Saṁyutta Nikaya
Nidāna Vagga
20. OpammaSaṁyutta

Sutta 12

Siṅgālaka 2

The Jackal 2

 

 

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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,
afflicted 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

 

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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.