Reading Notes: Week 2 Anthology

One story that caught my attention was The Monkey Who Gathered Lotuses. Written by Tayodhamma Jataka and translated by Robert Chalmers, this story speaks about a king of a tribe of monkeys, Brahmadatta. As the sole king of Benares, Devadatta controlled an area of the Himalayas. Brahmadatta would castrate his male offspring with his teeth in the fear of one of them challenging his kingship. Buddha was then born as a monkey, Bodhisatta, and was a son of the king. His mother ran away while pregnant to protect him from the king. Bodhisatta had spectacular strength and became curious about his father. Bodhisatta's mother took him to see his father after he was persistent on seeing him. The king was instantly threatened by his son and wrapped him in a warm embrace. The son, as strong as he was, returned to hug and squeezed so hard the father's ribs broke. The father knew his son would eventually grow to kill him, so he tried to figure out how to kill the Bodhisatta first. The father knew of a vicious ogre that lived nearby, so he sent his son there to pick lotuses of a variety of colors. Bodhisatta realized as he approached the lake that an ogre haunted it, so he decided he was going to pick the lotuses without going in the lake. He leaped across the lake with all his strength and plucked two flowers as he crossed over. The ogre in shock of his power, came out of the lake and claimed the Bodhisatta had the ability to conquer all enemies. The ogre respected Bodhisatta greatly so he said offered to carry the flowers for him. At the sight of this, the father shattered into seven pieces. This story was greatly informative and many lessons were learned throughout.

(Lotuses: Wikimedia)