272 Vyaggha Jātaka (JTA 101) The Vanishing Jungle Ashin Sarana:
Valentina’s drawing It was while staying at Jetavana that the Buddha told this story about Venerable Kokalika: After Venerable Kokalika had driven away the two chief bhikkhus, the villagers made him promise that he would bring them back, but when he went to ask them to come back, they refused to. When the Buddha overheard the other bhikkhus talking about what happened, he said to them that this is not the first time Venerable Kokalika has not been able to live with or without them. Long ago, these two fierce beasts who lived in a jungle killed animals every day and after they had eaten, they left the remains, so a foul smell filled the place up. One of the devas who lived in the jungle said that he will drive these two beasts away because of this smell, but the other deva said that if there are no tiger and lion tracks left in the place, men will start cutting down trees and making it a farmland, so technically the two beasts are their protecters. However, the deva did not listen and drove the two beasts away. Because of this, all the trees were cut down and the foolish deva then realized that his friend was right so he went to the two beasts and begged for them to come back, but they told the deva to go away and said that they will never return to his jungle. In a few days, all the trees had been cut and the place was turned into farmland. Having concluded this story, the Buddha identified as the wise deva, and Kokalika was the foolish one.Kids’ drawing
