|
A Historical Sketch
The birth-story of the Buddha as a golden
peacock was narrated by the Lord at Jetavana monastery when it was
reported that a disciple monk had been enchanted by a woman.
Our Buddha-to-be was once born as a
golden peacock, residing on the golden hill of Dandaka in the
Himalaya mountains. When day dawned, the golden peacock used to sit upon
the summit watching the rising sun, composed a prayer to protect himself safe
in his feeding-pasture. He then recited worshipping the past Buddhas and all
their virtuous glories. Uttering this charm to protect himself from dangers, he
went a feeding.
In the evening when the sun went down,
the bird came back to the hilltop on which he rested to watch the setting sun,
and he meditated to utter another prayer to protect him from dangers during the
night time. He then went to sleep.
There was then a hunter who had seen him
and told the wonders of the bird to his son. At that time queen Khema of
Benares had a dream which pushed her to demand the king to bring the golden
peacock to the palace. She wanted to listen to the discourse of the bird. The
king sent the hunter to catch the bird. But by the power of the prayer and
charm the snare would not work to catch him. After seven years the unsuccessful
hunter died followed by the demise of the queen.
There upon the old king was angry with the bird and left
an inscription saying that whoever eats the flesh of the golden peacock shall
ever be young and immortal. So six successive rulers of the kingdom attempted
to capture the bird but all in vain.
The seventh successor king sent a clever hunter who had a
charming peahen which could sing very sweetly. Early in the morning the hunter
set up the snare with the peahen which sang very enchanting before the golden
bird could recite his usual prayer and charm. The bird was tempted, and
approached her; and was caught in the snare. The happy hunter caught hold of
the golden bird and hurried back to the palace to present it to the king.
The king was delighted at the bird's golden beauty and
placed the bird on a royal seat to exchange a dialogue with him.
The golden peacock related the story of his previous life
as a pious king in the same kingdom and also explained the power of his prayer
and charm to the king. He also advised the king to excavate the golden charriot
from the royal lake to prove his narration. When all the truths were revealed,
the bird was released to fly back to the golden hill of 'Dandaka. And
the story ends happily.
Hence this Mora sutta has been
chanted as a charm or wardrune to protect the subjects from snares or to be
released safely if arrested by the enemies. It is usually "uttered by
Burman Buddhist to keep the entire family safe and sound through out the entire
day and night.
According to the Burmese version of the
Mahaparitta pali text, this sutta is composed of six stanzas only.
|