Garland of the Buddha’s Past Lives (Volume 1). Aryashura

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СКАЧАТЬ by referring to manuscript readings listed in Khoroche’s “Towards a New Edition of Arya·Sura’s Jatakamala” (1987), taking particular advantage of the older and more reliable readings provided by ________

      manuscripts N and T. All such departures from Kern’s edition are listed at the end of this volume. Hahn’s text-critical comments (2001) on stories 33 and 34 have also been invaluable. Finally, the Jatakamala translations by J.S. Speyer (1895) and Khoroche (1989), both of them pioneering works in their own time, have been constant sources of help and inspiration.

      Notes

      1The present Thai king, His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, recently produced an adapted translation of the Mahajanaka Jataka, a scene from which is depicted on cinema screens throughout Thailand during the royal anthem.

      2Luders (1941: 139) discusses an inscription of a verse from the Andabhutajataka at Bharhut. This is one of the earliest surviving written citations of a canonical text.

      3K.R. Norman (1997: 104f.) argues that the Sanskrit word bodhi/sattva is a back formation from the Prakrit bodhi/satta, the Sanskrit equivalent of which is either bodhi/sakta or bodhi/sakta. These two compounds can be translated as “aspiring for awakening” (literally “attached to awakening”) and “capable of awakening” respectively. The compound bodhi/sattva has the significantly different meaning of “awakening being,” or to use Monier-Williams’ translation: “one whose essence is perfect knowledge” (see Monier-Williams s.v.).

      4Royalty: stories 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 11 (Shakra, king of the gods), 13, 15 (fish king), 17 (Shakra), 22 (goose king), 27 (monkey king), 32, 33. Brahmin: stories 1, 7, 12, 19, 21. God: stories 11, 17, 29. Ascetic: stories 1, 7, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 28, 32. Animal: stories 6, 15, 16, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 30, 33, 34.

      5The word arya is a term of respect. Sura is also called Acarya Sura and Bhadanta Sura. See Khoroche (1985: 63).

      6 Khoroche (1985: 63) notes that the date of the text is unknown, but that it cannot be earlier than 700 ce since it refers to Dandin.

      7See Meadows (1986: 4) and Khoroche (1989: xii–xiii) for a summary.

      8A second title is also used: Bodhisattvavadanamala, “a garland of the Bodhi·sattva’s exploits.”

      9See Hahn (1992), (2007) and Meadows (1986: 5). See also verses 7–8 in Somendra’s preface to Kshemendra’s Bodhisattvava- danakalpalata, cited in Hahn (1992: 13), in which we are told that there exist many Jatakamalas that have been composed by “Gopa·datta and other teachers.”

      10Bhikkhu Dhammajoti (1998: 71ff.). I am also grateful to Bhikkhu Dhammajoti for a reference to the *Samyuktabhidharmahrdaya (116), in which the tri/yana (“three vehicles”) are mentioned. For a translation of this text, see Dessein (1999). I am grateful to Peter Skilling for his comments on this matter.

      11Lamotte (1988: 626). The six perfections are: giving (dana), virtue (sila), forbearance (ksanti), vigor (virya), meditation (dhyana), and wisdom (prajna).

      12It is debatable whether the expectation for a climactic conclusion is justified when dealing with this type of literature, especially when it is a collection. A counter-example, however, is provided by the Jatakatthavannana, in which the Vessantarajataka (547) does appear to produce something of a dramatic finale.

      13There is a danger of overestimating the importance of the perfections. Indeed, it is noteworthy that the word paramita is never mentioned in the entire Jatakamala. Moreover, the story (particularly the maxim) often needs to be interpreted first, sometimes heavily, before the relevant perfection is gleaned. The Jatakatthavannana again provides an interesting comparison. There the issue of perfections is often irrelevant, or at best ambiguous, being instead the concern of the meta-interpretations of commentarial exegesis.

      14See Basu (1988) for a literary analysis of the Jatakamala. See also Harn (2007), who lists examples of Hari·bhatta’s style. See gerow (1971) for a summary of literary devices in Indian literature.

      15Dating the Jatakatthavannana is problematic since it developed within an oral culture. The verses are traditionally considered canonical and can be given a lower limit of the first century bce (although many must be earlier), whereas the prose is commentarial and has a lower limit of approximately the fifth century ce (although again much must date back far earlier).

      There are major differences between the Jatakatthavannana and Jatakamala. The Jatakamala’s stories are not spoken by the Buddha and consequently do not have a frame-story set in the present, linking the Buddha’s life with the jataka. Arya·shura’s text usually identifies only the Buddha’s past life character, whereas the Jatakatthavannana often identifies the past life characters of others contemporary to the Buddha, including his chief monks and nuns, as well as his wife and child. Both texts agree in not portraying a chronological sequence of past lives. But whereas the Jatakatthavannana orders its stories according to their number of verses, the Jatakamala is ordered on thematic concerns.

      It could be argued that the Jatakatthavannana’s mixture of verse and prose, often described as akhyana, provides a precedent for campu. In contrast to the Jatakamala, however, verses in akhyana literature often rely on the prose for their meaning to be understood. Campu literature is also more refined in literary expression and has no strict hierarchy of verse and prose.

      16Khoroche (1989: 257ff.) provides a useful list of correspondences with the Jatakatthavannana and other texts at the beginning of his notes to each story.

      17The comments in this section focus largely on stories 1–20 translated in the present volume. For comments on stories 21–34, please see the introduction to Volume Two.

      18In “The Birth-Story on the Tigress” (1.26–28), the Bodhi·sattva predicts the emotional reactions that his feat will produce in others, including faith, astonishment, incitement, and joy.

      19For example, 34.2+: “Protected this way by the Great Being, the creatures in that forest area prospered happily, just as if they had a teacher, kinsman, a doctor, or a king.”

      20See Ohnuma (2007), especially 140ff. for an analysis of giving in Buddhism. See Meadows (1986: 15) for an analysis of story 10, which appears to straddle both giving and virtue.

      21“Giving, they say, extracts the essence out of wealth” (3.35 [23]).

      22The mental attitude of joy is, however, central to all forms of giving. See 8.44–8.46 for a group of verses in which joy is emphasized.

      23A common motif is that Shakra, the king of the gods, tests the Bodhi·sattva’s resolve, thereby revealing the extent of his virtue. See Ohnuma (2007: 67ff.) for an interesting analysis of Shakra’s role.

      24See especially stories 2, 8, and 9. A similar conflict is expressed in stories 18 and 20, in which the Bodhi·sattva’s renunciation of society as an ascetic meets strong opposition.

      25For this more fallible and “human” side to the Bodhi·sattva, see also “The Birth-Story of Unmadayanti” (13), in which the Bodhi·sattva is a king who struggles with his lust for a minister’s wife.

      Select Bibliography

      Basu, R. 1989. Eine literatur-kritische Studie zu Aryasuras Jatakamala zusammen mit einer kritischen Edition der anonymen Jatakamalatika und einer kritischen Edition der Jatakamalapanjika des Viryasimha. PhD dissertation, Bonn.

      Collins, S. 1998. Nirvana and other Buddhist felicities: Utopias of the Pali Imaginaire. Cambridge: Cambridge University СКАЧАТЬ