He whose conduct’s very bad
like oak-tree choked with ivy,
so he does towards himself
what enemies would wish.
Explanation: The extremely evil action of the person lacking in virtue is similar to that of the parasitic maluva creeper. The creeper grows on the tree and crushes in into destruction. The evil doer’s action too crushes himself in that way.
The Story of Devadatta (Verse 162)
While residing at the Jetavana Monastery, the Buddha spoke this verse, with reference to Devadatta.
One day, some monks were talking amongst themselves when the Buddha came in and asked the subject of their talk. They answered that they were talking about Devadatta and then continued as follows: ” Venerable! Devadatta is, indeed, a man without morality; he is also very avaricious. He has tried to gain fame and fortune by getting the confidence of Ajata-sattu by unfair means. He has also tried to convince Ajata-sattu that by getting rid of his father, he (Ajatasattu) would immediately become a powerful king. Having been thus misled by Devadatta, Ajatasattu killed his father, the noble king, Bimbisara. Devadatta has even attempted three times to kill you, our most venerable teacher. Devadatta is, indeed, very wicked and incorrigible”.
After listening to the monks, the Buddha told them that Devadatta had tried to kill him not only now but also in his previous existences. The Buddha then narrated the story of a deer-stalker.
“Once, while King Brahmadatta was reigning in Bara-nasi, the future Buddha was born as a deer, and Devadatta was then a deer-stalker. One day, the deer-stalker saw the footprints of a deer under a tree. So, he put up a bamboo platform in the tree and waited with the spear ready for the deer. The deer came but he came very cautiously. The deer-stalker
saw him hesitating, and threw some fruits of the tree to coax him. But that put the deer on guard; he looked more carefully and saw the deer-stalker in the tree. He pretended not to see the deer-stalker and turned away slowly. From some distance, he addressed the tree thus: ‘O tree! You always drop your fruits vertically, but today you have broken the law of nature and have dropped your fruits slantingly. Since you have violated the natural law of trees, I am now leaving you for another tree’. “Seeing the deer turning away, the deer-stalker dropped his spear to the ground and said, ‘Yes, you can now move on; for today, I have been wrong in my calculations’ The deer who was the Buddha-to-be replied ‘O hunter! You have truly miscalculated today, but your evil kamma will not make any mistake; it will certainly follow you’ Thus, Devadatta had attempted to kill me not only now but also in the past, yet he had never succeeded’. Then the Buddha continued, “Monks! Just as a creeper strangles the tree to which it clings, so also, those without morality, being overwhelmed by lust, are finally thrown into niraya.”