Jataka 323
Brahmadatta Jātaka
The Single-soled Shoes
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 is a rather touching story about a spiritual seeker—a recluse—who is so afraid of even the appearance of impropriety, that he does not make a simple request for 12 years.
Throughout human history people in positions of religious authority have used their positions for personal gain. This is true in Buddhism as well. And in this story some of the Buddha’s monks are being annoying in pestering people for material gain. Sadly this message has gone largely disrespected throughout Buddhist history. And today lay people even take money for teaching the Dharma. They would do well to respect the humility of the recluse in this story.
“Such is the quality.” The Master told this story while living in the Aggāḷava temple near Āḷavī (a town about thirty “yojanas” from Savatthi). It is about the regulations to be observed in the building of monastics huts.
The introductory story has been already set forth in the Maṇikaṇṭha Birth (Jātaka 253), but on this occasion the Master said, “Is it true, monks, that you live here by being persistent to the point of annoyance in asking and begging for alms?” And when they answered “Yes,” he reproved them and said, “Wise men of old, when offered their choice by the king, though they were in need of a pair of single-soled shoes, through fear of doing violence to their sensitive and scrupulous nature, did not venture to say a word in the presence of the people, but spoke in private.” And so saying he told them this story from the past.
Once upon a time in the Kampillaka kingdom, when a Pañcāla (an ancient kingdom in northern India) king was reigning in a North Pañcāla city, the Bodhisatta was reborn into a brahmin family in a certain market town. And when he had grown up, he acquired a knowledge of the arts at Takkasilā University. Afterwards he took orders as a recluse and lived in the Himālaya country. He lived for a long time by what he could find—feeding on wild fruits and roots. Finally, he wandered back to the world of men for the purpose of procuring salt and vinegar. He went to a city of North Pañcāla and took up residence in the King’s garden. On the next day he went into the city to beg for alms, and he went to the King’s gate. The King was so pleased with his demeanor and his behavior that he seated him on the King’s platform and fed him with food worthy of a king. He got him to promise to stay, and he assigned him a shelter in the garden.
He lived there in the king’s house, and at the end of the rainy season, being anxious to return to the Himālayas, he thought, “If I go on this journey, I must get a pair of single-soled shoes (shoes with more than a single lining were not to be worn by the monks, except when they had been cast off by others) and an umbrella of leaves. I will ask for them from the King.”
One day he went to the garden and found the King sitting there. He saluted him and decided that he would ask him for the shoes and umbrella. But his second thought was, “A man who begs from another, saying, ‘Give me this or that,’ is apt to weep. And the other man also when he refuses, saying, ‘I do not have it to give,’ in his turn weeps.” And so that the people might not see either him or the King weeping, he thought, “We will both weep quietly in some solitary place.”
So he said, “Great King, I am anxious to speak with you in private.” On hearing this, the royal attendants departed. The Bodhisatta thought, “If the King refuses my request, our friendship will be at an end. So I will not ask anything of him.” So on that day, not venturing to mention the subject, he said, “Go now, Great King. I will see about this matter by-and-by.” On yet another day the King came to the garden. But as before, he could not make his request. And so 12 years elapsed.
Then the King thought, “This holy man said, ‘I wish to speak in private.’ But when the courtiers left, he did not have the courage to speak. And while he is longing to do so, 12 years have elapsed. After living the holy life for so long, I suspect he is missing the world. He is eager to enjoy pleasures and is longing for independence. But being unable to frame this request, he keeps silent. Today I will offer him whatever he desires, from my kingdom downward.”
So he went to the garden, sat down, and saluted him. The Bodhisatta asked to speak to him in private, and when the courtiers had left, once again he could not say a word. The King said, “For 12 years you have asked to speak to me in private, and when you have had the opportunity, you have not been able to say a word. I offer you everything, beginning with my kingdom. Do not be afraid, but ask for whatever you please.”
“Great King,” he said, “will you give me what I want?”
“Yes, reverend sir, I will.”
“Great King, when I go on my journey, I must have a pair of single-soled shoes and an umbrella of leaves.”
“Have you not been able, sir, for 12 years to ask for such a trifle as this?”
Figure: You waited 12 years?
“That is so, Great King.”
“Why, sir, did you act in this way?”
“Great King, the man who says ‘Give me this and that,’ sheds tears, and the one who refuses and says ‘I do not have it to give,’ in his turn weeps. If, when I begged, you refused me, I feared the people might see us mingling our tears. This is why I asked for a secret interview.” Then from the beginning he repeated three stanzas:
Such is the quality of asking, O King,
That a rich gift or a refusal bring.
Who beg, Pañcāla lord, to weep are fain,
They who refuse are apt to weep again.
Lest people see us shed the idle tear,
My request I whisper in your secret ear.
The King, being charmed with this mark of respect on the part of the Bodhisatta, granted him the boon and spoke the fourth stanza:
Brahmin, I offer you a thousand cows,
Red cows, and e’en the leader of the herd.
Hearing but now these generous words espouse,
I too in turn to generous deed am stirred.
But the Bodhisatta said, “I do not, sire, desire material pleasures. Give me that only that for which I ask.”
So he took the pair of single-soled shoes and the umbrella of leaves from the King. He exhorted the King to be devoted to the spiritual life, to keep the moral law, and observe the holy days. And even though the King begged him to stay, he went back to the Himālayas. There he developed all the Faculties (1) faith/confidence, 2) energy, 3) mindfulness, 4) concentration/samadhi and 5) wisdom/insight) and the Attainments (jhānas), and he was destined to be reborn in the Brahma world.
The Master, having ended his lesson, identified the birth: “At that time Ānanda was the King, and I was the recluse.”
