Chapter One

1. HOW SAKYAMUNI TATHAGATA

CAME TO DWELL IN THE WORLD OF MEN

A T A TIME NOW PAST, when Sakyamuni Tathagata was not yet

Buddha, he was called Sakyamuni Bodhisattva and dwelled in the
Inner Court of the Tusita heaven.1 When the time came that he
determined to be born upon earth, he manifested the five signs of
mortal decay. The five signs of a divine being's mortal decay are
namely these: first, the eyes of the gods do not blink, but he
blinks,- second, the garlands on the heads of the gods do not
wither, but his garlands wither,- third, no dust adheres to the
clothing of the gods, but dust and dirt settle on him; fourth, the
gods do not perspire, but he exudes perspiration under his arms,-
fifth, a god never changes his seat, but he, without seeking out his
own seat, sits down wherever he may be.
The gods all saw the Bodhisattva manifest these signs, and they
spoke to him in wonder and apprehension, saying: "Today we
have seen you manifest the signs of decay. Our bodies tremble
and our minds are bewildered. Tell us the reason, we pray you."
The Buddha replied, "Know that all phenomenal existence is
impermanent. Soon I shall leave these heavenly mansions to be
reborn on the continent of Jambudvipa."2 Hearing this, the gods
all uttered lamentations.
The Buddha then thought, "Whom shall I choose to be my
father and whom my mother when I am born on earth?" He
decided, "Suddhodana, King of Kapilavastu, and Queen Maya are
entirely fit to be made my parents."
On the eighth day of the seventh month of a mizunoto-ushi
year,3 he lodged in the womb of Queen Maya. As the Queen lay
sleeping in the night, she dreamed that the Bodhisattva de-
scended from the skies riding upon a white elephant with six
tusks, and that he entered her body through her right side. Her
body was transparent, and he was visible through it, like an object
inside a beryl jar. The Queen awoke with a start. She went to the
King and told him her dream. "I too," said the King, "have had
Chapter One 31

such a dream. Unaided, I cannot interpret it." He forthwith sum-

moned a Brahman skilled in the reading of omens. He made the
Brahman offerings of finely fragrant flowers and various sorts of
food and drink and asked him about the vision the Queen had
seen in her dream. The Brahman said to the King, ' T h e prince
whom the Queen has conceived is marked with every marvelous
and excellent sign. I cannot explain all the particulars, but to you,
O King, I shall tell it in brief. The child within the Queen's
womb is one that only the brilliant race of the Sakyas could
produce. At the time that he issues from the womb, he will emit a
great light. Brahma and Indra and all the gods will pay him
homage. These felicitous omens show without a doubt that he is
to become Buddha. If, perchance, he does not renounce secular
life, however, he will become a universal sage king; he will fill
the four continents with precious substances and be blessed with
a thousand sons."
Hearing the Brahman's prophecy, the King felt boundless joy.
He gave the Brahman precious goods of every kind, gold and
silver, elephants and horses and carriages,- and the Queen, too,
gave him vast treasure. The Brahman received the precious gifts
that the King and Queen bestowed on him and returned whence
he had come. So the tale's been told, and so it's been handed
down.

Notes to Story 1

1. Tathagata is an epithet borne by the Buddha after enlightenment.

The Inner Court of the Tusita heaven is where the future Buddha
dwells while awaiting final reincarnation upon earth. (There is also an
Outer Court where gods dwell.) For the heavens in general, see 1:11,
note 2.
2. In Buddhist cosmology, the southernmost of the continents sur-
rounding the world mountain,- the word is sometimes used syn-
onymously with India, sometimes just to denote the world of men.
3. Mizunoto-ushi: the fiftieth year in a cycle of sixty. This method of
counting years is a Chinese and Japanese, not an Indian, one.
32 Konjaku monogatari sh u

8. HOW SAKYAMUNI PREACHED

THE DHARMA TO FIVE BHIKSHUS

A T A TIME NOW PAST, Sakyamuni Tathagata went to the coun-

try of Benares, to a place where five bhikshus1 were residing,
Kaundinya among them. From afar the five men saw him come;
and they said to each other, ''The sramana Gautama has given up
self-torment and comes here now to be given food. We need not
rise to greet him." But when the Tathagata had come, each man
got up from his seat and greeted him with reverent salutation.
Thereupon the Tathagata addressed them.- "O ye of little wisdom,
be not disdainful; do not doubt that I have achieved the Way. And
as to the reason: the practice of self-torment deludes and confuses
the mind, while partaking of pleasure addicts the heart2 to plea-
sure. I therefore have left the two ways of pain and pleasure to
follow the middle Way,- and now I have succeeded in attaining
bodhi." And the Tathagata preached to the five men the Four
Truths of Suffering, the Origin of Suffering, the Extinction of
Suffering, and the Way for the Extinction of Suffering. Hearing
this sermon, the five men were freed of defilement and rid of pain
and acquired the clear vision of the Dharma eye.3 Now about the
five men: their names were (one) Kaundinya, (two) Ma-
hakasyapa, (three) Asvajit, (four) Bhadrika, (five) Mahanaman.
Should it be asked, "Why was it these five men?" the answer is
that long, long ago, in the age in which Kasyapa was the Buddha,
there were nine fellow-scholars. Four were clever and attained
the Way from the very beginning; the five men whose wits were
dull. . .4 only later became enlightened. They vowed to be reborn
at the time when Sakyamuni would appear in the world and
achieve the Way. So the tale's been handed down.

Notes to Story 8
1. The term bhikshu is used in this story in the general sense of ascetic
religious practitioner, although ordinarily it is one of several essen-
tially synonymous terms for a member of the Buddhist religious order,-
the point here is that the five men are not yet converts. Sramana, in
Buddhist texts, likewise ordinarily refers to a member of the Buddhist
order, but it can also refer to ascetic practitioners of all persuasions in
India. The appellation Gautama which the five men use for the Buddha
Chapter One 33

has overtones of contempt here, because it is a surname borne by the

Buddha before he became enlightened; see also the next story.
2. "Heart" and "mind" both render the same word, kokoro.
3. Clear vision of the Dharma eye: dharmacaksurvi'suddha, the ability
to discern the Truth, the result of hearing the Dharma.
4. Lacuna owing to damage to the text.

11. HOW THE BUDDHA ENTERED A CITY

OF THE BRAHMANS TO BEG FOOD

A T A TIME NOW PAST, the Buddha decided to enter a city of the

Brahmans to beg his food. The heathen in that city were all of one
mind against him. "Lately this bhikshu Gautama, as he is called,
has been going from house to house and begging things to eat,"
one said to another. "He is ill-favored and hateful. He was once of
exalted station,- he was the son of King Suddhodana and he ought
to have inherited his father's throne, but for no apparent reason
he went mad, they say, went into the mountains, and became
Buddha. He addles men's minds, and there are many here whom
he has taken in. On no account should he be given alms." A
decree was circulated: "Whoever breaks the covenant and makes
him an offering shall be driven from the kingdom." After that,
when the Buddha went for alms, he found at some houses that
the gates were bolted, at other houses he waited and waited with-
out an answer, and at yet others the inhabitants told him to be
gone and drove him away. As this was the manner of his recep-
tion, he failed to gain any alms before the sun rose high.1 Looking
famished, his empty bowl pressed against his breast, he was re-
turning to his dwelling when a woman came out of one of the
houses to throw away putrid water in which some days pre-
viously rice had been washed. Seeing the Buddha returning with-
out offerings, she was moved to pity. "If only I might give him
something!" she thought, but she was poor and had nothing at all
to offer. "What can I do?" she thought, and her eyes swam with
tears. The Buddha saw her standing there. "What grieves you?"
he asked. "I saw that the Buddha had gained no alms before the
34 Konjaku monogatari sh u

sun rose high/' she replied, "and I thought, if only I might offer
him something! But my household is poor, and I have nothing at
all to give. That is why I grieve," and her tears fell as she spoke.
"What is in the pail you carry?" asked the Buddha. "Spoiled rice-
water that I am taking to throw away." The Buddha said,
"Rather, give it to me. It is wholesome food, for it has the taste of
rice." "A strange thing indeed you ask," said the woman, "but I
shall obey," and she filled his bowl. The Buddha raised it in his
hands and pronounced a blessing: "Through the merit of this act,
when you are reborn among the gods it shall be as king of the
Trayastrimsa heaven,2 and when you are reborn among men it
shall also be as a king. Such is the infinite merit of this act."
One of the heathen had gone to the top of a tower and from
there had seen how the Buddha was driven from house to house,
how he received no offering before the sun was high, how he was
going away famished, and how he took the putrid liquid the
woman was discarding and blessed it. The unbeliever came out
and ridiculed him: "Buddha, why do you deceive men with such
lies? This is no wholesome food; it is putrid liquid that she was
taking to throw away. Yet, when some comes into your hands,
you say that the giver will be reborn in heaven or as a king among
men. That is a monstrous lie!" The Buddha said, "Have you seen
the seed of the banyan tree?" "Yes, I have," said the heathen. The
Buddha said, "How large is it?" The heathen said, "It is even
smaller than a grain of mustard." The Buddha said, "And how
large is the banyan tree?" The heathen said, "It can shelter five
hundred carriages under its branches and have shade to spare."
The Buddha said, "By this example you shall understand. The
tree born of a seed smaller than a grain of mustard can shelter five
hundred carriages and have shade to spare. The merit that springs
from the slightest offering to the Buddha is incalculable. Your
actions in this world are like the seed; know then that your
reward in afterlives is like the tree." When the heathen heard
this he was overcome with awe and did homage to the Buddha,-
the hair dropped from his head spontaneously, and thus tonsured,
he became an arhat.3 The woman, too, upon hearing the Bud-
dha's prophecy performed reverent salutations,- and she departed.
So the tale's been told, and so it's been handed down.
Chapter One 35

Notes to Story 11

1. Buddhist monks were forbidden to eat after noon.

2. Early Buddhism believed that above the world-mountain there were
six heavens of the gods; of these the most often mentioned was the
Trayastrirhsa heaven (Japanese, Toriten), ruled over by Indra, and the
Tusita heaven (Japanese, Tosotten), where Maitreya, the Buddha of the
future, now awaits his time on earth. The disadvantage of being reborn
as a god in one of the heavens is, as we shall find in the next story, that
life in them, though long, was not everlasting. Belief in these heavens
persisted in Japan alongside the newer belief in the Pureland paradise
established by the Buddha Amitabha (Amida).
3. An arhat may be defined as one who has experienced enlightenment,
inferior only to the Buddha himself; in use the term often denotes the
direct disciples of the Buddha. The arhat was freed from further re-
birth—again an important point in the story that follows.

18. HOW THE BUDDHA CONVERTED NANDA

AND CAUSED HIM TO RENOUNCE SECULAR LIFE

AT A TIME NOW PAST, there was among the Buddha's disciples a

man called Nanda. Formerly, as a householder, he had had a wife
who was the most beautiful woman in all the five Indias. Cling-
ing to his love for her, he did not believe in the Buddha's teaching
and he ignored the Buddha's chiding. At the time of this story,
the Buddha was residing in a grove of fig trees,- in company with
his disciple Ananda, he went to Nanda's house to convert him.
Nanda had climbed to the top of a tower and saw from afar the
Buddha begging with his bowl. Nanda hurried down from the
tower and went to the Buddha, saying: "You, my Lord, were born
to be a universal sage king. How is it that you are not ashamed to
beg your food?" And taking the bowl in his own hands, he went
into his house, filled it with delicious food and drink, and re-
turned with it to the Buddha. The Buddha would not accept it.
Returning to the grove of fig trees, he told Nanda: "If you will
renounce secular life, then I will accept the bowl." Nanda heard
this and prepared to present the bowl in accordance with the
36 Konjaku monogatari sh u

Buddha's words. His wife came out and said, "Come home soon/'
With the intent of renouncing secular life, Nanda went to where
the Buddha was living and presented the bowl; he said, "I pray
you, accept this." The Buddha said to Nanda, "Now that you are
here, shave your head and put on religious dress. Do not think of
returning to your home." With his supernatural powers the Bud-
dha had assailed Nanda; now he had Ananda ordain him. And so,
Nanda remained in the abode of purity,- the Buddha gradually
soothed him, and he rejoiced.l
Now Nanda still cherished the wish to visit his wife. While
the Buddha was away he tried to go to her; but the door he was
going to go out by suddenly closed. Another door opened, but
when he tried to go out through that door, it closed and another
opened. Thus, he could not go out —and then the Buddha re-
turned, and he could not go out.2 On another occasion he
thought, "If only the Buddha would absent himself a short while!
During that time I would go to my wife." The Buddha an-
nounced that he was going somewhere and gave Nanda a broom.
"Sweep here," he said. Nanda busied himself so as to be done
quickly with the sweeping, but a wind arose from nowhere and
blew all the dust back. Before he could finish, the Buddha re-
turned. Yet again, when the Buddha had gone somewhere, Nanda
left the monks' chambers, thinking: "During this interval I will
go to my wife. The Buddha will surely return by the same road."
But the Buddha knew, without being told, exactly what was in
Nanda's mind, and he returned by the road that Nanda took.
When Nanda from afar saw the Buddha approach, he hid at the
foot of a great tree. The spirit of the tree suddenly raised the tree
into the air and exposed him. The Buddha saw Nanda and es-
corted him back to the monastery. In such manner was Nanda
kept from returning to his wife.
The Buddha said to Nanda, "Study the Way. You pay no heed to
the afterlife; now that is extremely foolish. I shall go with you
and show you the heavens." So declaring, he ascended with him
to the Trayastrimsa heaven. He exhibited the heavenly palaces
where the gods and goddesses enjoy their boundless pleasures.
Inside one of the palaces, Nanda saw precious ornaments, too
many to count. Within this palace were five hundred goddesses
and no gods. Nanda asked the Buddha, "Why are there only
female deities in this palace?" The Buddha asked a goddess, and
Chapter One 37

she replied, "On earth there is a man named Nanda who is a

disciple of the Buddha. Recently he renounced secular life.
Owing to the merit of this act, when his life is over he will be
reborn in this heavenly palace. It is because he is to be the god
that there is no male deity here." When Nanda heard this, he
thought, "Why, that's I myself!" The Buddha said to him, "Can
your wife rival the goddess in beauty?" Nanda said, "When I
compare my wife in my mind with the goddess, my wife looks
like a monkey. But then, so do I." Having seen the goddess,
Nanda suddenly forgot all about his wife. He scrupulously ad-
hered to the monastic vows in the hope of being reborn here.
On another occasion the Buddha took Nanda to hell. Their
path traversed the iron mountains that ring the world. On the
other side of the mountains were beings called monkey-women,
who were incomparably beautiful. Among them was one called
Sundarl. Nanda saw her. The Buddha said, "Can your wife rival
Sundari? Is she as fine as this monkey-woman?" Nanda said,
"Were my wife a hundred, a thousand times more beautiful, the
two could still not be compared." The Buddha said, "Again, can
Sundarl vie with the goddesses?" Nanda said, "Were Sundarl a
thousand, ten thousand times more beautiful there would be no
comparison." The Buddha and Nanda arrived in hell. The Bud-
dha showed Nanda all sorts of cauldrons. They were full of boil-
ing water, and people were being cooked in them. Nanda was
terrified at the sight. But he saw one cauldron boiling away with
nobody in it. Nanda asked one of the demons, "Why isn't anyone
in this pot?" The demon replied, "On earth there is a disciple of
the Buddha named Nanda who, owing to the merit of renouncing
secular life, will be reborn in heaven. Ultimately, his span of life
in heaven will be exhausted, and he will drop into hell. I blow the
fires high under this cauldron because I wait for Nanda." Nanda
was filled with dread. He said to the Buddha, "Please take me
back to earth at once. Protect me!" The Buddha said to Nanda,
"Observe well your vows, that you may obtain the felicities of
heaven." "I no longer want to be reborn in heaven," said Nanda ;
"just don't drop me into hell."
The Buddha and Nanda returned to earth, and for Nanda's sake
the Buddha in the space of seven days preached the Dharma and
caused him to achieve the fruits of arhatship. So the tale's been
told, and so it's been handed down.