84. MONKEY — GARDENERS
108 Buddhist Parables
This parable was related by the Buddha in a little village in the country of the Kosalas with reference to a spoiled garden of a certain householder.
In the old times, when King Brahmadatta ruled at Benares, a holiday was proclaimed. From the moment they heard the holiday drum, the residents of the entire city went about making holiday. At that time many monkeys lived in the king’s garden. The gardener went to the leader of the monkeys, and said, “This garden is of great use even to you. Here you eat flowers and fruits. A holiday has been proclaimed in the city and I am going away to celebrate. Can you water the young trees in this garden until I come back?” The monkey agreed. So the gardener gave those monkeys wooden water-pots to use in watering the trees, and departed. The monkeys took the wooden water-pots and watered the young trees.
Now the leader of the monkeys said to the monkeys, “Monkeys, the water must not be wasted. When you water the young trees, pull them up by the roots, every one; look at the roots; water plentifully the roots that strike deep, but sparingly the roots that do not strike deep; later on we shall have a hard time getting water.” The monkeys did as they were told.
At that time a certain wise man saw those monkeys working away in the king’s garden, and said to them, “Monkeys, why are you pulling up by the roots every one of those young trees and watering them plentifully or sparingly?”
The monkeys replied, “That is what the monkey who is our leader told us to do.”
When the wise man heard that reply, he thought, ‘Alas! Those that are fools, those that lack wisdom, think that they will do good, but harm is the only thing they do!’ And he uttered the following stanza:
Never, in the hands of one who knows not what is good,
Does a good undertaking turn out happily.
A man who lacks intelligence spoils what is good,
Like the monkey who worked in the garden.
Thus the wise man criticized the leader of the monkeys and departed from the garden.
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All parables in printed book format: 108 Buddhist Parables and Stories and 108 Zen Parables and Stories
