I have wrought defense for myself!
I have wrought protection for myself!
Begone, living beings!
I here do homage to the Exalted One
And to the Seven Supreme Buddhas!
B. Uncanonical version.
Jātaka 203: ii. 144-148.
There is friendship ’twixt me and Virūpakkha snakes. This parable was related by the Teacher while he was in residence at Jetavana with reference to a certain monk.
The story goes that while he was splitting wood at the door of the room where the monks took hot baths, a snake came out of a hole in a rotten log and bit him on the big toe. He died on the spot. The news of his death and of how he came to die spread throughout the monastery. In the Hall of Truth the monks began to discuss the incident: “Brethren, such-and-such a monk, they say, while splitting wood at the door of the room where the monks take hot baths, was bitten by a snake and died on the spot.”
The Teacher drew near and inquired: “Monks, what is the subject that engages your attention as you sit here all gathered together?” “Such-and-such,” said they. “Monks,” said the Teacher, “if that monk had cultivated friendship for the four royal families of snakes, the snake would not have bitten him. For even ascetics of old, before a Buddha had arisen, cultivated friendship for the four royal families of snakes, and thus obtained deliverance from the perils that arose through those royal families of snakes.” So saying, he related the following Story of the Past: