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The Jataka tales [English], Volume 1-6
by Robert Chalmers | 1895 | 877,505 words | ISBN-13: 9788120807259
This is the Saketa-jataka (English translation) including a glossary and notes. The jatakas (buddhist birth history) are a category of literature within buddhism and narrate the previous births of the historical Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama). They include various obstacles which a Buddha-character encounters and must overcome. Alternative title: Sāketa-jātaka.
Jataka 237: Sāketa-jātaka
"Why are hearts cold," etc.—This story the Master told during a stay near Sāketa, about a brahmin named Sāketa. Both the circumstances that suggested the story and the story itself have already been given in the First Book[1].
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[235]...And when the Tathāgata had gone to the monastery, the Brother asked, "How, Sir, did the love begin? "and repeated the first stanza:—
Why are hearts cold to one--O Buddha, tell!--
And love another so exceeding well?"
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The Master explained the nature of love by the second stanza:
"Those love they who in other lives were dear,
As sure as grows the lotus in the mere."
After this discourse was ended, the Master identified the Birth:—"These two people were the brahmin and his wife in the story; and I was their son."
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
No. 68.