Dear Members,
When I was 14, my brother's friend gave me a free ticket to see the movie " Angulimala", Gala Premiere at his dad's theatre. I loved the movie pretty much. Today I proudly present the story of Angulimala in one of his past existences...and HE WAS THE BODHISATTA'S UNCLE !!!
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JAYADDISA-JĀTAKA: The Man-Eater
Translated from the Pali by H.T. Francis, [1905], at sacred-texts.com
This story the Master told of a Brother who supported his mother. the Master said, “Sages of old gave up the white umbrella with its golden wreath to support their parents,” and with these words he told a story of the past.
Once upon a time there lived a king in a city of the Northern Pancala, in the kingdom of Kampilla. His queen consort conceived and bare a son. In a former existence her rival in the harem, being in a rage, said, “Some day I shall be able to devour your offspring,” and putting up a prayer to this effect she was turned into an ogress. Then she found her opportunity and, seizing the child before the very eyes of the queen and crunching and devouring it as if it were a piece of raw flesh, she made off. A second time she did exactly the same thing, but on the third occasion, when the queen had entered into her lying-in chamber, a guard surrounded the palace and kept a strict watch. On the day when she brought forth, the ogress again appeared and seized the child. The queen uttered a loud cry of “Ogress,” and armed soldiers, running up when the alarm was given by the queen, went in pursuit of the ogress. Not having time to devour the child, she fled and hid herself in a sewer. The child, taking the ogress for its mother, put its lips to her breast, and she conceived a mother’s love for the infant, and repairing to a cemetery she hid him in a rock-cave and watched over him.
And as he gradually grew up, she brought and gave him human flesh, and they both lived on this food. The boy did not know that he was a human being; but, though he believed himself to be the son of the ogress, he could not get rid of or conceal his bodily form. So to bring this about she gave him a certain root. And by virtue of this root he concealed his form and continued to live on human flesh. One day the ogress went away to do service to the great king Vessavana(one of the Catummaharajano and rules over the Yakkhas), and died then and there. But the queen for the fourth time gave birth to a boy, and because the ogress was now dead, he was safe, and from the fact of his being born victorious over his enemy the ogress, he was called Jayaddisa (prince Victor).
As soon as the prince was grown up and thoroughly educated in all learning, he assumed the sovereignty by raising the umbrella, and ruled over the kingdom. At that time his queen consort gave birth to the Bodhisatta, and they called him prince Alinasattu. When he grew up and was fully instructed in all learning, he became viceroy. But the son of the ogress by carelessly destroying the root was unable to hide himself, living in the cemetery he devoured human flesh in a visible form. People on seeing him were alarmed, and came and complained to the king. The king gave orders for his seizure. An armed force was stationed all round the city. The son of the ogress, with the fear of death upon him, escaping from thence, hid himself in the forest and no longer approached the haunts of men. And he took up his abode at the foot of a banyan tree near a high-road through the forest, and as people travelled by it, he would seize them one by one, and entering the wood killed and ate them.
On the seventh day after this, king Jayaddisa ordered a hunt, but just as he was about to start out, Nanda, a brahmin from Takkasila, brought him four verses worth one hundred each. Jayaddisa ordered a dwelling to be made for him and declared that he on whose side the deer escaped should pay for the verses. An antelope made straight for the king and escaped. The king pursued and killed it, but while on his way back with the carcase he came to the ogre's dwelling place and was promptly claimed as his prey. Remembering his promise to pay Nanda, Jayaddisa persuaded the ogre to let him go on condition that he would return when he had paid for the verses.
The ogre let the king go. And he, being allowed to depart, taking note of certain landmarks by the way, he returned to his army, and with this escort made his entrance into the city. Then he summoned the brahmin Nanda, seated him on a splendid throne, and, after hearing his verses, presented him with four thousand pieces of money. And he made the brahmin mount a chariot and sent him away, bidding his servants conduct him straight to Takkasila.
On the next day, being anxious to return, the king called his son, and told him about the ogre and his promise. Alinasattu offered to go in his fathers place and this was allowed. And the prince, following his father’s directions, set out on the road to the dwelling of the ogre.He won over the ogre by his fearlessness, and having made the ogre humble, he taught him the five moral laws. Suspecting that the ogre was his father's elder brother,who was abducted by the ogress long time ago, proved the relationship with the help of an ascetic gifted with supernatural vision. Prince Alinasattu then asked the ogre to return to the palace with him, but he denied, said that he wanted to become an ascetic. So he was ordained to the religious life by the ascetic. Then the prince saluted him and returned to the city.
The king heard that the prince had returned and set out to meet him, and the prince, escorted by a great multitude, came and saluted the king. And he asked him, saying, “Dear son, how have you escaped from so terrible an ogre?” And he said, “Dear father, he is no ogre; he is your elder brother and my uncle.” And he told him all about it and said, “You must go and see my uncle.” The king at once set out with a great retinue to visit the ascetics. The chief ascetic told them the whole story in full; how the child had been carried off by an ogress, and how instead of eating him she had brought him up as an ogre, and how they were related one to another. The king said, “Come, brother, do you reign as king.” “No, thank you, Sire,” he replied. “Then come and take up your abode in our park and I will supply you with the four requisites.” He refused to come. Then the king made a settlement on a certain mountain, not far from their hermitage, and, forming a lake, prepared cultivated fields and, bringing a thousand families with much treasure, he founded a big village and instituted a system of almsgiving for the ascetics. This village grew into the town Cullakammasadamma.
Note**: The region where the ogre was tamed by the Great Being Sutasoma was to be known as the town of Mahakammasadamma.--------
The Master, having ended his lesson, revealed the Truths and identified the Birth "At that time the father and mother(of the bhikkhu who supported his mother) were members of the king’s household, the chief ascetic was Sariputta, the man-eater was Angulimala and prince Alinasattu was myself.”
At the conclusion of the Truths the elder who supported his mother was established in the fruition of the First Path.
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Love Buddha's dhamma,
yawares
The Man-Eater:ANGULIMALA THE BEGINNING !!!
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