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Once the Bodhisatta was a merchant of Benares,
and led a caravan of five hundred carts through the forest. He warned his men
that they should not eat anything found in the forest without first consulting
him. On the way they came across leaves strewn in the forest, covered with
honeycomb. These had been placed there by a yakkha, named Gumbiya, who had put
poison in the honey. Some of the men ate the honey, while others remembered the
warning of the Bodhisatta as soon as they had tasted it. Those who ate died, the
others were given emetics and recovered.
The story was related to a monk who, fascinated by a woman's charm, wished to
become a layman. Sensuous pleasures are like honey sprinkled with deadly poison,
said the Buddha. The monk became a
sotāpanna. J. iii.200f.; cp. Kimpakka
Jātaka.

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