Ja 138 The Story about the Iguana
(Godhajātaka)
In the present one monk gets his living in dishonest ways. When the Buddha finds out he tells a story about a false ascetic who tried to capture and eat a lizard who was his erstwhile disciple (full story).
1. Kiṁ te jaṭāhi dummedha? Kiṁ te ajinasāṭiyā?
Abbhantaraṁ te gahanaṁ, bāhiraṁ parimajjasī ti.
Why, fool, do you have matted hair? Why do you have antelope’s skin? You are a thicket on the inside, but polished on the outside.
In this connection, why, fool, do you have matted hair? My dear fool, lacking wisdom, matted hair should be worn by one who has gone forth. For one lacking the virtue of one gone forth why do you have matted hair? this is the meaning.
Why do you have antelope’s skin? An antelope’s skin is suitable for one who is restrained, but from before the beginning of time, why do you have an antelope’s skin?
You are a thicket on the inside, inside your heart there is hiding a thicket of grasping at lust, hatred and delusion.
But polished on the outside, when you have a thicket on the inside, do you groom the outside having the character of a thicket with bathing and so on, polishing like a gourd full of sour gruel, like a pot full of poison, like an anthill full of poisonous snakes, like a beautiful jar full of excrement, you are smooth on the outside, why are you living here like a thief, you must run away from here quickly, if you do not flee, after informing those who dwell in the village, I will make them restrain you.