Buddhist birth stories; or, Jataka tales, Volume 1
Religion
Buddhist birth stories; or, Jataka tales, Volume 1
Jataka stories, English
Now at that time the angel Māra thought to himself, “So long a time
have I followed this man seeking some fault in him, and find no sin
in him; and now, indeed, he is beyond my power.” And overcome with
sorrow he sat down on the highway, and as he thought of the following
sixteen things he drew sixteen lines on the ground. Thinking, “I did
not attain, as he did, to the perfection of Charity; therefore I have
not become like him,” he drew one line. Then thinking, “I did not
attain, as he did, to the Perfections of Goodness, and Self-sacrifice,
and Wisdom, and Exertion, and Longsuffering, and Truth, and Resolution,
and Kindness, and Equanimity;[212] therefore I have not become like
him,” he drew nine more lines. Then thinking, “I did not attain the
Ten Perfections, the conditions precedent to the acquisition of the
extraordinary knowledge of objects of sense, and therefore I have
not become like him,” he drew the eleventh line. Then thinking, “I
did not attain to the Ten Perfections, the conditions precedent to
the acquisition of the extraordinary knowledge of inclinations and
dispositions, of the attainment of compassion, of the double miracle,
of the removal of hindrances, and of omniscience; therefore I have not
become like him,” he drew the five other lines. And so he sat on the
highway, drawing sixteen lines for these sixteen thoughts.
At that time Craving, Discontent, and Lust,[213] the three daughters of
Māra, could not find their father, and were looking for him, wondering
where he could be. And when they saw him, sad at heart, writing on the
ground, they went up to him, and asked, “Why, dear, are you sad and
sorrowful?”
And he answered, “Beloved, this illustrious mendicant is escaping from
my power. Long have I watched, but in vain, to find some fault in him.
Therefore it is that I am sad and sorrowful.”
“Be that as it may,” replied they, “think not so. We will subject him
to our influence, and come back bringing him captive with us.”
“Beloved,” said he, “you cannot by any means bring him under your
influence; he stands firm in faith, unwavering.”
“But we are women,” was the reply; “this moment we will bring him bound
by the allurements of passion. Do not you be so grieved.”
So they approached the Blessed One, and said, “O, holy man, upon thee
we humbly wait!”
But the Blessed One neither paid any attention to their words, nor
raised his eyes to look at them. He sat plunged in the joy of Nirvāna,
with a mind made free by the complete extinction of sin.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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