Tibetan Tales, Derived from Indian Sources

I. King Māndhātar 1 II. Kuśa Jātaka 21 III. Ādarśamukha 29 IV. The Clever Thief 37 V. Sudhana Avadāna 44 VI. Prince Jīvaka 75 VII. Viśākhā 110 VIII. Mahaushadha and Viśākhā 128...

Speaking of Csoma Körösi’s literary life at Calcutta, M. Pavie says, in the article which has already been cited, “These labours occupied his time for the space of nine years. H...

It happened that the chief of a tribe of Tsongols possessed a copy of a part of the Kah-gyur, and this he gave to the appreciative stranger, who rose still higher in the opinion...

As they deal with the subject of wise judgment, the seventh and eighth stories may be spoken of next. One of them describes the cleverness of a girl, the other that of a lad. Ea...

In No. 10, also, we are taken away from the region of folk-tales, but this time into that of such literary fictions as form a part of the “Thousand and One Nights.” It, also, is...

The young Māndhātar passed through a space of six Śakra-evanescences [61] during his boyhood, and an equal length of time after he was appointed crown prince. Once, while Prince...

Sudarśana, the city of the thirty-three gods, was 2500 yojanas in length and as many in breadth, and its circumference was 10,000 yojanas. It was surrounded by seven rows of gol...

When the youth Kuśa was going to enter into his house, the doorkeeper kept him back, saying, “Do not intrude here, for this is the house of the youth Kuśa.” “I am Kuśa,” he repl...

With this idea in view he caused an enclosure to be made, and, after some little time had elapsed, he ordered his ministers to make public through the realm a proclamation to th...

No sooner had the youth set eyes on her than he was suddenly enchained by the bonds of passion—passion which, like the pure and spotless moon reflected in water, is, on account...

After this fashion, with troubled mind, he at length arrived at the hermitage of the Rishi. And when he had meekly paid reverence to the Rishi, he said, “O thou who art exalted...

Thereupon Gopāla informed his brother Sim̃ha that King Bimbisāra’s chief wife was dead, and that he ought to send his daughter Upavāsavī, as she would in that case become the ki...

In the course of time Jīvaka arrived at Takshaśilā, and Pushkarasārin, after reading the letter, handed him over to Ātreya, to whom he gave orders to instruct in the healing art...

“If on the fourteenth day of the waxing moon,” replied Jīvaka, “a fair-haired man dies and is burnt at the cemetery; and if at that time an ichneumon and a lizard are fighting w...

After taking counsel with her husband, who agreed with her in the matter, she said to the wife, “O sister, I give you my son; take him.” The wife thought, “As she who has a son...

Thereupon the rogue said with a smile, “O foolish woman, are you not ashamed to say in the presence of your friends or any other decorous person that this man is your husband? H...

As soon as Mahaushadha heard these things, he sent for Mahākarṇa, asked him if it was a Brahman’s business to lay hands on the property of others, and ordered him to restore wha...

“Men have come from the court of the king,” she replied, “with orders to seize the malefactor, and have gone away. Therefore do I look for him who has not gone.”

After a time the king ordered the dogs to be brought, whether instructed or not instructed. The other ministers, who were not versed in the sciences, had not been able to teach...

The god replied in displeasure, “O Mahābrahma, release me from this obligation. Wherefore this stress? Brahmans are addicted to perverse doctrines. He who wishes to come into ex...

At that time there lived in Rāajagṛiha the Nirgrantha Pūraṇa, who asserted that he knew all that is unknown, and who was surrounded by many Nirgranthas [123] and Nirgrantha stud...

A rich householder of Vārāṇasī named Gautama, who travelled with goods to Takshaśilā, contracted a friendship there with another householder, and the two men made an agreement t...

When the mother returned and found the cave empty she sat down and wept. Her friends consoled her, saying that, as her son was a man, he would not be in distress among men. The...

Nanda asked, “What do you want it for?” The actor replied, “Venerable sir, I wish to compose a drama.” Nanda said, “Wretched man, do you wish us to portray the Teacher for you?...

It came to pass that his wife conceived, and, after a space of eight or nine months, gave birth to a fine, well-formed, handsome boy, whose complexion was the colour of gold, hi...

After gratifying the Bodisat with these words, the King of the Gods, Śakra, said to himself: “As this man, when alone and without support, might be driven into a corner, I will...

Then the king ordered proclamation to be made in the different lands and cities that his daughter was going to choose herself a husband. He also gave orders that his own city sh...

A merchant had a wife with whom four of the city stipendiaries and their superior officer fell in love, and they all sent go-betweens to her. She listened to what they said, and...

But the wolf said, “Which way then did you come, seeing that my tail spreads all over the four parts of the world, together with the ocean and the hill-villages?”

Now although both of them were in the habit of acting in this way, according to their natures, they had never taken any notice of that. But one day the lion, the king of beasts,...

As Bodisats have dreams which are full of significance, the august being said to the chief of the other band of monkeys, “As I have dreamed such a dream, it is to be hoped that...

[29] For special information about Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism the following works may be consulted:—Emil Schlagintweit’s “Buddhism in Tibet,” London, 1863; C. F. Köppen’s “Die R...

[163] Kah-gyur, iii. ff. 189–193. Here we have the Tittira Jātaka, which is also printed in Fausböll’s Jātaka (London, 1875), p. 218. [See “Buddhist Birth Stories” Translated by...