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                        BUDDHIST BIRTH STORIES;

                                  OR,

                             JĀTAKA TALES.

              THE OLDEST COLLECTION OF FOLK-LORE EXTANT:

                                 BEING

                        THE JĀTAKATTHAVAṆṆANĀ,

           _For the first time Edited in the Original Pāli_

                            BY V. FAUSBÖLL,

                            AND TRANSLATED

                         BY T. W. RHYS DAVIDS.

                             TRANSLATION.

                              _VOLUME I._


                                LONDON:
                     TRÜBNER & CO., LUDGATE HILL.
                                 1880.
                       [_All rights reserved._]




                               HERTFORD:
                  PRINTED BY STEPHEN AUSTIN AND SONS.




                                  TO

                     GEHEIM-RATH PROFESSOR DOCTOR

                               STENZLER

                  MY FIRST GUIDE IN ORIENTAL STUDIES

              IN CONGRATULATION ON HIS ‘DOCTOR JUBILÄUM’

           AND IN DEEP RESPECT FOR HIS PROFOUND SCHOLARSHIP

                       THIS WORK IS DEDICATED BY

                          HIS GRATEFUL PUPIL

                              THE AUTHOR.




TABLE OF CONTENTS.


  TRANSLATOR’S INTRODUCTION.                                PAGE


  PART I.

  _The Book of Birth Stories, and their Migration to the West._

  Orthodox Buddhist belief concerning it. Two reasons
  for the value attached to it                      i-iv

  Selected Stories.--1. The Ass in the Lion’s Skin     v

  2. The Talkative Tortoise                         viii

  3. The Jackal and the Crow                         xii

  4. The Wise Judge                                  xiv

  5. Sakka’s Presents                                xvi

  6. A Lesson for Kings                             xxii

  The Kalilag and Damnag Literature                 xxix

  Origin of ‘Æsop’s’ Fables                        xxxii

  The Barlaam and Josaphat Literature              xxxvi

  Other Migrations of the Buddhist Tales             xli

  Greek and Buddhist Fables                        xliii

  Solomon’s Judgment                                xliv

  Summary of Part I.                              xlviii


  PART II.

  _The Birth Stories in India._

  Jātakas derived from the Pāli Piṭakas              lii

  Jātakas in the Cariyā Piṭaka and Jātaka Mālā      liii

  Jātakas in the Buddhavaŋsa                          lv

  Jātakas at the Council of Vesāli                  lvii

  Jātakas on the Ancient Sculptures                  lix

  The Pāli Names of the Jātakas                       lx

  The Jātakas one of the Navaŋgāni                  lxii

  Authorship of our present Collection             lxiii

  Jātakas not included in our present Collection   lxvii

  Jātakas in post-Buddhistic Sanskrit Literature   lxviii

  Form of the Jātakas.--The Introductory Stories   lxxiv

  The Conclusions                                   lxxv

  The Abhisambuddha-gāthā, or
  Verses in the Conclusion                         lxxvi

  Divisions of the Jātaka Book                     lxxix

  Actual Number of the Stories                     lxxxi

  Summary of the Origin of the Present Collection lxxxii

  Special Lessons inculcated by the Birth Stories  lxxxv

  Special Historical Value of the Birth Stories   lxxxvi


  SUPPLEMENTARY TABLES.

  I. Indian Works                                 lxxxix

  II. The Kalilag and Damnag Literature            xciii

  III. The Barlaam and Josaphat Literature           xcv

  IV. The Cariyā Piṭaka and the Jātaka Mālā       xcviii

  V. Alphabetical List of Jātaka Stories in the
     Mahāvastu                                      xcix

  VI. Places at which the Tales were Told              c

  VII. The Bodisats                                   ci

  VIII. Jātakas Illustrated in Bas-relief on the Ancient
  Monuments                                          cii


  THE CEYLON COMPILER’S INTRODUCTION, called the
  _Nidāna Kathā_.

  Story of Sumedha, the First Bodisat                  2

  The Successive Bodisats in the Times of the Previous
  Buddhas                                             31

  Life of the Last Bodisat (who became Buddha)        58

  His Descent from Heaven                             59

  His Birth                                           67

  Song of the Angels                                  69

  Prophecy of Kāḷa Devala                             70

  Prophecy of the Brāhman Priests                     72

  The Ploughing Festival                              75

  The Young Bodisat’s Skill and Wisdom                76

  The Four Visions                                    77

  The Bodisat’s Son is Born                           79

  Kisā Gotamī’s Song                                  80

  The Great Renunciation                              82

  The Great Struggle against Sin                      89

  The Great Victory over Satan                        96

  The Bliss of Nirvāna                               105

  The Hesitation whether to Publish the Good News    111

  The Foundation of the Kingdom of Righteousness     113

  Uruvela Kassapa’s Conversion                       114

  Triumphal Entrance into Rājagaha                   116

  Foundation of the Order                            119

  Return Home                                        121

  Presentation of the First Monastery to the Buddha  131


  THE BIRTH STORIES.

  1. Holding to the Truth... Apaṇṇaka Jātaka        134

  2. The Sandy Road... Vaṇṇupatha Jātaka            147

  3. The Merchant of Sēri... Seri-vānija Jātaka     153

  4. The Story of Chullaka the Treasurer... Cullaka-seṭṭhi
  Jātaka                                             158

  5. The Measure of Rice... Taṇḍula-nāḷi Jātaka     172

  6. On True Divinity... Deva-dhamma Jātaka         178

  9. The Story of Makhā Deva... Makhā-deva Jātaka   186

  10. The Happy Life... Sukhavihāri Jātaka          190

  11. The Story of Beauty... Lakkhaṇa Jātaka        194

  12. The Banyan Deer... Nigrodha-miga Jātaka       199

  13. The Dart of Love... Kaṇḍina Jātaka            211

  14. The Greedy Antelope... Vātamiga Jātaka        214

  15. The Deer who would not Learn... Kharādiyā
  Jātaka                                             219

  16. The Cunning Deer... Tipallatha-miga Jātaka    221

  17. The Wind... Māluta Jātaka                     224

  18. On Offering Food to the Dead... Mataka-bhatta
  Jātaka                                             226

  19. On Offerings given under a Vow... Āyācita-bhatta
  Jātaka                                             230

  20. The Monkeys and the Demon... Naḷapāna Jātaka  232

  21. The Wily Antelope... Kurunga-miga Jātaka      237

  22. The Dog who turned Preacher... Kukkura
  Jātaka                                             240

  23. The Bhoja Thoroughbred... Bhojājānīya Jātaka  245

  24. The Thoroughbred War Horse... Ājañña Jātaka   249

  25. The Horse at the Ford... Tittha Jātaka        251

  26. Evil communications corrupt good manners...
  Mahilā-mukha Jātaka                                257

  27. The Elephant and the Dog... Abhiṇha Jātaka    263

  28. The Bull who Won the Bet... Nandi-Visāla
  Jātaka                                             266

  29. The Old Woman’s Black Bull... Kaṇha Jātaka    270

  30. The Ox who Envied the Pig... Muṇika Jātaka    275

  31. On Mercy to Animals... Kulāvaka Jātaka        278

  32. The Dancing Peacock... Nacca Jātaka           291

  33. The sad Quarrel of the Quails... Sammodamāna
  Jātaka      295

  34. The Fish and his Wife... Maccha Jātaka        299

  35. The Holy Quail... Vaṭṭaka Jātaka              302

  36. The Wise Bird and the Fools... Sakuṇa Jātaka  307

  37. The Partridge, Monkey, and Elephant... Tittira
  Jātaka                                             310

  38. The Cruel Crane Outwitted... Baka Jātaka      315

  39. Nanda on the Buried Gold... Nanda Jātaka      322

  40. The Fiery Furnace... Khadirangāra Jātaka      326

  INDEX                                              339




INTRODUCTION.


It is well known that amongst the Buddhist Scriptures there is one book
in which a large number of old stories, fables, and fairy tales, lie
enshrined in an edifying commentary; and have thus been preserved for
the study and amusement of later times. How this came about is not at
present quite certain. The belief of orthodox Buddhists on the subject
is this. The Buddha, as occasion arose, was accustomed throughout his
long career to explain and comment on the events happening around him,
by telling of similar events that had occurred in his own previous
births. The experience, not of one lifetime only, but of many lives,
was always present to his mind; and it was this experience he so
often used to point a moral, or adorn a tale. The stories so told are
said to have been reverently learnt and repeated by his disciples;
and immediately after his death 550 of them were gathered together
in one collection, called the Book of the 550 Jātakas or Births; the
commentary to which gives for each Jātaka, or Birth Story, an account
of the event in Gotama’s life which led to his first telling that
particular story. Both text and commentary were then handed down
intact, and in the Pāli language in which they were composed, to the
time of the Council of Patna (held in or about the year 250 B.C.);
and they were carried in the following year to Ceylon by the great
missionary Mahinda. There the commentary was translated into Siŋhalese,
the Aryan dialect spoken in Ceylon; and was re-translated into its
present form in the Pāli language in the fifth century of our era. But
the text of the Jātaka stories themselves has been throughout preserved
in its original Pāli form.

Unfortunately this orthodox Buddhist belief as to the history of
the Book of Birth Stories rests on a foundation of quicksand. The
Buddhist belief, that most of their sacred books were in existence
immediately after the Buddha’s death, is not only not supported, but
is contradicted by the evidence of those books themselves. It may be
necessary to state what that belief is, in order to show the importance
which the Buddhists attach to the book; but in order to estimate the
value we ourselves should give it, it will be necessary by critical,
and more roundabout methods, to endeavour to arrive at some more
reliable conclusion. Such an investigation cannot, it is true, be
completed until the whole series of the Buddhist Birth Stories shall
have become accessible in the original Pāli text, and the history
of those stories shall have been traced in other sources. 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 course of the inquiry will lead to some highly interesting and
instructive results.

In the first place, the fairy tales, parables, fables, riddles, and
comic and moral stories, of which the Buddhist Collection--known as the
Jātaka Book--consists, have been found, in many instances, to bear a
striking resemblance to similar ones current in the West. Now in many
instances this resemblance is simply due to the fact that the _Western
stories were borrowed from the Buddhist ones_.

To this resemblance much of the interest excited by the Buddhist Birth
Stories is, very naturally, due. As, therefore, the stories translated
in the body of this volume do not happen to contain among them any
of those most generally known in England, I insert here one or two
specimens which may at the same time afford some amusement, and also
enable the reader to judge how far the alleged resemblances do actually
exist.

It is absolutely essential for the correctness of such judgment
that the stories should be presented exactly as they stand in the
original. I am aware that a close and literal translation involves the
disadvantage of presenting the stories in a style which will probably
seem strange, and even wooden, to the modern reader. But it cannot be
admitted that, for even purposes of comparison, it would be sufficient
to reproduce the stories in a modern form which should aim at combining
substantial accuracy with a pleasing dress.

And the Book of Birth Stories has a value quite independent of the fact
that many of its tales have been transplanted to the West. It contains
a record of the every-day life, and every-day thought, of the people
among whom the tales were told: it is _the oldest, most complete, and
most important Collection of Folk-lore extant_.

The whole value of its evidence in this respect would be lost, if a
translator, by slight additions in some places, slight omissions in
others, and slight modifications here and there, should run the risk
of conveying erroneous impressions of early Buddhist beliefs, and
habits, and modes of thought. It is important, therefore, that the
reader should understand, before reading the stories I intend to give,
that while translating sentence by sentence, rather than word by word,
I have never lost sight of the importance of retaining in the English
version, as far as possible, not only the phraseology, but the style
and spirit of the Buddhist story-teller.

The first specimen I propose to give is a half-moral half-comic story,
which runs as follows.




The Ass in the Lion’s Skin.

SĪHA-CAMMA JĀTAKA.

(Fausböll, No. 189.)


Once upon a time, while Brahma-datta was reigning in Benāres, the
future Buddha was born one of a peasant family; and when he grew up, he
gained his living by tilling the ground.

At that time a hawker used to go from place to place, trafficking in
goods carried by an ass. Now at each place he came to, when he took the
pack down from the ass’s back, he used to clothe him in a lion’s skin,
and turn him loose in the rice and barley-fields. And when the watchmen
in the fields saw the ass, they dared not go near him, taking him for a
lion.

So one day the hawker stopped in a village; and whilst he was getting
his own breakfast cooked, he dressed the ass in a lion’s skin, and
turned him loose in a barley-field. The watchmen in the field dared not
go up to him; but going home, they published the news. Then all the
villagers came out with weapons in their hands; and blowing chanks, and
beating drums, they went near the field and shouted. Terrified with the
fear of death, the ass uttered a cry--the cry of an ass!

Ana when he knew him then to be an ass, the future Buddha pronounced
the First Stanza:

    “This 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!”

But when the villagers knew the creature to be an ass, they beat him
till his bones broke; and, carrying off the lion’s skin, went away.
Then the hawker came; and seeing the ass fallen into so bad a plight,
pronounced the Second Stanza:

    “Long might the ass,
    Clad in a lion’s skin,
    Have fed on the barley green.
        But he brayed!
    And that moment he came to ruin.”

And even whilst he was yet speaking the ass died on the spot!

       *       *       *       *       *

This story will doubtless sound familiar enough to English ears; for a
similar tale is found in our modern collections of so-called ‘Æsop’s
Fables.’[1] Professor Benfey has further traced it in mediæval French,
German, Turkish, and Indian literature.[2] But it may have been much
older than any of these books; for the fable possibly gave rise to
a proverb of which we find traces among the Greeks as early as the
time of Plato.[3] Lucian gives the fable in full, localizing it at
Kumē, in South Italy,[4] and Julien has given us a Chinese version in
his ‘Avadānas.’[5] Erasmus, in his work on proverbs,[6] alludes to
the fable; and so also does our own Shakespeare in ‘King John.’[7]
It is worthy of mention that in one of the later story-books--in a
Persian translation, that is, of the Hitopadesa--there is a version
of our fable in which it is the vanity of the ass in trying to sing
which leads to his disguise being discovered, and thus brings him
to grief.[8] But Professor Benfey has shown[9] that this version is
simply the rolling into one of the present tale and of another, also
widely prevalent, where an ass by trying to sing earns for himself,
not thanks, but blows.[10] I shall hereafter attempt to draw some
conclusions from the history of the story. But I would here point out
that the fable could scarcely have originated in any country in which
lions were not common; and that the Jātaka story gives a reasonable
explanation of the ass being dressed in the skin, instead of saying
that he dressed himself in it, as is said in our ‘Æsop’s Fables.’

The reader will notice that the ‘moral’ of the tale is contained in
two stanzas, one of which is put into the mouth of the Bodisat or
future Buddha. This will be found to be the case in all the Birth
Stories, save that the number of the stanzas differs, and that they
are usually all spoken by the Bodisat. It should also be noticed that
the identification of the peasant’s son with the Bodisat, which is of
so little importance to the story, is the only part of it which is
essentially Buddhistic. Both these points will be of importance further
on.

The introduction of the human element takes this story, perhaps, out of
the class of fables in the most exact sense of that word. I therefore
add a story containing a fable proper, where animals speak and act like
men.




The Talkative Tortoise.

KACCHAPA JĀTAKA.

(Fausböll, No. 215.)


Once upon a time, when Brahma-datta was reigning in Benāres, the future
Buddha was born in a minister’s family; and when he grew up, he became
the king’s adviser in things temporal and spiritual.

Now this king was very talkative: while he was speaking, others had no
opportunity for a word. And the future Buddha, wanting to cure this
talkativeness of his, was constantly seeking for some means of doing
so.

At that time there was living, in a pond in the Himālaya mountains, a
tortoise. Two young haŋsas (_i.e._ wild ducks[11]) who came to feed
there, made friends with him. And one day, when they had become very
intimate with him, they said to the tortoise--

“Friend tortoise! the place where we live, at the Golden Cave on Mount
Beautiful in the Himālaya country, is a delightful spot. Will you come
there with us?”

“But how can I got there?”

“We can take you, if you can