Ja 44 Makasajātaka
The Birth Story about the Mosquito (1s)
In the present some foolish villagers the Buddha came across on his walking tour, aiming to clear the clouds of mosquitos manage to shoot themselves instead. The Buddha tells of a previous life in which a son, aiming to save his father from a mosquito, had, through his recklessness, killed him with an axe instead.
The Bodhisatta = the wise merchant (paṇḍitavāṇija).
Keywords: Foolishness, Recklessness, Animals, Insects.
“Better is a foe.”
Surrounded by the Saṅgha of monks, the Teacher came in quest of alms to that village. The sensible minority among the inhabitants no sooner than they saw the Fortunate One, than they erected a pavilion at the entrance to their village and, after bestowing large alms on the
In the past when Brahmadatta was reigning in Benares, the Bodhisatta gained his livelihood as a trader. In those days in a border-village in Kāsi there dwelt a number of carpenters. And it chanced that one of them, a bald grey-haired man, was planing away at some wood, with his head glistening like a copper bowl, when a mosquito settled on his scalp and stung him with its dart-like sting.
Said the carpenter to his son, who was seated nearby, “My boy, there’s a mosquito stinging me on the head; do drive it away.” “Hold still then, father,” said the son, “one blow will settle it.”
(At that very time the Bodhisatta had reached that village in the way of trade, and was sitting in the carpenter’s shop.)
“Rid me of it,” cried the father. “All right, father,” answered the son, who was behind the old man’s back, and, raising a sharp axe on high with intent to kill only the mosquito, he cleft his father’s head in twain. So the old man fell dead on the spot.
Thought the Bodhisatta, who had been an eye-witness of the whole scene, “Better than such a friend is an enemy with sense, whom fear
1. Seyyo amitto matiyā upeto
Na tveva mitto mativippahīno,
‘Makasaṁ vadhissan’-ti hi eḷamūgo
Putto pitū abbhidā uttamaṅgan-ti.
Better is a foe endowed with wisdom than a friend who is lacking in wisdom, thinking: ‘I will kill a mosquito,’ the foolish son split his father’s head open.
In this connection, better means distinguished, supreme.
Foolish means a fool who dribbles at the mouth.
The ... son split his father’s head open, through his own foolishness the son, thinking: “I will give a blow to the mosquito,” split his father’s head, his crown, in two. Therefore a wise enemy is better than a foolish friend.
So saying, the Bodhisatta rose up and departed, passing away in after days to fare according to his deeds. And as for the carpenter, his body was burned by his kinsfolk.
“Thus, lay brethren,” said the Teacher, “in bygone times also there were those who, seeking to hit a mosquito, struck down a fellow-creature.” This lesson ended, he showed the connection and identified the Jātaka by saying: “In those days I was myself the wise and good trader who departed after repeating the verse.”