The Jātaka (Sanskrit for "of the Birth", "Birth-Related" or "Birth Stories") are a voluminous body of literature native to the Indian subcontinent which mainly concern the previous births of Gautama Buddha in both human and animal form. Jataka stories were depicted on the railings and torans of the stupas. According to Peter Skilling, this genre is "one of the oldest classes of Buddhist literature."Skilling, Peter (2010). Buddhism and Buddhist Literature of South-East Asia, pp. 161–162. Some of these texts are also considered great works of literature in their own right.Shaw, Sarah (2006). The Jatakas: Birth Stories of Bodhisatta, p. xxii. Penguin UK. The various Indian Buddhist schools had different collections of jātakas. The largest known collection is the Jātakatthavaṇṇanā of the Theravada school, as a textual division of the Pāli Canon, included in the Khuddaka Nikaya of the Sutta Pitaka.
In these stories, the future Buddha may appear as a king, an outcaste, a deva, an animal—but, in whatever form, he exhibits some virtue that the tale thereby inculcates. Often, Jātaka tales include an extensive cast of characters who interact and get into various kinds of trouble – whereupon the Buddha character intervenes to resolve all the problems and bring about a happy ending. The Jātaka genre is based on the idea that the Buddha was able to recollect all his past lives and thus could use these memories to tell a story and illustrate his teachings.Robert E. Buswell (2004). Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Volume 1, pp. 400–401.
For the Buddhist traditions, the jātakas illustrate the many lives, acts and spiritual practices which are required on the long path to Buddhahood. They also illustrate the great qualities or perfections of the Buddha (such as generosity) and teach Buddhist moral lessons, particularly within the framework of karma and rebirth. Jātaka stories have also been illustrated in Buddhist architecture throughout the Buddhist world and they continue to be an important element in popular Buddhist art. Some of the earliest such illustrations can be found at Sanchi and Bharhut.
According to Naomi Appleton, Jātaka collections also may have played "an important role formation and communication of ideas about buddhahood, karma and merit, and the place of the Buddha in relation to other buddhas and bodhisattvas." According to the traditional view found in the Pali Jātakanidana, a prologue to the stories, Gautama made a vow to become a Buddha in the future, in front of past Buddha Dipankara. He then spent many lifetimes on the path to Buddhahood, and the stories from these lives are recorded as Jātakas.Shaw, Sarah (2006). The Jatakas: Birth Stories of Bodhisatta, p. xix. Penguin UK.
Jātakas are closely related to (and often overlap with) another genre of Buddhist narrative, the avadāna, which is a story of any karmically significant deed (whether by a bodhisattva or otherwise) and its result.Straube, Martin. Narratives: South Asia in Silk, Jonathan A. (Editor-in-chief) "Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism". Vol. I: Literature and Language. Leiden, Boston 2015<ref name=":12">Appleton, N 2015, 'The "Jatakvadanas" of the Avadanasataka: An exploration of Indian Buddhist narrative genres''', Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, vol. 38, pp. 9–31.</ref> According to Naomi Appleton, some tales (such as those found in the second and fourth decade of the Avadānaśataka) can be classified as both a jātaka and an avadāna.
Overview
Dating Jātaka tales may be quite ancient. The term appears as part of a schema of Buddhist literary forms called the nine component genres of the Buddha's teaching (navaṅga-buddhasāsana), and depictions of them appear in early Indian art (as early as the second century BCE).Skilling, Peter (2010). Buddhism and Buddhist Literature of South-East Asia, p. 171. They are also widely represented in ancient Indian inscriptions.Bhikkhu Anālayo. Canonical Jātaka Tales in Comparative Perspective– The Evolution of Tales of the Buddha's Past Lives. Fuyan Buddhist Studies, No. 7, pp. 75–100 (2012), Hsinchu: Fuyan Buddhist Institute, . According to Straube, "the presumably oldest specimens of fully elaborated narratives are dispersed throughout the Vinayapiṭakas and Sūtrapiṭakas of the canonical collections of the different Buddhist schools. These texts are transmitted in various Indian dialects and stem from a prior oral tradition."
Furthermore, while these texts cannot be dated in a precise manner, "the fact that many narratives are passed on in almost identical form within the canons of the different schools shows that they date back to the time before the schisms between the schools took place." Sarah Shaw, writing on the Pali Jātaka, states that the earliest part of the Jātaka, the verse portions, are "considered amongst the very earliest part of the Pali tradition and date from the fifth century BCE" while "the later parts were incorporated during the period up to the third century CE."
According to A. K. Warder, jātaka are the precursors to the various legendary biographies of the Buddha, which were composed at later dates.Warder, A.K. Indian Buddhism. 2000. pp. 332–333 Although many jātaka were written from an early period, which describe previous lives of the Buddha, very little biographical material about Gautama's own life has been recorded. Jātaka tales also assimilate many traditional Indian fables and folklore that are not specifically Buddhist. As the genre spread outside of India, it also drew on local folk tales.
Literary features and themes The Mahayana author Asaṅga provides a working definition of jātaka in his Śrāvakabhūmi:Skilling, Peter (2010). Buddhism and Buddhist Literature of South-East Asia, p. 172What is jātaka? That which relates the austere practices and bodhisattva practices of the Blessed One in various past births: this is called jātaka.The idea that jātaka are taught in order to illustrate the bodhisattva path is an ancient one and is contained in sources like the Mahavastu, which states: "the supreme ones [Buddhas], who are skilled in jātakas and other doctrines, teach the course of practice of a bodhisattva." Many jātakas are told with a common threefold plot schema which contains: a "narrative in the present" (paccupannavatthu), with the Buddha and other figures, a "narrative in the past" (atītavatthu), a story from a past life of the Buddha a "link" (samodhāna) in which there is an "identification of the past protagonists with the present ones."
In the jātaka found in the Suttapitaka, which are almost always in prose, the Buddha is almost always depicted as a person of high rank in a past life (and not an animal). He is almost never portrayed as having been female. Some of these also include past lives of some of the Buddha's disciples. One famous example is the Pali Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra, which includes the story of Mahāsudarśana. Unlike Sutra collections, Vinaya sources like the Vinayavastu contain more varied jātakas, including ones in which the Buddha is depicted as an animal.
Many jātaka contain elements of both verse and prose. According to Martin Straube "the division into canonical verses and postcanonical prose points to the old Indian narrative form of ākhyāna, which has a fixed wording of the stanzas only, whereas the actual story is to be shaped anew during each oral performance." The plots of the jātaka range from simpler Aesopic style animal tales to longer more complex dramas which resemble epics or novels with intricate dialogue, characters and poetry. Despite the diversity of the plots and characters, they are all unified by the character of the heroic bodhisattva Gautama (whose identity is generally only revealed at the end of the story) and his struggles on the quest for awakening. In spite of this, Gautama is not always the central character of all these stories and sometimes only plays a minor role.Crosby, Kate (2013). Theravada Buddhism Continuity, Diversity, and Identity, p. 100. Wiley-Blackwell. Other recurring characters include important disciples of the Buddha, Devadatta (generally as a villain) and members of Gautama's family, like his wife Yasodharā and son Rāhula.
Another important element of the stories are the various Buddhist virtues, called perfections, that were cultivated by the bodhisattva Gautama throughout his previous lives, and which serve as the lessons taught by the jātakas.Shaw, Sarah (2006). The Jatakas: Birth Stories of Bodhisatta, p. xxix. Penguin UK. Other jātakas, such as those found in the Buddhavaṃsa (Chronicle of Buddhas), focus on Gautama's meeting, serving and venerating past Buddhas and serve to place his bodhisattva path in a chronology of past Buddhas. These stories generally focus on acts of devotion to past Buddhas and how this generates much merit which many positive outcomes in the future. A smaller number of jātakas illustrate various mistakes or bad actions that the bodhisattva committed in a past life (and the subsequent karmic retribution) and thus demonstrate the bodhisattva's past imperfections.
Regarding the intended audience of these texts, Martin Straube notes that even though there is a widespread view that jātakas arose due to monks "catering to the needs and tastes of the illiterate lay practitioners of Buddhism as propagandistic means of preaching or converting" there is no historical evidence for this. Instead, the opposite might be true, since "the prose portions of the Pali jātakas not infrequently have as their audience monks and nuns, who sometimes reach high levels of spiritual realization after listening to a jātaka story." Naomi Appleton, in her analysis of the second and fourth decade of the Avadānaśataka, notes that both sets of stories "assume a monastic audience." Likewise, Kate Crosby writes that "the format of the Jātaka in fact suggests that their original inclusion in the canonical collection was primarily for the benefit of monks."Crosby, Kate (2013). Theravada Buddhism Continuity, Diversity, and Identity, pp. 103–105. Wiley-Blackwell. Crosby notes that many of these stories are connected with monastic behavior and decorum, some of them are also meant to illustrate specific rules in the Vinaya. In spite of this main intended audience, their simple format also made them easily adaptable for other uses. Thus, they were repackaged as artistic entertainment and teaching devices for laypersons, as parittas (protective chants) and as chronicle (vamsa) literature.
Straube also notes that the rock caves of Ajanta and Bagh were inhabited by monks and it was them who ordered and directed the jātaka murals found there. There is also evidence from inscriptions on old stūpas at various Indian sites (such as Sanchi and Bharhut) with jātaka motifs which indicate that they were built due to the patronage of monks and nuns, some of them of high rank such as bhāṇaka (reciter). Some scholars have also concluded that Jātaka reciters were part of their own division of reciters.
History