Sacred Texts: Buddhism

Buddhism in Translations - § 95. The Story of a Priest.

Henry Clarke WarrenPali Canon TranslationsTheravada Buddhism

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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 — the goddess's virtue is grounded in consequence-avoidance rather than principle — while the Buddha functions simultaneously as ethical arbiter, property manager, and lawgiver, closing by instituting a new priestly rule protecting vegetation.

Buddhism in Translations - § 95. The Story of a Priest.

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