That Dog! Story of dog's past life (Jat 242)

W.H.D. Rouse (trans.), Sunakha Jātaka (Jat 242) Stories of the Buddha’s Former Births, Book 2, Dukanipāta; That Dog; HH; Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Ananda (DBM) (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

“Foolish dog,” and so on. This story was told by the Buddha when he was staying in Jeta's Grove about a dog that used to be fed in the resting hall by the Ambala tower.

It is said that from the time it was a puppy this dog had been kept there and fed by water-carriers.

Over the course of time the puppy grew up to be a big dog. Once a villager happened to see it, and he purchased it from the water-carriers for the price of an upper garment and one rupee.

Buddhist Birth-Stories: Jataka Tales (Rhys Davids)

Then, fastening a chain to it, he led the dog away. The dog went along without resisting, making no sound. It just followed its new master, eating whatever was offered.

“This dog’s fond of me, no doubt,” thought the master, so he took the chain off the dog. And no sooner did the dog find itself free than he ran off never stopping until it got got back to the place it started.

Seeing it back at the monastery, the monastics guessed what had happened. And in the evening, when they were gathered in the Hall of Truth, they began talking about it.

“Friend, here’s the dog back again in our resting hall! How clever it must have been to get rid of its chain! No sooner free, than back it ran!”

The Buddha, entering, asked what they were gathered talking about. They told him. And he replied, “Monastics, this is not the first time that dog was clever at getting rid of its leash; it was just the same before.” Then the Buddha told them this past life story:

Story of the past

The Jatakas gave us Aesop's Fables.

Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was reigning in Benares, the Bodhisatta (Buddha-to-be) was reborn into a rich family of the Kingdom of Kasi. When he grew up, he set up a house of his own.

There was a man in Benares who had a dog which had been fed on rice until it grew fat. And a certain villager who had come to Benares saw that dog. The owner gave a fine garment and a piece of money for the dog, which he led off bound with a leash.

Arriving at the outskirts of a forest, he entered a hut, tied up the dog, and lay down to sleep. At that moment the Bodhisatta entered the forest on an errand. He beheld the dog fastened by a strap, which motivated him to utter this stanza:

“Foolish dog, why don’t you bite

Through the strap that holds you tight?

In a thrice you would be free,

Scampering off merrily!”

On hearing this, the dog uttered the second stanza:

“Resolute—determined, I

Wait my opportunity:

Careful watch and ward I keep

Till the people are asleep.”

So said that dog, and when the company were asleep, it gnawed through the strap and returned to its master’s house in great glee.

When this rebirth tale was ended, the Buddha identified the rebirth: “The dogs are the same, and I was the wise man [talking to it].”

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