Jataka 288
Macch Ūddana Jātaka
The Dishonest Merchant
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 has a couple of interesting twists. But first of all, any story with a river fairy has to be good, right? And it is by the power of the river fairy that the Bodhisatta’s money is returned to him.
One interesting twist is that despite being cheated, the Bodhisatta still gives his cheating brother half of the proceeds. The second is that the cheating merchant attains stream-entry. This is a fundamental principle in the Buddha’s teaching, that anyone can change at any time.
“Who could believe the story?” The Master told this story at Jetavana. It is about a dishonest merchant. The circumstances have been told above.
Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was the King of Benares, the Bodhisatta was born into the family of a landed proprietor.
When he grew up, he became a wealthy man. Afterwards his father died. He and his younger brother determined to arrange some business of their father’s. This took them to a village where they were paid a thousand gold coins. On their way back, as they waited on a riverbank for the boat, they ate a meal out of a leaf pot. The Bodhisatta threw his leftovers into the Ganges for the fish, dedicating the merit of his generosity to the river spirit. The spirit accepted this with gratification. This increased her divine power, and on contemplating this sudden increase in her power, she became aware of what had happened. Meanwhile, the Bodhisatta laid his upper garment down on the sand, and there he lay down and went to sleep.
Now the younger brother was of a rather thievish nature. He wanted to steal the money from the Bodhisatta and keep it for himself. So he packed a parcel of gravel to look like the parcel of money and put them both away.
They boarded a boat and were about at midriver when the younger brother stumbled against the side of the boat and dropped what he thought was the parcel of gravel overboard. However, it was really the money.
“Brother, the money’s overboard!” he cried. “What can we do?”
“What can we do? What’s gone is gone. Never mind about it,” he replied.
But the river spirit thought how pleased she had been with the merit she had received and how her divine power had been increased. She resolved to take care of his property. So she used her power to make a large-mouthed fish swallow the parcel, and then she looked after the fish herself.
When the thief got home, he chuckled over the trick he had played on his brother. But when he undid the remaining parcel, there was nothing but gravel to be seen! His heart dried up. He fell on his bed and clutched the bedstead.
Now just then some fishermen cast their nets into the water. By the power of the river spirit, this fish fell into the net. The fishermen took the fish into town to sell. People asked what the price was.
“A thousand gold coins and seven cents,” the fishermen said.
Everybody made fun of them. “We have seen a fish offered for a thousand pieces of gold plus seven cents!” they laughed.
The fishermen then brought their fish to the Bodhisatta’s door and asked him to buy it.
“What's the price?” he asked.
“You may have it for seven cents,” they said.
“What did you ask other people for it?”
“From other people we asked a thousand gold coins and seven cents, but you may have it for seven cents,” they said.
He paid the seven cents for it and sent it to his wife. She cut it open, and there was the parcel of money! She called the Bodhisatta. He looked at it and recognized his mark on the pouch, knowing at once it was actually his. He thought, “These fishermen asked other people the price of a thousand gold coins and seven cents, but because the thousand gold coins were mine, they let me have it for only seven cents! If a man does not understand the meaning of this, nothing will ever make him believe.” And then he repeated the first stanza:
“Who could believe the story, were he told,
That a fish for a thousand should be sold?
They’re seven cents to me, how I could wish
To buy a whole string of this kind of fish!”
When he had said this, he wondered how it was that he had recovered his money. At that moment the river spirit hovered invisibly in the air and declared, “I am the Spirit of the Ganges. You gave the remains of your meal to the fish and let me have the merit. Therefore I have taken care of your property.” And she repeated a stanza:
“You fed the fish and gave a gift to me.
This I remember, and your piety."
Figure: The invisible spirit explains the mystery
Then the spirit told him about the mean trick that the younger brother had played. Then she added, “There he lies with his heart dried up within him. There is no prosperity for the cheat. But I have brought you your money, and I warn you not to lose it. Don’t give it to your young thief of a brother, but keep it all yourself.” Then she repeated the third stanza:
“There's no good fortune for the wicked heart,
And in the sprites’ respect he has no part.
Who cheats his brother of paternal wealth
And works out evil deeds by craft and stealth.”
Then the spirit spoke, saying that she did not want the treacherous villain to receive any money. But the Bodhisatta said, “That is impossible,” and all the same sent he sent his cheating brother 500 gold coins.
After this discourse, the Master taught the Four Noble Truths, at the conclusion of which the merchant entered upon the fruition of the first path (stream-entry). Then he identified the birth: “At that time the younger brother was the dishonest merchant, and I was the elder brother.”
