Part 8 - Introduction to the Paññāsa Jātaka (apocryphal)

The History of the word Jātaka may come from Buddhism; moreover, Jātaka stories have their origin in legends. Most of the Jātaka stories are found in the Buddhist Canon. The didactic power of the Jātakas has influenced many countries‘literature and art. For instance, it has influenced Sinhalese literature, South-East-Asian literature like Cambodian, Thai, Burmese, Laotian and so on. The last ten stories^[1] of canonical Jātaka are popular in all Buddhist countries. They are also painted on temple murals. In South-East-Asia, there is another collection of Jātakas named Paññāsa Jātaka.^[2] This is a relatively late collection of fifty Jātaka. It is considered to be “apocryphal”, i.e. extra-canonical Buddhist literature. The character of each story in the Paññāsa Jātaka can be used as an example of Buddhists to follow. They demonstrate how to do good kammas, ethics, gain happiness or how to reach one’s goals in the future. Furthermore, since the Jātakas relate the bad consequence for the villain of the story, they can also teach human beings to be afraid of doing unwholesome deeds and being ashamed of doing other evil deeds or vices. 

On the other hand, the Paññāsa Jātaka is considered as advice to laymen.

‘The Paññāsa Jātaka is indeed an excellent medium for imparting Buddhist values to the lay folk who listen to sermons in the temple of the Theravāda Buddhist of countries of South-East-Asia’.^[3]  

It exhorts them to follow the five precepts. 

‘In addition, the behaviour of the characters illustrated in the Paññāsa Jātaka, reflects the situation in society or in Saṃsāra. It shows the relationship between an individual’s action and its effect on others and on society in general. These stories depicted how to live an ethical life without causing harm to other. There is some confusion about the authorship of the Paññāsa Jātaka. In spite of that some scholars said it was composed by novice monk Chaiang Mai (1457–1657 C.E.).’^[4]

List of Paññāsa Jātaka—^[5]

Title	Location	Occasion
1. Samuddaghosa	Jetavana	Nang Yasodharā
2. Sudhanu	Jetavana	Victory over Māra
3. Sudhana	Jetavana	A monk who wants to disrobe
4. Sirasākummāra	Veḷuvana	Devadatta
5. Sumbhamitta	Jetavana	Devadatta
6. Suvaṇṇasaṅkha	Jetavana	Devadatta
7. Candaghāta	Nigrodhârāma	Repaying one‘s father and mother
8. Kuruṅgamigga	Jetavana	Devadatta
9. Setapaṇḍita	Nigrodhārāma	Perfections of giving and virtue (dānasīlapāramī)
10. Tulakapaṇḍita	Jetavana	Sacrifice of one‘s life (jīvitadāna)
11. Magha	___	___
12. Ariṭṭha	Jetavana	Ariṭṭhakumāra
13. Ratanapajjota	Jetavana	A monk who takes care of his mother
14. Soṇananda	Jetavana	Kiñcâmāṇavikā
15. Bārāṇasīrāja	Jetavana	Perfection of giving (dānapāramī)
16. Dhammadhajja	Veḷuvana	Devadatta
17. Dukamma	Jetavana	Testing the teachings of one‘s father
18. Sabbasiddhi	Jetavana	The state of a miraculous person
19. Paññābala	Palace of Yasodharā	Yasodharā‘s devotion to the Buddha
20. Dadhivāhana	Jetavana	Mixing with people with bad morals
21. Mahissa	Jetavana	A monk with much property
22. Chaddan	Jetavana	A young nun
23. Campeyya	Jetavana	Uposatha kamma
24. Bahalagāvī	Jetavana	Gratitude to one‘s mother
25. Kapirāja	Jetavana	Acting to benefit one‘s relations (ñātatthacariyā)
26. Narajīva	Jetavana	A monk who takes care of his mother
27. Siddhisāra	Jetavana	Dhammacakka
28. Kussarāja	Jetavana	A monk who wants to disrobe
29. Bhaṇḍāgārika	Jetavana	The power of wisdom (paññābala)
30. Sirivipulakitti	Jetavana	Caring for one‘s mother
31. Suvaṇṇakummāra	Jetavana	Wisdom (paññā)
32. Vaṭṭaka	Magadha	A forest fire
33. Tissatheravatthu	Jetavana	Tissa bhikkhu
34. Suttasoma	Jetavana	Aṅgulimāla bhikkhu
35. Mahābala	Jetavana	Perfection of giving (dānapāramī)
36. Brahmaghosa	Jetavana	The―equipment of merit.‖(puññasambhāra)
37. Sādinnarāja	Jetavana	An upāsaka who keeps the precepts
38. Siridhara	Jetavana	An upāsaka
39. Ajittarāja	Jetavana	Renunciation (cāgadāna)
40. Vipularāja	Jetavana	Perfection of giving (dānapāramī)
41. Arindumma	Jetavana	Perfection of giving (d dānapāramī)
42. Viriyapaṇḍita	—	A past even
43. Ādittarāja	Jetavana	Perfection of giving (dānapāramī)
44. Surupparāja	Jetavana	Perfection of giving (dānapāramī)
45. Suvaṇṇabrahmadatta	Jetavana	Perfection of giving (dānapāramī)
46. Mahāpadumma		Jetavana A monk who cares for his mother kummāra
47. Mahāsurasena	Jetavana	Offering the eight requisite (aṭṭhaparikhāra)
48. Siricuḍāmaṇi	Jetavana	Perfection of giving (d dānapāramī)
49. Nalaka	Kosalajanapada	A sugarcane tree
50. Kukkura	Jetavana	Acting to benefit one‘s relatives(ñātatthacariyā)

The author argues that these stories explicitly illustrate the core of Buddhist ethics. These ethics are established through the law of Kamma and exemplified by the Noble-Eightfold path. The thesis argues that these two factors function synergistically. When they occur in the Paññāsa Jātaka stories, it is to illustrate Buddhist ethics. On the other hand, the Paññāsa Jātaka is the work of monks; therefore, they illustrate both Buddhist ethics and knowledge. 

We have already seen that Jātaka stories are very popular in Theravāda Buddhist countries, where (specially Siam or Thailand) are found both in–

i) Classical Jātaka (canonical Jātaka);
ii) Non-classical Jātaka (later compositions and collections or Non-canonical Jātakas).

Classical Jātaka is the Jātaka of the Khuddakanikāya together with the Jātakaṭṭhavaṇṇanā. These Jātakas are transmitted as part of the Tipiṭaka and that as such they are part of the common heritage of “Theravāda Buddhism” . The antiquity of the stories themselves is proven by their representation in the earliest surviving Buddhist art of India.

Non-classical Jātakas are also birth stories and modelled on the Classical Jātaka stories. But it is transmitted outside of the Canon and only in certain region. In Thailand Non-classical Jātakas are called Bāhira Jātaka or “Chadok nok nibat” (Jātaka outside the nipāta). Nonclassical Jātakas may be transmitted separately, in their own right, and remain independent or ‘uncollected’ or they may be collected with other texts into anthologies. The same story may be transmitted in several contexts fifty stories, and bears the title Paññāsa Jātaka. The independent Jātakas include “local Jātakas”. 

These stories cast in the Jātaka narrative structure and transmitted in regional vernacular traditions.

‘An important distinction between the Classical Jātaka or Non-classical Jātaka is that while the former is a fixed collection of verses around which prose narratives were composed, the latter is a collection of stories, of narratives, accompanied by and in part expressed in verse. Another difference is that the Paññāsa Jātaka verses are themselves often narrative: this is the case for only some of the classical Jātakas, such as the final stories.’^[6]

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

Ten Stories are -Temiya Jātaka, Mahājanaka Jātaka, Sāmā Jātaka, Nimi Jātaka, Mahosadha Jātaka, Bhūridatta Jātaka, Canda-Kumāra Jātaka, Nārada Jātaka, Vidurapaṇḍita Jātaka, Vessantara Jātaka.

[2]:

The Burmese recession of the Paññāsa Jātaka, popularly known as Zimmè Paññās.

[3]:

An Historical and Structural Study of the “Paññāsa Jātaka” , Dorothy Helen Fickle, p. 278.

[4]:

Ibid., p.7. Yet, some stories were known to have been composed before the fifteenth century. This collection is considered as the work of South-East Asian monks after returning from Buddhist studies in Sri Lanka. However, the names of the authors are unknown and the original collection of the Paññāsa Jātaka cannot be found in Sri Lanka. At present, it is found in Cambodia, Laos, Burma and Thailand. In Cambodia, there are four types of Paññāsa Jātaka written in: palm-leaf manuscripts (sāstrā slikrit) both in Khmer and Pāli, edited collections from palm-leaf in Pāli in four volumes, Paññāsajātaka Sankhepa in Khmer (the summarized Paññāsa Jātaka), and Paññāsajātaka Samrāya (commentary on the Paññāsa Jātaka) in four volumes.

[5]:

―Jātaka and Paññāsa-jātaka in South-East Asia”, Peter Skilling, Journal of the Pali Text Society, Vol. XXVIII, p. 170–171. cf. Critical Study of Northern Thai Version of Paññāsa Jātaka, Introduction, pp. 29 -31.

[6]:

Journal of the Pali Text Society (Vol. XXVIII), Vol. XXVIII,p.123ff.