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Buddhist Smpm: za. THE BODHISATTVA AND THE HUNGRY TIGRESS The Buddha told the following story to Amnda: 'Once upon a time, in the remote past, there lived a king, Maharatha by name. He was rich in gold, grain, and chariots, and his power, strength, and courage were irresistible. He had three sons who were like young gods to look at. They were named Maha- pranada, Mahadeva, and Mahasattva. One day the king went for relaxation into a park. The princes, delighted with the beauties of the park and the owers which could be seen everywhere, walked about here and there until they came to a large thicket of bamboos. There they dismissed their servants, in order to rest for a while. But Mahapranada said to his two brothers: 'I feel rather afraid here. There might easily be some wild beasts about, and they might do us harm." Mahadeva replied: 'I also feel ill at ease. 24 Tbs Buddha's Previous Lives Though it is not my body I fear for. It is the thought of separation from those I love which terries me.' Finally, Mahasattva said: 'No fear feel I, nor any sorrow either, In this wide, lonesome wood, so dear to Sages. My heart is lled with bursting ioy, For soon I'll win the highest boon.' As the princes strolled about in the solitary thicket they saw a tigress, surrounded by ve cubs, seven days old. Hunger and thirst had exhausted the tigress, and her body was quite weak. On seeing her, Mahapranada called out: 'The poor animal suffers from having given birth to the seven cubs only a week ago! If she nds nothing to eat, she will either eat her own young, or die from hungerl' Mahasattva replied: 'How can this poor exhausted creature nd food It\" Mahapranada said: "Tigers live on fresh meat and warm blood.' Mahadeva said: 'She is quite exhausted, overcome by hunger and thirst, scarcely alive and very weak. In this state she cannot possibly catch any prey. And who would sacrice himself to preserve her life?' Mahapranada said: 'Yes, selfsacrice is so difcult!' Mahasattva replied: 'It is difficult for people like us, who are so fond of our lives and bodies, and who have so little intelli- genre. It is not at all difcult, however, for others, who are true men, intent on beneting their fellow-creatures, and who long to sacrice themselves. Holy men are born of pity and compassion. Whatever the bodies they may get, in heaven or on earth, a hundred times will they undo them, joyful in their hearts, so that the lives of others may be saved.' Greatly agitated, the three brothers mrefully watched the tigress for some time, and then went towards her. But Maha- sattva thought to himself: 'Now the time has come for me to sacrice myself 1 For a long time I have served this putrid body and given it beds and clothes, food and drink, and convey- ances of all kinds. Yet it is doomed to perish and fall down, and in the end it will break up and be destroyed. How much better to leave this ungrateful body of one's own accord in good time! It cannot subsist for ever, because it is like urine as Witt 50':hW which must come out. Today I will use it for a sublime deed. Then it will act for me as a boat which helps me to cross the ocean of birth and death. When I have renounced this futile body, a mere ulcer, tied to countless becomings, burdened with urine and excrement, unsubstantial like foam, full of hundreds of parasites - then I shall win the perfectly pure Dharrna-body, endowed with hundreds of virtues, full of such qualities as trance and wisdom, immaculate, free from all Substrata, changeless and without sorrow.' So, his heart lled with boundless compassion, Mahasattva asked his brothers to leave him alone for a while, went to the lair of the tigress, hung his cloak on a bamboo, and made the following vow: 'For the weal of the world I wish to win enlightenment, incomparably wonderful. From deep compassion I now give away my body, so hard to quit, unshaken in my mind. That enlightenment I shall now gain, in which nothing hurts and nothing harms, and which the Jina's sons have praised. Thus shall I cross to the Beyond of the fearful ocean of becoming which lls the triple worldl' The friendly prince then threw himself down in front of the tigress. But she did nothing to him. The Bodhisattva noticed that she was too weak to move. As a merciful man he had taken no sword with him. He therefore cut his throat with a sharp piece of bamboo, and fell down near the tigress. She noticed the Bodhisattva's body all covered with blood, and in no time ate up all the esh and blood, leaving only the bones. 'It was I, Ananda, who at that time and on that occasion was that prince Mahasattva