144 Nanguttha Jātaka (JTA 1.58) Dousing the Birth-Fire Ashin Sarana:
Thinzar M’s drawing Some monks saw ascetics punishing their body so the monks asked the Buddha if there was any value in doing it and Buddha answered there was no value at all. The Buddha told them that some wise men would do this practice but saw it was useless so he practiced meditation instead and won rebirth to heaven then the Buddha told a story of the past. When the Buddha-to-be chose to be a an ascetic and went to a hermitage with his birth fire. One day, he received an ox from the villagers and he was going to offer the ox to the deva of fire. But while he was busy preparing for offering, a band of hunters saw the ox and killed it eating all the good parts and leaving only tail, hide and hoofs. When the ascetic saw what happened he realized that he cannot relied his future on the god who couldn’t even look after his sacrifices and extinguished his birth fire and left the hermitage. He practiced meditation which then he attained the rebirth to heaven.Kids’ drawing
