Cariyāpiṭaka 16

The Conduct Leading to Buddhahood

The Chapter on an Elephant

The Perfection of Ethics (6th)

Ruru the Deer King’s Conduct

1 “Then again when I was

the king of deer named Ruru,

in appearance I was like burnished gold,

focused on the highest ethics.

2 There was a pleasant, delightful region,

free of humans,

so I went there and stayed

on a lovely bank of the Ganges.

3 Then a man upstream,

harassed by creditors,

fell into the Ganges, thinking,

‘I live or I die!’

4 Day and night in the Ganges

he was swept along the stream,

crying out pitifully,

along the middle of the Ganges.

5 When I heard the sound

of his pitiful crying,

I stood on the Ganges bank

and asked, ‘What man are you?’

6 When asked he explained

to me his own deed:

‘I was so scared of my creditors,

I jumped in the great river!’

7 Taking pity on him,

surrendering my own life,

I entered and dragged him out

in the darkness of the night.

8 When I knew he had recovered,

I said to him,

‘I ask of you one favor:

tell no one about me.’

9 But once he had returned to the city,

for the sake of money he told when asked.

Taking the king,

he drew close to me.

10 All that I had done

was related to the king.

When the king heard this,

he fitted his arrow, thinking,

‘Right here I shall kill

this ignoble betrayer of a friend.’

11 I protected him,

substituting myself:

‘Let him be, Great King.

I shall carry out your pleasure.’

12 I guarded my ethics,

not my life.

For then I was ethical,

because it was solely for awakening.”