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Web site: www.buddhanet.net

Buddha Dharma Education Association Inc.

Interpreted by Ven. Kurunegoda Piyatissa

Stories told by Todd Anderson

Buddha's Tales for Young and Old

Volume 2 - Text Only

Buddha's Tales for Young and Old

Volume 2 - Text Only

BUDDHIST TALES FOR YOUNG AND OLD

VOLUME 2, STORIES 51 – 100

INTERPRETED BY KURUNEGODA PIYATISSA MAHA THERA

STORIES TOLD BY TODD ANDERSON

ILLUSTRATED BY JOHN PATTERSON

ISBN 0-9641768-2-3

FOR FREE DISTRIBUTION ONLY

Table of Contents

Table of Contents .................................................................................... 3

Interpreter’s Introduction.................................................................... 7

From the Storyteller to the Reader...................................................12

Tale 51 — King Goodness the Great.................................................13

Tale 52, 539 — King Fruitful and Queen Sivali..............................19

Chapter 1. Rebirth of the Bodhisatta............................................19

Chapter 2. Gaining Power ...............................................................23

Chapter 3. Giving Up Power...........................................................30

Tale 53 — A Gang of Drunkards .......................................................37

Tale 54, 85 — The Whatnot Tree.......................................................39

Tale 55 — Prince Five-Weapons and Sticky-Hair.........................41

Tale 56 — A Huge Lump of Gold.......................................................45

Tale 57, 224 — Mr Monkey and Sir Crocodile...............................46

Tale 58 — A Prince of Monkeys.........................................................48

Tale 59, 60 — Two Ways of Beating a Drum..................................51

Tale 61 — Two Mothers ......................................................................52

Tale 62 — The Priest Who Gambled With a Life...........................56

Tale 63 — The Wicked Lady and Buttermilk Wise Man..............62

Tale 64, 65 — Country Man and City Wife.....................................66

Tale 66, 251 — The Wisdom of Queen Tenderhearted.................68

Tale 67 — A Wife & Mother Who Was a Sister First...................71

Tale 68, 237 — 3,000 Births................................................................73

Tale 69 — The Strong-minded Snake................................................74

Tale 70 — The Shovel Wise Man.......................................................75

Tale 71 — The Green Wood Gatherer .............................................78

Tale 72 — The Elephant King Goodness..........................................80

Tale 73 — Four on a Log .....................................................................84

Tale 74 — New Homes for the Tree Spirits.....................................90

Tale 75 — The Fish Who Worked a Miracle...................................91

Tale 76 — The Meditating Security Guard.....................................93

Tale 77 — Sixteen Dreams..................................................................95

Chapter 1. Panic ................................................................................95

Chapter 2. Roaring Bulls With No Fight......................................98

Chapter 3. The Frightening Sound of ‘Munch, Munch, Munch’102

Chapter 4. Teaching........................................................................107

Tale 78 — Illisa the Cheap................................................................109

Tale 79 — A Motherless Son.............................................................115

Tale 80 — Fear Maker and Little Archer......................................117

Tale 81 — Forest Monks in a King’s Pleasure Garden...............122

Tale 82, 41, 104, 369, 439 — The Curse of Mittavinda...............124

Chapter 1. Jealousy ........................................................................124

Chapter 2. Greed.............................................................................128

Chapter 3. Pleasure.........................................................................131

Tale 83 — A Hero Named Jinx.........................................................135

Tale 84 — A Question From a Seven-year-old.............................137

Tale 86, 290, 362 — A Lesson From a Snake ................................138

Tale 87 — A Priest Who Worshipped Luck...................................141

Tale 88, 28 — The Bull Called Delightful.......................................143

Tale 89 — The Phony Holy Man......................................................146

Tale 90, 363 — One Way Hospitality.............................................149

Tale 91 — Poison Dice........................................................................151

Tale 92 — The Mystery of the Missing Necklace.........................152

Chapter 1. One Crime Leads to Another ...................................152

Chapter 2. The Mystery Is Solved...............................................155

Tale 93 — The Careless Lion............................................................158

Tale 94 — The Holy Man Who Tried To Be Too Holy................160

Tale 95 — Clear-sighted the Great, King of the World..............162

Tale 96, 132 — The Prince and the She-devils..............................165

Chapter 1. Five Meals in the Forest............................................165

Chapter 2. A Feast in the Palace..................................................169

Tale 97 — A Man Named Bad ..........................................................171

Tale 98 — A Man Named Wise ........................................................173

Tale 99, 101 — Achieving Nothing..................................................175

Tale 100 — A Mother’s Wise Advice..............................................177

Appendix A

Who Was the Bodhisatta?.................................................................178

Appendix B

An Arrangement of Morals...............................................................180

Interpreter’s Introduction

The Jataka stories, over millennia, have been seminal to the development of

many civilisations, the cultivation of moral conduct and good behaviour, the

growth of a rich and varied literature in diverse parts of the world and the

inspiration for painting, sculpture and architecture of enduring aesthetic

value. The Buddha himself used jataka stories to explain concepts like

kamma and rebirth and to emphasise the importance of certain moral values.

A Jataka bhanaka (jataka storyteller) is mentioned to have been appointed

even as early as the time of the Buddha. Such appointments were common

in ancient Sri Lanka and among others, King Llanaga (1st century AD) is

recorded in the mahavamsa, to have heard kapi jataka from a bhanaka

bhikkhu. It is in continuation of this noble tradition that these stories are now

re-told in print to an audience which had been denied access to them by

language and other cultural barriers. These stories are ever more relevant in

the fragmented societies of today, where especially children, in their most

formative years, seek helplessly for guidance in steering their lives to

success and fulfilment.

No other civilisation has been as much nourished by this rich source as that

in Sri Lanka. Sinhala, the language of the people of Sri Lanka, in which

script the teachings of the Buddha were written down for the first time ever,

carrier unerring marks of that nourishment. Both the most hallowed literary

works as well as the colloquial language of ordinary present day villagers

are replete with allusions to the better-known Jataka stories. The latter would

frequently refer to “king Vessantara” (who was generous to a fault), ‘king

Cetiya” (an inveterate liar), the blind jackal (a most grateful friend) to prince

Mahaushadha (of unfathomable wisdom), to a tortoise who readily takes to

water or to the occasion when the sky fell on the hare.

There is hardly any form of Sihala literature which has not been fed by the

well springs of jataka stories. Works of poetry beginning from Sasadavata

(12th century), Muvadevdavata (12th century), Kausilumina (13th century),

Guttila kavyaya and Kavyashekharaya (14th century), Kusa jataka kavyaya

and Asadisa da Kava (17th century) embody jataka stories. Poems of other

genre are replete with allusions to incidents and personalities drawn from

jataka stories.

Among prose works Sulu Kalingu da vata (12 century), Ummagga Jataka

(13th century), Bhuridatta Jataka (13th century) and Vessantara Jataka are

jataka stories re-told in inimitable fashion. Other works such as Amavatura

(12th century), Butsarana (12 century), Pajavalia (13th century),

Saddharmaratnavalia (13th century), and Saddharmalankaraya are deeply

embellished with material form jataka stories. Until quite recently, the most

widely read Sinhala prose work was Pansiya Panas Jataka Pota, number 6 in

our list of sources.

Later works of drama such as the Sandakinduru Nadagama, Vessantara

Nadagama, Pabavati, Kada Valalu, Kala gola and Pemato jayati soko are

based on jataka stories.

Stories similar to jataka stories occur in the Vedas. Some of the Brahmanas

and Puranas are simply narrative stories. In many places, the context, the

style or the core stories are altered. The same story is often told by different

authors in different places, for example, Kausilumina and Kasadavata as

poetry and Kabavati as drama are based on Kusajataka.

In Mahayana literature Asvaghos’s Sutralankara, Aryashura’s Jatakamala

and Khsemendra’s Avadana Kalpalata are well known as jataka stories.

Indian Sanskrt works such as Katha sarit sagara, Dasa Kuamara carita,

Panca tantra and Hitopadesa contain similar stories. These stories

contributed to the later incomparable works of Kalidasa and Ashvaghosa.

There are also Mahayana jataka stories such as Vyaghri, Dhammasondaka

and Seta Gandha Hasti which do not appear in Pali at all. Some jataka

stories can be found in Jain literature, such as the story of Isisinga in

Suyakadanga, which is the Nalini Jataka. They are found in even the

Mahabharata, for example Rsissringa upakhyana.

Jataka and similar other stories travelled far and wide by word of mouth

along caravan routes and contributed to the literature in Persia, China,

Arabia (Arabian Nights) Italy (Boccaccio’s tales), Greece (Aesop’s Fables),

Britain (Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales) and Japan (Zen stories).

For developing moral conduct and good behaviour, there are few more

instructive foundation than jataka stories. All Jataka stories hold out advice

on how to correct our ways. They played and continue to play in some

societies an enormous role in the cultivation of peace and generosity. When

Buddhist monks taught children in viharas, jataka stories took a prominent

place in primary education. Young samaneras (novice monks) were required

to read and preach effectively. In India these and similar other stories were a

principal instrument in the socialisation's of children, discouraging them

from selfishness and laying foundations for family had community

solidarity. Jataka stories speak eloquently of those human values, which

contribute, to harmony, pleasure and progress.

Besides literature, painting, sculpture and architecture in many parts of the

world carried the message of jataka stories. King Dutugemunu of

Anuradhapura (2nd Century B.C.) had the inside shrine room of the

Ruvanveliseya embellished with murals depicting scenes from Jataka stories.

This practice is still carried on today in Buddhist viharas in Sri Lanka as

well as in Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Viet Nam. Fa

Hin, who visited Sri Lanka in the fifth century A.D. recorded that festival

times the city of Anuradhapura was festooned with paintings from jataka

stories. This practice continues today in major cities in Sri Lanka during

Buddhist days of celebration. Jataka stories are well depicted in Amaravati,

Nalanda, Ajanta, Ellora, Bharut, Nagarjunikonda, Borobudur and Angkor

Vat. The late historian Mackensey in Buddhism in pre-Christian Britain

(1928) demonstrated that there were artistic works based on jataka stories in

pre-Christian Britain.

At this point I wish to draw the reader’s special attention to three stories in

this collection. The first when the Enlightened One had been born as a quail.

In the forest where he lived he befriended a monkey and an elephant. They

raised a question among themselves: who was the most experienced and

most worthy of respect?

After discussion, they came to a conclusion: whoever was the oldest would

be the most experienced and the most knowledgeable. Then they had to

decide which among them was the eldest and the most respected. Pointing to

a very large and well-grown banyan tree the elephant said, “Can you

remember that banyan tree in whose shade we used to rest sometimes? I

used to scratch my tummy rubbing on it when I was very little.” Then the

monkey responded “Oh, I ate its tender leaves while sitting next to it when I

was very young.” Finally the quail chirped in, “When I was young, I ate a

fruit from an old banyan tree. Afterwards I left droppings that held a seed

that grew into this banyan tree.” They concluded that the oldest of them was

the smallest, the quail. So they began to respect each other according to their

age — first the quail, second the monkey, and last the elephant.

This story teaches respect for elders. It is an essential part of the Buddhist

tradition to respect seniority. Amongst Buddhist monks this is strictly

observed and it is an offence to violate this seemingly minor rule. It also

points to the need to gain control over conceit, a minor defilement. This very

same respect for seniority may have led to the development of

historiography.

The second story, that of a half-blind fox teaches the value of being grateful.

The half-blind fox was caught by a python in his coils and was fighting for

his life. A poor peasant who was collecting wood in the forest helped the

fox escape from his predator. After the same poor peasant was the victim of

a python. The half-blind fox who heard the screams of the peasant ran in to

a village field where a group of men were ploughing field and ran away

with their clothing. The villagers chased after the fox, heard the screams of

the helpless man and released him from the coils of the python.

The third story relates the fate of two parrots who were carried from their

nest in a storm and one dropped in a hermitage and the other in a den of

thieves. The one who fell among the hermits learned and eventually

practised generosity and became quite gentle. The one who fell among

thieves grew up like them — cruel, rough and wicked. This story teaches

the ill of associating with bad people and helps to cultivate the mind in many

ways. Generosity, the use of gentle language, the nobility of the ways of

wise people, the value of morality and the evils of unwholesome

associations are all thrown into high relief. In this any many other respects,

jataka stories contributed to happiness and the development of the minds of

young ones. The happiness they engendered went well beyond the mundane

to reach the supra-mundane. They led mankind to all that is good in this

world and to the ultimate happiness taught by the Buddha.

The sources used in this second volume are as follows:

1. Jataka Pali (Colombo: Buddha Jayanti Tripitaka Series (Publication Board, 1983) -

original Pali stanzas.

2. Jataka Pali (Colombo: Simon Hewavitarane Bequest, 1926) original Pali Jataka stories

in Sinhalese characters.

3. Sinhala Jataka Pot Vahanse (Colombo: Jinalankara Press, 1928 Sinhalese translation of

Pali Jataka stories.

4. Sinhala Jataka Pot Vahanse, (Colombo: RatnakaraBookshop, 1961 - Sinhalese

translation of Pali Jataka stories

5. The Jataka or Stories of the Buddha’s Former Lives, ed. E.B. Cowell (London: Pali

Text Society, 1981), 6 vols., index - English translation of Pali Jataka stories.

6. Pansiyapanas Jataka Pot Vahanse (Bandaragama: H. S. N. Prematilaka, 1987) -

Sinhalese summaries of Pali jataka stories

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