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Tales From Tiryagyoni
Lauren Fairnot
Asian 380: The Lives of the Buddha, from India to Manga
April, 28, 2014
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Tales From Tiryagyoni
Overview of Tiryagyoni
In Buddhist canon, animals are believed inhabit a separate world from humans. 1 The
animal world is the third lowest realm--- being a step beneath the human realm, but a step above
the hungry ghost realm. Being reborn into Tiryagyoni 2--- the animal realm--- was seen as one of
the unpleasant rebirths. In Buddhist canon, the animal realm was envisioned as a place of
constant suffering and fear. 3 Animals were believed to have to endure much more suffering than
their human counterparts do. In addition, from living in constant fear of predation and human
abuse, animals were believed to be driven solely by instinct to preserve their physical bodies.4 In
turn, this fixation on earthly life kept them ignorant from dharma.
Tiryagyoni , in spite of its hardships, was still a realm of magic and great beings who
brought miracles to animals and humans alike. There are countless jataka stories of animals who
furthered themselves toward enlightenment by performing charitable acts. Animal-centered
jatakas typically tell the stories of animals who were actually past incarnations of the Buddha.
During these incarnations, the bodhisattva would have to perform a meritorious act toward a
human being (or in some cases another animal), in order to display the proper virtue necessary
for the bodhisattva to be reborn in a higher state in his next life. In this regard, animal
bodhisattvas can be seen as proto-humans, who harness their innate Buddha nature to perform
virtuous acts, in order to rise above their bestial forms and attain humanity. The human realm is a
step higher than Tiryagyoni on the cosmic hierarchy. So naturally, an animal who wished to rise
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above their squalid state would have to begin their journey toward enlightenment by becoming
human in their next life.
In animal-centered jatakas, the animal bodhisattvas tends to focus on displaying the
virtue of notable charity (dānā). 5 Animals were envisioned as being the ideal practitioners of
dānā because of their humble station in life and lack of material wealth. Unlike human
bodhisattvas who have the option of giving away material items, such as clothing, money, or
even animals to express charity, animal bodhisattvas can only give gifts of the flesh. In other
words, when an animal bodhisattva expresses charity, they either must sacrifice their body
(either part of it, or wholly). Sacrifices of the body are always more extreme in nature then
sacrifices of wealth; thus they had better exemplify dānā. When animal bodhisattvas make
bodily sacrifices, it is typically always fatal. Heavy emphasis is put on the extreme violent and
agonizing nature of these sacrifices. For example, a jataka called Silava Elephant tells the story
of an elephant-bodhisattva who allows a man to saw off his trunk to trade, and this results in the
elephant dying an agonizing death. 7
In this paper, I will examine the virtue of dānā as it is portrayed in four, notable animalcentric jatakas: The Rabbit On The Moon, Silava Elephant, The Story of the Great Monkey, and
The Tigress. My analysis will center on how the portrayal of the bodhisattva (who in all but the
last tale will be an animal) and benefactors (whether they are humans or animal) of his acts of
charity reflect the general notions and beliefs about animals in Buddhism. Lastly, I will connect
these four stories to the larger notion of suffering in Buddhism, to show how the Buddha
considered rectifying the suffering of animals to be of equal importance as freeing humans of
suffering, because to the Buddha, the suffering of all types of sentient beings is of equal weight.
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The Rabbit On The Moon: Overcoming Ignorance
One of the basic Buddhist beliefs about animals is that they live in a state of suffering
caused by both by natural forces (i.e. predation) and human abuse. 8 In the wild, animals were
thought to have lives of constant fear and uncertainty, in which they had to fear both predation
from other animals and being hunted by humans for their meat. Those animals who lived with
human beings were believed to fare no better, because humans were believed to cause animals additional
sufferings for their own gain. Animals are depicted as bearing the additional burdens of being
harnessed of backbreaking labor (i.e. plowing, pulling carts), being slaughtered for their flesh,
and abandoned when they are too old or injured to work.
Because of the constant fears animals faced, animals were believed to live lives of
ignorance, in which they were unable understand the reason for the misfortunes around them and
had little power to change their situation. Instead, they are very concerned with the physical, and
this obsession with earthly life and preservation of the body contradicts dharma, which stresses
the impermanence of the body and earthly matters. After all, the ultimate goal of Buddhism was
to be released from the endless cycle of rebirth. Thus, clinging to the physical body out of
instinctive fear would only hinder this goal. Animals, however, were believed to be too driven by
primal fear and instinct to realize the impermanence of the physical.
However, animals were still believed to be sentient beings, and therefore they endowed
with Buddha nature. Having Buddha nature gave animals the capacity to become aware of and
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follow dharma. According to this mode of thought, exceptional beasts could, in theory,
eventually rise through the realms and achieve enlightenment. However, the road to
enlightenment was considerably longer and more troubled when one began the journey as a
beast, rather than as a man, because an animal must somehow set aside their survival instincts.
Survival instinct is what kept animals ignorance of dharma, because it makes it so that they are
solely fixed on preserving their physical lives. This fixation keeps them from seeing the wider
circle of rebirth. Stories of animal bodhisattvas are often about overcoming this innate ignorance
in order to comprehend the wider scope of dharma.
One such jataka tale of overcoming ignorance to dharma is The Rabbit on the Moon, in
which the bodhisattva has been reborn as a rabbit. 9 In this tale, the rabbit and his three animal
companions (typically a jackal, an otter, and a monkey) devote themselves to practicing charity:
“Together they resolved to practice charity on the Uposatha day (the day of fast), that was to
occur on the following day. In the tradition it was believed that one who stood fast in moral
practice and alms-giving on that day would earn a great reward.” 10 The rabbit decides that the
best way to practice notable charity would be to sacrifice his body to a man. The rabbit
bodhisattva and his companions represent “awakened” animals--- beasts who have become
aware of the ignorant state that the denizens of Tiryagyoni live in. They are now searching for a
way to cast off the chains of instinct and fear and connect with dharma to begin their journey
toward enlightenment.
The “great reward” that the animals believe they will receive for their almsgiving is
obviously a metaphor for furthering themselves towards enlightenment. They are compelled to
practice dānā in order to prove that they are willing to ascending into a higher realm. Of the
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three, however, only the rabbit is willing to make a sacrifice great enough to represent the virtue
of dānā. The sacrifice, naturally, turns out to be his own body, which the rabbit willing sacrifices
to be eaten by a hungry man (who in some versions is the god Indra in disguise). 11 The tale
typically concludes with the rabbit’s image being put on the moon in order to immortalize his
great act of charity. The Moon Rabbit’s visage acts as a beacon of hope for the animals to
overcome their instinctive attachment of the flesh. Only by losing this attachment and realizing
the impermanence of the physical body can animals conceptualize the wider scope of their
reality.
In to express notable charity, the rabbit must overcome his survival instincts and the
primal fear of being eaten. Survival instinct resists dharma, because is merely concerned with
survival of the physical body and prompts the individual to value earthly life above all things.
Dharma, on the other hand, teaches that the body is impermanent and of lesser importance to
furthering oneself toward enlightenment. An animal in the wild is driven by instinct alone which
prevents the being from understanding the cosmic order of the universe. Without this
understanding, they have no means of following dharma and being reborn in a higher state. In
this case, a rabbit overcomes his primal fear of being eaten and sets aside his survival instincts by
allowing himself to be eaten by the beggar. An animal's primal fear of being eaten (whether by
other animals or humans) is viewed as an additional source of suffering that animals must bear,
which makes the path toward enlightenment all the more difficult than it is for humans, who lack
the fear of being eaten. By allowing himself to be burned alive and eaten, the rabbit overcomes
this primal fear, and thus frees himself from this source of suffering. By releasing himself from
the fear of being eaten, he is acting less like a animal and more like a human. Though the rabbit’s
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sacrifice is typically fatal, in death he has released himself from the burden of fear and cleared
another obstacle on the path to enlightenment.
The rabbit’s tale is a story of gaining awareness of the lowly nature of animal existence,
and using notable charity as a means to shed a lower animal-form in hopes of being reborn into a
higher existence. In The Rabbit On The Moon, the bodhisattva is not just showing charity
because of his bodhisattva nature, but rather her is using charity as a means to a greater goal--rebirth in a better realm. Its worth noting that the rabbit makes his resolution to give up his body
before he even meets the beggar. At this point in the story, the rabbit has already become aware
of the need to ascend into the human realm, but only lacks the means to do so--- until the beggar
shows up and provides the rabbit with his means to escaping Tiryagyoni.
The idea of a human being providing an animal with a means from escaping Tiryagyoni
is used in several other jataka tales about animal bodhisattvas. Its popularity stems from idea
that human beings are superior to animals. Therefore, an animal who wishes to be reborn in the
human realm must first gain the approval of a human by proving his virtue. The notion of human
superiority is further emphasized by the fact that in tales such as The Rabbit On The Moon, the
human benefactor is often a god (typically Indra) in disguise, who has come to test the animal’s
virtue. However, by making the human a god in disguise, it emphasizes the idea that humans are
above animals. In other words, in these jataka tales humans are to animals what gods are to the
humans.
Silava Elephant: Abuse of the Bodhisattva’s Charity
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Harming the animal bodhisattva, as well as animals in general, is still depicted in a
negative light, in spite of the basic idea that humanity is superior to animals. One of the basic
precepts of Buddhism is non-harm of sentient beings--- which includes all types of animals--and thus, intentionally harming a beast without its consent is seen as a vile act. The no-harm
precept states that animals, because they buddha nature, cannot be harmed and must be treated
with respect. 12 In addition, the animal’s sacrifice must not be made out of greed. In stories such
as The Rabbit On The Moon, the animal bodhisattva gives willingly and the human benefactor is
unsullied by greed or other vices. Often, the sacrifice is done to aid needy humans or is done as a
secret test of the bodhisattva's virtue. The second category of sacrificial tales are those in which
the animal’s sacrifice is taken without consent or done with selfish intentions on the human
benefactor’s part. Stories of this nature are meant to highlight that animals are believed to be
“victims” of human abuse..
Tales where the benefactor abuses the animal-bodhisattva's charity, are meant to teach
Buddhist followers the importance of following the no-harm precept of Buddhism. Hence,
humans who harm the animals for selfish reasons are vilified in the jataka tales. For example, in
the tale of Silava Elephant, the bodhisattva has been reborn as an elephant named Silava. 13 The
story begins when Silvana comes across a man lost in the elephant’s forest, and Silava graciously
leads him back to civilization. Later, the man decides to obtain Silava’s tusks to sell at the
market in order to make himself rich. The man goes back to the elephant-bodhisattva and
demands his tusks, which the bodhisattva readily gives. Eventually, the man’s greed drives him
to demand Silava’s trunk, which Silava allows him to saw off, but this final act of charity kills
Silvana quite graphically. “The cruel and ungrateful man then climbed on his trunk , which was
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like the corded silver and climbed on his temples, which was like the snowy peak of the mount
Kailash; dug the flesh away from his gums; and sawed off the stumps of the tusks and had his
way. Thus, Silava breathed his last in severe pains.” 14
Unlike the beggar in The Rabbit On The Moon, the man in Silava Elephant is depicted in
a negative light because he asks the bodhisattva for his body parts out of materialistic greed.
Greed for material wealth goes against Buddhist principle, because Buddhism teaches that
expressions of material wealth--- be it money, possessions, domestic animals, or even one’s own
family members--- are all impermanent. Hence, being fixated on gaining wealth goes against
dharma, because it only binds one to the physical and turns them away from the path of
enlightenment. The moral of the story--- that greed only leads one to ruin--- serves as a
cautionary tale that greed diverts one from the path of enlightenment. When the man gives into
greed, it causes him to regress his progress toward enlightenment. In a way, avarice makes him
“lower” than the elephant, because he has allowed his greed to divert him from dharma, while
the elephant’s charity serves to further him along the road to enlightenment, and thus “raises”
him above the ungrateful man. By the end of the story the elephant has become a man
(presumably reborn as one) and the man had become lower than a beast. By embracing greed and
violating the precept of no-harm toward sentient creatures, the man has lowered himself in the
cosmic order. This is directly confirmed by the ending of the story, because the jataka tale ends
with the greedy many being swallowed up by the earth and sent to the lowest of the Six Realms-- Hell--- where he will have to suffer more than any other creature for violating dharma. 15
Considering that Hell is the lowest of the Realms 16 , the greedy man is essentially sent back to
“square one” and has become among the lowest class of beings--- far beneath even the realm of
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animals. The he issue if not the fact that the animal-bodhisattva give of the flesh (as virtually all
animal bodhisattvas do). The problem is merely that Silava’s charity is being used for something
that goes against dharma, in this case, greed. Notable charity, being one of the main virtues a
bodhisattva must display, is meant to bring individuals closer to enlightenment. Thus, it must be
both given and received selflessly. Silava, being a past incarnation of the buddha, naturally gives
alms in a selfless manner, but the man violates the charity by abusing the bodhisattva's gift.
The Story of The Great Monkey: Animals as Benefactors of Charity
Just as there are countless jatakas in which the animal bodhisattva sacrifices himself for
fellow animals. In these stories, the animal bodhisattva serves as a proto-buddha: he is a wise and
exalted among his fellow beasts, who typically serves as ruler of his species or acts as the
guardian of the wilderness (typically the forest in which the animals of the jataka live). In other
words, in these stories the bodhisattva acts much more like his final incarnation--- the buddha--than in stories where receiver of the animal bodhisattva's charity is human. The difference in the
characterization of the bodhisattva is because when the benefactors are fellow animals, the
because bodhisattva must serve the same function that the buddha himself is meant to do for
humans--- to lead the members of his species toward enlightenment.
A prime example of this different depiction of the bodhisattva is The Story of the Great
Monkey. In this tale, the bodhisattva has been reborn as the king of a troop of monkeys. 17 Much
like his final incarnation, he acts a wise leader of his species who practices Buddhist virtue to
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better his own kind. He is describes as being both notable larger than his fellows, but more
compassionate and virtuous--- just as the buddha was a sagely guide among humans, whose
compassion and virtue was believed to have been greater than that of any being in the world. The
monkey king displays notable charity in this tale in a similar fashion of the Moon Rabbit and
Silava the elephant---- by giving his life in order to benefit others, in this case, his troop. The
monkey king’s troop are eating fruit from an enchanted tree, when they are attacked by the
human king’s archers. The monkey king allows his body to be used a bridge to allow the troop to
escape, and in the end, t;2his act proves to cost the monkey king his life, which he naturally does
not regret giving up. His final words emphasize this : “Verily my body is broken, but my mind is
still sound; I uplifted only those over whom I exercised my royal powers over for so long.” 18
In contrast, in stories where benefactor is a human, the animal bodhisattva is typically
presented a normal animal who has no ruling power. The only thing that distinguishes him from
other animals is the fact that he is aware of his lowly status as a beast, casts off his ignorance,
and then strives to earn the right to be reborn in a higher state of being through charity.
Otherwise, he has no status above his fellow animals. For example, even though the ending of
The Rabbit On The Moon ends with Indra placing the rabbit-bodhisattva’s image on the moon,
the rabbit himself does not gain a position of power among his fellow animals. In versions where
the rabbit remains dead his reward is presumably being reborn as a human. In the few variants
where the rabbit survives the sacrifice (typically due to Indra’s intervention), he lives the
remainder of his life as a normal rabbit.
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The reason that the animal bodhisattva is depicted a ruler in tales where the benefactors
of his charity are fellow beasts is because in this scenario the benefactors of his charity are
animals, and therefore of equal status as the bodhisattva himself. In a jataka where a human is
the benefactor, the animal bodhisattva naturally cannot be depicted as a ruler, because humans
have higher status than animals. Thus, in his current form the bodhisattva cannot rule over them
as a king or sage. For example, in the Silava Elephant, the elephant-bodhisattva is described as
being a loner who preferred to live the life as a recluse, rather than ruling over his comrades. 19
When the benefactor is human, the bodhisattva must prove that he worthy of being a ruler of
sage in a future, human life. When the benefactor is a another beast, he is already worthy of
ruling, because he is already on equal footing with the benefactor.
The Tigress: All Suffering is Equal
Lasty, it is important to address another category of animal-centric jataka tales. In these
stories, the bodhisattva is a human and uses animals as a mode to prove his virtue. In these
stories, the the virtue in question is often charity. The reason that animals are such a popular
mode for the bodhisattva to express his virtue, is because animals are seen as “victims” in a
constant state of suffering. There are just as many jatakas in which the bodhisattva makes a
sacrifice of flesh (whether fatal or non-fatal) for the sake of an animal or the sake of a human
being.
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One such jataka of this caliber is The Tigress. The Tigress can be seen as a role-reversal
of The Rabbit On The Moon. In the former story, a human bodhisattva sacrifices his body to a
beast, just as the rabbit did for a human in The Rabbit On The Moon. In this jataka, the human
bodhisattva comes across a starving tigress who is about to eat her own cubs. The sight moves
the bodhisattva, who then kills himself by throwing himself off a cliff, so that the tigress can eat
his body and spare her cubs. 20 Both jatakas essentially tell the same story, in which the
bodhisattva (whether he’s a rabbit of a man) using fatal, bodily sacrifice in order to display
notable charity. The reason for this is to stress the fact that the buddha is supposed to be savior of
all beings that experience suffering.
Although sentient being are divided into different realms in the cosmic hierarchy, this
distinction does not matter to a bodhisattva. This is because the buddha must be able to see past
all hierarchical distinctions--- whether it be the difference between a brahmin or a slave, or a
slave and beast--- or order to combat the suffering of sentient beings. When the bodhisattva
allows himself to be eaten by the tigress, his sacrifice to her expresses that idea that the suffering
of animals is put on equal foot with the sufferings of humans. To the buddha the sight of a
starving tigress and her cubs is no different than that of a starving woman and her child or a blind
beggar in need of sight.
No matter who the victim may be, the bodhisattva must be equally willing combat
suffering wherever it may arise. This is why both types of jataka tales exist: ones in which the
animal bodhisattva is the giver, and ones where the human bodhisattva gives charity to animals.
Only by experiencing Tiryagyoni from both perspectives, can the buddha learn that their is no
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real difference between the suffering of men and the suffering of animals. It plays into the larger
idea of why the buddha in general has experienced past lives in which he has been everything
from a slave, brahmin, king, woman, or a beast: all suffering is the same across the Six Realms.
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Notes
1. The Six Realms of Existence” Personal Carthage. Last modified September
11, 2005. http://personal.carthage.edu/jlochtefeld/buddhism/wheeloflife/sixrealms.html
2. Ibid., 1.
3. Ibid., 1.
4. Ibid., 1.
5. Padmanabh, Jaini. Collective Papers on Asian Studies. Delhi: Motilal
Banarsidass, 2001, 378. PDF e-book
6. C.B. Burma. “The Story of a Tigress” The Illustrated Jataka & Other
Stories of the Buddha, Last modified January 2002. http://ignca.nic.in/jatak008.htm.
7. C.B. Burma. “The Story of Silava Elephant” The Illustrated Jataka & Other
Stories of the Buddha, Last modified January 2002. http://ignca.nic.in/jatak008.htm.
8. “The Six Realms of Existence”
9. Monty McKeever 3-2005 “Shakyamuni Buddha - Jataka (previous lives)”
Last modified March 2005. http://www.himalayanart.org/image.cfm/50196.html
10. Ibid..
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
13. “The Story of Silava Elephant”
14. Ibid.
15. “The Six Realms of Existence”
16. Ibid.
17. C.B. Burma. “The Story of The Great Monkey” The Illustrated Jataka &
Other Stories of the Buddha, Last modified January 2002. http://ignca.nic.in/jatak008.htm.
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18. Ibid.
19. “The Story of Silava Elephant”
20.“The Story of a Tigress”
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Bibliography
Burma, C.B. Burma. “The Story of Silava Elephant” The Illustrated Jataka & Other Stories of
the
Buddha, Last modified January 2002. http://ignca.nic.in/jatak008.htm.
Burma, C.B. “The Story of The Great Monkey” The Illustrated Jataka & Other Stories of the
Buddha, Last modified January 2002. http://ignca.nic.in/jatak008.htm.
Burma, C.B. “The Story of a Tigress” The Illustrated Jataka & Other Stories of the Buddha, Last
modified January 2002. http://ignca.nic.in/jatak008.htm.
Jaini, Padmanabh Collective Papers on Asian Studies. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2001, 378.
PDF e-book.
McKeever, Monty 3-2005 “Shakyamuni Buddha - Jataka (previous lives)” Last modified March
2005. http://www.himalayanart.org/image.cfm/50196.html
“The Six Realms of Existence” Personal Carthage. Last modified September 11, 2005.
http://personal.carthage.edu/jlochtefeld/buddhism/wheeloflife/sixrealms.html