Being Mindful Stories

Story · Ajahn Brahm

The rabbit who jumped into the pot

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Ownership and Anger| Ajahn Brahm | 14 February 2020

3 min read

The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

There were these three friends. Was it the rabbit, the otter, and the the jackal? And they were the best of friends. And when it came to the moon days, they would always keep special rules at the moon days. In Buddhism, we usually do eight precepts instead of five precepts. So, they decided on that day they would keep the five precepts. I don't know why they're talking about five precepts because they'd never drink alcohol anyway. But anyway, they do five precepts and they would try and do charity. Anytime they can do some charity or give some donna, they would. And so what happened that this this god came down. No, one of these many gods in Buddhism. This was supposed to be Saka came down to test them out. And he took the form of a Buddhist monk, Asadu, with an arms ball. And as soon as they saw him, they said, "We got to keep our promise. We got to give him something." So the otter, well, what can I give him? He said, "Well, look, I can't get any fish cuz I'm keeping precepts today." But this otter had actually buried some fish for later on. So he took out that fish he'd buried and he offered it to the monk and the monk gave him a little blessing. And then it was the job of the the hyena. what can I get? What can I get for this for this monk? And he couldn't steal anything that was breaking the precepts. So what he did, he knew where there's many people and many people were not very careful and they left things out and so nice food. And so he went there and he said, "Does this belong to anybody? Does this belong to anybody?" When nobody responded, he took that and gave that to the monk. And the monk gave him a blessing. And then there was a job of the rabbit and the rabbit started getting some grass for the monk. But they said, "Hey, but monks don't eat grass. What can I get for this monk? He has to keep his precepts." [snorts] So the rabbit got some wood and made a little fire. And cuz a rabbit knew, oh no, he got also a pot and put some water in it and started boiling the water. And the rabbit said, I know that monks don't eat grass, but sometimes they eat rabbit stew. So the rabbit to keep his precepts and his and his vow, he was about to sacrifice himself to keep his precepts and his promise. But before before he jumped in the pot, he shook his body the first time. If there any fleas or any other parasites in my body, get out now, cuz I cannot kill you. When I jump in the pot, you will die as well. That's not fair. And he shook his body a second time. And he shook his body the third time and said, "Any bugs, any lice or anything in my fur? Get out now. This is your last chance." And he was sincere. So many of those bugs, they just jumped out and just went away. And then to keep his promise, he jumped in the pot of boiling water. But but it looked like it was boiling. It should have been boiling. But that monk was really is like one of the heavenly beings, the davas in disguise. Made it so that the water never even scolded that little rabbit. It was like cool, beautiful water. And so the rabbit climbed out and the monk revealed himself. I'm not a monk. I was one of these davas just testing you three and you all did so well. But the rabbit the rabbit was prepared to give his life to keep his promises. [snorts] So I'm going to make a sign so that everybody will remember you. And so this God, this heavenly being made an image of the rabbit in the moon. So that every full moon people can see the rabbit who would always keep his promises

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 44:48 (to 49:37)

A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

In an old Buddhist tale, a rabbit with nothing fit to offer a hungry monk shook the fleas from his fur, so they wouldn't die, and leapt into the cooking fire. The water turned cool. The god in disguise painted him on the moon. A children's story, Ajahn Brahm says, but beautiful. Keep your promises, and harm no one.

In brief (our summary)

Traditional Buddhist children's tale of the rabbit in the moon: otter, jackal/hyena and rabbit keep precepts and give dāna when Sakka disguised as a monk tests them. The rabbit, with nothing fit for a monk, builds a fire and boiling pot, shakes fleas off three times so as not to kill them, and jumps in — the water is cool; Sakka paints the rabbit on the moon so every full moon remembers the one who kept his promise.

Teaching point

Keep your promise even when the gift costs everything — and harm nothing along the way.

When this story may help

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Ownership and Anger| Ajahn Brahm | 14 February 2020 · 2020-02-14 · ▶ watch from 44:48 to 49:37 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

1 other telling of this story

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions: unpunctuated, words left exactly as captioned. 'donna' = dāna; 'Asadu' = a sādhu / alms round; 'scolded' = scalded; 'davas' = devas.

The narrative is Ajahn Brahm's own telling, quoted from the talk captions. The summary and reflection are Being Mindful Stories's editorial notes. Please credit the teacher and link the original talk. Markdown version

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