Self‐Sacrifice of the Bodhisatta in the Paññāsa Jātaka

Abstract

Abstract Although Buddhist traditions do not promote martyrdom, giving one's body as a gift is an ideal found in many Buddhist narratives. This article studies the gift of limbs and body of the bodhisatta in the Paññāsa Jātaka, a collection of 61 non‐canonical jātakas, in comparison with such gifts in the Jātaka‐aṭṭhakathā. Since these two collections of stories are immensely popular in Southeast Asia, with dozens of ‘complete’ and incomplete manuscript recensions found through out the region, we will see clearly that self‐sacrifice was not a rouge or esoteric practice, but a sign of virtue. In the Pāli canon, the gift of the body is not found in the suttas of the first four nikāyas where the discourse of meritorious gift giving is elaborated. Also, in the Vinaya it is discouraged by the Buddha. In the early commentaries like the Jātaka‐aṭṭhakathā, self‐sacrifice is found only in seven jātakas of 547 (1.28%), whereas in the Paññāsa Jātaka the self‐sacrifice is found in 14 stories from 61 jātakas (22.95%). The bodhisatta in the Paññāsa Jātaka sacrifices his body or parts of his body in order to save others’ lives and sacrifices it to Sakka who comes to test him like in the Jātaka‐aṭṭhakathā. However, some plotlines and details are found only in the Paññāsa Jātaka. This significant difference reveals a particular Southeast Asian value in the bodhisatta practice of self‐sacrifice and devotion to parents and the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Saṅgha.

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