The Introduction to the Story of the Cuckoo
Translated by Ānandajoti Bhikkhu
Introduction
Although the story recorded here is not found in the Pāḷi Canon, nor to my knowldege, anywhere in the Canonical texts of the other schools, it has a certain verisimilitude that gives it some authenticity. At the very least it is hard to think that it has been made up by fablers. It is found in several places in the Pāḷi Commentarial texts. It forms the basis for the Story of the Cuckoo, which is what is translated here; then it is told in more or less the same words as the Introduction to the Mahāsamayasutta of the Dīghanikāya (also in the Commentary to a shorter version of that Discourse found in Sagāthavagga, SN 1.37); and in abbreviated form in the Dhammapada Commentary to verse 197, which opens the Sukhavagga.
The story, which is of resource shortages is, in our days, very topical. There is a river dividing two clans, one of whom is the Buddha’s own Sākiyan clan. The supply of water from the river is drying up at the end of the Hot Season, and the two clans, who normally have enough to share the water, start to argue and want to keep all the remaining water for themselves alone.
The Buddha sees what is happening and out of compassion decides to go and tell some moral stories to the potential protagonists, pointing out the disastrous consequences of conflict and the benefits of harmony. Although the two sides are angry with each other as soon as they see the Buddha they give up the fight; and after he has instructed them they are even more convinced and offer their sons up to the Sangha.
It wouldn’t be hard to substitute ‘oil’ for ‘water’, and ‘nations’ for ‘clans’ and we would have a turned an old tale into a modern drama. One of the main morals of the story, and one that cuts deep, is that water is never worth more than blood; and nor is oil, of course, a lesson that would be well-learned if it were applied today.
Ānandajoti Bhikkhu
August 2010
536-Introduction-to-the-Cuckoo-Story
