About Buddhism
Jataka Stories
The Jataka stories, or ‘birth stories’ are tales of the Buddha’s past lives, both in human and animal form. They usually portray him showing great compassion, thus serving as moral fables in a similar way to the Parables used in Christianity.
Jataka literature
Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish
This manuscript is a copy of a popular Buddhist scripture called the Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish. It was discovered at the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang and dates back to late 5th to early 6th century.
The Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish is a popular collection of Jataka stories. Jataka stories are moral tales that recount the former incarnations of the Buddha, either in human or animal form. These stories appear in Buddhist art and literature, and were often used as teaching aids. The stories in the Sutra of the Wise and Foolish explore the concept of karma. Each story demonstrates how suffering in one’s current lifetime can be traced back to events in past lives. The knowledge of this cycle offers the possibility of transcending it.
The origin of this sutra is uncertain. A common belief however is that Chinese monks transcribed and translated these stories from lectures given by Khotanese monks in Central Asia. The sutra was later translated into Tibetan and then into Mongolian, where it came to be known as the Ocean of Narratives (Uliger-un dalai). This particular copy is written in Chinese.
The stories form a large body of Buddhist literature across the many Buddhist schools. The largest written collection of Jataka stories come from the Theravada texts. These 547 stories are told in verse form and are part of the Khuddaka Nikaya or ‘short collection’ of the Sutta Pitaka. The scripture below, the Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish, is a popular collection of Jataka stories in Chinese. The stories explain the concept of karma, demonstrating the relationship between events in past lives and the present. It is believed that Chinese monks transcribed and translated these stories from lectures given by Khotanese monks. It was later translated into Tibetan and then into Mongolian, where it came to be known as the Ocean of Narratives (Uliger-un dalai).
Jataka art
The Jataka stories were adapted as Buddhist teaching aids and were useful as Buddhism spread throughout Asia from India. Often the Jataka stories were recited by storytellers and performed as plays. They also appeared frequently in Buddhist art as a way of teaching illiterate people the morals of Buddhism. Depictions of the Jataka stories have been found in scrolls, paintings, decorative stonework and statues. These have been discovered in Buddhist sites in India, as well along the Silk Roads. Many examples can be seen in wall paintings at Buddhist cave complexes, such as the Mogao caves near Dunhuang.
The Sibi King
This wall painting from cave 254 in Dunhuang depicts the story of the Sibi King. This variation of the story tells the tale of a king who encounters a dove being chased by a falcon. The dove seeks refuge in the king, but the falcon demands the king surrender it as its prey. Eventually the falcon agrees to leave the dove alone on the condition that the king offers his own flesh, equal in weight to the dove. As depicted in the painting, he willingly cuts off his own flesh to protect the dove.
Sibi Jataka
This is a photograph of a wall painting depicting the Jataka story known as the Sibi Jataka or the Tale of King Sibi. The painting covers the north wall of Mogao Cave 254 in Dunhuang, and dates back to 439-534 CE.
Jataka stories are moral tales that recount the former incarnations of the Buddha, either in human or animal form. These stories appear in Buddhist art and literature, and many are depicted in murals in the Mogao caves at Dunhuang. The Sibi Jataka tells the story of King Sibi, a previous incarnation of the Buddha. The story has several variations, but all of them tell the story of a selfless king who gives part of himself to save another being. The version depicted here relates to the story in which King Sibi comes across a dove being pursued by a falcon. The dove seeks refuge in the king, but the falcon demands he surrender it as its prey. Eventually the falcon agrees to leave the dove alone on the condition that the king offers his own flesh, equal in weight to the dove. As depicted in the painting, he willingly cuts off his own flesh to protect the dove.
The Deer of Nine Colours
Another wall painting in Dunhuang tells the story of the Deer of Nine Colours, which comes from the Khuddaka Nikaya collection.
Deer Jataka wall painting
This is a photograph of wall painting depicting The Deer of Nine Colours Jataka story. The mural sits on the west wall of Mogao Cave 257 in Dunhuang. Although this photograph is black and white, cave murals such as this are vibrant in colour.
The mural tells the story of a rare and beautiful deer with a multicoloured coat. One day, the deer rescued a man who had fallen into the river. Though he promised to protect the deer, the man, who was very poor, went to the palace and offered to lead the king’s hunters to the deer for a large reward. When the deer heard the hunters approaching and saw the man he had rescued, he called out in a human voice. He explained who he was, and that he had been betrayed. The king was angry and berated the man, but the deer explained that the temptation of riches was hard for some people to resist. Upon hearing this wisdom, the king agreed to pay the man his reward and granted the deer freedom to walk the forest without fear.
The continuous horizontal narrative style of this painting shows multiple scenes within one image. The full painting tells the story by moving from the left and right sides into the centre. This photograph shows the left side of the mural, and the edge of the central image in which the deer confronts the king’s hunters.
In this story, the Buddha lived in a forest as a rare and beautiful deer with a multicoloured coat. One day, the deer rescued a man who had fallen into the river. Though he promised to protect the deer, the man, who was very poor, went to the palace and offered to lead the king’s hunters to the deer for a large reward. When the deer heard the hunters approaching and saw the man he had rescued, he called out in a human voice. He explained who he was, and that he had been betrayed. The king was angry and berated the man, but the deer explained that the temptation of riches was hard for some people to resist. Upon hearing this wisdom, the king agreed to pay the man his reward and granted the deer freedom to walk the forest without fear. The story demonstrates the central message of the Dharma: to have compassion and respect for all living beings.
