Ja 167 Samiddhijātaka
The Birth Story about (the Monk) Samiddhi (2s)
In the present one monk is in the peak of his manhood, a Devadhītā tries to tempt him, but he rebukes her as he knows not the time of his death. The Buddha tells a story of how he was similarly tempted in a past life.
The Bodhisatta = the ascetic (tāpasa),
the Devadhītā = the same in the past (Devadhītā).
Keywords: Temptation, Asceticism, Devas.
“Begging monk, do you know.” This story was told by the Teacher while he was staying in Tapoda Park near Rājagaha, about elder Samiddhi [Goodluck].
Once venerable Samiddhi had been wrestling in the spirit all night long. At sunrise he bathed; then he stood with his under garment on, holding the other in his hand, as he dried his body, all yellow as gold. Like a golden statue of exquisite workmanship he was, the perfection of beauty;
A Devadhītā, seeing the elder’s surpassing beauty, fell in love with him, and addressed him thus. “You are young, monk, and fresh, a mere stripling, with black hair, bless you! You have youth, you are lovely and pleasant to the eyes. Why should a man like you turn ascetic without a little enjoyment? Take your pleasure first, and then you shall become ascetic and do what the ascetics do!” He replied, “Nymph, at some time or other I must die, and the time of my death I know not; that time is hid from me. Therefore in the freshness of my youth I will follow the solitary life, and make an end of suffering.”
Finding she received no encouragement, the Devadhītā at once vanished. The elder went and told his Teacher about it. Then the Teacher said: “Not now alone, Samiddhi, are you tempted by a Devadhītā. In olden days, as now, Devadhītā tempted ascetics.” And then at his request the Teacher told a story of the past.
In the past, when Brahmadatta was king in Benares, the Bodhisatta became a brahmin’s son in a village of Kāsi. Coming of years, he attained perfection in all his studies, and embraced the ascetic life; and he lived in the Himālayas, nearby a natural lake, cultivating the Super Knowledges and Attainments.
All night long he had wrestled in the spirit; and at sunrise he bathed himself, and with one bark garment on and the other in his hand, he stood, letting the water dry off his body. At that moment a Devadhītā observed his perfect beauty, and fell in love with him. Tempting him, she repeated this first verse:
1. Abhutvā bhikkhasi bhikkhu, na hi bhutvāna bhikkhasi,
Bhutvāna bhikkhu bhikkhassu, mā taṁ kālo upaccagā ti.
Without enjoying you seek alms, monk, don’t seek alms without enjoying, having enjoyed, monk, you must seek alms, do not let time pass you by.
In this connection, without enjoying you seek alms, monk, monk, you are in your youth, without enjoying the objects of sensuality through the defilements of sensuality, you walk for alms.
Don’t seek alms without enjoying, without enjoying the five strands of sense pleasure, you should surely not walk for alms, without enjoying sensual pleasures, you have come to walk for alms.
Having enjoyed, monk, you must seek alms, monk, you in your youth, having enjoyed sensual pleasures, later in old age you should seek for alms.
Do not let time pass you by, the time of your youth is the time for enjoyment of these sensual pleasures, do not let it go by.
The Bodhisatta listened to the Devatā’s address, and then replied, declaring his set purpose, by repeating the second verse:
2. Kālaṁ vohaṁ na jānāmi, channo kālo, na dissati,
Tasmā abhutvā bhikkhāmi, mā maṁ kālo upaccagā ti.
I do not know the time, the time is hidden, and not visible, so, without enjoying, I seek alms, and don’t let time pass me by.
In this connection, I do not know the time, I, thinking: “I could die in my first age, in my middle age, or in my old age,” in this way I do not know the time of my own death. With the wise person thinking: Life, illness, and the time, laying down the body, the destiny, these five within the living world, The five are niraya, the downfall; tiracchānayoni, the animal realm; pittivisaya, the world of the departed; manussaloka, the human world; Devā, the gods. have no sign that is known to us. Quoting this verse in Visuddhimagga, Bhadanta Buddhaghosa says: evaṁ animittato maraṇaṁ anussaritabbaṁ; thus, from it not having a sign, you should remember death.
The time is hidden, and not visible, whence: “Normally during such and such a lifetime, or during the winter season and so on, I could die,” this time for me is also covered over, not visible, it being well-covered, he continued without knowing.
So, without enjoying, I seek alms, for that reason, without enjoying the five strands of sense pleasure, I seek alms.
And don’t let time pass me by, do not let the time for practising the ascetic life go by, this is the meaning. Through this reason, while still a youth, having gone forth, I perform ascetic practice.
When the Devadhītā heard the Bodhisatta’s words, she vanished at once.
After this discourse the Teacher identified the Jātaka, “The Devadhītā is the same in both stories, and the ascetic at that time was I myself.”