Jataka 213
Bharu Jātaka
The Story of Bharu
as told by Eric Van Horn
originally translated by William Henry Denham Rouse, Cambridge University
originally edited by Professor Edward Byles Cowell, Cambridge University
This story is about the rivalry between different spiritual sects of the time. It may be unseemly that the Buddha wants the rival sect’s monastery torn down. But I think the idea is that the rivals were trying to actively interfere with the Buddha’s monastery. As the story says, they were noisy and would have disturbed the Buddha’s monastics and their meditation. Also, Jetavana was bought for the Buddha’s Saṇgha by his great benefactor Anāthapiṇḍika and was rightfully theirs.
It is also interesting that the rival sects in the Jātaka ultimately decide that even though they were rivals, they should not quarrel.
“The King of Bharu.” The Master told this story while he was staying at Jetavana. It is about the King of Kosala (King Pasenadi).
Now we read that magnificent presents were given to the Blessed One and his company. They were held in great respect. It was written, “At that time the Blessed One was honored and revered, respected, reverenced, highly esteemed, and received rich presents: robes, food, lodging, drugs and medicines and provisions. The Saṇgha was likewise honored. But the seekers from other schools were not honored.”
Well, the members of these other sects, finding that honor and gifts diminished, convened a secret meeting. “Since the appearance of the Mendicant Gautama,” they said, “honor and gifts are no longer given to us, but he has got the best of both. What can be the reason for his good fortune?” Then one of them said, “The Mendicant Gautama has the best and greatest place in all India in which to live, and that is the reason for his success.” Then the others said, “If this is the reason, we will make a rival settlement above Jetavana, and then we shall receive gifts.” This was the conclusion they came to.
“But,” they thought, “if we hide our settlement from the King, the Buddha’s Saṇgha will stop us. But if he accepts a large gift from us, he will be inclined to break up their settlement. So we had best bribe him to give us a place of our own.”
So through the intervention of his courtiers, they offered 100,000 gold coins to the King with this message, “Great King, we want to make a rival settlement in Jetavana. If the Buddha’s Saṇgha tells you they won’t permit it, please do not give them any answer.” To this the King agreed because he wanted the money.
After so, placating the King, the members of the rival sects got an architect and started the work at hand. They generated a great deal of noise.
“What is all this great noise and tumult, Ānanda?” the Master asked.
“The noise,” he said, “is some members of another sect who are having a new settlement built.”
“That is not a fit place,” he responded, “for them to settle. Those people are fond of noise. There’s no living with them.”
Then he called the Saṇgha together and told them to go tell the King what was happening and to have the building stopped.
The Saṇgha went and stood by the palace door. The King, as soon as he heard they were coming, knew they had come to stop the new settlement. But since he had been bribed, he ordered his attendants to say that the King was not there. The Saṇgha went back and told the Master. The Master guessed that a bribe had been given, and so he sent his two chief disciples (Moggallāna and Sāriputta). But the King, as soon as he heard of their arrival, gave the same order as before. So they, too, returned and told the Master. The Master said, “Undoubtedly the King is not home today. He must be out.”
On the next day, he dressed himself, took his bowl and robe, and with 500 monks walked to the door of the palace. The King heard them arrive. He descended from the upper story and took the alms bowl of the Buddha. Then he gave rice and porridge to him and his followers, and with a salutation he sat down on one side.
The Master began an exposition for the King’s benefit, in these words: “Great King, other kings in by-gone days have taken bribes. Then, by making virtuous people quarrel, they have lost their kingdom and been utterly destroyed.” And then, at his request, the Master told this story from the past.
Once upon a time, King Bharu was reigning over the kingdom of Bharu. At the same time the Bodhisatta was the teacher of a group of monks. He was a recluse who had acquired the Five Supernatural Faculties (1. walking on water or through walls, 2. ESP, 3. telepathy, 4. recollecting previous lives and 5. “the divine eye,” which is seeing peoples’ next rebirth) and the Eight Attainments (jhānas), and he lived for a long time in the region of the Himalaya.
He went down from Himalaya to buy salt and seasoning followed by 500 recluses. They went by stages to the city of Bharu. He went begging through the city, and then - coming out from it - he sat down by the northern gate at the root of a banyan tree. There he ate a meal, and there they made their residence.
Now when that band of recluses had lived there for half a month, along came another teacher with another 500 followers. They, too, went seeking alms in the city, and then they came out and sat underneath another banyan tree by the south gate. There they ate and likewise took up their residence there. And the two groups lived there as long as they wanted and then returned to the Himalaya.
Once they left, the tree by the south gate withered away. The next time the recluses went to the city, those who had lived under it arrived first. Seeing that their tree was withered, they first went on their rounds in the city, and then went out by the northern gate. There they ate and lived under the banyan tree that was by that gate. And the other group, coming later, went on their rounds in the city, and then headed for their banyan tree.
“This is not your tree, it is ours!” they cried, and they began to quarrel about the tree. The quarrel grew heated. One group said, “Do not take the place where we used to live!” And the other group said, “This time we got here first! Do not take it from us!” So each group shouted that they were the owners of it, and finally they all went to the King’s palace.
The King ordered that those who had first lived there should have the rights to it. Then the others thought, “We will not allow ourselves to say that we have been beaten by them!” Using their divine sight, they saw the body of a chariot fit for an emperor to use. They took it and offered it as a gift to the King. They begged him to give them possession of the tree. He took their gift and ordered that both groups should live under the tree, and so they were to all live there together.
Then the other group got the jeweled wheels of the same chariot. They offered them to the King, praying to him, “Oh mighty King, give us possession of the tree alone!” And the King did so.
Then the recluses repented and said, “To think that we, who have overcome the love of riches and sense desire, and who have renounced the world, should quarrel because of a tree and offer bribes for it! This is unfitting.” And they immediately went back to the Himalaya.
All the spirits (devas) that lived in the kingdom of Bharu were angry with the King because the holy men had left. They caused a great tempest, and for the space of 1500 kilometers they flooded the kingdom of Bharu. And so because of the King of Bharu, all the inhabitants of the kingdom perished.
Figure: The Devas Were Not Happy!
When the Teacher had ended this story, in his perfect wisdom he uttered the following stanzas:
“The King of Bharu, as old stories say,
Made holy recluses quarrel on a day.
For this misdeed then he fell dead,
And with him all his kingdom shred.
“Whatever the wise don’t approve at all
When sense desire into the heart doth fall.
He that is free from guile, whose heart is pure,
All that he says is ever true and sure.”
When the Master had ended this story, he added, “Great King, one should not succumb to the power of desire. Two spiritual parties should not quarrel with one another.” Then he identified the birth: “In those days, I was the leader of the recluses.”
When the King had entertained the Buddha, and he had departed, the King sent some men to have the rival settlement destroyed, and those recluses became homeless.
