Saṃyutta Nikāya
II. Nidāna Vagga
20. Opamma-Saṃutta
The Book of the Kindred Sayings
II. The Book Called the Nidāna-Vagga
Containing Kindred sayings on Cause
and Other Subjects
20. Kindred Sayings on Parables
Sutta 12
Dutiya Sigālaka Suttaṃ
The Jackal 2
Translated by Mrs. Rhys Davids
Assisted by F. L. Woodward
Originally Published by
The Pali Text Society
Public Domain
[1] Thus have I heard:
The Exalted One was once staying near Sāvatthi at the Jeta Grove in Anāthapiṇḍika's Park.
There he addressed the brethren: —
"Have ye heard the jackal, brethren,
howling in the night,
at dawn?"
"Even so, lord."
"That will be an old jackal, brethren,
afllicted by mange.
Wherever he wishes to go,
to stand,
to sit,
to lie,
there he goes,
he stands,
he sits,
he lies,
and the cold wind blows on him.
It may be, brethren,
that there is in that decrepit old jackal
more thankfulness,
more gratitude
than there is in a certain man among us
pledged to the Son of the Sakyans.
Wherefore, brethren,
thus must ye train yourselves:
'We will be thankful and grateful.
Not even the least thing that is done for us shall be lost'
-even thus."[1]
[1] The Comy. has a tale about the jackal's gratitude. Released by a peasant from a snake coiled about it, the snake thereupon attacked the peasant. The jackal brought the peasant his axe in its mouth.
