The Puppharatta Jataka: A Tale of Attachment

The Puppharatta Jataka (Jataka #147) is a poignant tale that highlights the consequences of attachment to material desires and the harmful influence of unwise desires. The story also emphasizes the dangers of irrational decisions driven by emotional impulses and the costs of prioritizing superficial appearances over more important values.

The Story:

In this Jataka, the Bodhisatta was once a spirit of the air, and the main characters are a poor couple who want to attend a large festival in their city. The wife, feeling embarrassed by their old and coarse clothing, insists that they must wear safflower-dyed cloth, which is expensive and out of reach for poor people like them. Despite the couple’s poverty, the wife is insistent, showing her attachment to external appearances.

Her husband, though knowing how dangerous and foolish the idea is, agrees to steal safflower from the royal park in order to please his wife. The couple’s situation reveals how emotional attachment and peer pressure can lead to unwise actions. The husband, despite his better judgment, cannot bear to see his wife unhappy and thus gives in to her demand.

Under the cover of night, the husband sneaks into the royal park and steals the precious safflower. However, the park guards catch him in the act, and he is brought before the king the next morning. The king, upon hearing of the crime, sentences the husband to death.

Led out of the city to the execution grounds, the husband is impaled and dies slowly in great agony. As he dies, crows peck at his eyes, and in his final moments, he mourns not for his own suffering, but for the fact that he will never see his wife in the beautiful clothes she wanted. His final thought reveals the depth of his attachment to his wife and her desires.

As a result of his actions and the consequences that follow, the husband is reborn in hell, a fate tied to his foolish desire and attachment to worldly things.

In the Lifetime of the Buddha:

The husband and wife in this story were reborn as a Buddhist disciple and his wife in the time of the Buddha. The disciple began to long for his wife from his lay life, just as the husband in the Jataka had longed for his wife’s happiness at the festival. The Buddha used this story to teach the disciple that his attachment to his wife was harmful to his spiritual progress.

The Buddha pointed out that the wife’s demands in the past life, as well as the disciple’s longing for her now, were a manifestation of misguided attachment. The Buddha warned the disciple not to crave or desire her, as such attachment would only lead to suffering and prevent him from reaching higher states of spiritual development.

The Moral Lessons:

1. Attachment to Material Desires: The core lesson of this story is that attachment to material things—in this case, the desire for new clothes—leads to foolishness and suffering. The husband’s willingness to risk his life for his wife’s superficial desire reveals how such attachments can cloud judgment and lead to actions that cause harm to oneself and others. The ultimate suffering he experiences—from the painful execution to his rebirth in hell—shows the costs of attachment to the fleeting and temporary pleasures of life.
2. The Dangers of Craving and Desire: The husband’s craving to please his wife and his desire to fulfill her wish, even when it was unreasonable, leads him to make a series of unwise decisions. The attachment to fulfilling the desires of others at the cost of one’s own integrity and safety is a warning about how desire can take control of our actions and lead us astray.
3. The Harm of Foolish Influence: The wife’s influence over the husband and her impatience with their humble circumstances reflect the harmful effects of self-centered desires. Her insistence on having beautiful clothes, even at the cost of breaking the law, shows how one person’s unwise demands can lead another into making decisions that bring about great harm. In the Buddha’s time, this situation mirrors the disciple’s relationship with his wife, urging him to see that attachment to her was preventing his spiritual progress.
4. The Consequences of Ignoring Wisdom: The story also teaches the importance of wisdom in making decisions. The husband’s failure to listen to his inner wisdom and his decision to prioritize pleasing his wife led to his downfall. In contrast, the Buddha teaches that wisdom should guide our actions, especially when faced with temptation or desire. The consequence of the husband’s actions was not only death but also rebirth in hell, a powerful reminder of the long-lasting effects of bad decisions.

Conclusion:

The Puppharatta Jataka is a cautionary tale about the dangers of attachment, desire, and craving, particularly when they lead to foolish actions that harm oneself and others. The story shows that when people are guided by superficial desires, such as wanting to please others or to attain material possessions, they may make choices that are detrimental to their well-being. The ultimate lesson is that attachment to anything other than the Dharma can lead to suffering, and only through wisdom and detachment can one find true happiness and spiritual fulfillment. The Buddha used this story to remind his disciples that desires, especially those rooted in worldly attachments, must be overcome to achieve true liberation.