{"collection":"Sacred Texts: Buddhism","full_text_available":false,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/sacred_texts_v1_bud_bits_bits095_htm/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/sacred_texts_v1_bud_bits_bits095_htm","id":"sacred_texts_v1_bud_bits_bits095_htm","license":"unknown_pending_legal_review","rights_basis":"sacred_texts_v1_preview_gate_primary_text_only; acquisition-method/ToS and compilation-copyright questions still open, not resolved by this gate","source":"sacred_texts_v1","source_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bud/bits/bits095.htm","summary":"This is a canonical Buddhist didactic tale from the Dhammapada commentary, attributed to the 5th-century monk Buddhaghosa, used to explain the origin and meaning of verse 222 on controlling anger. The story follows a forest-dwelling priest who, while building a house, cuts down a tree inhabited by a goddess and her young son, severing the child's arm in the process. The goddess suppresses her murderous rage not out of compassion for the priest but from calculated self-interest: killing a precept-observing monk would condemn her to hell and set a dangerous precedent for other tree-goddesses. She instead brings her grievance to the Buddha, who praises her restraint, offers the parable of the skilled charioteer to distinguish true self-mastery from mere technical control, and resolves her homelessness by reassigning her to a vacant tree. The text's distinctive perspective lies in its pragmatic, almost legalistic morality \u2014 the goddess's virtue is grounded in consequence-avoidance rather than principle \u2014 while the Buddha functions simultaneously as ethical arbiter, property manager, and lawgiver, closing by instituting a new priestly rule protecting vegetation.","tags":["Henry Clarke Warren","Pali Canon Translations","Theravada Buddhism"],"text":null,"title":"Buddhism in Translations - \u00a7 95. The Story of a Priest.","tradition":"Sacred Texts: Buddhism","translated_text":null,"word_count":628}