About Jatakas with the Ascetic Hero (based on “Jātakamālā”)

Abstract

Introduction. The tradition of hermitage dates back to the shramanas — wandering monks of Ancient India. The main example of a hermit who left worldly life in the palace and became a wandering ascetic in Buddhism is the image of Buddha Shakyamuni. The article examines eight examples of jātakas from the collection “Jātakamālā” (Tib. skyes pa’i rabs kyi rgyud ‘Garland of Jatakas’) by Arya Sura (IV century), associated with the image of a hermit. In these stories, hermitage is associated with asceticism, virtue, and active spiritual practice. A number of Jātakas from the Pali corpus are devoted to the description of the virtue of the Sramanas and ascetics; references to the hermit are found in stories from the Panchatantra collection and in other collections. The goals of the study is a textual and literary analysis of the image of the hermit presented in eight stories from the Jātakamālā; consideration of the presented types of solitude, its meaning and significance in the construction of stories. Results. In the considered Jātakas there was a description of physical, status, psychological, Mahayana types of solitude. An analysis of the image of a hermit from eight stories showed that the desire for physical solitude is part of spiritual practice and corresponds to the image of a bodhisattva in the Mahayana tradition. The author reduces the actions of the hermit hero to following the basic instructions presented in the opening and closing phrases of each Jātaka.

Keywords

• tibetology
• source studies
• stories about previous lives of buddha
• jātakamālā
• ārya śūra
• image of ascetic