Jataka 120
Bandhanamokkha Jātaka
Freed from Bondage
as told by Eric Van Horn
originally translated by Robert Chalmers, B.A., of Oriel College, Oxford University
originally edited by Professor Edward Byles Cowell, Cambridge University
The difficulty of defending yourself against baseless charges cannot be underestimated. People often want to believe the worst about someone. Especially in the age of social media, false accusations can spread quickly and it can be extremely difficult to prove them wrong. But even at the time of the Buddha, this was true. Nothing moves more quickly than ugly, false speech.
This story also has an interesting side note. As in some of the other stories, the Bodhisatta decides that one reason he was at risk was because he was living as a lay person. Ordaining as a monk provides some protection against certain kinds of high-risk situations.
“With foolish speech.” This story was told by the Master while he was at Jetavana. It is about the brahmin girl “Ciñcā.” Her history will be given in the Mahāpaduma Jātaka (Jātaka 472). On this occasion the Master said, “Monks, this is not the first time Ciñcā has made false accusations against me. She did so in the past as well." So saying he told this story of the past.
(In the Mahāpaduma Jātaka the Bodhisatta was born as “Paduma,” the son of Brahmadatta, King of Benares. When Paduma’s mother died, his father married another woman. The King had to leave to subdue a border uprising. Thinking that it was too dangerous to take the Queen with him, he left her under the protection of Paduma. The campaign was successful. When Paduma was making arrangements for the celebration of his father’s return, Paduma went into the Queen’s apartment. She was struck by his amazing beauty and tried to seduce him. Paduma indignantly refused. She pretended to be sick, and when the King returned, she falsely accused him of having mistreated her. Despite the protests of the people, the King ordered that Paduma should be thrown from the “Robbers’ Cliff.” The god of the mountain saved his life and turned him over to the Nāga King. He took him to his home where he stayed for a year. Paduma then went to the Himālayas and became a renunciate. The King heard about this and went to offer him the kingdom, but Paduma refused. The King became convinced that the charge brought against Paduma was false, and he ordered that the Queen be thrown from the Robbers’ Cliff. Ciñcā was identified as the Queen.)
Once on a time when Brahmadatta was reigning in Benares, the Bodhisatta was born into the family of the King’s chaplain. When his father died, he became the new chaplain.
Now the King had promised to grant whatever boon his Queen wanted. She said, “The boon I ask is an easy one. From now on you must not look at any other woman with eyes of love.” At first he refused, but he got tired of her unrelenting demand. Finally he gave in to her. And from that day on he never cast a glance of love at any one of his 16,000 dancing girls.
Now an uprising occurred on the borders of his kingdom. After several battles with the insurgents, the troops there sent a letter to the King saying that they were unable to subdue the rebellion. The King was anxious to go there in person, and he assembled a great army. He said to his wife, “Dear one, I will go to the frontier where there will be fierce fighting. The camp is no place for a woman. You must stay behind here.”
“I can’t stay here if you go, my lord,” she said. But the King was determined in his decision, so she made the following request instead, "Every five kilometers, send a messenger to me to let me know how you are doing.” The King promised to do so.
He marched out with his army, leaving the Bodhisatta in charge of the city. As requested, the King sent back a messenger at the end of every five kilometers to let the Queen know how he was and to find out how she was doing. When each man returned she asked him why he had come. When they each replied that they had come to see how she was doing, the Queen had the messenger come into her quarters and she seduced him.
Now the King had traveled 160 kilometers, and he had sent back 32 messengers. The Queen had seduced all of them. The King was finally able to put down the rebellion, to the great joy of the people. He started on his journey home. He sent a second series of 32 messengers. The Queen seduced each one of them as well.
Halting his victorious army near the city, the King sent a letter to the Bodhisatta to prepare the celebration. The preparations in the city were completed, and the Bodhisatta was preparing the palace for the King’s arrival when he went to the Queen’s quarters. The sight of his great beauty so moved the Queen that she tried to seduce him. But the Bodhisatta pleaded with her, invoking the King’s honor. He protested that he would not abandon his virtue and that he would not do as she wished. “Not one of the King’s 64 messengers were afraid of him,” she said. “Will you not do what I want out of fear of the King?”
The Bodhisatta said, “Had those messengers followed my example, they would not have acted as they did. As for me, I know what is right, and I will not commit this offense.”
“Don’t talk nonsense,” she said. “If you refuse, I will have your head cut off.”
“So be it. Cut off my head in this or in 100,000 existences. But I will not do as you want.”
“All right. We shall see,” the Queen said menacingly.
She went back to her quarters. There she scratched and bruised herself. She put oil on her limbs, clothed herself in dirty clothes, and pretended to be sick. Then she sent for her slaves and told them to tell the King that she was sick.
Meanwhile the Bodhisatta had gone to meet the King. After he marched around the city in a joyous procession, he entered the palace. Not seeing the Queen, he asked where she was. He was told that she was sick. Entering the royal bed-chamber, the King put his arms around the Queen and asked what was wrong with her. She remained silent. But when the King asked the third time, she looked up at him and said, “Though my lord the King still lives, yet poor women like me have to suffer under a master.”
“What do you mean?”
“The chaplain whom you left to watch over the city came here pretending to look after the palace. But he tried to seduce me, and when I would not yield to his will, he beat me to his heart’s content.”
The King fumed with rage, like the crackling of salt or sugar in the fire. He rushed from the chamber. Calling his servants, he told them to tie the chaplain’s hands behind him like one who is condemned to death. He ordered that they cut off his head at the place of execution. They hurried off and tied up the Bodhisatta. The drum was beaten to announce the execution.
The Bodhisatta thought, “Undoubtedly that wicked Queen has already poisoned the King against me, and now must I save myself from this danger.” He said to his captors, “Bring me into the King’s presence before you execute me.”
“Why?” they asked.
“Because as the King’s servant, I have worked tirelessly on the King’s behalf. I know where great treasures are hidden. If I am not brought before the King, all this wealth will be lost. So lead me to him and then do your duty.”
Accordingly, they brought him before the King, who asked him why simple respect had not prevented him from such wickedness.
“Sire,” the Bodhisatta answered, “I was born a brahmin. I have never taken the life of so much as an ant. I have never taken what was not my own, not even a blade of grass. I have never looked with lust upon another man’s wife. I have never - not even in jest - spoken falsely. I have never drunk a drop of alcohol. I am innocent, sire. But that wicked woman tried to seduce me. When I refused, she threatened me. But before she did so, she told me about her mischief. For there were 64 messengers who came with letters from you to the Queen. Send for these men and ask each one of them whether he did as the Queen wanted.”
Then the King had the 64 men bound, and he sent for the Queen. She confessed to having seduced the men. The King ordered that all 64 of them should be beheaded.
But at this point the Bodhisatta cried out, “Sire, these men are not to blame. They were forced by the Queen. Pardon them. And as for the Queen, she is not to blame. Her mind is untrained. She is blinded by the fire of passion. You should pardon her as well, Oh King.”
Figure: Pleading for Mercy for the Queen and the 64 Men
Upon this humble request the King was merciful. And so the Bodhisatta saved the lives of the Queen and the 64 men. He gave each of the men a place to live. Then the Bodhisatta went to the King and said, “Sire, baseless accusations born of foolishness put the wise in bondage, but the words of the wise release the foolish. Foolishness wrongfully enslaves, and wisdom sets one free from slavery.” So saying, he uttered this stanza:
While foolish speech enslaves unjustly,
With wise words the unjustly bound go free.
When he had taught the King the Dharma in these verses, he exclaimed, “All this trouble sprang from my living a lay life. I must change my way of living. I ask your permission, sire, to give up the world.” And with the King’s permission he gave up the world. He gave up his family and his great wealth in order to become a renunciate. He lived in the Himalayas, and there he won the Higher Knowledges (the power of faith, the power of moral shame, the power of moral dread, the power of energy, and the power of wisdom) and the Attainments (eight jhānas) and became destined to be reborn in the Brahma Realm.
His lesson ended, the Master identified the birth by saying, “Ciñcā was the wicked Queen of those days, Ānanda was the King, and I was his chaplain.”
