P8Unit 4

Jataka Tales

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AmbajatakaThe mango trees

[Obey the teachers]

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Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was King of Varanasi, his family was destroyed by malarial fever. Only one son only managed to escape. He went to Takkasila, and under a world-renowned teacher (Disapamokha) he learned all the arts and accomplishments.

Then he bade his teacher farewell, and departed, with the

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intent to travel in different regions. In one of his travels he arrived at a village named Chandala.

There he met an untouchable man (an outcaste) who was able to make mango trees produce mangoes all over the year. With this knowledge, the untouchable man always had mangoes to sell, so he could earn enough money, while other couldn’t.

The young men from Varanasi would spend long periods of time watching the untouchable working, trying to understand how to produce mangoes all over the year. But he never succeeded.

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When the young men requested the untouchable man to be his apprentice, this one refused. He was sure that the young man would not be able to keep the secret of the mango trees.

Instead, the young man should work hard to make the untouchable man trust him, fetching water, pounding rice, cooking and even foot bathing.

One day the untouchable man told the young man to find a piece of wood to prop up one of the bed legs which was broken. The young man could not find one, so he used his own leg to support the bed at night.

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Later, the untouchable’s wife delivered a child. The young man served her well and she felt sympathy for him. To show her gratitude, she decided to ask her husband to teach the young man the secret of the mango trees.

After teaching his secret, the untouchable told the young man to be honest when asked about who taught him such a wonder. He should always tell that he learned the secret of the mango trees thanks to the untouchable man from Chandala, otherwise the secret technic would not work. The young man agreed.

After leaving his teacher’s home, the young man made use of the secret to grow mangoes all over the year, and so he made a lot of money.

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One day a servant of the royal family bought some of his mangoes and presented them to the King Brahmadatta, who was very pleased with the taste of the mangoes and asked the servant about the origin of such wonderful fruits. The servant then went to visit the young man and informed him that the King had requested his presence at the palace.

The king asked the young man to demonstrate how he was able to produce so many good mangoes. Amazed and thankful, the King gave the young man many rewards. And from that moment on, the young man frequently served the king by producing mangoes.

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One day the young man was asked about the source of his special knowledge. Instead of telling the truth, he told the King that he had learned his special technic from the famous teacher Disapamokha. He did so because he didn’t want to tell the King he had learned his special skill from an untouchable man.

Because of his ungratefulness, his special technic ceased to work. This odd situation made the King perplexed, so the young men felt the need to tell him the truth (an untouchable men had taught him the secret).

He apologized, explaining that he wanted the King to admire him as a former student of the famous teacher.

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Having learned that, the King got furious and expelled the young man from the palace.

With is face down, the young man went back to the untouchable’s house crying. He asked the untouchable man to teach him again the secret, but the untouchable man refused. He had lied, and that was a very wrong deed. Eventually, the ungrateful young man walked away, crying, and went to the forest.

The moral is: There’s punishment for those who lie, who swell with pride and who disrespect their teachers.

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(https://library.uoregon.edu/ec/e-asia/reada/jataka-4.pdf , pages 144-149)

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TittirajatakaThe Birth of A Banyan Tree

[Respect for Elders]

Once upon a time, there was a big banyan tree in the forest beneath

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the mighty Himalayas. Living near this banyan tree were three very good friends. They were a quail, a monkey and an elephant. Each of them was quite smart.

Occasionally the three friends got into a disagreement. When this happened, they did not consider the opinion of any one of them to be more valuable. No matter how much experience each one had, his opinion was treated the same as the others. So it would take them a long time to reach any agreement. Every time this happened, they would have to start from the beginning, in order to reach a solution.

After a while they realized that it would save time, and help their friendship, if they could shorten their disagreements. They decided that it would certainly help if they considered

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the most valuable opinion first. Then, if they could agree on that one, they would not have to waste time and possibly, even become less friendly, by arguing with each other.

Fortunately, they all thought the most valuable opinions would be the ones based on more experience. Therefore, they could live well together, even more peacefully, if they gave higher respect to the oldest among them. Only if his opinion were clearly wrong, would they need to consider others.

Unfortunately, the elephant and the monkey and the quail had no idea which one was the oldest. Since this was a time before old age was respected, they had no reason to remember their birthdays or their ages.

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Then, one day, while they were relaxing in the shade of the big banyan tree, the quail and the monkey asked the elephant, “As far back as you can remember, what was the size of this banyan tree?”

The elephant replied, “I remember this tree for a very long time. When I was just a little baby, I used to scratch my belly by rubbing it over the tender shoots on top of this banyan tree.”

Then the monkey said, “When I was a curious baby monkey, I used to sit and examine the little seedling banyan tree. Sometimes I used to bend over and nibble its top tender leaves.”

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The monkey and the elephant asked the quail, “As far back as you can remember, what was the size of this banyan tree?”

The quail said, “When I was young, I was looking for food in a nearby forest. In that forest, there was a big old banyan tree, which was full of ripe berries. I ate some of those berries, and the next day I was standing right here. This was where I let my droppings fall, and the seeds they contained grew up to be this very tree!”

The monkey and the elephant said, “Aha! Sir quail, you must be the oldest. You deserve our respect and honor. From now on we will pay close attention to your words. Based on your wisdom and experience, advise us when we make

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mistakes. When we will have disagreements, we will give the highest place to your opinions. We only ask you to be honest and just.”

The quail replied, “I thank you for your respect, and I promise to always do my best to deserve it.” It just so happened that this wise little quail was the Bodhisatta, the Enlightenment One.

The moral is: Respect for the wisdom of the elders leads to harmony.

(http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/jataka_tv1.pdf, pages 171-173)

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