Book IX. Navanipāta
The Section with Nine Verses
Ja 427 Gijjhajātaka
The Story about (the Disobedient) Vulture (9s)
In the present one monk, though taught the way of a monastic, refuses to listen, and wants to live according to his own ideas. The Buddha tells how he was once a vulture who didn’t listen to his elders and was destroyed by his disobedience.
The Bodhisatta = the father vulture (gijjhapitā),
the disobedient monk = the disobedient vulture (dubbacagijjha).
Present Source: Ja 427 Gijjha,
Quoted at: Ja 116 Dubbaca, Ja 161 Indasamānagotta, Ja 369 Mittavinda, Ja 439 Catudvāra,
Past Compare: Ja 381 Migālopa, Ja 427 Gijjha.
Keywords: Disobedience, Wilfulness, Animals, Birds.
“Formed of rough logs.”
Then the monks, hearing of his disobedience, sat in the Dhamma Hall, telling of his faults. The Teacher came and asked them what it was they were discussing, and sent for the monk and said: “Is it true, monk, that you are disobedient?” And when he confessed that it was so, the Teacher said: “Why, monk, after being ordained in so excellent a dispensation that leads to safety,
In the past the Bodhisatta came to life as a young vulture on Vulture Mountain [Gijjhapabbata]. Now his offspring Supatta, the king of the vultures,
The Teacher, after Fully Awakening, to illustrate this incident, uttered these verses:
1. “Formed of rough logs, an ancient pathway led
To dizzy heights, where a young vulture fed
2. The parent birds. Lusty and strong of wing
He oft to them would fat of serpents bring;
3. And when his father saw him flying high
And venturing far afield, he thus would cry,
4. ‘My son, when you can scan from your lookout
Earth’s rounded sphere by ocean girt about,
No farther go, but straight return, I pray.’
5. Then would this king of birds speed on his way,
And bending o’er the earth, with piercing sight
He viewed below forest and mountain height:
6. And earth would, as his sire described, appear
Amid the encircling sea a rounded sphere.
But when beyond these limits he had passed,
7. Strong bird though he might be, a raging blast
Swept him away to an untimely death,
Powerless to cope with storm-wind’s fiery breath.
8. Thus did the bird by disobedience prove
Fatal to those dependent on his love:
9. So perish all that, scornful of old age,
Deride the warnings uttered by the sage,
As the young vulture wisdom’s voice defied
And scorned the limits set to bound his pride.”
“Therefore, monk, be not like unto this vulture, but do the bidding of your well-wishers.” And being thus admonished by the Teacher, he thenceforth became obedient.
The Teacher, his lesson ended, identified the Jātaka, “The disobedient vulture of those days is now the disobedient monk. The parent vulture was myself.”