Catukkanipāta 68

Numbered Discourses 4.68

7. Fitting Deeds

Devadatta

1 At one time the Buddha was staying near Rājagaha, on the Vulture’s Peak Mountain, not long after Devadatta had left. There the Buddha spoke to the mendicants about Devadatta:

“Possessions, honor, and popularity came to Devadatta for his own ruin and downfall.

2 It’s like a banana plant … 3 or a bamboo … 4 or a reed, all of which bear fruit to their own ruin and downfall …

5 It’s like a mule, which becomes pregnant to its own ruin and downfall. In the same way, possessions, honor, and popularity came to Devadatta for his own ruin and downfall.

6 The banana plant is destroyed by its own fruit,

as are the bamboo and the reed.

Honor destroys a reprobate,

as pregnancy destroys a mule.”