Jataka

This will give us a chance to take refuge in the library. This is about the right time. For those who have been coming for a long time to recognize a kind of pattern of coming back and bringing material back into interpenetration and then going off again. With a by now familiar harking of direction and the meaning that occurs out of that increases in its vibratory capacity. And this style of learning imitates and reproduces a force and movement that occurs also in history. It was visible to only a few esoteric sages members of the troops in times past but the overwhelming philosophic concerns of history in the 20th century have produced an enormous amount of work and insight and discipline that could almost be dubbed history. And among the examples of such a perspective is a study of history in 12 volumes The Cambridge This piece and many other examples. And from this we now have a literary history. Of history. And from this viewpoint we can see that this wonderful kind of penetrating. Ambience happens again and again. And one of the classic movements of. The historical Buddha Gautama died about the time of Socrates was born. And Socrates passed on his insight to Plato who was about 28 when Socrates died. And incidentally when he was incarcerated in his cell at the end of his life awaiting his execution Socrates was turning these says in verse. Six they are based on the giantess Plato who taught for 20 years.

Personally Aristotle and Aristotle was personal to Alexander the Great and as soon as he could. Alexander. And Socrates armies outside of the Great Poets University sit at Toshiba Radio. Toshiba. And I last year donated three big volumes of archaeological work which began in the late 1920s by Sir John Marshall. They are marvels at Toshiba and ActionScript ancient designation was chartered to the head of the market place and received a direct communication of the Greek academicus. The idea of the world map from Alexander and invented it in his own family and created the beginnings of an empire which were enlarged by his son and his grandson Ashoka spreading to almost all of the territorial reach of the ancient Indian world all except the small tip of southern India and from Burma all the way over to Ceylon and up into the northwestern frontier Afghanistan and almost to the gates of Samarkand so that in the space of eight lifetimes which were entered length and that by now familiar hermetic motion of living time eight individuals had a single motion of development literally reshape the world. And if you look at the style of human life before 550 BC and the style of human life after 250 BC it might as well be different. It is an absolutely different circumstance. Not only has the landscape changed but that popular word scape has changed. And instead of having the precious little tradition of one's own people to rely on his own prayers.

He now has several if not scores of interpenetrated threads which make up the fabric of a universal vision and the scope of an individual private vision no matter how great is still parochial. In comparison to this fantastic fanning out of the universal vision. And this produces a society a spiritual development which tends to transcend. And so the first time we got serious talking about man being truly a universal being not just someone who worships and seeks This empathy and sympathy with the sun and the moon. With the Star of Mercy. But now comes that spiritual figure who is at home in that room. And 200 years. This concept of time this styling of history. Parents. This little tiny girl in the jacket. There are 547 that still exist. And their cute little stories and their excellent stories and their grand visionary stories all rolled into one. And there never was any attempt on the part of any editors or commentators to separate them out and say these people don't belong with the eloquent Sort of the universal vision. They were all together. Now the conception that is overriding in the foothills and the central pivot symbolic pivot on which this breaking of historical visions together rests on the notion of the body. Such. As. The body. Is no longer simply a being who has such and such a name and such and such a fortune and such and such a life.

Career. Boddhisatva transcends their personal political Circumstances no matter what they are how grand how illustrative Bodhisattva is that individual for whom a shaping personality is nothing more than a temporary mass to be done for purpose and to be linked together life after life after life at a time scale which increasingly is seen to be almost interminable incalculable. They say in the text in fact they go to the designation of saying after for an incalculable and 100 million years such and such a thing they seek to stretch the notion of psychological time or geologic time of time completely away from any kind of organized mental categorical state that the human mind might be able to infer from. And this amplitude is the home of the motion of the bodhisattvas and the bodhisattvas essentially. Is that being or there are many of them but any bodhisattvas that being for whom there will be no final nirvana until every other creature in the universe has entered into form so that the notion here is that of a guardian spirit but not simply the guardian. The guardian spirit of some 154155 but the guardian spirit. Or if you wish that you can say Guardian angel? What is that? It is a universal guardian angel not bound by time nor space whose primary purpose and vector and incarnate again and again and again is to help all other beings to enlighten them. And only after that task is completely perfected will solve them with the capacity and tact achieved his or her life.

Now this is a product of the interpenetration of the Greek and Indian minds in that generation between Alexander the Great and John and Mary. And it happened about three 23 25 BCE. So that a generation after that meeting when this idea of the sun. The universal being came into play about a generation after that. The second Council was held the second Buddhist Council. The first one was held right after that the historical Buddha died. It was held at Rajagriha. Second one Seth held it. The salary and the idea of the Buddhist sutra had taken such a root hold that the majority of the monks at the Second Council only a hundred years after the bush had died outnumbered those who wish to pursue a more conservative well remembered path so the third period of Buddhism at that time was split between those of the old school the tariff models t h e r a Pteropods Qantas Uber who styled themselves Madhya maha meaning great Yami path. But really that which goes on in the path the vehicle or the path. So the the great vehicle was the Dharmacakra or the Buddhist idea and the turbines who held the sway at the site were so put off by this sudden emerging splinter group radical visionary Group that they began to make plans to extract Extracting themselves from the normal course of the development of Buddhism in India.

And in fact within several generations they moved south and east to Ceylon to Indo-China where the Mahayana increasingly moved west and the pathway was clear at the Second Council at himself. There were delegates from the city of Opportunity so that there was an open channel between the Mahayana Buddhists in India and the rising Hellenistic synthesis happening centering around not only Alexandria places like Damascus. In this interpenetration between the East and the West that motor vehicle that. Penetrated most subtly and most completely were the jacket tails. Because they were stories of the Buddha's previous life. And in. Themselves carried the notion of the bodhisattva all covered with beautiful. Excellent tails that one could tell for entertainment. One could even tell them to children. One could translate them into English. Easily. They were all virtually every word for it. And as scholars in our time. Trace them more and more. We find an incredible penetration of these. Buddhist bodhisattvas stories into almost every conceivable realms. And we read you tonight a tale that often appears in Uncle Remus stories. Yes there are. There are dark tales that occur in Saint John of Damascus writings that were so influential in one about Pala and Josaphat. And Josaphat is a misreading on both sides. And by the 14th century when Josaphat was canonized and the Church of Hit it marked a full circle and called it an excellent work. The book was by long translation canonized as a saint in the Catholic Church so that the movement of Harvest stories that haven't been this tremendous average of meaning this tremendous current of meaning.

And because it was an innovative and interpenetration of both the Greek and the Indian traditions it flowed both ways and produced literally the kind of conductor superconductor that one would expect with such an energized capacity as the two cultures flourished. Now these giant tales and I give this all this introduction so you have some background so that they are not just cute little animal stories or they are not just interesting tales but one can see that they belong with these great spiritual classics because they literally take. The form of the job itself is always a very strict form. There would be something happening in the present. Some time present began and the Buddha who taught for about 45 years would make some kind of statement that this situation reminded him of such and such a situation when he was so and so and so. He would tell the story to the monks. And when the story got to a point an apex where this meaning could penetrate much like it will do 1200 1500 years later. But the idea there is a short little verse usually a sloka a two line verse or a quatrain of Sometimes there are two verses that are given to sort of bring that grasp of penetration through to the hearers. And then the story will finish.

And then the storyteller who is the Buddha will say and so and so with this and so and so was this and I was this so as to show that this isn't just a little homily or even a little parable but it's something that reverberates much more profoundly than that. This is a brief occurrence of a pattern that exists again and again and that we together exist again and again and just as we inch closer than we are now inching closer now and at some time in the future that is the conception Our time not yet formed in the present but already assured by our moments in this present. And so the jacket tails. And I guess I should tell you one right now just to give you some idea there was a figure individual who was a contemporary historical figure. Good chap and did everything he could to. Ingratiate the Buddhist disciples against the master. And he would even go so far sometimes as to threaten to quite literally wanted to kill him. So there were a group of monks at one time in the gardens who were taught. And they. Master came walking by and said what is this subject and purpose of your discourse? And once looking up said we were just talking about how everyone in this town knows that the doctor would like to kill you. And we wonder whether you are worried or if we should be worse for you.

And so the Buddha said to them this has happened before. This is in times past when Brahma ruled at Benaras. He had a son named Prince Wicked. And Prince wicked was as tough and hard as a demon. He never spoke to anybody without either reviling him or striking him. The result was that both by indoor folk and by outdoor folk he was disliked and detested as much as dust lodged in the yard or a demon come to eat. This is his style of comedy. He was like that one day desiring to squirt in the water. He went to the riverbank with a large group of people and at that moment a great cloud arose and the directions became dark. And he said to his fellows let us go out into the storm. Officers are saying this is our chance to kill him. He is evil. We will send an eternal self when he is out in the streets. They turned their back and they go towards the north and they approach the king. And the king said where is my son? And they said okay. We thought he was following us. He must still be out in the Ganges and so you can have his troops go off and search the Ganges. And they had no sign until this kid was clinging to a piece of driftwood that was floating down the Ganges and he was in fear of death for his life.

And as he was floating down the Ganges storm depositing buckets of water on one side there was a mound on the side of the Ganges that was inhabited by a snake. And this snake in previous lifetimes had gathered together quite a large treasure and had hidden it on this particular spot of the Ganges and Yamuna. And now in this incarnation as the snake was guarding this treasure well the water washed it out into the Ganges. And he came up onto this long piece of driftwood had barely saved his life. Further down in the canyon was another mouth of a little less gold. And this creature this time was a rat. And he too was washed out. And Ganges found his way to this very large and occupied the other. And a little further down the Ganges was a parrot a wonderful parrot who was whose branch that he was on was knocked down into the Ganges and into it so that the four of them were coursing down to the Ganges. And the Buddha to be in this particular incarnation was an ascetic living in the forest and he was doing his practice. He was probably doing standing on one hand to bring the other of the arm over to the other and holding that position Great. No great. And you heard the cries for help and thought. How am I to maintain myself as a bodhisattva? Where poor fellow creatures are endangered before my eyes.

And so he plunged into the Ganges and swam out and grabbed hold of the log and using his yoga strength brought the log back into shore. At the right. He said behold I have saved you all previous lifetimes. Is it helpful to you at your beck and call? Just come to my mind and comprehend and I will teach you and give it to you. And the snake likewise made a sign to Michael also and said I have no gold but I have thousands of relatives and we all bring it. Great. If you ever need to come to the place where we are called. The marriage of the wicked Prince have no such limits. He made his way back to the city very quickly. So that the future could. Be. I will test the situations. So he went to the rock and called Rapp. And Rapp came forward and said you need to go on this one. He said no not now. I will just pay my respects and wandered on down the Ganges and the snake and the parrot and each responded as promised. When he approached the city Prince wicked saw him coming and thought this is. So you started this right away and said look this is a fun time right here. And at every crossroads in the city you ushered in off beat him. And when you have him outside the city walls. Help! So? So his wife to do the bidding? Yes.

And at each crossroad they would be beaten in the future. And he would reply in this verse each time making no other motion of response. Truth is say of some of the world driftwood is worth more than some. And finally as each crossroad of people in the city could see what was happening again and again observe the perfect control of the ascetic and hear the serene meaning of his first and seeing the demeaning actions of the soldiers who surely were not acting on their own but were directed from the prince. There suddenly arose more and more outcry in the city and by the time they had a future Buddha to the gate of the city the crowds had stormed the palace and had killed the wicked prince and his body had drawn over and the future Buddha was brought in and appointed king because now without any one to lead them they needed to have someone they could trust. And because the kingdom had been run ragged the future Buddha went to the rock to the snake and brought the gold and went to the palace. He brought them to quickly re-establish the said the teacher. Monks not only in the present state of existence has he is wrong about the purpose of the previous existence also. He went about with the purpose of showing faith in the same old way. Having related this parable he joined the connection and testified the personages in the great story as follows.

At that time that King was the same as Sariputra the rapids of the main characters Ananda. All these individuals were very close but he that gained the kingdom became the King of righteousness. Resigned myself. Now that's the form of all the Japanese. There's always a time present production and is always using that as a springboard to give a narrative. And the narrative always creates a scene wherein some verse or stanza is the flash point of insight. And that there is a conclusion. All these happenings all these accounts everything is portioned out so that this time present is seen to be a reverberation of the past. And in this way what is recorded here is the sense that this voice of the time this enormous incalculable time duration white persons stylized it in a photography. If you took one page of grant high and one metre wide and 100 pages long and you were to try to wear it down by rubbing a silk scarf over it once a year. By the time it would be worn down. That's the time it takes for an enlightenment figure to. So that's kind of the spirit behind. It becomes recovered. And when the spiritual sense of the human being opens itself up to this scale of times this scale of events the egotistical forms those little personal nets are so often are not able to snare our net into graspable ideas into inevitable circumstances for oneself that a slow change by osmosis happens that this universal eternal infinite time and have it slowly acclimated to the individual so that the pacing of psychological time begins to transcend those limited capacities of the personality.

Because it's only the persona the mask which dictates how much that such and such. Important must be for me. When that fades what comes into play is this flow of relationships. In fact this flow very often called literally the stream. And those persons who achieve flowing in that stream are called certain time streams on Twitch. So the. Stream one enters and there are five Five impediments any three of which are achieved. One has become a sort of screen winner and from that point what never backslides from that point after becoming the screen winner. The ultimate inevitability of enlightenment is maturity. So that there's an added in the graciousness of overwhelming confidence of achievement after that point. The five impediments I can remember. One is not to believe in the personality. What is not to have doubt? One is not to be ensnared by sensual craving. One is not to state one's total belief on rituals and That sort of ritual play. And one is as a statement I'm sorry to say it but all of these independents and three of those that are achieved one of the kinds of schemes and this is among them that specifically relates back to this notion of the eternal flow of life in its universal patterns and that we from time to time are just as just as if you have a flow and wherever you have any curlicues and penetrations.

That kind of focus is where we help and what we what we are focused but we are not separate from the motion of the floor and so that if we simply insist that we are there. Specifically objectively and only that we are trapped there in the first. Admonition. And so we believe that that is being real and it is only manifest. But not objectively separate and has no existence apart from the motion of. The field. So these jackets. In a tired way of stories at every level. For children. For entertainment for pleasure for profundity. All the way through. He conveyed a sense of timelessness and bring it home to us. I have. To and from some of the very late jackass. I have another jacket which I. Like to present. This is the gray dolphin jacket. And later on after our break I'll present a decent township jacket which is the very last one the very last before his incarnation. The Bernard and Tara jackets were very early on by about third century BCE were illustrated all over India and even down as far as Ceylon the sacred city which was being built at that time. The youngest son named was Mahinda. Mahinda is the Pali pronunciation of Nanda mother. At the time of the show he was one of the great Greco-Bactrian Bactrian.

Kings and Northwest Indians. And in fact I have on the front here the portrait that the kingdom is called the portrait of Buddhist figures at that time to prove. This is the Buddhist. Statue. All of these monuments were set up all these centuries. Like the statue which I've shown you slides up from time to time. Or the great cities. And I grew up in Tehran or any of the places throughout India or increasingly westwards to the buying out of Afghanistan towards Persia. The brigade and the entire jacket were the most illustrated and they were put into frames alongside the structures and contains mural paintings inside the walls. They were carved on blocks that were placed so that as one walked along through the complex one would see this and that and the different patterns that were arranged. Mixed with this kind of presentation so that if one were moving in a very logical scenario at a certain hour of the day they give you the scene of such and such. And when one is acquainted with this it's like a it's just like an artist who has mastered all the Advanced techniques and training like state suddenly gets an intuition from something and all of the technique comes into play and focuses and branches out and all that kind of stuff. They started making sculptures of the same thing here. They were always the scattered clues of universal time and the workability of enlightenment.

This translation unfortunately leaves out the covering material. But it's very interesting as they have the bridge out and the hidden depths of the earth far below the fields and the returns of world dwell in certain Certainly certainly. And they are magical serpents who can assume human form when they wish. Their kingdom glitters with rare jewels and precious minerals. They live in great splendor and richness from time to time. They leave their realms and mingle with the human beings who inhabit the surface of the earth. The archenemy of the Naga is the Garuda the great bird who lives in the sunlit and airy skies. Once when a Garuda was hungry he captured in Naga. People. The serpent primordial. He captured the Naga and flew off with him as he swept over the Himalayan forest plunging the head of the great snake in his claws and Nara was able to coil himself around a tall banyan tree but the strength of the Gerudo is such that the tree was torn from its roots after he had devoured the Naga. The Gerudo remembered that the banyan tree had sheltered the hut of the hermit and he feared that his unwitting deed might bring misfortune upon itself. He returned to the hermit's hut to ask him and was assured that he would suffer no ill on his account for his action was not intended to harm. Pleased by this answer the Garuda rewarded the hermit by telling him the words of a magic snake charm of great power and gave him a fan behind which to chant.

But as the hermit had no reason to use the charm he gave it away to a Brahmin snake charmer named Alamsyah who had been his faithful servant. Orlando decided to use the charm to capture the minority which would earn him fame and wealth. He left the service of the hermit wandered through the forest until he reached the banks of the Yamuna River. There he encountered band of Naga youths who had with him the precious jewel of the goddess the jewel that grants all desires. As soon as they heard the drama of uttering the magic spell of the Garuda they trembled with fear and sank into the water leaving the glittering gems behind. Delighted with his good fortune he picked up the jewel though unaware of its magical powers and continued into the forest. A little later he met a hunter and his son who earned their livelihood by capturing wild animals and plants used by the jewel in the hand of him. And was filled with grief and rage. But once before he had had the opportunity to possess the gem but he had not taken it. He thought back to that time many years before. Recall how he had heard the music and laughter not of meetings at dawn one morning after his spent a night in the forest when he had crept close to discover the cause of the merriment.

The maidens inspired by leaving behind a princely snake dressed in rich attire and coiled about a huge advantage when the woodsmen had approached him and asked who he might be the prince had told him that he was heard of Joshua the Prince of Darkness. He had heard the name for adoption or adoption because of his wisdom and goodness. He had to turn to the priest historic merit believing his wife and house to say he found his International world of dance. Very nice. Quite all this length about it and remained there motionless until march down and let him who will take my skin and muscles of both light and dark he explained. Canada gave his attendance with conscious excursion back to one of the mountains where he did not want anyone to know about his place of meditation to keep the wisdom from revealing he had invited him and his son to return to the kingdom and dwell in splendor. There he accepted and in the realm of knowledge lived during the ease and luxury. However after years of such a life the hunter had become restless longing to return to the world of men very anxious for him to stay and offered him great pitches even the very same jewel that grants all. But the wisdom to use them. Saying that he wished to become the Senate President. Thus he and his son had returned to their former dwellings.

When his wife learned however that he had decided to become a hermit and leave her again she angrily told him that he must stay and help her support her family. So he resumed his former life as a humble hunter before so that now the jewel in the hand of him. Not having accepted it when he died had offered it to him. He would return. At first he tried to dissuade. Among the ideas that the Japanese agents and the wily Brahman could not be convinced and spoke to the purpose of his wanderings to capture 99 which would witness fame and fortune to anyone who could inform him of the whereabouts of such a snake. He would give the glowing gem his powers. He still. Saw how he could regain the wealth it was given. When he was about to tell Brianna where the Naga prince was hidden. His son tried to dissuade him from betraying his friend who had trusted him to keep his secret who had welcomed the hunter to his palace three years. He urged his father to ask the prince himself for whatever riches he wanted for he was certain that not only compassion but the reason. Why he lived a life beyond The great anthill around which bird dogs coiled anxious to capture the great serpent. The lively animals hastily habit of hunting for the magic jewel. But as the hunter eagerly grabbed for it it slipped through his fingers and disappeared through a crack in the earth to be claimed again by the king and his foolish heart lamented by the chapter on his evil deeds approached to retire chanting his magic spell waving his fangs and captured his boddhisatva for such a brief time.

Significance. Obeying the precept he had set for himself. Let him who will take my skin or muscles or bones or life. So. Livelihoods and precious moments forced him into a basket. Although the Naga prince suffered great pain he permitted himself to feel no anger toward the throne. Luckily God took his prisoners from nearby villages and ordered him to perform. Unaffected by his cruel treatment the Great Snake Dance assuming various colors and forms spitting forth water and smoke and causing great pleasure to introduce the Brahmin and profited greatly from prairie dogs astonishing talents for the people gave him much money to see the snake perform and he went from village to village amassing great wealth and renown until at last he reached the great city of Banaras. For himself. Meanwhile the wives and mothers of prairie dogs at mischief and sent to the brothers. One brother went to search in the kingdom of the gods. One went to the Himalayan forest and the other Sudharsan searched in the world of men dressed as an ascetic. He accompanied. He was accompanied by his brother John his favorite sister who had disguised herself as a frog hidden in the darkness. Matted hair. Remember a forest sage always had plenty of hair.

First up. He searched the world of men in vain until finally he came to the city of Benares where his mother's brother was now king. He arrived just as the people were gathering in the marketplace to watch the Great snake perform. John lifted his head out of the basket saw his brother in the crowd. He went to him placing his head on his brother's fight. He wept and Pseudoscience. Also I'm singing this from a distance. Wondered if the snake had bitten the ascetic and assured him that his snake was not poisonous. Susanna answered proudly that no venom from a snake or any other creature could harm him. This report made the emperor Emperor Jianwen Emperor and he charged suicide to show his powers. He said it called for his sister who had reformed as a frog contained in most poisonous plants. The actress spat three drops of her poison into his hands. Then he threatened the barbarian with these words. Who sees these drops of poison waiting in my palm? Watch the ground. They have the power to blow up all of the city. Shall I show you a church where the people cry out there. Only the king's name is called. He asked but now how can this poison be destroyed? I told him that the only way was to take three steps to kill one with drugs one with the counter and one of the medicine drugs. John asked when this was done.

He threw the three drops of poison. Three holes. They immediately exploded killing the air and keeps thundering. The terrified of air became his wife and mother. He said three times I will set the prince free. I will set the darkness free. Whereupon it merged with the jewel in the basket assuming the radiant form stood before the multitude of his glory. He even brought evil and crept away and he was not seen of the administration. And public sector. And the two brothers revealed themselves at the end of his life for having succeeded in keeping the precepts ascended to heaven with the hosts of virtuous mothers. Now that heaven in the tushita heaven and it is that universal home from which the one suffers get born again and again and again. And there's a particular flavor just like the last life. Time to be happy and tushita heaven of that certain quality of radiance because they are finally at long last giving birth after the ends to a Buddha. Now the historical Buddha Joseph recounted that he was the 28th Buddha to appear on this particular planet and that he had been striving to become a Buddha had been accepted as the fourth Buddha in different karma. And if one goes into this little matter and figures out that in between there might be 12 to 15,000 years you can just multiply that by 24 and you can see how long he said that he had been a brace up.

Well of course this scientifically is the history of mechanical animals. So let's take a short break and then we'll have our baby chapter and we'll go downstairs to the library and have the the best part. Jeff. Jeff. Jeff. Rather than give you slides about the jatakas I brought a small statue which which in its shape and its weight its visual sculptural capacities its old texture and its wonderful harmlessness. Conveyed a sense of early Buddhism and of the time of the jatakas. And I thought I would just pass that around and let you finger it and look at it and it conveys in itself the tone. one thing that always accompanies the the notions of these large enormous powerful energy Circus is the idea of gentleness and not fragility at all but gentleness in the sense of gracefulness that there is. Since we are participants in a flow process that the graciousness is appropriate to our true nature and true form and that with all of this grandeur and capacity and power transformative power there is really no need to try to exert mechanical power in place of feeling tone situations so that the gentleness of the piece here really bespeaks of the wonderful tone of the early early Buddhism around the time when these jatakas were first taken down. There are modern translations. Unfortunately not very good ones. there are children's versions published by the Dharma Press up in Emeryville California and they have about 5 or 6 of the jockey tales in this form of like children's books.

Um the sage sage is one of them. They have the space sage is the man is a gardener. He grows perfect wonderful vegetables and yet he daydreams. And he thinks that he really is fairly refined. And if he could only get to the mountains he could become enlightened. And so he leaves his spade and he goes to the mountains and he meditates and as he meditates the images of his garden keep reoccurring to him again and again and he realizes that he's got to go back. So he goes back and gets his spade. He's digging. And then he's haunted by this feeling that he must have been very very close to enlightenment. And what need would he have there of a trowel? And then he realizes that he is caught in this kind of innuendo. He doesn't know quite what to think. So he stands up and throws his spade into a river. And just as he does he shouts I've found it! And the passing entourage as always that contains a prince as always hears this and brings the ascetic in for his personal tutor. Now this is the tone of this chapter. There's another job that they do in this series which is actually pretty good about the about a wonderful mango tree which is inhabited by a tribe of monkeys. And these monkeys are very wise.

And the leader of the monkey band is the bodhisattva. And this tree has been well cared for by the Bodhisattva and his monkey tribe. And it produces the most beautiful tasty mangoes. But it is next to a river. And so all of the mangoes and the branch over the river are plucked when they're still very small so that none will ever fall into the river because the monkeys know it all and fears that it will slow down and eventually come to the cities of men. Well one time one mango is messed. It is hidden by leaves and it grows to Sumptuous ripeness and falls into the river and floats all the way down to Benares. Of course. And there is plucked out and because of its unbelievable radiance as quickly rushed from person to person up the social ladder until it goes into the mouth of the king who is overcome by the sumptuousness of cannot forget the taste of this mango and realizes that one taste of this mango is never going to be enough. He must discover the tree. And so the reason that it must have fallen into the river with a great entourage made their way all the way back up to the Monkey King seeing the entourage of the king coming. You can imagine all the fanfare with the conch shells blown. Conch shells are very loud especially in these mountain valleys that they would have the great plumes of pampas grass type headdresses and fans and the elephants and their thundering everything very noticeable that has Covid.

So the Monkey King decides that he's got to save his people because he knows that men love mangoes but they like monkey meat with their mangoes. So he uses his bodhisattva powers and he leaps across the river to where there are wonderful reeds and he binds them all together. And he leaps back towards the tree thinking that with this reed that there will be a bridge that the monkeys can all escape this mango tree because it's by now surrounded. But he has completed an errand and he has to hold on to one and with his hand and with the other hand he has to grab the farthest branch of the tree and cannot let go. So under his encouragement all of the monkeys do flee the tree except that this monkey king whose arms are just broken from all the strain and finally falls to the ground. But all of his monkeys are saved. And furthermore the King has observed this wonderful sacrifice and recognizes because it was in the current of the day recognized that this is no monkey and goes with great reverence. And the Monkey King is revered as a as a sage and is given home in the palace. And the King promises never again that monkeys shall not be eaten and that mangoes should be harvested but always something should be left.

Those kinds of cocktails are excellent. They appear as children's books. The daughter of Hazrat Inayat Khan a great Sufi teacher Nur Khan did 20 Jataka tales and a paperback which is available and they have little illustrations in them. And you can see these these these are available even though it's published in The Hague. They're like little animals stories and they're wonderful wonderful for children but they're also good to sort of dip in to get acquainted with. Well let's have a Jataka which is very very famous. I guess almost all of you know the story of the Tar-baby from Prairie prayer. Rabbit. I don't I don't have the. I didn't bring the book. I have the tales of Uncle Remus at home and I was going to bring it but I I didn't. This parable was related by the teacher when he was in residence at Jetavana which was a very large park area. You have to realize that most real spine of what they call high Dharma wisdom traditions always favor nature as the place in which man finds his worship whether it's the Dodona oak groves of Olympia in Greece. Or it's the garden parks of Buddhist India or the American Indian mountain towns. It's always the open place in nature that particular place which has the feeling tone and vibration the focus from where man can see diagonally across all the grids of his conceptions of things into the true nature of life.

And these are sacred places and every people at every time have revered sacred places. So Jetavana was one of these large parks many large trees the grassy spot where if you remember from the Ramayana. Deer and birds would be roaming free and mixing with the people who were practicing. While he was at residence at Jetavana with reference to a monk who relaxed effort that is who backslid and it's always of interest to us. I remember when I was younger I used to constantly ask how do you know that you aren't just writing on sand? How do you know that some situation will come and just efface everything that you've done? And so that that kind of a concern is a universal concern. How do you know that what you're doing is right or that it's going to last or that it's going to grow? How can you tell or can you tell and what happens if you don't? Well this is one. And they use the euphemism relaxed effort. it's very painful. not to do what you know you should do For addressing that monk? The teacher asked monk is it true as they allege that you have relaxed effort? True exalted one monk said the teacher the former times wise men exerted themselves on an occasion when it was necessary for them to exert themselves and by doing so attain the glory of dominion. So saying. He related the following story in the past.

In times past when Brahmadatta was king at Benares the future Buddha received a new conception in the womb of the chief consort of that king. And the day when he received his name his parents after delighting 800 Brahmins with all the pleasures of sex enquired regarding the signs. The Brahmins skilled in the discernment of signs as they were seeing that he possessed the signs of a great man. Made the following prediction. Great king. The Prince possesses merit. Upon your decease he will attain his sovereignty. He will become the foremost man in the land of the Rose apple and will be celebrated. Will be renowned for his deeds with the five weapons. His parents hearing these words of the promise and selecting the name for the prince gave him the name Prince. Five weapons. Now when he reached the age of discretion when he was about 16 years of age the king addressed him. Son said the king acquire the arts and crafts. Under what teacher shall I acquire them? Your Majesty. Son. Go acquire them under a world renowned teacher who resides in the city of Takshashila in the kingdom of Gandhara. Here is the fee for you to give to this teacher. So saying. He gave him a thousand pieces of money and sent him on his way. The prince went there and acquired the arts and crafts. Having so done he took the five weapons which his teacher gave him bowed to his teacher departed from the city of Takshashila and girded with the five weapons struck into the road leading to Banaras.

On the way he came to a certain forest infested by an ogre named Sticky Hair. Now the mouth of the forest. Men who saw him tried to dissuade him from entering saying Sir Prince do not enter this forest. An ogre named Sticky here lives here. He kills every man. He sees. The future Buddha confident of himself fearless as a lion entered the forest just the same. When he reached the heart of that forest the ogre showed himself to the future Buddha. It increased his stature to the height of a palm tree. He had created for himself a head as big as a summer house with bell shaped pinnacle. Eyes as big as alms bowls. Two tusks as big as giant bolts or buds. He hit the beak of a hawk. His belly was covered with blotches. His hands and feet were dark green. I bet that. You can just imagine people telling these stories for thousands of years. When it's night and you've got a fire and you have food after a long day. It's just great. Having shown himself to the future Buddha he said where are you going? Halt! You are my prey. But the future Buddha said to him ogre I knew what I was about when I entered this forest. You would do well to be careful about attacking me.

For with an arrow steeped in poison I will pierce your flesh and fill you on the spot. Having thus threatened him the future Buddha fitted to his bow and arrow steeped in deadly poison and let fly. It stuck right to the ogre's hair. Then he let fly one after another 50 arrows all stuck right to the ogre's hair. The ogre shook off every one of these arrows letting them fall right at his feet and approach the future. But the future Buddha threatened him once more drawing his sword smote him with it. The sword 33in long struck right to the ogre's hair. Then he hit him. It stuck. See? Like that? Just like here. Then he hit him with a spear that also stuck right to his hair. Perceiving that the spear had stuck he smote him with a club and that also stuck to the ogre's hair. Perceiving that the club had stuck he said. Master ogre you have never heard of me before. I am Prince five weapons. When I entered this forest infested by you I took no account of bows and such like weapons. When I entered this forest I took account only of myself. Now I am going to have to beat you and pound you into poverty and dust. Having thus made known his Determination. With a yell he struck the ogre with his right hand and it stuck to the ogre's hair that he struck him with his left hand.

And that stuck and he struck him with his right foot and his left foot. They all stuck thought he I will beat you with my head. I will pound you into powder and dust. And he struck him with his head and that stuck. That's how you get. The future Buddha snared five times. Snared five times. Stuck fast in five places. Dangled from the ogre's body. But for all that he was unafraid undaunted. As for the ogre he thought this is some line of a man. Some man of noble birth. No mere man. For although he has been caught by an ogre like me he appears neither to tremble nor to quake. In all the time I have hurried this road. I have never seen a single man to match him. Why pray? Is he not afraid? And so he says. Why are you not terrified of me ogre? Why should I be afraid? For in one state of existence one death is absolutely certain. What's more I have in my belly a thunderbolt for a weapon. If you eat me you will not be able to digest that weapon. It will tear your insides into tatters and fragments and will kill you. And in that case we'll both perish. That's why I'm not afraid. See? He's saying all this for stock. Homer's version of that is when Odysseus is clinging to the olive tree. And so the whirlpool sucking everything down to the sea's black bottom.

And he's just hanging there. That's that was his version of this situation. Hearing this the ogre thought what this youth says is true. Every word of it from the body of this line of a man my stomach would not be able to digest a fragment of flesh even so small as a kidney bean. I'll let him go. Terrified with the fear of death he let the future of Buddha go saying youth you're a lion of a man. I'll not eat your flesh do you? This moment released from my hand. Even as the moon is released from the jaws of Rahu. Go glide in the circle of your kinsfolks and well wishers. Then said the future Buddha to the ogre. Ogre? I'll go presently. But you. Because in the former state of existence also you wrought evil have to be reborn as an ogre cruel red handed feeding on the flesh and blood of others. If in this state of existence also so long as you live you do evil deeds you will go from darkness to darkness. But from the moment you saw me it has been impossible for you to do evil deeds. Such a crime is taking. The life of living beings means rebirth in hell. In the animal kingdom in the region of the fathers in the world of the fallen deities. Should you be reborn in the world of men you will live. But a short time soon pass away.

In such wise did the future Buddha recite the disadvantages of doing deeds contrary to the precepts and the advantages of keeping the five precepts with one? The five precepts in Sanskrit called Pancasila with one reason after another. He terrified the over preached the doctrine subdued him made him self-denying and after a while the elder agreed. And then the stanza the teacher having related this parable uttered as Supreme Buddha. The following stanza. The man whose heart clings not whose mind clings not who cultivates the exalted states to the attainment of nirvana shall in due course reach the destruction of all minds. So there's a version of that. I think you can recognize many fairy tale motifs that occur out of that. How does this come across to you? Jack has seen his team of interest. Very interesting. I was just reading Joseph Campbell's Hero of a Thousand Faces. Yes. And it was there? Yes. That's right. That's right. Campbell. Very. Put that in. Exactly. In reviewing as we are in a constant sort of a line of development. You know we start with the Rigveda and we've been sort of seesawing between India and China from the Rigveda and the I Ching and moving down through historical time closer and closer to something which we could recognize as beginning to belong to our own civilization. We're getting very close now because we have this interpenetration of several cultures going on and we begin to see reverberations of this already in our own lives.

These kinds of stories. And I'm hoping that with this year long course that by the time we get to the fourth quarter when we take the hidden spiritual tradition of the United States that will be in a position to really see how incredibly fortunate we are that just in the just in the little bit of time that we've been able to really do something it's it's flowered into quite a tradition almost unknown of course in universities but thereafter training cogs and wheels and the enlightened individual is is always uncomfortable. You never quite are able to stuff those people into the envelopes and mail them out. So. The last job is the best job. And it is. The one. Which I think is really the grandest. It was the one that was illustrated most often. And it gives us the notion that after this long incalculable period the Buddha claimed that he had he had been an ordinary person an ordinary citizen in the time of deep sorrow so many eons back and that he was present when David entered into a city and that the radiance of an enlightened one. Seeing this grand joyous display of life fully flung into its transcendent glory so charmed him that he resolved then and there that however long it would take he too would refine himself to that point and that it had taken all the space of time of 24 Buddhas until his incarnation and the very last life before he became the Buddha was this life Vessantara the charitable prince.

The time had come for Fuzati Saki's principal consort to leave the Tushita heaven and on descending to earth she became the mother of the Bodhisattva in his next to the last part Jonathan destroys John Tucker and her rebirth in the world of men. She was still called Fuzati and grew into a most beautiful young girl. At the age of 16 she was wed to Sanjaya King of Sevi and they loved each other dearly. When she became aware that she was carrying the child she had six arms halls built from which she distributed silver daily. As the birth of her child grew eminent. She expressed the wish to visit every part of her husband's capital city. The king granted her request and had a light in shelter made ready to follow her in case she would get burnt. See? Right there. Behind on approaching the VESA or our merchant sector. Her labor began behind the shelter. She gave birth to a son having taken his first breath of air from the commercial quarter. The newborn child was named Vessantara though he possessed none of the avarice of a merchant. For at that time a miracle occurred. The baby spoke to say mother what gift can I make causing the gods in heaven to take notice of this great being? When he was eight years old the boy expressed the desire to be able to give away something of his very own something that had not been given him by another.

Charity. It's one of the parameters. In the. The best thing I ever heard of it. There is a saying Maimonides in the 11th century great Jewish physician that the highest charity is no one knows who gave and no one knows who receives. It's completely anonymous. That's the highest church and that has the flavor of what we're talking about here. This kind of charity or universal church. As a youth Vessantara contented himself giving away readily and frequently the things he had acquired. At 16 his formal studies completed the kingdom was given over to him in a marriage arranged between the king to be and Princess Madai daughter of a neighboring king. The kingdom prospered and their marriage was happy. The son and the daughter Georgina You were born to them. Years before when Vessantara was a baby a young white elephant had been brought to the royal stables. The two princely beings grew up together. The bodhisattva that rides the white elephants name is Samantha Bhadra. Samantabhadra. He presents sila. Morality. The two princely beings grew up together. It was on this white elephant that Vessantara visited his mother's almshouse six times a month to distribute gold. Indeed many of his subjects attributed the prosperity of the kingdom and the benign rains that watered the fields to the virtue of the white elephant. At this time the nearby kingdom of Kalinga was suffering from a prolonged drought all the prayers of its people all the supplications and offerings of its king were to no avail.

Many in the kingdom had heard of the great white elephant and of vessantara his generosity. They suggested that the king send eight Brahmin emissaries to ask Vessantara for the favored creature. The king agreed. When the Brahmins arrived at STV King Vessantara was distributing alms from the elephant. The valuable beast was covered with precious gems and comparison with trappings of great worth. But on hearing the request the king granted it immediately. Pouring water into their hands to indicate the gift. So great was his desire to be charitable. When the gods saw this noble act the earth shook and the skies were filled with thunder and lightning. Nature responds to man. Always. Whatever we do nature does respond to it. The citizens of Vessantara kingdom were so distressed by the loss of the great animal that had brought them prosperity that they forced King Sanjaya to resume control of the kingdom and banish the son to. His parents were heartbroken but the people's fury was so great that he was granted only one day's grace before exile. On that day thus Antara gave away all his possessions 700 of each kind elephants horses chariots maidens and many others. This was known as the gift of the Seven Hundreds. People came from far away each to receive a gift.

Vessantara was still distributing them when night fell. Then with his children and his wife who could not be left behind. He spent his last night taking leave of his parents. The banished family left the city at sunrise in a chariot drawn by four horses. No sooner had the city gates closed behind them. Then they met four Brahmins having arrived too late for the gift of the seven hundreds. The Brahmins now asked for the four horses which were promptly granted them. The gods dispatched four deities in the form of stags to draw the chariot. However shortly thereafter a fifth round appeared asking for the chariot. Vessantara agreed gladly. The stags disappeared and the noble prince and his wife continued on their way by foot. The boy and his father's arms. The girl and the mother's. The journey took them first to Sita. Sita. Sita. A city ruled by Vasundhara's uncle. Where they rested for a day and a night in a hall beside the city gates. For they were unwilling to enter the city although the king had invited them to rule in his stead. And when they left the city the king of Syria accompanied them to the nearby forest leaving them with the woodsman who guided them as far as the river. They were arrested and given food. Then they set out alone into the hills of the Himalayas skirting around the shores to the great Mucalinda Lake. And at length they reached the mountains.

A narrow path took them through the forest to the foot of Mount Bakka. Sakka the king of the gods anticipating their arrival had ordered his architect Viswakarma to construct two hermitages beside a lotus pond. Vessantara went ahead and entering one of the buildings alone he found four sets of ascetic's robes neatly folded and knew that Sakka Saka was observing him. He dressed took the vows of the ascetic then went out to greet his wife Maddie. She and the children followed his example. They lived in separate huts by the pond for seven months eating the roots and jungle fruits which Maddie collected each day. And although Maddie looked for her husband they never so much as touched each other for both had sworn chastity. Meanwhile in Kalinga the drought had broken with the arrival of the white elephant. In a village there lived a poor Brahmin Jujaka by name who had a beautiful young wife. When she went to the world for water she was frequently reviled and teased by the village women for caring so well for her for her old and ugly husband. At last she refused to go to the well any longer. She insisted that Jujaka find her some servants in order to spare her ridicule. Having heard of Vasundhara's fabled generosity she suggested that Jujaka seek him out and ask for his two children to serve her. As Jujaka was penniless and unable to buy helpers. He went out to find Vessantara while passing through the forest near Seeta.

He was attacked by watch dogs kept there by the king to prevent people from seeking out Vessantara. By saying that he had been sent by King Sanjaya to bring Vessantara back. Jujaka was able to trick the dogs keeper. These are like the hounds that guard the gate to hell. Serves the same thing you see. Exile. Asceticism. The Otherworld. The netherworld. Huntsman into letting him pass. He retreated the same. He repeated the same story to a forest hermit who reluctantly directed him to Vasundhara's hermitage. Jujaka waited until Madi had departed into the forest the next morning before he approached the hermitage. As soon as Vessantara caught sight of the old man he was overjoyed for he knew that at last he had an opportunity to make. A supreme gift to the notion is to give not to have but to get different. As Jujaka made his unusual request Vessantara agreed to give away his two beloved children. When the children overheard their exchange of words they ran away to hide under the broad leaves of the lotus plants in the pond. Soon their father found them and called them back presented them to Jujaka by pouring water over his outstretched hands. The gods were disturbed. The earth quaked and there was a great tone to the heavens. The Brahmin bound the children's hands with the jungle creeper whipping them on their way. Tears streamed from fastened to his eyes and he went into his hut weeping.

When he realized that the cause of his grief was his affection for his children he set his mind on non-attachment and soon regained the calm of an ascetic. As Jujaka drove the wailing children through the forest the gods thought what anguish he would suffer if she should see them. Thus three of the deities took the form of a lion a tiger and a leopard that blocked the path of Bodhi thus preventing her return to the hermitage until after night had fallen. Thus Antar could not bring himself to tell her what had become of the joint. The distraught mother searched for them until dawn. When morning came she returned to her hut and collapsed in a faint. Vessantara was in great distress. Remember this is the Buddha's last life he said. But he signed for. Breaking his aesthetics. Vows. Breaking his aesthetics. Vows. He's waited eight hours a. Day he breaks. Breaking his vows. He raised his wife up and rubbed her face and bosom with water to revive her. When she was restored he told her as his gift for children. Understanding his desire to give away all he possessed she did not protest. Instead she rejoiced in his opportunity to make a supreme gift in his effort to achieve omniscience. And of course it goes on. But one can see already what the guest was. Getting away one chance in all time and eternity. For one's own enlightenment for the comfort of another.

So the jacket stories are just great. And the last one of course just sort of the wonderful ultimate. Gift I guess we could say. Well I think that I would like you to exchange a few words with each other Not to stress and anticlimactic thing but there needs to be a little bit of an interchange. Just some of your comments. Letting it reverberate. Let's call it an evening. Maybe next week is the Bhagavad Gita and I'll try and give maybe ten minutes or so after the end of the Bhagavad Gita. I think I can do that to give you a chance to sort of interchange a little bit. These are not simply intellectual endeavors as all of you know and they're not simply presented to be flatly educational. They grow. Each one of these subjects in these lectures are responsible for raising entire civilizations and they still have their charm and excellence for us. And I think it's valuable that you have a chance to hear just even a few words from each other in connection with them. The way I was taught is that you leave these things glorious as they are behind more and more and tune yourselves to each other more. That's the way of education. So that finally on some day it doesn't matter whether the teacher shows up or not you have your own feet. That's that's the way time honored truth. Well it's filtered into the Los Angeles that populate the freeways.