Jataka 269
Sujātā Jātaka
The Story of Sujātā
as told by Eric Van Horn
originally translated by William Henry Denham Rouse, Cambridge University
originally edited by Professor Edward Byles Cowell, Cambridge University
The main character in this story is Sujātā. However this is apparently not the same Sujātā who nursed the Buddha back to life before his awakening.
Some people may object to seems like gender bias in this story. But the Buddha was very even-handed in his treatment of husbands and wives. Husbands were expected to treat their wives and families responsibly, and the wives were expected to do the same.
“Those who are dowered.” The Master told this story while living in Jetavana. It is about one Sujātā, a daughter-in-law of Anāthapiṇḍika, daughter of the great merchant Dhanañjaya, and youngest sister of Visākhā.
We are told that she entered the house of Anāthapiṇḍika full of conceit, thinking how great a family she had come from. She was stubborn, violent, passionate, and cruel. She refused to respect her new father and mother or her husband. She went about the house with harsh words and hard blows for everyone.
One day the Master and 500 monks visited Anāthapiṇḍika’s house. There they took their seats. The great merchant sat beside the Blessed One, listening to his discourse. At the same time Sujātā was scolding the servants.
The Master stopped talking and asked what that noise was. The merchant explained that it was his rude daughter-in-law, that she did not behave properly towards her husband or his parents, she gave no alms, and that she had no good qualities. She was faithless and unbelieving. She went about the house scolding everyone day and night. The Master asked for her to be sent to him.
Sujātā came, and after saluting the Master, she stood on one side. Then the Master addressed her: “Sujātā, there are seven kinds of wife a man may have. Which kind are you?” She replied, “Sir, you speak in too little detail for me to understand. Please explain.” “Well,” the Master said, “listen closely,” and he spoke the following verses:
“One is bad-hearted, nor compassionates
The good loves others, but her lord she hates.
Destroying all that her lord’s wealth obtains,
This wife the title of Destroyer gains.
“Whate’er the husband gets for her by trade,
Or skilled profession or the farmer’s spade,
She tries to filch a little out of it.
For such a wife the title Thief is fit.
“Careless of duty, lazy, passionate,
Greedy, foul-mouthed, and full of wrath and hate,
Tyrannical to all her underlings,
All this the title High and Mighty brings.
“Who evermore compassionates the good,
Cares for her husband as a mother would,
Guards all the wealth her husband may obtain—
This wife the title Motherly will gain.
“She who respects her husband in the way
Young sisters reverence to elders pay,
Modest, obedient to her husband’s will,
The Sisterly is this wife’s title still.
“She whom her husband’s sight will always please
As friend that friend after long absence sees,
High-bred and virtuous, giving up hen life
To him this one is called the Friendly wife.
“Calm when stressed, afraid of violence,
No passion, full of dogged patience,
True-hearted, honoring her husband’s will,
Dutiful is the title given to her still."
“These, Sujātā, are the seven wives a man may have. Three of these, the Destructive wife, the Dishonest wife, and Madam High and Mighty are reborn in hell. The other four are reborn in the Fifth Heaven.
“They who are called Destroyer in this life,
The High and Mighty, or the Thievish wife,
Being angry, wicked, disrespectful, go
Out of the body into hell below.
“They who are called the Friendly in this life,
Motherly, Sisterly, or Dutiful wife,
By virtue and their long self-mastery
Pass into heaven when their bodies die.”
While the Master was explaining these seven kinds of wives, Sujātā attained stream-entry. And when the Master asked to which class of wife she belonged, she answered, “I am Dutiful, sir!” and respectfully saluting the Buddha, took leave of him.
Thus by one admonition the Master tamed the tyrant. And after the meal, when he had declared their duties among the Saṇgha, he entered his perfumed chamber.
Now the monks gathered together in the Dharma Hall and sang the Master’s praises. “Friend, by a single admonition the Master has tamed a tyrant and raised her to stream-entry!” The Master entered and asked what they were discussing as they sat together. They told him. Said he, “Monks, this is not the first time that I have tamed Sujātā by a single admonition.” And he proceeded to tell them this story from the past.
Once upon a time, while Brahmadatta reigned over Benares, the Bodhisatta was born as the son of his Queen Consort. When he grew up he received his education at Takkasilā University, and after the death of his father, he became King and ruled in righteousness.
His mother was a passionate woman, cruel, harsh, shrewish, and ill-tongued. The son wished to admonish his mother, but he felt he must not do anything disrespectful. So he kept on the look-out for a chance of making his point.
One day he went down onto the grounds with his mother. A blue jay screeched on the road. At this all the courtiers covered their ears, crying, “What a harsh voice, what a shriek! Don’t make that noise!”
Later when the Bodhisatta was walking through the park with his mother, a cuckoo, perched amid the thick leaves of a sāl tree, sang sweetly. All the bystanders were delighted at her voice. They clasping their hands, and stretching them out, they exclaimed, “Oh, what a soft voice, what a kind voice, what a gentle voice! Sing away, birdie, sing away!” And there they stood, stretching their necks, eagerly listening.
Figure: “Sing away, birdie, sing away!”
The Bodhisatta, noting these two incidents, thought that here was a chance to make his point to the Queen Mother. “Mother,” he said, “when they heard the jay’s cry on the road, everybody stopped their ears and called out, ‘Don’t make that noise! Don’t make that noise!’ and they covered up their ears. This was because no one likes to hear harsh sounds.” And he repeated the following stanzas:
“Those who are dowered with a lovely-hue,
Though never so fair and beautiful to view,
Yet if they have a voice all harsh to hear
Neither in this world nor the next are dear.
“There is a bird that you may often see,
Ill-favoured, black, and speckled though it be,
Yet its soft voice is pleasant to the ear,
How many creatures hold the cuckoo dear!
“Therefore your voice should gentle be and sweet,
Wise-speaking, not puffed up with self-conceit.
And such a voice, how sweet the sound of it!
Explains the meaning of the Holy Writ.”
When the Bodhisatta had thus admonished his mother with these three verses, he won her over to his way of thinking. And after that she followed a wise course of living. And he having by one word made his mother a self-respecting woman, subsequently passed away to fare according to his karma.
When the Master ended this discourse, he identified the birth: “Sujātā was the mother of the King of Benares, and I was the King.”
