By
Jiang song
Today, I am telling you a story which is about a lion and jackal.
This story comes from the / Accords with what is said in the “Virocana Jātaka”. At one time the Boddhisattva was
born as a lion(once up a time) (“Stories of
the Buddha’s Former Births No143” ). The lion lived in
a cave in the Himalayas, and she had to search for food to feed herself.
lions are carnivores, therefore, they have to kill other animals if they go out for
food. One day, the lion went back to her cave
after killing and eating a “buffalo”, when she reached the
cave, she found a jackal paying respect to her. The jackal actually desired to enjoy the leftovers
of the lion.
The
lion did not get/become anger. Instead, the lion asked the jackal, “why are you lying here like
this?” The jackal replied: “Sir! I would prefer
to be your servant.” The lion received his proposal and treated him with friendliness.
Previously the jackal had been emaciated. Since the jackal had gotten the leftovers from the lion, his body bulged
out, he became stronger than other
jackals, and he became
proud. One day, when the jackal followed the
lion to search for animals, they found an elephant. he suggested
to the lion: I have
fed on your leftovers until now. However, I wish to offer my leftovers to
you today, because I will / intend to
kill and eat the elephant.
The lion advised him to abstain from this
action but he did not listen due to having pride and conceit/ We should not have pride and conceit. So he pretended to be like a lion, jumped up onto the top
of a rock as well as crying/roaring/howling/trying to make noise like
a lion. He waited for the elephant to come nearby, then he jumped off
the rock and pounced on the elephant quickly. Nevertheless, he fell from the elephant’s back, landing
at the elephant’s feet. The elephant, not employing
much energy, moved the foreleg onto the
jackal’s body, and mashed him. Therefore, the foolish jackal was killed
immediately.
When the story ended, the Buddha said: “Devadatta was the jackal, and I was the lion.”
My comment is
that we cannot be proud, though we have a good looks/pleasing
appearance or we are more clever than another. In
this story, the jackal finally was killed
by the elephant because of pride.
Being proud and conceited, the jackal attacked the elephant.
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