The Unfortunate Hunter
EARLY ONE MORNING, Koka
was on his way out to hunt with his
dogs when he saw a monk on his alms round. Not particularly
fond of monks, he thought that meeting one on the way would only bring him bad
luck, meaning that he would probably not catch anything at all. And, indeed, as
he feared, his game bag remained empty all day.
On his way home, Koka happened to come across the same monk he had seen
earlier in the day. Still sore at the monk for having spoiled his hunt, he
sought revenge by setting his dogs on him. The poor innocent monk just barely
made it into the branches of a nearby tree when the dogs
arrived snarling and snapping wildly at him. He sat there safely in the tree
out of their reach until Koka came along and started poking the soles of his
feet with the sharp end of one of his arrows. This made the poor monk jump
about to avoid injury, and while he was doing so, his robe became undone and
started slipping off him. Unable to hang on to it and keep his
balance in the tree at the same time, the robe finally fell on Koka below,
covering him up completely.
When the
dogs saw the yellow robe, they mistook their master for the monk and attacked
him mercilessly, mauling him to death.
Subsequently, the monk became fraught with guilt, feeling that it was
his fault that Kolca got killed. Hc went to seek the Buddha’s advice. The
Buddha assured him that it was the
hunter, not he. who was at fault, for Kolca had tried to bring harm to someone
who had done him no wrong. For that reason, Koka came to face an unfortunate
death.
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