108 Buddhist Parables and Stories. Olga Gutsol
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108 Buddhist Parables and Stories
Editor Olga Gutsol
ISBN 978-5-4496-5961-3
Created with Ridero smart publishing system
INTRODUCTION
You hold in your hands a collection of the most beloved stories, teachings and parables attributed to Gautama Buddha, enlightened teacher and sage who lived and taught in the northeastern part of ancient India. His teachings mostly in the form of Jatakas, stories of previous lifetimes, and Sutras, discourses given to monks, composed the foundation of Buddhism. The fact that these teachings have been preserved for approximately twenty five centuries, is due mostly to one monk, Ananda, the Buddha’s closest disciple and primary attendant. Known for his impeccable memory, Ananda was the first person to recollect all of the Buddha’s teachings at the First Buddhist Council which was gathered shortly after the Buddha’s passing, and, as the legend says, lasted for over seven months. After that the teachings were passed on orally for many generations of monks and nuns through repetition and communal recitation.
The first Buddhist scriptures written in Pali, Burmese and Sanskrit are dated to the 1st century BCE, while most of Jatakas are dated to the 3rd-4th century BCE. Only during the second half of the 19th century the first Buddhist texts were translated and introduced into the Western world. The most traditional translation of Jatakas from Pali into English is attributed to E.B. Cowell in his book The Jataka; or Stories of the Buddha’s Former Births, published in 1895; and the translation of Sutras and Jatakas from Burmese to English is attributed to Captain F. Rogers in his work Buddhaghosha’s Parables, published in 1870. Both of these works were used extensively in putting together this book.
Around the same time Paul Carus, a German-American author and philosopher, also collected ancient Buddhist parables in his masterpiece, The Gospel of Buddha, published for the first time in 1894. The stories he discovered and compiled exhibit a more mystical and magical tone describing the Buddha’s encounters with demons and celestial devas. Furthermore, some of these stories bear a close resemblance to old Chinese and Indian folk tales, while some stories have parallels to the early Christian teachings. For one thing, A Widow’s Mite parable is analogous to A Lesson of the Widow’s Mite from the Synoptic Gospels (Mark 12:41—44), and is thought to be recorded by a Buddhist saint and philosopher Acvaghosha, who lived in India around 150 CE.
This mingling of facts and legends is only natural given that the narrative of the Buddha’s life was retold across cultures, times, and monasteries, and many details were gradually added. So perhaps, instead of asking how these Buddhist scriptures originated, we can ask what do the scriptures do once they enter the world. Conceivably, their ability to catalyze transformations seems to be the best measure of their authenticity. It is believed that the multitude of differences and details in Buddhist scriptures reveals a key to understanding them: the diversity of texts is purposeful and immeasurable because of the Buddha’s intention to meet the needs of everyone he anticipated addressing.
From this perspective, this book is not an exhaustive list of Jatakas and Sutras, but rather a mere scratch on the surface of countless Buddhist scriptures. When selecting and editing the stories I tried to introduce an overview of the different forms of teachings found in Sutras, as well as to present the story of the Buddha and some of his closest disciples. In the end, the choice of stories admittedly happened more out of the personal adoration and preference, rather than any earnest structure. My hope is that other readers find them enriching as well and if not inspirational, then at least entertaining.
May these teachings bring you peace, compassion, joy, wisdom and the gift of unshakable inner freedom.
1. SIDDHARTHA
Twenty-five centuries ago, in the royal city of Kapilavatthu, King Suddhodana from the great Sakya dynasty ruled a land near the Himalayan Mountains.
His wife, Queen Maya, gave birth to a son. Shortly after the birth, the king was visited by a great sage Asita who had travelled many miles to behold the child. The baby was brought to him, but on seeing the child Asita immediately burst into tears.
The king, alarmed by this reaction and concerned for what it may mean, bade Asita to tell him why he was saddened. Thus the sage explained, “His future is supreme. Your son shall become an Enlightened One, and free the world from its bonds of illusion. I weep only for myself, for I will not live to hear his teachings. For he will give up the kingdom in his indifference to worldly pleasures, and, through bitter struggles grasping the final truth, he will shine forth as a sun of knowledge in the world to dispel the darkness of delusion. With the mighty boat of knowledge he will bring the world, which is being carried away in affliction, up from the ocean of suffering, which is overspread with the foam of disease and which has old age for its waves and death for its fearsome flood.”
Though Suddhodana proceeded with a celebration of his son’s birth, concern and anxiety began to creep into his mind. The possibility that his son might renounce all that he, the king, held dear, in favour of the homeless life and to pass his days as a wandering sage – this was difficult for Suddhodana to bear. The king called upon eight brahmin priests, all skilled in interpreting astrology signs, and asked them to prophesy for the prince.
When the brahmins had conferred, they said, “According to the signs your son will certainly become either an enlightened seer or the greatest monarch -a chakravartin- on earth. Should he desire earthly sovereignty, then by his might and law he will stand on earth at the head of all kings. Should he desire salvation and renounce his home and family for the life of a seeker, then by his knowledge and truth, he will overcome all creeds and save the world from its ignorance and folly.”
The king asked, “What would cause my son to renounce home and family?”
The brahmins replied, “Seeing the four signs.”
“And what are the four?”
“An old man, a sick man, a dead man, and a holy man.”
“Then none of these shall he see,” the king declared. Then he placed guards around the palace to keep all such persons away.
The king desired for his son to inherit the throne and rule in his stead. For Suddhodana, nothing would be better than to see his son become the greatest monarch on earth and to bring the Sakya kingdom to new heights of glory. The king named the boy Siddhartha (the one who achieves his goals).
Seven days after giving birth Queen Maya died. The infant prince was nursed and raised by the queen’s sister Pajapati, also married to King Suddhodana.
2. THE SWAN
One day Prince Siddhartha was walking in his father’s royal garden with his cousin Devadatta, who had brought his bow and arrows with him. Suddenly, Devadatta saw a swan flying and shot at it. The arrow pierced the swan’s body and the poor creature fell from the sky. Both the boys ran to get the bird. As Siddhartha could run faster than Devadatta, he reached the swan’s injured body first and found that it was still alive. He gently pulled out the arrow from the wing. He then got a little juice from cool leaves, put it on the wound to stop the bleeding and stroked the frightened swan. When Devadatta came to claim the swan, Prince Siddhartha refused to give it to him.
“Give me my bird! I shot it down,” shouted Devadatta, angry that his cousin keeping the swan away from him.
“No, I am not going to give it to you,” said the prince. “If you had killed it, it would have been yours. But now, since it is only wounded, it belongs to me.”
Devadatta still did not agree and a sharp argument ensued between the two. So both of them decided to go to the king’s court where the counsellors argued the merits of each case. In the end, the king referred the case to his wisest ministers, who after examining the pros and cons, declared, “A life certainly must belong to the one who tries to save it, a life cannot belong to the one who is only trying