Silanisamsa Jataka: "A Good Friend" (Jat 190)
The Buddha told this birth story (
jataka) at Jetavana Monastery about a pious lay follower.
One evening, when this
faithful disciple came to the bank of the Aciravati River on his way to Jetavana to hear the Buddha, there was no ferryboat at the landing. The ferrymen had all pulled their boats onto the farther shore and had themselves gone to hear the Buddha speak.
However, the disciple's mind was so full of delightful thoughts about the Buddha that even though he walked onto the river, his feet did not sink below the surface: He walked across the water as if on dry land.
But when he noticed the waves as he reached the middle of the river, his
ecstasy [
absorption] subsided and his feet began to sink.
When he arrived at Jetavana, he paid his respects to the Buddha and took a seat respectfully to one side.
"Good layman," the Buddha said to that disciple, "I hope you had no mishap on your way here."
"Venerable sir," the disciple recounted, "while on my way here, I was so absorbed in thoughts of [the excellent qualities of] the Buddha that, when I came to the river, I was able to walk across it as though it were solid."
"Friend," said the Blessed One, "you're not the only one who has been protected in this way. In olden days pious lay followers were shipwrecked mid-ocean and saved themselves by remembering the virtues of the Buddha."
At the man's request, the Buddha told this story of the past:
Long, long ago, at the time of the
Buddha Kassapa [3], a lay disciple who had already
entered the path [who had become a
stream enterer] booked passage on a ship along with one of his friends, a rich barber. The barber's wife asked this disciple to look after her husband.
A week after the ship left port, it sank mid-ocean. The two friends saved themselves by hanging onto a wooden plank until they were cast onto a deserted island.
Killing eggs and birds
Famished, the barber took eggs from nests [the island being a
rookery], killed some birds, cooked them, and offered a share of his meal to the follower of the Buddha Kassapa.
"No, thank you," that [partially enlightened disciple] answered, "I'm fine." Then he thought to himself, "In this isolated place, there is no help for us except the
Three Gems [the Buddha, the Dharma, and the
Enlightened/Noble Sangha]."
As he sat meditating on the Three Gems, a
naga king (
naga-raja, reptilian, dragon, royal serpent) who had been reborn on that island transformed himself into a beautiful ship filled with the seven precious things [4]. Its three masts were made of sapphire, the planks and anchor of gold, and the ropes of silver.
The helmsman, who was a spirit of the sea, stood on the deck and cried, "Any passengers for
Jambudīpa?"
"Yes," the lay disciple answered. "That's where we're bound!"
"Then come onboard," the sea spirit told him.
The layman climbed aboard the beautiful ship and turned to call his friend the barber.
"You may come," the sea spirit said, "but he may not."
"Why not?" the disciple asked.
"He is not a follower of the pure life," answered the sea spirit. "I brought this ship for you, but not for him."
"In that case," the layman announced, "all the gifts I have given, all the virtues I have practiced, all the powers I have developed — I give the fruit of all of them to him!"
"Thank you, Master!" cried the barber.
"Very well," said the sea spirit, "now I can take you both onboard."
The ship carried the two men over the sea and up the Ganges River. After depositing them safely at their home in Baranasi [
Varanasi], the sea spirit used his magic power to create enormous wealth for both of them. Then, poising himself mid-air, he instructed the men and their friends: "Keep company with the wise and good."
"If this barber had not been in company with this pious layman, he would have perished in the middle of the ocean." Finally, the sea spirit returned to his own abode, taking the naga king with him.
Having finished this discourse, the Buddha identified the birth tale (
jataka) and taught the
Dhamma, after which the pious layman in front of him entered
the fruit of the second path.
"On that occasion," the Buddha said, "that faithful disciple attained
the fruit of the fourth path (arahantship). Sariputta was the
naga king, and I myself was the spirit of the sea."
Source
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