The Squirrel
Kalandakaṅgapañha (Mil 7.2 3)
‘Venerable Nāgasena, that one quality of the squirrel which you say he ought to take, which is that?’
‘Just as the squirrel, O king, when an enemy falls upon him, beats his tail on the ground till it swells, and then with his own tail as a cudgel drives off the foe; just so, O king, should the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort, when his enemy, sin, falls upon him, beat the cudgel of his self-possession till it swells, and then by the cudgel of self-possession drive all evil inclinations off. This, O king, is the one quality of the squirrel which he ought to have. For it was said, O king, by culla Panthaka, the Elder:
“When sins, those fell destroyers of the gains
Gained by the life of recluse, fall on us,
They should be slain, again and yet again,
By resolute self-possession as a club.”’
‘Just as the squirrel, O king, when an enemy falls upon him, beats his tail on the ground till it swells, and then with his own tail as a cudgel drives off the foe; just so, O king, should the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort, when his enemy, sin, falls upon him, beat the cudgel of his self-possession till it swells, and then by the cudgel of self-possession drive all evil inclinations off. This, O king, is the one quality of the squirrel which he ought to have. For it was said, O king, by culla Panthaka, the Elder:
“When sins, those fell destroyers of the gains
Gained by the life of recluse, fall on us,
They should be slain, again and yet again,
By resolute self-possession as a club.”’
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