When the Enlightened One was residing in the city of Sravasti, in the Jetavana monastery in Anathapindika’s park, there was a family with five lovely, intelligent sisters, but without a son.
Shortly after the wife became pregnant, the husband passed away. According to the country’s laws at that time, if a man passes away without a son, all his widow’s assets will be owned by the king. So, the daughters approached the king, King Prasenajit. They asked, “King, our mother is pregnant. If the child she is carrying is a son, is it not fair for him to inherit our father’s wealth?”
The king was just and wise. So he agreed to wait for nine months to see the gender of the child.
A Son Was Born
When the wife bore a child, it was a son! However, it was a baby without eyes, ears, nose, tongue, hands or feet, but only a male organ. The daughters went to the king to report this matter. After thinking, the King agreed that this baby is a male. He is due to inherit his father’s wealth. The family was overjoyed, but also sad for their brother’s fate.
The eldest daughter had a husband. This husband went to the Buddha and asked, “Why was this son, my wife’s brother, born the way that he is – without everything, except for a male organ?”
The Buddha Explains Why
The Buddha replied, “In times long past, there were two brothers, Sila and Dana. They were of good moral character and intellect. They rejoiced in giving, and supported beggars. Due to their character, the king made the elder brother, Sila, a magistrate.
One day, a sea merchant approached Dana and wanted to borrow money from him. Dana then went to his elder brother, Sila. He said, “Brother, if this man comes back from the seas to repay me, and I have died, let my money go to my son”. Sila, acting as a magistrate, became his brother’s witness and agreed.
Not long, Dana died. When the sea merchant profited from his sea adventures, he thought, “The son of Dana is young. He will not know that I borrowed money from his father. I will keep all these money to myself”.
He went to the wife of Sila, the magistrate. He gave a jewel to the wife worth ten thousand ounces of silver. It was a bribe so that Sila will deny being his brother’s witness to the borrowed money. The wife said, “My husband is a righteous man. He cannot tell a lie. He will not accept this. Nevertheless, I shall do what you say”. She kept the jewel.
The Wife of Sila Accepted the Bribe
When she came home that night, the husband refused! He cannot lose the King and the people’s trust by accepting a bribe and telling a lie. He told this to his wife. The next morning, the wife again received an offering of a jewel worth three hundred thousand ounces of silver from the merchant. The second night, she approached her husband again.
She said, “Ever since we were married I never asked you a small favor. If you do not accept this, I will kill our child and myself”. Without convincing his wife otherwise, Sila agreed against his will.
Sila Lies to His Nephew
One day, when the son of Dana asked the sea merchant for his father’s money, the merchant denied him. “I know nothing of borrowing anything from your father. Let us go to the magistrate for proof!” They went to the magistrate, Sila. When the boy asked Sila, his uncle, Sila denied. “I have no knowledge of this. I have never heard of such a thing.”
The boy reproached his uncle, “And you call a righteous man! You are praised by the people as an honest man! You have lied to me, your own nephew!”
Sila Was Reborn as the Infant Without Organs
The Buddha then said, “Man, who do you think was this magistrate? This magistrate was reborn as this child with no organs. Because of his lie, he was reborn in the great hell and experienced many tortures. When his negative Karma for the hells have all been finished, he was born in a human body without organs five-hundred times. Because he was a charitable man before, he is born as a man with wealth although without organs. All of you, hence, guard the acts of body, speech and mind and avoid evil deeds”.
Having heard this, some attained different levels of realizations, from the first to the fourth fruits**. To this, the great assembly of monks developed faith and rejoiced greatly!
Adapted version. Sutra of Wise and Foolish. Translated by Stanley Frye
(མདོ་བཟང་བླུན། Do Zang Lun)
**Four levels of Arhat-hood a) Stream-enterer or stream-winner b) Once-returner c) Non-returner d) Arhat