Commentary on the stanza on the forest-deer

95. what is the origin of the stanza, beginning with: “Migo araññamhi”? It is said that during the dispensation of Buddha Kassapa, a certain bhikkhu, who was an earnest student of spiritual exercise, died and sprang up in the banker's family, who was prosperous, of much money and great wealth. He was lucky. Consequently he became one who committed adultery and was reborn in purgatory (niraya), on his death. Having been cooked there, due to the residue to the residue for maturity, he took conception as a female in the womb of a banker's wife. Bodies of creatures who came from purgatory (niraya), are hot. On that account, the banker's wife, with her belly burning, had to bear that pregnancy with difficulty and discomfort and eventually gave birth to a girl. Beginning from the day she was born, she was detestable to her parents and the remaining relatives as well as others in her environs. On her attaining to puberty also, such a family as which she was given to, in that family also she was detestable, unloved, and unpleasing to the mind of her husband, her mother-in-law and her father-in-law. Then, when the new month was proclaimed and the festivity to be celebrated was announced, the banker's son, not wishing to enjoy the festival together with her, brought in a prostitute and sported himself. She heard about it from her female slaves, approached her husband, the banker's son, appeased him in various ways and said::“My young lord! Woman, namely, whether she is the youngest sister of ten kings, or a daughter of world-king, notwithstanding that even, she is but a servant of her husband; when her husband stops talking to her, she suffers misery as if she is impaled; if I am worthy of favour I should have that favour from you; if not I should be sent away; I shall go back to my own family of relatives.” The banker's son said: “My dear! let it be so; do not be anxious;be ready for enjoyment of festivities; let us participate in the festivities to celebrate the night sky of heavenly bodies (nakkhatta).” The banker's daughter, became energetic with so much of the congenial conversation, said to herself: “Tomorrow, I shall participate in the heavenly-bodies festivities (nakkhatta). and prepared abundant hard and soft eatables.” The banker's son, on the next day went to the scene of festivities without informing her even. She, saying to herself: “Now, he will send, now he will send for me”, was seated looking out towards the road but seeing the rising sun sent her men to her husband. They went and returned and informed her that the banker's son, her husband, had gone. Taking along all that she had prepared, she mounted her chariot and began to go to the garden.

95.1. At that juncture, a silent buddha, at the Nandamūla cave, rose up from his enjoyment meditation of immortal bliss (nirodha), on the seventh day, chewed the tooth-stick of dragon creeper (nāgalatādantakaṭṭha), to cleanse his teeth, washed his face in the Anatotta (deep cool) lake, pondered over as to where he would go that day to wander about collecting almsfood, saw that banker's daughter, arrived at the knowledge that he would make her do na act of faithful homage and the consequence of her former evil deed would become entirely eliminated, stood on the surface of sixty-yojana-size stone of mansoilā in the vicinity of that mountain-cave, took his bowl and robe, entered upon such meditative attainment (jhāna), as was based upon higher knowledge, (abhiññā), went through the sky, descended at the spot on the road opposite to her and went facing towards Benares. Seeing him, her slave-women informed about it to the banker's daughter. She descended from her transport vehicle, paid him her homage respectfully, filled up his begging bowl with food, hard and soft endowed with all kinds of tasteful delicacies, had it covered over with lotus flower, had a lotus flower put below it also, caught hold of a bouquet of flowers in her hands, offered the bowl into the hand of the silent buddha, worshipped him with the bouquet of flowers in her clasped hands and made her prayer thus:- “Venerable Sir! In whatever existences I am to be reborn, may I in those existences be such a one as this flower, loved by and pleasing at heart to a large mass of people.” Having made her prayer thus, she prayed for the second time also thus: “Venerable Sir! Painful it is to get conceived in a mother's womb; without having to approach that sort of conception, may I be conceived in a lotus only.” She made her prayer for a third time also thus: “Venerable Sir! Womanhood is despicable; world-king's daughter even has to go under the influential desire of others; therefore, without having to approach womanhood, may I become a male man.” She made her prayer for a fourth time also thus: “Venerable Sir! Having gone beyond this painful round of rebirths, at the end, may I attain immortality (nibbāna), attained by you”. Having thus made her four resolute prayers, she offered that bouquet of lotus-flowers, did her adoration with five establishments (pañca patiṭṭhita), and made this fifth resolute prayer: “May my physical odour and complexion be even like unto this flower”.

95.2. Thereafter, the silent buddha, took his bowl as well as the bouquet of flowers, stood in the sky, made his thanksgiving to the banker's daughter with this stanza:

“May your desire and prayer materialise quickly even; like unto the moon on the fifteenth waxing night may all your wishes be fulfilled.”

He then made his self-resolution saying: “May the banker's daughter see me going”, and went back through the sky to the Nandamūla cave. A great deal of zest arose in the heart of the banker's daughter as she watched him going. The evil deed done by her in between her existences became entirely exhausted because of absence of opportunity and she became pure and clean like a copper-metal vessel which had been washed and cleaned with sour ripened tamarind fruit. Then and three all the people of her own family of relatives as well as of the family of her husband became pleased with her. They sent to her loving words and presents asking: “What can we do for you?” her husband also sent his men saying: “Bring my wife, the banker's daughter; I have come to the garden having forgotten her.” Beginning from then also, he embraced her round her chest endearingly as if she had smeared herself with sandal-wood or worn a necklace of pearls, or like a garland of flowers. There she enjoyed the bliss associated with reigning wealth as long as her life lasted, passed away and was reborn in a lotus flower as a male divinity in the divine world. That young divinity, in going about also went inside the lotus flower only. When he stood or sat or lay down, he did so inside the chamber of the lotus flower. Divinities called him Mahāpadumadevaputta (young divinity of big lotus). In this way, that one, because of that power, went about the round of rebirths only in the six divine worlds in direct and reverse order, one after another.

95.3. ON that occasion, there were twenty thousand wives to the king of Benares. Not a single one of those wives also did not get a child. The ministers let the king know thus: “Your majesty! A son, who would maintain the royal family lineage is essential; when one's own son did not exist, one born on the royal land could also maintain the royal family lineage.” Then the king saying: “Leaving aside the chief queen, let my remaining wives perform dancing duties for seven days,” let them behave outside according to their wish. In that way also they did not get any child. Again the minsters said: “O great king! The chief queen, namely, is topmost among all wives in merit as well as in knowledge. Perhaps, your majesty might obtain a son in the womb of the chief queen.” The king informed the chief queen about the matter. She replied thus. “O great king! Whichever lady possesses precepts, and is in the habit of speaking truth, such a lady would get a son; bereft of sense of shame and fear from sin, where can there be a son?” Having said so, she went up the palace, an repeatedly heeded herself on the same. While the virtuous chief queen kept reflecting upon the five precepts and the moment her aspiration for a son rose in the mind, the seat of Sakka quaked.

95.4. Then, upon reflecting, Sakka came to know about the matter, said to himself that he would give the boon of a son to the virtuous chief queen, went through the sky, stood in front of the queen and asked “What boon did you pray for?” She replied that she prayed for a son. Sakka told her not to worry since he was giving that queen a son, went back to his divine world, investigated saying: “Is there here, indeed, any divinity whose span of life had exhausted?” came to know thus: “This great lotus (Mahāpaduma) would be desirous of going to the higher divine world”, went to his mansion, and made his request thus: “Dear Mahāpaduma! Please do not say so; human world is despicable.” Sakka urged him thus: “My dear! You did good deeds in the human world and consequently you were reborn here, being born there even, you should fulfil perfections; please go, my dear!” The divinity replied: “O great king! Painful is staying in the mother's womb; I am not able to stay there.” On being told again and again thus: “My dear! To you there is no such thing as staying in the mother's womb; you had indeed done good deed in such a way that you will be reborn in the chamber of a lotus flower; please go, my dear!”. He eventually gave his consent.

95.5. He passed away from the celestial world and came into being in a lotus flower chamber in the lotus lake of stone-slabs (Silāpatta), in the royal garden of the king of Benares. In the early morning of that very night the chief queen, by means of her dream became as if she had obtained a son in the lotus-flower chamber in the lotus lake of stone slabs, having gone to the royal garden, surrounded by twenty thousand ladies of the king. When the night passed into dawn, she went there keeping her precepts and saw a lotus flower. That flower was neither on the bank nor in the deep. With her seeing that lotus flower even, there arose in her, motherly affection towards a son there. She herself even, went down the lade and took over that flower. As soon as the flower was seized even, its petals opened and bloomed fully. There she saw a babyson like a gold image. As soon as she saw it, she emitted a sound thus: “A son has been obtained by me.” The great mass of men offered her thousands of congratulations. Message was sent to the king also. The king heard about it, asked where the baby was obtained, gained intelligence of the place of procurement, said thus: “The garden, as well as the lotus lake together with the lotus flower are ours only; Therefore, this son, namely, is my sphere-born son (Khettaja), since he was born in my field”; let the baby enter the city, and made the twenty thousand royal ladies to do the wet-nursing. Whoever, having known the young prince's wishful need and made him eat every requested eatable, she and she received a thousand. The entire city of Benares was astir. The whole mass of people sent thousands of presents to the young prince. The young prince became annoyed and dissatisfied with nourishment when he was told to eat this hard-eatable or this soft eatable after this and that nourishment had been brought to him extremely excessively. Having felt thus, he would go away to the city gate and play about with a ball of lac.

95.6. At that time, a certain silent buddha resided at Isipatana, depending upon Benares. He got up even early in the morning, carried out all such duties to be done, as residential duties, bodily ablutions, making himself spiritually minded and so on, rose up from his solitude, reflected asking himself: “Where shall I collect alms-food today?”, saw the glory of the young prince, investigated as to what he had done previously, came to know thus: “Having offered alms-food to one like me, he made four prayers; three of them had materialised; for the time being, the fourth has not produced result;I shall show him some sense-object to contemplate in some way”, and went to the presence of the young prince by way of going on his alms-food collecting round. The young prince saw him and said: “O monk! do not come here; these women would, indeed, tell you also: ‘eat this hard food, eat this soft food’.” He receded thence, with that single statement only and went back to his own residential abode. The young prince said to the people round him thus: “This monk receded the very moment he was spoken to by me; indeed, has he become angry with me?” Although he was given the answer by the people thus “Recluses, namely, are not liable to become angry; whatever is given them with a pleasing mind by others, on that they subsist themselves,” he still opined thus: “I have offended such a monk; I shall apologise him”, informed his parents, mounted the royal elephant, went to Isipatana in great royal glory, saw a flock of deer and asked: “What is the name of those creatures?” The answer was: “My lord! these are known as deer” The young prince enquired “Are there supporters looking after them saying: ‘Eat this hard food; eat this soft food’?” The reply was: “My lord! There is none; where grass and water are easily obtainable, there they live”.

95.7. The young prince took up this object of contemplation thus: “Just as these creatures not being looked after even, live in such places as desired by them, when, indeed, I also, would live in this way?” The silent buddha also, came to know of his coming, swept the road to the monastery as well as the promenade, made them clean, showed his entrance foot-print, did not show his exit foot-print and went elsewhere. The young prince went there, saw that place being swept and kept clean, heard his surrounding people say: “We think that silent buddha live here”, said thus: “Early in the morning too, that monk was offended; now on his seeing his own place being trodden by elephants, horses and so on, he well become more offended; you all stand here even”. He then descended from the back of his royal elephant, entered the monastery alone even, saw the foot-print at the well-cleaned place done by the silent buddha himself under the heading of duty, said to himself: “That monk, now, walking to and fro here, methinks, did not think of such acts as trading and so on; certainly, this one must be thinking of his own welfare only;” pleased in mind, he went up the promenade, went with his reflection made far and wide (durikataputhuvitakka) sat himself down on s stone-slab, became one pointed (ekagga), entered the leaf-hut, tried to make clear in developing spiritual insight, (vipassanto), attained silent buddhahood and when asked by the private chaplain (purohita), about his mental exercise (kammaṭṭhāna), in the same manner as before, he recited this stanza, seated in the open air of the sky.

95.8. Migo, there, connotes deer of two kinds: plain antelope and a spotted antelope. Nevertheless this is the term of all forest quadrupeds. Here, however, the spotted antelope is meant. Thus, they say. Arañña, forest, is: leaving aside the village and the environs of villages, the rest is forest, (arañña)' here, however, garden or park is meant; that is why there is the statement: “In the garden”. Yathā is resemblance. Abaddho is not fastened with ropes, fasteners and so on; by this expression the text enlightens the untangled (practice or) behaviour. Yenicchakam gacchati gocarāya is: in whichever divisional direction it wants to go, in that direction it goes for food.

This has also been said by the Glorious One:-

“O monks! just as for example, a forest deer, wandering about in a woody forest, goes un- tangled, stands untangled, sits untangled, lies itself down untangled; what is the cause of it? O monks! It is because the deer has not gone into the sphere of a hunter, exactly in the self- same way, O monks! a bhikkhu, separating himself by keeping aloof from sensual pleasures,:P:, he dwells having entered upon the first jhāna. This is said to be, O bhikkhus! to have made an end of trackless (apada), Māra; having killed, he went away from the evil one to where Māra's eyes could not see.” This is in extenso.

Saritam, independence is the condition of conduct in life according to one's own desire, or, not depending on others. This is what is said:- Just as a deer goes about freely wherever it desires in the forest for its food-pasture, when, indeed, would I also, in the same way as the deer, go thus after having cut off the bondage of craving desire? Viññū is a wise man, with a view to gaining independence he wanders alone.

The commentary on the stanza beginning with Migo araññamhi, the forest-deer has ended.