Asātamantajātaka
“In lust unbridled.”—This story was told by the Master while at Jetavana, about a passion-tost Brother. The Introductory Story will be related in the Ummadanti-jataka. But to this Brother the Master said, “Women, Brother, are lustful, profligate, vile, and degraded. Why be passion-tost for a vile woman?” And so saying, he told this story of the past.
Translated by Bhikkhu Sujato · Pāli: Mahāsaṅgīti Tipiṭaka · Public domain (CC0) via SuttaCentral
1.1PTS 1.288“Asā lokitthiyo nāma,The women in the world called unclaimed—11.2velā tāsaṁ na vijjati;there is no confining them.1.3Sārattā ca pagabbhā ca,They are rude and full of desires,1.4sikhī sabbaghaso yathā;like an all-consuming flame.1.5Tā hitvā pabbajissāmi,Leaving them behind, I shall go forth1.6vivekamanubrūhayan”ti.and foster seclusion.
2.1Asātamantajātakaṁ paṭhamaṁ.
A young student is told by his mother that his education is incomplete until he learns the mysterious “spell of the unpleasant”. His teacher knows that there is no such spell, but realizes that the mother wants her son to learn of the wickedness of women.
Read asā from a + sva, “without an owner”, and hence “unclaimed” or “without a husband”. The commentary explains, rather, as asatiyo (“false”) and also asāta (“displeasing”). Perhaps the curious “spell of the unpleasant” was retroactively invented to explain this word.
