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Theravāda — Pali Canon · Khuddaka Nikāya — The Minor Collection
Cp 16The Conduct of the Deer-king Ruru
Pāli / Sanskrit:Rurumigarājacariya
📖278 words · ~1 min read
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Full translation (English)
– The Conduct Leading to Buddhahood
The Chapter on an Elephant The Perfection of Ethics (6th)
Ruru the Deer King’s Conduct
“Then again when I wasthe king of deer named Ruru,in appearance I was like burnished gold,focused on the highest ethics.There was a pleasant, delightful region,free of humans,so I went there and stayedon a lovely bank of the Ganges.Then a man upstream,harassed by creditors,fell into the Ganges, thinking,‘I live or I die!’Day and night in the Gangeshe was swept along the stream,crying out pitifully,along the middle of the Ganges.When I heard the soundof his pitiful crying,I stood on the Ganges bankand asked, ‘What man are you?’When asked he explainedto me his own deed:‘I was so scared of my creditors,I jumped in the great river!’Taking pity on him,surrendering my own life,I entered and dragged him outin the darkness of the night.When I knew he had recovered,I said to him,‘I ask of you one favor:tell no-one about me.’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.All that I had donewas related to the king.When the king heard this,he fitted his arrow, thinking,‘Right here I shall killthis ignoble betrayer of a friend.’I protected him,substituting myself:‘Let him be, great king. I shall carry out your pleasure.’I guarded my ethics,not my life.For then I was ethical,because it was solely for awakening.”
Translation source: Bhikkhu Indacanda (SuttaCentral)License: VI © Bhikkhu Indacanda (qua SuttaCentral) · EN CC0-1.0 (Bhikkhu Sujato)
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