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Cariyapitaka · Story 20

Saṅkhapāla’s Conduct

Saṅkhapāla Cariyā — The Chapter on an Elephant · The Perfection of Ethics (10th of 10)

Setting
No external narrative frame; the Buddha speaks in the first person about his past life as the nāga Saṅkhapāla, lord of serpents
Speaker
The Buddha, recounting his life as Saṅkhapāla
Form
Seven four-line verses of first-person narration
Length
under 1 minute to read
Northern parallel
Saṅkhapāla is the subject of his own jātaka in the wider tradition; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching number.
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — short, closing the chapter on its most extreme image of unused power

Why this text

This closing story of the ethics chapter returns almost word for word to Cp 12's opening formula — a nāga resolving on the four factors and offering his own body to whoever has use for it — but pushes the physical ordeal further: pierced through the nose, tail, and spine, and fastened to a pole, Saṅkhapāla names a destructive power vast enough to burn the earth from sea to sea, and uses none of it.

Reading guide

The same vow as Cp 12, almost word for word

Saṅkhapāla ‘resolved on the four factors’ and offers his body with the identical formula Bhūridatta used in Cp 12: ‘whoever has use for these, they are already given, please take them’ — a deliberate echo bracketing this chapter's nāga stories together, one near its start and one at its close.

Hunters who take the offer at its cruelest

The hunters, named as the Bhojans, are described as ‘violent and pitiless’: they pierce Saṅkhapāla's nose, tail, and spine, fasten him to a pole, and carry him away like an object rather than a being who had just offered himself freely.

A destructive power scaled to the whole earth

This story states the withheld power in the largest terms of any story in this chapter: Saṅkhapāla claims he could have burned ‘the earth from sea to sea, with its forests and mountains’ with a single blast from his nose, had he wished to.

A chapter closed on its central refrain

The story's final line states the theme this entire chapter has been building toward directly: ‘though pierced with stakes, and stabbed with knives, I did not get upset with the Bhojans: this is my perfection of ethics.’ Ten stories of restrained, undischarged power close here on their clearest single statement of what that restraint is for.

Key terms

sīla — “ethics” or “precepts” — the perfection this chapter's ten stories illustrate, closing here with its tenth and final example.
nāga — a serpent being of great psychic power — the same kind of being as Cp 12's Bhūridatta and Cp 13's Campeyyaka, opening and closing this chapter's trio of nāga stories.
Bhojans — the violent hunters who capture and pierce Saṅkhapāla, described in this text as pitiless.
cariyā — “conduct” — this collection's title, and the word used for each of its thirty-five stories, this one its twentieth.
Hatthinaga-vagga — “the Chapter on an Elephant” — this second chapter's traditional name, closing here after ten stories on ethics.

The text

The text in full: seven verses, closing the Cariyapitaka's chapter on ethics. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1“Then again when I was Saṅkhapāla, a dragon of great psychic power, deadly-fanged, lethally venomous, two-tongued, lord of serpents.

§2At a crossroad on a highway crowded with many people, I resolved on the four factors, and made my home there.

§3‘My outer skin and inner, flesh, sinews and bones: whoever has use for these, they are already given, please take them.’

§4Seeing me, the Bhojans, those violent and pitiless hunters, came to me there with sticks and hammers in their hands.

§5Having pierced my nose, tail, and spine, and fastened me to a pole, the Bhojans carried me away.

§6The earth from sea to sea, with its forests and mountains—had I wished, right there I could have burnt it up with a blast from my nose.

§7Though pierced with stakes, and stabbed with knives, I did not get upset with the Bhojans: this is my perfection of ethics.”

· · ·

Self-check quiz

Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.

Question 1 of 10
What formula does Saṅkhapāla open with, echoing Cp 12's Bhūridatta almost word for word?
Correct: B. A deliberate echo bracketing this chapter's nāga stories.
Question 2 of 10
Who captures Saṅkhapāla, and how are they described?
Correct: B. Taking his offer in the cruelest possible way.
Question 3 of 10
How is Saṅkhapāla physically treated by his captors?
Correct: B. Carried away like an object rather than a being who had offered himself freely.
Question 4 of 10
What scale of destructive power does Saṅkhapāla claim he could have used?
Correct: B. The largest scale of withheld power in this whole chapter.
Question 5 of 10
What is the story's final statement of its own theme?
Correct: B. The clearest single statement of the whole chapter's theme, at its close.
Question 6 of 10
What does Saṅkhapāla have in common structurally with Cp 12's Bhūridatta?
Correct: B. Opening and closing this chapter's trio of nāga stories with matching formulas.
Question 7 of 10
What perfection does this story close out?
Correct: B. Ten stories on ethics conclude here.
Question 8 of 10
What is the traditional name of the chapter this story closes?
Correct: B. Named for its opening story, Cp 11's elephant.
Question 9 of 10
How many nāga stories appear across this chapter, and where do they fall?
Correct: B. Bhūridatta and Campeyyaka near the chapter's start, Saṅkhapāla at its close.
Question 10 of 10
What kind of being is a 'nāga', as this text uses the term?
Correct: B. The same kind of being as Bhūridatta and Campeyyaka earlier in this chapter.
Answered 0 of 10 · Correct 0

Further reading

← PreviousCp 19 · Alīnasattu’s Conduct