Stories

“Being raised in a devout Mormon household, I was regaled with the tales from the Bible and Book of Mormon on a daily basis. These stories weren’t just a part of my religious education; they were my religious education. I still remember hearing about Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt and reading the stories of Lehi leading his family into the wilderness, Nephi building a boat to cross the sea to a promised land, and the brother of Jared convincing the Lord to touch stones to provide light for their journey. These stories fascinated me. They still do. I heard them at church on Sunday, at home from my parents, and I read them myself daily. They informed every decision I made and the goals and dreams I set for myself. They created me, my identity, my values, my world, and I can no more be separated from the influence these stories have on the way I think about and understand the world than I can be separated from the air I breathe and the water I drink to sustain my life.

These stories weren’t just entertainment, though they certainly filled that function on numerous occasions. They were also didactic. The stories provided a means of assurance, escape, catharsis, and support. The reading and re-reading of these stories created my view of the world around me so that everything fit together according to the proper narrative. They provided a sense of identity, a sense of belonging and community. I could count on them to tell me how I should act and think, and the values I should hold. Not only that, but it also felt safe and secure knowing that my parents, siblings and those that were around me knew the same stories too, and often talked about them and used them in their daily discussions. I belonged, in part, because I knew the same stories as everyone else.

As I continued to grow my interest in stories and reading grew with me. I began to turn my attention to the many Asian books and art that filled my home, collected during my father’s time serving in Japan for the U.S. military. I was intrigued with the exotic writing and the foreign images that were so different from what I was familiar with. By the time I entered college I was determined to learn more about the stories and literature of Asia. I began to study Chinese, and then entered graduate school and began a diligent study of Sanskrit, eventually entering a doctoral program to study Buddhism. As I began to read Buddhist literature from China and India there was one genre that I turned back to again and again: the jātaka and avadāna narratives that recounted the previous births of the Buddha and his disciples. I can imagine these stories having the same influence on a Buddhist as the stories from my religious tradition had on me. This is why I have chosen to study Buddhist avadāna literature…”

~ Tyson Joseph Yost, Doctoral Disertation Cornell 2013

“Formerly, in north India, there was a master carpenter who very skillfully created a woman out of wood whose beauty was without equal and when adorned with clothing looked no different from a real woman. Coming and going she was able to serve drinks and look after guests except she was unable to speak. Now, at this time in south India there was a master artist who was greatly skilled in painting. The master carpenter, hearing of him, prepared a delicious feast and invited the master artist for a visit. After the artist arrived, he then had the wooden girl serve drinks and provide food from dawn till dusk. The artist, unknowingly assuming it to be a real girl, greatly desired her and couldn’t get her out of his thoughts. Then with the setting sun the carpenter turned in for the evening and requested that the artist might stay for the night. He placed the wooden girl at his side to attend him then said to his guest, “I deliberately left the girl so that you could spend the night together.” After the host left, the wooden girl stood at the edge of the lamp light. The guest called to her yet she did not come closer. The guest thought the girl didn’t come because she was shy, so he drew closer and pulled her by the hand and then, finally, realized it was wooden.

Now, being humiliated, he thought to himself, “My host has deceived me. I should repay the favor.” Thereupon the artist employed a stratagem. He painted his own image upon the wall which was exact in appearance and dress and with a rope tied around his neck to appear as if he had hung himself. He painted a fly and bird perched on him pecking at his mouth. After finishing he closed the door and hid under the bed. At dawn the host arose, he noticed the door was still unopened then he peered inside and only saw the image of his dead guest hanging on the wall. The host, terrified, thought he was really dead. He then broke down the door and entered to cut the rope with a knife. At this the artist came out from under the bed. The carpenter was greatly ashamed.

Then the painter said, “You were able to deceive me, and I was able to deceive you.” The passions of the guest and host disappeared and no longer burdened them. The two men said one to the other, “People of the world deceive each other, what else is there than this?” Then both men, producing faith and understanding deception, each abandoned all they held dear, left the householder life and cultivated the Dharma.”

“The story of the nun Subhā who is followed into the forest by a young man who is enamored with her beauty and attempts to convince her to come live with him. Subhā refutes his advances by giving a sermon on the foulness of the body and the ignorance of our true nature. Within her discussion she makes two references that seem to allude to the imagery we find in the narrative of Deceptive Appearances. She states:

‘For I’ve seen lovely wooden figurines, puppets, put together with cords and pegs, being made to dance about. When these cords and pegs are taken away, tossed aside, defaced, scattered, not to be found, broken into fragments, what will you set your mind and heart on there? Just so these puny bodies do not exist without these things; since they don’t exist without these things, what will you set your mind and heart on there? Not as I have looked upon a little picture plastered on the wall with yellow pigment, not so have you looked upon this body; mere human judgment is worthless.’

The story concludes when Subhā pulls out her own eye and offers it to the young man in an attempt to both show the foulness of the human body and to cure him of his desire for her.”

“Jyotiṣka is hosting a group of non-Buddhist ascetics, the very ascetics who attempted to deceive his father which led to the death of his mother and his own miraculous birth from her funeral pyre. As these ascetics enter his house and sit down to eat their meal they all laugh and smile, claiming to have just seen a monkey fall into a river from 500 miles away. Jyotiṣka, seeing through their deception, tricks them by presenting them with delicious food underneath a layer of rice while all the other guests are presented with their food placed on top of the rice. The ascetics are insulted that they are given nothing but plain rice while the other guests are presented with the best food. As they get up to leave Jyotiṣka further provokes them by asking how it was possible that they could see a monkey fall into the water from 500 miles away yet fail to notice the delicious meal hidden underneath a layer of rice? The ascetics leave, recognizing Jyotiṣka as a devoted disciple of the Buddha, and immediately begin to plan their revenge.”

“Formerly, at Queli Temple there was a venerable, old monk who had obtained Arhatship. Having taken up a young novice, he went down to the city on alms rounds. His robe and begging bowl were very heavy, so he had the novice to carry them and follow behind him. While walking along the road the novice thought, “human existence is nothing but suffering; if I desire to avoid this suffering then what path should I join? He then thought, “the Buddha always praises the bodhisattva as superior. Today, I should generate bodhicitta.” As soon as he had this thought, his master, by means of a supernatural ability to read others minds, understood his thoughts.

The master addressed the novice saying, “Bring the robe and begging bowl here.” The novice carried the robe and bowl and offered them to his teacher. The master then told him, “Walk ahead of me.” The novice moved to walk ahead and began to think again, “The bodhisattva path involves extreme effort and difficulty. If someone demands your head you give them your head, if they demand an eye then you give them an eye. These things are extremely difficult; it is not something I can do. It is not like the quick attainment of the Arhat who speedily obtains escape from suffering.”

The master again knew his thoughts and spoke to the novice, “Carry my bowl and robe again and follow behind me.” This happened three times. The novice was confused and surprised, not knowing what it meant. Advancing to their stop, he folded his hands [in reverence] and asked his master to please explain the meaning of it. His teacher responded, “Because you set out on the bodhisattva path three times, I accordingly placed you before me three times. Because you slid back from that aspiration three times I placed you behind me.” Why? Because the merit for aspiring to be a bodhisattva is superior to a trichiliocosm full of accomplished arhats.”

“A story of two brothers who are both monks. The eldest chooses to spend his time in meditation without exhibiting generosity; the younger brother exhibits great generosity but spends no time in meditation. In his next birth the meditative elder brother is reborn as a human who again becomes a monk, but suffers hunger and starvation due to his lack of generosity in his previous life. The younger brother, on the other hand, is reborn as a royal elephant who is given every care and consideration by his handlers, yet suffers the consequences of a lower rebirth despite the comfort that he enjoys. The narrative concludes with the remark that both brothers are responsible for their plight due to their over-emphasis of one virtue at the expense of the other.”

“A story describing the debate between the head and tail of a snake. The head claims precedence because it can see, hear, and eat and when the snake moves the head goes first. The tail objects by stating that without it the snake would never be able to move and thus render the skills of the head irrelevant. To prove its point the tail ties itself to a tree and refuses to move until it is near death and the head finally agrees that the tail can take precedence and go first. Slithering backwards, the snake immediately falls into a fire pit and dies. The comparison is made between a superior and inferior monk. If the superior senior monk cannot take control and lead the mediocre monks then they both fall into violations of the precepts and perish together.”

“A monk who kisses the beautiful wife of a householder who is donating alms to him in the attempt to show the householder the dangers of desire and attachment even though it brings the monk physical harm and is a violation of the rule forbidding interactions between monks and women. The point of the story as expressed in the final line is that monks who truly understand the needs of their donors and patrons will do whatever is necessary—even to the point of violating the precepts—to instruct them in the true Dharma.”

“In a previous birth Mañjuśrī was a monk dedicated to austerities and well-practiced in the twelve dhūtaguṇas. At this time Mañjuśrī happened upon a bodhisattva who was teaching the doctrine of emptiness and the impermanence of all things, and refused to believe the teaching to the point of disputation and anger. Mañjuśrī was immediately swallowed up into hell because of his lack of faith. Upon his release from hell after many eons, Mañjuśrī realized that lack of faith brings significant karmic consequences and he dedicates himself to learning and gaining great wisdom. The narrative ends with the concluding statement: “This avadāna shows us that when the Buddha teaches wisdom to those who lack faith and denigrate it, even though at present there is a negative consequence, afterwards there is a great advantage.”

“A rich householder seeks aid from a tree spirit to help his wife conceive a son. Through various interventions by the gods a Brahmadeva consents to be born as their son and is promised to be protected from falling into the false traditions of the Brahmins. After a soothsayer tells the parents their son will follow the religious path, they seek to find him a beautiful wife. He says he will only marry a specific kind of beauty as a means of avoiding the marriage. But the parents send out priests who contrive a plan to find the specific kind of girl. Upon their success through a ‘stratagem’ a girl is found and forced to marry him. Neither want to be married and enter a pact to avoid sexual relations, but through intervention of the father they are eventually forced to stay in the same room.

The husband, attempting to save the girl from a poisonous snake raises her arm while she is asleep and then both decide that it is best to become ascetics rather than remain in their current situation. While in the forest they are mocked for remaining together so the husband sells the wife and leaves. He eventually meets the Buddha and becomes an arhat. The wife is a slave but gets saved by her former husband who takes her to the Buddha where she becomes a nun. She enters the palace and teaches the king’s wives, convincing them to partake in a day of abstinence. This angers the king who requires the nun to stand in their place for ninety days (presumably to take their place during the sex act) as punishment and as a result of karma from a previous life.”

“On his way to beg for alms the Buddha sees a sow waddling in the sewage of the city and laughs. Ananda asks why the Buddha is laughing and the Buddha recounts a tale of a king who had a very beautiful daughter many kalpas ago. The girl spoke a verse about the ends and escape from Karma, but no one was able to provide her an answer. However, when the king offered a prize of jewels to one who could answer his daughter’s question a greedy Brahmin stepped up and, not knowing the answer, stated that ‘nothing exists.’ The girl, not realizing he was not really a sage, meditates on this answer and achieves the state of a Deva in the next life. However, because it was based upon a false understanding she used up her good karma as a Deva and was reborn as a pig wallowing in the mire. Thus, the girl could have attained wisdom if she had met an enlightened master but was instead unable to do so and ended up a pig.”

“An evil rain falls on the kingdom and makes all who drink the water act crazy drunk for seven days. The king is able to determine that this is due to an evil cloud and takes precautions by covering a well so that it will not be contaminated. However all but the king still are contaminated and begin acting crazy by stripping naked and covering their heads with mud. Only the king remains normal. At this the court begins to believe that they are acting normal and the king himself is crazy and begin to plot a way to stop it. Seeing the danger the king decides to act crazy himself to fit in. After the madness passes everyone at court begins acting normal again except for the king who comes to court naked. When everyone acts surprised the king explains that when he was normal everyone said he was crazy and when everyone says they are normal they say the king is crazy. This is likened to the Buddha who is criticized and called crazy when he teaches the dharma.”

~ AVADĀNA NARRATIVES