Samudda Vāṇija Jātaka

Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was the King of Benares, there stood a great town of carpenters near Benares. It contained a thousand families. The carpenters from this town used to profess that they would make a bed, or a chair, or a house, and after receiving a large advance from men’s hands, they proved unable to make anything what-so-ever. As a result, the people used to rebuke every carpenter they met with and did everything they could to make their lives miserable.

Those carpenters were so harassed that they could not live there any longer. “Let us go off to some foreign land,” they said, “and find some other place in which to live.” And so off to the forest they went. They cut down trees, they built a mighty ship, and they launched it in the river. They took the ship away from that town, and at a distance of some three-quarters of a league they laid her up. Then in the middle of the night they returned to the town to get their families. They boarded the ship, and then proceeded in due course tout ino the ocean. There they sailed at the wind’s will until they reached an island that lay in the midst of the sea.

Now on that island grew all manner of plants and wild fruit-trees, rice, sugar-cane, banana, mango, rose-apple, jack, cocoanut, and what not. There was another man who had been shipwrecked, and he had taken possession of that island before them. He lived there, eating the rice and enjoying the sugar-cane and all the rest, and by this bounty he had grown stout and sturdy. He went about naked, and his hair and beard had grown long. The carpenters thought, “If that island is haunted by demons, we will all perish, so we will explore it first.” Then seven men, brave and strong, armed themselves with the five kinds of weapons (sword, spear, bow, shield, axe). Then they disembarked and explored the island.

At that moment the castaway had just broken his fast and drunk of the juice of the sugar-cane. He was lying in great contentment on his back in a lovely spot. He was cool in the shade on some sand which glistened like a silver plate. He was thinking, “No one who lives in India has happiness like this. They plough and sow and work the harvest. This island is better to me than life in India!” He sang for joy, and was at the height of bliss.

The Master, to explain how this castaway sang for joy and bliss, repeated the first stanza:

"Others sow and others plough,

Living by the sweat o’ the brow.

In my realm they have no share.

India? This is better far!”

The scouts who were exploring the island heard the sound of his singing, and they said, “It sounds like the voice of a man that we hear. Let us go and make his acquaintance.” Following the sound, they came upon the man, but his appearance horrified them. “It is a goblin!” they cried, and they notched arrows to their bows. When the man saw them, he was in fear of being wounded, so he called out, “I am no goblin, sirs, but a man. Spare my life!” “What!” they said, “do men go all naked and defenseless like you?” They asked him again and again only to receive the same answer, that he was a man. At last they approached him. They began to talk pleasantly together, and the new-comers asked how he had come to be there. The man told them the truth of it. “As a reward for your good deeds you have come here,” he said. “This is a first-rate island. There is no need to work here with your hands for a living. There is no end to the rice and sugar-cane and all the rest. They all grow wild. You may live here without anxiety.” “Is there anything else,” they asked, “to hinder our living here?” “There is no fear except for this. The island is haunted by demons, and the demons would be incensed to see the excretions from your bodies. So when you relieve yourselves, dig a hole in the sand and hide it there. That is the only danger; there is no other. But always be careful on this point.”

Then they took up residence in that place.

Among the thousand families there were two master workmen. Each one was at the head of 500 men. One of these master workmen was foolish and greedy for the best food. The other one was wise and not bent on getting the best of everything.

In the due course of time, as they continued to live there, they all grew stout and sturdy. Then they thought, “We have not been merry men in a long time. We will make some toddy from the juice of the sugar-cane.” So they made some strong drink, and being drunk, they sang, danced, and sported. And then in thoughtlessness they relieved themselves here, there, and everywhere without hiding it. This made the island foul and disgusting. The deities were incensed because these men made their home so foul. “Shall we wash the sea over it,” they deliberated, “and cleanse the island? This is the dark fortnight. Now our gathering is scattered. But on the fifteenth day from now, at the first of the full moon, at the time of the moon’s rising, we will gather and bring up the sea and make an end to them all.” In this way they established the day. But a righteous deity who was one of them thought, “I would not let all these people perish before my eyes.” So in his compassion, at the time when the men were sitting at their doors in pleasant conversation, after their evening meal, he made the whole island one blaze of light. And adorned in all splendor, he poised in the air towards the north and spoke to them, “O ye carpenters! The deities are angry with you. Do not live in this place any longer, for in half a month from this time, the deities will bring forth the sea and destroy you one and all. Therefore go from this place.” And he repeated the second stanza:

"In thrice five days the moon will rise to view,

Then from the sea a mighty flood is due

This mighty island to o’erwhelm. Then haste,

Take shelter elsewhere, that it hurt not you.”

With this advice, he returned to his own place. After he left, another comrade of his—a cruel god—thought, “Perhaps they will follow his advice and escape. I will prevent their leaving and bring them all to utter destruction.” So adorned in divine splendor, he, too, made a great blaze of light over the whole place. And approaching them, he remained poised in the air towards the south. He asked, “Has there been a god here?” “There has,” was the reply. “What did he tell you?” They told him. Then he said, “This god does not want you to live here, and he speaks in anger. Do not go away. You should stay here.” And with these words, he repeated two stanzas:

“To me by many signs it is made clear,

That mighty ocean flood of which you hear

Shall never this great island overwhelm,

Then take your pleasure, grieve not, never fear.

“Here you have lit upon a wide abode,

Full of all things to eat, of drink and food,

I see no danger for you. Come, enjoy

Unto all generations this your good.”

Having in these two stanzas relieved their fears, he departed. When he had gone, the foolish carpenter lifted up his voice, and paying no heed to the saying of the righteous deity, he cried, “Let your honors listen to me!” and he addressed all the carpenters in the fifth stanza:

“That god, who from the southern quarter clear

Cries out, All safe! from him the truth we hear.

Fear or fear not, the northern has no whit.

Why grieve, then? Take your pleasure—never fear!”

On hearing him, the 500 greedy carpenters followed to the counsel of the foolish carpenter. But the wise carpenter refused to listen to him, and addressing the carpenters, he repeated four stanzas:

“While these two goblins against each other cry,

One calling fear, and one security,

Come hear my words, lest soon and out of hand

You all together perish utterly.

“Let us join all to build a mighty bark,

A vessel stout, and place within this ark

All fittings. Iif this southern spoke the truth,

And the other said but folly, off the mark.

“This vessel for us good at need shall be,

Nor will we leave this isle incontinent.

But if the northern god spoke truthfully,

The southern did but foolishness present,

Then in the ship we all embark together,

And where our safety lies, all leave us away.

“Take not for best or worst what first you hear,

But who does let all pass within the ear,

And then deliberating takes the mean,

That man to safest harborage will steer.”

After this, he again said, “Come now, let us follow the words of both the deities. Let us build a ship, and then if the words of the first be true, we will climb into that ship and depart. But if the words of the other be true, we will put the ship aside and continue to live here.” When he had spoken, the foolish carpenter said, “Go to! You see a crocodile in a teacup! You are too, too slow! The first god spoke in anger against us, the second in affection. If we leave this choicest of isles, where will we go? But if you must go, take your tail with you and make your ship. We want no ship, we!”

The wise man with those that followed him built a ship. They put all the fittings aboard, and he and the whole company got on board. Then on the day of the full moon, at the time of moon-rising, a wave rose up from the ocean. It swept knee-deep over the whole island. The wise man, when he saw the rising of the wave, cast the ship loose. Those in the foolish carpenter’s party, 500 families in all, sat still. They said to one another, “A wave has arisen to sweep over the island, but it will get no deeper.” Then the ocean-wave rose waist-deep, man-deep, deep as a palm-tree, as deep as seven palm-trees, and over the whole island it rolled. The wise man, fertile in resource, not snared by greed, departed in safety. But the foolish, greedy carpenter, not regarding the dangers of the future, was destroyed with 500 families.

The other three stanzas, full of instruction, illustrating this matter, are stanzas of the Perfect Wisdom:

As through mid-ocean, by the deeds they did,

The traders scaped away in happiness:

So wise men, comprehending what lies hid

Within the future, will no doubt transgress.

"Fools in their folly, eaten up with greed

Who future dangers do not comprehend,

Sink overwhelmed, in face of present need,

As these in middest-ocean found their end.

"Accomplish then the deed before the need,

Let not lack hurt me of the needful thing.

Who timely do the necessary deed

Come time, come never into suffering."