sumarati nāgavanassa kuñjaro.

The tusker Dhanapālaka
in rut, difficult to restrain,
bound, he doesn’t eat a morsel,
the tusker remembers the forest. AJ: Burlingame included a translation of the word commentary to the verse here, against his normal practice. I have removed it in anticipation of providing a full translation of this part of the commentary.

As the Teacher related this previous life, his hearers shed floods of tears, and by reason of the softness of their hearts allowed their ears to droop. Thus did the Fortunate One, knowing full well what would be of advantage to them, proclaim the Truths and teach the Dhamma.

At the end of the teaching the Brahmin, together with his sons and daughters-in-law, was established in the fruition of Stream-entry.

last updated: August 2024