THE JATAKAMALA -
TABLE OF CONTENTS |
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01. The Tigress
02. The King of the Sibis
03. The Small Portion of Gruel
04. The Head of a Guild
05. The Invincible One
06. The Hare
07. The Sage Agastya
08. Maitribala
09. Prince Visvantara
10. The Sacrifice
11. Sakra, Lord of the Devas
12. The Brahman
13. Unmadayanti
14. Suparaga
15. Lord of Fishes
16. The Quail's Young
17. The Story of the Jar |
18. The Childless One
19. The Lotus Stalks
20. The Treasurer
21. Kuddabodhi
22. The Holy Swan
23. Mahabodhi
24. The Great Ape
25. Sarabha
26. The Ruru Deer
27. The Monkey Chief
28. Kshantivadin
29. The Brahmaloka Inhabitant
30. The Elephant
31. Sutasoma
32. Ayogriha
33. The Buffalo
34. The Woodpecker |
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THE JATAKAMALA
The
Garland of Birth Stories
from the Buddha's past lives as the Bodhisattva
Adapted from the 19th century translation by J. S Speyer
"Om! Adoration to all
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas!
Grand and glorious, of inexhaustible praise and charm,
comprising excellent virtues and thereby auspicious,
are the wonderful exploits that the Muni performed in his previous births.
His praiseworthy deeds teach the way leading to to Buddhahood;
they are the landmarks along the road for softening even the hardest of hearts.
No one bent on self-interest can ever imitate His beautiful practice of virtues for the
sake of all other beings;
His blaze of glory reveals his true name: The
All-knowing One."
A total of 33 of the 34 episodes from
Arya Suras Jatakamala are portrayed in the first 135 panels on the upper
register of Borobudur's first gallery balustrade. This entire panel series extends all the
way from Borobudurs eastern entrance to the southwest corner of the monument.
Jataka means 'previous births' and mala 'garland;' the idea being
that the stories of the difficult deeds accomplished in the former lives of the
Bodhisattva (afterward the Buddha) are strung (or collected) together in one place,"
wrote the 8th century Chinese pilgrim I-Tsing. "The object of composing the Birth
stories in verses is to teach the doctrine of universal salvation in a beautiful style,
agreeable to the popular mind and attractive to readers.
Each of the Jatakamala stories
presents emphasizes one aspect of the requisite perfections (paramitas) that a Bodhisattva
must master on his or her way to achieving enlightenment. For a detailed explanation of
the perfections of the Bodhisattva, see Buddhism 101.
The following tales from Arya Surya's
Jatakamala are based on J. S. Speyer's English-language translation, which was published
in 1896. In addition, many of the photographs of the Borobudur reliefs that appear in our
modern rendition of these timeless stories are from "A Garland of Birth Stories"
by Marie Musaeus Higgins, which was published in 1914. |
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The Story of
the Tigress - SE Quadrant, Upper Register, Reliefs 1-4 |
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During the time prior to his becoming Lord Buddha, the Bodhisattva was
born into a most eminent and mighty family of Brahmans. Achieving purity through the
religious sacraments, and owing to the innate quickness of his understanding, he
eventually obtained mastery over the eighteen branches of science as well as all arts that
were compatible with the customs of his family.
The Brahmans regarded him to be the Holy Word, while those of royal blood venerated him
like a king. To the masses he appeared as the embodiment of the thousand-eyed Lord of the
Devas; to those who thirsted for knowledge he was a helpful father.
In consequence of prosperous destiny and as a result of merit earned during previous
births, he had inherited a storehouse full of wealth, distinction and fame. However, the
Bodhisattva took no delight in such things.
With a clear mind he perceived the many kinds of sin which can come from indulging in
worldly pleasures. Shaking off the worldly life as if it were a sickness, he retired to a
plateau from where his wisdom-brightened tranquillity and friendliness radiated outward.
It penetrated the hearts of ferocious animals, thereby causing them to cease all injurious
activities and live like ascetics in the forest.
Having abandoned all desire for gain, glory and pleasure and therefore wanting little, the
Bodhisattva knew not the art of hypocrisy. For this reason even the Devas were worshipful.
Upon hearing of the Bodhisattva's new life as an ascetic, those whose affections he had
previously gained left their families and, embracing the Bodhisattva as the embodiment of
salvation, became his disciples. He taught them all as best as he could, through his good
conduct, chastity, purification of the sense organs, constant attentiveness, and
detachment from the world. By means of mind concentration, meditation on friendliness and
the rest, the holy road to salvation was revealed so that the disciples could attain
perfection. |
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One day the Great-Minded One
(mahatman) went rambling alongside the shrub strewn caverns of the mountain in the company
of his disciple Agita. Well adapted to the practices of yoga, the Bodhisattva enjoyed the
existing order of things at his ease.
Then the Bodhisattva spied a young tigress in one of the mountain caverns below him.
Having given birth earlier to a litter of cubs, she was thoroughly exhausted by her
labors. Hungry for food to fill her in her emaciated belly, she began to regard her own
offspring as food through sunken eyes. Thirsting for the milk of her udders, her offspring
began to drawn near, fearless and full of trust for their mother. But the tigress
responded to their approach by unleashing prolonged harsh roars as if the approaching cubs
were strangers.
Upon seeing the starving tigress, the Bodhisattva, though composed in mind, was shaken
with compassion by the suffering of this fellow creature. It was as if Meru, the Lord of
the Mountains, had been shaken by an earthquake.
It is a wonder how the compassionate, their constancy ever so evident in the midst of the
greatest of their own sufferings, can be touched by the grief, however small, of another!
"My dear, my dear," exclaimed the Bodhisattva to his pupil. "Behold the
worthlessness of Samsara! This animal seeks to feed on her very own young ones. Hunger
causes her to transgress love's law. Alas!
"Fie upon the ferocity of self-love, that makes a mother wish to make a meal of the
bodies of her own offspring! Who would foster the foe whose name is self-love, by whom one
may be compelled to an action like this? Go quickly and look about for some means of
appeasing her hunger so that she may not injure her young ones and herself. I too shall
endeavor to avert her from committing such a rash act."
Promising to do so, the pupil Agita went off in search of food. However, the request was
merely a diversion for turning his disciple away while the Bodhisattva considered thus: |
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"Why should I seek out the meat of another's body, while the whole
of my own body is available? Not only is the finding of meat in itself a matter of chance,
but I should also lose the opportunity of doing my duty. Further, this body being brute,
frail, pithless, ungrateful, always impure, and a source of suffering, what wise man would
not rejoice at its being spent for the benefit of another?
"There are but two things that make one disregard the grief of another: attachment to
one's own pleasure and the absence of the power of helping. I am unable to have pleasure
while another grieves, and I also have the power to help. Why should I be indifferent? And
if able to succor I were to be indifferent even to an evildoer immersed in grief, my mind
I suppose, would feel the remorse for an evil deed, burning like shrubs caught by a great
fire. Therefore I will kill my own miserable body by casting it down into the precipice.
My own corpse will serve as the food for preventing those young ones from being ripped to
death by the teeth of their own mother.
"By so doing I shall set an example for those who long for the good of the world. I
shall encourage the feeble and cause rejoice in the hearts of those who understand the
true meaning of charity. I shall stimulate gladness in the hearts of those who love the
Buddha-virtues. I shall confound those who are absorbed in selfishness and subdued by
egotism and lusts, causing disappointment to the great hosts of the deceiver Mara.
"I shall give a token of faith to the adherents of the most excellent of vehicles,
and well as astonish those who sneer at charitable deeds. I shall clear the highway to
Heaven in a manner pleasing to the charitible have I ever had such an the opportunity to
benefit others with the offering of my own limbs? I shall accomplish it now, and so
acquire Complete Wisdom before long.
"This determination does not proceed from ambition, nor from thirst for glory, nor is
it a means of gaining Heaven or royal dignity. I care not for obtaining supreme and
everlasting bliss for myself, but rather for securing the benefit of others may I gain
power over the world's sorrow and the world's happiness, just as the sun dispels darkness
and imparts light unto the world! Whether or not I shall be remembered whenever virtue is
practiced or made conspicuous when the tale of my exploit is told, in every way may I
constantly benefit the world and promote its happiness."
After making up his mind and delighting in the thought that he was about to destroy even
his life for the benefit of other beings, the Bodhisattva gave up his body to the
amazement even of the calm minds of the Devas.
The sound of his body falling down the cliff stirred the curiosity and the anger of the
tigress. She desisted from the contemplation of the slaughter of their whelps, and cast
her sunken eyes all around. As soon as she perceive the Bodhisattva's lifeless body, she
sprang to its side and began to devour it.
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Unable to find any meat, the Bodhisattva's
disciple, returned to the side of the cliff and looked around in vain for his teacher.
When Agita failed to see the Master, he gazed downward and spied the young tigress feeding
on the Bodhisattva's lifeless body. Driving back his own sorrow and pain, the disciple
admired the extraordinary greatness of the performance.
"Oh how ever merciful the Great-Minded One was to people afflicted by distress, how
indifferent to his own welfare. He has brought to perfection the virtuous conduct of the
pious, and dashed to pieces the splendid glory of their adversaries. He has displayed,
clinging to virtues, his heroism, fearless, and immense love. His body, which was already
precious in its virtues, has now forcibly been turned into a vessel of the highest
veneration. And although by his innate kindness he was as patient as the Earth, how
intolerant he was of the suffering of others. The roughness of my own mind is hereby
revealed in contrast to this splendid act of heroism. Verily one need not commiserate with
the creatures now, for they have that illustrious Great Being (Mahasattva), of exuberant
compassion, of boundless goodness, as their Protector and their refuge. The Lord of all
sensual desires is now without doubt sighing away, disturbed and in dread of defeat."
The disciple Agita related the Bodhisattva's exploit to his fellow-disciples and
thereafter to his own disciples as well as the Gandharvas, the Yakshas, the snakes, and
the even chiefs of the Devas, whose shining countenance expressed their admiration for the
good deed, and who covered the ground where the treasure of his bones laid with a
profusion of wreaths, clothes, jewel ornaments and sandal power.
So then, even in former births the Lord identified himself with all creatures toward whom
he revealed his innate and immense love. For this reason we ought to have the utmost faith
in the Lord. "And having obtained this faith in Buddha we ought to strive for feeling
the highest gladness. In this manner our faith will attain its sanctuary." Likewise
we must listen with attention to the preaching of the Dharma since it has been brought to
us by means of hundreds of difficult hardships. And in sermons on the subject of
compassion, thus is to be said: "In this manner compassion, moving us to act for the
benefit of others, is productive of an exceedingly excellent nature." |
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