The Monkey King and the Hollow Reed

This is the story of a former life of the Bodhisattva as a monkey king, who used his miraculous power to hollow out reeds so he could save his troop of monkeys from the rakshasa demon lurking beneath the pond.

The sun poured fire down upon the ancient forest. Cicadas shrieked shrilly, as if tearing apart the stifling air. Beneath the trees, a troop of thousands of monkeys was in a frenzy, their cries echoing everywhere. Every one of them had a parched tongue and eyes red from thirst. For months, not a single drop of rain had fallen. The streams had dried up, the rivers run dry, and only one pond remained in the middle of the forest, its water so clear it sparkled in the sunlight, like a deadly invitation.

When the monkeys found the pond, they cheered loudly and rushed down, ready to drink their fill. But the monkey king, a large monkey with glossy black fur and eyes bright as stars, hurried to stop them. Standing on a high rock, he raised his hand as a signal and shouted, "Stop! You must not drink yet!"

The monkeys looked at each other in confusion. A young monkey, his tongue already cracked and dry, cried out impatiently, "My king, we are so thirsty! There is the water—why can we not drink it?"

The monkey king did not answer. He bent down and examined the ground carefully around the edge of the pond. Then he raised his head and spoke in a grave voice, "Do you see? Along this bank there are countless tracks of animals: deer, elk, wild boars, rabbits... all of them leading down toward the water. But do you see a single track leading back up?"

The monkeys fell silent, following his gaze. Indeed, there were only tracks going down, and not one coming back. A heavy silence settled over them. An old monkey asked, trembling, "Then... what is down there, my king?"

"I do not know for certain," the monkey king replied, his eyes still fixed on the water, "but something dreadful surely awaits. If we rush down, perhaps not one of us will survive."

The monkeys recoiled in fear. But their thirst still tormented them. They looked at the monkey king with pleading eyes. The monkey king pondered for a moment, then began walking around the edge of the lake, observing as he went. At one spot, he stopped and pulled up a reed growing nearby. The reed was tall with a round stalk, but it had hard joints blocking it at intervals, making it impossible to use as a drinking straw.

Holding the reed in his hand, the monkey king closed his eyes and made a vow with all the miraculous power he possessed: "I vow that all the reeds in this forest, from this day until the end of the world, shall have no more joints. Their stalks shall be hollow through, so that they may be used to save living beings."

How wondrous! The moment the words were spoken, a flash of light burst from his hand and spread across the forest. The reeds all around suddenly trembled, their stalks softened, and the hard joints vanished one by one, leaving a hollow tube from root to tip. The monkey king opened his eyes, took the longest reed, lowered one end into the pond, and raised the other end to his mouth and drank. A stream of cool, crystal-clear water flowed down his throat.

Seeing this, the monkeys cheered with joy. They imitated the monkey king, each one pulling up a reed and drinking the water through it. Beneath the pond, the rakshasa demon lay in wait, ready to pounce on its prey, but all it could see were long reeds dangling down into the water, and it could catch no one. It roared in fury, but it was helpless.

From that day on, the troop of monkeys was saved. And from that lifetime onward, so the scriptures record, until this very day, and until the end of the earth, the reed shall forever have no joints, its stalk hollow through, as an enduring mark of the compassion and miraculous power of the Bodhisattva—the monkey king, a former life of Lord Shakyamuni Buddha.

The Meaning of the Story

This story shows that a bodhisattva possesses boundless wisdom and compassion, ready to use miraculous power to save living beings without regard for hardship. It also demonstrates the power of a sincere vow: a vow arising from a compassionate heart can change even the laws of nature and endure forever across many lifetimes.

Adapted from a dharma talk by Venerable Thích Chân Quang.