Notes. This is the Namasiddhi Jataka. Chalmers used the English word "Quick" below (as in the archaic phrase "the quick and the dead"), but I have replaced that with "Lively" to make the meaning more clear, and I have replaced his use of "Base" with "Shabby" since "base" has so many meanings in English.
Summary: A young brahmin learns that a name is not destiny.
Read the story below:
NAMES AND DESTINY
Once on a time the Bodhisatta was a teacher of world-wide fame at Takkasilā, and five hundred young brahmins learnt the Vedas from his lips.
One of these young men was named Shabby. And from continually hearing his fellows say, "Go, Shabby" and "Come, Shabby," he longed to get rid of his name and to take one that had a less ill-omened ring about it. So he went to his master and asked that a new name of a respectable character might be given him.
Said his master, "Go, my son, and travel through the land till you have found a name you fancy. Then come back and I will change your name for you."
The young man did as he was bidden, and taking provisions for the journey wandered from village to village till he came to a certain town. Here a man named Lively had died, and the young brahmin seeing him borne to the cemetery asked what his name was.
"Lively," was the reply.
"What, can Lively be dead?"
"Yes, Lively is dead; both Lively and Dead die just the same. A name only serves to mark who's who. You seem a fool."
Hearing this he went on into the city, feeling neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with his own name.
Now a slave-girl had been thrown down at the door of a house, while her master and mistress beat her with rope-ends because she had not brought home her wages. And the girl's name was Rich. Seeing the girl being beaten, as he walked along the street, he asked the reason, and was told in reply that it was because she had no wages to shew.
"And what is the girl's name?"
"Rich," said they.
"And cannot Rich make good a paltry day's pay?"
"Be she called Rich or Poor, the money's not forthcoming any the more. A name only serves to mark who's who. You seem a fool."
More reconciled to his own name, the young brahmin left the city and on the road found a. man who had lost his way. Having learnt that he had lost his way, the young man asked what his name was. "Guide," was the reply.
"And has Guide lost his way?"
"Guide or Misguide, you can lose your way just the same. A name only serves to mark who's who. You seem a fool."
Quite reconciled now to his name, the young brahmin came back to his master.
"Well, what name have you chosen?" asked the Bodhisatta.
"Master," said he, "I find that death comes to 'Lively' and 'Dead' alike, that 'Rich' and 'Poor' may be poor together, and that 'Guide' and 'Misguide' alike miss their way. I know now that a name serves only to tell who is who, and does not govern its owner's destiny. So I am satisfied with my own name, and do not want to change it for any other."
Then the Bodhisatta uttered this stanza, combining what the young brahmin had done with the sights he had seen:
Seeing Lively dead, Guide lost, Rich poor,
Shabby learned content nor travelled more.
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