Once the Bodhisatta was a merchant of Bārāṇasī, 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 Stream-