The Losaka Jataka: The Jealous Monk’s Downfall

In a past life, the Bodhisatta was a renowned teacher, respected and admired across the land. However, this story focuses on the misadventures of a different character, a virtuous monk who lived in a village and was supported by a wealthy landowner.

The Jealous Monk

This monk was content with his life until an arahant (a fully enlightened being) arrived in the village. The landowner, deeply impressed by the arahant’s demeanor and teachings, asked him to stay at the local monastery. Fearing that his patron would shift his support to the arahant, the village monk schemed to ensure this did not happen.The next morning, the village monk was supposed to accompany the arahant to the landowner’s house, but he rang the gong with the back of his fingernail so softly that the arahant did not hear it. The monk then went to see the landowner alone and told him that the arahant had ignored the wake-up call, suggesting that he was not interested in returning because the food served the previous day was not fancy enough. Believing the monk’s words, the landowner asked him to take a bowl of delicious food to the arahant.Acting out of jealousy, the monk discarded the food instead of delivering it. Immediately racked with remorse, he fell ill and soon died. His actions led to severe karmic consequences: he suffered hundreds of thousands of years in hell, followed by rebirths as an ogre who never found enough food to eat, then as an eternally hungry dog, and finally as a starving child named Mittavindaka in a beggar family.

Mittavindaka’s Misfortunes

Mittavindaka’s birth brought perpetual hunger pangs to his family, and they eventually cast him out of their village. Homeless, Mittavindaka wandered aimlessly until he reached the city where the Bodhisatta was teaching. He was taken in as a charity scholar in the Bodhisatta’s school but often fought with other students and disrespected the Bodhisatta. Eventually, he ran away to a remote village, worked as a laborer, married a poor woman, and had two children.However, his presence in the village brought misfortune: the king punished the village seven times, it burned to the ground seven times, and the water supply dried up seven times. Realizing that Mittavindaka was the source of their troubles, the villagers beat him and drove him away.Mittavindaka’s journey continued with more hardships. He ended up in a haunted forest where demons ate his family, then found work on a ship. After the crew cast lots and determined that he was the source of their bad luck, they set him afloat on a bamboo raft. The ship sailed again as soon as he was overboard.Mittavindaka’s raft drifted to various islands where he stayed with female spirits (vimana petas) in crystal, silver, jewel, and gold palaces, each time leaving when the spirits did. He eventually reached a city of ogres, where he was hurled across the ocean by an angry ogress after he mistook her for a goat.

The Bodhisatta’s Intervention

Mittavindaka landed in the dry moat around the Bodhisatta’s city, where he was caught by goatherders while trying to use a goat to throw him back to one of the islands. The goatherders beat him and were about to take him to the king when the Bodhisatta, seeing his former student in bonds, intervened. The Bodhisatta asked to take Mittavindaka as a slave and, upon hearing his story, told him that had he been less stubborn and accepted his help earlier, he could have avoided all that misery.

In the Lifetime of the Buddha

This tale has a significant connection to the Buddha’s later life. An elder disciple of the Buddha named Losaka Tissa was eternally unlucky and never got enough food. His misfortunes began from the day he was conceived, with the village facing numerous calamities, including fires and royal punishments, until the villagers realized that Losaka’s family was the source of the curse and drove them out.Losaka was raised just long enough to be sent out as a beggar, and his mother left him. At seven years old, he was seen by Sariputta, one of the Buddha’s top disciples, picking up grains of rice in the street. Sariputta invited him to become a novice, and Losaka later became a full disciple. Despite achieving arahantship, Losaka’s bad luck continued, and he rarely received a full helping of food on his alms rounds due to a magical power that made a single ladle of rice appear to fill his alms bowl.On his last day, Sariputta ensured that Losaka finally got to eat a full meal by collecting food himself and feeding it to Losaka personally to avoid any mishaps. Losaka ate until he was satisfied and soon after passed into nirvana.Mittavindaka was revealed to be an earlier birth of Losaka Tissa. The Buddha told this story to explain to his other disciples why Losaka had such incredible misfortune in his life yet was able to achieve arahantship.

Moral

The Losaka Jataka teaches us about the severe consequences of jealousy and the importance of accepting help and guidance. The story highlights that actions driven by negative emotions can lead to immense suffering, while humility and acceptance can pave the way for redemption and spiritual growth. This tale underscores the Buddhist principle that past actions have karmic consequences and that even in the face of great adversity, one can achieve enlightenment through determination and the right guidance.