The Jatakas
Page 36
23 See Jataka 55 which also describes five weapons.
24 I have followed Margaret Cone, with a Burmese manuscript here (Bd), to read anavasumbhitva (‘not upsetting’) for anusumbhitva in the PTS text (see DP I 101).
25 The commentary explains that he was cultivating loving kindness and so at that moment was careless (pamattam) and without mindfulness (sati). The first word has pejorative associations: it is in the first verse of the story and there appears to be an implied criticism of the practice of loving kindness without the development of mindfulness (sati), which has to be re-established after the attack.
26 Addhakosa is equal to half a measure of five hundred bow lengths.
27 Literally ‘the one who increases the Kasis’.
28 The continuity of the stream of underlying consciousness (bhavanga) is the resultant skilful citta that forms the basis of all human birth. It is the passive, radiant state to which the mind turns in deep sleep and at the completion of any given thought process (see R. Gethin, Foundations of Buddhism, pp. 215–16 and Atthasalini, p. 279). At its ceasing, life is over. Sama’s ‘death’ is described with carefully observed detail and, as sometimes happens in Jatakas, with an abhidhammic formulation of the process of events. The bhavanga consciousness seems to be described as cut short. The way that the king expresses incredulity over the next few lines, observing the loss of apparent consciousness of the world and the ceasing of the in and out breath, prepares the way for Sama’s explanation of what has happened at the end of the story.
29 Tinduk, Diospyros embryopteris; piyal, Buchanania latifolia; madhuka;(honey tree), Bassia latifolia and kasmari, Gmelina arborea.
30 As in the previous story (539), this and subsequent verse sequences make extensive use of repetition. While this technique is particularly suited to chanted performances, it is less effective in a story read to oneself. The first line of verse 66 is repeated for each verse; I have just put it in the first and the last verse to convey something of the repetitive effect. For verses 72–5 the same technique has been used. The first line, which should introduce each verse, is included only the first time it is used and the last (vv. 72 and 75). For verses 76–81 the second line is repeated in the original after each question. Again it has been included only in the first and last verse in the sequence. This is a compromise, but is better than leaving out whole sections, which the Cowell and Rhys Davids translations do. I think the repetitions would work well, in full, for reading out loud.
31 Sama’s verses are the same as the words of welcome given by his parents to the king in verses 46–8, one of many verbal echoes within the verses which betray underlying affinity of character.
32 Reading samkappam with Cks. This word for thought is sometimes associated with initial thought (vitakka), the first factor of the first meditation which is dropped in subsequent jhanas (DhS 21). This line could mean that thought has stopped, as in meditation. Was Sama really dead? It appears not, though whether he was simply unconscious or had attained a profound meditative state is unclear.
33 The commentary takes this to mean that the Great Being is describing a state where there is no in or out breath, known here as cessation (nirodha). This state is usually associated with the attainment of nibbana (PED 371). The Bodhisatta could not have entered nibbana, as he has postponed his attainment of the path. He could be making more general comment on such states, hinting that he has been in meditation.
34 Ananda, the Buddha’s companion in the Bodhisatta’s last life, features in many Jatakas. Uppalavanna, famed for her meditative ability and psychic powers, was the goddess of the white parasol in the Mugapakkha Jataka (538). Mahakassapa has not been a character in any of the other stories in this collection but features in some other Jatakas, such as the Samkhapala Jataka (524), the Cullasutosoma Jataka and the Mahasutasoma Jataka (537). In his last life he is one of the chief disciples of the Buddha, famous for his love of great asceticism and the kind of rural existence described in this story. He was chief amongst those who upheld niceties of form (A I 23). In his last life he entered into a marriage like the one described in this story, to the same woman, now called Bhaddakapilani. They spent the wedding night separated by a chain of flowers and finally joined the order separately; both became enlightened (see DPPN II 476–83). Mahakassapa lived to be one hundred twenty years old. Bhaddakapilani was Kassapa’s wife for many rebirths and was described by the Buddha as foremost amongst the nuns who could recollect past lives (see DPPN II 354–5).
*It might seem puzzling that the king in this story also does not plunge into hell immediately for his action. The shooting of the Bodhisatta here, in one act of casual violence, was presumably not considered so weighty as to warrant immediate rebirth in a hell realm. Indeed at the end of the story he manages to redeem himself.
Further reading and bibliography
The text used, Jataka, was established and transliterated in Roman script at the end of the nineteenth century in an edition still available from the Pali Text Society (PTS): V. Fausbøll ed., The Jataka together with its Commentary, 7 vols (London, 1877–96). Volume I begins with the Jatakanidana, a separate work which includes the Bodhisatta vow, the search for the perfections and the life story of the Buddha. A recent Burmese version of the entire Pali canon, called the Chattha Sangayana, is now out on CD ROM (VRI). The disc is free and may be obtained from Vipassana Research Institute, Dhammagiri, Igatpuri 422 403, Dist. Nasik, India. See www.tipitaka.org.
Jataka translations
E.B. Cowell ed., The Jataka or Stories of the Buddha’s Former Births, 6 vols (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1895–1907 and index 1913). All reprinted by Pali Text Society in 3 volumes, 1990.
H.T. Francis and E.J. Thomas, Jataka Tales (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1916). Contains 114 tales.
C.A.F. Rhys Davids, The Stories of the Buddha, being Selections from the Jataka (London: Chapman and Hall, 1929).
There has been one recent translation, M. Cone and R. Gombrich, The Perfect Generosity of Prince Vessantara (Oxford: OUP, 1977).
Jatakanidana (Introduction to the Jatakas)
N.A. Jayawickrama, The Story of Gotama Buddha (Oxford: PTS, 1990) is used in this collection.
T.W. Rhys Davids, Buddhist Birth Stories (London: Trubner and Co., 1880). Translation of Jatakanidana and a few stories.
Retellings
The stories are commonly told to children in Buddhist countries and a number of monasteries give shortened retellings which can be found just by typing the word ‘Jataka’ into a search engine. There is, however, a curious dearth of full modern translations of the tales.
Pali canon
The PTS keep most of their canonical translations in print. Editions of texts from the Pali canon can be ordered from the Pali Text Society, 73, Lime Walk, Headington, Oxford, OX3 7AD, UK. Email: pts@palitext.demon.co.uk. Their catalogue, available on request, is invaluable as a short introduction to the range of texts available. All Pali texts used are PTS editions and referenced simply by name of text or abbreviation in notes.
How to look up references in Pali Buddhist translations
As there are now sometimes two good translations for some of the collections I have given the PTS Pali text in references. For those new to Pali and early Buddhist studies this need not pose a problem for further research if the list of usual abbreviations, given here, is used to match the original with any translations available. So M I 36 means Majjhimanikaya, volume I, page 36. This may be found by taking the Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha (PTS/Wisdom trans.) and looking for this reference in the top right-hand corner of the left page or the top left-hand corner of the right page. In this case it is on pages 117–18. The page reference of the original is also given in square brackets within the text of
the translation. If The Middle Length Sayings (PTS) translation is to hand, the same method is used, though you need the right volume, in this case volume I. For those texts which are entirely in verse form, reference is made to the verse number: so Sn 45 means Suttanipata, or Group of Discourses, verse 45. For those who wish to look up a single sutta, good translations can now be found on the Internet, by typing the name of the sutta into the search engine. I found three translations of the Makhadeva Sutta, a counterpart to Jataka 9, in this way.
All Pali texts are PTS. Below is a list of all texts mentioned in this collection, with the title of some translations under each. The PTS translations are all still available, often as reprints.
Anguttaranikaya (A)
F.L. Woodward (Vols II and IV) and E.M. Hare (Vols I, III and V), Gradual Sayings of the Buddha (London: PTS, 1885–1910).
Atthasalini
Pe Maung Tin, The Expositor, 2 vols (London: PTS, 1910).
Cariyapitaka (Cp)
I.B. Horner, Basket of Conduct, Minor Anthologies (London: PTS and Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1975), III.
Dhammasangani (Dhs)
C.A.F. Rhys Davids, Buddhist Psychological Ethics (London: PTS, 1900).
Dhammapada
K.R. Norman, The Word of the Doctrine (Oxford: PTS, 1997).
Dighanikaya (D)
T.W. Rhys Davids, Dialogues of the Buddha, 3 vols (London: PTS, 1899–1921) and M. Walshe, Thus Have I Heard: The Long Discourses of the Buddha (London: Wisdom, 1987).
Majjhimanikaya (M)
I.B. Horner, The Middle Length Sayings, 3 vols (London: PTS, 1957–9). Bhikkhu Nanamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi, The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha (Boston: Wisdom Books/PTS, rev. ed., 2001).
The Patimokkha, W. Pruitt, ed., K.R. Norman, trans. (Oxford: PTS, 2001).
Patisambhidamagga Bhikkhu Nanamoli, The Path of Discrimination (Oxford: PTS, 1991).
Samyuttanikaya (S)
Bhikkhu Bodhi, Connected Discourses of the Buddha (Oxford: PTS/ Wisdom, 2000).
C.A.F. Rhys Davids (Vols I and II) and F.L. Woodward (Vols III, IV and V) The Book of the Kindred Sayings, 5 vols (London: PTS, 1917– 30).
Suttanipata (Sn)
K.R. Norman, Group of Discourses (Oxford: PTS, 1995).
Therigatha
C.A.F. Rhys Davids and K.R. Norman, Poems of Early Buddhist Nuns (Therigatha), revised joint reprint with section of Elders’ Verses (Oxford: PTS, 1989).
Vibhanga
Vinaya pitaka (Vin)
I.B. Horner, The Book of Discipline, 6 vols (Oxford, 1938–66). Rules for monks and nuns along with incidents which prompted their institution.
Other related texts
Aryasura: P. Khoroche trans., with foreword by W.Doniger, Once the Buddha was a Monkey: Arya Sura’s Jatakamala (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989).
Aryasura: J.S. Speyer trans. and ed., Jatakamala: Garland of Birth Stories of Aryasura, Sacred Books of the Buddhists, (London, 1895), I.
Bhikkhu Bodhi, trans., ‘A Treatise on the Paramis’, translation of the Cariyapitaka Atthakatha, in The Discourse on the All-Embracing Net of Views: The Brahmajala Sutta and Its Commentaries (Kandy: BPS, 1978), 242–317. This is the most comprehensive commentarial discussion on the ten perfections.
Buddhaghosa: Bhikkhu Nanamoli trans., The Path of Purification (Visuddhimagga), 2 vols (Berkeley: Shambala, 1976). This commentarial meditation manual is still in constant use in South-East Asian countries. It lists and gives instructions for 40 samatha (calm) meditation subjects, many of which are mentioned in Jatakas: 10 kasina; recollections of Buddha, dhamma and sangha, 4 divine abidings (brahmavihara ). Pali text abbreviated to Vism.
Sally Mellick Cutler, ‘A Critical Edition, with translation, of selected portions of the Pali Apadana’, D. Phil., Oxford, 1993.
P.S. Jaini trans., Apocryphal Birth Stories: Pannasa Jataka, 2 vols, (London: PTS, 1985–98). Some non-canonical Jatakas, now popular in Thailand.
P. Olivelle, The Pancatantra, The Book of India’s Folk Wisdom (Oxford: OUP, 1997).
Santideva: S. Batchelor trans., A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life (Dharamasala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 1979). Mahayana interpretation of the perfections and Bodhisatta path.
Santideva: K. Crosby and A. Skilton trans., P. Williams intro., Bodhicaryavatara (Oxford: OUP, 1996).
Dictionaries
M. Cone, Dictionary of Pali (DP), part I, A–Kh (Oxford: PTS, 2001).
F. Edgerton, Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit: Grammar and Dictionary, 2 vols (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1953), Vol. II.
Sir M. Monier-Williams, Sanskrit–English Dictionary (Oxford: OUP, 1899).
T.W. Rhys Davids and W. Stede, Pali–English Dictionary (PED), (Oxford: PTS, 1999; first published 1921–5).
Begun by V. Treckner, revised, continued and edited by D. Andersen, Critical Pali Dictionary (CPD), 2 vols (Copenhagen: Royal Danish Academy of Letters and Sciences, 1924–48).
Works of reference
L. Grey, A Concordance of Buddhist Birth Stories (Oxford: PTS, 2000). Gives each story, short summary of its action and list of publications concerning it. It is particularly useful in tracing influences and similarities with tales in other cultures. It assigns Folk Index motif where appropriate.
G.P. Malalasekara, Dictionary of Pali Proper Names, 2 vols (London: PTS, 1974; first published 1938).
S. Thompson, Motif Index of Folk Literature: a classification of narrative elements in folk tales, ballads, myths, fables, mediaeval romances, exempla, fabliaux, jest-books and local legends, 6 vols (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1957). A monumental work although rather weak on Indian and Asian material. Its attempt to classify tales under motif headings is always thought-provoking and provides surprising cross-cultural parallels.
S. Thompson and J. Balys, The Oral Tales of India (Bloomington, Indiana: IUP, 1958).
M. Yamasaki and Y. Ousaka, Index to the Jatakas (Oxford: PTS, 2003). Computer generated index of all words used in Jatakas; an important addition to Pali studies.
Bibliography
D.C. Ahir ed., The Influence of Jatakas on Art and Literature (New Delhi: BR Publishing Company, 2000).
C. Allen, The Buddha and the Sahibs: the men who discovered India’s lost religion (London: John Murray, 2002).
L. Alsdorf, Sasa-Jataka und Sasa-Avadana, wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Süd-und Ostasiens (Wien, 1961).
A.L. Basham, The Wonder that was India (revised edn., London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1967).
K.R. Blackstone, Women in the Footsteps of the Buddha: Struggle for Liberation in the Therigatha (Richmond, Surrey: Curzon, 1998).
Bhikkhu Bodhi, Dana: the Practice of Giving; selected essays (Kandy: BPS, 1990).
J. Bronkhorst, The Two Traditions of Meditation in Ancient India (New Delhi: Motilal, 1993).
S. Buddhasukh trans., The Venerable Phra Acharn Mun Bhuridatta Thera, meditation master (Bangkok: Mahamakut Rajavidyalaya Press, 1976).
G. Buhnemann, The Iconography of Hindu Tantric Deities, 2 vols (Groningen, 20
00–1).
R.F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, 12 vols (London: H.S. Nicholl, 1885).
J. Bunyan, Introduction and Notes W.R. Jones, The Pilgrim’s Progress (Oxford: OUP, 2003).
K. Chaitanya, ‘The Beast Fable’, A New History of Sanskrit Literature (London and Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1962).
W.A. Clouston, Popular Tales and Fictions, their Migrations and Transformations, 2 vols (Edinburgh and London: Blackwood, 1887).
N. Coghill trans., G. Chaucer, Canterbury Tales (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1951, rept, 2001).
S. Collins, Selfless Persons: Imagery and Thought in Theravada Buddhism (Cambridge: CUP, 1982).
––––, Nirvana and other Buddhist Felicities: Utopias of the Pali Imaginaire (Cambridge: CUP, 1998).
M. Cone and R.F. Gombrich, The Perfect Generosity of Prince Vessantara: A Buddhist epic translated from the Pali and illustrated by unpublished paintings from Sinhalese temples (Oxford: OUP, 1977).
A.K. Coomaraswamy, Mediaeval Sinhalese Art (New York: Pantheon, 1956).
L.S. Cousins, ‘Pali Oral Literature’, in P. Denwood and A. Piatigorski eds, Buddhist Studies: Ancient and Modern (London: Curzon, 1983), 1–11.
––––,‘Buddhist Jhana, its nature and attainment according to the Pali sources’, Religion, 3 (1973), pp, 115–31.
––––, Samatha-Yana and Vipassana-Yana, G. Dhammapala et al. eds, Buddhist Studies in honour of Hammalava Saddhatissa (Nugegoda: Hammalava Saddhatissa Felicitation Volume Committee, 1984), pp. 56–68.
––––, ‘Good or Skilful? Kusala in Canon and Commentary’, Journal of Buddhist Ethics, Vol. 3, 1996, pp. 136–64.
Sir A. Cunningham, The Stupa at Bharhut (London: Allen and Co., 1879).
S. Cutler Mellick, ‘The Pali Apadana Collection’, Journal of the Pali Text Society, XX (1994), pp. 1–42.