essence lies in being given by benefactors of the world.When given, it becomes a treasure.
When ungiven, it ends only in loss.(2.91 [50])
This “essence” or “treasure” is merit, often portrayed as a purified, more permanent form of wealth, which, unlike material riches, can be taken to the next life:
Wealth must one day be left behind
and then it is of no use.
By giving up one’s wealth correctly,
one produces a kind of asset.(3.32. [20])
You should give to the virtuous,
gracing your gift with reverence.
For wealth deposited this way
cannot be lost and follows you after death. (9.70 [29])
Reiko Ohnuma (2007: 205ff.) has observed a similar theme when the body is given away. In such stories, the Bodhi·sattva is often said to make use of an otherwise useless and impure body by giving it away and thereby extracting its “essence” (8.71 [33]).
There are also different motivations behind the Bodhi·sattva’s gifts. Some stories (3 and 4) depict an alms offering,22 whereby a layperson offers food to a monk out of devotion and respect. In the majority of stories, however, the Bodhi·sattva gives either out of compassion or out of pure renunciation, as suits his role as a renunciant protector who is famed for his non-attachment and compassionate deeds. When the Bodhi·sattva gives out of pure renunciation, the dynamics of the gift differ radically from the devotional gift of an alms offering. In the latter case, the moral standing of the recipient is crucial; in the former case, the nature of the recipient is often irrelevant, the emphasis being on giving for giving’s sake. “Gifts should be given: that alone is why I give,” states the Bodhi·sattva in “The Birth-Story of Vishvan·tara” (9.61 [26]).
A striking example of a compassionate gift is provided by “The Birth-Story on the Tigress,” in which the Bodhi·sattva offers his body to a hungry tigress with the following motivation:
It is neither ambition, nor desire for fame,
nor the attainment of heaven, nor kingship,
nor my own perpetual happiness that motivates me.
My sole concern is to benefit others.(1.44 [30])
Likewise, in “The Birth-Story of Maitri·bala,” the Bodhi ·sattva joyfully gives his body to a group of demons, stating:
When I look at the helpless creatures
incessantly suffering bitter toils and woes,
my mind cannot be satisfied
merely by dispelling my own sorrows.(8.106 [54])
In both stories, however, the Bodhi·sattva’s concern is not limited solely to helping the recipients of his gift. The gift is instead viewed as part of a greater design aimed at attaining Buddhahood, or “omniscience,” and the benefit this brings the world. Immediately after the above verse, the Bodhi·sattva therefore states:
Through this pure deed, may I attain Omniscience.
By conquering the vices that are my enemies,
may I raise the world out of the ocean of existence
with its huge surging waves of old age, sickness,
and death.(8.107 [55])
The potential conflict between the needs of the recipient and the Bodhi·sattva’s focus on awakening is probed by “The Birth-Story of the Hare.” Here the Bodhi·sattva’s desire to fulfill his spiritual path contradicts the wishes of his recipient, who in fact requests the Bodhi·sattva not to sacrifice his body for him. The Bodhi·sattva responds thus:
Giving is a duty and my heart wishes to give.
And it is apt when I have a guest such as you.
An opportunity like this cannot easily be gained.
I rely on you to ensure my gift is not in vain.(6.55 [32])
Far from fulfilling the needs of the recipient, the emphasis is on the Bodhi·sattva’s pure renunciant attitude and the miraculous extent to which he is willing to give.23 In stories such as this the Bodhi·sattva performs an absolute form of giving that bears little or no relational significance to the context at hand. Nor is the text reluctant to explore the ramifications of this absolute type of giving. On the contrary, ________
as Ohnuma has observed (2007: 91ff.), such stories often seek to emphasize the transcendent, and at times transgressive, nature of the Bodhi·sattva’s gifts by portraying them as unconventional actions that lead to conflicts with kings, ministers, and other representatives of society’s norms.24
Perhaps the most striking instance of this is expressed in “The Birth-Story of Vishvan·tara” (9), in which the Bodhi·sattva gives away his wife and children to a brahmin as slaves. As Steven Collins has emphasized (1998: 497ff.), this is an act of renunciation that fundamentally jars with social values and the text portrays with sensitive detail the suffering caused by this absolute form of giving, including stirring scenes in which the Bodhi·sattva’s children tearfully try to dissuade their father from his gift and in which his wife becomes hysterical with distress. Nor is the Bodhi·sattva himself unaffected by the pain involved in his dedication to renunciant values:25
The Bodhi·sattva’s mind was shaken by the children’s pitiable lament. Although he told himself that one should feel no regret after giving a gift, his heart burned with an incurable fire of sorrow. His mind seized up, like someone fainting from a powerful poison, and he collapsed there and then.(9.143)
Although it is significant that the Bodhi·sattva’s wife ultimately gives her approval (anumodana) to her husband’s gift of their children, thereby bringing resolution to the story and in fact enabling the Bodhi·sattva to complete his gift when she too is given away, the ambiguities raised by the ________
text mean that one cannot take the story simply as a glorification of the Bodhi·sattva’s practice of giving.
While the “Garland of the Buddha’s Past Lives” is fervent in its devotion for the Bodhi·sattva’s deeds, it also thus invites its audience to explore some of the difficulties involved in a soteriological path that transcends conventional values, as exemplified by the Bodhi·sattva’s extreme and miraculous feats. Far from diluting the devotional tone of the text, however, this transcendent aspect serves to heighten it further. For it is precisely the fact that the Bodhi·sattva’s deeds are extraordinary and “unable to be imitated” (1.5 [4]) that they are so astounding and awe-inspiring, filling the audience with devotion for their heroic savior and his renunciant path.
The Sanskrit Text
It has been my good fortune to benefit from the excellent critical edition of the Jatakamala by Albrecht Hanisch, who consults not only the extant Sanskrit manuscripts but also Tibetan translations of the Jatakamala, as well as the Sanskrit and Tibetan tika commentaries. For a detailed analysis of variants and other textual issues, I refer the reader to this extremely useful work. Unfortunately, Hanisch’s edition is not yet complete and presently
