Ja 9 The Birth Story about (King) Makhadeva (1s)

Ja 9 Makhādevajātaka See Majjhima-Nikāya, 83 entitled the Makhādevasutta. See also Cariyāpiṭaka, p. 76, and Plate xlviii (2) of the Stūpa of Bharhut, where the name is carved Maghadeva, a spelling which is retained in modern Burmese manuscripts of the Majjhima Sutta from which this Jātaka was manifestly compiled.
The Birth Story about (King) Makhadeva (1s)

Alternative Title: Maghadevajātaka (Cst)

In the present, after the Buddha’s Awakening the monks are discussing his Great Renunciation; the Buddha then tells the story of a previous life where upon the sight of just one grey hair, he renounced the world.

The Bodhisatta = the king (of Videha) Makhadeva (Makhadevarājā),
Rāhula = the (king’s) son (putta),
Ānanda = the barber (kappaka).

Past Compare: Cp 6 Nimirājacariyā, MN 83 Makhādevasutta.

Keywords: Renunciation, Insight, Devas.

...the future Buddha, making light of the kingdom of the world, thus within his reach – casting it away as one would saliva – left the city with great honour on the full-moon day of Āsāḷha, when the moon was in the Uttarāsāḷha lunar mansion (i.e. on the Full Moon day in July)...

For then, they say, Devas in front of him carried sixty thousand torches, and behind him too, and on his right hand, and on his left...

Advancing in this pomp and glory, the Bodhisatta, in that one night, passed beyond three kingdoms, and arrived, at the end of thirty leagues, at the bank of the river called Anomā...

Now the Bodhisatta, stopping at the river side, asked Channa, “What is this river called?”

“Its name, my lord, is Anomā.”

“And so also our renunciation of the world shall be called Anomā (Illustrious),” said he; and signalling to his horse, by pressing it with his heel, the horse sprang over the river, five or six hundred yards in breadth, and stood on the opposite bank.

The Bodhisatta, getting down from the horse’s back, stood on the sandy beach, extending there like a sheet of silver, and said to Channa, “Good Channa, do you now go back, taking my ornaments and Kanthaka. I am going to become an ascetic.”

“But I also, my lord, will become an ascetic.”

“You cannot be allowed to renounce the world, you must go back,” he said. Three times he refused this request of Channa’s; and he delivered over to him both the ornaments and Kanthaka.

Then he thought: “These locks of mine are not suited for a mendicant. Now it is not right for any one else to cut the hair of a future Buddha, so I will cut them off myself with my sword.” Then, taking his sword in his right hand, and holding the plaited tresses, together with the diadem on them, with his left, he cut them off. So his hair was thus reduced to two inches in length, and curling from the right, it lay close to his head. It remained that length as long as he lived, and the beard the same. There was no need at all to shave either hair or beard any more.

The Bodhisatta, saying to himself, “If I am to become a Buddha, let it stand in the air; if not, let it fall to the ground;” threw the hair and diadem together as he held them towards the sky...

Again the Bodhisatta thought: “This my raiment of Benares muslin is not suitable for a mendicant.” Now the Deva Ghaṭikāra, who had formerly been his friend in the time of Kassapa, the One with Ten Powers, was led by his friendship, which had not grown old in that long interval, to think, “Today my friend is accomplishing the Great Renunciation, I will go and provide him with the requisites of a mendicant.”

273. “The three robes, and the alms bowl,
Razor, needle, and girdle,
And a water strainer – these eight
Are the wealth of the monk devout.”

Taking these eight requisites of a mendicant, he gave them to him. The Bodhisatta dressed himself in the outward signs of an Arahat, and adopted the sacred garb of Renunciation; and he enjoined upon Channa to go and, in his name, assure his parents of his safety. And Channa did homage to the Bodhisatta reverently, and departed.

On this occasion the monks sat praising the Renunciation of the One with Ten Powers. Entering the Dhamma Hall and seating himself on the Buddha-seat, the Teacher thus addressed the monks, “What is your theme, monks, as you sit here in a meeting?” “It is naught else, sir, than the praise of your own Renunciation.” “Monks,” rejoined the Teacher, “not only in these latter days has the Tathāgata The meaning of this frequently recurring title of the Buddha is far from clear, and the obscurity is deepened by the elaborate gloss of Buddhaghosa at pp. 59-68 of the Sumaṅgalavilāsinī, where eight different interpretations are given. Perhaps the word may mean ‘He who has trod the path which the earlier Buddhas trod’; but there is much to be said for the view put forward on p. 82 of Vol. xiii. of the Sacred Books of the East, that the meaning is ‘He who has arrived there,’ i.e. at emancipation. made a Renunciation; in bygone days too he similarly renounced the world.” The monks asked the Fortunate One for an explanation of this. The Fortunate One made clear what had been concealed from them by rebirth. [1.31]

In the past in Mithilā in the realm of Videha there was a king named Makhādeva, who was righteous and ruled righteously. For successive periods of eighty-four thousand years he had respectively amused himself as prince, ruled as viceroy, and reigned as king. All these long years had he lived, when one day he said to his barber, “Tell me, friend barber, when you see any grey hairs in my head.” So one day, years and years after, {1.138} the barber did find among the raven locks of the king a single grey hair, and he told the king so. “Pull it out, my friend,” said the king, “and lay it in my palm.” The barber accordingly plucked the hair out with his golden tongs, and laid it in the king’s hand. The king had at that time still eighty-four thousand years more to live; but nevertheless at the sight of that one grey hair he was filled with deep emotion. He seemed to see the king of Death standing over him, or to be cooped within a blazing hut of leaves. “Foolish Makhādeva!” he cried, “grey hairs have come upon you before you have been able to rid yourself of depravities.” And as he thought and thought about the appearance of his grey hair, he grew aflame within; the sweat rolled down from his body; while his raiment oppressed him and seemed intolerable. “This very day,” he thought, “will I renounce the world for the monk’s life.”

To his barber he gave the grant of a village, which yielded a hundred thousand pieces of money. He sent for his eldest son and said to him, “My son, grey hairs are come upon me, and I am become old. I have had my fill of human joys, and fain would taste the joys divine; the time for my renunciation has come. Take the sovereignty upon yourself; as for me, I will take up my abode in the pleasure gardens called Makhādeva’s Mango-grove, and there tread the ascetic’s path.”

As he was thus bent on leading the monk’s life, his ministers drew near and said: “What is the reason, sire, why you adopt the monk’s life?”

Taking the grey hair in his hand, the king repeated this verse to his ministers:

In this connection, these greying hairs growing on my head means head hairs. Because there are hairs on all limbs, such as hands, feet, and so on, when growing on the head growing on the head is said.

Carry off my youthful life means: ‘Look, dear, the three ages of man are borne away by what is visibly grey,’ so, these greying hairs carry off my youthful life.

Manifest means appears.

Divine messengers, divine here is said to be death, the messengers of that means divine messengers. When grey hairs manifest on the head it is like the king of death is standing nearby, therefore they say grey hairs are messengers of the god of death. Like messengers who are divine, this also means divine messengers.

Like a decorated and adorned Devatā standing in the sky, saying: “On such and such a day you will die,” and having said that, it is simply the truth, so when grey hairs manifest on the head it is like an announcement by a Devatā, therefore greying hairs are similar to messengers from the divine is said.

Messengers from those divine through purity are also divine messengers. Therefore all the Bodhisattas, having seen ageing, sickness, death, and one gone forth, after arousing spiritual anxiety, depart and go forth themselves.

Just so this is said:

Seeing one aged, The first lines correspond to Thag 73ab, the last two lines are only found in the commentaries, although they seem to be quotes, probably of a form of the verse lost to the canon. suffering from sickness,
Seeing one dying, with his life force gone,
Seeing one gone forth dressed in yellow clothes,
Seeing these I therefore went forth, O king.

Through this means grey hairs are messengers of those divine through purity, and they say divine messengers.

It is time for me to go forth, through leaving the state of the householder going forth is said, it is the right time for my gaining the name of one who has taken hold of the signs of an ascetic life, this is the explanation.

And after these words, he renounced his sovereignty that self-same day and became a recluse. Dwelling in that very Mango-grove of Makhādeva, he there during eighty-four thousand years fostered the four Divine Abidings within himself, and, dying with Absorption full and unbroken, was reborn in the Realm of Brahma. Passing thence, he became a king again in Mithilā, under the name of Nimi, and after uniting his scattered family, once more became an ascetic in that same [1.32] Mango-grove, winning the Four Divine Abidings and passing thence once more to the Realm of Brahma.