Ja 60 Saṅkhadhamanajātaka
The Birth Story about the Conch Blower (1s)
Alternative Title: Saṅkhadhamajātaka (Cst)
An analogue to the previous story, in this one after meeting with a disobedient monk, the Buddha tells him of how, when they were conch blowers in a past life, his father hadn’t listened to his good advice, but had attracted the attention of thieves, and lost all their earnings.
The Bodhisatta = the son (putta),
the wilful monk = his father (pitā).
Keyword: Disobedience, Wilfulness.
“Blow, blow.”
In the past when Brahmadatta was reigning in Benares, the Bodhisatta came to life as a conch-blower, and went up to Benares with his father to a public festival. There he earned a great deal of money by his conch-blowing, and started for home again. On his way through a forest which was infested by robbers, he warned his father not to keep on blowing his conch; but the old man thought he knew better how to keep the robbers off, and blew away hard without a moment’s pause. Accordingly, just as in the preceding story, the robbers returned and plundered the pair. And, as above, the Bodhisatta repeated this verse:
1. Dhame dhame nātidhame, atidhantañ-hi pāpakaṁ,
Dhantenādhigatā bhogā, te tāto vidhamī dhaman-ti.
Blow, blow, but don’t blow too much, only the bad one blows in excess, through blowing riches were achieved, but your father, blowing, lost it.
His lesson ended, the Teacher showed the connection and identified the Jātaka by saying: “This wilful monk was the father of those days, and I myself his son.”