2. The Buddha as a carpenter (J.N0.459)
A beautiful Island
Once, in a village, there were a hundred carpenters who promised to make furniture
for the people and received some money in advance from the villagers. Then for a
long time they gave neither furniture nor the money back. The People started to
blame them asking their money or furniture. Eventually, to escape from them the
carpenters went to a forest where they all got together and made a ship. One
night they brought the ship up to the village by way of the river. Then loaded
their goods, wealth, and families aboard, then sailed the ship out to the ocean
seeking a safer place to live, an island. During this time of sailing to safety,
they saw a very beautiful, small Island like Sri Lanka.
There were many kinds of fruit trees such as, mango, jak, orange, pears, peach,
and banana. A great variety of beautiful flowers were seen also. It was a very
beautiful Island and a suitable place to live. To check the condition further,
seven of them went to the Island first. Seeing all the lush beauty and charm of
the Isle, they decided to land there. When they'd gotten back to the beach, they
saw a naked man with a long beard lying there like a log. Thinking that he was a
devil they set their bow and arrows to shoot him. Then the man screamed and said,
"Please do not kill me, I am a human like you". He further said, "I have been here
for many years". Thereafter, the seven friends asked about the advantages of the
Isle. Explaining he said, "This must be one of the most beautiful Islands in the
world. You know, even many devas come to this island, they all are attracted to
this Island. Therefore, if you are going to stay here you all have to be very
careful of one thing". "What is that one thing?" they asked. "Never ever excrete
or urinate on the surface of this Island. Please dig a hole and use it
for urination and defecation". He said.
After hearing this good advice, they all landed and settled on that Island.
Now there were two chief carpenters, one of them one a wise man, the other a
foolish one. The wise man instructed his group everyday and they lived righteously
and happily. However, the foolish man's group made the whole place a mess. One
night they all became drunk, urinating and defecating on the Island.
All devas then became angry and said amongst them that they should completely
destroy the Island together with all people. However, a compassionate deva came
to the people and informed them of the imminent disaster. Upon hearing this, the
wise carpenter asked his group to build a ship so that if anything happened, they
could go to the ship. But the foolish one's group did nothing, just kept on eating,
drinking,urinating, defecating, and sleeping.
One starry night the Island was flooded. Moment by moment the level of the water
increased. Then the wise man asked his group to get into the ship. In contrast, the
foolish man when the level of water was increasing said, "This is good to wash the
dirty things on the Island. So they stayed and in their lack of wisdom did nothing
and so eventually, they were all washed away into the ocean and died. Thereafter,
there was no Island to be seen there. That wise carpenter was the
Buddha in one of his previous lives.
Moral: Listen to others well and do not be lazy
The Buddha as the head of gods
The Buddha as a king of swan