Yes, you did. Now I understand your perspective on this. Thank you very much.yawares wrote:I hope I answer all your questions,
yawares
I'm not sure about this. It is true that the Jatakas are difficult to understand in isolation but when one looks at them in the greater context of the other stories and of the Buddha's last life as well they are clearer to understand.yawares wrote:Dear Perkele, to appreciate and love the Buddha without doubt in your heart you have to read all jataka/dhammapada/sutta stories.
Many people, probably much more in the West as in traditional Buddhist countries like Thailand, are very skeptical of the Jatakas. Many don't believe they are all completely made up. I am also skeptical. But I have read a lot of Jatakas, because I wanted to understand what is the meaning of these stories.
But what is this meaning? For me there are two general possibilities which may both be mixed with each other.
1) In so far as they tell the truth then that is their meaning. Then there does not even have to be much dramaturgic effect or anything to be suspicious of. Then this is just the truth of the past as the Buddha remembered, and the lesson to be drawn comes directly from the truth, unpalliated and pure.
2) In so far as they do not tell the truth someone has made them up. If they are all made up that would be a big-time fraud, putting words into the Buddha's mouth telling strange stories. In that case that person could not have had much regard or much understanding for right and wrong, not much intelligence or not much sincerity in his faith in the Buddha's teaching, and that would clearly show in one place or another. However I don't see any of this.
What I find most interesting is that in the Jatakas there is not such a clear-cut, solidified morality as in the Dhamma later taught by the Buddha, but also nothing that clearly flies in the face of it. There are ambiguities and difficulties and the Bodhisatta comes off as a stranger in a strange world, with no real home and no real identity, but always with a goal. By that I mean the stories are not as perfect as the Dhamma in making so convincingly clear what is right and wrong, which would also be in line with the fact that the Bodhisatta is not a Buddha yet, he is not perfect. And one really sees the point of the stories better or maybe even at all when read in the context of the occasion where the Buddha supposedly told the story. It would be hard to make such things up if only having the intention to put the Dhamma into a story. So that's why I find it hard to imagine how anyone could make all these stories up.
But with all that said, for skeptical people like me it might be better to concentrate on the Dhamma that the Buddha taught after his enlightenment, which is clear and unambiguous. Maybe the greatest benefit that I derive from the Jatakas is to see the horror that comes from identifying with any story character in samsara. [/quote]
Dear Perkele,
It's Up To You: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Alf4PpcoqQ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
My favorite song,
yawares