Ja 235 Vacchanakhajātaka
The Birth Story about (the Wanderer) Vacchanakha (2s)
In the present a supporter of Elder Ānanda’s tries to tempt him back to the lay life by offering him half his wealth. Elder Ānanda refuses though, as the household life is full of suffering. The Buddha tells a story of similar events which unfolded in a previous life.
The Bodhisatta = (the wanderer) Vacchanakha,
Roja the Mallian = the wealthy man of Benares (Bārāṇasīseṭṭhi).
Keywords: Attachment, Desire.
“Houses in the world are sweet.” This story the Teacher told at Jetavana, about Roja the Mallian.
We learn that this man, who was a lay friend of Ānanda’s, sent the elder a message that he should come to him. The elder took leave of the Teacher, and went. He served the elder with all sorts of food, and sat down on one side, engaging him in a pleasant conversation. Then he offered the elder a share of his house, tempting him by the five channels of desire. “Ānanda, sir, I have at home great store of live and dead stock. I will divide it and give you half; let us live in one house together!” The elder declared to him the suffering which is involved in desire; then rose from his seat, and returned to the monastery.
When the Teacher asked whether he had seen Roja, he replied that he had. “What did he say to you?” “Sir, Roja invited me to return to the world; then I explained to him the suffering involved in desires and the worldly life.” The Teacher said: “Ānanda, this is not the first time that Roja the Mallian has invited ascetics to return to the world; he did the same before,” and then, at his request, he told a story of the past.
In the past, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta was one of a family of brahmins who lived in a certain market town. Coming to years, he took up the ascetic life, and dwelt for a long time amid the Himālayas.
He went to Benares to purchase salt and seasoning, and lived in the king’s grounds; next day he entered Benares.
Now a certain rich man of the place, pleased at his behaviour, took him home, gave him to eat, and receiving his promise to abide with him, caused him to dwell in the garden and attended to his wants. And they conceived a friendship each for the other.
One day, the rich man, by reason of his love and friendship for the Bodhisatta, thought this within himself, “The life of an ascetic is unhappy. I will persuade my friend Vacchanakha to unfrock himself; I will part my wealth in two, and give half to him, and we both will dwell together.”
So one day, when the meal was done, he spake sweetly to his friend and said: “Good Vacchanakha, unhappy is the ascetic’s life; ’tis pleasant to live in a house. Come now, let us both together take our pleasure as we will.” So saying, he uttered the first verse:
1. Sukhā gharā, Vacchanakha, sahiraññā sabhojanā,
Yattha, bhutvā pivitvā ca, sayeyyātha anussuko ti.
Vacchanakha, households are pleasant, having gold and having food, where, after eating and drinking, you can lie down free from desire.
In this connection, having gold means being endowed with the seven gems. Gold (suvaṇṇa), silver (rajata), pearl (muttā), gem (maṇi), lapis lazuli (veḷuriya), diamonds (vajira), coral (pavāla). Cf. Ja 219 Garahitajātaka, where 10 treasures are mentioned.
Having food means having a lot of staple and non-staple foods.
Where, after eating and drinking, in those houses where there is gold and food, after eating the various and most tasty foods, and drinking the various drinks.
You can lie down free from desire, on the top of a decorated and auspicious bed, being free from desire, you can lie down, those houses are known as extremely pleasant.
The Bodhisatta on hearing him, thus replied, “Good sir, from ignorance you have become greedy in desire, and call the householder’s life good, and the life of the ascetic bad; listen now, and I will tell you how bad is the householder’s life,” and he uttered the second verse:
2. Gharā nānīhamānassa, gharā nābhaṇato ’musā,
Gharā nādinnadaṇḍassa paresaṁ anikubbato,
Evaṁ (chiddaṁ) durabhisambhavaṁ, ko gharaṁ paṭipajjatī ti?
No houses for the one who does not exert himself, no houses without speaking lies, no houses for the one with a stick, who does not defraud others, so being faulty and hard to endure, who would practice in a house?
In this connection, no houses for the one who does not exert himself, all the time, because of farming, herding and so on, there are no houses normally for one who does not exert himself, who lacks effort, does not find good support for life in the home, this is the meaning.
No houses without speaking lies, for the purpose of gaining fields, lands, unwrought and wrought gold and so on, there are no houses normally for one speaking the truth. Lit: not speaking what is not false.
No houses for the one with a stick, who does not defraud others, for the one with a stick means for the one who takes up a stick, there are no houses for one who discards the stick and does not defraud others. The one who takes a stick to others, such as servants and workers, in that very place must apply a suitable sentence for a crime, by means of executing, binding, amputating, beating and so on, home life is settled for him, this is the meaning.
So being faulty and hard to endure, who would practice at home? So now, while not making these endeavours and so on, and through each loss there is the making of a fault, what should be always done is hard to endure, hard to accomplish, or, by always doing what is hard to endure the house life is hard to fulfil, thinking: “Becoming unagitated, I will live at home,” who would practice like this?
With these words the great Buddha told the defects of a householder’s life, and went into the garden again.
When the Teacher had ended this discourse, he identified the Jātaka, “Roja the Mallian was the Benares merchant, and I was Vacchanakha the mendicant.”