Jataka 422
Cetiya Jātaka
The Big Lie
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 story takes us back to an ancient, mythical time called the “first age.” It is a time in which the act of lying is unknown. But an ill-fated King, despite repeated warnings, tells a lie seven times. As a result he is swallowed up by the earth. This story reinforces in a dramatic way the Buddhist reverence for speaking the truth. Even bending a story a little is unthinkable for a disciple of the Buddha. Imagine hearing this story as a child in a Buddhist family. It would certainly leave a mark.
“Injured Right can injure sorely.” The Master told this story while he was living at Jetavana. It is about Devadatta’s being swallowed up by the earth. (This may have been an earthquake.) On that day they were discussing in the Dharma Hall how Devadatta had spoken falsely and had sunk into the ground and become destined to be reborn in the Avīci hell. The Master arrived and, hearing the subject of their talk, said, “This is not the first time he sank into the earth.” And so he told this story from the past.
(From Wikipedia: “In Buddhism, [the Avīci hell] is the lowest level of the Naraka or "hell" realm, with the most suffering, into which the dead who have committed grave misdeeds may be reborn.” In Hinduism the Avīci realm is especially associated with those who lie.)
Once upon a time, in the first age, there was a King named Mahāsammata, whose life was an asaṅkheyya (incalculable) long. His son was Roja, his son Vararoja, and then the succession was Kalyāṇa, Varakalyāṇa, Uposatha, Mandhātā, Varamandhātā, Cara, Upacara, who was also called Apacara. He reigned over the kingdom of Ceti in the city of Sotthivati. He was endowed with four supernatural faculties. He could walk aloft and pass through the air. He had four devas in each of the four quarters to defend him with drawn swords. He diffused the fragrance of sandalwood from his body. And he diffused the fragrance of the lotus from his mouth.
His family priest was named Kapila. This brahmin’s younger brother, Korakalamba, had been taught along with the King by the same teacher, and he was the King’s playmate. When Apacara was prince, he promised to make Korakalamba his family priest when he became King.
At his father’s death he became King, but he could not remove Kapila from the position of family priest. And when Kapila came to wait on him, he showed him special forms of honor. The brahmin observed this and considered that a King manages best with ministers of his own age, and that he might get leave from the King to become a recluse. So he said, “O king, I am getting old. I have a son at home. Make him your family priest, and I will become a recluse.” He got the King’s leave and had his son appointed family priest. Then he went to the King’s park, became a recluse, reached transcendent knowledge, and he lived there near his son.
Korakalambaka felt a grudge against his brother because he had not given him the post when he became a recluse. One day the King said to him in friendly conversation, “Korakalambaka, you are not the family priest?” “No, O King. My brother has managed it.” “Did not your brother become a recluse?” “He has, but he got the post for his son.” “Then do you manage it.” “O King, it is impossible for me to go against my brother and take a post which has come by descent.” “If so, I will make you senior and the other your junior.” “How, O King?” “By telling a lie.” (According to the PTS edition, this was the invention of a lie in the first age.) “O King, do you not know that my brother is a magician and that he is endowed with great supernatural power? He will deceive you with magical illusions. He will make your four devas disappear. He will make an evil odor come from your body and mouth. He will make you come down from the sky and stand on the ground. You will be swallowed up by the earth, and you will not be able to stand by your story.” “Do not worry. I will manage it.” “When will you do this, O King?” “Seven days from now.”
The story got around the city. “The King is going to tell a lie to make the senior the junior. He will give the post to the junior. What is a lie? Is it blue or yellow or some other color?” The multitude thought greatly about it. It was a time, they say, when the world only told the truth. No one knew what the word “lie” might mean.
The priest’s son heard the story and told his father. “Father, they say the King is going to tell a lie to make you junior and to give our post to my uncle.” “My dear, the King will not be able to take our post from us even by telling a lie. On what day is he going to do this?” “Seven days from today, they say.” “Let me know when the time comes.”
On the seventh day a great multitude gathered in the King’s courtyard sitting in rows above rows hoping to see a lie. The young priest went and told his father. The King was ready in full dress. He appeared and floated in the air in the courtyard amid the multitude The recluse arrived through the air. He spread his skin-seat before the King, sat on his throne in the air, and said, “Is it true, O King, that you wish to make the junior senior and to give him the post by telling a lie?” “Master, I have done so.” Then he admonished the King, “O great King, a lie is a grievous destruction of good qualities. It causes rebirth in the four evil states. (The four evil states are hell, the world of hungry ghosts, the animal realm, and the world of asuras or angry demons.) A King who tells a lie destroys what is right, and by destroying right, he is himself destroyed.” And he spoke the first stanza:
Injured Right can injure sorely, and avenge with injury.
Therefore Right should ne’er be injured, lest the harm recoil on thee.
Admonishing him farther he said, “Great King, if you tell a lie, your four supernatural powers will disappear.” And he spoke the second stanza:
The powers divine forsake and leave the man who tells a lie,
Ill smells his mouth, he cannot keep his foothold in the sky.
Whoe’er to questioning replies with falsehood willfully.
Hearing this, the King looked in fear to Korakalambaka. He said, “Be not afraid, O King. Did I not tell you this from the beginning?” But the king, even though he heard Kapila’s words, still put forward his statement. “Sir, you are the younger. Korakalambaka is the elder.” And at the moment when he uttered this lie, the four devas said they would guard such a liar no longer. They threw their swords at his feet and disappeared. His mouth stank like a broken rotten egg, and his body smelled like an open drain. And falling from the air, he fell onto the earth. So all his four supernatural powers disappeared.
His chief priest said, “Great King, do not be afraid. If you will speak the truth, I will restore everything to you.” And so he spoke the third stanza:
A word of truth, and all your gifts, O King, you will regain.
A lie will fix you in the soil of Ceti to remain.
He said, “Look, O great King. Those four supernatural powers of yours disappeared because of your lie. Consider carefully, for it is possible now to restore them.” But the King answered, “You wish to trick me in this.” And so—telling a second lie—he sank in the earth up to the ankles. Then the brahmin said once more, “Consider carefully, O great King.” And he spoke the fourth stanza:
Drought comes on him in time of rain, rain when it should be dry,
Whoe’er to questioning replies with falsehood willfully.
Then once again he said, “Because of your lying you are sunk in the earth up to the ankles. Consider carefully, O great King.” And he spoke the fifth stanza:
One word of truth, and all your gifts, O King, you will regain.
A lie will sink you in the soil of Ceti to remain.
But for the third time the King said, “You are junior and Korakalambaka is elder.” And at this lie he sank in the ground up to the knees. Once more the brahmin said, “Consider carefully, O great King.” And he spoke two stanzas:
O King, the man is forked of tongue, and like a serpent sly,
Whoe’er to questioning replies with falsehood willfully.
One word of truth, and all your gifts, O King, you shalt regain.
A lie will sink you deeper still in Ceti to remain.
He added, “Even now all may be restored.”
The King, not heeding his words, repeated the lie for the fourth time. “You are junior, sir, and Korakalambaka is elder.” And at these words he sank into the ground up to the hips. Again the brahmin said, “Consider carefully, O great King.” And he spoke two stanzas:
O King, that man is like a fish, and tongueless he shall be,
Whoe’er to questioning replies with falsehood willfully.
One word of truth, and all your gifts, O King, you shalt regain.
A lie will sink you deeper still in Ceti to remain.
For the fifth time the King repeated the lie, and as he did so he sank into the ground up to his navel. The brahmin once more appealed to him to consider, and spoke two stanzas:
Your marriage will be barren, no children will you see,
Whoe’er to questioning replies with falsehood willfully.
One word of truth, and all your gifts, O King, you shall regain.
A lie will sink you deeper still in Ceti to remain.
The King paid no heed, and repeating the lie for the sixth time. he sank into the ground up to the breast. The brahmin made his appeal once more, and he spoke two stanzas:
His family will not stay with him, on every side they flee,
Whoe’er to questioning replies with falsehood willfully.
One word of truth, and all your gifts, O King, you shall regain.
A lie will sink you deeper still in Ceti to remain.
Because of his association with a wicked friend, he disregarded the words and repeated the same lie for the seventh time. Then the earth opened up, and the flames of Avīci leaped up and seized him.
Figure: The invention of the lie and its consequences!
Cursed by a sage, the King who once could walk the air, they say,
Was lost and swallowed by the earth on his appointed day.
Wherefore the wise do not approve at all
When that desire into the heart does fall.
He who is free from guile, whose heart is pure,
All that he says is ever firm and sure.
These are two stanzas inspired by Perfect Wisdom.
After the lesson, the Master said, “So, brothers, this is not the first time that Devadatta has told a lie and sunk into the earth.” And then he identified the birth: “At that time the King of Ceti was Devadatta, and I was the brahmin Kapila.”
