Jataka Commentary- fairy stories?

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Here is the story of a past life of Angulimala - a cruel king who changed thanks to the teaching of Sutasoma, who was the bodhisatta.

No. 537.
MAHĀ-SUTASOMA-JĀTAKA

Oh! what a miracle, sirs, was wrought by the Blessed One in that he thus peacefully and without using any violence converted and humbled such a cruel and blood-stained robber as Aṅgulimāla: Oh! Buddhas verily do mighty works!" The Master seated in the Perfumed Chamber by his divine sense of hearing caught what was said and, knowing that to-day his corning would be very helpful and that there would be an exposition of a great doctrine, with the incomparable grace of a Buddha he went to the Hall of Truth and there sitting on the seat reserved for him he asked what theme they were discussing in conclave; and when they told him what it was he said, “There is no marvel, Brethren, in my converting him now [457], when I have attained to the highest enlightenment. I also tamed him when I was living in a previous stage of existence and in a condition of only limited knowledge,” and with these words he told a story of the past.

One impressive part is how much the Bodhisatta valued hearing the words of a past Buddha -. He paid a Brahmin who had retained a short passage from Kassapa Buddha 4000 pieces to recite it.

[484]> Thus did the brahmin teach him the four stanzas, each worth a hundred pieces, just as he had been taught them by Kassapa Buddha, and then remained silent. The Great Being was delighted at hearing them and said, “My journey here is not without its reward,” and thinking, “These verses are not merely the words of a disciple or a saint nor the work of a poet, but were spoken by the Omniscient One; I wonder what they are worth. Though one were to give a whole world that extends to the Brahma heaven, after filling it with the seven precious things, one could not make an adequate return for these stanzas. Surely I can give him sovereignty in the city of Indapatta covering seven leagues in the realm of Kuru, which extends over three hundred leagues. Doubtless it is his merited fate to be king.” But regarding him with the power he possessed of divining a man’s future from his personal appearance, he found no such signs. Then he bethought him of the office of commander-in-chief and similar posts, but did not find that he was destined even to the headship of a single village. Next, considering the case of acquisition of wealth and starting from a crore of money he found he was destined to receive four thousand pieces, and thinking to honour him with just this sum he bestowed on him four purses containing a thousand pieces each and he asked him, saying, “Master, when you teach other princes these verses, how much do you receive?” “A hundred for each one, sire,” he said, “so they are worth just a hundred pieces.” The Great Being said, “Master, you are ignorant of the priceless value of the goods you hawk about. Henceforth let them be considered worth a thousand pieces,” and so saying he repeated this stanza:

Not hundreds merely are they worth, nay thousands rather say,
So brahmin here four thousand take and, quick, with them away.

Then he presented him with an easy carriage [485] and gave orders to his men, saying, “Convey this brahmin safely to his home,” and so dismissed him. At this moment loud sounds of applause were heard and cries of "Bravo, bravo! king Sutasoma has highly honoured these verses, deeming

p. 265

worth a thousand pieces what was valued at a hundred."

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Thank you Robert for your interesting responses. Whatever differences we may have, we are on common ground with the idea that non-self in the aggregates and sense bases are core to the Buddha’s teachings. I personally don’t find the austerity and rigour of suttas that elaborate on this topic compatible with the tone of the Jataka, Cariyapitaka or Buddhavamsa. But the bigger problem I have with those books is raised by your comment:

Yet do not discount the Jataka or Cariya pitaka. These show how wisdom and the other parami are gradually developed over countless lives to culminate in full awakening.
Even we simple folk can - at times - be considered as savaka Bodhisatta. The ones who will become the disciples of the blessed one.

My problem here is the meaning that you give to the term “Bodhisatta.” There are countless suttas in the four major Nikayas where the Buddha uses the term in a quite unqualified way to indicate a non-enlightened person, for example:

Bhikkhus, before my enlightenment, while I was still only
an unenlightened Bodhisatta, I too, being myself subject to birth,
sought what was also subject to birth; being myself subject to
ageing, sickness, death, sorrow, and defilement, I sought what
was also subject to ageing, sickness, death, sorrow, and defilement. (MN 26)

I don’t recall any sutta where the Buddha talks about himself as a Bodhisatta as found in the Jataka etc. Neither does he suggest that merit brings about cessation, voidness, Nirvana, liberation. What I do see in the Bodhisatta concept found in the Jataka etc is the basis for the Mahayana.

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The problem is you are making judgements without researching the Pali and relying on translations. The bodhisatta is a translated word. The stock phrase is below from ajahn sujato.

pubbevāhaṃ, bhikkhave, sambodhā anabhisambuddho bodhisattova samāno pañca dhamme bhāvesiṃ, pañca dhamme bahulīkāsiṃ.

“mendicants, before my awakening—when i was still not awake but intent on awakening—i developed and cultivated five things.

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You are quite right that I am relying on the translators. I’m not sure that learning Pali would help me as we have a plethora of excellent translators from Pali to English, going back over a century. I am conscious that each translator has their preference, and so take them all into account. For example Thanissaro has chosen to translate dukkha as ‘stress’. Interesting!

If Ajahn Sujato chooses to translate Bodhisattva as ‘still not awake but intent on awakening’ then that too is interesting. It carries the extra meaning of intent, which strikes me as reasonable. But would you not agree that the Mahayana then loads it with further additional meanings? For example the commitment not to ‘accept’ enlightenment until all beings attain? I think this is unwarranted, regardless of translation, but appears to creep into the Jataka. By all means show me I am mistaken here.

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SuttaCentral
The full phrase is sambodhā anabhisambuddho bodhisattova
so, anabhisambuddho, not having attained yet, a bodhisatta …
So the translation by Sujato is correct.

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Well I know little about Mahayana but I have never seen anything in the Jataka which suggests such a bizarre idea (" the commitment not to ‘accept’ enlightenment until all beings attain").
Do you have citation where that is implied?

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It was in a footnote in my copy of the Jataka. I’ll hunt it down sometime, but for now I agree that it is bizarre. However it features in many Mahayana texts. It is reassuring to know that it is not part of CT!

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I’m puzzled now! Subhuti tells me that the Pali means “when i was still not awake but intent on awakening” (my emphasis) but you tell me just, “not having attained yet”. “Not having attained yet” is clear from the many suttas where the Buddha describes himself as a mere Bodhisattva, but how does Subhuti get the “intent on awakening” from the Pali when you do not?

In the 9+6+6 lives I discovered in the Suttas an “intent on awakening” is not particularly obvious. The brahmin student Jotipala had to be dragged by the hair to hear the Buddha Kassapa. The chariotmaker never mentions it. The various kings do go forth at the end of a long life of conspicuous consumption, so to that extent they have ‘intent’. So do all the brahmins of the ages one could say. None of this justifies the status of the Bodhisattva in the Jataka, or in the Mahayana.

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“Intent on awakening” is fine. It is basically the same meaning. A bodhisatta is still a putthajana, but they are on the path to full awakening (still not awake). They are working towards it (intent on …)

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Bodhisatta are still putthujana so naturally at times akusala overwhelms them - but they sooner or later realign.
The path to becoming a Sammasambuddha is no simple matter…
Cariya Pitaka Commentary Bhikhu Bodhi translation p300.
(xiv) How much time is required to accomplish them?

As a minimum, four incalculables (asaiikheyya} and a hundred thousand great aeons (mahakappa); as a middle figure, eight incalculahlcs and a hundred thousand great aeons; und as a maximum, sixteen incalculahlcs and a hundred thousand great aeons.-49 This threefold division obtains by way of those in whom wisdom is predominant, those in whom faith is predominant, and those in whom energy is predominant, respectively. For those in whom wisdom is predominant, faith is weakest and wisdom keenest, for those in whom faith is predominant, wisdom is middling (and energy weakest); and for those in whom energy is predominant, wisdom is weakest (and faith middling). Bui supreme enlightenment must he achieved by the power of wisdom, so n is said in the commentary.

But others say that the classification of the lime required for bodhisattvas obtains by way of the keen, middling, and lender quality of their energy. Still others say that without distinction the three divisions of lime correspond to the time required for their requisites of enlightenment to reach fulfilment, which in turn is determined by the keen, middling, and lender quality of their factors maturing towards emancipation (viniitttipanpdcamya Jhamind).

Bodhisattvas also become threefold at the moment they form the aspiration, according to their division into those who comprehend through a condensed leaching (ugghutiiaiinu), those who comprehend through an elaborated teaching (vipuiii iiahnii), and those who arc capable of training (nevya). Among these, he who comprehends through a condensed teaching has such supporting conditions that, if he were disposed towards the enlightenment of a disciple, he could attain arahatship together with the four discriminations ami the six direct knowledges while listening to a four-line stanza from the lips of a perfectly enlightened Buddha, even while the third line has not yet been concluded. The second has such supporting conditions that, if he were disposed towards the enlightenment of a disciple, he could attain arahatship together with the six direct knowledges while listening 10 a four-line stanza from the lips of the Exalted One, even while the fourth line has not yet been concluded. And the third has the supporting conditions to attain arahatship together with the six direct knowledges when the four-line stanza he hears from the Exalted One has been concluded.

These three types, who form their aspirations without any allotted division of tunc, receive predictions (of their future Buddhahood) directly from the Buddhas. Then they fulfil the paranus in order and reach the supreme enlightenment according to the aforementioned time allotted to each type. But that these Great Beings—day by day giving great gifts like those given by Vcssanlaru. accumulating all the other paramTs in the same way. making the five great rclinquishings, reaching the summit in conduct for the good of relatives, conduct for the good of the world, and conduct developing intelligence—should become perfectly enlightened Buddhas Ixforc the time allotted to their respective types is fulfilled, this is not possible. Why? Because their knowledge is not yet mature enough and their accumulation of the factors culminating in Buddhahood not yet complete. For just as grain ripens only alter the lapse of the time required (for its growth), so too the supreme enlightenment is perfected only after the lapse of the afore mentioned periods of time. Before then, even though striving with all his might, the bodhisattva cannot attain enlightenment. The paramTs are fulfilled according to the aforementioned distinction of time. Thus it should be understood, (xv) What benefits do they bring?

The duration of a great aeon is indicated in the text only by means of similes. F.g… if there were a mountain crag of solid granite a yojuiui ti.e., approximately seven miles) high and a yojanu round. and a man passing it once every hundred years were to stroke it once with a silk handkerchief, by this means it would take less time for him to wear away the mountain than it Likes for an aeon to elapse. An ‘'incalculable means an incalculable number of great aeons; it must be distinguished from the four incalculahlcs which make up each great neon, the four periods of expansion, evolution, contraction, and dissolution.

The Suttania basis for this classification is found in AN 4:133. For an explanation of these types, see The Guide, p. 15, n. 41/1,41/2.

Hence we are extraordinarily fortunate to be able to hear the teaching of such a Buddha. For millions or lives no such opportunity has existed…

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