Buddhist birth stories; or, Jataka tales, Volume 1
Religion
Buddhist birth stories; or, Jataka tales, Volume 1
Jataka stories, English
That day also, of eighty thousand clansmen assembled in the festival
hall, each one dedicated a son, saying, “Whether this child becomes
a Buddha or a king, we give each a son; so that if he shall become a
Buddha, he shall live attended and honoured by Kshatriya monks, and
if he shall become a king, he shall live attended and honoured by
Kshatriya nobles.”[187] And the rāja appointed nurses of great beauty,
and free from every fault, for the Bodisat. So the Bodisat grew up in
great splendour and surrounded by an innumerable retinue.
Now one day the king held the so-called Ploughing Festival. On that day
they ornament the town like a palace of the gods. All the slaves and
servants, in new garments and crowned with sweet-smelling garlands,
assemble in the king’s house. For the king’s work a thousand ploughs
are yoked. On this occasion one hundred and eight minus one were, with
their oxen-reins and cross-bars, ornamented with silver. But the plough
for the king to use was ornamented with red gold; and so also the horns
and reins and goads of the oxen.
The king, leaving his house with a great retinue, took his son and went
to the spot. There there was a Jambu-tree thick with leaves and giving
a dense shade. Under it the rāja had the child’s couch laid out; and
over the couch a canopy spread inlaid with stars of gold, and round it
a curtain hung. Then leaving a guard there, the rāja, clad in splendour
and attended by his ministers, went away to plough.
At such a time the king takes hold of a golden plough, the attendant
ministers one hundred and eight minus one silver ploughs, and the
peasants the rest of the ploughs. Holding them they plough this way and
that way. The rāja goes from one side to the other, and comes from the
other back again.
On this occasion the king had great success; and the nurses seated
round the Bodisat, thinking, “Let us go to see the king’s glory,”
came out from within the curtain, and went away. The future Buddha,
looking all round, and seeing no one, got up quickly, seated himself
cross-legged, and holding his breath, sank into the first Jhāna.[188]
The nurses, engaged in preparing various kinds of food, delayed a
little. The shadows of the other trees turned round, but that of
the Jambu-tree remained steady and circular in form. The nurses,
remembering their young master was alone, hurriedly raised the curtain
and returned inside it. Seeing the Bodisat sitting cross-legged, and
that miracle of the shadow, they went and told the rāja, saying, “O
king! the prince is seated in such and such a manner; and while the
shadows of the other trees have turned, that of the Jambu-tree is fixed
in a circle!”
And the rāja went hurriedly and saw that miracle, and did homage to his
son, saying, “This, Beloved One, is the second homage paid to thee!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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