Buddhist birth stories; or, Jataka tales, Volume 1
Religion
Buddhist birth stories; or, Jataka tales, Volume 1
Jataka stories, English
The Teacher added, “Thus, O mendicants, the wise, even in former
times, exerted themselves unremittingly, and did not give in when they
received a check. How then can you lose heart, after being ordained
according to a system of religion so adapted to lead you to salvation!
And he then explained the Truths.
When his exhortation was concluded, the monk who had lost heart was
established in the Fruit of Arahatship. Then the Teacher made the
connexion, and summed up the Jātaka by saying, “The king of that time
was Ānanda, the knight was Sāriputta, but the Bhoja thoroughbred was I
myself.”
END OF THE STORY OF THE BHOJA THOROUGHBRED.
No. 24.
ĀJAÑÑA JĀTAKA.
The Thoroughbred War Horse.
_“At every time, in every place.”_--This also the Master told, while
at Jetavana, about that monk who lost heart.[305] But when he had
addressed the monk with the words, “The wise in former times, O monk,
continued their exertion, even though in the struggle they received a
blow,” he told this tale.
* * * * *
Long ago, when Brahma-datta was reigning in Benares, seven kings, as
before, surrounded the city. Then a warrior who fought from a chariot
harnessed two Sindh horses, who were brothers, to his chariot, issued
from the city, broke through six lines and took six kings prisoners.
At that moment the eldest of the horses received a wound. The
charioteer drove on till he came to the king’s gate, took the elder
horse out, loosened his harness, made him lie down on his side, and
began to harness another horse.
When the Bodisat saw this, he thought as before, sent for the
charioteer, and lying as he was, uttered this stanza:
“At every time, in every place,
Whate’er may chance, whate’er mischance,
The thoroughbred’s still full of fire!
’Tis a hack horse who then gives in!”
The charioteer helped the Bodisat up, harnessed him, broke through the
seventh line, and bringing the seventh king with him, drove up to the
king’s gate and took out the horse.
The Bodisat, lying there on his side, exhorted the king as before, and
then breathed his last. The king performed funeral rites over his body,
did honour to the charioteer, ruled his kingdom with righteousness, and
passed away according to his deeds.
* * * * *
When the Teacher had finished the discourse, he proclaimed the Truths,
and summed up the Jātaka (that monk having obtained Arahatship after
the Truths) by saying, “The king of that time was Ānanda, the horse the
Supreme Buddha.”
END OF THE STORY OF THE THOROUGHBRED.
No. 25.
TITTHA JĀTAKA.
The Horse at the Ford.
_“Feed the horse, then, charioteer,” etc._--This the Master told while
at Jetavana about a monk who at that time was a co-resident junior
under the Minister of Righteousness, but who had formerly been a
goldsmith.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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