༄༅། །སྟག་མོ་ལུས་སྦྱིན་གྱི་སྐྱེས་རབས། སློབ་དཔོན་ལྷ་རྩེ་མཁས་བཙུན་ལགས། The Tale of the Hungry Tigress

Описание: THE HUNGRY TIGRESS

--Jatakamala or Garland of Birth Stories of Aryasuraanslated

In a past time the Bodhisattva took his birth in a most eminent and mighty family of Brahmans. With his quick understanding and eagerness for learning, he became a master of knowledge, but wealth and fame gave him no delight. Instead, he renounced the world and retired to a mountain in the wilderness.

His calm and friendly nature influenced the animals of that place, so that they too ceased to injure one another. Even the gods revered him. People who heard of his virtues left their families and joined him as his disciples. He taught his disciples detachment from the world and the yoga of meditation.

The Tiger in the Ravine

It once happened that the Bodhisattva was rambling along the cliffs and caverns of the mountain in the places where he practiced yoga, accompanied by Ajita, one of his disciples.

Now, down below in a deep ravine, he beheld a young tigress who could scarcely move, her strength being exhausted by the labour of giving birth to cubs. Her sunken eyes and her emaciated belly showed her hunger, and she was regarding her own offspring as food. The cubs, meanwhile, thirsty for milk, had come near her, trusting their mother and being fearless, but she roared at them savagely, as if she did not know them.

On seeing her, the Bodhisattva, although he was composed in mind, was shaken with compassion for the suffering of his fellow-creature, much as Mount Meru might be shaken by an earthquake. His powerful pity caused him to speak these words to his disciple:

"Behold the worthlessness of Samsara! This animal seeks to feed on her own offspring, with hunger prompting her to transgress love's law. Go quickly and look about for some means of appeasing her hunger so that she may not injure her young ones and herself."

The disciple promised to do so, and he went off in search of food.

The Bodhisattva's Plan

This mission, however, was only a pretext. As soon as his disciple was gone, the Bodhisattva spoke his thoughts aloud:

"Why should I search for meat from the body of another while my own body is available? This body is a constant source of suffering, and the wise man rejoices at expending his body for the benefit of another. Therefore, I will cast myself down into the precipice, and with my body I will save the tigress from killing her young ones and likewise save the young ones from being devoured by their mother. In this way I will defy the world's selfishness and egotism, and I will astound those who sneer at acts of charity. I have the power of to take away sorrow and to impart happiness just as the sun takes away darkness and imparts light!"

Delighted at the thought that he was to give up his life for the benefit of others, he cast himself off the precipice and down into the ravine.

The sound of the Bodhisattva's body falling down stirred the curiosity and the anger of the tigress. She set aside her plan to eat her cubs and looked around to see what had caused the sound. As soon as she saw the lifeless body of the Bodhisattva, she rushed to devour it.

Ajita Returns

Meanwhile, when Ajita returned, not having been able to find any meat for the tiger, he looked around for his teacher. And then, glancing down into the ravine, he beheld that young tigress feeding on the lifeless body of the Bodhisattva. Although he felt sorrow and pain at the loss of his teacher, he admired the greatness of his deed, and spoke these words:

"Oh, what immense mercy is this! What fearless and heroic love! He is indeed the Bodhisattva, a refuge for all creatures."

Ajita then told the other disciples what had happened. Then, together with all the Gandharvas, Yakshas, Nagas, and Devas, they venerated the place where the Bodhisattva's bones rested, covering the ground with garlands of flowers and precious jewels.