Ja 20 Naḷapānajātaka
The Birth Story about Cane Juice (1s)

In past times, we are told, there was a thick forest on this spot. And in the lake here dwelt a Water Rakkhasa who used to devour everyone who went down into the water. In those days the Bodhisatta had come to life as the king of the monkeys, and was as big as the fawn of a red deer; he lived in that forest at the head of a troop of no less than eighty thousand monkeys [1.55] whom he shielded from harm. Thus did he counsel his subjects, “My friends, in this forest there are trees that are poisonous and lakes that are haunted by Amanussas. Mind to ask me first before you either eat any fruit which you have not eaten before, or drink of any water where you have not drunk before.” “Certainly,” said they readily.

One day they came to a spot they had never visited before. As, they were searching for water to drink after their day’s wanderings, they came on this lake. But they did not drink; on the contrary they sat down watching for the coming of the Bodhisatta.

When he came up, he said: “Well, my friends, why don’t you drink?”

“We waited for you to come.”

“Quite right, my friends,” said the Bodhisatta. Then he made a circuit of the lake, and scrutinized the footprints round, with the result that he found that all the footsteps led down into the water and none came up again. “Without doubt,” thought he to himself, “this is the haunt of Amanussas.” So he said to his followers, “You are quite right, my friends, in not drinking of this water; for the lake is haunted by Amanussas.”

When the Water Rakkhasa realised that they were not entering his domain, {1.171} he assumed the shape of a horrible monster with a blue belly, a white face, and bright-red hands and feet; in this shape he came out from the water, and said: “Why are you seated here? Go down into the lake and drink.” But the Bodhisatta said to him, “Are not you the Water Rakkhasa who dwells here?” “Yes, I am,” was the answer. “Do you take as your prey all those who go down into this water?” “Yes, I do; from small birds upwards, I never let anything go which comes down into my water. I will eat the lot of you too.” “But we shall not let you eat us.” “Just drink the water.” “Yes, we will drink the water, and yet not fall into your power.” “How do you propose to drink the water, then?” “Ah, you think we shall have to go down into the water to drink; whereas we shall not enter the water at all, but the whole eighty thousand of us will take a cane each and drink therewith from your lake as easily as we could through the hollow stalk of a lotus. And so you will not be able to eat us.” And he repeated the latter half of the following verse (the first half being added by the Teacher when, as Buddha, he recalled the incident):

So saying, the Bodhisatta had a cane brought to him. Then, calling to mind the Ten Perfections displayed by him, he recited them in a solemn Assertion of Truth, Literally “made a truth-act.” If this is done with intention, a miracle instantly follows. cf. No. 35 &c. and blew down the cane. {1.172} Straightaway the cane became [1.56] hollow throughout, without a single knot being left in all its length. In this fashion he had another and another brought and blew down them. (But if this were so, he could never have finished; and accordingly the foregoing sentence must not be understood in its literal sense.) Next the Bodhisatta made the tour of the lake, and commanded, saying: “Let all canes growing here become hollow throughout.” Now, thanks to the great virtues of the saving goodness of Bodhisattas, their commands are always fulfilled. And thenceforth every single cane that grew round that lake became hollow throughout.

(In this Kappa, or Era, there are four miracles which endure through the whole Era. What are the four? Well, they are first, the sign of the hare in the moon, See Jātaka No. 316, and Tawney’s Kathāsaritsāgara, Vol. ii. p. 66, where a number of passages bearing on this symbol are referred to, and Benfey’s Pañcatantra, i. 349. See also Cariyāpiṭaka, p. 82. which will last through the whole Era; secondly, the spot where the fire was put out as told in the Vaṭṭakajātaka [Ja 35], which shall remain untouched by fire throughout the Era; thirdly, on the site of Ghaṭīkāra’s house See the Ghaṭīkāra Sutta [MN 81], Dhp p. 349, and Milindapañha, p. 222. no rain shall ever fall while this Era lasts; and lastly, the canes that grow round this lake shall be hollow throughout during the whole of the Era. Such are the four Era-miracles [Kappaṭṭhiyapāṭihāriya], as they are called.)

After giving this command, the Bodhisatta seated himself with a cane in his hands. All the other eighty thousand monkeys too seated themselves round the lake, each with a cane in his hands. And at the same moment when the Bodhisatta sucked the water up through his cane, they all drank too in the same manner, as they sat on the bank. This was the way they drank, and not one of them could the Water Rakkhasa get; so he went off in a rage to his own habitation. The Bodhisatta, too, with his following went back into the forest.

last updated: August 2023