Jātaka 001: Apaṇṇaka Jātaka Crossing the Wilderness Ashin Sarana: In the Buddha’s time, friends of merchant Anāthapiṇḍika visited the Buddha and became devotees and followers of the Buddha, but after the Buddha left, they returned to their wrong beliefs and ignorant teachers of spirituality. Buddha told them how He, as a merchant with 500 carts laden with merchandise, and another merchant, who was a fool, wanted to cross a dry desert with 500 carts filled with merchandise. The foolish merchant crossed first, was fooled by an ogre to discard water, and soon, tired and thirsty, fell to sleep with his retinue, only to be devoured by the evil yakkhas along with his men. The wise merchant followed six weeks later and recognized the yakkhas by their red eyes and no shadows. Undeceived, he didn’t throw away any water, sold his merchandise in the destination city, and returned without losing any men.
Andre Thu’s drawing Once upon a time, in a time and place where there were two merchants, a wise merchant and a foolish merchant, went on a journey at the same time, place and purpose, by coincidence perhaps, to sell goods at a town, where a dangerous and lengthy journey would be made through a desert, where a surprise would be there. So that resources would not be a challenge met by the two, the wise merchant suggested that either of them go before or after the other, so he asked the foolish merchant whether he would go forth or stay behind and with this choice, the foolish merchant came upon a decision, quite silly, and he thought, “Oh, if I go forth on this path greenery and vegetation, not touched, would be abundant and starvation would not be a problem with our oxen being strong and healthy and curry for days, and it should not be a problem to cross this path for the road has not been trampled,” so he agreed to go first. While a great idea this may seem, a better path is taken going after, and the wise merchant knew these advantages as he thought, “This foolish merchant thinks of a better path going first when I will receive fresh plants eaten by the previous traveller and roads, once rough like stone, will be smoothen by the merchant going before me,”so he agreed. On the way of the foolish merchant, a yakkha came, dripping in a pristine robe with lotus flowers and water lillies, as well as men holding a carriage, where the yakkha lay, and muddy shoes with swords and shields, and with this attire, the foolish merchant inquired to how the yakkha was so wet and moist, so the yakkha explained that a rain forest, just a few yojanas away, always rains and suggested to throw away the water, a trick to devour them when weak, and devour them they did. While the foolish merchant was eaten, although the same event occurred, the wise merchant recognized a shadow was not cast in the bright sun, so he came to the realization that a yakkha was among them and denied his suggestion as no cloud or lightning was in sight and thunder was not heard, so they sold the remains of the foolish merchant they found and came back, with not a single man dead.May’s drawing There was a foolish and greedy merchant that disrespected the yakkhas. The merchant didn’t care for anything and always went first. Then one day the Buddha came to tell the merchant that he had been bad and ungrateful so the merchant became good.Yamona’s drawing The Buddha told the story of his past life about two merchants , one merchant was the buddha to be and the other one was the foolish merchant who was Devadatta. The two merchants each loaded 500 carts with the merchandise of Bārānasi. The wise merchant told the other merchant they could not go together so the foolish merchant thought there was many advantages of going first and the wise merchant thought the opposite, so they agreed.The foolish merchant and his followers got killed by Yakkhas because the yakkha that haunted that wilderness made a carriage with magic and disguised his followers with water lilies and put mud on the carriage wheels and told the foolish merchant that water is nearby and the water in the carts made it heavier then needed and the foolish merchant believed it. The foolish merchant and his men fainted from thirst and the yakkhas ate them.Kids’ drawing
