Jataka 309
Chavaka Jātaka
The Higher Seat
as told by Eric Van Horn
originally translated by H.T. Francis and R.A. Neil, Cambridge University
originally edited by Professor Edward Byles Cowell, Cambridge University
This story is about the monastic rule that anyone who teaches the Dharma must be seated above those who are being instructed. This may seem a little paternalistic, but it establishes respect for the teacher and the Dharma. And it is especially interesting to note that even the King is supposed to be seated below a Dharma teacher. Also note that at the time of the Buddha, the only people who would be teaching the Dharma would be senior monks (having been fully ordained for at least 10 years) or a disciple who had attained at least stream-entry.
“Holy Teacher.” The Master told this story while residing at Jetavana. It is about the group of six monks. It is related in detail in the Vinaya. Here is a brief summary of it.
(The training rule cited here is in the Sekhiya—the rules for training. It is rule 69. It states that anyone who is teaching the Dharma must be seated above those who are being instructed.)
The Master sent for the six monks and asked if it were true that they taught the law from a low seat while their pupils sat on a higher seat. They confessed that it was so. The Master reproved these monks for their lack of respect for his law. He said that wise men of old had to rebuke men for teaching even rival doctrines while sitting on a low seat. Then he told them this story from the past.
Once upon a time when Brahmadatta reigned in Benares, the Bodhisatta was reborn as the son of an outcast woman. When he was grown up, he established himself as a householder. And his wife being with child had a great longing for the mango fruit. She said to her husband, “My lord, I have a desire to eat mangoes.”
“My dear,” he said, “there are no mangoes at this time of year. I will bring you some other fruit.”
“My lord,” she said, “if I can have a mango, I will live. Otherwise I will die.”
Being infatuated with his wife, he thought, “Where in the world am I to get a mango?”
Now at this time there was a mango tree in the garden of the King of Benares. This tree had fruit on it all the year round. So he thought, “I will get a ripe mango there to appease her longings.”
He went to the garden at night. He climbed up the tree and crept from one branch to another looking for the fruit. And while he was doing this, the day began to break. He thought, “If I climb down now to go away, I will be seen and seized as a thief. I will wait until it is dark.” So he climbed up into a fork of the tree and remained there.
Now at this time the King of Benares was being taught sacred texts by his chaplain. And coming into the garden he sat down on a high seat at the foot of the mango tree. He had his teacher sit on a lower seat. The Bodhisatta, sitting above them, thought, “How wicked this King is. He is learning the sacred texts sitting on a high seat. The brahmin, too, is equally wicked to sit and teach him from a lower seat. I also am wicked, for I have fallen into the power of a woman, and counting my life as nothing, I am stealing the mango fruit.”
Then—taking hold of a hanging bough—he lowered himself down from the tree and stood before these two men. He said, “O Great King, I am a lost man, and you are a gross fool, and this priest is as one dead.” And being asked by the King what he meant by these words, he uttered the first stanza:
Holy Teacher, Royal Scholar, lo! the wrongful deed I saw,
Both alike from grace are fallen, both alike transgressed the law.
The brahmin, on hearing this, repeated the second stanza:
My food is pure rice from the hill,
With a delicate flavor of meat,
For why should misdoers fulfil
A rule meant for saints, when they eat?
On hearing this the Bodhisatta recited two more stanzas:
Brahmin, go range the length and breadth of earth.
Lo! suffering is found the common lot.
Here marred by wrong your ruined life is worth
Less than the fragments of a shattered pot.
Beware ambition and o’ermastering greed,
Vices like these to worlds of suffering lead.
Figure: The price of lacking virtue
The King was pleased with his exposition of the law. He him of what caste he was. “I am an outcast, my lord,” he said. “Friend,” the King replied, “had you been of a high caste family, I would have made you sole king” But from now on I will be King by day, and you will be King by night.” And with these words he placed the wreath of flowers with which he himself was adorned upon his neck and made him lord protector over the city. And from this incident is derived the custom for the lords of the city to wear a wreath of red flowers on their neck. And from that day forward the King—respecting his admonition—paid respect to his teacher. He learned the sacred texts from him sitting on a lower seat.
The Master, his lesson ended, identified the birth: “At that time Ānanda was the King, and I was the outcast.”
This is the story as found in the Vinaya, the monastic code. As you can see, it is rule 69 in the Sekhiya, which is the seventh set of rules in the Bhikkhu Vibaṇgha, the “Monks Rules.” This translation is by Ajahn Brahmali:
69. The training rule on low seats
Origin story
At one time the Buddha was staying at Sāvatthī in the Jeta Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s Monastery. At that time the monks from the group of six were sitting on low seats while giving teachings to people sitting on high seats.
The monks of few desires complained and criticized them, “How can the monks from the group of six sit on low seats while giving teachings to people sitting on high seats?” … “Is it true, monks, that you do this?”
“It’s true, Sir.”
The Buddha rebuked them … “Foolish men, how can you do this? This will affect people’s confidence …” … and after rebuking them … he gave a teaching and addressed the monks:
Jataka
“Once upon a time in Bārāṇasī, monks, there was a low-caste man whose wife became pregnant. She said to him, ‘I’m pregnant. I crave mangoes.’
‘But there are no mangoes. It’s the wrong season.’
‘If I don’t get any, I’ll die.’
At that time the king had a mango tree that was always bearing fruit. Then that low-caste man went to that mango tree, climbed it, and hid himself. Just then the king and his brahmin counselor went to that same mango tree. There the king sat on a high seat while learning the Vedas. The low-caste man thought, ‘How wrong-headed this king is, in that he sits on a high seat while learning the Vedas. And the brahmin is wrong-headed too, in that he sits on a low seat while teaching the Vedas to one sitting on a high seat. And I’m wrong-headed too, in that I steal mangoes from the king because of a woman. This is all so low!’ And he fell out of the tree right there.
The low-caste man says: ‘Neither understands what is good; Neither sees the Truth: Not he who teaches the Vedas, Nor he who learns improperly.’
The brahmin replies: ‘I’ve eaten the finest rice, With a curry of pure meat: Therefore I’m not practicing the Teaching, The Teaching praised by the Noble Ones.’
The low-caste man replies in turn: ‘A curse it is the obtaining of wealth, And the obtaining of fame, too, brahmin; These things come with a low rebirth, Or with wrong-headed behavior.
‘Go forth, great brahmin, Other beings will do the cooking; Don’t go against the Teaching, because you’ll break like a jar.’
Even at that time, monks, I was displeased by someone teaching the Vedas while sitting on a low seat to someone sitting on a high seat. How, then, could it not be displeasing now? This will affect people’s confidence …” … “And, monks, this training rule should be recited like this:
Final ruling
“I will not give a teaching while sitting on a low seat to anyone sitting on a high seat who is not sick,” this is how you should train.’”
One should not give a teaching while sitting on a low seat to anyone sitting on a high seat who is not sick. If a monk, out of disrespect, gives a teaching while sitting on a low seat to someone sitting on a high seat who is not sick, he commits an offense of wrong conduct.
Non-offenses
There is no offense: if it is unintentional; if he is not mindful; if he does not know; if he is sick; if there are dangers; if he is insane; if he is the first offender
