Jataka 493
Mahā Vāṇija Jātaka
The Great Merchant
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 simple story about embracing virtue and abandoning greed. It is a simple theme with a simple message, but how many people truly embody it?
“Merchants from many.” The Master told this story while he was living at Jetavana. It is about some traders who lived in Sāvatthi. These, we hear, were about to depart on business. Before the left, they visited the Master, bringing with them many gifts. They took shelter in the Refuges and the Virtues. “Sir,” they said, “if we return safe and sound, we will kiss your feet.”
So, with 500 cartloads of merchandise, they set out. They soon came to a wild forest where they could see no road. Lost, waterless, and without food, they traveled through the forest until they came to a huge banyan tree that was inhabited by dragons. They unyoked the carts and sat down beneath the tree. Looking at its leaves, they saw that they were all glossy as if they were wet with water. The branches seemed to be full of water. This made them think, “It looks like water runs through this tree. What if we cut an east-facing branch? We should find something to drink.”
One of them climbed up the tree and cut off a branch. A stream of water as thick as a palm trunk gushed out. They washed and drank in the water. On the next day they cut a branch on the southern side. All manner of fine food came out of it, and they ate it. Then they cut a branch on the west side of the tree. Out sprang women fair and beautifully adorned, and with whom they took their pleasure. Lastly, they cut one of the northern branches. From it fell the seven things of value. They took them and filled the 500 carts, then they returned to Sāvatthi. There they carefully guarded their treasure.
Taking garlands and perfumes and the like, they went to Jetavana. There they saluted the Master and paid homage to him, and then they sat on one side. They listened to the teaching of the Dharma. On the next day, they brought a magnificent present. They relinquished the merit of the act, saying, “The merit of this gift, sir, we dedicate in thanks to the tree deity who gave us the whole treasure.” When the meal was finished, the Master asked them, “To what tree deity do you give this merit?” The merchants told the Tathāgata how they had received the treasure by a banyan tree. The Master said, “You have received this treasure because of your moderation and because you have not yielded to craving and desire. But in former days men were immoderate. They fell under the power of desire, and because of this they lost both treasure and life.” Then at their request he told them this story from the past.
Once near Benares there was this same wild forest and this same banyan tree. The merchants strayed from their path, and they saw the banyan tree.
The Master, in his perfect wisdom, explained the matter in these verses:
“Merchants from many a kingdom came, and all together met,
Chose them a chief, and straight set out a treasure for to get.
“To this parched forest, poor in food, their way the travelers made,
And spied a mighty banyan tree with cool and pleasant shade.
“There underneath that shady tree those merchants all did sit,
And reasoned thus, consumed with folly and poverty of wit.
“’Full moist the tree is, and it seems as water there did flow,
One of the branches let us cut which to the eastwards grow.’
“The branch was cut, and pure and clear the trickling waters flow,
The merchants washed, the merchants drank, fulfilled from the outflow.
“Again in poverty of wit, consumed with folly, they say,
‘One of the branches on the south come let us cut away.’
“This branch being cut, both rice and meat out in a stream it brings,
Thick porridge, ginger, lentil soup and many other things.
“The merchants ate, the merchants drank, they took their fill of it,
Then said again, consumed with folly, in poverty of wit,
“‘Come, fellow merchants, let us cut a western branch away.’
Out came a bevy of fair girls all dressed in brave array.
“And O the robes of many hues, jewels, and rings in plenty!
Each merchant had a pretty maid, each of age five and twenty.
“These all together stood around beneath the leafy shade,
These and the merchants in the midst, much merriment they made.
“Again in poverty of wit, consumed with folly, they say,
‘One of the branches on the north come let us cut away.’
“But when the northern branch was cut, out came a stream of gold,
Silver in handfuls, precious rugs, and jewels manifold.
“And robes of fine Benares cloth, and blankets thick and thin.
The merchants then to roll them up in bundles did begin.
“Again they said in witlessness and folly, as before,
‘Come let us cut it by the root, and then we may get more.’
“O then uprose their chief who said with a respectful bow,
‘What mischief does the banyan do, good sirs? God bless you now!’
“’The eastern branch gave water streams, the southern gave us food,
‘The western gave us pretty maids, the northern all things good,
‘What mischief does the banyan do, good sirs? God bless you now!’
“’The tree that gives you pleasant shade, to sit or lie at need,
‘You should not tear its branches down, a cruel, wanton deed.’
“But they were many, he was one whose voice forbade them do’t,
They struck the whetted axes in to fell it by the root.”
Then the Serpent King, who saw them approach the root so that they might cut down the tree, thought to himself, “I gave these fellows water to drink when they were thirsty. Then I gave them food divine, then beds to lie on, and maidens to attend them. Then I gave them treasures to fill 500 wagons. And now they say, ‘Let us cut down the tree from the root!’ They are greedy beyond bounds, and except for the chief of the caravan, they will all die.”
Figure: “What mischief does the banyan do, good sir?”
Then he assembled an army: “So many armed in mail stand forth, so many archers, so many with sword and shield.”
To explain this the Master repeated a stanza:
“Then five and twenty mail-clad snakes stood forth and took the field,
Three hundred bowmen, and six thousand armed with sword and shield.”
The following stanza is said by the Serpent King:
“Strike down the men, and bind them fast, spare not the life of one,
Burn them to cinders save the chief, and then your task is done.”
And so the serpents did. Then they loaded the rugs from the northern branch and all the rest of it on to the 500 wagons. They conveyed the wagons and the chief of the caravan to Benares where they stored the goods in his house. Then they took leave of him and returned to their homes.
When the Master saw this, he repeated two stanzas of admonition:
“So let the wise his own good see, and never let him go,
A slave to greed, that he disarms the purpose of his foe.
“So let him, seeing this evil thing, pain rooted in desire,
Shake off desire and fetters, and to holy life aspire.”
Having ended this discourse, he said, “Thus, monastics, in days gone by merchants who traveled with greed came to destruction. Therefore, you must not give in to greed.” Then he taught the Four Noble Truths, at the conclusion of which those merchants became established in the fruit of the First Path (stream-entry). Then he identified the birth: “At that time Sāriputta was the King of the Serpents, and I was the caravan chief.”
