Once upon a time,in a forest in India, there lived a blind mother elephant and her calf. The calf gathered nuts, fruits, and other food, and brought fresh water to care for his blind mother.
One day, a man lost his way in the forest and could not find his way out. He was deeply distressed and lamented his situation. Seeing that the man was lost, the elephant calf took pity on him and showed him the way. The man was able to leave the mountains safely and return home, and he was overjoyed.
The man went to the king and said:
“I know of a forest where a fragrant elephant lives. It is an extraordinary elephant, unlike any other in the world, and I have never seen one like it. You should capture it at once.”
It was said that elephants in musth gave off a pleasant fragrance.
Hearing this, the king himself led an army to the forest. With the man who had told him about the elephant serving as his guide, the king went to the place where the elephants lived and hunted them.
At that moment, both arms of the man who had revealed the elephant’s whereabouts suddenly broke and fell to the ground. They looked as though they had been cut off by someone. The king was astonished and puzzled by what he saw, but he nevertheless captured the young elephant, brought him back to the palace, and tied him up.
After being captured, the elephant would neither drink water nor eat grass. The men in charge of the elephant stable found this strange and reported it to the king.
“The elephant will not drink water or eat grass.”
The king himself went to see the elephant and asked:
“Why will you neither drink nor eat?”
The elephant replied:
“My mother is blind and cannot walk. For a long time, I have kept her alive by bringing her food and water. But now that I have been captured like this, she has lost the one who cared for her, and she will surely starve. When I think of this, I am overcome with sorrow. How could I alone drink and eat?”
When the king heard this, he was filled with compassion and set the elephant free. The elephant was overjoyed and returned to the forest.
That elephant calf was the Buddha Shakyamuni in a previous life.
To the east of the Bodhi tree on the banks of the Niranjana River, where Shakyamuni attained enlightenment, there was a vast forest, and a stupa had been built there. It was said that the blind elephant and her calf had lived beside a pond to the north of the forest.
[Translation]
Yukiko Nishimura / Siro Inuzuka
This text was created by using chatGPT and Gemini to translate a modern Japanese translation into English, and then making some modifications. There may be errors in the English expressions. Please correct any mistakes.
[Commentary]
Yuri Aoi / Siro Inuzuka
This story was derived from the Records of the Western Regions.
The Niranjana River is a tributary of the Ganges. It is famous as the river on whose bank, beneath the Bodhi tree, Shakyamuni attained enlightenment.
The Niranjana River. It is now called the Phalgu River. The river has water only during the rainy season.
In Japan, kings were associated with fine horses. In India, possessing fine elephants was a symbol of royal power.
[Cooperation]
Shinichi Kusano
●Japanese
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