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82. Mittavinda Jātaka

Ja 82

A pale lotus among green leaves and reflections on a misty pond.

This edition includes the canonical verses together with the later commentarial stories.

“No more to dwell.”—This story was told by the Master while at Jetavana, about a self-willed Brother. The incidents of this Birth, which took place in the days of the Buddha Kassapa, will be related in the Tenth Book in the Maha-Mittavindaka Jataka.


Then the Bodhisatta uttered this Stanza—

No more to dwell in island palaces
Of crystal, silver, or of sparkling gems,—
With flinty headgear thou’rt invested now;
Nor shall its griding torture ever cease
Till all thy sin be purged and life shall end.

So saying, the Bodhisatta passed to his own abode among the Devas. And Mittavindaka, having donned that headgear, suffered grievous torment till his sin had been spent and he passed away to fare according to his deserts.


His lesson ended, the Master identified the Birth, by saying, “This self-willed Brother was the Mittavindaka of those days, and I myself the King of the Devas.”

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About this edition

Translation by Robert Chalmers · SuttaCentral · Public domain

The source expressly identifies this translation as public domain.

The Jātaka, or Stories of the Buddha’s Former Births, edited by E.B. Cowell, published by The Cambridge University Press.

  • Vol. 1, translated by Robert Chalmers, 1895.
  • Vol. 2, translated by W.H.D. Rouse, 1895.
  • Vol. 3, translated by H.T. Francis and R.A. Neil, 1897.
  • Vol. 4, translated by W.H.D. Rouse, 1901.
  • Vol. 5, translated by H.T. Francis, 1905.
  • Vol. 6, translated by E.B. Cowell and W.H.D. Rouse, 1907.

These translations are in the public domain. You are free to do whatever you like with them.

Scanned, proofed and formatted at sacred-texts.com, January 2006–February 2010, by John Bruno Hare and others. Thanks to the Sacred Texts Archive for making these texts available in digital form.

Prepared for SuttaCentral by Bhikkhu Sujato.

Published source. Translation wording and order are preserved; source headings and notes are retained, with navigation and formatting adapted for this reader.

The opening image is AI-generated nature artwork for Buddhist Atlas, an evocative companion rather than a historical depiction.