Blessing Seventeen:
Looking After One’s Extended Family
Looking After One’s Extended Family
D. ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES
D.1 Metaphor: Lone pine cannot survive in strong wind
The Lord Buddha taught that all of the trees that stand together in the forest will help each other mutually giving shelter from the gales and storms, sun and rain. By offering each other shelter, each tree is protected from being uprooted. On the other hand the largest tree (the king of the forest) in the forest must endure the strong winds alone and in the end it cannot survive every storm. In the same way if anyone tries to go it alone in the swift currents of society without the help of any friends and relatives will eventually come to a sticky end. On the other hand, even if someone in society is not particularly outstanding in any respect, if they have sufficient friends and family who can help them in times of need, they will be able to overcome all difficulties that cross their path. If they run for election, without much canvassing they can soon be elected without much trouble.
D.2 Ex. Vaṭṭaka Jātaka (J.33)
The bodhisattva was once a quail. There was a fowler who enticed quails by imitating their cry and then throwing a net over them. The bodhisattva suggested that when the fowler did this, they should all fly away with the net. This they did, day after day, and the fowler returned empty-handed until eventually his wife grew angry. One day, two of the quails started quarrelling and the bodhisattva, hearing their wrangling, decided to go elsewhere with his following. When the fowler came again and spread the net, the two quails started quarrelling and he was able to capture them.
D.3 Ex. War in Kaliṅga (DhA.iii.254ff.)
Kapilavatthu, the town of the Sakyans, and Koliya, the town of the Koliyans were situated on either side of the Rohini River. The farmers of both towns irrigated their fields from this river. One year, due to severe drought their paddy and other crops were threatened, and the farmers on both sides wanted to divert the water from the Rohini River to their own fields. Those living in Koliya wanted to divert and channel the water to irrigate their field. However, the farmers from Kapilavatthu protested that they would be denied the use of the water and their crops would be destroyed.
Both sides wanted the water for their own use only and as a result, there was much ill-will and hatred on both sides. The quarrel that started between the farmers soon spread like fire and the matter was reported to their respective rulers. Failing to find a compromise, both sides prepared to go to war.
The Buddha came to know that his relatives on both sides of the river were preparing for battle. For their wellbeing and happiness and to avoid unnecessary suffering, he decided to stop them. All alone, he went and appeared in the middle of the river. His relatives on seeing him, laid aside all their weapons and paid homage to him. Then, the Buddha admonished them, asking, ‘what do you think is more precious, irrigation water or your royal blood?’
They replied “Our royal blood is more precious”
“For the sake of some water, which is of little value, you should not destroy your lives which are of so much value. Why have you taken this unwholesome course of action? If I had not been here today, your blood would have been flowing like this river by now. You are living with hatred, but I live free from hatred. You are ailing with moral defilements, but I am free from moral defilements. You are striving to develop selfishness and enmity, but I don’t strive for the development of selfishness.” Both sides then became ashamed of their foolishness and thus bloodshed was averted.
The Buddha was also to help his extended family, the Sakyans by prohibiting ViIEIabha from massacring them out of anger, as many as three times (See Blessing Thirty-Three @D.6)
D.4 Ex. Kukkura Jātaka (J.22)
Because his carriage straps, left in the rain, are gnawed by his own dogs, the king of Benares orders all dogs except his own to be killed indiscriminately. The Bodhisattva, who was the leader of the pack of dogs in the cemetary, visited the king and pointed out to him his iniquity, and reveals the truth by causing an emetic to be administered to the king’s own dogs. In this way the Bodhisattva cared for his “extended family” by making sure justice was delivered to all of his kind. Having convinced the king, the Bodhisattva taught him The Ten Virtues of a King and to avoid the Four Forms of Bias. Great are the benefactions thereafter made to dogs in the kingdom.
D.5 Ex. Buddha tends the sick monk himself (DhA.i.319ff.)
Once the Buddha happened to see the sorrowful state of a certain monk called ‘Tissa’. The monk had been meditating diligently until becoming afflicted with a disease of stinking open sores covering his whole body. Because of the smell, he had been abandoned by his fellow monks. The Buddha knew that Tissa would soon attain Arahanthood, so he proceeded to the fire-shed, close to the place where the monk was staying. There, he personally boiled some water, went to the place where the monk was lying down, and took hold of the edge of the couch. It was only then that the other monks also gathered round him, and as instructed by the Buddha, they carried him out where he was washed and bathed. While he was being bathed his robes were washed and dried. After the bath, the monk became fresh in body and mind and soon developed one-pointedness of concentration. Standing at the head of the couch, the Buddha told him that this body when devoid of life would be as useless as a log and would be laid on the earth. At the conclusion of the sermon, Tissa attained Arahanthood. Soon after, he passed away into ParinibbAna. The Buddha then directed some bhikkhus to cremate his body and enshrine his relics in a stūpa.
Subsequently, the Buddha taught, ‘Bhikkhus! You do not have your mother or father here who can tend to you. If you do not tend to one another, who will be there to tend to you? Tend a sick fellow monk as if you were tending me.’
Desktop Version
