buddhist birth- sto ries - Forgotten Books

JB roabwaQ Eranslations

BUDDHIST BIRTH- STORIES

(JATAKA TALES)

The Commentar ial Introduction Entitled

NIDZNA -KATEZ

THE STORY OF THE LINEAGE

Translated from P70f. V. F ansbotl’

s edi tion

of the Pal i text by

T . W . RHYS DAVIDS

New and R evised Edi ti on by

MRS RHYS DAVIDS,D .L 1TT . ,

MA .

L O N D ON

GEORGE ROUTLEDGE E5 SONS LTD .

NEW YORK:E. P. DUTTON £5 CO .

TAB LE OF CONTENTS

TRANSLATOR’

S INTRODUCTION

PART I

The B ook of B i rth S tor i es, and thei r Migration

the West

Orthodox B uddhist belief concerning it .

Two reasons for the value attachedto it

Selected Stories

1 . The Ass in the Lion’s Skin2 . The Talkative Tortoi se3 . Th e J ackal and the Crow4 . Th e B irth as Great Physician5. Sakka’s Presents6 . A Lesson for Kings

The Kalilag and Damnag Literature xxvii

Origin of‘

jEsop’

s FablesThe B ar laam and J osaphat Literature xxxi ii

Other Migrations of the B uddhist TalesGreek and B uddhi st FablesSolomon’s J udgmentSummary of Part I

v i TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART II

The B i rth Stor ies in India

J atakas derived from the Pali Pitakasin the GariyaPitaka and JatakaMala

in the B uddh av amsaat the Council of Vesal ion the Ancient Sculptures

The Pali Names of the JatakasThe Jatakas one of the Nav angani

Authorship of our present CollectionJatakas not included in our present

Collection

J atakas in post -B uddhistic SanskritLiterature

Form of the JatakasThe Introductory Stories

The ConclusionsThe Abh isambuddha gatha,

Verses in the Conclusion

Divi sions of the Jataka B ook

Actual Number of the StoriesSummary of the Origin of the Present

CollectionSpecial Lessons inculcated by the B irth

StoriesSpecial Historical Value of

!

the B irthStori es

lxxvn

TABLE OF CONTENTS

THE CEYLON COMPILER’

S INTR ODUCTION,

called the Niddna-Kathd

Story of Sumedh a, the First B odisatThe Successive B odisats in the Times of

the Previous B uddhas

Life Of the Last B odisat (who becameB uddha)

His Descent from Tusita

His B irth

Song Of the DevasProphecy of Kala DevalaProphecy of the B rahmin PriestsThe Ploughing FestivalThe Young B odisat ’s Skill and Wisdom

The Four VisionsThe B odisat ’s Son is B orn

KisaGotami ’s Song

The Great R enunciation

The Great Struggle against S in

The Great Vi ctory over MaraThe B liss of NirvanaThe Hesitation whether to Publi sh the

Good NewsThe Foundation of the Kingdom Of

R ighteousnessUruv elaKassapa’s ConversionTriumphal Entrance into Rajagah aFoundation Of the Order

v ii

R eturn HomePresentation of the First Monastery to

the B uddha

SUPPLEMENTARY TAB LE S

Indian WorksThe Kalilag and Damnag Literature

Th e B arlaam and J osaphatLiterature

The Car iyaPitaka and the J atakahdafii

V . Alphabetical List OfJ ataka Storiesin the Mahav astu

Places at which the Tales wereTold

The B odisatsJatakas Illustrated in B as- relief onthe Ancient Monuments

Former B uddhasIndex

EDITORIAL NOTE

THIS essay and the following translation werepublished in 1880 as a volume in Tr i tbner ’s

Or i ental Ser ies. That volume contained , further ,the beginning Of a much longer work , namelythe translation Of the so - called J ataka . Thi s isa collection Of upwards of 550 folklore taleswhich forms part of the B uddhist canonicalscriptures . Th e tales are in prose , each explaini nga much more ancient poem of two or more lines .

The allusions in the verses cannot be understoodwith out the explanation given in the prose . Overand above thi s explanation there is added to eachstory an episode said to be from the life of thefounder of what is now called B uddhi sm . Something h as occurred which the founder likens toan episode in the long past , when,

in a former lifethe actors in the present episode and he hi mselfwere engaged . In thi s w ay a moral , somethinglike those in our fables , is drawn . At the sametime the immensely long evolution in the full lifeor lives of all men and in particular of such a

superman as the founder is brought out .

The original volume h as long been out of print .

The writer , passing on to other pioneer work ,handed over the long task Of the Jataka translation to the late Professor E . B . Cowell . Underh is edi torship and up to h is death the work w as

carried out by a group of translators and w as

i ssued during 1895—1907 b y the CambridgeUniversity Press . Naturally the remainder of

x EDITORIAL NOTE

the original volume herewith re- issued could not

take its proper place at the head of the completetranslation .

It h as long been out of print . B ut neither theintroductory essay nor the translation of theNidana- katha or J ataka introductory chroni cleh as been superseded . Hence it h as seemed goodto the house ofR outledge , in taking up the mantleOf the house Of Tr iibner , to i ssue a fresh editionOf both . Hereby a service is rendered to all

inquirers into the history Of Indian literatureand especially into a phase Of it which h as heldmuch significance in the B uddhist tradition and

is of no small interest for the general mind of

to - day .

J ataka means birth - let ’

,birth- er or collee

tiv ely birth- anea And the story of thelineage is a biography of Gotama B uddha so

far as it includes those earth- lives whi ch he w assaid to have lived under preceding B uddhas , andalso the life he lived as himself a B uddha downto the time when h is new church h ad w on a

footing . It is not from a modern standpointa logically necessary preface . We should deemourselves better instructed h ad the compilersofprefaces and following stories told us somethi ngabout the sources of story and verse and episode .

B ut for the old-world orthodox B uddhi st, raptin contemplation Of h is Great Man (mahd -

par isa)the chi ef end of the work— di scounting the end

less entertainment afforded then (and even now )by the stories— w as to throw light on that notableobj ect Of h is worsh ip . The stori es were episodesin the founding and grounding , down an im

memorial past, of that wonderful product , the

EDITORIAL NOTE xi

character Of a Tathagata of. h im -who - h ad—thuscome ’

. The introductory narrative is chieflyconcerned with the two great milestones in h iscareer:the milestone when the consci ous willto become a helper of men first awoke

, and themilestone when that will h ad reached such perfection that he could become such a helper .

Thi s narrative came to be called the Di scourseof the Nidana. In translating Nidana by‘ lineage a verbal difficulty h as been solvedmore by the spirit Of the contents than by theletter Of the title . The word niddna is usuallyrendered by cause , source , base , origin . None ofthese would convey a meani ng to Engli sh readers .

In B uddhi st perspective th e narrative reveals a

long , long line Of ancestors . These ar e not

ancestors after the flesh These ar e not

ancestors by what we reckon as heredity . Wemerge the individual in the fami ly , the tribe , therace . In B uddhi sm the line of the indivi dual

stands out much more strongly,in startling

incongruity with its church ’s rej ection Of ‘ theman

’

. These are ancestors of‘ dead selves ’

through whom, again and again reborn, theman whose will is set on the best he knows ,may rise as on stepping- stones to higher things‘

Dead selves ’

is a poor wordi ng , but by it

Tennyson meets the B uddhi st point of view not

inaptly . The word nida’

na suggests somethingserial , or connected in line . Dd is to bind mi

means along ’

. And so we get the notion of

chain or series Of antecedents . And that , in thematter of living ascent or descent , is lineage .

1 Rhys Davids left the word untranslated .

x ii EDITORIAL NOTE

The Nidana Katha, as forming a runningcommentary on the B uddhavarnsa ( chroni cle Of

the B uddhas) , itself a canoni cal book , is a latercomer into the Canon . In its treatment of theB uddha- legend— and the story of the life Of thevery real founder h ad by that time becomelegendary— it occupies a midway house betweenthe biographical fragments in Vinaya and chi efNik

'

ayas, and those later more highly embroidered‘ lives ’ Of whi ch there ar e not a few . Thenimbus and the rays and the beauty Of the figurehave come in . B ut the narrative is still relativelysimple . The historical question Of Jatakaliterature may be followed up in Rhys Davide

’sB uddhi st India, 2md cd . , 1903 , in Oldenb erg

’

s

‘ The Akhyana Type and the J atakas ’

, J l. Pali

Text Society, 19 12 , and in Dr . Winterni tz’

s

art:J ataka, Ency. Religi on and Ethi cs and‘

hi s

Gesch ichte der Indischen Litteratur II , pt . 1 , p . 89 ,

and 149 , 19 13 .

The revi sing in thi s r e- issue h as been solelyOf a number Of small details in transliteration,in closer accuracy Of translation, and in dis

carding certain renderings in thi s , h is earliestpubli shed translation,

whi ch Rhys Davids h adin later works himself di scarded .

C. A. F . RHY S DAVID S .

INTRODUCTION

IT is well known that amongst the Buddhi stScriptures there is one book in which a large numberof old stories

,fables

, and fairy- tales lie enshrined inan edifying commentary and hav e thus been preserved for the study and amusement of later times .

How this came about is not at present qui te certain .

The belief of orthodox B uddhists on the subj ectis thi s — Th e B uddh a, as occasion arose, w as

accustomed thr oughout his long career to explainand comment on the events happening around h imby telling of similar events that had occurred in h isown previous births . The experience

,not of one life

time only,but ofmany lives , w as always present to

hismind and it was thi s experience he so Often usedto point a moral

,or adorn a tale . The stories so told

are said to have been reverently learned and repeatedby his di sciples and after his death 550Ofthem weregathered together in one collection, called the B ookof the 550 Jatakae or B irth lets. The commentary tothese gives for each Jataka

,or B irth Story, an account

of the event in Gotama’

s life whi ch led to his firsttelling that particular story . B oth text and commentary were then handed down, in the Bali languagein whi ch they were composed, to the time Of theCouncil ofPatna (held in or about the year 250

B UDDHIST B IRTH STORIES

and they were carried in the following year to Ceylonby the great mi ssionary Mahinda

,the son ofAsoka .

There the commentary waswrittendown in Singhalese,

the Aryan dialect spoken in Ceylon ; and w as re

translated into its present form in the Pali languagein the fifth century of our era. But the text of theJataka stories themselves has been thr oughoutpreserved in its original Pali form .

Unfortunately this orthodox B uddhi st beli ef as tothe history Of the B ook Of B irth Stories rests on a

foundation of qui cksand . The Buddhi st belief, thatmost of their sacred books were in existence immediately after the B uddha’s death, is not onlynot supported

,but is contradicted by the evi dence of

those books themselves . It may be necessary tostate what that belief is, in order to show the importance whi ch the B uddh ists attach to the book ;but in order to estimate the value we ourselves shouldgive it

, it will be necessary by critical, and moreroundabout methods to endeavour to arrive at somemore reliable conclusion. Such an investigationcannot

, it is true, be completed until the whole seri esOf the B uddhi st B irth Stories shall have becomeaccessible in the original Pali text, and the hi story of

those stories shall have been traced in other sour ces .With the present inadequate information at our

command,it is only possible to arrive at probabilities .

But it is therefore the more fortunate that the courseof the inquiry will lead to some highly interestingand instructive results .In the first place, the fairy tales, parables, fables,

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oldest, most complete, and most important collection offolk- lore extant.

The whole value Of its evidence in thi s respect wouldbe lost, if a translator, by slight addi tions in someplaces , slight omi ssions in others, and slight modifica

tions here and there, should run the risk of conveyingerroneous impressions of early Buddhi st beli efs , andhabits, and modes Of thought . It is important, therefore

,that the reader should understand

,before

reading the stories I intend to give,that while trans

lating sentence by sentence,rather than word by

word, I have never lost sight Of the importance Ofretaining in the English version

,as far as possible,

not only the phraseology,but the style and spirit of

the B uddhi st story-teller .The first specimen I propose to glv e IS a half-moral

half- comic story,whi ch runs as follows .

THE ASS IN THE LION’S SKIN

S iha-Charnma Ja'

taha

(Faus ll, no . 189)

Once upon a time,whi le B rahmadatta was reigning

in B enares,the futur e B uddh a w as born one Of a

peasant fami ly and when he grew up , he gained hisliving by tilling the ground .

At that time a hawker used to go from place toplace , trafficking in goods carried by an ass. Now at

each place he came to , when to took the pack downfrom the ass ’s back he used to clothe h im in a lion’sskin,

and turn h im loose in the rice and barley-fields,

iv

INTRODUCTION

and when the watchmen in the fields saw the ass, theydared not go near him ,

taking him for a lion .

SO one day the hawker stopped in a village and

whi lst he was getting hi s own breakfast cooked,he

dressed the ass in a lion’s skin, and turned him loosein a barley-field . The watchmen in the field darednot go up to him ; but going home, they publi shedthe news . Then all the vi llagers came out withweapons in their hands ; and blowing chanks , and

beating drums , they went near the field and shouted .

Terrified with the fear ofdeath, the ass uttered a crythe cry Ofan ass

And when he knew him then to be an ass, the futureBuddha pronounced the First Stanza

Thi s is not a lion’s roaring ,Nor a tiger’s

,nor a panther’s ;

Dressed in a lion’s skin,

’

Tis a wretched ass that roars '

B ut when the villagers knew the creature to be anass, they beat him till hi s bones broke and , carryingOffthe lion’s skin, went away . Then the hawker came ,and seeing the ass fallen into so bad a plight

,pro

nounced the Second Stanza

Long might the ass,

Clad in a lion’s skin,

Have fed on barley green.

But he brayed !And that moment he came to ruin .

And even whi le he w as yet speaking the ass died onthe spot

This story wi ll doubtless sound fami liar enough toEnglish ears for a similar tale is found in our modern

V


collections Of so- called E sop’

s Fables.

1 ProfessorB enfey h as further traced it in medi aeval French,German, Turkish, and Indian literature .

2 But it may

have been much Older than any Of these books forthe fable possibly gave rise to a proverb ofwhich wefind traces among the Greeks as early as the time ofPlato .

3 Lucian gives the fable in full, localizing itat Kume, in South Italy, 4 and Jul1 en h as given us aChinese version in his Avadanas .

5 Erasmus , in hi swork on proverbs ,6 alludes to the fable and so alsodoes our own Shakespeare in King John.

7 It isworthy Of mention that in one of the later story- books— in a Persian translation,

that is, Of the Hitopades‘a

there is a version Of our fable in whi ch it is the vanityOf the ass in trying to sing whi ch leads to hi s di sguisebeing discovered ,

and thus brings him to grief .8 But

Professor B enfey h as shown,

9 that thi s version is

simply the rolling into one of the present tale and of

1 J ames ’s E sop’

s Fables (London, Murray, p . 1 1 1

La Fontaine, Book v, no . 2 1 ; ZEsop (Greek text, ed . Furia,141 , 262 ed . Cor iee, 1 13 ) B ab r ius (Lewis , vol . ii, p .

2 B enfey’

sPancha Tantra, Book iv, no . 7, in the note on which ,

at v o l . i , p . 462 , he refers to Halm , p . 333 R obert, in the Fablesine

'

di tes da Mag/en Age, v ol . 1, p . 360 ; and the Turk ish Tannamah (R osen, v ol . ii, p . In India it is found also in theNorthern Buddhist Collection called Katha S arit Sagara, byS omadeva and in Hi topades

’

a ( iii , 2 , Max Muller, p .

3 Kratylos, 4 1 1 ( ed . Tauchnitz, ii,Lucian, Piscator , 32

5 Vol . ii, no . 9 1 .

Adagia, under Asinae apnd Cnmanos.

7 Act ii, scene 1 and again, Act iii, scene 1 .

8 De Sacy, Notes et Extraits, x, 1 , 247.

9 100. c it. , p . 463 .

INTRODUCTION

another also widely prevalent, where an ass by tryingto sing earns for himself, not thank s, but blows .1

I shall hereafter attempt to draw some conclusionsfrom the history ofthe story . But I would here pointout that the fable could scarcely have originated inany country in which li ons were not common ; and

that the Jataka story gives a reasonable explanationOf the ass being dressed in the skin

,instead of saying

that he dressed himself in it, as is said in our E sop’

s

Fables.

The reader will notice that the moral ofthe taleis contained in two stanzas

, one ofwhi ch is put intothe mouth Of the B odisat or future B uddha. Thi swill be found to be the case in all the B irth Stories

,

save that the number of the stanzas differs , and thatthey are usually all spoken by the B odisat . It shouldalso be noticed that the identification Of the peasant’sson with the B odisat, whi ch is Of so little importanceto the story

,is the only part of it whi ch is essentially

B uddhistic . B oth these points will be Of importancefurther on .

The introduction of the human element takes thi sstory, perhaps , out Of the class of fables in the mostexact sense Of that word . I therefore add a storycontaining a fable proper

,where animals speak and

act like men .

1 Pancha Tantra, v, 7. ProfessorWeber (Indische S tudien, iii ,352 ) comparesPhaedrus (Dressler ,App . vi . 2 ) and Erasmus ’sAdagiaunder Asinae ad Lyrnm . See also T itti -nc'tmah (R osen i i, 2 18 )and I woul d add Varro , in Aulus Gellius, iii, 16 ; and J erome ,Ep . 27 Ad Marcellam .


THE TALKATIVE TORTOISE

Kacchapa J dtalca

(Fausboll, no . 215)

Once upon a time , when B rahma-datta w as reigningin B enares , the future B uddhaw as born in amini ster

’sfamily and when he grew up, he became the king

’sadviser in things temporal and spiritual .Now this king w as very talkative whi le he w as

speaking, others h ad no opportuni ty for a word . And

the futur e Buddha, wanting to cure thi s talkativenessof his

,w as constantly seeking for some means of

doing so .

At that time there was living , in a pond in theHimalaya mountains , a tortoise . Two young hangsas(i .e. wild ducks 1 ) who came to feed there, madefri ends with him . And one day, when they hadbecome very intimate with him , they said to thetortoiseFriend tortoise the place where we live , at the

Golden Cave on Mount B eautiful in the Himalayacountry, is a delightful spot . Will you come therewith us

B ut how can I get thereWe can take you, if you can only hold your

tongue, and will say nothing to anybody.

” 2

1 Often rendered swan, a favourite bird in Indian tales, andconstantly represented in Buddhist carvings . It is the originalGolden Goose . See J ataka , no . 136 .

3 There is an Old story Of a Fellow ofMagdalen College, Oxford,who inherited a family living . He went in great trouble toDr . R outh, the Head of his College, saying that he doubtedwhether he coul d hold, at the same time, the Living and theFellowship . You can hold anyth ing,” w as the reply, if youcan only hold your tongue .

”And he held all three.

INTRODUCTION

0 that I can do . Take me with you .

That’s right,” said they. And making the

tortoise bite hold ofa stick, they themselves took thetwo ends in their teeth, and flew up into the air .

1

Seeing h im thus carried by the h angsas, somevi llagers called out, Two wild ducks are carrying a

tortoise along on a stick Whereupon the tortoisewanted to say, If . my fri ends choose to carry me,what is that to you, you wretched slaves SO justas the swift fli ght Of the wild ducks had brought h imover the king’s palace in the city of B en

'

ares,he let

go of the stick he w as biting , and falling in the opencourtyard, split in two And there arose a universalcry A tortoise has fallen in the Open courtyard,and has spli t in twoThe king, taking the future B uddha, went to the

place, surrounded by his courtiers , and looking at thetortoise, he asked the B odisat Teacher howcomes he to be fallen here !

I

The future B uddha thought to himself Longexpecting, wishing to admoni sh the king, have Isought for some means of doing so . Thi s tortoisemust have made friends with the wild ducks and

they must have made him bite hold Of the stick, andhave flown up into the air to take him to the hi lls .But he, being unable to hold his tongue when he hearsany one else talk, must have wanted to say something,and let go the stick and so must have fallen downfrom the sky, and thus lost h is life .

”And saying

Truly, 0 king those who are called chatter-boxes—people whose words have no end— come to grieflike this ,

” he uttered these verses

1 In the Vini ta J atalca (no . 160) they similarly carry a crow tothe Himalaya mountains .

B UDDHIST B IRTH S TORIES

Verily the tortoise ki lled himselfWhilst uttering his voice ;Though he w as holding tight the stick

,

By a word himself he slew.

B ehold him then, 0 excellent by strengthAnd speak wise words, not out Of season.

You see h ow , by hi s talking overmuch,The tortoise fell into this wretched plight !

The king saw that he w as himself referred to , andsaid O Teacher are you speaking of usAnd the B odi sat spake Openly, and said 0 greatking be it thou

,or be it any other, whoever talks

beyond measure meets with some mishap like this .”

And the king henceforth refrained himself, and

became a man Of few words .

Thi s story too is found also in Greek,Latin, Ar abic,

Persian, and in most European languages ,1 though,strangely enough

, it does not occur in our books OfE sop

’

s Fables. But in the E sop’

s Fables is usuallyincluded a story Of a tortoise who asked an eagle toteach him to fly and being dropped, spli t in two 2

1 Panca Tant ra, vol . 1 , p . 13 , where ProfessorRemi ey ( i, 239—4 1 )traces also the later versions in different languages . He mentionsWolff’s German translation Of the Kali lah and Dimnah , v o l . i ,p . 9 1 Knatch bull

’

s English version. p . 146 S imeon Seth ’sGreek version, p . 28 J ohn Of Capua’

s D i rector inmHumance Vi taeD , 5 b the German translation of this last (Ulm , F . viii,6 ; the Spani sh translation, xix a ; F i renzuo la , 65 ; Doni , 93 ;Anvar i S uhai li , p . 159 Le Livre desa i éres ( 1664 , 8v o ) , 124Le Cab inet des Fe'es, xvii, 309 . S ee also Contes et Fables Indiennesde B idpa i et de Lokman, ii , 1 12 ; La Fontaine, x , 3 (where theduck s fly to America and R ich ell’eKali lag and Dimnag, p . 24 .

In India it is found in S omadeva, and in the Hitopadesa, iv, 2(Max Muller, p . See also Jalien, i, 71 .

2 This version is found in B abr ias (Lewis , i , Ph cedrus,ii , 7, and vii, 14 (Orell i , 55, 128 ) and in the [Esopaean collections(Fur. 193 Cor iae, 6 1 ) and in Abstemias, 108 .


Then the crow, to pay him back his compliments ,replied in thi s second verse

’

Tis a well-bred young gentleman,who understands

To speak Of gentlemen in terms politeGood Sir l— whose shape and glossy coat revealThe tiger’s Offspring— eat Of these, I pray !

And so saying, he shook the branch Of the jambutree till he made the fruit to fall .B ut when the fairy who dwelt in that tree saw the

two Of them,now they had done flattering one another

,

eating the jambus together, he uttered a thi rd verse

Too long, forsooth, I’ve borne the sight

Of these poor chatterers Of li esThe refuse- eater and the offal- eaterB elauding each other

And making himself visible in awful shape, he

frightened them away from the place

It is easy to understand that,when thi s story had

been carried out Of those countries where the crow and

the jackal are the common scavengers, it would loseits point and it may very well, therefore, have beenshortened into the fable Of the Fox and the Crow and

the piece Of cheese . On the other hand, the latter isso complete and excellent a story that it wouldscarcely have been expanded, if it had been theoriginal , into the tale of the J ackal and the Crow .

1

The next tale to be quoted is one showing how awise

1 See La Fontaine , B k . i, no . 2 , and the current collections ofAl sop

’

s Fables (e .g . J ames ’s ed . , p . It should be added thatthe Jambnlchadalca-sangyntta in the S angyutta Ni lcag/a h asnothingto do with our fable . Th e jambu- eater Of that story is an ascetic ,who lives on jambus, and is converted by a discussion onNirvana.

INTRODUCTION

man solves a di fficulty . I give it from a Singhaleseversion ofthe fourteenth century

,which isnearer to the

Pali than any other as yet known .

1 It is an episodein the long Jataka called

THE BIRTH AS!“GREAT PHYSICIAN” 2

Mahosadha Jataka

(Faus’

ll, no . 546)

A woman,carrying her chi ld, went to the future

B uddha’s tank to wash . And having first bathed thechild

,she put on her upper garment and descended

into the water to bathe herself .Then a Yaksh ini ,

3 seeing the chi ld, had a cravingto eat it. And taking the form of a woman,

sh e drewnear, and asked the mother

Friend,this is a very pretty chi ld, is it one Of

yours 2And when sh e was told it was, sh e asked ifsh emight

nurse it . And thi s being allowed, sh e nursed it a little,and then carried it Off.But when the mother saw this

,she ran after her,

and cried out Wh ere are you taking my child to Iand caught hold Of her .

1 The S inghalese text will be found in the S idat S angarawa,p . clxxvi .3 L iterally“the great medicine The B odisat Of that time

received this name because he w as born with a powerful drug inh is hand— an omen of the cleverness in device by which, when hegrew up, he delivered people from their misfortunes . Comparemy B uddh ism, p . 187.

3 The Yaksh as, products Of witchcraft and cannibalism, are

beings of magical power, who feed on human flesh . The maleYaksha occupies in Buddhist stories a position similar to that ofthe wicked geni in the Arabian Nights ; the female Yaksh ini ,who occurs more frequently, usually plays the part Of siren .


The Yakshini boldly said Where di d you get thechi ld from I It is mine I And so quarrelling

,they

passed the door Of the futur e Buddha’s J udgmentHall .He heard the noise

,sent for them

,inquired into the

matter, and asked them whether they would abide byh is decision . And they agreed . Then he had a linedrawn on the ground ; and told the Yakshini to takehold Of the child’s arms and the mother to take holdOf its legs and said The chi ld shall be hers whodrags him over the line .

B ut as soon as they pulled at him ,the mother

,

seeing how he suffered, grieved as if her heart would

break . And letting him go,sh e stood there weeping .

Then the future B uddha asked the bystandersWhose hearts are tender to babes I those who haveborne children

, or those who have not IAnd they answered O Sire the hearts Ofmothers are tender .”

Then he said Who,think you

,is the mother I

sh e who h as the chi ld in her arms,or sh e who has

let go IAnd they answered She who has let go is themother .”

And he said Then do you all think that theother w as the thi ef IAnd they answered Sire we cannot tell .And he said Verily this is a Yaksh ini , who tookthe chi ld to eat it .

And they asked 0 Sire how did you know it IAnd h e

'

replied B ecause her eyes winked not,

and were red,and sh e knew no fear, and had no pity,

I knew it .

”

And so saying , he demanded Of the thiefare you I

INTRODUCTION

And sh e said Lord I am a Yakshini .

And he asked Why did you take away thi schi ld IAnd sh e said I thought to eat him , 0 my LordAnd he rebuked her, saying 0 foolish woman

For your former sins you have been born a Yakshini ,and now do you still sin I And he laid a v ow uponher to keep the Five Commandm ents , and let her go .

But the mother of the chi ld exalted the futureB uddha

,and said Omy Lord 0 Great Physician

may thy li fe be long ! And sh e went away, withher babe clasped to her bosom .

The Hebrew story, in whi ch a similar judgment is

ascribed to Solomon,occurs in the B ook Of Kings,

whi ch is probably Older than the time of Gotama.

We shall consider below what may be the connexionbetween the tw o .

The next specimen is a tale about lifeless thingsendowed with miraculous powers perhaps the Oldesttale in the world Of that kind whi ch has been yetpubli shed . It is an episode in

SAKKA’S PRESENTS

(Fausboll, no . 186)

Once upon a time,when B rahmadatta was reigning

in B enares,four brothers

,B rahm ans, ofthat kingdom,

devoted themselves to an ascetic life and havingbuilt themselves huts at equal di stances in the region

! V

B UDDHIST BIRTH STORIES

of the Himalaya mountains, took up their residencethere .

The eldest ofthem di ed, and was reborn as the godSakka.

1 When he became aware Of thi s,he used to go

and render help at intervals every seven or eight daysto the others . And one day, having greeted theeldest hermit, and sat down beside him ,

he asked h imReverend Sir , what are you in need Of IThe hermit, who suffered from jaundice, answeredI want fire ! ” SO he gave him a double - edgedhatchet .But the hermi t said Who is to take this

, and

bring me firewood IThen Sakka spake thus to him Whenever

,

reverend Sir , you want firewood, you should let go

the hatchet from your hand and say Please fetchme firewood make me fire And it will doSO he gave him the hatchet ; and went to the

second hermi t, and asked R everend Sir , what areyou in need Of INow the elephants had made a track for themselvesclose to his hut . And he w as annoyed by thoseelephants, and said I am much troubled byelephants ; drive them away .

”

Sakka, handing him a drum , said R everendSir , if you strike on this side Of it, your enemies willtake to flight ; but ifyou strike on thi s side, they will

1 Not quite the same as J upiter. Sakka IS a very harml ess andgentle k ind OfgOd , not a j ealous god, nor given to lasciviousness orspite . Neither i s he immortal:he dies from time to time and,if he h as b ehaved well, is reborn under happy conditions . Meanwhile somebody else, usually one Of the sons Of men who h asdeserved it, succeeds , for a hundred thousand years or so , to hisname and place and glory. Sakka can call to mind h is experiencesin hi s former birth, a gift in which he surpasses most other beings .He w as also given to a k ind Of practical j ok ing, by which b etempted people, and h as become a mere b eneflcent fairy.

INTRODUCTION

become friendly, and surround you on all sides withan army in four fold array .

” 1

SO he gave him the drum and went to the thirdhermit, and asked R everend Sir , what are you inneed Of IHe was also affected with jaundice, and said, therefore I want sour milk .

Sakka gave him a'milk-bowl

, and said If youwish for anything, and turn thi s bowl over, it willbecome a great river, and pour out such a torrent ,that it will be able to take a kingdom, and give it toyou .

”

And Sakka went away . B ut thenceforward thehatchet made fir e for the eldest hermit ; when thesecond struck one side Of hi s dr um

,the elephants ran

away and the third enj oyed hi s curds .Now at that time a wi ld boar, straying in a forsaken

village, saw a gem of magical power . When heseized thi s in hi s mouth

,he rose by its magic into the

air, and went to an island in the midst Of the ocean .

And thinking Here now I ought to live hedescended, and took up his abode in a convenientspot under an Udumbara- tree . And one day, placingthe gem before him , he fell asleep at the foot Of thetree .

Now a certain man Of the land Of Kasi had beenexpelled from home by his parents, who said Thisfellow is Of no use to us .” SO he went to a seaport,and embarked in a ship as a servant to the sailors .And the ship w as wrecked ; but by the help of aplank he reached that very island . And -whi le he w aslooking about for frui ts

,he saw the boar asleep and

going softly up, he took hold of the gem .

1 That is , infantry, cavalry, chariots of w ar , and elephants ofw ar . Truly a useful kind Of present to give to a pious hermi t

BUDDHIST BIRTH STORIES

Then by its magical power he straightway roseright up into the air So , taking a seat on theUdumbara- tree , he said to himself Methink s thisboar must have become a sky

-walker through th emagic Of this gem . That’s how he got to be living hereIt’s plain enough what I ought to do I’ll first of allkill and eat h im , and then I can get awaySO he broke a twig Off the tree, and dr opped it on

his head . The boar woke up, and not seeing the gem,

ran about, trembling, thi s w ay and that way . Theman seated on the tree laughed . The boar, lookingup

,saw h im ,

and dashing hi s head against the tree,died on the spot .But the man descended, cooked his flesh

, ate it, and

rose into the air . And as he was passing along thesummi t Of the Himalaya range, he saw a hermitageand descending at the hut of the eldest hermit” hestayed there two or three days, and waited on thehermi t and thus became aware of the magic powerOf the hatchet .I must get that thought he . And he showed

the hermi t the magic power Of his gem,and said:

Sir , do you take thi s , and give me your hatchet .The ascetic, ful l Oflonging to be able to fly through theair

,

1 did so . B ut the man,taking the hatchet, went

a li ttle w ay off, and letting it go , said O hatchetcut Off that hermit’s head, and bring th e gem to meAnd it went, and cut Off the hermit’s head, and

brought him the gem .

Then he put the hatchet in a secret place, and wentto the second hermi t

,and stayed there a few days .

1 The power Of going through the air is usually considered inIndian legends to be the result, and a proof, Ofgreat holiness , andlong -continued penance . S O the - hermit thought he would geta fine reputation cheaply.


mini ster, pointed out that ev il communi cationscorrupt good things . But it is the portion above translated whi ch deserves notice as the most ancientexample known Of those tales in whi ch inanimateObj ects are endowed with magical powers ; and in

whi ch the seven league boots,or the wishing cup ,

or the vanishing hat,or the wonderful lamp, render

their fortunate possessors happy and glorious .There is a very tragical story Of a wishing cup in theBuddhi st Collection

,

1 where the wishing cup , however, is turned into ridicule . It is not unpleasant tofind that beliefs akin to

,and perhaps the result of,

fetish-worshi p, had faded away, among B uddhi st

story- tellers,into sources Of innocent amusement .

In thi s curious tale the hatchet,the drum, and th e

milk -bowl are endowed with quali ties much more fitfor the use they were put to in the latter part Of thestory, than to satisfy the wants Of the hermi ts . It iscommon ground with satirists h ow little, save sorrow,

men would gain if they could have anything theychose to ask for . But, unlike the others we havequoted, the tale in its present shape has a flavour distinctively B uddhi st in the irreverent w ay in whi ch ittreats the great god Sakka, the J upiter Of the preB uddhi stic Hindus . It takes for granted too , thatthe hero ruled in righteousness and thi s is as commonin the Jatakas as the ‘ lived happily ever after of

modern love stories .Thi s last idea recurs more strongly in the B irthStory called

1 Faus ll, no . 291 .

INTRODUCTION

A LESSON FOR KINGS

Rajovdda J atalca

(Faus ll,no . 151)

Once upon a time , when B rahmadatta w as reigningin B enares , the futur e B uddh a returned to life in thewomb of h is chief queen and after the conceptionceremony had been performed, he w as safely born .

And when the day came for choosing a name , theycalled him Prince B rahmadatta. He grew up in duecourse and when he w as sixteen years Old, went toTakkasila,

1and became accomplished in all arts .

And after his father died he ascended the throne , andruled the kingdom with righteousness and equi ty .

He gave judgments w ithout partiality, hatred,ignorance, or fear . 2 Since he thus reigned with justice ,wi th justice also hi s mini sters administered the law .

Lawsuits being thus decided with justice , there werenone who brought false cases . And as these ceased

,

the noise and tumult Of litigation ceased in the king’scourt . Though the judges sat all day in the court,they had to leave without any one coming for justice .

It came to thi s,that the Hall Of J ustice would have

to be closedThen the future B uddha thought From my

reigning with righteousness there are none who comefor judgment the bustle has ceased, and the Hall ofJ ustice wi ll have to be closed . It behoves me, therefore, now to examine into my own faults and if I

1 This is the well-known town in the Panjab , called by theGreek s Taxila, and famed in B uddhist legend as the greatuniversity Of ancient Indi a, asNalanda w as in later times .

1 Literally without partiality and the rest that is, the restOf the agalis, the actions forbidden to judges (and to k ings asjudges ) .


find that anything 18 wrong in me, to put that away,and practi se only virtue .

’

Thenceforth he sought for some one to tell him hi s

faults but among those around h im he found no one

who would tell h im Of any fault, but heard only hi sown pralse .

Then he thought It is from fear ofme that thesemen speak only good things, and not evil things , and

he sought among those people who lived outside thepalace . And finding no fault-finder there

,he sought

among those who lived outside the city, in thesuburbs , at the four gates .1 And there too findingno one to find fault, and hearing only his own praise,he determined to search the country places .SO he made over the kingdom to h is mini sters , and

mounted hi s chariot and taking only his charioteer,

left the city in disgui se . And searching the countrythrough

,up to the very boundary

,he found no fault

finder , and heard only Of h is own virtue and so heturned back from the outermost boundary

,and

returned by the high road towards the city .

Now at that time the king Of Kosala, Mallika byname , w as also ruling hi s kingdom with righteousnessand when seeking for some fault in himself, he alsofound no fault-finder in the palace, but only heard ofhis own virtue SO seeking in country places , he toocame to that very spot . And these two came faceto face in a low cart- track with precipitous sides ,where there was no space for a chariot to get out Of

the w ayThen the charioteer Of Mallika the king said to the

charioteer ofthe king Of B enares Take thy chariotout Of the w ay1 Th e gates opening towards the four directions that is,

the four cardinal points Of the compass .

But he said Take thy chariot out of the way,0 charioteer In thi s chariot sitteth the lord overthe kingdom of B enares, the great king B rahmadatta.

”

Yet the other repli ed In thi s chariot, O

charioteer,sitteth the lord over the kingdom Of

Kosala, the great king Mallika. Take thy carriageout of the way, and make room for the chariot Of ourkingThen the charioteer ofthe king Of B enares thoughtThey say then that he too is a king What is nowto be done I After some consideration,

he said tohimself

,I know a w ay . I ’ll find out h ow Old

he is, and then I’ll let the chariot Of the youngerbe got out Of the w ay, and so make room for theelder .”

And when he h ad arrived at that conclusion,he

asked that charioteer what the age Of the king Of

Kosala w as; B ut on inqui ry he found that the agesOf both were equal . Then he inquired about theextent Of h is kingdom, and about his army, and h iswealth , and his renown, and about the country helived in

, and h is caste and tribe and fami ly . And hefound that both were lords Of a kingdom three hundredleagues in extent and that in respect of army and

wealth and renown, and the countri es in whi ch theylived , and their caste and their tribe and their family,they were just on aparThen he thought I will make way for the most

righteous .” And he asked What kind Of righteousness has thi s king ofyour s IAnd the other saying Such and such is

our king’s righteousness and so proclaiming h isking’s wickedness as goodness , uttered the FirstStanza


The strong he overthrows by strength,

The mild by mildness,Mallika ;

The good by goodness he O’

ercomes,

The wicked by the wicked too .

Such is the nature of this king !Move out Of the w ay, 0 charioteer !

But the charioteer Of the king Of B enares askedhim Well

,have you told all the virtues Of your

king IYes said the other .If these are hi s virtues, where are then hi s faul ts I

replied he .

The other said Well,for the nonce

,they shall be

faults, ifyou like But pray,then

,what is the kind Of

goodness your king has IAnd then the charioteer of the king Of B enarescalled unto him to hearken, and uttered the SecondStanza

Anger he conquers by not-anger,B y goodness h e conquers what is not good ;The stingy he conquers by giving gifts,By truth he meets the speaker Of lies .Such is the nature of this king !Move out Of the w ay, 0 charioteer

And when he had thus spoken, both Mallika theking and hi s charioteer alighted from their chariot .And they took out the horses , and removed theirchariot, and made w ay for the king Of B enaresBut the king ofB enares exhorted Mallika the king ,saying

.

Thus and thus is it right to do .

”And

returmng to B enares , he practised charity, and didother good deeds,and so when his life was ended hepassed away to heaven.

And Mallika the king took h is exhortation to heart ,

xxiv

INTRODUCTION

and having in vain searched the country through for afault-finder , he too returned to h is own city, and

practised charity and other good deeds and so at

the end Of hi s life he went to heaven.

The mi xture in this Jataka Of earnestness with dryhumour is very instructive . The exaggeration in theearlier part Of the story the hint that law depends inreality on false cases the suggestion that to decidecases justly would by itself put an end not only tothe block in the law courts but even to all lawsuits the way in whi ch it is brought about that tw omighty kings should meet, unattended, in a narrowlane t h e cleverness Of the first charioteer in gettingout of hi s di fficulties the brand-new method Ofsettling the delicate question ofprecedence— amethodwhich, logically carried out, would destroy thenecessity Of such questions being raised at all —all

thi s is the amusing side Of the Jataka. It throws, andismeant to throw, an air Ofunreality over the storyand it is none the less humour because it is left to beinferred, because it is only an aroma whi ch mighteasily escape unnoticed

,only the humour of naive

absurdi ty and Of clever repartee .

But none the less also is the story- teller thoroughlyin earnest he really means that justice is noble, thatto conquer ev il by good is the right thing, and thatgoodness is the true measure Of greatness . TheObject is edification also

,and not amusement only .

The lesson itself is quite B uddhistic . Th e first fourlines of the Second Moral are indeed included , as


verse 223, in theDhammapada or Scripture Versesperhaps the most sacred and most widely learnt bookOf the B uddhi st B ible and the di stinction betweenthe two ideals Of virtue is in harmony wi th all

B uddhi st ethics . It is by no means,however

,

exclusively B uddh i stic . It gives expression to an

idea that would be consistent with most of the laterreligions and is found also in the great Hindu Epic ,the Maha

”

B harata , whi ch has been called the B ibleOf theHindus .1 It is true that further on in th at poemis found the opposite sentiment

,attributed in our

story to the king Of Mallika 2and that the higher

teaching is in one of the latest portions Of the Maha

B harata, and probably Of Buddhi st origin. But whenwe find that the B uddhi st principle of overcomingevil by good w as received, as well as its opposite, intothe Hindu poem , it is clear that thi s lofty doctrinew as by no means repugnant to the best among theB rahmans .3

It is to be regretted that some writers on B uddhi smhave been led away by their just admi ration for th enoble teaching Of Gotama into an unjust depreciationOf the religious system Of which h is own w as, afterall, but the hi ghest product and result . There were

1 Maha-B harata, v, 1518 . Another passage at iii, 13253, isvery similar.

3 Maha-B harata, x11 , 4052 . See Dr .Muir’sMetr ical Translationsfrom S anskri t Writers pp . xxxi, 88 , 275, 356 .

3 S imilar passages will also be found in Lao Tse , Douglas ’sConfucianism,

etc . , p . 197 Pancha Tantra, i , 247 ( 277) iv, 72in S tob eeus, quoted by Muir, p . 356 ; and in St . Matthew, v ,44—6 ; whi le the Mallik a doctrine is inculcated by Confucius(Legge, Ch inese Classics, i ,

xxvi


tunately no longer extant but in the sixth centuryOf our era a book very much like it formed part Of awork translated into Pahlavi , or Ancient Persian ;and thence , about 750 A .D . , into Syriac , under thetitle OfKALILAG AND DAMNAG,

and into Arabicunder the title KALILAH AND DIMNAH.

1

These tales, though originally Buddhi st, becamegreat favourites among the Arabs and as the Arabswere gradually brought into contact with Eur opeans

,

and penetrated into the South Of Eur ope,they

brought the stories w ith them ; and we soon afterwards find them translated into Western tongues .It would be impossible wi thin the limits Of thispreface to set out in full detail the intricate literaryhi story involved in thi s statement and while I'mustrefer the student to the Tables appended to thisIntroduction for fuller information

,I can only give

here a short summary Of the principal facts .

It is curious to notice that it was the J ews to whomwe ow e the earliest versions . Whil st their mercantilepursuits took them much amongst the followers of

the Prophet,and the comparative nearness Of their

religious beliefs led to a freer intercourse than w as

usually possible between Chr istians and Moslems ,they were naturally attracted by a kind Of li teraturesuch as thi s— Oriental in morality, amusing in style,and perfectly free from Ch ristian legend and fromChristian dogma. It w as also the kind Of literature

1 The names are corruptions Of the Indian names Of the twoje ck els , Kar atak and Damanek , who take a principal part in thefirst ofthe fables .

xxviii

INTRODUCTION

whi ch travellers would most easily become acquaintedwith, and we need not therefore be surprised to hearthat a J ew ,

named Symeon Seth, about 1080 A .D . ,

made the first translation into a Eur opean language,v iz. into modern Greek . Another J ew ,

about 1250,made a translation of a slightly different recension of

the Kalilah and Dimnah into Hebrew and a thi rd,J ohn Of Capua, turned thi s Hebrew version into Latinbetween 1263 and 1278 . At about the same timeas the Hebrew version

, another w as made di rect fromthe Arabic into Spanish, and a fifth into Latin and

from these five versions translations were afterwardsmade into German,

Italian,French

,and English .

The title Ofthe second Latin version just mentionedis very striking— it is“Al sop the Old ” . TO thetranslator, B aldo , it evidently seemed quite in orderto ascribe these new stories to the traditional teller Ofsimilar stories in ancient times ; j ust as witty sayingsofmere modern times have been collected into booksascribed to the once venerable J oe Miller . B aldo wasneither sufficiently enlightened to consider a goodstory the worse for being an Old one, nor sufficientlyscrupulous to hesitate at giving h is new book theadvantage it would gain fr om its connexion with awell-known name .

Is it true, then,that the so - called E sop

’

s Fablesso popular still

,in spite Of many rivals, among our

Western chi ldr en— are merely adaptations from talesinvented long ago to please“and to instruct the chi ldlike people ofthe East I I think I can give an answer

,

though not a complete answer, to the question.


[Esop himself is several times mentioned in classicalliterature, and always as the teller Of stori es or fables .Thus Plato says that Socrates in his imprisonmentoccupied h imself by turning the stories (literallymyths) Of [Esop into verse 1 Aristophanes four timesrefers to hi s tales 2

and Ar istotle quotes in one forma fable Of hi s, whi ch Lucian quotes in another .3 In

accordance with these references,classical hi storians

fix the date Of IEsop in the sixth century 4 butsome modern critics

,relying on the vagueness and

inconsistency of the tradi tions,have denied hi s

existence altogether . This is,perhaps

,pushi ng

scepticism too far but it may be admitted that heleft no written works

,and it is quite certain that if

he did,they have been irretrievably lost .

Notwi thstanding thi s , a learned monk ofConstantinOple, named Planudes, and the author also Of

numerous other works,did not hesitate, in the first

half Of the fourteenth century, to write a work whi chhe called a collection Of E sop

’

s Fables. Thi s was firstprinted at Milan at the end Of the fifteenth centuryand two other supplementary collections have subse

1 Phoedo , p . 61 . Comp . Bentley, Dissertation on the Fables ofAl sop , p . 136 .

3 Vespw ,566, 1259, 1401 sqq . and Aves, 651 sqq .

3 Arist de part. anim . , iii, 2 Lucian, Nigr . , 32 .

1 Herodotus ( ii, 134 ) makes himcontemporaryw ith KingAmasieOf Egypt

,the beginning Of whose reign is placed in 569 B .C . ;

Plutarch (S ep t. S ap . Conv . , 152 ) makes him contemporary withS olon, who is reputed to have been born in 638 and DiogenesLaertius ( i , 72 ) says that he flourished about the fifty - secondOlympiad , i .e . 572—6 9 B .C. Compare Clinton, Fast. Hell . , i, 237(under the year and i , 239 (under B O .

INTRODUCTION

quently appeared .

1 From these, and especially fromthe work Of Planudes, all our so - called Alsop

’

s Fablesare derived .

Whence then did Planudes and h is fellow- labourersdraw their tales I Thi s cannot be completely answeredtill the source of each one of them shall have beenclearly found, and thi s has not yet been completelydone . But Oriental and classical scholars have alreadytraced a goodly number Of them ; and the generalresults oftheir investigations may be shortly stated .

Babrius,a Greek poet, who probably lived in the

first century before Christ, wrote in verse a number offables

,Of which a few fragments were known in the

Middle Ages .2 The complete work was fortunatelydiscovered by Mynas in the year 1824, at MountAthos ; and both B entley and Tyrwhitt from thefragments

,and Sir George Cornew all Lewi s in h is

well-known edition of the whole work, have shownthat several ofPlanudes’ Fables are also to be foundin Babrius.

3

It is possible, also , that the [Esopian fables of the

Latin poet Phaedrus, who in the title Of hi s work callshimself a freedman of Augustus , were known to

1 One at Heidelberg in 1610, and the other at Paris in 1810.

There is a complete edition Of all these fables, 23 1 in number, byT. G1. S chneider, Breslau , 1812 .

3 See the edi tions by De Furia, Florence , 1809 S chneider, inan appendix to h is edi tion Of fEsop ’

s Fables, Breslau , 18 12 ;Berger, Mun chen, 1816 ; Knoch, Hallo, 1835 ; and Lewis ,Ph i lob g . Museum, 1832 , i, 280- 304 .

1 Bentley, loc . cit . ; Tyrwhitt, De B abr io , etc Lond . , 1776 .

The edi tions Of the newly- found MS . are by Lachmann , 1845 ;(

l

)

8

relli and Baiter, 1845 ; G . C. Lewis, 1846 ; and S chneidew in,

53 .

B UDDHIS T B IRTH STORIES

Planudes. But the work OfPhaedrus, whi ch is basedon that OfB abrius, existed only in very rare MSS . tillthe end of the sixteenth century

,

1and may therefore

have easily escaped the notice of Planudes.

On the other hand, we have seen that versions ofB uddhi st B irth Stories, and other Indian tales , h adappeared in Europe before the time of Planudes inGreek, Latin, Hebrew, and Spani sh ; and many Ofhis stories have been clearly traced back to thi ssource .

2 Further, as I shall presently show,some Of

the fables OfB abrius and Phaedrus,found inPlanudes,

were possibly derived by those authors from Buddhi stsources . And lastly, other versions Of the Jatakae,besides those whi ch have been mentioned as comingthrough the Ar abs

,had reached Europe long before

the time Of Planudes and some more of h is storieshave been traced back to B uddhi st sources throughthese channels also .

What is at present known,then

,with respect to the

so - called zEsop’

s Fables, amounts to thi s— that noneOf them are really IEsopean at all that the collectionwas first formed in the Middle Ages ; that a large

1 It w as first edi ted by Pithon, in 1596 also by Orelli , Zii r ich ,183 1 . Comp . Oester ley, Phwdrus und die AEsop . Fabel im

M i ttelalter .

1 By S ilvestre de Sacy, in h is edition OfKali lah and Dimnah ,Paris , 1816 Loiseleur Deslongch amps, in his Essai sur les

Fables Indiennes, et sur leur Introd . en Europ e, Paris, 1838Prof . B enfey, in his edition Of the Pari ca Tantra, Le ipzig, 1859Prof . Max Mii ller , On the .Migration of Fables, ContemporaryR eview , J uly, 1870 ; Prof . Weber, Ueber den Zusammenhangindischer Fabeln mi t Griech ischen, Indische S tudien, iii, 337 sqq .

AdolfWagener, Essai sur les rapports entre les ap ologues de l’

Inde

et de la Grace, 1853 Otto Keller, Ueber die Gesch ichte der Criech ischen Fabeln, 1862 .

INTRODCCTION

number of them have been already traced back, invarious ways , to our Buddhist Jataka B ook ; and

that almost the whole Of them are probably derivedin one way or another from Indi an sources .It is perhaps worthy Of mention, as a fitting close tothe hi story of the so - called E sop

’

s Fables, that thoseOf his stories whi ch Planudes borrowed indirectlyfrom India have at length been restored to theiroriginal home , and b id fair to be popular even in thismuch-altered form . For not only has an Engli shmantranslated a few of them into several Of the manylanguages spoken in the great continent of India,1

but Narayan B alkrishna Godpole, B .A. ,one of the

Masters Of the Government High School at Ahmadnagar

,h as lately published a second edi tion of hi s

translation into Sanskrit of the common Englishversion Of the successful spurious compilations of theold monk Of Constantinople

THE BARLAAM AND J OSAPHATLITERATURE

A complete answer to the question with whi ch thelast digression started can only be given when eachone of the two hundred and thirty- one fables of

Planudes and his successors shall have been tracedback to its original author . But— whatever thatcomplete answer may be— the discoveries just pointed

1 J Gilchrist, The Or iental Fabulist, or Polyglo t Translations ofAllsop s and other Ancient Fables from the English Language intoHindustani , Persian , Arabic, B hakka, B ongla , S anscri t, etc. , in theRoman Character, Calcutta, 1803 .

BUDDHIST B IRTH STORIES

out are at least most strange and most instructive .And yet, if I mistake not, the history of the JatakaB ook contains hidden amongst its detai ls a factmore unexpected and more striking still .In the eighth century theKhali f of B agdad was that

Almansur at whose court w as written the Arabic bookKali lah and Dimnah , afterwards translated by thelearned J ews I have mentioned into Hebrew

,Latin

,

andGreek . AChr istian,high inOfficeat h iscourt

, afterwards became a monk

, and is well known,under the

name Of St . J ohn ofDamascus,as the author in Greek

ofmany theological words in defence of the orthodoxfaith . Among these is a religious romance calledB ar laam and J basaph , giving the history ofan Indianprince who was converted by B arlaam and became ahermi t. Thi s history, the reader will be surprised tolearn

,is taken from the life Of the B uddha ; and

J oasaph is merely the B uddha under another name,the word J oasaph , or J osaphat, being simply a

corruption of thewordB odisat, that title of the futureB uddh a so constantly repeated in the B uddh istB irth Stories.

1 Now a life Of the Buddha forms theintroduction to our Jataka B ook, and St . J ohn ’sromance also contains a number Of fables and stories,most Of . whi ch have been traced back to the samesource ?

1 J oasaph is in Arabic written also Yfidasatf and this,through a confusion between the Arabic letters Y and B , is forB odisat . See , for the hi story Of these changes, R einaud , Memoi re

sur l’

Inde, 1849, p . 9 1 quoted with approbation by Weber,Indische S treifen, iii, 57.

2 Th e Buddhist origin w as first pointed out by Laboulaye in theDebate, J uly, 1859 and more fully by Liebrecht, in the J ahrbuch


and in whose honour images and altars and chapelsmay be set up .

1

For a long time it w as permitted to the localecclesiastics to continue the custom Of inserting suchnames in their Diptychs but about 1 170 a decretalOf Pope Alexander 111 confined the power Of canoni zation,

as far as the R oman Catholics were concerned?to the Pope himself . From the di fferent Diptychsvarious martyrologies , or lists Of persons so to becommemorated in the Canon were composed tosupply the place of the merely local lists or Diptychs .For

,as time went on

,it began to be considered more

and more improper to insert new names in so sacreda part of the Church prayers ; and the Old namesbeing well known

,the Diptychs fell into disuse . .The

names in the Martyrologies were at last no longerinserted in the Canon,

but are repeated in the servicecalled the Prime though the term canoni zedw as still used of the holy men mentioned in them .

And when the increasing number Ofsuch Martyr ologiesthreatened to lead to confusion,

and to throw doubton the exclusive power of the Popes to canoni ze,Pope Sixtus the Fifth ( 1585- 90) authorized a

particular Martgrologium,drawn up by Cardinal

B aronius,to be used throughout the Western Church .

In that work are included not only the saints first

1 Pope Benedict ! IV, in De servorum Dei beatificat ione ct

beatorum canonisatione, lib . i , cap . 45 ; R egni er, De ecclesid

Ch risti , in Migue’s Theo l. Curs . Comp l . , iv, 710.

1 B eerst. Greg , lib . iii, tit. xlvi, confirmed and explained bydecrees of Urban VIII ( 13th March, 1625, and 5th J uly, 1634 ) andof Alexander VII

xxxvi

INTRODUCTION

canoni zed at Rome , but all those who , having beenalready canonized elsewhere, were then acknow ledgedby the Pope and the College OfR ites to be saints OftheCatholi c Church Of Christ . Among such, under thedate Of the 27th November , are included The holySaints B arlaam and J osaphat , Of India, on theborders Of Persia, whose wonderful acts Saint J ohnofDamascus h as described .

’ 1

Where and when they were fir st canonized,I have

been unable, in spite Of much investigation,to

ascertain. Petrus de Natalibus, who w as B ishop of

Equi lium ,the modern J esolo , near Venice, from 1370

to 1400, wrote a Martyrology called Catalogas

Sanctorum and in it, among the saints he insertsbothB arlaam and J osaph at , giving also a short accountOf them derived from the Old Latin translation OfSt . J ohn Of Damascus ? It is from thi s work thatB aronius, the compiler Of the authorized Martyrologynow in use

,took over the names of these two saints

,

Barlaam and J osaphat . But , so far as I have beenable to ascertain

,they do not occur in any martyr

Ologies Or lists Of saints Of the Western Church Olderthan that Of Petrus de Natali bus.

3

1 p . 177 of the edi tion Of 1873 , bearing the Official approval OfPope Pius I! , or p . 803 Of the Cologne edi tion Of 16 10.

2 Cat. S anct. , Leyden ed . 1542 , p . cliii .3 Th e author added the following in hi s copy. They occur inthe works of Usnard , a B enedictine , who wrote about 875(published by Greven in 1515, and by Molanus in In theMonth for 1881 , p . 14 1 , Father Coleridge , S .J . , wrote that theyoccur in a S lavonic calendar Of the 15th century, preserved in theEcclesiastical Academy at Petrograd, and in several later Slavoni cmartyrologies, but not in the Menologium drawn up by CardinalGir let, from which the compilers Of the R oman martyrology

B UDDHIS T B IRTH STORIES

In the corresponding manual Of worship still usedln the Greek Church , however, we find, under 26thAugust, the name Of the holy Iosaph , son Of Abenér ,king of India 1 B arlaam is not mentioned

, and is

not therefore recognized as a saint in the GreekChurch . NO hi story is added to the simple statementI have quoted and I do not know on what authorityit rests . B ut there is no doubt that it is in the East

,

and probably among the records of the ancient churchof Syria, that a final solution of thi s question shouldbe sought ?

Some Of the more learned Of the numerous writerswho translated or composed new works on the basisof the story Of J osaphat , have pointed out in theirnotes that he h ad been canonized 3

and the hero ofthe romance is usually called St . J osaphat in the titlesof these works, as will be seen from the Table Of theJ osaphat literatur e below . B ut Professor Liebrecht

,

w hen identifying J osaphat with the Buddha, took nonotice Of thi s and it w as Professor Max Mii ller , whoh as done so much to infuse the glow of life into thedr y bones Of Oriental scholarshi p , who first pointedout the strange fact— almost incredible, were it notdrew their notices Of the saints Of the Greek church . This workw as published shortly before theirs . Coleridge says, that theremay have been such saints, and that the Buddhi st story may havebeen added to theirs , or derived from it .

—Editor .1 p . 160 Of the part for the month ofAugust Of the authorized

Mnva i‘

ov of the Greek Church , published at Constantinople, 1843A

TOG do to u v iov’

AB€v7jp 706 Bao rke’

w s 7 779’

Iv 8ia g .

2 For the information in the last three pages I am chi eflyindebted to my father, the R ev . T . W . Davids , without whosegenerous aid I should not have attempted to touch this Obscureand difficult question .

3 See, for instance, Billine, and the Italian Edi tor, of 1734 .

INTRODUCTION

for the completeness Of the proof— that Gotama theBuddha, under the name Of St . J osaph at, is now

Officially recogni zed and honoured and worshippedthroughout the whole Of Catholic Ch ristendom as a

Christian saintI have now followed the Western h istory Of the

Buddhi st B ook Of B irth Stories along two channelsonly . Space would fail me , and the reader

’s patienceperhaps too , if I attempt ed to do more . But I may

mention that the inquiry is not by any meansexhausted . A learned Italian h as proved that a goodmany of the stories Of the hero known throughoutEurope as Sinbad the Sai lor are derived from the sameinexhaustible treasury Of stories , wi tty and wise ; 1

and a similar remark applies also to other wellknown Tales included in the Arabian Nights ? La

Fontaine, whose charming versions of the Fables areso deservedly admi red

,Openly acknowledges his

indebtedness to the French versions Of Kali lah and

Dimnah ; and Professor B enfey and others havetraced the same stories , or ideas drawn from them,

toPoggio, B occaccio , Gower, Chaucer, Spenser, and

many other later writers . Thus, for instance, thethr ee caskets and the pound of flesh in TheMerchant ofVenice, and the precious j ewel whi ch inAs you Like Itthe venomous toad wears in his head ,3 are derived

1 Comparetti, R icerche into rne al L ibra di S indibad, Milano,1869 . Compare Landsberger , Die Fabeln des S op hos, Posen, 1859 .

2 See Remi ey, Pantscha Tantra, v ol . 1, Introduction , passim .

3 Act ii, 8 0. 1 . Prof . B enfey , in his Pantscha Tantra, i , 2 13—20,h as traced this idea far and wide . Dr . Dennys , in his Folklore ofChina, gives the Chinese Buddhist version of it .


from the Buddhi st tales . In a similar w ay it h as beenshown that tales current among the Hungarians andthe numerous peoples Of Slavoni c race have beenderived from B uddhi st sources , through translationsmade by or for the Huns , who penetrated in thetime Of Genghi s Khan into the East Of Euro pe .

1 And

finally yet other Indian tales,not included in the

Kali lag and Damnag literature, have been broughtinto the opposite corner Of Europe

,by the Arabs Of

Spain ?

There is only one other point on whi ch a few wordsshould be said . I have purposely ch osen as specimensone Buddhi st B irth Story similar to the J udgment OfSolomon two whi ch are found also in B abrius and

one whi ch is found also in t drus. How are thesesimi larities , on whi ch the later hi story Of IndianFablesthrows no light, to be explained I

As regards th e cases Of B abrius and Phaedrus, it canonly be said that the Greeks w h o travelled withAlexander to India may have taken the tales there ,

1 See B enfey’

s Introduction to Panca Tantra, 36 , 397, 1 , 92 ,166 , 186 . R alston’s translation ofTibetan stories throws furtherlight on this, at present, rather Obscure subject .

2 See for example J at . i, NO . 30 Manik a-Jataka. B enfey

(Panca Tantra, p . 228 f . ) h as traced stories somewhat analogousthr oughout European literature , but the J ataka itself is, he says ,found almost word for word in an unpublished Hebrew bOOk byB erach ia ben Natronai , only that two donkeys take the place Ofthe two oxen . B erach ia lived in the 12th—13th century, inProvence .Th e story of the monk ey and his heart , in Jataka 11 , NO . 208 ,occurs in a J apanese version given in Andrew Lang’s VioletFairy B ook, p . 275,

‘ The Monk ey and the Jellyfish, ’ sea and

liver replacing Ganges and heart . - Editor.x1

INTRODUCTION

but they may equally well have brought them back .

We only know that at the end Of the fourth, and stillmore in the thi rd century before Christ , there w as

constant travelling to and fro between the Greekdominions in the East and the adjoining parts Of

Indi a, which were then B uddhist, and that the B irthStories were already popular among the B uddhi sts inAfghanistan,

where the Greeks remained for a longtime . Indeed , the very region which became the seatof the Greece -B actrian kings takes , in all the Northernversions of the B irth Stories , the place occupied bythe country Of Kasi in the Pali text— so that the sceneof the tales is laid in that district . And among theinnumerable Buddhist remains still existing there

,

a large number are connected with the B irth Stories . 1

It is also in this very district , and under the immediate successor Oi Alexander, that the original Ofthe Kali lah and Dimnah w as said by its Arabiantranslators to have been written by B idpai . It ispossible that a smaller number Of simi lar stories werealso current among the Greeks ; and that they not

only heard the B uddhist ones,but told their ow n .

But so far as the Greek and the B uddhi st stories canat present be compared, it seems to me that theinternal evidence is in favour Of the B uddhist versionsbeing the originals from which the Greek versionswere adapted . Whether more than this can be at

present said is very doubtful when the Jatakas are

1 Th e legend of Sumedh a’

s self -abnegation (see below, p . 93 )i s laid near Jelalabad and Mr . William S impson h as discoveredon the spot two h as- reliefs representing the principal incident inthe legend .


all publi shed, and the similarities between them and

classical stories shall have been fully investigated ,the contents of the stories may enable criticism to

reach a more defini te conclusion.

The case of Solomon’s judgment is somewhatdifferent . If there were only one fable in B abrius orPhaedrus identical with a B uddhi st B irth Story

,we

should suppose merely that the same idea h ad occurredto two di fferent minds and there would thus be nonecessity to postulate any historical connexion. Nowthe simi larity of the two judgments stands, as far asI know

,in complete isolation and the story is not

so cur ious but that two writers may have hi t upon thesame idea. At the same time it is just possible thatwhen the J ews were in B abylon they may have told,or heard, the story .

Had we met with thi s story in a book unquestionably later than the Exi le , we might suppose that theyheard the story there that some one repeating it hasascribed the judgment to King Solomon, whose greatwisdom w as a common tradition among them and

that it had thus been 1ncluded in their history Of thatking . B ut we find it in the B ook ofKings, whi ch isusually assigned to the time Of J eremi ah, who di edduring the Exil e and it should be remembered thatthe chroni cle in question was based for the most parton tradi tions current much earlier among the J ewishpeople

, and probably on earlier documents .If

,on the other hand, they told it there, we may

expect to find some evidence of the fact in the detailsOf the story as preserved in the B uddhi st story-books


from the J ews to the B uddhi sts, or from India to the

J ews . The land Of Ophi r w as probably in India . TheHebrew names Of the apes and peacocks said to havebeen brought thence by Solomon’s coasting—vesselsare merely corruptions of Indi an names and Ophi rmust therefore have been either an Indian port (andif so , almost certainly at the mouth Of the Indus

,

afterwards a B uddhist country) or an entrepOt ,

further west,for Indian trade . B ut the very gist of

the account Of Solomon’s expedition by sea is its

unprecedented and hazardous character ; it wouldhave been impossible even for him without the aid OfPhoeni cian sailors and it w as not renewed by theHebrews till after the time when the account of thejudgment w as recorded in the B ook of Kings. Any

intercourse between h is servants and the people OfOphir must

,from the difference Of language, have been

Of the most meagre extent and we may safelyconclude that it w as not the means of the migrationOf our tale . It is much more likely, ifthe J ews heardor told the Indi an story at all, and before the time Ofthe captivity, that the w ay of communi cation w as

overland . There is every reason to believe that therew as a great and continual commercial intercour sebetween East and West from very early times by w ayof Palmyra and Mesopotami a. Though the intercourse by sea w as not continued after Solomon’stime

,gold Of Ophir ,1 ivory, jade , and Eastern gems

still found their w ay to the West and it would be aninteresting task for an Assyrian or Hebrew scholar to

1 Psalm xiv, 9 Isaiah xiii, 12 J ob xxu , 24 , xxviii, 16 .

xliv

INTRODUCTION

trace the evidence Of thi s ancient overland route inother ways .

SUMMARY

TO sum up what can at present be said on the connexion between the Indian tales , preserved to us inthe B ook ofB uddh i st B irth Stories , and their counterparts ln the West1 . In a few isolated passages Of Greek and other

writers , earlier than the invasion of Indi a byAlexander the Great

,there are references to a

legendary IEsop, and perhaps also allusions to storieslike some of th e B uddhist ones .2 . After Al exander’s time a number Of tales alsofound in the Buddhist collection became current inGreece

, and are preserved in the poetical versions OfBabrius and Phaedrus . They are probably ofB uddhistorigin.

3 . From the time OfB abrius to the time Of the firstCrusade no migration Of Indian tales to Europe canbe proved to have taken place . About the lattertime a translation into Arabic Of a Persian workcontaining tales found in the B uddhist book w as

translated by J ews into Greek, Hebrew, and Latin .

Translations of these versions afterwards appearedin all the principal languages OfEurope .

4. In the eleventh or twelfth century a translationwas made into Latin Of the legend Of B ar laam and

J osaphat, a Greek romance written in the eighthcentury by St . J ohn Of Damascus on the basis Of theB uddhi st Jataka book . Translations , poems, and

xlv


plays founded on thi s work were rapidly producedthroughout Western Europe .5. Other Buddhist stories not included in either Of

the works mentioned in the two last paragraphs were,

introduced into Europe both dur ing the Crusadesand also during the dominion of the Ar abs in Spain .

6 . Versions Of other B uddhist stories were introduced into Eastern Europe by the Huns underGenghis Khan.

7. The fables and stories introduced through thesevarious channels became very popular during theMiddle Ages, and were used as the subj ects Of

numerous sermons,story-books

,romances

,poems, and

edi fying dramas . Thus extensively adopted and

circulated,they had a considerable influence on

.the

revival Of literature, whi ch, hand in hand wi th therevival of learning, di d so much to render possibleand to bring about the Great R eformation. Thecharacter Of the hero Of them— the B uddha, in hislast or in one or other Of hi s supposed previousbirths —appealed so strongly to the sympathi es, andw as so attractive to the minds Of medi eval Chr istians ,that he became

,and h as ever since remained, an

Obj ect Of Christian worship . And a collection Of theseand similar stories— wrongly, but very naturally,ascribed to a famous story- teller Of the ancientGreeks— has become the common property, the household literature

,Of all the nations Of Eur ope ; and,

under the name Of E sop’

s Fables, has handed down,

as a first moral lesson-book and as a continual feast forour children in the West, tales fir st invented to pleaseand to instruct our far -Off cousins in the distant East .

PART II

ON THE HISTORY OF THE B IRTH STORIESIN INDIA

In the previous part Of thi s Introduction I haveattempted to point out the resemblances betweencertain Western tales and the B uddhi st B irth Stories ,to explain the reason Of those resemblances, and totrace the history Of the B irth Story literature inEur ope . Much remains yet to be done to completethis interesting and instructive history but thegeneral results can already be stated with a considerable degree Oi certainty, and the literature in whi chfurther research will have to be made is accessiblein print in the public libraries Of Europe .

For the history in Indi a of the J ataka B ook itself,and of the stories it contains

,so little has been done

that one may say it has still to be written and theauthorities for further research are only to be foundin manuscripts very rare in Europe, and written inlanguages for the most part but li ttle known . MuchOf what follows isnecessarily therefore v ery incompleteand provisional .In some portions Of the B rahmani cal li terature,later than the Vedas, and probably Older thanBuddh i sm

,there are found myths and legends Of a

character somewhat simi lar to a few Of the B uddhi stones . But, so far as I know,

no one of these h as beentraced either in Europe or in the Buddhist Collection .


On the other hand, there is every reason to hOpethat in the Older portions Of the B uddhist Scripturesa considerable number Of the tales also included in theJ ataka B ook will be found in identical or similarforms for even in the few fragments Of the Pitakasas yet studied , several B irth Stories have alreadybeen di scovered .

1 These occur in isolated passages ,and, except the story Of King Maha Sudassana and

that in Anguttara, i , p . 1 1 1 , have not as yet becomeJatakas— that is, no character in the story is identifiedwith the B uddha in one or other of hi s supposedprevious births . B ut one book included in the PaliPitakas consists entirely of real Jataka stories

,all

Of whi ch are found in our Collection .

The title Of this work is Cariyd—pi taka and it is

constructed to show when,

and in what b iriths,Gotama h ad acqui red the Ten Great Perfections

R enunciation,Wisdom

,Firm

ness,Patience, Truth, R esolution,

Kindness , and

1 Thus, for instance , the Mani Kantha Jataka (Fausb o ll ,no . 253 ) is tak en from a story which is in both the Pali and theChinese versions of the Vinaya Pi taka (Oldenberg , p . xlvi ) theT itti ra J ataka (Faus ll

, no . 37, translated below ) occurs almostword for word in t h e Culla Vagga (vi, 6 , 3—5) the KhandhavattaJataka (Faus ll, no . 203 ) is a slightly enlarged version Of CullaVagga, v . 6 the S ukhav i har i Jataka (Faus ll, no . 10, translated below ) is founded on a story in the Culla Vagga (vii, 1 , 4- 6 )the Maha-sudassa

'

na Jataka (Fausboll , no . 95) is derived from theSutta Of the same name in the D igha Ni kaya ( translated by me inSacred B ook s Of the East vol . xi) ; the Makha Deva Jataka(Faus ll, no . 9 , translated below ) from the Sutta Of the samename in the Majjh ima Ni haya (no . 83 ) and the S akunaggh iJataka (Fausboll, no . 1 68 ) from a parable in the S atipatthanaVagga Of the Sanyutta Nikaya .

Compare the writer’s B uddh ist India, ch . xi, Lond . 1903 , for anenlarged restatement Of the views here briefly put forward.

xlviii ‘

Equanimi ty) , without whi ch he could not havebecome a B uddha. In striking analogy wi th themodern view, that true growth in moral and intellectual power is the result Of the labours , not Of oneonly

,but Of many successive generations , so the

qualifications necessary for the making Of a Buddha,like the characters of all the lesser mortals , cannotbe acquired during, and do not depend upon theactions of, one li fe only, but are the last result Ofmany deeds performed through a long series Of consecutive lives .1

To each of the first two Of these Ten Perfections awhole chapter Of thi s work is devoted, giving, in verse,ten examples Of the previous births in which theB odisat or futureB uddh ah ad practisedGenerosity andGoodness respectively . The third chapter gives onlyfifteen examples of th e lives in whi ch he acqui red theother eight ofthe Perfections . It looks very much as ifthe original plan Of the unknown author had been togive ten B irth Stories for each of the Ten Perfections.

And, curiously enough , the Northern B uddhi sts havea tradition that the celebrated teacher Asvagoshabegan to write a work giving ten B irths for each Of theTen Perfections

,but di ed when he h ad v ersified only

thirty- four ? Now there is a Sanskrit work calledJataka Male

,as yet unpublished

,

3 but Of which thereare several MSS . in Paris and in London,

consisting1 See on this be lief below, pp . 141—4 , where the verses 259—69

are quotations from the Char iya-Pitaka.

2 Taranath a’

s Gesch ichte des B uddh ismus (a Tibetan work oftheeighteenth century, translated into German by S ch iefner ) , p . 92 .

2 S ince edited by E . Kern , Harvard Or. S eries , i, 189 1 .

Translation by J. S . Speyer, S . B ks . ofthe B uddhists, i , 1895.- Ed .


Of thi rty-five B irth Stories in -mixed prose and verse ,in illustration of the Ten Perfections .1 It would beprematur e to attempt to draw any conclusions fromthese coincidences

,but the curious reader will find

in a Table below a comparative view Of the titles Ofthe Jatakas comprised in the ChariyaPitaka and in

the Jataka Mala?

There is yet another work in the Pali Pitakaswhi ch constantly refers to the Jataka theory . TheB UDDHAVAMSA,

3 which is a history Of all the B uddhas ,gives an account also of the life Of the B odisat in thecharacter he filled during the lifetime Of each of

twenty- four of the previous B uddhas . It is on thatwork that a great part Of the Pali Introduction toour J dtaka B ook is based, and most of the verses inthe first fifty pages of the present translation °

are

quotations from the Buddhavamsa. From thissource we thus have authority for twenty- four B irthStories

,corresponding to the last twenty- four Of

the twenty—seven previous B uddhas,

4 besides thethi rty- four in i llustration Of the Perfections , and theother isolated ones I have mentioned .

B eyond thi s it is impossible yet to state whatproportion Of the stories in the J ataka B ook can thusbe traced back to the earlier Pali B uddhi st literatureand it would be out Of place to enter here upon any

1 Fausb oll’

s F i ve Jatakae, pp . 58—68, where the full text Of oneJ ataka is given and Lé on Feer, Etude sur les Jatakas, p . 57

2 See p . 53 .

2 Th e Pali Text Society published an edition by R d . Morris ,1882 .

— Ed .

‘1 See the list of the B uddhas below, p . 138, where it will beseen that for the first three Buddhas we have no Birth Story.


The members of the B uddhi st Order Of Mendi cantMonks were divided at that Council— as importantfor the hi story Of B uddhi sm as the Council Of Niceis for the history of Christiani ty- into two parties .One side advocated the relaxation Of the rul es Of theOrder in ten particular matters

,the others adopted

the stricter V iew. In the accounts Of the matter,whi ch we at present only possess from the successorsOf the stricter party (or, as they call themselves, theorthodox party) , it is acknowledged that the other

,

the laxer side,were in the maj ority and that when

the Older and more influential members Of the Orderdecided in favour of the orthodox view,

the othersheld a council of their own,

called,from the numbers

Of those who attended it,the Great Council .

Now the Oldest Ceylon Chroni cle, the Dipavamsa,

which contains the only account as yet published Of

what occurred at the Great Council , says as follows 1

The monks Of the Great Council turned the religionupside downThey broke up the original Scriptures , and made anew recension

A di scour se put in one place they put in anotherThey di storted the sense and the teaching Of the Five

Those monks— knowing not what had been spoken at

length, and what concisely,

What was the Obvious,and what was the higher

meaning

1 D ip avamsa, v, 32 sqq .

lii

INTRODCCTION

Attached new meaning to new words , as if spoken bythe Buddha,

And destroyed much of the spirit by holding to theshadow Of the letter .

In part they cast aside the Sutta and the Vinaya so

deep ,And made an imitation Sutta and Vinaya, changingthi s to that .The Pariwara abstract, and the Six B ooks Of AbhidhammaThe Patisambh ida, the Niddesa, and a portion of the

SO much they put aside, and made others in theirplace !

The animus Of thi s description is sufficientlyevident and the Dipavamsa,

which cannot have beenwritten earlier than the fourth century after thecommencement Of our era

,is but poor evidence of

the events Of seven centuries before . But it is thebest we have it is acknowledged to have been basedon earlier sources

,and it is at least reliable that,

according to Ceylon tradition, a book called theJataka exi sted at the time Of the Councils of Vesali .As the Northern B uddhists are the successors ofthose who held the Great Council, we may hope beforelong to have the account of it from the other side ,either from the Sanskrit or from the Chinese ? Mean

1

.

There are several work s enumerated by B eal in his Catalogue ofCh i nese B uddh istic Works in the Ind ia Ofiice Library ( see especiallypp . 93—7, and pp . 107 from which we might expect to derivethis information .


while it is important to notice that the fact Of a B ookof B irth Stories having existed at a very early date isconfirmed, not only by such stories being found inother parts Of the Pali Pitakas, but also by ancientmonuments .Among the most interesting and important dis

cov eries which we owe to recent archaeologicalresearches in India must undoubtedly be reckonedthose of the B uddhi st carvings on the railings roundthe dome- shaped relic shrines Of Sanchi

, Am aravati',and B harhut . There have been there found

,very

boldly and clearly sculptured in deep has- relief,figures whi ch were at first thought to representmerely scenes in Indian life . Even so their -value

'

as

records Of ancient civilization would have been Ofincalculable value but they have acquired furtherimportance since it has been proved that most Of

them are illustrations Of the sacred B irth Stories inthe Buddhi st Jataka book— are scenes, that is, fromthe life OfGotama in h is last or previous births . Thi swould be incontestable in many cases from thecarvings themselves , but it is rendered doubly sureby the titles Of Jatakas having been found inscribedover a number Of those Of the has- reli efs whi ch havebeen last di scovered— the carvings, namely, on therailing at Bharhut .It is not necessary to turn aside here to examine

into the details Of these di scoveries . It is sufficientfor our present inqui ry into the age of the Jatakastories that these ancient hasreliefs afford indis

putable evidence that the B irth Stories were already,

at the end of the thi rd century B .O . , considered so

sacred that they were chosen as the subj ects to berepresented round the most sacred B uddhi st buildings,and that they were already popularly known underthe technical name Of Jatakae A detailed statement of all the Jatakas hi therto discovered on theseBuddhi st railings , and other places, will be found inone Of the Tables appended to this Introduction ;and it will be noticed that several of those talestranslated below in thi s volume had thus been chosen,

more than tw o thousand years ago , to fill places Ofhonour round the reli c shr ines of the Great Teacher .One remarkable fact apparent from that Table will

be that the B irth Stories are sometimes called in theinscriptions over the hasreliefs by names differentfrom those given to them in the J a

'

taka B ook in thePali Pitakas. Thi s would seeem , at fir st sight

,to

show that, although the very stories as we have themmust have been known at the time when the hasreliefs were carved, yet the present collection, in

whi ch di fferent names are clearly given at the end Ofeach story, did not then exist . But, on the other hand,we not only

'

find in the Jataka B ook itself very greatuncertainty as to the names— the same stories beingcalled in different parts ofthe B ook bydifferent titles 1

1 Thus no . 4 1 is called both Losaka Jataka and Mi tta-vindaka

Jataka (Feer, Etude sur les J atakas, p . no . 439 is calledCatudvara Jataka and also Mi tta -vindaka Jataka ( ibid . p .

no . 57 is called Vanar inda J ataka and also Kumbh i la Jataka(Faus ll, v ol . 1, p . 278 , and v o l . ii, p . no . 96 is calledTelapatta Jataka and also Takkasi la Jataka ( ibid . v ol . i , p . 393 ,and vol . i, pp . 469 , 470) no . 102 , there called Pap r i ka Jataka ,

is the same story as no . 2 17, there called S egga J ataka no . 30,

IV


- but one Of these very hasreliefs has actuallyinscribed over it two distinct names in full 1

The reason for this is very plain . When a fableabout a lion and a jackal w as told (as in no . 157) toshow the advantage Of a good character, and it w asnecessary to choose a short title for it , it w as calledThe Lion Jataka or The J ackal Jataka or

even The Good Character Jataka and when a

fable w as told about a tortoise,to show the evil

results whi ch follow On talkativeness (as in no .

the fable might as well be called The ChatterboxJataka as The Tortoise Jataka and the fable isreferred to accordingly under both those names . Itmust always have been di fficult, ifnot impossible, tofix upon a short title which should at once characterizethe lesson to be taught, and the personages thr oughwhose acts it w as taught and di fferent names wouldthus arise, and become interchangeable . It would bewrong therefore to attach too much importance to thedi fference of the names on the hasreliefs and in theJ dtaka B ook . And in translating the titles we neednot be afraid to allow ourselves a latitude similar tothat whi ch w as indulged in by the early B uddhiststhemselves .There is yet fur ther evidence confirmatory of the

Dipavamsa tradi tion . The Buddhi st Scriptures arethere called Mani ka J ataka, is the same story as no . 286 , therecalled Salaka Jataka no . 2 15, the Kacchapa J ataka, is call edB alm -B hani Jataka in the Dhammapada (p . 4 19 ) and no . 157 iscalled Guna Jataka , S i ha Jataka , and S igala Jataka .

1 Cunningham, The S tup a of B harhut, pl . xlvii . The carvingillustrates a fable ofa cat and a cock , and is labelled both BidalaJataka and Kukkuta J ataka (Cat and Cook Jataka, no .

lv1

INTRODUCTION

sometimes spoken of as consisting of nine differentdivisions , or sorts of texts Of whi ch theseventh is J atakas, or The J ataka Collection (J dtakam) .This division of the Sacred B ooks is mentioned, notonly in the Dipavarnsa itself, and in the SamangalaVi la

'

sini , but also in the Anguttara Ni haya (one of

the later works included in the Pali Pitakas) , and inthe Saddharma Pundar

'

ika (a late , but standardSanskrit work of the Northern B uddhists) ? It iscommon

,therefore

,to both of the two sections of the

Buddhist Church and it follows that it w as probablyin use before the great schism took place betweenthem

,possibly before the Council of Vesali itself.

In any case it is conclusive as to the existence Of acollection Of Jatakas at a very early date .

The text ofth e Jataka B ook, as now received amongthe Southern B uddhists, consists , as will be seen fromthe translation, not only of the stories , but Of an

elaborate commentary, containing a detailed Explanation of the verse or verses whi ch occur in each of thestories an Introduction to each of them, giving theoccasion on whi ch it is said to have been told ; a

Conclusion, explaining the connexion between thepersonages in the Introductory Story and thecharacters in the B irth Story ; and finally, a longgeneral Introduction to the whole work . It is, infact, an edi tion by a later hand Of the earlier storiesand though I have called it concisely the J dtaka B ook,its full title is The Commentary on the J dtakas.

1 See the authorities quoted in my manual, B uddh ism,pp . 2 14,

2 15 and Dr . Morris, in The Academy for May, 1880.


We do not know either the name of the author Ofthis work, or the date when it w as composed . Themeagre account given at the commencement Of thework itself (below, p . 81) contains all our presentinformation on these points. Chi lders

, wh o is thetranslator of this passage (below, p . lxxix) , haselsewhere ascribed the work to Buddh agh osa 1 butI ventur e to think that thi s is, to say the least, veryuncertain.

We have, in the thirty—seventh chapter of theMahavamsa? a perhaps almost contemporaneousaccount of Buddhagh osa

’

s literary work ; and it is

there distinctly stated, that after writing in India theAtthasalini (a comm entary on the Dhammasangan

'

i ,

the first Of the S i r B ooks oftheAbhidhammaPitaka) , hewent to Ceylon (about 430 A .D . ) with the expressintention of translating the Singhalese commentariesinto Pali . There he studi ed under the Thera San

ghapali , and having proved his effi ciency by his greatwork The Path of Purity (Visuddhi -Magga, a com

pendium Of doctrine) , he w as allowed by the monksin Ceylon to carry out his wish, and translate thecommentaries . The Chr oni cle then goes on to say

that he di d render the whole Singhalese Commentary into Pali . But it by no means follows, ashas been too generally supposed, that he w as theauthor of all the Pali Commentaries we now possess .He translated, it may be granted, the Commentarieson the Vinaya Pi taka and on the four great divisions

(Nikayas) of the Sutta Pitaka ; but these works ,1 In his Pali Dictionary, Preface, p . ix, note .2 Tum our, pp . 250- 3 .


me almost as convi ncing as such negative evidencecan possibly be .

If not,however

,by Buddhagh osa, the work must

have been composed after his time ; but probablynot long after . It is qui te clear from the account inthe Mahdvamsa,

'

th at before he came to Ceylon,the

Singhalese commentaries h ad not been turned intoPali and on the other hand

,the example he h ad set

so well will almost certainly have been quicklyfollowed . We know one instance at least, that Of theMaha

'

vamsa itself, whi ch woul d confirm thi s supposition ; and h ad the present work been much laterthan hi s time

,it would not have been ascribed to

B uddh agh osa at all .

It is worthy Of notice , perhaps , in thi s connexion,

that the Pali work is not a translation of the Sin

ghalese Commentary . The author three times refersto a previous J dtaka Commentary, which possiblyformed part of the Singhalese work, as a separatebook 1

and in one case mentions w hat it says onlyto overrule it ? Our Pali work may have been basedupon it

,but cannot be said to be a mere version Of it .

And the present Commentary agrees almost word forword

,from p . 58 to p . 124 Of my translation,

withthe Madhura- altha- vi lasini , the Commentary on theB uddhavamsa mentioned above, whi ch is not usuallyascribed to Buddhagh osa.

3

1 Faus ll, v o l . i , p . 62 and p . 488 vol . 11 , p . 224 .

2 See the translation below.

3 I j udge from Turnour ’s analysis of that work in the Journal ofthe B engal Asiatic Society, 1839 , where some long extracts havebeen translated and the contents of other passages g iven in

abstract .

INTRODUCTION

The J ataka B ook is not the only Pali Commentarywhich has made use of the ancient B irth Stories .They occur in numerous passages of the differentexegetical works composed in Ceylon

,and the only

commentary Of whi ch anything is known in print,

that on the Dhammapada or Collection of Scr iptureVerses, contains a considerable number of them .

Mr . Faus ll has published copious extracts from thisCommentary, which may be by B uddhagh osa, as anappendix to hi s edi tion of the text ; and the workby Captian R ogers , entitled B uddhaghosa

’

sParables

a translation from a Burmese book called Dhamma

pada-vatthu (that is Stories connected with the

Dhammapada — consists almost entirely of Jatakatales .In Siam there is even a rival collection of B irth

Stories whi ch is called Panndsa- J atakan (The FiftyJ atakas) , and Of which an account has been given usby Léon Feer 1

and the same scholar has pointedout that isolated stories , not contained in our collection, are also to be found in the Pali literature Ofthatcountry ? The first hundred and fifty tales in ourcollection are divided into three Panndsas, or fifties 3

but the Siamese collection cannot be either Of these ,

1 Etude sur les Jatakas, pp . 62—5.

2 Ibid . , pp . 66—71 .

3 This is clear from vol . 1, p . 4 10 of Fausb o ll ’s text, where , atthe end of the 100th tale , we find the words Majjh ima -

p annasako

nitth i to , that is End Of the Middle Fifty At the end of the50th tale (p . 26 1 ) there is a corresponding entry, Pathamo pannaso ,First Fifty and though there is no such entry at the end ofthe l 5oth tale, the expression Middle Fifty shows that theremust have been, at one time , such a division as is above stated .

lxi


as M . Feer has ascertained that it contains no talesbeginning in the same way as any of those in eitherOf these Fifties

In Indi a itself the B irth Stories survived the fall ,as some of them had probably preceded the rise

,Of

B uddhi sm . Not a few of them were preserved bybeing included in the Maha B harata, the great Hinduepic which became the storehouse of Indi an mythology, phi losophy, and folklore . Unfortunatelythe date of the final arrangement of the Maha

B harata is extremely uncertain,and there is no further

evidence Of the continued exi stence of the Jatakatales till we come to the time Of the work alreadyfrequently referred to— the Pancha Tantra .

It is to the hi story Of thi s book that B enfey h asdevoted that elaborate and learned Introductionwhi ch is the most important contribution to thestudy ofthis class Of li terature as yet publi shed and

I cannot do better than give in h is own words hisfinal conclusions as to the origin of this popularstory-book 1

Al though we are unable at present to give anycertain information either as to the author or as to thedate Of the work, we receive , as it seems to me , nounimportant compensation in the fact, that it turnedout,

2 with a certainty beyond doubt, to have beenoriginally a B uddhi st book . Thi s followed especiallyfrom the chapter di scussed in 225. But it w as

1 Pantscha Tantra,Theodor B enfey , Leipzig, 1859, p . xi .

2 That is , in the course of B enfey ’

s researches .

lxii

INTRODUCTION

already indicated by the considerable number of thefables and tales contained in the work , which couldalso be traced in Buddhi st writings . Their number,and also the relation between the form in which theyare told in our work, and that in whi ch they appearin the B uddh i st writings , incline us— nay, dr ive usto the conclusion that the latter were the source fromwhich our work, within the circle of B uddhistliterature ,The proof that our work is of B uddhi st origin is

ofimportance in two ways firstly— on which we will

not here further insist— for the hi story of the workitself and secondly, for the determination of whatBuddhi sm is. We can find in it one more proof ofthat literary activity of B uddh i sm, to which , in myarticles on Indi a which appeared in I hadalready felt myself compelled to assign the mostimportant place in the enlightenment and generalintellectual development of India. Thi s View has

since received,from year to year, fresh confirmations ,

whi ch I hope to bring together in another place ;and whereby I hope to prove that the very bloom Ofthe intellectual li fe ofIndia (whether it found expression in B rahmani cal or B uddhi st works) proceededsubstantially from Buddhi sm, and is contemporaneouswith the epoch in whi ch B uddhi sm flourishedthat is to say, from the thi rd century before Christto the sixth or seventh century after Chr ist . Withthat principle, said to have been proclaimed byBuddhi sm in its earliest years

,that only tha t

teaching of the B uddha’s is true whi ch contraveneth

not sound reason,

’ 2 the autonomy of man’s Intellect

1 In Ersek und Gruber’s Encyklop cedie, especially at pp. 255and 277.

1 Wassili ew , Der B uddhismus, p . 68 .


was, we may fairly say,effectively acknowledged ;

the whole relation between the realms Ofthe knowableand of the unknowable w as subj ected to its controland notwithstanding that the actual reasoning powers

,

to whi ch the ultimate appeal was thus given,were in

fact then not altogether sound,yet the w ay w as

pointed out by whi ch Reason could, under morefavourable circumstances , begin to liberate itselffrom its failings . We are already learning to value ,in the philosophi cal endeavour s of Buddhi sm

,the

labours , sometimes indeed quaint, but aiming at

thoroughness and worthy Ofthe hi ghest respect, of itssevere earnestness in inqui ry . And that, side by sidewith this

,the merry j ests of light

,and even frivolous

poetry and conversation,preserved the cheerfulness

of life,is clear from the prevailing tone of our work ,

and still more so from the probable B uddhi st originofthose other Indian story- books which have hithertobecome known to us .”

B enfey then proceeds to show that the PanchaTantra consisted originally, not Offive , but ofcertainlyeleven,

perhaps oftwelve,and just possibly Ofthi rteen

books ; and that its original design w as to teachprinces right government and conduct .

1 The wholecollection had then a different title descriptive of thi sdesign and it was only after a part became detachedfrom the rest that that part w as called, for distinotion’s sake

,thePancha Tantra (TheFiveB ooks) . When

this occurred it is impossible to say. But it w as

certainly the Older and larger collection, not thepresent

1 Compare the t1tle Of the Birth Story above, p . xxu

Lesson for Kings

INTRODCCTION

Pancha Tantra, whi ch travelled into Persia, and

became the sour ce Of the whole of the extensiveKali lag and Domnag li terature .

1

The Ar abian authors of the work translated

(through the ancient Persian) from thi s Older collection assign it to a certain B idpai who is said to havecomposed it in order to instruct Dabsch elim ,

thesuccessor of Al exander in his Indi an possessions, inworldly Wisdom ? There may well be some truth inthis tradition. And when we consider that theB arlaam and J osaphat literature took its origin at

the same time,and in the same place, as the Kali lag

and Domnag literature that both Of them are basedupon Buddh ist originals taken to B agdad in the sixthcentury of our era and that it is precisely such a

book as the B ook ofB i rth Stor ies from whi ch they couldhave derived all that they borrowed it is di fficultto avoid connecting these facts together by thesupposition that the work ascribed to B idpai may,

in fact, have been a selection of those Jataka storiesbearing more especially on the conduct of life, andpreceded, like our own collection

,by a sketch of the

life ofthe Buddha in his last birth . Such a suppositionwould afford a reasonable explanation of some curiousfacts whi ch have been quite inexplicable on theexisting theory. If the Ar abic Kali lah and Dimnah

was an exact translation,in our modern sense of the

word translation, ofan exact translation Of a Buddhi st

work, how comes it that the various copies of the

1 See above .

2 Knatch bull , p . 29 .

lxv


Kali lah and Dimnah differ so greatly, not only amongthemselves , but from the lately di scovered SyriacKali lag and Damnag, which w as also, according tothe cur rent hypothesis, a translation of the sameoriginal I— how comes it that in these translationsfrom a Buddhi st book there are no references to theB uddha

,and no expressions on the face of them

B uddhistic I If, on the other hand, the lat-er writershad merely derived their subject-matter from a

Buddhist work or works , and had composed whatwere ineffect fresh works on thebasis ofsuch an originalas has been suggested, we can understand how thedifferent writers might have used different portionsofthe material before them,

and might have di scardedany expressions too directly in contradi ction withtheir on religious beli efs .The first three Of those five chapters of the work

ascribed to B idpai whi ch make up the Pancha Tantra,

are also found in a form slightly different, but, on thewhole

,essentially the same, in two other Indian Story

books— the Katha- Sarit- Sagara (Ocean ofthe Rivers ofStories) , composed in Sanskrit by aNorthern B uddhi stnamed SOMADEVA in the twelfth centur y, and in thewell-known Hit0pades

‘a, whi ch is a much later work .

If Somadeva had had the Pancho Tantra in its presentform before him ,

he would probably have included thewhole five books in his encyclopaedi c collection and

the absence from the Katha- Sarit- Sagara of thelast two books would tend to show that when hewrote his great work the Pancha Tantra had not beencomposed

,orat leasthadnot reachedtheNorth ofIndia.

lx vi

B UDDEIST B IRTH S TORIES

Story itself being called the Atim-vatthu (Story of thePast) and the Introductory Story the Paccuppannavatthu (Story of the Present) . There is another bookin the Pali Pi takas called Apadana, which consistsoftales about the lives ofcertain early B uddhists and

many of the Introductory Stories in the J ataka B ook

(such, for instance, as the tale about Little Roadling,no . 4, or the tale aboutKumaraKassapa, no . 12) differvery little from these Apadanas. Other of theIntroductory Stories (such, for instance, as no . 17)seem to be mere repetitions of the principal ideaof the story they introduce

,and are probably

derived from it . That the Introductory Stories areentirely devoid Of credi t is clear from the fact thatdifferent B irth Stories are introduced as having beentold at the same time and place, and in answer to thesame question. Thus no less than ten stories are eachsaid to have been told to a certain love- sick monk as a

warning to him against his folly 1 the closelyallied story given below as the Introduction to B irthStory no . 30 appears also as the Introduction to at

least four others 2and there are many other instances

ofa simi lar kind.

3

After the two stories have been told, there comesa Conclusion, in whi ch the Buddha identifies thepersonages in the B irth Story with those in the Intro

1 Nos. 6 1—3 , 147, 159 , 193, 196, 198—9, 263 .

2 Nos. 106 , 145, 19 1 , 286 .

2 Nos. 58, 73, 142, 194 , 220,and 277, have the same IntroductoryS tory .

And so nos. 60, 104 , 1 16, 161 .

And nos. 127- 8, 138, 173 , 175.

INTRODUCTION

ductory Story but it should be noticed that inone or two cases characters mentioned in the Atitavatthu are supposed not to have been reborn on earthat the time of the Paccuppanna-vatthu.

1 And thereader must of course avoid the mistake of importingCh ristian ideas into thi s Conclusion by supposingthat the identity of the persons in the two stories isowing to the passage of a soul ” from the one to theother . Buddhi sm does not teach the transmi gration of souls . Its doctrine (whi ch is somewhatintricate, and for a fuller statement ofwhi ch I mustrefer to my Manual of B uddhism

2) would be better

summarized as the transmi gration of characterfor it is entirely independent of the early and widelyprevalent notion Of the existence within each humanbody of a distinct soul, or ghost, or spirit . TheB odisat, for instance, is not supposed to have a soul,whi ch, on the death of one body, is transferred toanother ; but to be the inh eritor of the characteracquired by the previous B odisats. The insight andgoodness

,the moral and intellectual perfection whi ch

constitute Buddh ahood, could not, according to theBuddhi st theory, be acquired in one lifetime theywere the accumulated result Of the continual effortofmany generations ofsuccessive B odisats. The onlything which continues to exist when a man dies is hisKarma, the result ofhi swords and thoughts and deeds

(literally «his doing and the curious theory that

1 See the Pali note at the end of J ataka no . 9 1 .

2 pp . 99—106 .


thi s result is concentrated in some new indi vidual isdue to the older theory of soul .In the case of one Jataka (Fausboll, no . the

Conclusion iswholly in verse and in several cases theConclusion contains a verse or verses added by way Ofmoral . Such verses , when they occur , are calledAbhisambuddha-

gdtha'

, or Verses spoken by the B uddha ,

not w hen he w as still only a B odisat, but when he hadbecome a B uddha. They are so called to distinguishthem from the simi lar verses inserted in the B irthStory

,and spoken there by the B odisat . Each story

has its verse or verses , either in the Ati tavatthu or inthe Conclusion, and sometimes in both . The numberOf cases in whi ch all the verses are Abhisambuddha

gdthd is relatively small (being only one in ten oft h e

Jatakae publi shed and the number of cases inwhich they occur together with verses in the Ati tavatthu is very small indeed (being only five out Of thethr ee h imdred J atakas published 2) in the remainingtwo hundr ed and sixty-fiv e the verse or verses occurin the course of the B irth Story and are most generallyspoken by the B odisat himself .There are several reasons for supposing that

these verses are older than the prose whi ch now

forms their setting . The Ceylon tradition goesso far as to say that the original J ataka B ook

consisted - Oi the verses alone that the B irth Stories

1 Nos . 1—5, 28- 9 , 37, 55—6 , 68, 85, 87- 8, 97, 100, 1 14 , 136 ,

( total, eighteen in the Eka-Nipata) ; 156 196 , 202 , 237

24 1 (total , five in the Duka-Nipata ) 255—6 , 258 , 264 , 284 ,

29 1 , 300 ( total , seven in the Ti ka-Nipata, and thirty altogether ) .2 Nos. 152 , 168, 179 , 233 , 286 .

lxx

are Commentary upon them and the IntroductoryStories , the Conclusions and the Pada-

gata-sannaya,

or word- for-word explanation of the verses, are

Commentary on thi s Commentary ! And archaicforms and forced constructions in the verses (instriking contrast with the regularity and simplicityof the prose parts of the book) , and the corrupt statein which some of the verses are found, seem to pointto the conclusion that the verses are older .But I venture to think that, though the present

form of the verses may be older than the presentform of the B irth Stories , the latter, or most of thelatter, were in existence first ; that the verses , at

least in many cases, were added to the stories afterthey had become current and that the B irth Storieswithout verses in them at all— those enumeratedin the list in note 1 on the previous page , where theverses are found only in the Conclusion— are, in fact,among the oldest

,if not the oldest, in the whole

collection . For anyone who takes the trouble to gothrough that li st seriatim wi ll find that it contains aconsiderable number of those stories which, from theirbeing found also in the Bali Pi takas or in the oldestEuropean collections

,can already be proved to belong

to a very early date . The only hypothesis whi ch willreconcile these facts seems to me to be that the B irth1 This belief underlies the curious note forming the last words

of the Mahdsup ina Jdtaka ,i , 345 Those who held the Council

after the death of the Blessed One placed the lines beginningusabhc

’

z rakkha in the Commentary, and then, mak ing the otherlines beginning labam

' into one verse , they put (the Jataka) intothe Eka -Nipdta ( the chapter including all those J atakas w hichhave only one


Stories , though probably originally older than theverses they contain, were handed down in Ceylon tillthe time of the compilation of our present J dtaka B ookin the Singhalese language whi lst the verses on theoth er hand were not translated, but were preservedas they were received , in Pali .There is another group of stories which seems to be

older than most of the others those, namely, in

which the B odi sat appears as a sort of chorus, a

moralizer only, and not an actor in the play, whosepart may have been an addition made when the storyin whi ch it occurs w as adopted by the B uddhi sts .

Such is the fable above translated of The Ass in theLion’s Skin and most of the stories where theB odi sat is a m kkka-de vatd— the fairy or genius of

’a

tree .

1 But the materials are insufficient at presentto put thi s forward as otherwis e than a mereconj ecture .

The arrangement of the stories in our presentcollection is a most unpractical one. They are classified, not according to their contents , but accordi ngto the number of verses they contain . Thus, theFirst di vision (Nipata) includes those one hundr ed andfifty of the stories whi ch have only one verse theSecond

,one hundred stories, each having two verses

the Third and Fourth, each of them fifty storiescontaining respectively three and four verses eachand so on

,the number of stories in each division

decreasing rapidly after the number ofverses exceeds

1 See , for instance, below, pp . 2 12 , 228, 230, 317 ; above ,p . xii ; and J ataka, no . 1 13

INTRODUCTION

four ; and the whole of the five hundr ed and fiftyJatakas being contained in the twenty- two Nipatas.

Eventhisdi vision, dependingon sounimportantafactoras the number of the verses, is not logically carriedout and the round numbers ofthe stories in the firstfour divisions aremade up by including in them storieswhi ch

,according to the principle adopted, should not

properly be placed within them . Thus several Jatakasare only mentioned in the first two Nipatas to say

that they will be found in the later ones 1and

several Jatakas given with one verse only in the FirstNipata are given again with more verses in those thatfollow ; 2 and occasionally a story is even repeated ,wi th but little variation,

in the same Nipéita.

3

On the other hand, several Jatakas, which countonly as one story in the present enumeration, reallycontain several different tales or fables . Thus ,for instance

,the Kulcivaka Jci taka (On Mercy

to Animals) consists of several stories woven,

not very closely, into one . The most striking

instance of this is the Ummagga J dialect, of

whi ch the Singhalese translation by the learned

1 Nos. 1 10—12 , 170, 192 in the Ummagga Jataka, and no . 264

in the S urnoi Jataka .

2 No 30=No 286 . No 68=No 237.

34 2 16 . 86 290.

46 268 . 102 2 17.

57 224 . 145 198 .

SO NO S2=NO 104 .

99 101 .

134 135.

195 225.

294: 295.

Compare the two stories nos. 23 and 24 translated below.

lxxiii


B atuwan Tudawa occupies two hundred and fiftypages octavo, and consists of a very large number

(I have not counted them, and there is no index, butI should think they amount to more than one hundredand fifty) of most entertaining anecdotes . Althoughtherefore the B irth Sto ries are spoken of as The fivehundred and fifty Jstakas this is merely a roundnumber reached by an entirely artificial arrangement ,and gives no clue to the actual number of stories .It is probable that our present collection containsaltogether (including the Introductory Stories wherethey are not mere repetitions) between two and thr eethousand independent tales , fables, anecdotes

,and

riddles .Nor is the number 550 any more exact (thoughthe discrepancy in thi s case is not so great) if it besupposed to record

,not the number ofstories, but the

number of distinct births of the B odisat . In theKuldvaka Jdtaka, just referred to (the tale On Mercy

to Animals) , there are two consecutive births of thefuture B uddha and on the other hand, none of thesix Jatakas mentioned in note 1 , p . lxxii i , representsa distinct birth at all— the B odi sat is in them thesame person as he is in the later Jatakas in whi chthose six are contained .

From the facts as they stand it seems at present tobe the most probable explanation of the rise of ourJ ataka B ook to suppose that it w as due to the religiousfaith of the Indian B uddhi sts of the thi rd or four thcentury B .C . ,

who not only repeated a number oflxxiv


whi ch they were supposed to have been uttered by theBuddh a. These tradi tions will have given rise to theearli est Introductory Stori es , in imi tation of whi chthe rest were afterwards invented ; and these willthen have been handed down as commentary on theB irth Stories, till they were finally made part of ourpresent collection by its compiler in Ceylon. That

(either through their later origin,or their having been

much more modified in transmi ssion) they representa more modern point of view than the B irth Storiesthemselves, will be patent to every reader . There isa freshness and simplicity about the Stor ies of thePast that is sadly wanting in the Stories ofthePresentso much so, that the latter (and thi s is also true of thewhole long Introduction containing the life of theB uddha) may be compared more accurately withmedi aeval Legends of the Saints than with suchsimple stories as E sop

’

s Fables, which still bear alikeness to their forefathers, the Stories of the Past.The Jstakas so constituted were carried to Ceylon

in the Bali language , when B uddhi sm was first introduced into that island (a date that is not quite certain,

but may be taken provisionally as about 250and the whole w as there translated into and preservedin the Singhalese language (except the verses, whi chwere left untranslated) until the compilation in thefifth century A .D . , and by an unknown author, of theBali J ci taka B ook, the translation of whi ch intoEngli sh is commenced in thi s volume .

When we consider the number of elaborate similesby whi ch the argum ents in the Pali Suttas are

lxxvi

INTRODUOTION

enforced, there can be no reasonable doubt that theB uddh a was really accustomed to teach much by theaid of parables , and it is not improbable that thecompiler was quite correct in attributing to him thatsubtle sense ofgood-natured humour whi ch led to hisinventing

,as occasion arose, some fable or some tale

of a previous birth, to explain away existing fai luresin conduct among the monk s, or to draw amoral fromcontemporaneous events . It is even alr eady possibleto point to some ofthe Jatakas as being probably theoldest in the collection but it must be left to futureresearch to carry out in ampler detail the investigationinto the comparative date of each of the stories, boththose which are

'

called S tories of the Past and thosewhi ch are called Stor ies of thePresent.

B esides the points whi ch the teaching of the Jatakashas in common with that of European morali sts andsatirists

, it incul cates two lessons peculiar to itselffir stly, the powerful influence of inherited characterand secondly, the essential likeness between man and

other animals . The former of these two ideas underlies both the central B uddhi st doctrine ofKarma and

the theory of the B uddhas, views certainly commonamong all the early Buddhi sts and therefore probablyheld by Gotama himself . And the latter of the twounderlies and explains the sympathy with animals soconspicuous in these tales , and the frequency withwhi ch they lay stress upon the duty of kindness, andeven of cour tesy

,to the brute creation. It is curious

to find in these records of a strange and ancient faithsuch blind feeling after, such vague foreshadowing

lxxvfi


of beliefs only now beginning to be put forward herein the West but it is scarcely necessary to point outthat the paramount value to us now of the Jatakastories is hi storical .In thi s respect their value does not consist only inthe evi dence they afford of the intercommunionbetween East and West

,but also , and perhaps

chiefly, in the assistance which they will render to the

study of folklore— that is,of the beliefs and habits

of men in the earlier stages of their development .The researches of Tylor and Waitz and Pisch el and

Lubbock and Spencer have shown us that thi s is themeans by which it is most easily possible rightly tounderstand and estimate many ofthe habitsand beliefsstill current among ourselves . But the chi ef obstacleto a consensus of opinion in such studies is the insufficiency and inaccuracy of the authorities on whi chthe facts depend . While the ancient literature ofpeoples more advanced usually ignores or passeslightly over the very details most important from thispoint of view,

the accounts of modern travellersamong the so - called savage tribes are often at bestvery secondary evidence . It constantly happens thatsuch a traveller can only tell us the impression con

v eyed to hi s mind of that which hi s informant holdsto be the belief or custom of the tribe . Such nativeinformation may be inaccurate , incomplete, or misleading and it reaches us only after filtration thr ougha European mind more or less able to comprehend it

But in the Jatakas we have a nearly completelxxviii

INTRODUC’TION

picture , and quite uncorrupted and unadulterated byEuropean intercourse, of the social life and customsand popular beliefs of the common people ofAryantribes closely related to ourselves

,just as they were

passing through the first stages of civilization .

The popularity of the Jatakas as amusing storiesmay pass away . How can it stand against the rivalclaims of the fairy tales ofscience, and the entrancing ,many- sided story ofman’s gradual rise and progress 2But though these less fabulous and more attractivestories will increasingly engage the attention of

ourselves and of our children,we may still turn with

appreciation to the ancient B ook of the B uddhist

Jataka Tales as a priceless record of the childhood ofour race .

I avail myself ofthis opportunity of acknowledgingmy indebtedness to several friends whose assistancehas been too continuous to be specified on any

particular page . Robert Chi lders, whose prematuredeath w as so great a blow to Bali studies , and whosename I never think of without a feeling of reverentand grateful regret, had undertaken the translationof the Jatakas, and the first thi rty- three pages arefrom hi s pen . They are the last memento of h is

earnest work:they stand exactly as he left them .

The Rev . J . EstlinCarpenter,who takes a deep interestin thi s and cognate subjects , has been kind enough toread through all the proofs , and I owe to h is variedscholarship many useful hints . And my especialthank s, and the thank s ofany readers this work may

lxxix

B UDDEIST B IRTH STORIES

meet with , are above all due to Victor Fausboll,without whose editio princeps of the Pali text

,the

result of self-denying labours spread over manyyears , thi s translation would not have been undertaken.

T . W. RHYS DAVIDS .

3 , BR ICK COUR T , TEMPLE.

August, 1 878 .


The Niddnakatha

[vv . 1—11] The Apannaka and other B irths,whi ch

in times gone by were recounted on various occasionsby the great illustrious Sage, and in whi ch dur ing along period our Teacher and Leader, desirous of thesalvation ofmankind, fulfilled the vast conditions ofBuddhahood

,

1 were all collected together and addedto the canon of Scriptur e by those who made therecension of the Scriptures, and rehearsed by themunder the name of THE JATAKA. Having bowed atthe feet of the Great Sage, the lord of the world

,by

whom in innumerable existences 2 boundless benefitswere conferred upon mankind, and having paidreverence to the Doctrine, and ascribed honour to theOrder, the receptacle of all honour and havingremoved all dangers by the efficacy ofthat meritoriousact of veneration and honour referring to the ThreeGems, I proceed to recite a Commentary upon thi sJataka, illustrating as it does the infini te efficacy of

the actions of great men— a commentary based uponthe method of exposition current among the inmatesof the Great Monastery . And I do so at the personalrequest of the elder Atthadassin,

who lives apartfrom the world and ever dwells with his fraternity,and who desires the perpetuation of thi s chroni cle ofB uddha and likewise of Buddhamitta the tranquil

1 Lit. perfected the vast constituents of B uddhahood , theParami tas are meant. The Apannaka is the title of the firstJ ataka.

2 L it . in thousands of k otis of births (a koti is ten millions ) .G

82 B UDDHIST B IRTH STORIES

and wise , sprung from the race of Mahimsasaka,skilled in the canons of interpretation ; and moreover of the monk Buddhadeva of clear intellect .

May all good men lend me their favourable attentionwhi le I speak 1

Inasmuch as this comment on the Jataka, if it beexpounded after setting forth the three Epochs

,the

distant,the intermedi ate , and proximate , will be

clearly understood by those who hear it because theywi ll have understood it from the beginning, thereforeI will expound it after setting forth the three Epochs .Accordingly from the very outset it will be well todetermine the limits of these Epochs . Now thenarrative of the B odhisatta’

s existence, from thetime that at the feet of Dipank ara he formed a resolution to become a B uddha to his rebirth in the Tusitaheaven after leaving hi s life as Vessantara, is call edthe Distant Epoch . From hi s leaving the Tusitaheaven to h is attainment of omni science on theB o -tree seat

,the narrative is call ed the Intermediate

Epoch . And the Proximate Epoch is to be found inthe various places in which he soj ourned (during h isministry on earth ) . The following is

I:THE DISTANT EPOCH

Dar enida'

na

Tradition tells us that four asankh eyyas2and a

hundred thousand cycles ago there w as a city calledAmaravati . In thi s city there dwelt a brahminnamed Sumedha, ofgood family on both sides , on the

1 Th e above lines in the original are in verse . I have found itimpossible to follow the arrangement of the stanzas , owi ng tothe extreme involution of the style .

2An asankh eyya is a period of vast duration, lit . an incalculab le .


Four asankh eyyas and a hundred thousand cyclesago there w as a city called Amaravati or Amara

,

resounding wi th the ten city cries , concerning whi chit is said in B uddhavamsa

12 . Four asankh eyyas and a hundred thousand cycles agoA city there w as called Amara, beautiful and pleasant ,R esounding with the ten cries, abounding in food and drink .

1

Then follows a stanza of B uddhavamsa enumeratingsome ofthese cries,13 . The trumpeting of elephants , the neighing of horses , ( th e

sound of) drums , trumpets , and chariots ,And viands and drink s were cried, with the invitation,

Eat and drink .

”

goes on to say. A c ity supplied with every requisite , engaged 111 every sort

of industry,Possessing the seven prec1ous th ings, thronged with

dwellers ofmany racesThe abode of devout men, like the prosperous city of the

angels.

In the city ofAmaravati dwelt a brahmin named Sumedh a.

Whose hoard w as many tens ofmilli ons , blest with muchwealth and store

S tudious , know ing theMantras, versed in the thr ee Vedas,Master of the science of divination and of the traditions

and Observances of his caste .

Now one day the wise Sumedha, having retired tothe Splendid upper apartment of hi s house

,seated

himself crosslegged, and fell a- thinking. Oh !

wise man,2 grievous is rebirth in a new existence, and

the dissolution of the body in each successive placewhere we are reborn . I am subj ect to birth, to decay,to disease

,to death— it is righ t, being such , that I

1 Here a gloss in the text enumerates the whole ten cries .2 The B odh isatta is frequently called pandita,

(Jat. No . Rdmap andi to (Dasaratha Jat. No .

THE STORY OF THE LINEAG’E 85

should strive to attain the cool great deathless Nirvana, the tranquil, the free from birth and decay, andsickness , and grief and j oy ; surely there must be aroad that leads to Nirvana and releases man frombecoming . Accordingly it is said17. Seated in seclusion , I then thought as followsGrievous is rebirth and the break ing up of the body.

18 . I am subject to b irth , to decay, to disease,Therefore will I seek Nirvana, undecaying , undying haven .

19 . Let me leave this perishable body, this pestilent congregation ofvapours ,

And depart without desires and without wants .20. There is, there must be a road, it cannot but be

I will seek thi s road, that I may obtain release frombecoming .

1

Further he reasoned thus For as in this worldthere is pleasure as the correlative of pa1n, so wherethere is becoming there must be its opposite, thecessation of becoming ; and as where there is heatthere is also cold whi ch neutralizes it, so there mustbe a Nirvana 2 that extinguishes (the fires of) lustand the other passions and as in opposition to a bad

and evil condi tion there is a good and blameless one,so where there is evi l birth there must also be a

Nirvana,called the birthless , because it puts an end to

all that is called rebirth .

” Therefore it is said2 1 . As where there is suffering there is also bliss ,

S o where there is becoming we must look for non-becoming .

22 . And as where there is heat there is also cold,So where there is the threefold fire of passion extinguishing

must be sought ,23 . And as coexistent with evil there is also good ,Even so where there is birth 3 the cessation of birth should

be sought .

1 B dhv . , p . 7.

2 Lit .

“Extinguishing ”.

3 Mr . Fausboll points out to me that in tividhaggi and jati wehave Vedic abbreviations .


Again he reasoned thus J ust as a man who hasfallen into a heap offilth

,ifhe beholds afar off a great

pond covered with lotuses of five colours,ought to

seek that pond,saying a

B y what way shall I arrivethere 2 but if he does not seek it the fault is notthat of the pond even so where there is the lake ofthe great deathless Nirvana for the washing of thedefilement of sin

,if it is not sought it is not the fault

ofthe lake . And just as a man who is sur rounded byrobbers , ifwhen there is a w ay of escape he does notfly it is not the fault ofthe w ay but of the man evenso when there is a blessed road leading to Nirvanafor the man who is encompassed and held fast by sin,

its not being sought is not the fault ofthe road but ofthe person . And as a man who is oppressed withsickness

,there being a physician who can heal his

disease, ifhe does not get cured by going to the physician that is no fault of the physician even so if a

man who is oppressed by the disease of sin seeks nota spiritual gui de who is at hand and knows the roadwhich puts an end to sin

,the fault lies with him and not

with the sin- destroying teacher .” Therefore it is said24 . As a man fallen among filth . beholding a brimming lak e ,

If he seek not that lake the fault is not in the lak e25. So when there exists a lak e of Nirvana that washes the

stains ofsin ,

If a man seek not tha t lake , the faul t is not in the lake ofNirvana .

2 6 . As a man beset with foes , there being a w ay ofescape ,If he flee not away, the fault is not with the road

27. S o when there is a w ay of bliss , if a man beset with sin

S eek no t that road , the fault is not in the w ay of bliss .28 . And as one who is diseased , there being a physician at hand ,

If he bid him not heal the disease, the fault is not in thehealer

29 . S o if aman who is sick and oppressed with the di sease ofsinSeek not the spiritual teacher, the fault is not in the teacher .

88 B UDDEIST B IRTH STORIES

So shall I go , leaving this body with its nine aperturesever runn ing ,

As its owners desert the broken ship .

And as a man carrying wares , walk ing with robbers ,See ing danger of losing his wares , parts company with therobbers and gets him gone ,

Even so is this body lik e a mighty robber,Leaving it I will depart through fear of losing good .

Having thus in nine similes pondered upon theadvantages connected with retirement from the world

,

the wise Sumedh a gave away at hi s own house, as

aforesaid, an immense hoard oftreasur e to the indi gentand wayfarers and sufferers , and kept open house .

And renouncing all pleasures,both material and

sensual,departing from the city ofAm ara, away from

the world in Himavanta he made himself a hermitagenear the mountain called Dhammaka

, and built a

hut and a cloister free from the five defects whi ch arehindrances (to meditation) . And with a View toobtain the power reckoned as supernormal knowledge

,

whi ch is characterized by the eight casual qualitiesdescribed in the words beginning With a mind thustranqui llized he embraced in that hermitage theascetic life of a R ishi , casting off the cloak with itsnine disadvantages, and wearing the garment of

bark with its twelve advantages . And when he hadthus given up the world, forsaking this hut, crowdedw ith eight drawbacks, he repaired to the foot of atree with its ten advantages , and rej ecting all sortsof gram lived constantly upon wild fruits . And

1 Evarn samc'

thite citte par isuddhe par iyodate anangane vigata

p akki lese mudubhzi te kammaniye th ite anejjappatte nanadassanaya cittam abh ini

'

harati (8amafifiaph ala Sutta, see D igha

Ni kaya, i , 76 ; Dialogues ofthe B uddha, i ,

THE STORY OF THE LINEAGE 89

strenuously exerting himself both in sitting and in

standing and in walking, within a week he became thepossessor of the eight attainments, and of the fivesupernormal knowledges and so, in accordance withhis prayer

,he attained the might of supernormal

knowledge . Therefore it is said38 . Having pondered thus I gave many thousand millions of

wealthTo rich and poor , and made my w ay to Himav anta.

39 . Not far fromHimav anta is the mountaincalledDh ammaka,Here I made an excellent hermitage , and built with care

a leafy hut .40. There I built me a cloister, free from five defects ,

Possessed of the eight good qualities , and attained thestrength of the supernormal knowledges .

4 1 . Then I threw off the cloak possessed of the nine faults,And put on the raiment of bark possessed of the twelve

advantages .42 . I left the hut , crowded with the eight drawback s ,

And went to the tree - foot possessed of ten advantages . 143 . Wholly did I reject the grain that is sown and planted ,

And partook of the constant fruits of the earth , possessedofmany advantages .

Then I strenuously strove, in sitting , in standing, and inwalk ing,

And within seven days attained the might of the knowledges .2

Now whi le the hermi t Sumedh a, having thusattained the strength of supernormal knowledge, w asliving in the bliss of the (eight) attainments, theTeacher Dipankara appeared in the world . At the

moment of hi s conception,of h is birth, ofh is attain

ment of B uddhahood, of hi s preaching h is first discourse , the whole universe of ten thousand worldstrembled, shook and quaked, and gave forth amighty

1 Mr . Fausboll writes to me that guns for guneh i must beviewed as an old Pali form originating in the Sanskri t gunaih .

2 Here follow four pages of later commentary or gloss , whichI leave untranslated .

90 BUEDHIST B IRTH STORIES

sound, and the thi rty- two marks showed themselves.

But the hermit Sumedha, living in the bliss of theattainments , neither heard that sound nor beheldthose signs . Therefore it is said45. Thus when I h ad attained the consummation,

whi le I w assubjected to the teaching ,

The Conqueror named Dipankara, chief of the universe,appeared .

46 . At his conception, at his birth, at his Buddhahood, at hispreaching,

I saw not the four signs, plunged in the blissful trance ofmeditation .

At that time Dipankara B uddha, accompanied bya hundr ed thousand saints , wandering his way fromplace to place, reached the city ofRamma, and tookup hi s residence in the great monastery of Sudassana.

And the dwellers ofthe city ofRamma heard it saidDipankara, lord ofascetics, having attained supreme

B uddhaship,and set rolling the wheel ofthe excellent

Norm , wandering h is w ay from place to place , hascome to the town ofRamma, and dwells at the greatmonastery of Sudassana.

”And taking with them

ghee and butter and other medi cinal requisites and

clothes and raiment, and bearing perfumes and

garlands and other offerings in their hands , theirminds bent towards the Buddha

,the Doctrine, and

the Order,inclining towards them ,

hanging upon them ,

they approached the Teacher, and wo r shipped h im ,

and presenting the perfumes and other offerings , satdown on one side . And having heard hi s preachingof the Doctrine , and invited him for the next day,

they rose from their seats and departed . And on thenext day,

having prepared alms-giving for the poor,and having decked out the town, they repaired the


men in clearing the road . He said therefore to themen If-you are clearing thi s road for the B uddh a,assign to me a piece of ground, I will clear the groundin company with you .

” They consented,saying

It is well ” and perceiving the hermi t Sumedh ato be possessed of supernatural power

,they fixed

upon a swampy piece of ground, and assigned it to

h im, saying Do thou prepare this spot .

”Sumedha

,

hi s heart filled with j oy of whi ch the Buddha was thecause, thought within himself I am able to preparethis piece of ground by supernatural power

,but if so

prepared it will give me no satisfaction this day itbehoves me to perform meni al duties and fetchingearth he thr ew it upon the spot .

B ut ere the ground could be cleared by him—yvith

a train of a hundred thousand miracle-working saintsendowed with the six supernormal knowledges

,whi le

devas offered celestial wr eaths and perfumes,whi le

celestial hymns rang forth , and men paid their homagewith earthly perfumes and with flowers and otherofferings

,Dipankara endowed w ith the ten Forces,

with all a B uddha’s transcendant maj esty,like a lion

rousing himself to seek h is prey on the Vermi lionplain, came down into the road all decked and madeready for him . Then the hermit Sumedha— as theB uddha wi th unblenching eyes approached along theroad prepared for him , beholdi ng that form endowedwith the perfection of beauty, adorned with the thirtytwo marks of a super-man, and marked with the eightyminor beauties , attended by a halo of a fathom

’s depthand sending forth in streams the six-hued Buddharays, linked in pair s of different colours , and wr eathed


like the varied lightnings that flash in the gem-studdedvault of heaven— exclaimed:Thi s day it behovesme to make sacrifice of my life for the B uddhalet not the B lessed onewalk in the mi re— nay, let himadvance with hi s four hundr ed thousand saintstrampling on my body as ifwalking upon a bridge ofjewelled planks, thi s deed will long be for my good andmy happiness .” So saying, h e loosed h is hair, andspreading in the sooty mire h is hermit’s skin mantle,roll ofmatted hair and garment ofbark, he lay downin the mire like a bridge of j ewelled planks . Thereforeit is said

Questioned by me they replied, An incomparable Buddhais born into the world,

The Conqueror named Dipankara, lord of the universe,For him the road is cleared, the w ay , the path of h is

coming .

When I heard the name ofBuddha j oy sprang up forthwithwithin me ,

R epeating,aBuddha,aBuddha ! I gave utterance tomyjoy.

S tanding there I pondered, j oyfuland excited,Here I will sow the seed, may the happy moment not pass

awayIf you clear a path for the Buddha, assign to me a place ,I also will clear the road, the w ay , the path of his coming .

Then they gave me a piece of ground to clear the pathwayThen repeating within me, a Buddha, a Buddha I clearedthe road .

B ut ere my portion w as cleared, Dipankara the great sage ,The Conqueror, entered the road wi th four hundredthousand saints lik e himself,

Possessed of the six superknow ledges, pure from all taintofsin .

On every side men rise to receive him , many drums sound,Men and spirits overj oyed send forth their applause .

Devas look upon men , men upon devas,And both with clasped hands upraised approach him

who h ad thus come .Devas with deva-music , men with earthly music ,Both sending forth their strains approach him who h ad

94 B UEDHIST B IRTH STORIES

60. Devas floating in the air sprink le down in all directionsErythrina flowers of deva-world , lotuses and coral flowers .

6 1 Men standing on the ground throw upwards in all directionsChampac and Salala flowers , Cadamba and fragrantMesua,

Puunaga, and Ketaka.

62 . Then I loosed my hair, and spreading in the mireBark robe and mantle of sk in , lay prone upon my face .

63 . Let the Buddha advance with his disciples , treading uponme

Let him not tread in the mi re , it will be for my blessing .

And as he lay in the mire , again beholding th eB uddha-maj esty of Dipankara B uddha with his

unblench ing gaze , he thought as follows WereI willing

,I could enter the city ofRamma as a novice

in the priesthood, after having destroyed all humanpassions but why should I disguise myself 1 to attainNirvana after the destruction of human passion ?

Let me rather, like Dipankara, having risen to thesupreme knowledge of the Doctrine , enable mankindto enter the Shi p of the Doctrine, and so carry themacross the Ocean of Going- on

,and when th is is done

afterwards attain Nirvana ; thi s indeed it is rightthat I should do .

” Then hav ing enumerated the eightconditions (necessary to the attainment of B uddh ahood) , and having made the resolution to becomeB uddha, he laid himself down . Therefore it is said

1 The followi ng is what I tak e to be the meaning ofthis passageIf I chose I could at once enter the B uddhist Order, and by thepractice of ecstatic meditation ( J hana) free myself from humanpassion , and become an Arah ant or saint . I should then at deathat once attain Nirvana and cease to be reborn . But this wouldbe a selfish course to pursue , for thus I should benefit myselfonly. Why should I thus slip unobserved and in the humblegarb ofa monk intoNirvana Nay , let me rather qualify myself tobecome a Buddha, and so save others as well as myself.” Thisis the great ACT OF R ENUNCIATION by which the B odhisattva ,

when Nirvana w as wi thin h is grasp, preferred to endure ages ofheroic trials in the exercise of the Pdrami tds, that he might beenabled to become a Buddha, and so redeem mank ind . See

D’

Alw is’

s Introduction to Kachehayana’

s Grammar, p . vi .


residence , queen Maya wi ll be his mother, kingSuddhodana his father, hi s chi ef di sciple wi ll be thethera Upatissa, his second disciple the thera Kolita,the Buddha’s servitor w ill be Ananda

,his chi ef female

di sciple the nun Khema, the second the nun Uppalavanna. When he attains to years of ripe knowledge

,

having retired from the world and made the greatexertion, having received at the foot ofa banyan- treeameal ofrice milk, and partaken ofit by the banks ofthe Neranjara, having ascended the bo - tree seat , hewill, at the foot ofa fig-tree

,attain Supreme Buddha

hood , Therefore it is said70. Dipankara, knower ofall worlds , receiver of offerings ,

Standingd by that which pillowed my head, spoke thesewor s

71 . See ye this very austere hermit with his matted hair ,Countless ages hence he will be a Buddha in this world .

72 . Lo , he who has thus come departing from pleasantKapila,

Having made the great effort, performed all manner ofausterities .

73 . Having sat at the foot of the Ajapala tree, and therereceived rice pottage,

Shall approach the Neranjarariver .74 . Hav ing received the rice pottage on the bank s of the

Neranjara, the ConquerorShall come by a fair road prepared for him to the foot ofthe Bodhi -tree .

75. Then, unrivalled and glorious , reverentially saluting theBodhi-seat,

At the foot of a fig -tree he shall be awak ened .

1

76 . The mother that bears him shall be calledMaya,His father w ill be Suddh odana, he himself will be Gotama.

77. His chief di sciples wi ll be Upatissa and Kolita,Men sane and immune, void of passion, calm-minded andintent .

78 . The servitor Ananda wi ll attend upon the Conqueror,Khemaand Uppalavannawill be his chief women disciples ,

79 . Women sane and immune, void of passion, calm-m indedand intent,

The Bodhi -tree of this Buddha is known as the Assatth a.

1 B ujjh issati .


The hermit Sumedh a, exclaiming My wish, itseems

,wi ll be accomplished was filled with happi

ness . The multitudes, hearing the words ofDipankaraB uddha, were j oyous and delighted, exclaimingThe hermi t Sumedh a, it seems, is a B uddha- seed, a

Buddha- shoot l For thus they thought: As a

man fording a river, if he is unable to cross to theford opposite h im ,

crosses to a ford lower down thestream,

even so we, if under the dispensation of

Dipankara B uddha we fail to attain the Paths andtheir frui tion,

yet when thou shalt become B uddha weshall be enabled in thy presence to make the pathsand their fruition our own — and so they recordedtheir wish (for future sanctification) . And DipankaraB uddh a also having praised the B odhisatta, and madean offering to him of eight handfuls of flowers ,reverentially saluted him and departed . And theArahants also, four hundred thousand in numbershaving made offerings to the B odhi satta of perfume ,and garlands , reverentially saluted him and departed .

And the devas and men having made the sameofferings

, and bowed down to him ,went their w ay.

And the B odhi satta, when all h ad retired,rising

from hi s seat and exclaiming I will study thePerfections sat himself down crosslegged on a heapofflowers . And as the B odhi satta sat thus , the devasin all the ten thousand worlds assembling shoutedapplause . Venerable hermit Sumedha they said,all the omens whi ch have manifested themselveswhen former B odhisattas seated themselves crosslegged, saying:We will study the Perfectionsall these this day have appeared assuredly thou shaltbecome Buddha. Thi s we know:to whom these


omens appear, h e surely will become B uddha ; dothou make a strenuous effort and exert thyselfWith these words they lauded the B odhi satta withvaried praises . Therefore it is said

80. Hearing these words of the incomparable Sage,Devas and men delighted , exclaimed, This is a Buddha

seed—seed ling81 . A great clamour arises, men and devas in ten thousand

worldsClap their hands , and laugh, and make obe isance with

clasped hands .82 . Should we fail,” they say , ln this Buddha’s dispensation ,

Yet in time to come we shall stand before him .

83 . As men crossing a river, if they fail to reach the Oppositeford ,

Gaining the lower ford cross the great river,84 . Even so we all , if we lose this Buddha,

In time to come shall stand before him .

85. The world-knowing Dipankara, the receiver of offerings ,Having celebrated my action, went his w ay .

1o

86 . All his di sciples of the Buddha that were present salutedme with reverence ,

Men, Nagas, and Gandh abbas bowed down to me and

departed .

87. When the Lord of the world with his following h ad passedbeyond my sight,

Then glad, with gladsome heart, I rose up from my seat .88 . Happy I am by happiness , glad with a great gladness

Flooded with rapture then I seated myself cr osso legged .

89 . And even as thus I sat I thought withi n myself,I am trained in J h ana, I have mastered the supernormal

knowledges .90. In a thousand worlds there are no sages that rival me ,

Unrivalled in miraculous powers I have reached this bliss .9 1 . When thus they beheld me sitt ing, 2 the dwellers of ten

thousand worldsR aised a mi ghty shout Surely thou shalt be a Buddha

92 . The omens 3 beheld in former ages when B odhi satta sat

crosslegged,The same are beheld this day .

1 Lit . , raised his right foot ( to depart ) .2 L it . , at my sitting cross-legged .

”

2 Mr . Fausboll writes that yam is a mi stake of the copyist foryci=ycini .


1 10. No danger then comes near this day this thing is seen,

By this sign we know it— verily thou shalt become Buddha.

1 1 1 . No dust flies up this day this thing is seen,

B y this sign we know it, verily thou shalt be Buddha .

1 12 . All noisome odours flee away, divine fragrance breathesaround,

Such fragrance breathes this day— verily thou shalt beBuddha.

1 13 . All the devas are manifested, the Formless only excepted,This day they all are seen— verily thou shalt be Buddha.

1 14 . All the hells become visible ,These all are seen this day— verily thou shalt be Buddha.

1 15. Then walls , and doors , and rock s are no impediment,This day they have melted into space— verily thou shalt

be B uddha .

1 16 . At that moment death and birth do not tak e place ,This day these things are seen— verily thou shalt beBuddha.

1 17. Do thou mak e a strenuous effort, hold not back , go forward,This thing we know— verily thou shalt be Buddha.

And the B odhi satta, having heard the words of

Dipankara B uddha and of the devas in ten thousandworlds filled with abounding vigour

,thought thus

within himself The B uddhas are beings whoseword cannot fail ; there is no deviation from truthin their speech . For as the fall of a clod thrown intothe air , as the death of a mortal, as the sunrise atdawn

, as a lion’s roaring when he leaves hi s lair, as the

delivery of a woman with chi ld, as all these thingsare sure and certain— even so the word of the B uddhasis sur e and cannot fail, verily I shall become a

B uddha.

” Therefore it is said1 18 . Having heard the words of Buddha and of the devas of

ten thousand worlds ,Glad , j oyous, delighted, I then thought thus within myself

1 19 . The Buddhas speak not doubtful words, the Conquerorsspeak not vain words,

There is no falsehood in the Buddhas— verily I shallbecome a Buddha.

120. As a clod cast into the air doth surely fall to the ground ,S o the word ofthe glorious Buddhas is sure and everlasting .

THE S TORY OF THE LINEAG’E 101

12 1 . As the death of all mortals is sure and constant,S o the word ofthe glorious Buddhas is sure and everlasting .

122 . As the rising of the sun is certain when night h as faded,S o the word of the glorious Buddhas is sure and everlasting .

123 . As the roaring of a lion who h as left his den is certain ,

So the word of the glorious Buddhas is sure and everlasting .

124 . As the delivery ofwomen with child is certain ,

S o the word of the glorious Buddhas is sure and everlasting .

And having thus amade the resolution I shallsurely become B uddha with a view to consideringthe conditions that constitute a Buddha, exclaimingWhere are the conditions that make the Buddha,

are they found above or below, in the principle orthe minor directions 2 studying successively theprinciples ofall things , and beholding the first Perfection of Giving, practised and followed by formerB odhisattas, he thus admonished himself WiseSumedha, from this time forth thou must fulfi lthe perfection of Giving ; for as a water-jar overturned discharges the water so that none remains ,and cannot recover it, even so if thou, indi fferent towealth and fame, and wife and chi ld, and goods greatand small, give away to all who come and ask everything that they requi re till nought remains, thou shaltseat thyself at the foot of the tree ofB odhi and becomea B uddha. With these words he strenuously resolvedto attain the first perfection of Giving . Thereforeit is said

1 25. Come , I will search the Buddha-mak ing conditions , thisw ay and that,

Above and below, in all the ten directions, as far as theprinciples of things extend .

126 . Then , as I made my search, I beheld the first the Givingperfection .

Th e high road followed by former sages,127. Do thou strenuously tak ing it upon thyself advance

To this first perfection:Giving, if thou w iltship .


128 . As a brimming water-jar , overturned by any one ,

Discharges entirely all the water, and retains none within ,

129 . Even so , when thou seest any that ask , great, small, andmiddling ,

Do thou give away all in alms , as th e water-jar overthrown .

But considering further There must be besidethis

,other condi tions that make a B uddha and

beholding the second Perfection Moral Practice,he

thought thus O wise Sum edha,from this day forth

mayest thou fulfi l the perfection ofMorality for as

the yak ox, regardless of his life , guards hi s bushytail, even so thou shalt become B uddha, if from thi sday forward regardless of thy life thou keepest themoral precepts .” And he strenuously resolved toattain the second perfection, Moral Practice . Therefore it is said

130. The conditions of a Buddha cannot in sooth be so few,

I will study the other conditions that bring Buddhashipto maturity.

13 1 . Then studying I beheld the second Perfection ofMoralityPractised and followed by former sages .

132 . This second one do thou strenuously undertak e ,And reach the perfectionMoral Practice if thou wilt attainBuddhahood .

133 . And as the yak cow, when her tail has got in aughtentangled,

Then and there awaits death , and will not injure her tail , 1134 . So also do thou. having fulfilled the moral precepts in the

four stages ,Ever guard the S ila as the yak guards her tail .

B ut considering further These cannot be th eonly B uddha-making condi tions and beholdi ng thethi rd Perfection ofSelf- abnegation,

he thought thusO wise Sumedha, mayest thou henceforth fulfil the1 viz . , I suppose , by dragging it forcibly away. This metaphor,

which to us appears wanting in digni ty, is a favourite one with theHindus . Th e tail of the Yak or T ibetan ox (B os Grunn iens) is abeautiful object, and one of the insignia ofHindu royalty .


gets food to support h im , even so shalt thou,approach

ing all w ise men, and asking them questions, become aB uddha.

”And he strenuously resolved to attain the

fourth Perfection,Wisdom . Therefore it is said

140. For the conditions that mak e a Buddha cannot be so few,

I will study the other conditions that bring Buddhaship tomaturity.

(1214 1 . S tudying then I beheld the fourth Perfection WisdomPractised and followed by former sages .

142 . This fourth do thou strenuously undertak e ,And reach the Perfection of Wisdom, if thou wilt attainBuddhahood .

143 . And as a monk on his begging rounds avoids no families,Either small, or great, or middling, and so obtains sub

sistence ,144 . Even so thou , constantly questioning wise men,

And reaching the WisdomPerfection, shall attain supremeBuddhaship .

B ut considering further These cannot be theonly B uddha-making conditions and seeing thefifth

'

Perfection of Exertion, h e thought thus 0

wise Sumedha, do thou from th is day forth fulfil thePerfection of Exertion. As the lion, the king ofbeasts , in every action 1 strenuously exerts h imself, soif thou in all rebirths and in all thy acts art

strenuous in exertion,and not a laggard, thou shalt

become a B uddha And he made a firm resolve toattain the fifth Perfection,

Exertion. Therefore itis said

145. For the conditions of a Buddha cannot be so few,

I will study the other conditions which bring Buddh ashipto maturity .

146 . S tudying then I beheld the fifth Perfection ExertionPractised and followed by former sages .

147. This fifth do thou strenuously undertak e ,And reach the perfection:Exertion, if thou wilt attainBuddhahood .

1 Lit., in all postures, walk ing, standing, etc .

THE S TORY OF THE LINEAGE 105

148 . As the lion, k ing of beasts , in lying, standing, and walk ingIs no laggard, but ever of resolute heart,

149 . Even so do thou also in every existence strenuously exertthyself,

And reaching the perfection , Exertion,thou shalt attain

the supreme Buddhaship .

B ut considering further These cannot be theonly B uddha-making conditions and beholdingthe sixth Perfection of Patience

,he thought to him

self O wise Sumedha, do thou from thi s time forthfulfil the Perfection Patience be thou patient inpraise and in reproach . And as when men throwthings pure or foul upon the earth, the earth does notfeel either desire or repulsion towards them,

butsuffers them

,endures them and consents to them

,even

so thou also, ifthou art patient in praise and reproachshalt become a B uddha.

”And he strenuously

resolved to attain the sixth perfection, Patience .Therefore it is said

150. For the conditions of a Buddha cannot be so few,

I will study other conditions also which bring aboutBuddhaship .

151 . S tudying then I beheld the sixth Perfection ofPatiencePractised and followed by former Buddhas .

152 . Having strenuously tak en upon thee this sixth perfection ,

Then with unwavering mind thou shalt attain supremeBuddhaship .

153 . And as the earth endures all that is thrown upon it,Whether things pure or impure, and feels neither anger nor

pity,154 . Even so enduring the praises and reproaches of all men,

Going on to perfect Patience, thou shalt attain supremeBuddhaship .

But further considering Th ese cannot be theonly condi tions that make a Buddha” ,

and beholdingthe seventh Perfection of Truth, he thought thuswithin himself O wise Sumedha, from this time

106 B UDDHIST B IRTH S TORIES

forth do th ou fulfil the perfection of Truth thoughthe thunderbolt descend upon thy h ead

,do thou never

under the influence of desire or otherw ise, utter a

conscious lie, for the sake of wealth or anything else .

And as the planet Venus at all seasons pursues herown course, nor ever goes on another course forsakingher ow n

,even so

,if thou forsake not truth and utter

no lie, thou shalt become B uddha And hestrenuously turned his mind to the seventhPerfection,

Truth . Therefore it is said

155. For these are not all the conditions ofa Buddha,I will study other conditions which bring about B uddha

sh lp .

156 . Studying then I beheld the seventh Perfection of TruthPractised and followed by former Buddhas .

157. Having strenuously tak en upon thyself this seventhperfection ,

Then free from duplicity of speech thou shalt attainsupreme B uddhaship .

158. And as the Planet Venus, balanced in all her times andseasons ,

In the world ofmen and devas , departs not from her path ,159 . Even so do thou not depart from the course of truth , 1

Advancing to the perfection of Truth , thou shalt attainsupreme Buddhashi p .

B ut further considering These cannot be th eonly conditions that make a B uddha and beholdingthe eighth Perfection of R esolution, he thought thuswithin himself O wise Sum edha, do thou from thi stime forth fulfil the perfection of R esolution ; whatsoever thou resolv est be thou unshaken in thatresolution . For as a mountain,

the wind beating uponit in all directions, trembles not, moves not, but standsin its place , even so thou, ifunswerving in thy resolution,

shalt become B uddha.

”And he strenuously

1 Lit. , depart from thy course in the matter of truthful th ings .

108 B UDDH1ST B IRTH STORIES

But further considering These cannot be theonly condi tions that make a B uddha and beholdingthe tenth Perfection:Equanimi ty, he thought thuswithin himself O wise Sumedha

,from thi s time

do thou fulfil the perfection of Equanimity,be thou

of equal mind in prosperity and adversity. And as

the earth is indifferent when things pure or impure arecast upon it

,even so , if thou art indiffer ent in

prosperity and adv ersitv , thou shalt become B uddh a.

”

And he strenuously resolved to attain the tenthPerfection

,Equanimi ty . Therefore it is said

170. For these cannot be all the conditions ofa Buddha,

I will study other conditions that bring about Buddhaship .

171 . S tudying then I beheld the tenth Perfection EquanimityPractised and followed by former Buddhas .

172 . If thou tak e resolutely upon thyself this tenth perfection,

Becoming well-balanced and firm, thou shalt attainsupreme Buddhaship .

173 . And as the earth is indifferent to pure and impure thingscast upon her .

To both alike , and is free from anger and favour,174 . Even so do thou ever be evenly-balanced in joy and grief,

Advancing to the perfection , Equanimity, thou shaltattain supreme Buddhaship .

Then he thought These are the only conditionsin thi s world that, bringing B uddhaship to perfectionand constituting a B uddh a, have to be fufilled byB odhi sattas ; beside the ten Perfections there are

no others . And these ten Perfections are neither inthe heaven above nor in the earth below

,nor are they

to be found in the east, or the other quarters, butreside in my heart of flesh . Having thus realiz edthat the Perfections were established in hi s heart,having strenuously resolved to keep them all, graspingthem again and again, he mastered them forwards


and backwards ; 1 taking them at the end he wentbackward to the beginning, taking them at thebeginning he placed them at the end,2 taking themat the middle he carried them to the two ends

,taking

them at both ends he carried them to the middle .R epeating The Perfections are the sacrifice of

limbs, the Lesser Perfections are the sacrifice of

property, the Unlimited Perfections are the sacrificeof life ” , he mastered them as the Perfections

,the

Lesser Perfections and theUnlimitedPerfections - likeone who converts two kindr ed oils into one,3 or likeone who, using Mount Meru for hi s churning- rod

,

churns the great Chakkavala ocean . And as hegrasped again and again the ten Perfections, by theglow of hi s piety,4 thi s earth, four nahutas and eighthundred thousand leagues in breadth, like a bundleof reeds trodden by an elephant, or a sugar-mill inmotion,

uttering a mighty roar, trembled, sh ook and

quaked, and spun round like a potter’s wheel or the

wheel of an oil-mill . Therefore it is said

175. These are all the conditions in the world that bringBuddhashi p to perfection

Beyond these are no others , therein do thou stand fast .176 . While he grasped these conditions natural and intrinsic ,“

By the power ofhis piety the earth of ten thousand worldsquaked .

177. The earth sways and thunders l ik e a sugar-mill at work ,Lik e the wheel ofan oil -mill so shak es the earth .

1 i .s . , alternately from the first to the tenth and from the tenthto the first .

1 i .s . , put the first last .Vijesinh a.

1 Dhamma.

1 Vijesinh a.writes to me Natural and intrinsic virtues . TheS inhalese gloss says:paramarthavu rasasah i tavu lakshana azt

nohot svabhavalakshana ha sar vadharmasadhamnalakshana ceti .

In the latter case it would mean having the quality of conformitywith all laws .”


And while the earth was trembling the people ofRamma, unable to endure it, like great Sal- trees , overthrown by the wind that blows at the end ofa cycle,fell swooning here and there, whi le waterpots and

other vessels,revolving like a jar on a potter’s wheel

,

struck against each other and were dashed and groundto pieces . The multitudes in fear and tremblingapproaching the Teacher (Dipankara) said Tellus

,B lessed one, is this turmoil caused by Nagas , or is

it caused by either demons, or ogres, or by devas 2for thi s we know not, but truly thi s whole multitudeis grievously afflicted . Pray does thi s portend ev ilto the world or good 2 Tell us the cause of it .

” TheTeacher hearing their words said Fear not nor betroubled

,there is no danger to you from this .

,Th e

wise Sumedha, concerning whom I predi cted thisday Hereafter he wi ll be a B uddhanamed Gotama,

’

is now mastering the Perfections, and whi le he mastersthem and turns them about, by the power ofhis pietythe whole ten thousand worlds wi th one accord quakeand thunder .” Therefore it is said178 All the multitude that w as there in attendance on the

Buddha,

Trembling, fell swooning there upon the ground .

179 . Many thousands of waterpots and many hundred jarsWere crushed and pounded there and dashed against each

other.180. Excited, trembling, terrified, confused, their sense dis

ordered,The multitudes assembling , approached the Buddha.

1 81 . Say, will it be good or evil to the world 2The whole world is affl icted, ward off this (danger) , thou

S eer !182 . Then the great Sage Dipankara enj oined upon them,

Be confident, be not afraid at this earthquak ing183 . He of whom I foretold this day, he will be a Buddha in

this world ,The same is the law of the past followed by the Conquerors .


received the homage of the devas,made a strenuous

exertion ofresolve,saying Having fulfilled the ten

Perfections, at the end of four asankh eyyas and a

hundred thousand cycles I shall become a B uddha.

”

And rising into the air he returned to Himavanta.

Therefore it is said187. As he rose from his seat both devas and men

Sprink le him with divine and earthly flowers .1 88 . Both devas and men pronounce their blessing

A great thing hast thou willed, mayest thou obtain itaccording to thy wish .

189 . May all dangers be averted, may every sickness vani sh ,Mayest thou have no hindrance— quick ly reach th e

supreme enlightenment .190. As when the season is come the flowering trees blossom,

Even so do thou, O mighty one, blossom with the knowledge ofa Buddha.

19 1 . As all the Buddhas have fulfilled the ten Perfections ,Even so do thou, O mighty one, fulfil the ten Perfections .

192 . As all the Buddhas are awak ened on the seat ofenlightenment,

Even so be thou, O mighty one, awak ened in

conqueror ’s wisdom .

193 . As all the Buddhas have set rolling the wheel ofthe Norm,

Even so do thou, O mighty one , set it rollin g .

194 . As the moon on the mid-day of the month shines in herpurity,

Even so do thou, with thy mind at the full, shine in tenthousand worlds .

195. As the sun released by Rahu glows fervently in his heat ,Even so , having released mank ind, do thou shine in all thy

maj esty,196 . As all the rivers find their w ay to the great ocean,

Even so may the worlds ofmen and devas tak e refuge inthee !

197. The B odh isatta extolled with these praises, tak ing on

himself the ten conditions,Commencing to ful fil these conditions, entered the forest

then .

End ofthe S tory of Sumedha.

And the people of the city of Ram a, hav ing re

turned to the city, kept open h ouse to the Orderwith the Buddha at their head . The Teacher having


preached the Doctrine to them, and established themin the three Refuges and the other branches (of thefaith) , departing from the city of Ramma, livingthereafter hi s allotted span of life

,having fulfilled

all the duties ofa Buddha, in due course attained thatNirvana in which no condi tion of rebirth remains .On thi s subj ect all that need be said can be learnt fromthe narrative in the Buddhavamsa, for it is said inthat work

Then they, having entertained the Chief of the world withhis Order,

Took refuge in the Teacher Dipankara .

S ome the Buddha established in the R efuges ,S ome in the five Precepts, others in the ten .

To some he g ives the privilege of reclusesh ip , the fourglorious Fruitions .

On some he bestows the peerless doctrines of Analysis,To some the Lord of men grants the eight sublime

Acquisitions ,On some he bestows the three Wisdoms and the six

Super-knowledges .In this order 1 the Great Sage exhorts the multitude .Therewith the teaching of the world ’s Protectorw as Spread

wide abroad .

He of the mightyjaw , ofthe broad shoulder, Dipankara byname ,

Procured the salvation of many men, set them free fromevil destiny.

Beholding persons ripe for salvation, reaching them in an

instant .Evenat a distance of a hundred thousand leagues, theGreat

Sage awakened them .

At the first conversion the Buddha awakened a thousandmillions .

At the second theProtector awak ened a hundred thousand .

When the B uddha preached the truth in the deva-world ,

There took place ath ird conversion ofninehundredmillions .The Teacher D ipankara h ad three assemblies,Th e first w as a meeting of a million mill ions .

1 Tena yogena . Vij. says In that order, v iz. in the S ammigarnand first, then in the Paficasi la, then in the Dasasi la, and so

on .

”

1 14 B UDDHIST B IRTH STORIES

208 . Again when the Conqueror went into seclusion at NaradaKfita,

A thousand million spotless Arah ants met together .209 . When the Mighty One dwelt on the lofty rock Sudassana,

Then the Sage surrounded himself with nine hundredthousand millions .

2 10. At that time I w as an ascetic wearing matted hair, a man ofaustere penances ,

Moving through the air , accomplished in the five superknowledges .

2 1 1 . The conversion of tens of thousands, of twenties of

thousands , took place ,Of ones and twos the conversions were beyond computation .

1

2 12 . Then did the pure religion of Dipankara Buddha becomewidely spread,

Known to many men prosperous and flourishing .

2 13 . Four hundred thousand , possessed of the six superknow

ledges , endowed with miraculous powers ,Ever attend upon D ipankara, knower of the worlds .

2 14 . Blameworthy are all theywho at that time leave the humanexistence,

Not having obtained final sanctity, still imperfect inknowledge .

2 15. The Word shines in the world ofmen and devas , made toblossom by saints such as these ,

Freed from human passion , spotless .2 16 . The city of D ipankara Buddha w as called R ammav a

'

ti'

,

Th e kh attiya Sumedh a w as his father, Sumedhahis mother.2 17 Sumangala and T issa were his chief disciples

,

And Sagata w as the servitor ofDipankara Buddha .

2 18 . Nandaand Sunandawere his chief woman -disciples .The Bodhi - tree of this Buddha is called the Pipph ali . ’

2 19 . Eighty cubits in height the Great Sage DipankaraShone conspicuous as a Deodar pine , or as a noble Sal -tree

in full bloom .

220. A hundred thousand years w as the age of this Great Sage ,And so long as he w as living on earth he brought many men

to salvation .

22 1 . Having made the Truth to shine , having saved greatmultitudes of men ,

Having flamed lik e a mass of fire, he passed away with hisdisciples .

222 . And all this power, this glory, these j ewel -wheels on his feet,All is wholly gone— ar e not all existing things vanity !

223 . After Dipankara w as the Leader named Kondanya,Of infinite power, of boundless renown, immeasurable,

unrivalled .

1 Lit. , arithmetically innumerable . 2 Th e Banyan- tree .

1 16 B UDDHIST B IRTH STORIES

Teacher gave a di scourse dealing successively withh is various doctrines , and Ananda and h is wholeretinue attained Ar ah antship together with theanalytical knowledges . The Teacher looking backupon the meritorious works done by these men of

family in former lives,and perceiving that they had

merit to acquire the robe and bowl by miraculousmeans , stretching forth his right hand exclaimed,Come brethren .

” 1 Then straightway all of themhaving become equipped with miraculously obtainedrobes and bowls

, and perfect in decorum, as if theywere elders of sixty years’ standing

,paid homage to

the Teacher and attended upon him . This w as h isth ird assembly of di sciples .And whereas with other B uddh as a light shone fromtheir bodi es to the distance of eighty cubits on everyside, it was not so with this B uddha, but the ligh tfrom hi sbody permanently filled ten thousand worldstrees , earth, mountains, seas, and all other things , notexcepting even pots and pans and such- like articles ,became as it were overspread with a film ofgold . Theduration of hi s life w as ninety thousand years, andduring the whole of thi s period the sun,

moon,and

other heavenly bodies could not shine by their ownlight

, and there w as no distinction between night andday. By day all living beings went about in the lightofthe B uddha as if in the light of the sun,

and men

ascertained the limits of night and day only by theflowers that blossomed in the evening and by the birdsand other animals that uttered their cries in the

1 Th e formula by which a Buddha admits a layman to thepriesthood.

THE S TORY OF THE LINEAG’E

morning . If I am asked What, do not otherBuddhas also possess this power 2 I replyCertainly they do , for they might at will fill withtheir lustre ten thousand worlds or more . But in

accordance with a vow made by him in a formerexistence

,the lustre of Mangala Buddha permanently

filled ten thousand worlds , just as the lustre of theothers permanently extended to the distance of a

fathom .

”

The story is that when he was performing theduties of a B odhisatta,1 being in an existence corresponding to the Vessantara existence,2 he dwelt withh is wife and chi ldren on a mountain like the Vankemountain .

3 One day a demon named Kharadathika, 4

hearing of the B odhi satta’

s inclination to giving,

approached h im in the gui se of a brahmin, and askedthe B odhi satta for h is two chi ldren . The B odh isatta,

exclaiming I give my children to the brahmin ”

,

cheerfully and joyfully gave up both chi ldren,thereby

causing the ocean-girt earth to quake .

5 The demonstanding by the bench at the end of the cloisteredwalk

,while the B odh isatta looked on, devoured the

chi ldren like a bunch of roots . Not a particle of

sorrow 6arose in the B odhi satta as he looked on the

demon, and saw his mouth as soon as he opened it

disgorging streams of blood'

like flames of fire , nay,a great j oy and satisfaction welled within him as he

1 i .s . ,the Perfections .

2 i .e . , his last birth before attaining B uddhah ood .

3 See Vessantara Jataka , v ol . vi, no . 547.

1 This name means sharp- fanged5 In approval of his act of faith .

1no grief as big as the tip ofa hair

1 18 B UDDHIST B IRTH S TORIES

thought My gift was well given. And he put upthe vow By the merit of this deed may rays oflight one day issue from me in thi s very way .

”In

consequence of this prayer of hi s it was that the raysemi tted from his body when he became Buddha filledso vast a Space .

There was also another deed done by him in a formerexistence . It is related that, when a B odhi satta,

having visited the relic shrine of a B uddha,he

exclaimed I ought to sacrifice my life for thi sB uddha and having wrapped round the whole of hisbody in the same w ay that torches are wrapped, andhaving filled with clarified butter a golden vessel withjswelled wick-holders

,worth a hundred thousand

pieces,he lit therein a thousand wi cks, and having

set fire to the whole of hi s body beginning with h ishead, he spent th e whole night in circumambulatingthe shrine . And as he thus strove till dawn not theroot of a hair of h is head was even heated . It w asas one enters the calyx ofa lotus , for religion 1 guardshim who guards himself . Therefore has the B lessedOne said

224 . Well doth religion protect him in sooth who follows it,Happiness bringeth along in its train religionwell practisedThis shall be his reward by whom reli gion is well practisedNever goeth to misery he who doth practise religion .

2

And through the merit of thi s work also the bodi lylustre of thi s B uddha constantly extended through

1 Dhamma .

2 Psalms of the B rethren, ver. 303 . (Cf. p . 4 16 . R ukkh akatha

tree-talk w ill be a scribe ’s mistak e for rakkha-katha guardtalk “ward-rune Cf. also Sutta-Nipata, ver . 181 Jataka,i, 3 1 iv, 496 .

— Ed .


The B odhisatta seeing him said What sort of workcan you do 2 There’s no art that I do not knowany house or hall that anybody orders me to build,I’ll bui ld it for h im .

”Very well , I

’ve got a j ob to bedone .

” What is it, Sir 2 I ’ve invited a mi llionmillion bhikkhus for to-morrow, will you build a hallto seat them all 2 I’ll build one with pleasureif you’ve the means of paying me .

” I have, mygood man . Very well

,I’

ll bui ld it . And hewent and began looking out for a Site . Th ere was aspot some fifty leagues in extent 1 as level as a kasinacircle .

2 Sakka fixed his eyes upon it, whi le he thoughtto himself Let a hall made of the seven preciousstones rise up over such and such an extent ofground .

” Immediately the edifice bursting throughthe ground rose up . The golden pillars of thi s hallhad silver capitals

,

2 the silver pillars had goldencapitals, the gem pillars had coral capitals , the coralpillars had gem capitals , while those pillars whi chwere made of all the seven precious Stones had capitalsof the same . Next he said Let the hall havehanging wreaths of little bells at intervals and

looked again. Th e instant he looked a fringe ofbellshung down ; their musical tinkling, as they werestirred by a gentle breeze, was like a symphony ofth efiv e sorts of instruments, or as when the heavenlychoirs are going on. He thought Let there behanging garlands ofperfumes and flowers and therethe garlands hung. He thought:Let seats and

1 Lit. , twelve or thi rteen yojanas (a yojana is four leagues) .2 Used in the ecstatic meditation .

2 Th e Pali word for the capital of a column is gh ataka, littlepot .


bench es for a million million monks rise up throughthe earth and straightway th ey appeared . He

thought:Letwater vessels rise up at each corner ofthe building and the water vessels arose . Havingby h is miraculous power effected all this , h e went tothe brahmin and said:Come , Sir , look at your hall ,and pay me my wages .The B odh isatta went and looked at the hall

, and as

he looked h is whole frame w as thrilled in every partwith fivefold j oy . And as he gazed on the hall hethought thus within himself Thi s hall was not

wrought by mortal hands , but sur ely through mygood intention,

my good action, the palace of Sakkabecame hot

, and hence thi s hall w ill have been builtby the Sakka the deva-king ; it is not right that insuch a hall as thi s I Should give alms for a Single day,

I will give alms for a whole week .

For the gift ofexternal goods , however great, cannot

give satisfaction to the B odhisattas, but the B odhisattas feel joyat their self- renunciationwhen they severthe crowned head , put out the henna-anointed eyes ,out out the heart and give it away . For when our

B odhi satta in the Siv ijataka 1 gave alms in the mi ddleof hi s capital, at the four gates of the city, at a dailyexpendi ture offive bushels ofgold coins , this liberalityfailed to arouse w ithin him a feeling of satisfactionat h is renunciation. But on the other hand, whenSakka the deva-king came to h im in the disgui se of abrahmin

, and asked for hi s eyes , then indeed, as hetook them out and gave them away , laughter rosewi thin him , nor did his heart swerve a hair

’s breadth1 Jataka, no . 499 .


from its purpose . And hence we see that as regardsalmsgiving the B odhi sattas can have no satiety .

Therefore thi s B odhisatta also thinking I oughtto givealms for sevendaysto ami lli onmillionmonksseated them in that hall, and for a week gave them thealms called gavapana.

1 Men alone were not able towait upon them, but devas themselves, taking turnswith men,

waited upon them . A space offifty leaguesor more sufficed not to contain the monks , yet theyseated themselves each by hi s own supernaturalpower . On the last day, hav ing caused the bowls ofall the monks to be washed, and filled them wi thbutter clarified and unclarified, honey and molasses ,for medi cinal use, he gave them back to them,

together with the three robes . The robes and cloaksreceived by novices and ordained priests were wortha hundred thousand .

The Teacher, when he returned thanks, consideringThi s man has given such great alms , who can hebe 2 and perceiving that at the end of two asankh eyyas and four thousand cycles he would become aB uddha named Gotama, addressing the B odhi satta,made thi s prediction After the lapse of such and

such a period thou shalt become a B uddh a namedGotama.

” The B odhi satta, hearing the predi ction,

th ought It seems that I am to become a Buddha,

what good can a householder’s life do me 2 I willgive up the world and

,treating all thi s prosperity

like so much dr ivel, he received ordination at thehands of the Teacher . And having embraced th e

1 According to the gloss printed in the text it is a compound of

milk , rice , honey, sugar, and clarified butter.


offine cloth , he was established in the Thr ee R efuges .And this Teacher also foretold of him One day hewill be a B uddha.

”

The city of this Buddha w as named KhemaSudatta w as hi s father

,Sirimah ismother

,Sarana and

B havitatta hi s chief disciples, Udena hi s servitor,

Sona and Upasona his chief woman- disciples . TheNaga w as hi s B odhi -tree

,h is body w as ninety cubits

high, and his age ninety thousand years .

2 26 . AfterMangala came the Leader named Sumana,In all things unequalled , the best ofall beings .

After him the Teacher B evata appeared . He alsohad three assemblies of disciples . In th e first assemblythe numbers were innumerable, in the second therewere a million millions , so also in the third .

At that time the B odhisatta having been born as

the brahmin Atideva, having heard the Teacher’s

preaching, was established in the Three R efuges .

And raising his clasped hands to h is head, havingpraised the Teacher’s abandonment of humanpassion,

he presented h im with a monk’s upper robe .

That Teacher also made the prediction Thouwilt become a B uddha.

” Now the city ofthi s B uddhaw as called Sudh anyav ati , h is father was the noblemanVipula, hi s mother Vipula, Varuna and B rahmadeva

hi s chi ef disciples, Sambhava his servitor, Bhadda

and Subhadda hi s chi ef woman-disciples , and theNaga-tree h is B o - tree . His body w as eighty cubitshigh, and h is age sixty thousand years .227. After Sumana came the Leader named B evata,

The Conqueror unequalled, incomparable , unmatched ,supreme .


After him appeared the Teacher Sobhi ta. He alsohad three assemblies ofdisciples in the first assemblywere a thousand million monks , in the second ninehundred milli ons, in the third eight hundred millions .At that time the B odisat, having been born as thebrahmin Aj ita, and having heard the Teacher’spreaching, was established in the Three R efuges, andgave a great donation to the Order ofmonks , with theB uddha at their head . Thi s Teacher also prophesiedto him ,

saying Thou wilt become a B uddha.

Sudh amma w as the name of the city of this B lessedOne, Sudhamma the king was h is father, Sudhammah is mother

, Asama and Sunetta h is ch ief disciples ,Anoma hi s servitor, Nakula and Sujata his chiefwoman-disciples

, and the Naga- tree h is B o - treeh is body was fifty

- eight cubits h igh , and h is age

ninety thousand years .

228 . After R ev ata came the Leader named Sob h ita,

Subdued and mild , unequalled and unrivalled .

After h im ,when an asankh eyya had elapsed, three

Buddhas were born in one kalpa — Anomadassin,

Paduma, and Narada. Anomadassin had three

assemblies of saints in the first were eight hundredthousand monks, in the second seven,

in the third Six .

At that time the B odisat was a Yakkha chief,mighty and powerful, the lord of many mi lli ons ofmi lli ons of yakkhas. He, hearing that a B uddha hadappeared, came and gave a great donation to theOrder ofmonks

,with the Buddha at their head .

And th is Teacher also prophesied to h im , sayingHereafter thou w ilt be a B uddha. The city of


Anomadassin the B lessed One was called Chandavati ,Yasava the king was his father, Yasodharahi smother,Nisabha and Anoma his chi ef disciples, Varuna h isservitor

,Sundari and Sumana hi s chi ef woman

di sciples,the Arjuna- tree his B o - tree hi s body was

fifty- eight cubits high, hi s age a hundred thousand

years .

229 . After Sobh ita came the perfect Buddha— the best ofmen

Anomadassin of infinite fame, glorious , diffi cult to surpass .

After h im appeared the Teacher named Paduma.

He too had three assembli es of disciples ‘ in th e firstassembly were a million million monks in the secondthree hundred thousand

,in the thi rd two hundred

thousand of the monks dwelt at a great grove in theuninhabited forest .At that time, whil st the Tathagata was living inthat grove , the B odi sat having been born as a lion,

saw the Teacher plunged in ecstatic trance, and with

trustful h eai't made obeisance to him, and walking

round him with reverence,experienced great joy,

and thrice uttered a mighty roar . For seven days helaid not aside the bli ss arising fr om the thought oftheB uddha, but through j oy and gladness , seeking notafter prey

,he kept in attendance there , offering up

hi s life . When the Teacher,

after seven days ,aroused himself from hi s trance

,he looked upon the

lion and thought He w ill put trust in the Order ofmonks and make obeisance to them let them drawnear .” At that very moment the monks drew near,and the lion put faith in the Order .The Teacher, knowing h is thoughts , prophesied,


After Narada the ,B uddha a hundred thousand

world- cycles ago there appeared in one kalpa onlyone B uddha called Padumuttara. He also h ad threeassemblies of di sciples ; in the first were a millionmilli on monks, in the second, on the VebharaMountain, nine hundr ed thousand mi llion, in the thirdeight hundred thousand million .

At that time the B odisat, born as aMahr atta ofthename ofJatila, gave an offering of robes to the Order,with the B uddha at their head .

That Teacher also prophesied to him Hereafterthou wilt be a Buddha.

”And at the time ofPadu

muttara the B lessed One there were no infidels, butall, men and devas, took refuge in the B uddha. His

city w as called Hamsavati,hi s father w as Ananda the

warrior, h is mother Sujata, Devala and Sujata hi s

chief di sciples, Sumana hi s servitor, Ami taand Asamahi s chief woman-di sciples

,the Sal- tree hi s B o - tree ;

hi s body was eighty- eight cubits hi gh,the light from

his body extended twelve leagues, and his age was

a hundred thousand years .

232 . After Narada came the perfect Buddha, the best ofmen,

Padumuttara by name, the Conqueror unshaken , lik e thesea.

After him , when thi rty thousand world- cycles hadelapsed, two B uddhas, Sumedha and Sujata, wereborn in one kalpa. Sumedh a also had three assemblies of his saints in the first assembly, in the citySudassana, were a thousand million sinless ones, inthe second nine hundred

,in the third eight hundred .

At that time the B odisat , born as the brahmin youth


named Uttara, lavished eight hundr ed millions ofmoney he had saved in giving a great donation to theOrder, with the Buddha at their head . And he thenlistened to the Doctrine, and accepted the R efuges

,

and abandoned hi s home, and took the vows .That Teacher also prophesied to h im ,

saying:Hereafter thou wilt be a B uddha.

” The city of Sumedha

the B lessed One w as called Sudassana, Sudatta theking w as h is father, Sudatta h is mother, Sarana and

Sabbakama hi s two chief di sciples,Sagara hi s servitor,

Rama and Surama hi s two chief woman-disciples ,the great Champaka—tree h is B o -tree h is body w aseighty- eight cubits hi gh, and hi s age w as ninetythousand years .

233 . After Padumuttara came the Leader named Sumedh a,Th e Sage hard to equal, brilliant in glory, supreme in all

the world .

After h im appeared the Teacher Sujata. He alsohad three assemblies ofdi sciples in the first assemblywere Sixty thousand monks, in the second fifty, inthe third forty .

At that time the B odisat w as a universal monarchand hearing that a B uddha w as born he went toh im and heard the Doctrine , and gave to the Order,with the B uddh a at their head, his kingdomof the four continents with its seven treasuresand took the vows under the Teacher . All thedw ellers in the land, taking advantage of the birthof a B uddha in their midst, did duty as servants inthe monasteries, and continually gave great donationsto the Order

,with the Buddha at their head . And to


him also the Teacher prophesied . The city of thi sB lessed One w as called Sumangala, Uggata the kingwas h is father, Pabhavati h is mother, Sudassana and

Deva his chi ef di sciples, Narada hi s servitor, Nagaand Nagasamala his chi ef woman-disciples

, and thegreat B ambu- tree h is B o - tree ; thi s tree, they say,

h ad smaller hollows and thi cker wood than ordinarybambus have,1 and in its mighty upper branches itwas as brilliant as a bunch of peacocks’ tails . Thebody of thi s B lessed One was fifty cubits high, andhi s age w as ninety thousand years .

234 . In that age, theMandakalpa, appeared the Leader Sujata,Mighty jawed and grandly framed, whose measure none

can tak e, and hard to equal .

After him ,when eighteen hundredWorld- cycles had

elapsed,three B uddhas , Piyadassin, Atth adassin,

and Dhammadassin,were born in one kalpa. Piya

dassin also had thr ee assemblies of disciples in thefir st were a million mi llion monks , in the second ninehundr ed million

, in the thi rd eight hundr ed million.

At that time the B odisat, as a young brahmincalled Kassapa

,who had thoroughly learnt the thr ee

Vedas, li stened to the Teacher’s preaching of the

Doctrine, and built a monastery at a cost ofa milli on

mi llion,and stood firm in the R efuges and the

Precepts .Now to him the Teacher prophesied, sayingAfter the lapse of eighteen hundred kalpas thouwilt become aB uddha.

” The city ofthi s B lessed Onewas called Anoma, hi s father w as Sudinna the king,

1 Compare J ataka no . 20.


hundr ed mi lli ons . At that time the B odi sat, as

Sakka the king of the devas, made an offering ofsweet- smelling flowers from heaven, and di vine music .

That Teacher also prophesied to h im . The city ofthis B lessed One w as called Sarana, hi s father wasSarana the king, h is mother Sunanda, Paduma and

Phussadeva his chi ef di sciples, Sunetta his servitor,Khema and Sabbanama h is chi ef woman-di sciples

,

and the red Kuravaka- tree (called also B imbijala)his B o - tree . His body w as eighty cubits high, and h isage a hundred thousand years .

237. In the same age elect the far - famed Dh ammadassin

D ispelled the thick darkness, illuminated earth and

heaven .

After h im,ninety- four world- cycles ago , only one

B uddha,by name Siddh attha, appeared in one kalpa .

Of hi s disciples too there were three assemblies in

the first were a million mi lli on monks , in the secondnine hundred millions , in the thi rd eight hundredmillions .At that time the B odisat, as the ascetic Mangala

ofgreat glory and gifted wi th the powers derived fromsuper-knowledge , brought a great jambu fruit and

presented it to the Tathagata .

The Teacher, having eaten the fruit, prophesied tothe B odisat, saying Ninety- four kalpas hence thouwilt become a B uddha. The city of this B lessed Onew as called Vebhara,

Jayasena the king w as h is father,Suphassahi s mother, Sambala and Sum itta hi s chi efdisciples

,B evata his servitor, S ival

'

i and Suramahi schief woman-di sciples, and the Kanikara- tree hi s B o


tree . His body w as Sixty cubits hi gh, and h is age

a hundred thousand years .238 . After Dh ammadassin , the Leader named S iddh atth a

R ose lik e the sun , bringing al l darkness to an end .

After him ,ninety-two world- cycles ago , two

B uddhas, Tissa and Phussa by name , were born in onekalpa. Tissa the B lessed One had three assemblies ofdisciples ; in the first were a thousand million of

monk s,in the second nine hundred millions, in the

thi rd eight hundred millions .At that time the B odi sat w as born as the wealthy

and famous warr1or Sujata. When he had taken thevows and acquired the wonderful powers of a rishi

,

he heard that a B uddha h ad been born and takinga heaven- grown Mandarava lotus , and flowers of theParicch attaka- tree, he offered them to the Tathagataas he walked in the midst of h is disciples , and hespread an awning offlowers in the sky .

To him ,too

,the Teacher prophesied, saying

Ninety- two kalpas hence thou wilt become a

B uddha.

” The city of thi s B lessed One w as calledKhema

, J anasandha the warrior- chi ef w as hi s father ,Padumah is mother, the god B rahmaand Udaya hi schi ef di sciples , Sambh av a his servitor, Phussa and

Sudatta his chief woman-di sciples , and the Asanatree h is B o - tree . His body w as Sixty cubits high ,and hi s age a hundred thousand years .

239 . After S iddh atth a, Tissa, the unequalled and unrivalled ,Of infinite virtue and glory, w as th e chief Guide of theworld .

After him appeared the Teacher namedPhussa. He

too h ad three assemblies of disciples ; in the first


assembly were Six million monks, in the second five,in the thi rd threemi llion two hundred thousand .

At that time the B odi sat, born as the warriorVijitav i , laid aside hi s kingdom and , taking the vowsunder the Teacher, learnt the three Pitakas, and

preached the Doctrine to the people, and fulfilled the

Perfection of Moral Practice .

1

And the B uddha prophesied to him in the samemanner . The city of this B lessed One w as calledKasi (B enares) , Jayasena the king w as his father,Sirimahis mother, Surakkhi ta and Dhammasena his

chi ef di sciples, Sabhiya hi s servitor, Chala and

Upachalahi s chi ef woman-di sciples, and theAmalakatree his B o - tree . His body w as fifty

- eight cubitshigh

, and his age ninety thousand years .

240. In the same age elect Phussa w as the Teacher supreme ,Unequalled, unrivalled , the chief Guide of the world .

After him , ninety world- cycles ago ,appeared the

B lessed One named Vipassin .

2 He too h ad threeassembli es of di sciples ; in the first assembly weresix million eight hundred thousand monks , in thesecond one hundr ed thousand, in the third eightythousand .

At that time the B odi sat, born as the mighty and

powerful snake king Atula gave to the B lessed Onea golden chair, inlaid with the seven kinds ofgems .To h im that Teacher also prophesied, sayingNinety- one world- cycles hence thou wilt become 3

B uddha.

” The city of thi s B lessed One w as called1 See above , p . 102 .

2 We now come to the 7 Buddhas recognized in the olderbooks — Ed .


After him appeared the Teacher named Vessabh fi .

He also h ad three assemblies ofdisciples in the firstwere eight million monks , in the second seven,

in thethi rd Six .

At that time the B odi sat,born as the king Sudas

sana, gave a great donation of robes and other thingsto the Order

,with the B uddha at their head . And

taking the vows at his hands, he became righteous inconduct, and found great j oy in medi tating on theB uddha.

That Teacher also prophesied to h im ,saying

Thirty- one world- cycles hence thou wi lt become aB uddha.

” The city of this B lessed One was calledAnopama, Suppatita the king w ashi s father, Yasav atih is mother

,Sona and Uttara h is chi ef di sciples ,

Upasanta his servitor, Dama and Sumala hi s chi efwoman-disciples

,and the Sal-tree h is B o - tree . His

body w as sixty cubits hi gh, and h is age Sixty thousandyears .

243 . In the same age elect , the Conqueror named Vessabhu,

Unequalled and unrivalled , appeared in the world .

After h im ,ln this world- cycle

,four B uddhas have

appeared— Kakusandh a, Konagamana, Kassapa, andour B uddha. Kakusandha the B lessed One had one

assembly, atwhi ch fortythousand monks were present .

At that time th e'

B odi sat , asKhema the king, gavea great donation,

robes and bowls , to the Order, withthe B uddha at their head, and having given alsocollyrium s andmedicines, he listened to the Doctrinepreached by the Teacher, and took the vows .That Teacher also prophesied to him . The city of

THE STORY or THE LINEAGE 137

Kakusandha the B lessed One w as called Khema,Aggidatta the B rahman was hi s father

, Visakha theB rahman woman hi s mother

, Vidhura and Sanjiv ahis chi ef disciples, B uddhija hi s servitor, Sama and

Campaka hi s chief woman-di sciples, and the great

Sirisa- tree hi s B o -tree . His body w as forty cubitshigh, and hi s age forty thousand years .

244 . After Vessab hu came the perfect Buddha,the best ofmen,

Kakusandh a by name , infinite and hard to equal .

After h im appeared the Teacher Konagamana. Of

h is disciples too there w asone assembly,in which were

thirty thousand monk s .At that time the B odisat, as Pabbata the king,went, surrounded by hi s ministers , to the Teacher,and listened to the preaching of the Doctrine . And

having given an invitation to the Order, with theBuddha at their head, he kept up a great donation,

giving cloths of Silk, and of fine texture , and wovenwith gold . And he took the vows from the Teacher’shands .

That Teacher also prophesied to h im . The cityofthi s B lessed One w as called Sobhavati , Yaiifiadattathe brahmin w as hi s father, Uttara the B rahmanwoman h is mother

,B hiyyosa and Uttara hi s chief

disciples, Sotthija hi s servitor, Samudda and Uttara

his chi ef woman-di sciples,and the Udumbara- tree hi s

B o - tree . His body w as twenty cubits high, and hi sage w as thirty thousand years .

245. After Kakusandh a came the Perfect Buddha, the best ofm en,

Konagamana by name , Conqueror, chief of the world ,supreme among men .


After h im the Teacher named Kassapa appeared inthe world . Ofhi sdi sciples too there w as one assembly

,

in which w ere tw enty thousand monks .At that time the B odisat, as the brahmin youth

Jotipala, accompli shed in the three Vedas, w as wellknown in earth and Sky as the friend of thepotter Ghatikara. Going with h im to the Teacherand hearing the Doctrine, he took the vows ; and

zealously learning the three Pitakas , he glorified, byfaithfulness in duty and in works of supererogation,

the teaching of the B uddh a.

That Teacher also prophesied to him . Th e birthplace ofthe B lessed One was called B enares, B rahm a

datta the brahmin w as hi s father, Dhanav at'

i of thebrahmin caste hi s mother, Tissa and B haradvaja hischi ef di sciples, Sabbamitta hi s servitor, Anula, andUruvela h is chi ef woman- disciples

, and the Nigrodhatree h is B o -tree . His body w as twenty cubits high ,and hi s age w as twenty thousand years .

246 . AfterKonagamana came the Perfect Buddh a, best ofmen ,

Kassapa by name , that Conqueror, k ing of righteousness ,and giver of light .

Again, in the age in whi ch Dipankara the Buddhaappeared, three other B uddhas appeared also . On

their part no prophecy w asmade to the B odi sat, theyare therefore not mentioned here ; but in thecommentary, in order to mention all the B uddhasfrom thi s age, it is said

247. Tanh ankara and Medh ankara, and Saranank ara,

And the Perfect Buddha Dipankara, and Kondanya bestofmen ,

248 . And Mangala, and Sumana, and B evata, and Sobh ita thesage ,


and beholding the Perfections ofGiving and the restto be qualities necessary for the making of a B uddh a,according to the words

Then, as I made my search, I beheld the firstPerfection of Giving 1

he came down through many births,fulfilling these

Perfections , even up to h is last appearance as

Vessantara.

And the rewards whi ch fell to him on h is w ay, as

they fall to all the B odisats who have resolved tobecome B uddhas , are lauded thus252 . So the men, perfect in every part, and destined to Buddha

hood ,Traverse the long road thr ough thousands of millions of

ages .253 . They are not born in hell, nor in the Space between the

worlds ;They do not become consumed by hunger, thirst , and want ,And they do not become small animals , even though bornto sorrow.

254 . When born among men they are not blind by birth ,

They are not hard of hearing, they are not classed amongthe dumb .

255. They do not become women among hermaphrodites andeunuchs

They are not found— these men destined to Buddh ahood .

256 . Free from the deadly s ins , everywhere pure - living,They follow not after vain opini ons, they perceive thework ing of karma.

257. Though they dwell in bright worlds, they are not bornin the mindless .

Nor are they destined to rebirth among the devas in thePure Abodes . 2

258 . Bent upon renunciation, good men, detached from thisrebirth or that,

They walk as acting for the world’s welfare, fulfilling allperfection .

1 See verse 126 , above .2 In the four highest of the thirty-one spheres of existence

the devas are mindless, and the five worlds below these are calledthe Pure Abodes .


Whil e he was thus fulfi lling the Perfections , therewas no limi t to the occasions on whi ch he fulfilledthe Perfection of Giving . As, for instance, in thetimes when he w as the brahm in Akatti , and thebrahmin Sankha, and the king Dhanafijaya, and

Maha- sudassana, and Maha-govinda, and the kingNimi

,and the prince Chanda, and the merchant

Visayha, and the king Sivi , and Vessantara. So,certainly, in the B irth as the Wise Hare , accordingto the words 1

259 . When I saw one coming for food, I offered my own self,There is no one lik e me in giving , such is my Perfection of

Giving .

he, offering up hi s own life , acquired the SupremePerfection called the Perfection ofGiving .

In like manner there is no limi t to the w ay inwhi ch he fulfilled the Perfection ofMoral Practice . As,

for instance, in the times when he w as the snake kingS ilavat

,and the snake kingCampeyya, the snake king

B h ii ridatta, the snake king Ch addanta, and the princeAlinasattu

, son of king Jayaddi sa. So, certainly, inthe Sankhapala B irth, according to the words260. Even when piercing me with stak es , and strik ing me with

javelins ,I w as not angry with the sons ofBhoja, such is my Perfec

tion of Moral Practice .

he, offering up himself, acqui red the Supreme Perfection, called the Perfection of Moral Practice .

In like manner there is no limi t to the way inwhich, forsaking h is kingdom,

he fulfilled the Perfection of R enunciation . AS , for instance, in the times

1 All the following verses down to verse 269 are quotations fromthe Ch ar iyapitaka.


when he w as the prince Somanassa, and the princeHatthipala, and the wise man Ayoghara— in whi ch ,forsaking his kingdom, he fulfilled the Perfection of

R enunciation . So , certainly, in the Chii la-Sutasoma

B irth, according to the words:26 1 . The k ingdom, whi ch w as inmy power, lik e spittle I rej ected

it ,And rej ecting cared not for it, such is my Perfection of

R enunciation,

he,renouncing the kingdom for freedom from the

ties of Sin,

1acqui red the Supreme Perfection

,called

the Perfection ofR enunciation .

In like manner, there is no limit to the ways inwhi ch he fulfilled the Perfection ofWisdom . AS , for

instance, in the times when he w as the wise man

Vidh iira, and the wise man Maha-govinda, and thewise man Kuddala, and the wise man Araka, and theascetic B odhi , and the wise man Mah osadha. So ,certainly, in the time when he w as the wise man

Senaka in the Sattubhatta B irth, according to thewords262 . Searching the matter out by wisdom, I set the brahmin

free from pain,

There is no one lik e me in wisdom such is my PerfectionofWisdom,

he, pointing out the snake whi ch had got into thebellows

,acquired the Supreme Perfection called the

Perfection ofWisdom .

So, certainly, in the Maha- J anaka B irth, accordingto the words263 . Out of sight of the shore, in the midst ofthe waters , all men

are as if dead,There is no other w ay of think ing such is my Perfection

ofR esolution,

1 The Sangas, of which there are five- Just, hate, ignorance ,pride, and false doctrine .


he w as unshaken in equanimity, even when thevi llagers tried to vex or please him by spitting or byoffering garlands and perfumes, and thus he acquiredthe Perfection of Equanimi ty.

Thi s 1S a summary only, the account will be foundat length m the Ohariya Pi taka.

Having thus fulfilled the Perfections,in h is birth

as Vessantara, according to the words269 . This earth, unconscious though she be and ignorant of

j oy or grief,E

’

en She by my free -giving ’s mighty power w as shakenseven times,

he performed such mighty acts ofvirtue as made theearth to Shake . And when,

in the fullness of time,he

had passed away, he reassumed existence in theTusita heaven .

Thus Should be understood the period, calledDistant

,from the R esolution at the feet ofDipankara

down to this birth in the City of Delight .

II:THE INTERMEDIATE EPOCH

Avidare Nidana

It w as when the B odisat w as thus dwelling in theCity ofDelight that the so - called Buddha proclamation took place . For thr ee such Proclamations take place on earth . These are the three .When they realize that at the end of a hundredthousand yearsa new dispensation will begin,

devasofthe next world who are calledWorld-arrangers ,withtheir hair flying and dishevelled, with weeping faces ,wiping away their tears with their hands, clad in red


garments , and with their clothes all in di sorder,wander among men

, and make proclamation,

saying:Sirs, one hundred thousand years from now there

will be a new dispensation ; thi s world- system willbe destroyed even the sea will dry up thi s greatearth, with Sineru the monarch of mountains , w illbe burned up and destroyed and the whole worldup to the B rahma- realms

,will pass away . And so ,

Sirs,exercize love , pity, sympathy and equanimity,

cherish the mother,cherish the father

,honour the

elders in your fami lies .” Thi s is called the proclamation of anAge [Kappahalahala] .Again,

when they realize that at the end of a

thousand years an omni scient B uddha will appear onearth, the deva-guardians of the world go from placeto place and make proclamation,

saying Sirs , atthe end ofa thousand years from thi s time a B uddhawill appear on earth .

” Thi s is called the proclamationofa B uddha [Buddh a-halahala] .Again,

when devas realize that at the end of ahundred years a universal monarch wil l appear, theygo from place to place and make proclamation,

saying Sirs, at the end of a hundred years from

thi s time a universal monarch will appear on earth .

”

Thi s is called the proclamation of aUniversal monarch

[Chakkavatti -halahala] .These are the three great proclamations .When of these three they hear the B uddha-proclamation

,the devas of the entire ten thousand world

systems assemble together ; and having ascertainedwho will become the B uddha, they go to h im and

146 BUDDHIST B IRTH STORIES

beseech him to do 80 ,— so beseeching him when thefir st Signs appear [that hi s present life is drawing toits close] . Accordingly on thi s occasion they all,

with the governors in each world,

1assembled in one

world, and going to the futur e Buddha in the worldof bliss (Tusita) , they besought him ,

sayingSir , when thou wast fulfilling the Ten Perfec

tions, thou didst not do so from a desire for thestate ofworld-governor— Sakka, or Mara, or B rahma— or of amighty king upon earth thou wast fulfillingthem with the hope of reaching all-knowledge forthe sake of the salvation ofmankind Now has themoment come

,sir , for thy Buddhahood ; now , sir ,

has the time arrivedBut the Great B eing, as if he had not granted the

prayer of the devas, reflected in succession on thefollowing five important points, v iz . the time thecountry ; the fami ly the mother ; and her age- limit .Of these he first reflected on the TIME , thinkingIS thi s the time or not 2 And on thi s point hethought When the time of the span of life h asgrown to be upwards of a hundr ed thousand years ,the tirne h as not arrived . Why not 2 B ecause insuch a period men perceive not that li ving beings aresubj ect to birth

,decay, and death ; the thrice

marked pearl of the preaching of the gospel of theBuddhas is not and when the B uddhas speak oftheimpermanence of all things, of the universality ofsorrow

, and of the delusion of individuality, people1 The names are given in the text the fourMaharajas, Sakka,

Suyama, Santusita, Paranimitta-v asav atti , and Mah a-Brahma.

They are the governors in the different worlds (Ch akkavala) ofthe Buddhist cosmogony.


calling to mind that the town named Kapilavatthuwas in that country, he concluded that he ought to beborn in it .

Then reflecting on THE FAMILY ,he thought Th e

B uddhas are not born in the Vessa caste, nor theSudda caste ; but either in the B rahmin or in theKh attiya caste , whi chever is then held in the highestrepute . The Khattiya caste is now predominant, Imust be born in it, and Suddh odana the chi ef wi ll bemy father.” Thus he beheld the fami ly .

Then reflecting on THE MOTHER ,he thought The

mother of a B uddha is not lustful , or corrupt as todr ink ,

but has fulfilled the Perfections for a hundredthousand ages, and from her birth upwards has keptthe five Precepts unbroken. Now thi s lady MahaMaya is such an one, She wi ll be my mother . And

further considering how long her life Should last, heforesaw that it would still last ten months and sevendays .Having thus reflected on these five important points

he favoured the devas by consenting Th e time hasarrived

,Sirs, for me to become a B uddha. He then

dismissed them wi th the words and promi se Do

you go and attended by the devas of the world ofB liss (Tusita) , he entered the grove of Gladness

(Nandana) in the City of B liss .Now in each of the deva-worlds there is such a

on wh ich see Lassen’s Indische Alterthumskunde, vol . i , p . 1 19

( 2nd edition ) . This sacred land w as regarded as the centre of

J ambudv ipa that is, of the then known world— just as theChinese talk of China as the Middle Country, and as other peoplehave look ed on their own capital as th e navel or hub of the world,and on th eir world as the centre of the universe .


grove ofGladness and there the devas are wont toremind any one ofthem who is about to depart oftheopportunities he has gained by good deeds done ina former birth , saying to h im When hencedeceased go to a good destiny .

”And thus he also ,

when walking about there, surrounded by devas reminding him of hi s acqui red merit, departed thence ,and w as conceived in the womb of the Lady MahaMaya.

In order to explain thi s better, the following is theaccount in fuller detail . At that time, it is said, theMidsummer festival w as proclaimed in the City of

Kapilavatthu, and the people were enj oying the feast .During the seven days before the ful l moon the LadyMahaMaya h ad taken part in the festivity, as freefrom drunk enness as it was bri lliant with garlandsand perfumes . On the seventh day sh e rose early andbathed in perfumed water and She distributed fourhundred thousand pieces in giving great largesse .

Decked in her richest attire she partook of the purestfood:and steadfast in the rites of the feast sheentered her beautiful chamber, and lying on her royalcouch sh e fell asleep and dreamt thi s dream .

The four Guardians of the world, lifting her up inher couch

,carried her to the Himalaya mountains ,

and placing her under the Great Sal- tree, sevenleagues high, on the Crimson Plain , Sixty yojanasbroad , they stood respectfully aside . Their queensthen came toward her, and taking her to the lake ofAnotatta,

bathed her to free her from human stainsand dressed her in heavenly garments and anointedher with perfumes ; and decked her with heavenly


flowers . Not far from there is the Silver Hill, wi thin

which is a golden mansion in it they spread a

heavenly couch, with its head towards the East, andon it they laid her down . Then the future B uddha,who h ad become a superb whi te elephant

,and was

wandering on the Golden Hill , not far from there ,descended thence , and ascending the Silver Hi ll,approached her from the North . Holding in his

Silvery trunk a white lotus flower, and uttering a farreaching cry, he entered the golden mansion, and

thrice doing obeisance to hi s mother’s couch,he

gently struck her right Side, and seemed to enter herwomb .

1

Thus was he conceived at the end of the Midsummerfestival . And the next day, having awoke from hersleep

,She related her dream to the raja. The raja

h ad Sixty- four eminent brahmins summoned, and

had costly seats spread on a spot made ready for thestate occasion with green leaves and dalbergia flowers

,

and he had vessels ofgold and silver filled with delicatemilk- ri ce compounded with ghee and sweet honey,and covered with gold and silver bowls . Thi s foodhe gave them ,

and he satisfied them with gifts of newgarments and of tawny cows . And when he h ad thussatisfied their every desire, he had the dream told tothem, and then he asked them What will comeof it 2

The brahmins said B e not anxious, sire yourqueen h as conceived and the fruit of her womb will1 It is instructive to notice that in later accounts it is soberly

related as actual fact that the B odisat entered his mother’s wombas a white elephant:and the Incarnation scene is occasionallyso represented in Buddhist sculptures .


The rivers stayed their waters’ flow. The sea becamesweet water . Everywhere its surface w as covered withlotuses ofevery colour . All flowers blossomed on landand in water . The trunks , and branches, and twigsof trees were covered with the bloom appropriate toeach . On earth tree- lotuses sprang up by sevenstogether, breaking even through the rocks and

hanging- lotuses were born in the Sky and raineddown everywhere a rain ofblossom . In the sky devamusic was played . The ten thousand world- systemsrevolved, and rushed as close together as a bunch ofgathered flowers ; and became as it were a wovenwreath of worlds, as sweet- smelling and resplendentas a mass ofgarlands, or as a sacred altar decked withflowers .From the moment of the conception, thus brought

about, of the future B uddha, four devas with swordsin their hands , stood guard over the B odi sat, and hi smother

,to shield them from all harm . Pur e in

thought,having reached the highest aim and the

hi ghest honour, the mother w as happy and unwearied ;she saw the chi ld within her as plainly as one couldsee a thread passed through a transparent gem .

1

But as a womb in whi ch a future Buddha h as dwelt,like a sacred reli c Shrine , can never be occupied byanother the mother of the B odisat, seven days afterh is birth, died, and was reborn in the City of B liss .Now other women give birth, some before, some

after, the completion of the tenth month, some Sitting ,

1 I once saw a notice of some mediaeval frescoes in which th eHoly Child was similarly represented as visible within the Virgin’swomb, but have unfortunately mislaid the reference .


and some lying down . Not so the mother of a B odisat .

She gives birth to the B odisat standing, after sh e hascherished him in her womb for exactly ten months .this is a distinctive quali ty of the mother of a Buddhaelect .And queen Maha Maya, when She too h ad thuscherished the B odi sat in her womb , like oil in a vessel

,

for ten months , felt herself far gone wi th child and

wishing to go to her family home She spake to KingSuddhodana, and said:Sire, I wish to go to Devadaha, to the city of my

people .

”

The k ing , saying It is good , consented, andhad the road from Kapilavatthu to Devadaha madeplain, and decked with arches of plaintain- trees

, and

well filled water-pots, and flags, and banners . And

seating the queen in a golden palanquin carried by a

thousand attendants, he sent her away with a greatretinue .

Now between the two towns there is a pleasuregrove of Sal-trees belonging to the people of both cities ,and called the Lumbini grove . At that time, from theroots to the topmost branches , it w as one mass of

frui ts and flowers ; and amidst the blossoms and

branches swarms of various- coloured bees , and flocksof birds of different kinds roamed warbling sweetly .

The whole of the Lumbini grove w as like a wood ofvariegated creepers , or the well—decorated banquetinghall ofsome mighty king . The queen beholding it w asfilled with the desire of besporting herself in theSal-tree grove and the attendants carrying thequeen

,entered the wood . When Sh e came to the


monarch Sal- tree of the glade, sh e wanted to takehold of a branch of it, and the branch bending down ,

like a reed heated by steam, approached within reachof her hand . Stretching out her hand sh e took holdof the branch, and then karma-born winds Shook her .The people

,drawing a curtain round her, retired .

Standing, and holding the branch of the Sal-tree, shewas delivered .

That very moment the four pure-minded MahaB rahmas came there bringing a golden net and

receiving the future B uddh a on that net, they placedh im before hi smother, saying B e j oyful , 0 Ladya mighty son is born to theeNow other living things, when they leave theirmother’s womb , leave it smeared with offensive, andimpure matter . Not so a B odisat . The futureB uddha left his mother’s womb like a preacherdescending from a pulpit or a man from a ladder,erect, stretching out h is hands and feet, unsoiled byany impurities from contact with his mother

’s womb ,pure and fair, and Shining like a gem placed on

fine muslin of B enares . But though thi s w as so , twoshowers of water came down from heaven in honour ofthem and refreshed the B odisat and his mother, andcleansed her body.

From the hands of the B rahmas who had receivedh im in the golden net, the Four Kings received himon cloth of antelope skins , soft to the touch, such as

are used on occasions of royal state .

‘ From theirhands men received him on a roll of fine cloth ; and onleaving their hands he stood up upon the ground andlooked towards the East . Thousands of world


thi s is a great osadha ! and hence he was calledMah osadh a (The Great Herb -medi cine Man) .Again,

in the Vessantara birth , as he left h ismother’s womb , he stretched out his right hand,saying But is th ere anything ln the house

,

mother 2 I would give a gift .” Then hi s mother ,saying, You are born, dear, in a wealthy fami ly,

”

took hi shand in hers , and placed on it a bag containinga thousand .

Lastly, in thi s birth he sang the song of victory .

1

Thus,the future B uddha in thr ee births uttered hi s

voice as he came out of hi s mother’s womb . And as

at the moment of hi s conception,so at the moment

ofhi s birth, the thi rty- two Good Omens were seen .

Now at the very time when our B odisat w as bornin the Lumbini grove, the lady mother of Rahula,2

Channa the attendant, Kaludayi the mini ster,Kanthaka the royal horse, the great B o - tree

, and thefour vases full of treasure, also came into being . Of

these last, one w as two miles, one four, one six, and

one eight miles in size . These seven are called theSahajata, the Connatal Ones .3

1 Lit . , roared the l ion-roar a term for a manifesto of selfconfidence — Ed .

2 Wife of Gotama Buddha.

2 There is some mistak e here , as the list contains nine— o r ifthe four treasures count as one , only six-“Connatal Ones . I thinkbefore Kaludayi we should insert Ananda, the loving disciple .

S o Alabaster and Hardy (Wheel of the Lay) , p . 106 ; Manual ofB uddh ism, p . B igandet also adds Ananda, but calls h imthe son of Ami ttodana, which is against the common tradition(L ife or Legend of Gandama , p . 36, comp . my B uddh ism, p .

The legend is certainly, as to its main features, an early one, forit is also found, in greatly exaggerated and contradictory terms ,in the book s of Northern Buddhists (Lalita Vistara, Foucaux ,

p . 97, Beal, p . 53 cf. Senart, p .


The people of both towns took the B odi sat and

went to Kapilavatthu . On that day too , compani esof devas in the next

,the Tavatimsa world, were

astoni shed and j oyful ; and waved their robes andrej oiced, saying, In Kapilavatthu,

to Suddh odanathe king a son is born, who, seated under the B 0tree, will become a B uddha.

”

At that time an ascetic named Kala Devala, a

confidential adviser of Suddh odana the king, whohad passed thr ough the eight stages of religiousattainment! had eaten hi s midday meal, and

had gone to the Tavatimsa world for h is middayrest . Whilst there Sitting resting, he saw thesedevas, and asked them Why are you thusglad at heart and rej oicing 2 Tell me the reasonof it .

”

The devas replied Sir , to Suddh odana the king isborn a son,

who,seated under the B o -tree, will become

a B uddha, and will found a Kingdom of R ighteousness .2 To us it wi ll be given to see hi s infinite graceand to hear his word . Therefore it is that we aregladThe ascetic, hearing what they said, qui ckly camedown from the deva-world

, and entering the king’s

house, sat down on the seat set apart for h im ,

and

said A son they say is born to you, 0 king letme see him .

”

The king ordered h is son to be clad in splendourand carried in to salute the ascetic . B ut the futureBuddha turned his feet round, and planted them on

1 S amapatti .2 Dhammacakkampavattessati . See my B uddh ism, p . 45.


the matted hair of the ascetic .1 For in that birththere was no one worthy to be saluted by the B odisat ,and if these ignorant ones had placed the head of thefuture B uddha at the feet ofthe ascetic, assuredly theascetic’s head would have split in two . The asceticrose from hi s seat, and saying:It is not right for meto work my own destruction, he did homage to theB odisat . And the king also seeing thi s wonder di dhomage to h is own son.

Now the ascetic had the power of calling to mi ndthe events of forty ages (kalpas) in the past, and of

forty ages in the future . Looking at the marks offuture prosperity on the B odi sat’s body

,he considered

with himself Will he become a B uddha or not 2And perceiving that he would most certainly became

a Buddha, he smil ed , saying Thi s is a wonder5 )

man . Then reflecting Will it be given to me tobehold him when he has become a B uddha 2 heperceived that it would not . Dying before that timeI Shall be reborn in the formless world so that whi lea hundred or perhaps a thousand B uddhas appearamong men

,I Shall not be able to go and be taught

by them . And it wi ll not be my good fortune tobehold this so wonderful man when he h as becomea B uddha. Great, alas

,is my loss And he

wept .The people seeing thi s, asked, saying

1 It was considered among the brahmins a Sign of holiness towear matted or platted hair. Thi s is referred to in the strik ingBuddhi st verse (Dhammapada, v, 394 ) What is the use of

platted hair, 0 fool ! Wh at of a garment of sk ins ! Your lowyearnings are wi thin you, and the outside you make clean


his shoulder, he went to the Himalaya mountains,and lived the life of a monk .

When the Tathagata had attained to completeEnlightenment, Nalaka went to him and heard theway of salvation.

1 He then returned to theHimalayasand reached Arahantship . And when he had livedseven months longer as a pilgrim along the mostexcellent Path, he passed away when standing neara Golden Hill , by that final passing away in whi ch nosource of rebirth remains .2

Now on the fifth day they bathed the B odisat’

s

head, saying Let us perform the rite of choosinga name for him . So they perfumed the king’s housewith four k inds of odours

, and decked it withDalbergia flowers

, and made ready rice well cookedin milk . Then they sent for one hundred and eightbrahmins who had mastered the three Vedas, and

seated them in the king’s house, and gave them thepleasant food to eat

,and did them great honour, and

asked them to recogni ze the Signs of what the childShould be .

Among them270. Rama, and Dh aja, and Lakkh ana, and Mantin,

Kondanya and Bhoja, Suyama and Sudatta,These eight brahmins then were there ,The ir senses all subdued ; and they declared the charm .

Now these eight brahm ins were recognizers of

Signs it w as by them that the dream on the night of1 Literally and caused him to declare, ‘

Nalaka course .Cf. the Nalaka sutta, in Sutta Nipaka, v. 679- 72 3 . Tathagata,“gone, or come, in lik e manner ; subject to the fate of all

men,’’ is an adjective applied originally to all mortals, but

afterwards used as a favourite epithet of Gotama. Childers

compares the use of S on of Man ”.

2 Anupadisesaya Nibbana-dhatuya par inibbayi .


conception had been interpreted . Seven of themholding up two fingers prophesied in the alternative

,

saying If aman having such marks Should remaina householder, he becomes a Universal Monarchbut if he takes the vows

,he becomes a B uddha.

And, so saying, they declared all the glory and powerofa Chakkavatti king .

But the youngest of all of them, a young brahmin,

whose family name was Kondanya, beholding theperfection of the auspicious marks on the B odisat,raised up one finger only, and prophesied withoutambigui ty, and sai d There is no Sign of h is

remaining amidst the cares ofhousehold life . Verily ,he will become a B uddha, and remove the veils ofS in and ignorance from the world .

”

This man already, under former B uddhas, hadmadea deep resolve of holiness, and had now reached hislast birth . Therefore it was that he surpassed theother seven in wisdom that he perceived how theB odisat would only be subj ect to thi s one life and

that, raising only one finger, he so prophesied, sayingThe lot of one possessed of these marks will not becast amidst the cares of household life . Verily, hewill become a B uddhaNow those brahmins went home, and addressedtheir sons

,saying We are old , dear ones whether

or not we shall live to see the son of Suddh odana theking after he h as gained all-knowledge, do you, whenhe has gained all-knowledge , take the vows accordingto his religion .

”And after they all seven had lived

out their span of life, they passed away and werereborn according to their deeds .


But the young brahmin Kondanya was in goodh ealth and for the sake of the wi sdom of the GreatB eing he left all that he had and made the greatrenunciation. And coming in due course to Uruv ela,he thought: B ehold how pleasant is thi s place !how sui table for the exertions ofa young man desirousof wrestling wi th Sin .

” So he took up his residencethere .And when he heard that the Great B eing had leftthe world, he went to the sons ofthose brahmins, andsaid to them Siddh attha the prince has taken thevows . As suredly he will become a B uddha. If yourfathers were in health they would to-day leave theirhomes, and go forth and now , ifyou should so desire ,come, I will leave the world in imitation ofhim .

.B ut

all of them were not able to agree with one accordthree did not give up the world the other four madeKondanya the brahmin their leader, and leftthe world . It w as those five who came to be calledthe Company of the Five EldersThen the king asked: After seeing what, willmy son forsake the world 2The four Omens was the reply .

Whi ch four 2Aman worn out by age, a Sick man,

a dead body ,and a monk .

”

The king thought From thi s time let no suchthings come near my son . There isno good inmy son’sbecoming a B uddha. I should like to see my son

exercising rule and sovereignty over the four greatcontinents and the two thousand islands that surroundthem and walking

, as it were , in the vault of heaven ,


Under it the raja had the child’s couch laid out and

over the couch a canopy spread inlaid with stars ofgold

, and round it a cur tain hung . Then leaving a

guard there , the raja, clad in splendour and attendedby hi s mini sters, went away to plough .

At such a time the king takes hold of a goldenplough

,the attendant ministers one hundr ed and eight

minus one Silver ploughs, and the peasants the restof the ploughs . Holding them they plough thi s wayand that w ay. The raja goes from one side to theother

, and comes frOm the other back again.

On thi s occasion the king had great success and thenurses seated round the B odisat, thinking Let usgo to see the king’s glory came out from within thecurtain, and went away . The future B uddha, look ingall round, and seeing no one

, got up qui ckly, seatedhimself crosslegged, and holding his breath, sankinto the first J hana.

1

The nurses, engaged in preparing various kinds offood

,delayed a little . The shadows of the other trees

turned round, but that of the jambutree remainedsteady and circular in form . The nurses

,remembering

their young master was alone, hurriedly raised thecurtain and returned inside it . Seeing the B odisatSitting crosslegged, and that miracle of the Shadow,

they went and told ‘ the raja, saying: Sire ! theprince is seated in such and such a manner ; andwhi le the shadows of the other trees have turned,that of the jambutree is fixed in a circleAnd the raja went hurriedly and saw that miracle,

1 A state of religious meditation. A full explanation is givenin my Buddh ism, pp. 174- 6 .


and did h omage to his son, saying This,dear,

is the second homage paid to theeBut the B odisat in due cour se grew to manh ood .

And the king had three mansions made, suitable forthe three seasons, one nine stories high, one sevenstories high, and one five stories high and heprovided him with forty thousand dancing girls . Sothe B odisat, surrounded by well-dressed dancinggirls, lik e a deva surrounded by troops of nymphs ,and attended by musical instruments whi ch playedof themselves, lived, as the seasons changed, ineach of these mansions in enj oyment of greatprosperity . And the mother of Rahula was his

principal queen.

Whi lst he was thus in the enj oyment of greatprosperity the following talk sprang up in the publicassembly ofhi s clansmen Siddh attha lives devotedto pleasure ; not one thing does he learn ; if w arShould break out, what would he do 2The king sent for the future Buddha, and said to

h im Your relations, dear one, say that you learnnothing, and are given up to pleasure now what do

you think you Should do about thi s 2Sire , there is no art it is necessary for me to

learn . Have the drum-beater about the city, that Imay Show my skill . Seven days from now I will Showmy kindred what I can do .

”

The king did so . The B odi sat assembled those soSkilled in archery that they could split even a hair, andshoot as quick as lightning and then,

in the midst ofthe people

,he showed his relatives his twelve - fold skill ,

and how unsurpassed he w as by other masters of the


bow .

1 So the assembly of hi s clansmen doubted nolonger .1

Now one day the future Buddh a, wanting to go tohis pleasur e ground, told hi s charioteer to harness hischariot . The latter accordingly decked the gloriouslybeautiful chariot with all its trappings, and harnessedto it four state horses of the Sindhi breed, and whi teas the leaves of the whi te lotus flower . And heinformed the B odisat . So the B odisat ascended thechariot

,resplendent like a mansion in the Skies , and

went towards the garden .

The devas thought The time for young Siddhattha to attain Enlightenment is near, let us Showhim the Omens .” And they di d so by making a son

of the devas represent a man wasted by age, .withdecayed teeth and grey hair , bent and broken downin body, and with a stick in h is hand . But he w asonly visible to the future B uddh a and his charioteer .Then the B odisat asked his charioteer, as is told

in the Mahapadana 2 What kind of man is this ,whose very hair is not as that ofothermen 2 Whenhe heard hi s servant’s answer, he said Shame thenbe upon life ! since the old age of what is born isevident ! ” and wi th agitated heart he turned back at

that very spot and re- entered his palace .The king asked Wh y does my son turn back sohurriedly 2

He has seen an old man, they said, and havingseen an old man,

he will forsake the world .

”

By this you ruin me,” exclaimed the raja

1 A gloss adds , This should be understood as is relatedfully in the S arabhanga Jataka (no .

2 Dialogues of the B uddha, ii , p . 18 .


the future B uddh a, cherishing the thought of re

nouncing the world, went on to hi s pleasure ground .

The repeaters of the Digha Nikaya,1 however, saythat he saw all the four Omens on the same day, andthen went to hi s pleasure ground . There he enj oyedhimself during the day and bathed in the beautifullake ; and at sunset seated himself on the royalresting stone to be robed . Now hi s attendantsbrought robes of different colours, and various kindsof ornaments, and

,garlands, and perfumes

, and

ointments, and stood around him ,

At that moment the throne on whi ch Sakka w as

seated became warm .

2 And thinking to himself:Who is it now who wants me to descend fromhence 2 he perceived that the time for the adornment of the future B uddha had come . And he saidto Vissakamma Friend Vissakamma, the youngnoble Siddhattha, to -day, at mi dnight, will carryout the Great R enunciation. Thi s is the last timehe will be clad in splendour . Go to the pleasureground and adorn him with heavenly array.

By the mi raculous power whi ch devas have ,he accordingly, that very moment, drew nearin the likeness of the royal barber and taking from

1 The members of the Buddhist Order of almsmen (bh ikkh us)were in the habit of selecting some book or book s of the Buddh istS criptures, which it w as their especial duty to learn by heart ,repeat to their pupils, study, expound, and preach from. Thusthe D igha Nikaya, or coll ection of long treatises, h ad a Specialschool of repeaters (bhanaka) to itself.

2 At critical moments in the lives of persons of importancein the religious legends of Buddhist India, the seat of the devagovernor Sakka becomes warm . Fearful of los ing his temporarybliss, he then descends himself, or sendsVissakamma, the BuddhistVulcan, to act as a deus exmach ina, and put things straight.


the barber’s hand the material for the turban,he

arranged it round the B odi sat’s head . At the touchof his hand the B odi sat knew Thi s is no man, it is

a son of the devas .” When the first round of theturban w as put on, there arose , by the appearance ofthe j ewel on the diadem, a thousand folds ; whenthe turban w as wrapt the second time round

, a

thousand folds arose again when ten times,ten

thousand folds appeared . How so many folds couldseem to rise on so small a head is beyond imaginationfor in size the largest of them were as the flower oftheB lack Piyangu creeper, and the rest even as Kutumbaka blossoms . And the head of the future Buddhabecame like a Kuyyaka flower in full bloom .

And when he w as arrayed in all his splendour— themusicians the whi le exhibiting each one his peculiarSkill, the brahmins honouring him with words of j oyand victory, and the men of lower station with festivecries and shouts of praise — h e ascended his superblydecorated car .

At that time Suddh odana the king, who had heardthat the mother ofRahula had brought forth a son,

sent a message, saying Make known my joy tomy son !

” The futureBuddha, hearing this, saidAn impediment has come into being, a bond h ascome into being . When the king asked Whatdid my son say 2 and heard that saying, he gavecommand From henceforth let Rahula (impediment) be my grandson

’s name . But the B odisat ,riding in hi s splendid chariot, entered the town withgreat magnificence and exceeding glory .

At that time a noble maiden,KisaGotami by name ,


had gone to the flat roof of the upper story of herpalace , and Sh e beheld the beauty and maj esty of theB odi sat as he w as proceedi ng thr ough the city .

Pleased and deli ghted at the sight,She burst forth

into thi s song of j oy

271 . Blessed indeed is that motherBlessed indeed is that fatherBlessed indeed is that wifeOf whom such an one is master

Hearing thi s, the B odi sat thought to himself On

catching sight of such an one the heart ofhismother ismade happy, the heart of his father is made happy ,the heart of h is wife is made happy ! So sh e says .B ut in peace as to what can the heart be at peace 2And to him whose mind w as estranged from Sin theanswer came:When the fir e of lust is gone out,then peace is gained ; when the fir es of hatred and

delusion are gone out, then peace is gained when thetroubles of mind, arising from vain conceits , opini ons,and all other corruptions have ceased , then peaceis gained Sweet is the lesson thi s Singer makes mehear, for the going out whi ch is Peace is that whi chI have been trying to find out . This very day I willbreak away from household cares I will renouncethe world I will follow only after the Nirvana itself ! 1

1 The force of this passage is due to the fullness of meaningwhi ch , to the Buddhi st, the wordsNi bbz‘Zta and Nibbanamconvey.

No words in western languages cover exactly the same ground,or connote the same ideas . To explain them ful ly to anyoneunfamiliar with Indi an modes of thought would be difficultanywhere , and impossible in a note but their meaning is prettyclear from the above sentences . Where in them, in the song, thewords blessed , happy, p eace, and the words gone out, ceased, occur,nibbuta stands in the original in one or other of its two meanings


magnificent apartment, as splendid as Sakka’sresidence

,began to seem lik e a great area laden with

di vers offal, like a charnel-field full of corpses . Life ,whether in the worlds subject to passion, or in theother worlds of form, or in the forml ess worlds

,

seemed to him like staying in a house that had becomethe prey Of devouring flames.

1 An utterance of

intense feeling broke from him It all oppressesme It is intolerable and hi smind turned ardentlyto the state of those who have renounced the world .

Resolving that very day to accompli sh the GreatRenunciation, he rose from his couch, went to thedoor and called out Wh o is there 2Channa, who h ad been sleeping with hi s head on the

th reshold, answered It is 1 , Sir , Channa.

”

Then said he I want to -day to accompli sh theGreat R enunciation— saddl e me a horse .

”

So Channa saying Very good, Sire, and takingharness, went to the stable-yard, and entering thestables saw by the light ofthe lampsKanthaka, princeof steeds , standing at a pleasant spot under a canopyof cloth, beautified with a pattern of jasmine flowers .Thi s is the very one I ought to saddle to -day,

”

thought he and he saddled Kanthaka.

Even whi lst he w as being saddled the horse knewHe is saddling me so tightly and not as on otherdays for such rides as those to the pleasure grounds,because my master is about to-day to carry out the

1 Lit . , The three B h av as seemed like houses on fire . Thethr ee Bhave s are existence in the Kama-loka, the R fipa-loka,and the Arapa-loka respectively that is , existence in the worldswhose inhabitants ar e subject to passion, who have materialforms, but not passion, and have no forms respectively.


Great R enunciation. Then, glad at heart, h e

neighed a mighty neigh and the sound thereofwould have penetrated over all the town

, had not

the devas stopped the sound and let no one hear it .

Now after the B odi sat had sent Channa on thiserrand, he thought I wi ll just look at my son .

”

And rising from hi s crosslegged sitting he went to theapartments of Rahula

’

s mother,and opened her

chamber door . At that moment a lamp,fed with

Sweet- smelling oil, w as burning dimly in the inner

chamber . The mother ofRahula was asleep on a bedstrewn with many jasmine flow ers

,

1and resting her

hand on the head of her son. Stopping wi th his footon the thr eshold

,the B odi sat thought, If I li ft her

hand to take my son, she will awake and that willprevent my going away . I wi ll come back and see

him wh en I have become a Buddha.

”And he left the

palace .

Now what is said in the Jataka commentary At

that time Rahula w as seven days old,”is not found in

the other commentaries . Therefore the view givenabove should be accepted .

2

And when the B odisat had left the palace, he wentto hi s horse

, and said Dear Kanthaka, do thoubear me over thi s once to -night ; so that I, havingbecome a B uddha by thy help , Shall bear over theworld ofmen and devas . Then leaping up , he seatedhimself on Kanth aka’

s back .

1 Lit. , about an ammana ( i .s. five or six bushels) of the largejasmine and the Arabian jasmine .

2 The J ataka Commentary here referred to is, no doubt, theolder commentary ofElu, or old S inghalese, on which the presentwork is based .


Kanthaka was eighteen cubits in length from thenape of his neck, and of proportionate height ; hew as strong and fleet, and white all over like a cleanchank shell . If he should neigh or paw the ground ,the sound would penetrate through all the town .

Therefore the devas so muffled the sound of h is

neighing that none could hear it and placed,at each

step,the palms of their hands under hi s feet .

The B odisat rode on the excellent back of theexcellent steed told Channa to catch hold of its tail,and arrived at midnight at the great gate of the city .

Now the king thinking In that w ay the B odisatwill not be able at any time to open the city gate andget away ’’

had placed a thousand men at each ofthetwo gates to stop him . The B odisat was mighty andstrong according to the measur e of elephants as ten

thousand mi llion elephants , and accordi ng to themeasure ofmen as amillionmi lli onmen. He thoughtIf the door does not open,

sitting on Kanthaka’

s

back with Channa holding hi s tail, I wi ll press Kanthaka with my thighs , and jumping over the cityrampart

,eighteen cubits high, I will get away !

Channa thought If the door is not opened, I willtake my master on my neck, and putting my righthand round Kanthaka’

s girth, I wi ll hold h im closeto my waist

, and so leap over the rampart and getaw ay ! Kanthaka thought If the door is notopened

,I will spring up with my master seated as he

is on my back, and Channa holding by my tail, and

wi ll leap over the rampart and get away And if

the door h ad not been opened, verily one or other ofhose three would have accomplished that whereof


Staying . And keeping Kanthaka in the direction inwhi ch he was going , he went on with great honour andexceeding glory .

For then, they say, devas in front of him carriedSixty thousand torches

, and behind him too , and on

hi s right hand, and on hi s left . And whi le some devasundefined on the edge of the horizon

,held torches

aloft other devas,and the Nagas

, and WingedCreatures, and other superhuman beings, bore himcompany— doing homage with heavenly perfumes ,and garlands, and sandal-wood powder, and incense .

And the whole Sky was full ofParicchattaka flowersas with the pouring rain when thi ck clouds gather .Divine songs floated around and on every sidethousands of musical instruments sounded, as .

whenthe thunder roars in the womb ofthe sea, or the oceanheaves against the boundaries of the worldAdvancing in thi s pomp and glory, the B odi sat, inthat one night

,passed beyond three kingdoms, and

arrived , at the end of thirty leagues , at the bank oftheriver called Anoma. But why could not the horse gostill further 2 It w as not th rough want ofpower forhe could go from one edge of the world’s disc to theother, as easily as one could step across the cir

cumference of a wheel lying on its side — and doingthis in the forenoon

,he could return and eat the food

prepared for him . B ut on this occasion he was

constantly delayed by having to dr ag himself along,and break hi s w ay through the mass of garlands andflowers

,cast down from heaven in such profusion by

the devas, and the Nagas , and the Winged Creatures ,that h is very flanks were hid . Hence it w as that heonly got over thi rty leagues .


Now the B odi sat, stopping at the river Side, askedChanna What is thi s river called 2Its name

,Sire , is An oma.

”

And so also our leaving the world shall be calledAnoma (illustrious) , said he and signalling to hishorse, by pressing it with hi s heel, the horse sprangover the river, five or six hundred yards in breadth,and stood on the opposite bank .

The B odi sat, getting down from the horse’s back,stood on the sandy beach, extending there like a sheetof Silver, and said to Channa: Good Channa, dothou now go back, taking my ornaments and

Kanthaka. I am going to leave the worldBut I also , sire , wi ll leave the world .

Thou canst not be allowed to leave the world,do

thou go back,” he said . Three times he refused this

request of Channa’s ; and he delivered over to h imboth the ornaments and Kanthaka.

Then he thought ; These locks of mine are not

sui ted for a recluse . Now it is not right for any one

else to cut the hair of a future Buddha, so I will cutthem offmyself with this sword .

” Then, taking h issword in hi s right hand, and holding the plaitedtresses

,together with the di adem on them, wi th h is

left,he cut them off . So hi s hair w as thus reduced to

two inches in length, and curling from the right, it layclose to hi s head . It remained that length as long ashe lived, and the beard the same . There w as no needat all to Shave either hair or beard any more .

The B odisat , saying to himself If I am to becomea Buddha,

let it stand in the air ifnot, let it fall tothe ground threw the hair and diadem together as

N


he held them towards the Sky . The plaited hair andthe jswelled turban went a league off and stopped inthe air . Sakka, the deva-king , caught Sight ofit withhis deva- eye , and receiving it into a j ewel casket, aleague high, he placed it in Tavatimsa

,in the Dagaba

of the Diadem .

272 . Cutting off his hair, with pleasant perfumes sweet,The supreme person cast it to the sky .

The thousand-eyed one, Sakka, by h is head,R eceived it humbly in a golden cask et .

Again the B odi sat thought Thi s my raiment ofB enares muslin is not sui table for a recluse .

” Nowthe great B rahmaGhatikara, who had formerly beenh is friend in the time of Kassapa B uddha! was led byhis friendshi p , whi ch had not grown old in that longinterval, to think To -day my friend is accomplishing the Great R enunciation, I wi ll go and provide himwith the requisites ofa recluse .

273 . The three robes , and the alms bowl,R azor, needle , and g irdle,And a water strainer— these eightAre the wealth of the monk devout .

Taking these eight requisites of a recluse, he gavethem to him . The B odisat dr essed himself in thebanner of anArahant and adopted the sacred garbofR enunciation and he enj oined upon Channa to goand, in his name, assure his parents of his safety . And

Channa did homage to the B odisat reverently, anddeparted .

Now Kanthaka stood listening to the B odisat as he

1 See above, p . 51 .


The king , watching the greatman from hi s palace,became full of wonder, and gave orders to hi s guards ,saying, Go , I say, and watch . If it is a superhuman being, he will di sappear as soon as he leavesthe city ; ii a deva, he wi ll depart through the airif a snake

,he will di ve into the earth if a man

,he

will eat the food just as it is.

But the great man collected mixed food . And

when he perceived there w as enough to support him ,

he left the city by the gate at whi ch he h ad entered .

And seating himself, facing towards the East , underthe Shadow of the Pandava rock , he began to eat hi s

meal . His stomach , however, turned , and made as ifit would come out of hi s mouth . Then

,though

distressed by that revolting food, for in that birth heh ad never even beheld such food with hi s eyes , hehimself admoni shed himself, saying: Siddhattha,

it is true thou wast born in a fami ly where food and

drink were easily obtainable , into a state of life wherethy food w as perfumed third- season’s rice

,with

various curries of the finest kinds . But ever Sincethou didst see one clad in a mendicant’s garb , thouhast been thinking When shall I become like him ,

and live by begging my food 2 would that that timewere come ! And now that thou hast left all forthat very purpose

,what is thi s that thou art doing 2

And overcoming h is feelings , he ate the food .

The king’s men saw thi s , and went and told himthat h ad happened . Hearing what hi s messengerssaid

,the king qui ckly left the city, and approaching

the B odi sat, w as so pleased at the mere Sight of hisdigni ty and grace , that he offered him all his kingdom .


Th e B odi sat said ; In me, 0 king ! there is nodesire after wealth or sinful pleasures . I t is in thehope of attaining to complete enlightenment that Ihave left all .

”And when the king gained not his

consent, though he asked it in many ways , he saidAs suredly thou wilt become a B uddha Deign at

least after thy Buddhahood to come to my kingdomfirst .”

This is h ere concisely stated but the full account,

beginning I Sing the Renunciation,how the Wise

One renounced the world will be found on referringto the PabbajjaSutta 1 and its commentary.

And the B odisat, granting the king’s request

,went

forward on hi s way . And j oining himself to AlaraKalama, and to Uddaka, son of Rama, he acqui redtheir systems of ecstatic trance . But when he sawthat that was not the w ay to enlightenment, he leftoff applying himself to the realization of that systemofAttainm ent . And with the intention of carryingout the Great Struggle against sin, and show ing h ismight and resolution to devas and men, he w ent toUruvela. And saying: Pleasant, indeed, is thi sSpot he took up h is residence there

, and devotedhimself to the Great Struggle .

2

1 See Sutta Nipata, vers . 405- 24 .

2 The Great Struggle played a great part in the Buddhist systemofmoral training ; it w as the wrestling with the flesh by which atrue Buddhist overcame delusion and sin, and attamed toNirvana.

It 1s best explained by its four fold d ivision into 1 . Mastery overthe passions . 2 . Suppression of sinful thoughts . 3 . Meditationof the seven k inds ofEnl ightenment (Bodh1 -anga, see B uddh ism,

and 4 . Fixed attention, the power of preventing therriind from wandering . It 18 also called Sammappadhana, R ightEffort, and a formula alluded to in many Suttas . The systemw as, of course, not worked out at the time here referred to but


And those five recluses , Kondanya and the rest,

1

begging their w ay through villages , market towns , androyal cities , met with the B odi sat there . And forSix years they stayed by him and served him ,

whi lehe w as carrying out the Great Struggle , with di fferentkinds of service , such as sweeping out the hermitage ,and so on thinking the whi le Now he wi ll becomea B uddha now he will become a B uddhaNow the B odisat thought I will perform theuttermost penance . And he brought himself to liveon one seed of the oil- plant, or one grain of rice , andeven to fast entirely but devas gathered the sap of

life and infused it into him through the pores of hi sskin. B y thi s fasting, however , he became as thin as

a Skeleton the colour of his body, once fair as.gold,became dark ; and the thi rty- two Signs of a greatman di sappeared . And one day, when walking upand down, plunged in intense medi tation, he w as

overcome by severe pain and he fainted, and fell .

Then certain of the devas began to say He is

dead .

”But others said Such is the way of

saints . And those who thought he w as deadwent and told Suddh odana the king , saying Yourson is dead .

”

Did he di e after becoming a B uddha, or before 2

He w as unable to attain to Buddhahood , and felldown and died in the midst of the Great Struggle .

throughout the chronicle the biographer ascribes to Gotama fromthe beginning, a knowledge of the whole Buddhist theory as

afterwards elaborated . For to our author that theory h ad no

development, it w as Eternal and Immutable Truth alreadyrevealed by innumerable previous Buddhas.

1 See above, p . 62 .


Now at that time , at Uruv ela, in the villageSenani , there w as a girl named Sujata, born in thehouse of Senani the landowner, who , when She hadgrown up

,made a vow at a Nigrodha

- tree,saying

If I am married into a family of equal rank , and

have a son for my first-born chi ld, then I will spendevery year a hundred thousand on an offering to thee .

And this her vow took effect .And in order to make her offering, on the full-moon

day ofthe month ofMay, in the sixth year ofthe GreatB eing’s penance , She h ad driven in front of her athousand cows into a meadow of rich grass . Withtheir mi lk she had fed five hundred cows

,with theirs

two hundred and fifty, and so on down to eight . Thusaspiri ng after quantity, and sweetness, and strengthShe did what is called Working the milk in and in.

And early on the full-moon day in the month of

May, thinking Now I wi ll make the offeringShe rose up in the morning early and milked those

cows . Of their own accord the calves keptaway from the cows’ udders, and as soon as the newvessels were placed ready, streams of milk pouredinto them . Seeing thi s miracle , Sujata, with her ownhands

,took the milk and poured it into new pans

and with her own hands made the fir e and began tocook it . When that rice -milk was boiling , hugebubbles rising

,turned to the right and ran round

together not a drop fell or w as lost not the leastsmoke rose from the fireplace .

At that time the four guardians of the world cameand kept watch by the fireplace . A great B rahmaheld over it a canopy of state . Sakka put the sticks

THE STORY OF THE LINEAG'E 185

together and lighted the fire . By their divine powerthe devas gathering so much of the sap of maintenanceas would suffice for the support ofall men and devasof the four continents , and their circumjacent twothousand isles— as easily as aman crushing the honey !

comb formed round a stick would take the honeythey infused it into the milk- rice . At other timesdevas infused the sap into each mouthful ofrice as hetook it but on the day of h is Buddhahood, and on

the day of h is passing away, they infused it into thevery vessel- full of rice itself .Sujata

,seeing that so many wonders appeared to

her on this one day ,said to her Slave -girl Punna

Punna, my girl Very gracious is our deva to -dayNever before have I seen such a wonder . G0 at onceand keep watch by the holy place . Very good

,

madam,

” replied sh e and ran and hastened to thefoot of the tree .

Now the B odi sat had seen that night five dreams,and on considering their purport he had drawn theconclusion Verily thi s day I Shall become a

B uddha.

”And at the end of the night he washed

and dressed himself, and waiting till the time shouldcome to go round for his food, he went early, and sat

at the foot of that tree, lighting it all up with hisglory .

And Purinacoming there saw the B odisat sitting atthe foot of the tree and lighting up all the region of

the East ; and sh e saw the whole tree in colourlike gold from the rays issuing from h is body . And

She thought: To-day our deva, descending fromthe tree

,is seated to receive our offering in his own

186 B UDDHIS T B IRTH STORIES

hand . And excited with j oy, She returned qui ckly,and announced this to Sujata. Sujata

,delighted at

the news , gave her all the ornaments befitting a

daughter, saying To -day, from thi s time forth,be thou to me in the place ofan elder daughterAnd Since, on the day ofattaining B uddhahood, it isproper to receive a golden vessel worth a hundredthousand, sh e conceived the idea We will put themilk- rice into a vessel of gold .

”And sending for a

vessel of gold worth a hundred thousand,She poured

out the well- cooked food to put it therein. All therice -mi lk flowed into the vessel, like water from a

lotus leaf, and filled the vessel full . Taking it sh e

covered it with a golden platter, and wrapped it ina cloth . And adorning herself in all her Splendour,Sh e put th e vessel on her head, and went with greatdigni ty to the Nigrodh a- tree . Seeing the B odisat,sh e w as filled with exceeding joy, taking him for thetree -deva ; and advanced bowing from the spot whenceshe saw him . Tak ing the vessel from her head

,Sh e

uncovered it and fetching sweet- scented water in a

golden vase,sh e approached the B odisat, and stood by .

The earthenware pot given him by the devaGhatikara, whi ch h ad never till then left him ,

disappeared at that moment . Not seeing hi s pot, theB odi sat stretched out hi s right hand, and took thewater . Sujata placed the vessel, with the mi lk - ricein it, in the hand of the great man . The great man

looked at her . Pointing to the food, she said O,

sir ! accept what I have offered thee , and departwhi th ersoever seemeth to thee good . And addingMay there arise to thee as much joy as has come to


stream, eighty cubits up the river in the middle of thestream, all the w ay as quickly as a fleet horse . And

diving into a whi rlpool it went to the p alace ofKalaNagaraja (the B lack Snake King) and strikingagainst the bowls from whi ch the three previousB uddhas h ad eaten

,it made them sound killi

killi and stopped as the lowest of them . Kala,the snake -king, hearing the noise

,exclaimed

Yesterday a B uddha arose,now to -day another has

arisen and he stood praising him in many hundredstanzas .

But the B odisat spent the heat of the day in a groveof Sal- trees in full bloom on the bank or the river .And in the evening, when the flowers droop fromtheir stems , he proceeded, like a lion when it is roused,towards the Tree ofEnlightenment

,along a path five

or S ix hundred yards wi de,decked by devas . The

Snakes, and Genii , and Winged Creatures! and othersuperhuman beings

,offered h im sweet- smelling

flowers from heaven,and sang heavenly songs . The

ten thousand worldsystems became filled withperfumes and garlands and shouts of approval .At that time there came from the opposite direction

a grass - cutter named Sotthi ya, carrying grass and

recogni zing the great man,he gave h im eight bundles

ofgrass . The B odi sat took the grass and ascending

1 Nagas,Yak kh as, and Supannas. The Yakkh as are characterizod throughout the J ataka stories by the ir cannibalism thefemale Yakkh as as s irens lur ing men on to destruction . They areinvisible till they assume human Shape ; but even then can be

recogni zed by the ir red eyes . That the Ceylon aborigines arecalled Yakkh as in the Mahavamsa probably results from a

tradition of their canni balism . On the others, see above, p . 179 .


the rising ground round the B o -tree,he stood at the

South of it , looking towards the North . At thatmoment the Southern horizon seemed to descendbelow the level of the lowest hell

,and the Northern

horizon mounting up seemed to reach above thehighest heaven.

The B odisat, saying Thi s cannot, methinks, bethe right place for attaining B uddhahood turnedround it, keeping it on the right hand and went tothe Western Side, and stood facing the East. Thenthe Western horizon seemed to descend beneath thelowest hell, and the Eastern horizon to ascend aboveth e highest heaven and to him

,where he was

standing, the earth seemed to bend up and down likea great cart wheel lying on its axis when its

circumference is trodden on.

The B odisat, saying Thi s cannot, I think, hethe right place for attaining B uddhahood turnedround it, keeping it on the right hand and went tothe Northern side , and stood facing the South . Thenthe Northern horizon seemed to descend beneath thelowest hell, and the Southern horizon to ascend abovethe highest heaven.

The B odisat, saying Thi s cannot, I think, bethe right place for attaining Buddhahood turnedround it, keeping it on the right hand and went tothe Western side

,and stood facing towards the East .

Now in the East is the place where all the B uddhashave sat crosslegged and that place neithertrembles nor shakes .The great being, perceiving Thi s is the steadfast

spot chosen by all the B uddhas , the spot for the


throwing down of the cage of Sin took hold of thegrass by one end, and scattered it there . And

imm edi ately there w as a seat fourteen cubits long .

For those blades of grass arranged themselves insuch a form aswould be beyond the power ofeven theablest painter or carver to design.

The B odi sat turning hi s back upon the trunk of theB o - tree

, and with hi s face towards the East, made thefirm resolve:May skin, indeed, and Sinews, and

bones wilt away, may flesh and blood in my body dryup , but till I attain to complete enlightenment this seatI will not leave ! And he sat himself down in a

cross - legged position,

firm and immovable, as if

welded with a hundred thunderbolts .At that time the deva Mara, thinking Prince

Siddhattha wants to free himself from my dominion .

I will not let him get free yet ! ” went to the hosts ofhis Maras

,

1and told the news . And sounding the

drum called Mara-Cry, he led forth the hosts of

Mara.

That army ofMara stretches twelve leagues beforehim ,

twelve leagues to right and left of him ,behind

h im it reaches to the rocky limits of the world, aboveh im it is nine leagues in height ; and the sound of

its w ar - cry is heard,twelve leagues away, even as the

sound of an earthquake .

Then Mara deva, mounted h is elephant, twohundred and fifty leagues high, named Girded withmountains And he created for himself a thousandarms

,and seized all kinds of weapons . And of the

1 Lit. , to the strength ofMara( s) (Marabala) .


round on thr ee sides, and saw that all the devas hadfled

,and their place w as empty . Then beholding the

hosts ofMara coming thick upon him from the North,he thought: Against me alone thi s mighty hostis putting forth all its energy and strength . No fatheris here, nor mother, nor brother, nor any otherrelative to help me . But those ten perfections havelong been to me as retainers fed from my store . So ,making the perfections like a Shi eld, I must strikethi s host with the sword ofperfection, and thus overwhelm it ! And so he sat meditating on the TenPerfections .1

Then Mara deva, saying Thus wi ll I drive awaySiddh attha caused a whirlwind to blow . And

immedi ately such winds rushed togeth er from thefour corners of the earth as could have torn down thepeaks ofmountains half a league , two leagues , thr eeleagues high— could have rooted up the Shr ubs andtrees ofthe forest — and could have made ofthe townsand villages around one heap of ruins . But throughthe glow of th e merit of the great man, they reachedhim with their power gone, and even the hem of his

robe they were unable to shake .

Then saying I will overwhelm him with waterand so Slay h im he caused a mighty rain to fall .And the clouds gathered, overspreading one anotherby hundreds and by thousands, and poured forthrain ; and by the violence of the torrents the earthw as saturated ; and a great flood, overtopping thetrees of the forest, approached th e .B odhi sat . But

1 His acquisition of the Ten Perfections , or Car dinal Virtues, isdescribed above, pp . 101 ff.


it wasnot able to wet on his robe even the space wherea dew-dr op might fall .Then he caused a storm of rocks to fall . And

mighty, mighty mountain peaks came thr ough theair

, spitting forth fire and smoke . But as they reachedthe B odhi sat, they changed into divine garlands .Then he raised a storm of deadly weapons . And

they came - one- edged, and two - edged swords, and

spears, and arrows— smoking and flaming thr oughthe sky . But as they reached the B odhi sat

,they

became divine flowers .Then he raised a storm of charcoal B ut the

embers, though they came through the sky like redkimsuka flowers, were scattered at the feet of thefuture B uddha as divine flowers .Then he raised a storm of embers and the embers

came through the air exceeding hot, and in colourlike fire but they fell at the feet ofthe future B uddhaas sandal-wood powder .Then he raised a storm of sand ; and the sand,

exceeding fine,came smoking and flaming through

the air but it fell at the feet of the futur e B uddha asdivine flowers .Then he raised a storm of mud . And the mud

came smoking and flaming through the air ; but itfell at the feet of the future B uddha as divineunguent .Then saying By thi s I wi ll terrify Siddhattha,

and drive him away he brought on a thi ck darkness .And the darkness became fourfold ; but when it

reached the future B uddha, it di sappeared as darkness does before the brightness of the sun .


Thus wasMara unable by these nine— the wind, and

the rain, and the rocks, and the weapons , and the charcoal, and the embers, and the sand, and the mud, andthe darkness— to drive away the future B uddha. Sohe called on h is host, and said Say, why stand youstill 2 Seize

,or Slay

,or drive away thi s prince !

And himself mounted theMountain- girded,and seated

on his back,he approached the future Buddha, and

cried out Get up, Siddhattha, from that seatIt does not belong to thee It belongs to meThe great being listened to his words

,and said

Mara it is not by you that the tenPerfections havebeen perfected, neither the lesser Perfections, nor thehigher Perfections . It is not you who have sacrificedyourself in the five great acts of renunciation,

whohave perfected the way of good in knowledge nor thew ay ofgood for the world nor the way ofunderstanding . Thi s seat does not belong to thee

,it is to me that

it belongs .”

Then the enraged Mara, unable to endure thevehemence of his anger, cast at the great man

th at Sceptre - javelin of hi s,the barb ofwhi ch w as in

shape as a wheel . B ut it became a wreath of flowers ,and remained as a canopy over him ,

whose mind w asbent upon the Ten Perfections .Now at other times

,when that Wicked One thr ows

hi s Sceptre - javelin, it cleaves asunder a pillar of solidrock as ifit were the tender shoot ofa bambu . Wh en,

however,it thus turned into a wreath- canopy, the

entire company ofMara shouted , Now he will risefrom his seat and flee ! and they hurled at him

huge masses ofrock . But these too fell on the ground


And the great Earth uttered a voice,saying I

am witness to thee of that ! overwhelming as it

were the hosts ofMara as wi th the shout ofhundredsof thousands of foes .Then the mighty elephant Mount- girded

as he realized what the generosity ofVessantara had

been,said The great gift

,the uttermost gift w as

given by thee , Siddh attha And he fell down on hisknees before the great man . And the company of

Mara fled this w ay and that w ay, so that not eventwo were left together throwing offtheir clothes andtheir turbans , they fled

,each one straight on before

But the company ofdevas, when they saw that thehosts of Mara had fled , cried out Mara

‘is

overcome ! Siddhattha the Prince has prevailed !Come, let us honour the victor ! And the Nagas ,and the Winged Creatures , and the Devas, and theB rahmas , each urging hi s comrades on,

went up tothe great man at the B o - tree’s foot

,and as they

came,

At the B o -tree ’s foot the Naga bandsShouted , for j oy that the Sage h ad w on

The B lessed B uddha— h e hath prevailedAnd the Evil Mara is overthrownAt the B o -tree ’s foot the Winged OnesShouted , for j oy that the Sage h ad w on

The B lessed Buddha- h e hath prevailedAnd the EvilMara is overthrownAt the B o -tree ’s foot the Deva hostsShouted for j oy that the Sage h ad w onThe B lessed B uddha— h e hath prevailed

And the EvilMara is overthrownAt the B o - tree ’s foot the BrahmaGodsShouted , for j oy that the Sage h ad w on

Th e Blessed Buddha— h e hath prevailedAnd the evil Mara is overthrown


The other devas , too , in the ten thousand worldsystems , offered garlands and perfumes and utteredhis praises aloud .

It w as whi le the sun w as still above the horizon,

that the great man thus put to fli ght the hosts ofMara . Then, whilst the B o - tree paid him homage

,

as it were, by its Shoots like sprigs ofred coral fallingover hi s robe, he acquired in the first watch of thenight the knowledge ofthe past

,in the mi ddle watch

the clairvoyant eye , and in the thi rd watch theknowledge of the chain of causation .

1

Now on his thus revolving thi s way and thatw ay, and tracing backwards and forwards

, and

thoroughly realizing the tw elvefold chain ofcausation, the ten thousand worldsystems quakedtwelve times even to their ocean boundaries . Andagain

,when the great man

,making the ten thousand

world systems to Shout for j oy,attained at break of

day to complete enlightenm ent, the whole ten

thousand worldsystems became glorious as on a

festive day. The streamers of the flags and bannersraised on the edge of the rocky boundary tnthe Eastofthe world reached to the very West and so thoseon the West and North, and South, reached to theEast, and South , and North ; whi le in like mannerthose offlags and banners on the sur face of the earthreached to the B rahma-world

,and those offlags and

banners in that world swept down upon the earth .

Throughout the universe flowering trees put forththeir blossoms , and fruit-bearing trees were loadedwith clusters of fruit ; the trunks and branches of1 Pub b e-ni vasa-fiana, D ibba-cakkh u, and Paticca-samuppada.


trees,and even the creepers , were covered with bloom

lotus wr eaths hung from the Sky and li lies by sevenssprang, one above another, even from the very rocks .The ten thousand worldsystems as they revolvedseemed like amass of loosened wreaths

,or like a

nosegay tastefully arranged and the world-voidsbetween them

,the hells whose darkness the rays of

seven suns had never been able to disperse,became

filled wi th light . The sea became sweet water downto its profoundest depths and the rivers were stayedin their cour se . The blind from birth received theirsight ; the deaf from birth heard sound ; the lamefrom birth could use their feet and chains and bondswere loosed and fell away .

1

It w as thus in surpassing glory and honour, and withmany wonders happening around, that he attainedall -knowledge

,and gave vent to his emotion in the

hymn of triumph uttered by all the B uddhas .

278 . Long have I wandered, long,Bound by the chain of lifeThrough many b irths,

S eek ing thus long in vain ,

The builder of the house . And painIs birth again , again .

House -mak er , thou ar t seenNo more a house thou ’lt mak e .

Brok en are all thy beams .Thy ridge -pole shatteredFrom things that mak e for life my mind h as pastThe end of cravings h as been reached at last 2

1 Compare the Thirty-two Good Omens at the Buddha’s Birthabove , p . 160.

2 The train of thought is explained at length in my B uddh ism,

pp . 100- 12 . Shortly, it amounts to thi s . The unconscioush as no pain:without consciousness , individuality, there wouldbe no pain . What g ives men consciousness It is due to a gr asping , craving, sinful condition of heart . Th e absence of these


a time,

1 that I severed my crowned head from myneck and gave it away, that I tore out my darkenedeyes and my heart’s flesh and gave them away

,that

I gave away to serve others such sons as Jali thePrince, and such daughters as Kanha J ina thePrincess, and such wives as Maddi the Queen. Thi sseat is a seat of triumph to me

,and a seat of

glory whi le seated on it my aims have been fulfilledI will not leave it yet .” And he sat there absorbed inmany thoughts 2 for those seven days referred to inthe text, beginning And then the B lessed Onesat motionl ess for seven days, realizing the bliss ofNirvana.

”

Now certain ofthe devas began to doubt,thinking

Thi s day also there must be something moreS iddhattha has to do

,for he still lingers seated there .

”

The Master, knowing their thoughts, and to appeasetheir doubts, rose into the air , and performed thetwin-miracle .

2

And the Master having thus by thi s miracle dis

pelled the devas’ doubts

,stood a little to the north

east ofthe seat, thinking It was on that seat thatI attained all-knowing insight .” And he thus spentseven days gazing steadfastly at the spot where he

1 Literally for four asankheyyas and a hundred thousandkalpas.

2 Anekak oti -sata-sah assa samapattiyo samapajjanto .

2 Yamaka-

patih ariyan ; Comp . pp . 88, 193 , of the text, andMah . p . 107. (Described in the Patisambh idamugga, a book of the5th Nikaya ; i , 125, as fire proceeding from the upper half ofhis body, water from the lower half .— Ed . ) B igandet, p . 93 , h as

performed a thousand wonders Hardy, p . 181 , omits theclause and Beal omits the whole episode . A gloss here addsthat th e Buddha performed a similar miracle on three otheroccasions .


had gained the result of the deeds of virtue fulfilledthrough such countless years . And that spot becameknown as the Dagaba of the Steadfast Gaze .

Then he created between the seat and the spot wherehe had stood a cloistered walk

, and he spent seven dayswalking up and down in that treasure - cloister whi chstretched from east to west . And that spot becameknown as the Dagaba of the Treasure-Cloister .But for the fourth week the devas created to the

north-west of the B o—tree a Treasure -house and hespent the week seated there cross - legged

, and thinkingout the Abhi dhamma Pitaka and here especiallythe entire Patthana with its infinite methods . (Butthe Abhidhammikas 1 say that Treasur e -house heremeans either a mansion built of the seven kinds ofj ewels

,or the place where the seven books were

thought out and as they give these two explanationsof the passage, both may be accepted as correct . )Having thus spent four weeks close to the B o - tree,he went, in the fifth week, to the Shepherd

’sNigrodhatree and sat there medi tating on Doctrine

,and

experiencing the happiness of deliverance .

Now at that time the deva Mara thought to h imself: So long a time have I followed this manseeking some access to him ,

and find no fault in h imand now

,indeed, he is beyond my power .

”And

overcome with sorrow he sat down on the hi ghway,and as he thought of the following Sixteen thingshe drew Sixteen lines on the ground . Thinking,

1 The monk s w h ose duty it is to learn by heart , repeat , andcommentate upon the seven book s in the Abh idhamma Pi taka.

See above , p . 168 .


I did not attain,as he di d, to the perfection of

Giving therefore I have not become like him hedrew one line . Then thinking I did not attain, as

he did,to the Perfections of Moral Practice , and Self

abnegation, andWisdom,and Exertion, and Patience ,

and Truth , and R esolution, and Kindness

,and

Equanimi ty 1 therefore I have not become like him ,

he drew nine more lines . Then thinking I di d not

attain the Ten Perfections, the conditions precedentto the penetration,

the extraordi nary knowledge of

the complete w ay of th e senses, and therefore I havenot become like him he drew the eleventh line .

Then thinking I did not attain to the Ten Perfections , the condi tions precedent to the penetration,

theextraordinary knowledge of inclinations and latenttendencies

, of the attainment of compassion, of thedouble mi racle, of the removal of hindrances, and ofall-knowing therefore I have not become like himhe drew the five other lines . And so he sat on thehighway, drawi ng sixteen lines for these sixteen

At that time Craving, Discontent, and Lust,2 thethree daughters ofMara, could not find their father,and were looking for him ,

wondering where he couldbe . And when they saw him , sad at heart, writingon the ground, they went up to him , and askedWhy

,dear, are you sad and sorrowful 2

And he answered My women, this great recluseis escaping from my power . Long have I watched , but

1 On these TenPerfections, see above , pp . 101 ff.2 Tanha, Arati , and R aga. Cf. Kindred S ayings, i , 156 ,

giving the older version (Pali . Text Soc . ,- Ed .


just as they are,with broken teeth and bald heads .

Thi s Should not be believed,for the Master issues not

such commands .But the B lessed One said Depart ye ! What

have ye seen that ye thus strive 2 Such things mightbe done in the presence of men who linger in the pathsof sin but by the Tathagata lust is put away,ill-will is put away, delusion is put away And headmoni shed them in those two verses from the Chapteron the B uddha in the Scripture Verses2 80. Whose conquest is not overthrown

His conquest nought on earth assails .That Buddha, infinite in range ,Pathless , by what path will ye lead 2

281 . In whom there is no snare besetting .

Venomous craving any -whither leading.That B uddha, infinite in range,Pathless, by what path will ye lead 2 1

And they saying Our father spoke the truthindeed . The saint

,the Well-Farer ofthe world is not

easily led away and so on, returned to their father.But the B lessed One when he h ad Spent a week at

that spot,went on to the Muchalinda- tree . There he

spent a week . Much alinda, the snake -king, whena storm arose

,Shi elding him with seven folds of his

hood,so that the B lessed One enj oyed the bliss of

deliverance as if he h ad been resting unharassed in a

fragrant chamber . Thence he went away to theKingstead—tree and there also sat down enj oying thebliss of deliverance . And so sevenweeks passed away,during whi ch he experienced no bodily wants , butfed on Jhana-

joy, Path-joy, and Frui tion- j oy .

2

1 Gloss He taught the Doctrine, saying these two stanzas inthe B uddha-section of the Dhammapada. Dhammapada (verses

2 See ab ov e . p . 187.


Now,as he sat there on the last day of the seven

weeks— the forty—ninth day— h e felt a desire to bathehi s face . And Sakka, the deva-governor

,brought a

fruit ofthe myr obolan- tree,and gave him to eat . And

Sakka, too, provided a tooth- cleanser of the thorns ofthe snake- creeper, and water to bathe h is face . And

the Master used the tooth- cleanser, and bathed h is

face, and sat him down there at the foot of theKingstead- tree .

At that time two merchants,Tapassu and Bhalluka

by name , were travelling from Orissa to CentralIndia 1 wi th five hundred carts . And a deva

,a blood

relation of theirs , stopped their carts, and movedtheir hearts to offer food to the Master . And theytook a rice cake, and a honey cake, and went up to theMaster, and said O sir , B lessed One out of

compassion for us accept thi s food .

”

Now,on the day when he had received the sweet

rice -milk,h is bowl had di sappeared 2 so the B lessed

One thought The Buddhas never receive food intheir hands . How Shall I accept it 2 Then the fourGuardi ans knew hi s thought and, coming from thefour quarters of the Sky ,

they brought bowls made ofsapphi re . And the B lessed One accepted them . Thenthey brought four other bowls , made of jade and

the B lessed one, out of kindness to the four devas,received the four

, and placing them one above anothercommanded

,saying Let them become one.

”

And the four closed up into one of medium Size ,1 Ukkala to Majjh ima-desa. Th e latter included all theBuddhist Holy Land from the modern Patna to Allahabad . See

above , p . 6 1 , note .

2 See above , pp . 178, 187.

206 B UDDHIS T B IRTH STORIES

becoming vi sible only as lines round the mouth of it .

The B lessed One received the food into that newcreated bowl, and ate it, and gave thanks .The two brothers took refuge in the B uddha

,the

Doctrine,and the Order,1 and became professed

disciples . Then,when they asked him

,saying

Lord,bestow upon uS something to whi ch we may

pay reverence,” with his own right hand he tore from

h is head, and gave to them,the hairrelics . And

they built a Dagaba in their own city, and placed the

relics withi n it .

2

B ut the Perfectly Enlightened One rose up thence ,and returned to the Sheph erd’s Nigrodha- tree

,and

sat down at its foot . And no sooner w as he seatedthere

,considering the depth ofthe Doctrine whi ch he

had gained,than there arose in h ismind a doubt (felt

by each of the B uddh as as he became aware of h ishaving arrived at the Doctrine) that he h ad not thatkind of ability necessary to explain that Doctrine toothers .

1 All three then non -existent institutions — Ed .

2 We have here an interesting instance of the growth of legendto authenticate and add glory to local relics , of which otherinstances will be found in B uddh ism , p . 195. The ancient formof this legend , as found here , must have arisen when the relicswere still in Orissa. B oth the Burmese and S inghalese now claimto possess them . The former say that the two merchants wereBurmese, and that the Dagaba above referred to is the celebratedsanctuary of Sh ooay Dagob (B igandet, p . 101 , 2nd Thelatter say that the Dagaba w as in Orissa, and that the hairrelics were brought thence to Ceylon in 490 A .D . , in the mannerrelated in the Hair-relic ch ronicle Kesa t tu Yamsa, and

referred to in the Maha Vamsa. (See verses 43- 56 ofmy edi tionof the 39th chap . oftheM. V . in the J The legendin the text is found in an ancient inscription on the great be ll atR angoon (Hough

’s version in the Asiatic R esearches, v ol. xvi ;comp .Hardy,MonasticB udh ism, p . 1 83 Beal , R om . p . 240.


on the evening ofthat day he arrived at the hermi tagenear B enares .1

The five elders,2 seeing already from afar theB uddha coming

,said one to another B rethren,

here comes the recluse Gotama. He has turned backto a free use of the necessaries oflife, and has recoveredroundness of form,

acuteness of sense,and beauty of

complexion. We ought to pay him no reverence ;but as he is

,after all, of a good family, he deserves

the honour of a seat . So we will simply prepare a

seat for him .

” 2

The B lessed One, casting about in h is mind by thepower that he had of knowing what w as going on inthe thoughts of all beings

,as to what they were

thinking , knew their thoughts . Then,concentrating

that feeling ofh is good-will which w as able to pervadegenerally all beings in earth and heaven, he directedit specially towards them . And the sense ofhi s goodwill di ffused itself through their hearts ; 4 and as hecame nearer and nearer, unable any longer to adhereto their resolve

,they rose from their seats

,and bowed

down before him ,and welcomed him with every mark

of reverence and respect . But,not knowing that he

had become a B uddha, they addressed him , in everything they said

,either by name

,or as B rother

Then the B lessed One announced to them hi s B uddhahood

,saying Mendi cants

, address not a B uddhaby hi s name

,or as avuso .

’ I,mendicants, am a

1 Isipatana,the hermitage in the Deer-park close to Benares,

See above , p . 183 .

2 Thera.

2 This snobbish allusion isnot in the old (Vinaya) account — Ed .

4 Av ii so ; lit . ,a corruption ofayasma,—Ed .

5 This loving will passage is not in the Vinaya.—Ed .


perfectly awakened one,one of those who have thus

come .” 1

Then, seated on the place prepared for h im,and

surrounded by myriads of devas,he addressed the five

attendant elders, j ust as the moon w as passing out ofconjunction with the lunar mansion in Uttarasalhaand taught them in that discourse whi ch w as The

Foundation of the Kingdom of Righteousness.

2

Ofthe five Elders,Kondanya the B eliever 3 sending

forth insight as the di scourse went on,as it concluded,

he, with myriads of devas, had arrived at the Fruitof the First Path .

‘1 And the Master, who remained ,there for the rainy season

, sat in the vihara the nextday, when the other four had gone a-begging, talkingto Vappa and Vappa that morning attained to theFruit of the First Path . And, in a similar manner,Bhaddiya on the next day, and Maha-Nama on thenext, and Assaji on the next, attained to the Fruitof the First Path . And, on the fifth day, he calledall five to his side, and preached to them the discourseOn theMark ofnot-soul .

5 At the end ofthat di scoursethe five elders attained to the Arahant- fruition.

Then the Master perceived that Yasa, a young man

of good fami ly, w as capable of entering the Paths .And when day was breaking, he having left his homeand gone away, theMaster called him , saying:Come,Yasa and on that very night he attained to the

1 Tathagato Sammasambuddh o .

2 Lit . , Th e R olling oftheWheel of the Norm (Dhamma) . -Ed .

2 So called from his action on this occasion . See above , p . 161 f .1 Lit . , S tream -winning . Tantamount to the Christian termconversion5 All diary and almanac allusions absent in V1naya.

— Ed .


Fruit of the First Path, and on the next day toArahantship . And he received also other fifty- four

,

his companions, into the order, with the sanctionCome, mendi cants ! and caused them to attainto Arahantship .

Now when there were thus in the world Sixty- one

persons who had become Arahants,the Master

,after

the rainy season and the function with whi ch it closeswere over

,sent out the sixty in di fferent di rections

with the words Fare forth,mendicants .”

And himself going towards Uruv ela, he overcame atthe Kappasiya forest, half-way thither, the thir tyyoung Bhadda-vaggiyan nobles . Of these the leastadvanced entered the First

,and the most advanced

the Third Path and he received them all into theOrder with the sanction

,

“Come

,mendicants And

sending them also forth into the regions round about,he himself went on to Uruv ela.

There he overcame , by performing thr ee thousandfive hundred mi racles, the thr ee Hindu ascetics ,brothers— UruvelaKassapa and the rest— who hadone thousand disciples . And he received them intothe Order wi th the sanction Come, mendicantsand establi shed them inArahantship by hi sdi scourse ,when they were seated on Gaya-head hi ll On the

Lesson to be drawn from Fire.

” 2 And attended bythese thousand Arahants, he went to the grove calledthe Palm- grove

,hard by Rajagaha, with the obj ect

of redeeming the promi se he had made to B imbiSara the king .

3

1 Pavarana .

2 They h ad been fire -worsh ippers . —Ed .

2 See above , p . 181 .


saying Ah h ow great is the power of theB uddhas ! Even so mighty a thinker as thi s hasthough t him worthy ! Even Uruv elaKassapa hasbroken through the net of delusion

,and is tamed by

the TathagataBut the B lessed One said Not now only have Iovercome Uruv elaKassapa in former ages

,too

,he

was tamed by me .

”And he uttered in that connexion

the Maha-Ndrada-Kassapa-J dtaka

,

1and proclaimed

the Four Truths . And the Ki ng ofMagadh a, withnearly all hi s retinue, attained to the Frui t of theFirst Path, and the rest became lay di sciples .2

And the king still sitting near the Master told him ofthe five wishes he had had and then

,confessing h is

faith,he inv ited the B lessed One for the next flay,

and rising from hi s side,departed with respectful

salutation.

The next day all the men who dwelt in Rajagaha,eighteen myriads in number, both those who hadalready seen the B lessed One, and those who had not,came out early from Rajagaha to the Grove ofR eedsto see the successor of the B uddhas . The road, sixmiles long, could not contain them . The whole of theGrove of Reeds became like a basket packed quitefull . The multitude , beholding the exceeding beautyofhim whose power is tenfold, could not contain theirdelight . Vannabh fi w as it called (that is, the Place ofPraise) , for at such spots all the greater and lessercharacteristics ofa B uddha, and the glorious beauty of

1 No . 544 .

2 Upasakas that is , those who have taken the Th ree R efugesand the vow to keep the Five Precepts (B uddh ism, pp . 139 ,


his person, are to be extolled . There w asnot room foreven a Single mendi cant to get out on the road

,or in

the grove, so crowded was it with the multitude gazingat the beautiful form of the h im of the tenfold power .So that day they say the throne of Sakka felt hot, to

warn h im that the B lessed One might be deprived ofnourishment

,which should not be . And on con

sideration he understood the reason ; and he tookthe form of a young brahmin, and descended in frontof the B uddha

,and by deva-power made w ay for

him,singing the praises of the B uddha, the Doctrine ,

and the Order284 . The tamed together with the tamed ,

Men erst of the matted hair , but now set free ,He who is to see lik e wrough t gold ,

The Blessed One hath entered Rajagah a .

285. The freed man together with the freed286 . The man who h as crossed over1 together with them that

have crossed over287. The man of w ay tenfold, 2 of power tenfold,

Knower of tenfold Norm, wmner of ten ,

2

With retinue of ten hundred the Blessed One hath enteredRajagaha.

The mul titude, seeing the beauty of the youngbrahmin thought This young brahmin is exceeding fair, and yet we have never yet beheld h im .

”And

they said Whence comes the young brahmin,or

whose son is he 2 And the young brahm in, hearingwhat they said, answered in the verse2 88 . He who is wise , and tamed in everything ,

The Buddha,the unequalled among men,

The Arah ant , Wellfarer of the world ,On him I humble wait .

1 Tinno , crossed the ocean of transmigration .

2 That is, the Four Paths, the Four Fruits thereof, Nirvana,and the S criptures (or the Truth, Dhamma) .

Dasavasa ,probably for dasavaso ( so Vin . i , 38 ) a tenfold

category taught in Digha,iii

,269 Anguttara, v, 29 f. —Ed .


Then the Master entered upon the path thus madefree by Sakka, and entered Rajagah a attended by a

thousand mendi cants . The king gave a great giftto the Order with the B uddha at their head and h ad

water brought, bright as j ems,and scented with

flowers,in a golden goblet . And he poured the water

over the hand ofhim ofthe tenfold power, in token ofthe presentation of the B ambu Grove, saying I

,

my lord, cannot live wi thout the Three Gems (theB uddha, the Order, and the Faith) . In season and

out of season I would v isit the B lessed One . Now

the Grove of R eeds is far away ; but this Groveof mine , called the B ambu Grove, is close by, iseasy of resort, and is a fit dwelling-place for aB uddha. Let the B lessed One accept it ofmeAt the acceptance of this monastery the broadearth sh ock , as if it said Now the R eligion of

B uddha has taken root For in all Indi a there isno dwelling—place, save the B ambu Grove, acceptanceof whi ch caused the earth to shake:and in Ceylonthere is no dwelling-place , save the Great Vihara,acceptance of whi ch caused the earth to shake .

1

And when the Master had accepted the B ambuGrove Monastery, and had given thanks for it, herose from his seat and went, surrounded by themembers of the Order, to the B ambu Grove .

Now at that time two ascetics , named Sariputtaand Moggallana, were living near Rajagaha, seekingafter salvation . Of these, Sariputta, seeing the ElderAssaji

2on h is begging round, w as touched and waited

1 Mahavamsa , xv, 26 f .2 See above , p . 209 .


And he respectfully accepted the king’s commandw ith the reply So be it

,Sire and went quickly

with a thousand followers the sixty leagues di stance ,and sat down amongst the di sciples of him of thetenfold power, and at the hour of instruction enteredthe Vihara. And thinking, Let the king’s messagestay awhi le he stood just beyond the di sciplesand listened to the di scourse . And as he so stood heattained to Arahantship, with his whole retinue, andasked to be admi tted to the Order . And the B lessedOne stretched forth hi s hand and said Come,mendi cants .” And all ofthem that moment appearedthere

,with robes and bowls created by miracle, like

elders ofa hundred years’ standing .

Now from the time when they attain Arahantshipthe Arah ants become indifferent to worldly thingsso he did not deliver the king’s message to him of thetenfold power . Th e king, seeing that neither did hismessenger return, nor w as any message received fromhim, called another courtier in the same manner asbefore

,and sent him . And he went

,and in the same

manner attained Arahantship with his followers, andremained silent . Then the king in th e same mannersent nine courtiers each with a retinue of a thousandmen. And they all , neglecting what they had to do,stayed away there in Silence .

And wh en the king found no one wh o would comeand bring even a message, he thought Not one ofthese brings back

,for my sake

,even a message who

will then carry out what I say2 And searching

among all his people he thought ofKaludayin. For

he w as in everything serviceable to the king


intimate wi th him , and trustworthy . He w as bornon the same day as the future Buddha

, and had beenhi s playfellow and companion .

So the king said to h im Dear Kaludayin, asI

wanted to see my son,I sent nine times a thousand

men ; but there is not one of them who has eithercome back or sent a message . Now it is hard toknow if life be in danger and I desire to see my sonbefore I die . Will one be able to let me see my son 2

I can, 0 king was the reply,

“if I am allowed

to become a recluse .

”

My dear,” said the kIng, wh ether thou become

a recluse or not let me see my sonAnd he respectfully received the king’s messagewith the words So be it 0 king ! and went toRajagaha and stood at the edge ofthe congregationat the time ofthe Master’s instruction, and heard thegospel, and attained Arahantsh ip with h is followers ,and was received with the come, bhikkhu

’ sanction.

The Master spent the first Lent after he had becomeB uddha at Isipatana and when it was over went toUruvelaand stayed there three months and overcamethe thr ee brothers, ascetics . And on the full-moon dayof the month ofPhussa, he went to Rajagaha with aretinue ofa thousand mendi cants, and there he dwelttwo months . Thus five months had elapsed since heleft B enares, the cold season w as past, and seven oreight days since the arrival ofUdayin, the Elder .And on the full-moon day of Phaggiini Udayin

thought The cold season is past the spring hascome ; men raise their crops and set out on theirj ourneys the earth is covered with fresh grass the

218 B UDDEIST B IRTH S TORIES

woods are full of flowers the roads are fit to walk onnow is the time for the Sage to Show favour to h isfamily . And going to the B lessed One, he praisedtravelling in about sixty stanzas

,that the Sage might

revisit his native town, beginning thus289 . Now crimson glow the trees , dear lord , and cast

In quest of fruit their sheathing coverings .Lik e crests of flame they shine irradiantAnd rich in tastes , great hero , is the time .

290. Not over hot , nor over cold no r isThere dearth of food for alms . The earth is greenWith verdure . This the fitting time, great sage .

1

Then the Master said to him But why, Udayin,

do you sing the pleasures of travelling with so sweeta voice 2

Sir ,”w as the reply, your father is anxious to

see you once more will you not Show favour to yourrelations 2

’

Tis well said, Udayin ! I wi ll do so . Tell theOrder that they will fulfil the duty (laid on all its

members ) of j ourneying from place to place .

”

Kaludayin accordingly told the brethren . And

the B lessed One attended by twenty thousand mendicants free from Sin— ten thousand clansmen fromMagadha and Anga

,and ten thousand from Kapila

vatthu— started from Rajagaha, and travelled a

league a day:going slowly with the intention of

reaching Kapilavatthu, Sixty leagues from Rajagaha,in two months .And the elder, thinking I will let the king knowthat the B lessed One has started rose into the air1 His verses are in the elder’s anthology. See Psalms of the

B rethren , vers. 527—9 . Onl y six slokas there mak e up h is invitation ; they do not contain the last two lines above — Ed .


The sakyas, as they sat talking of the prospect ofseeing their di stingui shed relative

,considered what

place he could stay in ; and decidi ng that theNigrodh a Grove would be a pleasant residence, theymade everything ready there . And with fragrantflowers in their hands they went out to meet him ;

and sending in front the baby boys and girls and theboys and girls of the town and then the young men

and maidens of the royal family, they themselves,decked of their own accord with Sweet- smellingflowers and chunam, came close behind, conductingthe B lessed One to the Nigrodha Grove . There theB lessed One sat down on the B uddha’s throne prepared for h im ,

surrounded by twenty thousandArahants.

The Sakyas are proud by nature, and stubborn inth eir pride . Thinking Prince Siddh attha is

younger than we are, standing to us in the relation of

younger brother, or nephew, or son, or grandsonthey said to the little chi ldren and the young peopleDo you bow down before him , we wil l seat ourselvesbehind you.

” The B lessed One when they had thustaken their seats, perceived what they meant and

thinking My relations pay me no reverence ;come now , I must make them to do so ,

” he fellinto the ecstasy based on super-know ledge, and

rising into the air as if shaking offthe dust off hi s feetupon them,

he performed a mi racle like unto thatdouble miracle at the foot of the Gandamba-tree .

1

1 See above, p . 105. The Dhammapada Commentary, p . 334,

h as a di fferent account of the miracle performed on thi s occasion .

It says he made a j ewelled cloister ( ratana-cankama) in the sky,

and walk ing up and down in it, preached the Faith (Dhamma) .


Th e king, seeing that miracle, said O B lessedOne When you were presented to Kala Devala todo obeisance to him on the day on whi ch you wereborn

,and I saw your feet turn round and place them

selves on the brahm in’s head,I paid homage to you .

That w as my first h omage. When you were seatedon your couch in the Shade of the jambutree on theday of the ploughing festival, I saw how the Shadowover you did not turn, and I bowed down at yourfeet . That was my second homage . Now, seeingthis mi racle unseen before , I bow down at your feet .This is my third homage .

”

Then,when the king paid h im homage , there

w as not a single Sakya who was able to refrain frombowing down before the B lessed One:and all ofthem did homage .

So the B lessed One, having compelled hi s relativesto bow down before him ,

descended from the Sky, andsat down on the seat prepared for him . And when theB lessed One w as seated, the assembly of hi s relativesyielded him pre- eminence ; and all sat there withunity in their hearts .Then a thunder- cloud poured forth a Shower of

rain,and the copper- coloured water went away

rumbling beneath the earth . He who wished to getwet

,di d get wet but not even a drop fell on the body

of him who did not wish to get wet . And all seeingit became filled with astoni shment, and said one

to another Lo what miracle . Lo whatwonderBut the Teacher said Not now only di d a Shower

of rain fall upon me in the assembly ofmy relations,


formerly also thi s happened . And in thi s connexionhe told the story ofhis B irth as Vessantara.

1

When they h ad heard hi s di scourse they rose up,and paid reverence to him ,

and went away . Not one

ofthem,either the king or any ofhi smini sters

, askedhim on leaving To -morrow accept your mealofus.

”

So on the next day the Master, attended by twentythousand mendicants , entered Kapilavatthu to beg .

Then also no one came to him or invited him to hi shouse

, or took his bowl . The B lessed One, standingat the gate considered How then did the formerBuddhas go on their begging rounds in their nativetown 2 Did they go di rect to the houses ofthe kings ,or di d they beg straight on from house to house 2Then

, not finding that any of the B uddh as h ad gonedirect

,he thought I

,too

,must accept thi s descent

and tradi tion as my own ; so Shall my di sciples infuture

,learning of me , fulfil the duty of going for

alms .” And beginning at the first house,he went

straight on for alms .At th e rumour that the young chi ef Siddhatthawasgoing for alms from door to door, the windows in thetwo - storied and thr ee- storied houses were thr ownopen

, and the multitude w as transfixed at the Sight .And the lady

,the mother ofRahula, thought My

lord,who used to go to and fro in this very town wi th

gilded palanquin and every Sign of royal pomp, nowwith a potsherd in his hand begs hi s food from doorto door

,with Shaven hair and h eard, and clad in

yellow robes . IS thi s becoming 2 An d She opened1 Jataka , no . 547 ( the last one ) .


alms . And standing in the middle streetuttered the verse

292 . Let him rise up , and loiter notLet him fare the righteous faringWh o fares in that w ay h appy lives ,Both in this world and in the next . 1

And when the verse w as finished the king attained tothe Fruit of the First, and then, on hearing thefollowing verse, to the Frui t of the Second Path

293 . The righteous faring let him fareLet him not fare amissThe righteous farer happy lives ,Both in this world and in the next .

And when he heard the story of the B irth as theKeeper of R ighteousness,2 he attained to the Fruit ofthe Thi rd Path . And j ust as he was dying, seated onthe royal couch under the whi te canopy of state, heattained to Ar ahantship . The king never practisedspiritual exertions in the forest life .

Now as soon as he had reali zed the Fruit of Conversion, he took the B uddha

’s bowl and conductedthe B lessed One and his retinue to the palace, andserved them with savoury food, both hard and soft .And when the meal w as over, all the women of thehousehold came and di d obeisance to the B lessedOne, except only the mother of Rahula.

3

But She, though sh e told her attendants to go andsalute their lord

,stayed behind

,saying If I have

virtue in hi s eyes,my lord will himself come to me

and when he h as come I will pay him reverence .

”

1 Dhammapada, ver . 168 f .2 Maha-Dhammapada Jataka, no . 447.

2 The following episode should be compared with th e slightersketch in Vinaya, i , 82 .

— Ed .


And the B lessed One, giving his bowl to the king tocarry, went with hi s two chief di sciples to the apartments of the daughter of the king, saying Theking’s daughter Shall in no wise be spoken to

,how

soever She may be pleased to welcome me .

”And he

sat down on the seat prepared for him .

And She came quickly and held him by the ankles,and laid her head on his feet

, and so did homage toh im , even as sh e h ad intended . And the king told ofthe fullness ofher love for the B lessed One, and of hergoodness of heart, saying When my daughterheard, 0 Master, that you had put on the yellow robesfrom that time forth She dr essed only in yellow. Whensh e heard of your taking but one meal a day, Sheadopted the same custom . When she heard that yourenounced the use of elevated couches, sh e slept ona mat spread on the floor . When She heard you hadgiven up the use of garlands and unguents, She alsoused them no more . And when her relatives sent amessage

,saying, Let us take care of you,

’sh e paid

them no attention at all Such are my daughter’svirtues, O B lessed One

’

Tis no wonder, 0 king was the reply, thatShe should watch over herself now that She has youfor a protector, and that her wisdom is matureformerly

,even when wandering among the mountains

without a protector, and when her wisdom was not

mature, sh e watched over herself .”And he told the

story ofhis B irth as the MoonSprite 1and rose from

hi s seat, and went away.

1 Oandakinnara Jataka, no . 485, where this episode forms th eintroduction to the story.


On the next day the festivals of the coronation,

and of the housewarming, and of the marriage of

Nanda, the king’s son

, were being celebrated all

together . But the Buddh a went to his house,and

gave him his bowl to carry and with the obj ect of

making him abandon the world, he wished him truehappiness and then

,rising from hi s seat

,departed .

And (the bride) J anapada Kalyani , 1 seeing the youngman go away, gazed wonderingly at him

, and criedout my lord

,whither go you so qui ckly 2 But

he, not venturing to say to the B lessed One, Takeyour bowl ”

,followed him even unto the Vihara.

And the B lessed One received him ,unwilling though

he was, into the Order.It was on the third day after he reachedKapilapurathat the B lessed One ordained Nanda. On theseventh day the mother ofRahula arrayed the boy inhis best

,and sent him to the B lessed One, saying

Look, dear, at that monk, attended by twentythousand monks

,and beautiful in appearance as a

B rahma ! That is your father . He had certaingreat treasur es, whi ch we have not seen Since heabandoned his home . Go now , and ask for yourinheritance, saying, Father, I am the prince . WhenI am crowned

,I shall become a king over all the

earth . I have need of the treasure . Give me thetreasure for a son is heir to his father’s property.

’

The boy went up to the B lessed One, and gaineda love ofhi s father, and stood there glad and j oyful,saying Happy, 0 monk, is thy Shadow and

adding many other words befitting his position.

1 Lit . , the lovely one of the country .


you my bones , and said your son w as dead, you didnot believe them .

”And in that connexion he told

the sto ry of hi s B irth as the Great Keeper of

R ighteousness .1 And when the story w as ended, theking attained to the Fruit of the Third Path . And

so the B lessed One established his father in theThree Fruits and he returned to Rajagaha attendedby the company of the brethren,

and resided at

Cool Grove .

At that time the householder Anatha Pindika,bringing merchandise in five hundred carts, went tothe house of a trader in Rajagaha, hi s intimatefriend, and there heard that a B lessed B uddha hadarisen . And very early in the morning he went to theTeacher

,the door being opened by the power of

devas , and heard the Truth and became converted .

2

And on the next day he gave a great donation to theOrder, with the B uddha at their head, and receiveda promise from the Teacher that he would come toSavatth i .

Then along the road, forty-fiv e leagues in length , hebuilt resting-places at every league, at an expenditur eof a hundr ed thousand for each . And he bought theGrove called J etavana for eighteen kotis of goldpieces, laying them Side by side over the ground, anderected there a new building . In the mi dst thereofhe made a pleasant room for him ofthe tenfold power,and around it separately constructed dwellings forthe eighty chief elders

, and other residences with singleand double walls, and long halls and open roofs ,

1 Mahadhammapala Jataka, no . 447. See above , p . 224 .

2 See Vin ,ii , 154 f . Kindred S ayings, i , 271 f .


ornamented with ducks and quails and ponds alsohe made, and terraces to walk on by day and by night .And so hav ing constructed a delightful residence

on a pleasant spot, at an expense of eighteen kotis ,he sent a message to h im of the tenfold power thathe should come .

The Master, h earing the messenger’s words

,left

Rajagaha attended by a great multitude ofmonks,

and in due course arrived at the city of savatthi .

Then the wealthy merchant decorated the monasteryand on the day on whi ch the Tathagata should arriveat J etavana he arrayed hi s son in splendour, and senthim on with five hundred youths in festival attire .

And he and his retinue, holding fiv e hundred flagsresplendent wi th cloth of five di fferent colours ,appeared before h im of the tenfold power . And

behind him Maha- Subhadda and Ch fila-Subhadda,

the two daughters of the merchant, went forth withfive hundred damsels carrying water-pots full ofwater . And behind them, decked wi th all herornaments , the merchant

’s wife went forth , withfive hundred matrons carrying vessels full of food .

And behind them all , the great merchant himself,clad in new robes , with five hundred traders alsodressed in new robes , went out to meet the B lessedOne .

The B lessed One, sending this retinue of lay

di sciples in front, and attended by the great multitudeof monks , entered the J etavana monastery with th e

infinite grace and unequalled maj esty of a Buddha,making the spaces of the grove bright with the halofrom his person,

as if they were sprinkled with golddust .


ThenAnatha Bindika asked h im How ,my lord

,

shall I deal with this Vihara 2

Householder,”w as the reply, give it then to

the Order of Mendi cants, whether now present orhereafter to arrive .

And the great merchant, saying So be it,my

lord,

” brought a golden vessel, and poured water overthe hand of him of the tenfold power, and dedi catedthe Vihara, saying, I give thi s J etavana Vihara tothe Order of Mendicants with the Buddha at theirhead, and to all from every di rection now present orhereafter to come .

” 1

And the Master accepted the Vihara, and givingthanks, pointed out the advantages of monasteries,say1ng294 . Cold they ward off, and heat

S o also b oasts of prey,And creeping things , and gnats,And rains in the cold season .

And when the dreaded heat and windsArise , they ward them off.

295. To give to monk s a dwelling -place ,Wherein in safety and at easeTo think and insight gain,

The Buddha praises most of all .296 . Let therefore a wise man,

R egarding his own weal,Have pleasant monasteries built,And lodge there learned men .

297. Let him w ith cheerful mien,

Give food to them , and drink ,

And clothes , and dwelling -placesTo the upright in mind .

298 . Then they shall preach to him the NormTh e Norm , dispelling every griefWhich Norm , when here he learns , he SinsNo more , reaching the perfect well ( Vinaya, Chullavagga VI,

1 This formula h as been constantly found in rock inscriptionsin India and Ceylon over the ancient cave-dwellings of Buddhisthermi ts.


it, and built there a monastery thirty acres in extent .For that spot is a place which not one of all theB uddhas has deserted . And so the B lessed One livedin that spot from the attainment of all-knowledgeunder the B o -tree till h is death .

This is the Proximate Epoch .

And now we wi ll tell the stories of all h is B irths.

End of the Nidana Katha.

APPENDI!

TABLES ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE HISTORYAND MIGRATIONS OF THE BUDDHISTB IRTH STORIES

TABLE 1 .

INDIAN WORKS1 . The Jataka Atthavannana. A collection,

probably firstmade in the third or fourth century B .C . , of stories previouslyexisting, and ascribed to the Buddha, and put into its presentform in Ceylon, in the fifth century The Pali text has beenedited by Professor Fausboll, of Copenhagen, 1877—96 . Eng .

trans . Ed . Cowell , Cambridge, 1895—1907.

1a. S inghalese translation of No . 1 , called Pan siya p anas

Jataka p ota. Written in Ceylon in or about 1320A .D .

l b. Gutti la Kawyaya. A poetical version in Elu , or o ld S ingh alese, of one of the stories in l a, by B adaw aettsew a Unnanse ,

about 14 15. Edited in Colombo , 1870, with introduction and

commentary, by B atuw an Tudawa .

l o. Kusa J atakaya. A poetical version in Elu , or o ld S ingh alese,of one of the stories in 1a, by Alagiaw anna Moh ottale, 16 10.

Edited in Colombo, with commentary, 1868 .

1d . An Eastern Love S tory . Translation in verse of l o, byThomas Steele, London, 1871 .

Is. Asadisa J atakaya. An Elu poem, by Rajadh iraja S inha,k ing of Ceylon in 1780.

2 . The Char iya Pi taka . A book of the Buddhist Scripturesof the ( f) fourth century B .0 . , containing thirty-five of the oldeststories . See Table IV.

3 . The J ataka Male. A Sansk rit work of unknown date , alsocontaining thirty-fiv e ofthe oldest stories inNo . 1 . See Table IV.

4 .The Pannasa-J atakam, or 50 J atakas A Pali work

written in S iam ,of unknown date and contents, but apparently

distinct from No . 1 . See above , p . lxi .

234 INDIAN WORKS

5. Pancha Tantra . iMedieval . See above , pp . lxviii—lxxn .

Text edited by Kosegarten, Bonn, 1848 .

Kielhorn and B ii h ler , Bombay, 1868 .

Translations — German, by B enfey, Leipzig , 1859 .

French Dubois, Paris, 1826 .

Lancerau, Paris , 1871 .

Greek Galanos and Typaldos,Athens , 1851 .

10. Hitopadesa. Medieval . Compiled principally from No . 5,

with additions from another unknown work .

Text edited by Carey and Colebrook e , Serampur, 1804 .

Hamilton, London, 1810.

Bernstein , Breslau, 1823 .

S chlegel and Lassen, Bonn , 1829—31 .

Nyalankar , Calcutta, 1830 and 1844 .

J ohnson, Hertford, 1847 and 1864, withEnglish version .

Yates, Calcutta, 1841 .

E . Arnold , Bombay, 1859 .

Max Muller, London, 1864—8 .

1 1 . Translations English , by Wilk in s, Bath , 1787 r e

printed by Nyalankar in his editionof the text .

S ir . W. J ones, Calcutta,1 816 .

E . Arnold, London, 1861

German Max Mfiller , Leipzig ,

Dursch , T ii b ingen, 1853 .

L . Fritze, Breslau , 1 874 .

French Langlés, Paris, 1790.

Lancerau, Paris, 1855.

Greek Galanos and Typaldos,Athens, 1851 .

18 . Vetala Pari ca Vimsati . Twenty-fiv e stories told by a

Vetala, or demon . Sansk r it text in No . 32 , vol . 1 1 . 288—93 .

18a . Greek version ofNo . 18 added toNo . 17.

19 . Vethala Kathei . Tamil version ‘

of No . 1 8 . Edited byR obertson in A Comp i lation of Pap ers in the Tdmi l Language,Madras, 1839 .

236 INDIAN WORKS

Sansk rit text edi ted by Brockhaus, Leipzig, vol . i , with Germantranslation, 1839 vol . ii, text only, 1862 and 1866 . Original bySri Somadeva Bhatta, ofKashmi r, at the beginning of the twelfthcentury A.D . See above, pp . lxvi f .34 . Vr ihat-katha . A Sanskrit version of No . 34, byKsh emendra,

ofKashmir. Written independently ofSomadeva’

s work , No . 32 .

See above, p . lxvii .35. Panca Danda Chattra Praband ha . S tories about King

Vikramaditya’s magic umbrella. J ain Sanskri t. Text and

German version by Weber, Berlin, 1877.

36 . Vasavadatta. By Subandhu. Possibly as old as the sixthcentury. Edited by Fitz-Edward Hall, in the B ibliotheca Inaica,Calcutta, 1859 . Thi s and the next are romances, not story-books.

37. Kadambari . By Bana Bhatta, 7 seventh century. Editedin Calcutta, 1850 and again, 1872 , by Tarkavacaspati .38 . Bengali version of No . 37, by Tara Shankar Tarkaratna .

Tenth edi tion, Calcutta, 1868 .

39 . Dasa kumara car ita. By Dandin, 1 sixth century. Editedby Carey, 1804 ; Wilson, 1846 ; and by Buh ler, 1873 .

39a. Hindoo Tales founded on No . 39 . By P. W. J acob,London, 1873 .

Une Tétrade. By Hippolyte Fauche, Paris, 1861- 3.

Contains a trans . into Fr ench of No . 39 .

40. Katharnava, The S tream of Tales . In four Book s ; thefirst being No . 18, the second No . 29, the thi rd and fourmiscellaneous .4 1 . Pum sha -

pari ksha, th e Adventures of King Hammira.

Probably of the fourteenth century. By Vidyapati .4 1a. English translation of No . 4 1, by Raja Kali Krishna,

Serampur, 1830. See No . 22 .

42 . Vi ra-caritan, the Adventures ofKing salivahana.

TABLE II.

THE KALILAG AND DAMNAG LITERATURE

1 . A lost Buddhist work in a language of Northern India,ascribed to Bidpai . See above, pp . lxv—lxvii .2 . Pelvi version, 531—79 A .D . By B arzfiyé , the Court

physician ofKh osru Nushirvan. See above, p . . xxvi i i,3 . Kali lag

fund Damnag. Syr ian version of No . 2 . Publishedwith German trans . by Gustav Bickell, and Introduction byProfessor B enfey, Leipzig, 1876 . This and No . 15 preserve thebest evidence of the contents ofNo. 2 , and of its Buddhist originalor originals .

4 . Kali lah wd Dimnah (Fables of Bidpai) . Arabic version of

No . 3 , by Abd -allah, son ofAlmokafi a. Date about 750A .D . Textof one recension edited by S ilvestre de Sacy, Paris, 1816 . Otherrecensions noticed at length in Ignazio Guidi ’s S tudi i sul testoArabo del libro di Cali la e D imna (R ome,

5. Kali la and D imna . Eng . version ofNo. 4, by Knatch bull,Oxford, 1819 .

6 . Das B ach des Weisen. German version ofNo . 4, by Wolfi ,

S tuttgart, 1839 .

7. S tep hanite’

s kai Ichvé latés Greek version of No . 4 , byS imeon Seth, about 1080 A .D . Edi ted by Seb . Gottfried Starke ,Berlin, 1697 (repr . in Athens, and by Aur iv illius

,

Upsala, 1786.

8 . Latin version ofNo . 7, by Father Possin, at the end of hisedition ofPach ymeres, R ome, 1866 .

9 . Persian translation ofNo . 4 , by Abdul Maali Nasr Allah,1 1 18- 53 .

Exists, in MS . only, in Paris, Berlin, and Vienna.

10. Anvar i S uhai li . Persian translation, through the last, ofNo . 4, byHusain ben Ali el vaiz U

’

l -Kashil i ; end of the fifteenthcentury.

1 1 . Anvar i S uhaili , or the Lights of Canopus. Eng. version ofNo . 10, by Edward Eastwick , Hertford, 1854 .

1 1a. Another Eng . version ofNo . 10, by Arthur N. Wollaston

(London, Allen) .

238 KALILAG AND DAMNAC

12 . Livre des Lamieras. French version of No . 10, by DavidSahi d, d ’

Ispah an, Paris, 1644, 8v o .

13 . Del Governo de Regni . Italian version ofNo . 7, Ferrara,1853 by Giulio Nuti . Edited by Teza, Bologna, 1872 .

14 . Hebrew version ofNo . 4 , by J oel before 1250. Existsonly in a singleMS . inParis, ofwhi ch the fir st part is missing .

15. Director ium Humanes Vites. Latin ve rsion of No . 14 , byJ ohn of Capua. Written 1263—78 . Printed about 1480,

without date or name of place . Next to No . 3 it is the b estevidence of the contents of the lost book s Nos. 1 and 2 .

16 . German version of No. 15, also about 1480, but withoutdate or name of place .17. Version in Ulm dialect of No . 16 . Ulm, 1483 .

18 . Baldo’s Alter Ailsopns. A translation direct from Arabicinto Latin thirteenth century) . Edited in du Meril ’s Poesiesinéd ites da moyen age, Paris, 1854 .

19 . Cali la é Dyrnna . Spanish version of No. 4 ( 1 through an

unknown Latin version) . About 1251 . Published in B ibliotecade Antares Espar

‘

ioles, Madrid, 1860, vol . 51 .

20. Cali la et Dirnna. Latin version of the last, by Raimond doBeziers, 1313 .

2 1 . Comic Ducanor . By Don J uan Manuel (died grandson of St. Ferdinand of Spain. Spanish source not certain .

22 . S inbad the S ai lor , or B ook of the S even Wise Masters. See

Comparetti, Ricerche intorno al Li bra di S indibad, Milano, 1869 .

23 . Contes at Nouvelles. By Bonaventure des Periers, Lyons,1587.

24 . Exemp laria contra los Engar‘

ios. 1493 . Spani sh version of

the Directorum .

25. Discorse degli Animali . Italian of last, by Ange Firenzuola,1548 .

26 . La Fi loso F ia Morale. By Doni , 1552 . Italian of last butone .

27. North’s English version of last, 1570.

28 . Fables, by La Fontaine .First edition in vi book s, the subj ects ofwhich are mostlytaken from classical authors, and from Planudes

’

Alsop ,

Paris, 1668.

Second edition in xi book s, the five later taken from Nos.

12 and 23, Paris, 1678 .

Third edi tion in xii book s, Paris, 1694 .

240 BARLAAM AND J OSAPHAT

6 . Another poem, partly published from an imperfect MS . at

Zurich, by Franz Pfeiffer, in Haupt’s Zeitsch . f. d. Alterthum, i,127- 35.

7. B arlaam und J osap hat. By R udolf v on Ems . Writtenabout !

1230. Latest and best edi tion by Franz Pfeifier , inD ichtungen des deutschen M ittelalters, vol. i1 i, Leipzig, 1843 . Thispopular treatment of the subject exists in numerous MSS .

7a. Die Hgstor i J osap hat und B arlaam. Date and author notnamed . Black -letter. Woodcuts . Title on last page . Fiftysix short chapters . Quaint and forcible old German. A smallfolio in the British Museum .

8 . Historia von dem Leben der Zweien H . B eich tiger B arlaamEremiten, und Josap hat des Konig’s in Indien S ohn, etc . Translated from the Latin by the Counts of Helfienste in and

Hohenzollern, Miinch en, 1684 . In 40 long chapters, pp . 602 ,

12 mo.Dutch9 . Het Leven en B edryf van B arlaam denHerernit, en Josap hat

Koning van Indien. Noo in Nederduits v ertaalt door F. t . H. ,

Antwerp, 1593, 12mo .A new edition of this version appeared in 1672 . This is a long

and tedi ous prose version of the holy legend.

French8 . Poem by Gui de Cambray ( 1200 Edi ted by Hermann

Zotenberg and Paul Meyer in the B ibliothelc des Li terarischenVereins, in Stuttgart, vol . lxxv, 1864. They mention also (pp .

3 18- 25)9 . La Vie de S eint J osap haz. Poem by Ch ardry . Edited by

J ohn Koch , Heilbronn, 1879, who confi rms the edi tors ofNo . 8 as

to the following old Fr ench versions, 10—15 and further adducesNo. 1 1a.

10. A thi rd poem by an unknown author.1 1 . A prose work by an unknown author— all three being of

the 13th cent .1 1a. Another in MS . Egerton, 745, British Museum.

12 . A poem in French of the fifteenth century, based on theabstract in Latin ofNo . 4

,by J acob de Voragine .

13 . A Provena tale in prose,containing only the story of

J osafat and the tales told by B arlaam, without the moralizations.

14 . A miracle play ofabout 1400.

BARLAAM AND J OSAPHAT 241

15. Another miracle play of about 1460.

16 . Vita di san Giosafat convertito da B arlaam. By Geo.Antonio R emondini . Published about 1600

, at Venezia and

Bassano, 16mo. There is a second edition of this, also

Without date ; and a third, published inModena in 1768,with

illustrations .17. S toria de’ S S . B arlaam e Giosafatte. By Bottari, R ome,

1734,8v c, ofwhich a second edition appeared in 1816.

18 . La santissima vita di S anto Josafat, figluolo del ReAvenero,

Re dell’

India, da che ei nacque p er infino ch

’

ei mor i . A proseromance, edited by Telesforo Bini from a MS . belonging to theCommendatore Francesco de R ossi, in pp. 124—52 of a collection,

Rime e Prose, Lucca, 1852 , 8v c .

19 . A prose Vita da S anta Josafat. In MS . Add . 10902 of theBritish Museum

,which Paul Mayer (see No . 8 ) says begins

exactly as No . 18, but ends differently. (See Koch, No . 9

above )20. A Rappresentatione di B arlaam e J osafat is mentioned byFederigo Palermo in h is I manuscr itti Palatini de Firenze, 1860,vol. ii, p. 401 .

Skandinavian

A full account of all th e'

Skandinav ian versions is given in

B arlaam’

s oh J osap hat’

s S aga, by C. R . Unger, Christiania,1851 , 8v o .

SpanishHonesta, etc, h istoria de la rara vida de los famosos y singulares

sanctos B ar laam, etc. By B altasat de Santa Cruz . Published inthe Spanish di alect used in the Phi lli pine Islands at Manila, 1692 .

A literal translation of B ilius (No.EnglishIn Horstmann’s Altenglische Legenden, Paderborn, 1875, an OldEngli sh version of the legend is published from the Bodleian MS .

No . 779 .There is another recension of the same poem in the

Harleian MS . No . 4 196 . Both are of the fourteenth centuryand of the second there is another copy in the Vernon MS . See

further, Warton’s History ofEnglish Poetry, i, 271—9, and u, 30,

58, 308.

Horstmann h as also published a Middle English version in theProgram of the S agan Gymnasium,

1877

242 BARLAAM AND J OSAPHAT

The History of the F ive Wise Ph i losop hers or , the WonderfulRelation of the Life of Jehoshap hat the Hermit, S on ofAvener ian,King ofB arma in India, etc. By N. H. ( that is, Nicholas Her ick ) ,Gent . , London, 171 1 , pp . 128, 12mo . This is a prose romance, andan abridged translation of the Italian version of 1600 (No.and contains cnl v one fable (at p . 46 ) of the Nightingale and theFowler.The work referred to on p . xliii, under the title Gesta Roman

orum, a collection of tales with lengthy moralizations (probablysermons ) , w as made in England about 1300. It soon passed tothe Continent, and w as repeatedly re-written in numerous MSSwith addi tions and alterations . Three printed edi tions appearedbetween 1472 and 1475 and one of these, containing 18 1 stories,is the source ofthe work now known under this title . TaleNo . 168

quotes B arlaam . The best edition of the Latin version is byH . Oesterley, Berlin , 1872 . The last English translation isHooper’s, B ohn’

sAntiquarian Library, London, 1877. The EarlyEnglish versions have been edited by S ir F. Madden ; and again,

in v ol . xxxiii of the Extra Series of the Early English TextS ociety, by s. J . H. Herrtage.

The S even S ages (edited by Thomas Wright for the PercyS ociety, 1845) also contains some Buddhist tales .

TABLE V

ALPHABETICAL '

LIST OF JATAKA STOR IES IN THE

MAHAVASTU

Arranged from Cowell and Eggeling’s Catalogue of B uddh ist

S anskr it MS S . in the Possession of the Royal Asiatic S ociety(Hodgson Collection) .

Amaraye karmarakad h i taye Raksh ito -nama-rishi -jjatakma R ish abasya

-jArindama-j

°

Sakuntaka-j°

(Two with thisAsth isenasya j title . )B hadravargikanan j Saraksh epanan-jCampaka-nagaraja-j Saratan-jGodha-j S é rth avahasya

-jHastini -j Siri -jKaka-j Siri -prabh asyamriga-rajasya j

°

Uruv ilva-kasyapadi-kasyap Syama-j

°.

1(Car . Pit . 33 )

anan j Syamaka jAjnata-Kaugdinya-j

° Trinakuniyan nama j°

Kinnari-j° 1 Upali ganga palanan-j°

Kr icch apa-j Vanaradh ipa

-jKusa-j Vara-jManj eri -j Vijitavasya Vaideh a-rajno -jMarkata-j Yasoda-jMrigarajfio surfi pasya

-j° Yosodh araye harapradana

-j°

Naliniye rajakumar iye-j°

vyagh r ibh fité ya-i

Pfimasya Maitrayani

putrasya-j

1 These two J atakas also form the contents of a separatein the R oyal Asiatic S ociety ’s Library (Catalogue, p .

TABLE VI

PLACES AT WHICHTHE JATAKA TALES WERE TOLD

M. Léon Feer h as taken the trouble to count the number oft imes each of the following places is mentioned at the commencement of the Commentary.

By the Ganges

To which we may add fr om pp .

TABLE VII

THE B ODISATS

At his request the Rev . Spence Hardy’s pandi t made an

analysis of the number of times in whi ch the B odisat appears inthe Buddh ist Birth Stories in each of the follow ing characters

An ascetic

A tree godA teacherA courtierA brahmanA k ing’s sonA noblemanA learned man

Sakka

A monkeyA merchantA man of propertyA deerA lionA wild duckA snipeAn elephantA cockA slav e

An outcast

An iguanaA fish

An elephant driverA rat

A jackalA crowA woodpeckerA thiefA pigA dogA curer of snake bitesA gamblerA masonA smith .

A devil dancerA studentA S ilversmith .

A carpenterA water-fowlA frogA hare

4 A jungle cock .

A fairy

03

00

15

1t

248 TABLE VIII

Th ere are numerous other scenes without titles , and not yetidentified in the J ataka Book , but whi ch are almost certainlyi llustrative of J ataka Stories ; and several scenes with titlesillustrative of passages in the Nidana Katha of the Jataka Book .

So , for instance , Pl . xvi, fig. 1 , is the worship in heaven of theBuddha’s Head-dress , the reception of wh ich into heaven isdescribed above, p . 178 ; and the heavenly mansion, the Palace ofGlory, is inscribed Vejayanto Pasado , the origin ofwhi ch name isexplained below,

p . 287 Plate xxviii h as a scene entitledB hagavata Okkanti (The Descent of the Blessed in illustration of Maya Devi ’s Dream (above, pp. 148 and Plate lviiis a representation of the Presentation of the J etav anaMonastery( above, p. The identifications of Nos . 12 and 13 in theabove list are very doubtful .Besides the above, Mr . Fergusson, in h is Tree and S erpent

Worsh ip , h as identifi ed bas-reliefs on the Sanchi Tope in illustration of the Sama and Asadisa J atakae (Pl . xxxvi, p . 181 ) and ofthe Vessantara J ataka (Pl . xxiv, p . 125) and there are otherJ ataka scenes on the Sanchi Tope not yet identified .

Mr . S impson also h as been k ind enough to show me drawingsof h as-reliefs he discovered in Afghanistan, two of which I havebeen able to identify as illustrations of the Sumedh a Jatakaand another as illustrative of the scene described above,pp . 222 f .

by any means from the character whi ch the B odisat fills in it,but indi fierently from a variety of other reasons . GeneralCunningham himself gives the story called Isi -singiya J ataka(No . 7 in the above list) , in which the ascetic after whom theJ ataka is named is not the B od isat.

Not as yet found in the J ataka Book but Dr . Buhler h asshown in the Indian Antiquary, vol . i, p . 305, that it is the firsttale in the Vr ihat Katha ofKsh emendra (Table I , No . and in

the Katha S ar it Sagara of Somadeva (Table I, No . and was

therefore probably included in the Vr ihat Katha of Gunadh ya(Table I, No .

1 The part of the stone supposed to have contained the inscription is lost .

1 It is mentioned above, p . 225, and is included in the Mahavastu (Table V ) , and forms the subject of the carving on one ofthe rails at Buddha Gaya (Rajendra Lal Mitra, pl . xxxiv, fig.

7 General Cunningham’s reading of this inscription as B hagavatorukdanta seems to me to be incorrect, and hi s translation of itB uddh a as the sounding elephant to be grammatically

TABLE I!

FORMER BUDDHAS

1 - 3. Tanh ankara Medh ankara

Saranankara

4 . Dipankara

5. Kondafifia

6 . MangalaSumana

8 . B evata9 . Sobh ita

10. Anomadassin

1 1 . Paduma12 . Narada13 . Padumuttara

14 . Sumedh a

15. Sujata16 . Piyadassin

17. Atth adassin

18 . Dh ammadassin

19 . S iddh atth a

20. Tissa

22 . Vipassm

252

Bowl,the Buddh a’s begging , 178 ,

186 f .Brahma waits upon Gotama,

154 ,

184 , 191 , 207

Brahmins and Buddh ists , xxviBuddhas:Gotama the Buddha,

life of, 150—232 ; date of deathof , li

B uddh adeva, a monk in Ceylon ,

82

B uddhagh osa, viii f.B uddh am itta, a monk in Ceylon ,

82

B uddh avamsa,29 f 83 i 1 13

B iih ler , lxvii

Canonization , xxxvCarpenter , Dr . E xxixC(h )ar iyaPitaka, xlviiiCaste , 148Ch anna, 172 f.

Charity, power of, 195Crow and fox , xiiCrow and jackal , xiCup ,

the wishing , xx

Dab sch elim , lxvDadh ivah ana Jataka , xvDagaba of the Diadem ,

178 ; ofKanth aka

’

s Staying , 175 ofthe Steadfast Gaze , 201 of theJ ew elled Cloister, 201 ; of theHair- relics , 206

Dancing women , 171

Davids , R ev . T . W xxxviiiDeer park , the, near Benares , 207Delusion , one of the three greatroots of evil , 170Dennys , Dr . , Folklore of China,

’

xxxix , xlii iDevadah a, a vi llage , 153Dh aja , a brahmin , 160

Dh ammaka , a mountain , 88

Dhammapada, see PitakaDhammapada Commentary ,

220

Dhana alaka, 179

D igha ikaya ,

Dipavamsa,lii f. , lv i

INDE!

Diptychs in the early Ch ristianchurch , xxxv

Double miracle (by the Buddha) ,200,

220

Fausb oll , lxi , lxxx , and passimFetish worship, xxFeer, l , lxiFire worshippers , 2 10Flying , accomplishment of Ara

hants , 2 1 1 , 2 19Flying by means ofa gem, xviii

Gaya-sisa hill near Rajagah a,2 1

Gesta R omanorum , xliiiGh atikara a deva, 178 , 186

Gilchrist, J translator of ZEsop

Earthquakes , miraculous , 1 17, 1442 14

East, facing towards the , 154 , 189

Elephant, Mara’s mystic , 190,194 ,

196

Erasmus quoted , v iEvil communi cations , etc xxEvil to be overcome with good ,

xxiv

Godpo le’

s [Esop in Sanskrit, xxxnGold of Ophir, xl ivGolden Hill , 150, 160

Gotama, name of the Buddha, 95

122 , 208

Greek and Buddhist fables, xlvGunadhya, poet, lxvii

Hair, unkempt, a sign of holiness158 ; the B uddha

’s , 178 ; Dagaba of the Hair -relic , 206

Halo from the Buddh a’s person185

,2 1 1 , 22 1

Hamsas, viiiHardy, 206Hell becomes fil led with light, 19Hitopadesa, lxviHorse , see S indh , Kanth aka

House, figuratively of the individual, 198

INDE!

Hungarian tales , x1Huns , x1Hymn of triumph, the Buddha’s ,198

Inherited, i .e. personal , qualities ,

lxxvfi

Isipatana, suburb of Benares, 2 17

J ackal and crow , xiJali , a prince , 200Jambu-kh adaka J ataka, xu

Janapada-Kalyani, 226Jasmine , the Arabian , 173

J ataka Commentary, the old one,

173

J ataka Mala ( in Sansk rit) , xlixJelalabad ,

xliJerome quoted ,

v ii

Jetavana, amonastery, gift of, 230Jewi sh translators , xxixJ ews and Moslems , xxviiiJoasaph , xxxivJ ohn , S t of Damascus , xxxiv,

J otipala,brahmin and B odisat,

138

J ulien, vi

Kacch apa Jataka, viiiKala-Devala, 157

Kala-Nagaraja,188, 191

Kalama, see AlaraKalilag and Damnag literature,xxxiv f .

Kaludayin ,120,

2 16 f.Kanth aka Nivattana Ch etiya, 176

Kanth aka ,the mystic horse, 172 f .

Kapilav atth u, 148 , 2 18

Kappasiya forest, 2 10Kassapa brahmin and B odisat , 130

Kassapa Buddha,see Buddh as

Kassapa, Maha Narada Jataka(No. 2 12

Kassapa of Uruv ela, the sixtysecond convert, 2 10 f .

Katha-sarit- sagara, lxviKasi, xli

of

253

the

Kesa-dhatu-vamsa, 206

Khara-dhatika, a demon, 1 17

Khema, k ing and B od isat , 136Kingdom of R ighteousness , 209Kings , a lesson for, xxiKinnara, J ataka, 225

Kisa-Gotami , 169

Kondanya, a brahm in , 16 1 f . , be

comes the first di sciple , 209Kosala, a country near Benares ,

Ksh emendra, Kashmir ian poet ,lxvi i

Kulavaka J ataka, lxx111

Laboulaye , xxxivLa Fontaine’s fables , x , x11, xxxixLakkh ana, a brahmin , 160

Lalita Vistara,179 , 199

Lamp, the wonderful , xxLang , A xlLatth ivanuyyana (grove of reeds ) ,2 12

Liebrecht , xxxiv, xxxvmLife lik e living in a house on fire,172

Lion of the vermilion plain, 92

Lion as B od isat , 126

L ion,the B uddha walk s like a,

188

L ittré , xxxvLucian, viLumbini grove , where the Buddhaw as born , 153

Maddi , queen,200

Madhuratth av ilasini , 1x

209

Mah apadana,Dialogues of the

B uddha , ii , i f. , 16 1

Maha-Vamsa quoted , lvn i , 206

Mah imsasakafirace of , 82Mah osadh a Jataka , xiii

2 54 INDE!

Majjh im a Desa, the BuddhistHoly Land , 147, 205

Malli ka, k ing ofKose la, xxi iMangala, ascetic and B od isat , 132Manjeri ka, palace of the Nagak ing ,

97

Mantin, a brahmin ,160

Mara, the Buddhist Satan, temptsGotama with sovereignty, 175confli ct between the Buddh aand ,

190f the daughters of,202 f .

Mark s on a child’s body signs ofits future

, 158 , 16 1 , 223

MartyrologiesMaxMii ller , xxxii , xxxviiiMilk , legend of work ing in and

in ,

’184

Moggallana,the chief disciple , 2 14

Monastery, gift of, 2 14 ,230

Monk , the eight things allowed toa , 178

Morris, Rd 1, lvu

Much alinda,the k ing ofthe cobras ,

204

Myrobolan , 205

Nagas , mystic snak es , 176 , 179 ,188 k ing of, sings the B od isat’spraise , 19 1

Nalaka, 159

Nanda, the Buddha’s half brother,226

Neranjara, a river near Uruv ela,

187

Nigrodh a tree , 184 f of. lxxn

Nipata, division of the JatakaBook

,lxxii

Nirvana, 86 f. , 170,200

Numbers , sacred or lucky , 159 ,1 63

Offerings,uselessness of, 2 11

Oldenberg , liOmens , the thirtytwo good , 151 ,156 ; the four , 198

Ophir, probably in India,xliv , 162 ,

168

Overland route in ancient timesxh

Pabbajja Sutta, 181

Pabbata k ing and B odisat, 50Paccuppanna-v atthu Introductory Story, lxxiv

Pada-gata-sannaya, lxxvu

Pahlavi , ancient Persian ,xxix

Palmyr a fruits, single - seeded , 94

Pancha Tantra, vii , xi , xxi x , lxxPandava, a rock near Rajagah a, 8

Paramitas the Ten Perfections , 1and foll 54 and foll .

Paricchattaka flowers ( of d evaworld ) , 85

Penance not the w ay to wisdom9 1

Petrus deNatal ibus,martyrologistxxmx

Phaedrus , the Latin fabulist, xxxuPitaka passages quoted or neferreto:Apadana , lxv ui

PabbajjaSutta, 181

Maha-padhana Sutta, 161

Samafifia-phala Sutta, 88

Dhammapada, xxvi , 204J ataka , see separate titlesCulla Vagga, xlviiiSamyutta Nikaya, x11 , 111

AnguttaraNikaya , lviiAbh idh amma, lviii , 201Ch ar iy aPitaka, xlviiiB uddh avamsa, l , 84 , 1 13

Vinaya, iPaisach i , xvu

Pancha Tantra, vi f. , x , xxvi f .

Perfections , . the ten, 97, 101 f .p assim

Planudes, author ofAlsop , xxx f .Plato quoted , viPloughing festival , 163Purina,

slave girl of Sujata, 185

Rahula, Gotama’

s son, 169 , 173 ,

224 ,226

Tortoise , of gold, 231

talkative , vi iiTransmigration of souls , lxixTrees pay homage to MahaMaya,

154 ; to the Buddha, 164 , 190

Tree -deva, the Buddha mistakenfor a, 185 v ow to, 184

Tree of Enl ightenment (B 0 orBodhi-tree ) , 188

Tree-god , or genius , or fairy, theB odisat as, lxxix, 2 12 ,

230, 238,3 17

Tree - talk , see warding runeTumour, lx

Uddaka, the Buddha’s teacher,181

Ukkala, Orissa, 205

Ummagga J ataka , lxxi iiUpaka , a Hindu mendicant , 207Upatissa Sariputta) , 96Uruv ela, 184 , 162 , 2 10

Usnard ,xxxvii

Uttara, brahmin and B od isat , 129

Vannabh fimi (Place of Praise ) , 2 12Vappa, the second convert , 209

Varro quoted , vuVedas , the thr ee , xl vn , 84 , 159

Veluvana ( the Bambu -grove) , 2 1Verses in the Jatakas, lxx f. ,

lxxvVesali , Council of, 11 f .Vessantara J ataka, 1 17, 195, 222

Vetala-

pafica-v imsati , lxvii

Vijayuttara, Sakka’s trumpet , 19 1

Vijitav in, B odi sat , 134

Virtues , the Ten Cardinal , see

PerfectionsVissakamma, 169

Vr ih at-katha, lxvu

Warding rune, 1 18Water of presentation , 230

Wassiliew , lxiiiWeber, xxxivWheel , the sacred , 2 1 1Winged creatures , see SupannasVVor ld -proclamations , 144

Yakkh as, xiii , 188Yaksh as, see Yakkh as

Yaksh ini , see Yakkh as

Yasa, fir st lay convert, 209Yojana ( seven miles) , 179

Pr in ted in G r eat B r i tain by S tep h en Austin cf:S ons, L td . ,Her tford .

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