P8 Unit 4

Jataka Tales

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Ambajataka

The 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 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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Tittirajataka

The Birth of A Banyan Tree [Respect for Elders]

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Once upon a time,

there was a big banyan tree

in the forest beneath 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

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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 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

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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.

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?”

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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.”

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

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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

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

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that this wise little quail was the Bodhisatta, the Enlightened

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)