| Translations of Jātaka tales | |
|---|---|
| English | Birth history |
| Sanskrit | जातक (IAST:Jātaka) |
| Burmese | ဇာတက |
| Khmer | ជាតក (UNGEGN:Chéadâk) |
| Sinhala | ජාතක කථා (Jātaka Kathā) |
| Thai | ชาดก (RTGS:Chadok) |
| Glossary of Buddhism | |
| Part ofa series on |
| Buddhism |
|---|
 |
TheJātaka (Sanskrit for "Birth-Related" or "Birth Stories") are a voluminous body of literature native to theIndian subcontinent which mainly concern the previous births ofGautama Buddha in both human and animal form. Jataka stories were depicted on the railings andtorans of the stupas.[1][2] According to Peter Skilling, this genre is "one of the oldest classes of Buddhist literature."[3] Some of these texts are also considered great works of literature in their own right.[4] The various Indian Buddhist schools had different collections of jātakas. The largest known collection is theJātakatthavaṇṇanā of the Theravada school, as a textual division of thePāli Canon, included in theKhuddaka Nikaya of theSutta Pitaka.[5]
.jpg)
In these stories, the future Buddha may appear as a king, an outcaste, adeva, an animal—but, in whatever form, he exhibits some virtue that the tale thereby inculcates.[6] Often, Jātaka tales include an extensive cast of characters who interact and get into various kinds of trouble – whereupon the Buddha character intervenes to resolve all the problems and bring about ahappy ending. The Jātaka genre is based on the idea that the Buddha was able to recollect all his past lives and thus could use these memories to tell a story and illustrate his teachings.[7]
For the Buddhist traditions, the jātakas illustrate the many lives, acts and spiritual practices which are required on the long path toBuddhahood.[1] They also illustrate the great qualities orperfections of the Buddha (such asgenerosity) and teach Buddhist moral lessons, particularly within the framework ofkarma andrebirth.[5] Jātaka stories have also been illustrated inBuddhist architecture throughout the Buddhist world and they continue to be an important element in popularBuddhist art.[5] Some of the earliest such illustrations can be found atSanchi andBharhut.
According to Naomi Appleton, Jātaka collections also may have played "an important role in the formation and communication of ideas aboutbuddhahood, karma and merit, and the place of the Buddha in relation to other buddhas andbodhisattvas."[5] According to the traditional view found in the PaliJātakanidana, a prologue to the stories, Gautama made a vow to become a Buddha in the future, in front past BuddhaDipankara. He then spent many lifetimes on the path to Buddhahood, and the stories from these lives are recorded as Jātakas.[8]
Jātakas are closely related to (and often overlap with) another genre of Buddhist narrative, theavadāna, which is a story of any karmically significant deed (whether by a bodhisattva or otherwise) and its result.[2][9] According to Naomi Appleton, some tales (such as those found in the second and fourth decade of theAvadānaśataka) can be classified as both a jātaka and an avadāna.[9]
Jātaka tales may be quite ancient. The term appears as part of a schema of Buddhist literary forms called the nine component genres of the Buddha's teaching (navaṅga-buddhasāsana), and depictions of them appear in earlyIndian art (as early as the second century BCE).[7][10] They are also widely represented in ancient Indianinscriptions.[11] According to Straube, "the presumably oldest specimens of fully elaborated narratives are dispersed throughout theVinayapiṭakas andSūtrapiṭakas of the canonical collections of thedifferent Buddhist schools. These texts are transmitted in various Indian dialects and stem from a prior oral tradition."[2]
Furthermore, while these texts cannot be dated in a precise manner, "the fact that many narratives are passed on in almost identical form within the canons of the different schools shows that they date back to the time before theschisms between the schools took place."[2] Sarah Shaw, writing on the PaliJātaka, states that the earliest part of theJātaka, the verse portions, are "considered amongst the very earliest part of the Pali tradition and date from the fifth century BCE" while "the later parts were incorporated during the period up to the third century CE."[8]
According toA. K. Warder,jātaka are the precursors to the various legendary biographies of the Buddha, which were composed at later dates.[12] Although manyjātaka were written from an early period, which describe previous lives of the Buddha, very little biographical material about Gautama's own life has been recorded.[12]Jātaka tales also assimilate many traditional Indianfables andfolklore that are not specifically Buddhist. As the genre spread outside of India, it also drew on local folk tales.[7]
The Mahayana authorAsaṅga provides a working definition ofjātaka in hisŚrāvakabhūmi:[13]
What isjātaka? That which relates the austere practices and bodhisattva practices of the Blessed One in various past births: this is calledjātaka.
The idea thatjātaka are taught in order to illustrate the bodhisattva path is an ancient one and is contained in sources like theMahavastu, which states: "the supreme ones [Buddhas], who are skilled in jātakas and other doctrines, teach the course of practice of a bodhisattva."[11]
Many jātakas are told with a common threefold plot schema which contains:[2]
In thejātaka found in theSuttapitaka, which are almost always in prose, the Buddha is almost always depicted as a person of high rank in a past life (and not an animal). Some of these also include past lives of some of the Buddha's disciples.[2][11] One famous example is the PaliMahāparinirvāṇasūtra, which includes the story of Mahāsudarśana.[2] Unlike Sutra collections, Vinaya sources like theVinayavastu contain more varied jātakas, including ones in which the Buddha is depicted as an animal.[2]
Manyjātaka contain elements of both verse and prose. According to Martin Straube "the division into canonical verses and postcanonical prose points to the old Indian narrative form of ākhyāna, which has a fixed wording of the stanzas only, whereas the actual story is to be shaped anew during each oral performance."[2] The plots of thejātaka range from simplerAesopic style animal tales to longer more complex dramas which resemble epics or novels with intricate dialogue, characters and poetry. Despite the diversity of the plots and characters, they are all unified by the character of the heroic bodhisattva Gautama (whose identity is generally only revealed at the end of the story) and his struggles on the quest forawakening.[4] In spite of this, Gautama is not always the central character of all these stories and sometimes only plays a minor role.[14] Other recurring characters include importantdisciples of the Buddha,Devadatta (generally as avillain) and members of Gautama's family, like his wifeYasodharā and sonRāhula.[14]
Another important element of the stories are the various Buddhist virtues, called perfections, that were cultivated by the bodhisattva Gautama throughout his previous lives, and which serve as the lessons taught by the jātakas.[15] Other jātakas, such as those found in theBuddhavaṃsa (Chronicle of Buddhas), focus on Gautama's meeting, serving and venerating past Buddhas and serve to place his bodhisattva path in a chronology of past Buddhas. These stories generally focus on acts of devotion to past Buddhas and how this generates muchmerit which many positive outcomes in the future.[9] A smaller number of jātakas illustrate various mistakes or bad actions that the bodhisattva committed in a past life (and the subsequent karmic retribution) and thus demonstrate the bodhisattva's past imperfections.[9]
Regarding the intended audience of these texts, Martin Straube notes that even though there is a widespread view that jātakas arose due to monks "catering to the needs and tastes of the illiterate lay practitioners of Buddhism as propagandistic means of preaching or converting" there is no historical evidence for this.[2] Instead, the opposite might be true, since "the prose portions of the Pali jātakas not infrequently have as their audience monks and nuns, who sometimes reach high levels of spiritual realization after listening to a jātaka story."[2] Naomi Appleton, in her analysis of the second and fourth decade of theAvadānaśataka, notes that both sets of stories "assume a monastic audience."[9] Likewise, Kate Crosby writes that "the format of the Jātaka in fact suggests that their original inclusion in the canonical collection was primarily for the benefit of monks."[16] Crosby notes that many of these stories are connected with monastic behavior and decorum, some of them are also meant to illustrate specific rules in theVinaya. In spite of this main intended audience, their simple format also made them easily adaptable for other uses. Thus, they were repackaged as artistic entertainment and teaching devices for laypersons, asparittas (protective chants) and aschronicle (vamsa) literature.[16]
Straube also notes that the rock caves ofAjanta and Bagh were inhabited by monks and it was them who ordered and directed the jātaka murals found there. There is also evidence from inscriptions on old stūpas at various Indian sites (such asSanchi andBharhut) with jātaka motifs which indicate that they were built due to the patronage of monks and nuns, some of them of high rank such asbhāṇaka (reciter).[2] Some scholars have also concluded that Jātaka reciters were part of their own division of reciters.[11]
Jātakas were originally transmitted inprakrit languages and various forms of Sanskrit (fromclassical toBuddhist Hybrid Sanskrit). They were then translated into central Asian languages (such as Khotanese, Tocharian, Uighur, and Sogdian).[17] Various jātaka stories and source texts were also translated intoChinese andTibetan for theTibetan andChinese Buddhist canons.[7] They were some of the first texts to be translated into Chinese.Kāng Sēnghuì (who worked inNanking c. 247) was one of the first Chinese translators of Jātakas. Perhaps his most influential translation is theScripture of the Collection of the Six Perfections.[17]
The various Indian Buddhist schools had different collections of jātakas. The largest known collection is theJātakatthavaṇṇanā of the Theravada school.[5] InTheravada Buddhism, the Jātakas are a textual division of thePāli Canon, included in theKhuddaka Nikaya of theSutta Pitaka. The termJātaka may also refer to a traditional commentaries (Atthakatha) on this book. The tales are dated between 300 BCE and 400 CE.[18]
The MahāsāṃghikaCaitika sects from theĀndhra region also had Jātakas as part of their canon and they are known to have rejected some of the Theravāda Jātakas which dated past the time of KingAshoka.[19] The Caitikas claimed that their own Jātakas represented the original collection before the Buddhist tradition split into various lineages.[20]
In theNorthern Buddhist tradition, Jātakas eventually came to be composed in classicalSanskrit. Perhaps the most influential and important Sanskrit Jātaka text is theJātakamālā (Garland of Jātakas) of Āryaśūra which includes 34 Jātaka stories.[21] This work differs from earlier sources in that it is a highly sophisticated poem which makes use of various Sanskrit literary devices.[22] TheJātakamālā was quite influential and was imitated by later authors who wrote their own jātakamālās, mainly Haribhaṭṭa and Gopadatta. These works are all written in a classical Sanskrit genre known as campū, which is a blend of prose and verse in various meters. The jātakamālās all also use the six perfections (pāramitā) as their main framework.[2] The influence of thejātakamālās can be seen in theAjanta Cave complex, where illustrations of Jātakas are inscribed with quotes from Āryaśūra,[23] with script datable to the sixth century. TheJātakamālā was also translated into Chinese in 434 CE.Borobudur, a massive 9th century Buddhist site inJava, contains depictions of all 34 Jatakas from theJātakamālā.[24]
Two other Sanskrit authors associated with the jātaka genre areKumāralāta (2nd century CE), author of theKalpanāmaṇḍitikā Dṛṣṭāntapaṅkti (Collection of Examples, Adorned with an Artistic Arrangement) and Saṅghasena's (date unknown)Pusa benyuan jing (菩薩本縁經;Sūtra of the Bodhisattva's Avadānas). Both works exist only in Chinese translation (but there are Sanskrit fragments). These texts are a kind of predecessor to theJātakamālā and are less poetically sophisticated.[2]
Later Sanskrit authors continued to write in the genre. One such late text is Kṣemendra's (c. 1036–1065)Bodhisattvāvadānakalpalatā (Wish-Fulfilling Creeper Consisting in Avadānas of the Bodhisattva), a unique jātaka text written completely in verse. This work was influential on the Tibetan tradition.[2]
Jātaka are also important inTibetan Buddhism. They were one of the main sources of teaching and study for the popularKadam school and later Tibetan authors produced abridged collections such asKarmapaRangjung Dorje'sHundred Births and Padma Chopel's summary of theAvadānakalpalatā.[25]
There are numerous sources for classic or canonical Jātaka tales, including:[26][2]
Within the Pali tradition, there are also many non-canonical Jātakas of later composition (some dated even to the 19th century) but these are treated as a separate category of literature from the "official" Jātaka stories that have been more or less formally canonized from at least the 5th century — as attested to in ampleepigraphic and archaeological evidence, such as extant illustrations inbas relief from ancient temple walls. Apocryphal Jātakas of the Pali Buddhist canon, such as those belonging to thePaññāsa Jātaka collection, have been adapted to fit local culture in certainSouth East Asian countries and have been retold with amendments to the plots to better reflect Buddhist morals.[32][33] According to Kate Crosby, "there is also a collection of Jātaka of ten future Buddhas, beginning withMetteyya, which though less well-known today clearly circulated widely in the Theravada world."[34]
There are also late compositions based on classic Jātakas, such as theKavsiḷumiṇa, a poem based on the Kusa Jātaka in archaicSinhala written KingParākkamabāhu II (13th century) and theMahachat kham luang, the 'royal version' of theVessantara jātaka, which was composed at the court of King Paramatrailokanātha (c. 1482). The art of putting classic Jātakas intoThai verse remains a living tradition to this day.[35][34]
The Theravāda Jātakas comprise 547 poems, arranged roughly by an increasing number of verses. According to Professor von Hinüber,[36] only the last 50 were intended to be intelligible by themselves, without commentary. The commentary gives stories in prose that it claims provide the context for the verses, and it is these stories that are of interest tofolklorists. Alternative versions of some of the stories can be found in another book of the Pali Canon, theCariyapitaka, and a number of individual stories can be found scattered around other books of the Canon. Many of the stories and motifs found in the Jātaka such as theRabbit in the Moon of the Śaśajātaka (Jataka Tales: no.316),[37] are found in numerous other languages and media.
The following list includes some important jātakas of the Pali tradition:
Āryaśūra'sJātakamālā, a very influential Sanskrit work that was depicted throughout the Buddhist world, contains the following Jātakas (which teach various virtues):[39]
Jātakas have been important as a way to spread Buddhist teachings and they were widely used as part of sermons, rituals, festivals, and various forms of art. Kate Crosby writes that they have been depicted in such varied forms as "apocryphal literature, vernacular retellings, performance, temple art, temporary street and festival art, films, comics, and cartoons."[40] The sponsorship of Jātaka recitations, copyings and art eventually grew to be seen as an act which generated merit for lay Buddhists. These acts are more common around important festivals likeVesak.[41]
The earliest archeological findings which depict Jātakas are the illustrations found in the on theBharhut stupa railing as well as atSanchi (c. late 2nd – 1st century BCE), which also include inscriptions.[42][2] After this, Jātakas appear at many Buddhist sites, like atAjanta. Similar Jātaka tales are found in murals ofSilk Road sites of the pre-Tang period (ca. 421–640 C.E.), such as atKucha. They are also found in early Southeast Asian sites, especially atBagan sites.Burmese Buddhism has an extensive tradition of Jātaka illustration, one of the best examples being the illustrations found atAnanda Temple (which depicts 554 tales).[42]
Jātaka tales are often associated with specific locations. Originally, this applied to specific places in India, which served asBuddhist pilgrimage sites. Later traditions expanded this to include other places throughout the Buddhist world. According to Naomi Appleton, the fact that Jātaka tales lack specific references to specific places allowed them to be easily transported and re-localized. This flexibility contributed to the lasting popularity of the Jātakas.[43] This tradition of associating Jātaka tales with regions outside of India played an important part in the promotion and legitimisation of Buddhism in these regions.[43]
Thus, manystupas in Nepal and northern India are said to mark locations from the Jātaka tales. Chinese pilgrims likeXuanzang andFaxian reported several of these and discussed the stories connected with them. Sites discussed by these figures include the "four great stupas" as well as stupas inPushkalavati, Mangalura, Hadda Mountain, and Sarvadattaan.[44][45]
According to Naomi Appleton, the "four great stupas" visited byFaxian (337–422 CE) are:
the first (in 'So-ho-to') was where the Buddha ransomed the life of a dove with his own flesh; the second (inGandhāra) was where he gave away his eyes to a blind beggar; and the third and fourth (inTakshaśilā) were where he gave away his head to a man and his whole body to a starving tigress who was about to eat her own cubs, and where 'kings, ministers, and peoples of all the kingdoms around vie with one another in making offerings'. A century later,Songyun writes of the same four sites and also mentions a whole area associated with theVessantara-jātaka.[43]
Numerous Indian Buddhist archeological sites contain illustrations of Jātakas, and thus they are important artistic sources for Jātakas. Some of the main sites include:[26][2]
Other ancient sites outside of India which contain Jataka illustrations includeBorobudor,Dunhuang (theMogao caves),Polonnoruwa,Anuradhapura,Bagan city, andNakhon Pathom.[46] Jataka illustrations (especially of the last 10 stories of the canonical Pali collection) are widespread in the Theravada Buddhist world, adorning many temples,wats and key sites.[47]
According to the Chinese pilgrimYijing, who visited India in the 7th century, jātaka plays were performed 'throughout the five countries of India'. This culture of performance spread to other regions as well.[25]
In Tibet, theViśvāntara-jātaka was transformed into a popular play called theDri med kun ldan. Other popular jataka plays include Nor bzaṅ or Sudhana and the story of Prince Maṇicūḍa (Lokānanda).[25]
InTheravada countries, several of the longer tales such as "The Twelve Sisters"[48] and theVessantara Jataka[49] are still performed in dance,[50] theatre, puppetry,[47] and formal (quasi-ritual) recitation.[51] Such celebrations are associated with particular holidays on thelunar calendar used byThailand,Myanmar,Sri Lanka andLaos. The recitation of theVessantara Jataka remains an important ceremony remains an important ceremony in Theravada countries today.[52]
.jpg)
.jpg)
%253F_LACMA_AC1999.3.1_(1_of_6).jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
_(8597265312).jpg)
.jpg)
The standard Pali collection of jātakas, withcanonical text embedded, has been translated byE. B. Cowell and others, originally published in six volumes byCambridge University Press (1895–1907) and reprinted in three volumes, by thePali Text Society (Bristol).[53] There are also numerous English translations of selections and individual stories from various sources.
Some of the main translations of jātakas available in English include:
Stories which are similar to the jātakas are also found inJainism, which has stories focused onMahavira's path to enlightenment in previous lives.[54] The Jain stories include Mahavira's numerous forms of rebirth, such as animals as well as encounters with past liberated beings (jinas) which predict Mahavira's future enlightenment.[54] However, a major difference here is that, while Mahavira gets a prediction of future enlightenment, he does not make a vow to become a jina in the future, unlike the bodhisattva Gautama.[54] There is also no equivalent idea of a bodhisattva path in Jainism, in-spite of the existence of some narratives about Mahavira's past lives.[54]
A similar collection of Indian animalfables is the HinduPañcatantra, which has been dated to around 200 BCE.[55]
Some Buddhist jātakas were also adopted and retold by Islamic (and later Christian) authors, such as the 10th century Shia scholarIbn Bābūya, who adapted a jātaka into a story titled Balawhar wa-Būdāsf, which became the Christian narrative ofBarlaam and Joasaph.[56]
.svg)
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Google Books (edited and induced fromThe Morall Philosophie of Doni by Sir Thomas North, 1570)
Jataka tales public domain audiobook atLibriVox
