Can we know whether the tree stands firm?

Hearing their reply, the Future Buddha uttered the third stanza:

It isn’t you I blame,—not I,—

Nor the other monkeys in the wood;

Vissasena alone is the one to blame,

Who asked you to tend his trees for him.

When the Teacher had related this parable, he identified the personages in the Birth-story as follows: “At that time the leader of the monkeys was the youth who spoiled the garden, but the wise man was I myself.”

23. Two Dicers.

Take care!

A. Canonical version.