batch.motif.buddhist-jataka-birth-stories-rhys-davids-gutenberg-l10204-l10299
---
record_id: batch.motif.buddhist-jataka-birth-stories-rhys-davids-gutenberg-l10204-l10299
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
passage_locator:
label: END OF THE STORY OF THE BANYAN DEER. / END OF THE STORY OF THE DART OF LOVE.
/ END OF THE STORY OF THE SWIFT ANTELOPE. / END OF THE STORY OF THE DEER WHO WOULD
NOT LEARN.; lines 10204-10299
start: '10204'
end: '10299'
translation: Buddhist birth stories; or, Jataka tales, Volume 1
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: "“for what advantage is there in destroying life?”"
summary: The Teacher condemns killing for the Feast of the Dead and tells of a Brāhman
who intended to sacrifice a goat. The goat explains that, after killing a goat
in a former birth, he has had his head cut off across five hundred births. The
Brāhman releases and protects him, but the goat is killed by a falling rock split
by a thunderbolt. The Bodisat, born as the Genius of a tree, appears in the sky,
teaches against killing, and the people give up taking life.
language: English
quote_policy: quoted
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The Teacher tells mendicants not to provide the Feast of the Dead because
it involves destroying life.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: A Brāhman teacher has a goat brought for the Feast of the Dead and instructs
pupils to bathe, garland, feed, decorate, and return it.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: The goat laughs, then weeps, and asks to explain the matter in the teacher's
presence.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: The goat says he remembers former births and that killing one goat in a former
Brāhman birth caused him to have his head cut off in nearly five hundred births.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: The Brāhman promises not to kill the goat and to protect it, but the goat
says he cannot escape death that day.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: After the goat is released, it eats leaves near a rock; a thunderbolt strikes
the rock, and a piece of rock cuts off the goat's head.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:7
text: The Bodisat is described as having been born as the Genius of a tree at that
spot.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:8
text: The tree Genius seats himself cross-legged in the sky before the multitude
and teaches that one who takes life will grieve.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:9
text: After hearing the discourse, the people leave off taking life and perform
gifts and other good deeds.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:10
text: The Teacher identifies himself in the past birth as the Genius of the tree.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: The Teacher
description: Frame speaker who condemns the Feast of the Dead and identifies his
former birth at the end.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:10
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Brāhman teacher
description: A world-famous teacher in Benares, accomplished in the Three Vedas,
who intends to give the Feast of the Dead using a goat and later releases it.
role_refs:
- role:2
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Pupils of the Brāhman
description: Students ordered to bathe, garland, feed, decorate, and return the
goat.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: The goat
description: Animal prepared for the Feast of the Dead; laughs and weeps, remembers
former births, explains the consequences of killing, and is killed by a rock fragment.
role_refs:
- role:4
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Bodisat as the Genius of a tree
description: The Bodisat born as the Genius of a tree on the spot, who appears in
the sky and teaches the people against killing.
role_refs:
- role:7
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
- ev:10
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: The people / multitude
description: People who gather after the goat's death, hear the Bodisat's discourse,
give up taking life, and perform good deeds.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:8
- ev:9
roles:
- id: role:1
label: frame teacher and past-life identifier
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: He gives the opening moral instruction and later says he was the Genius of
the tree.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:10
- id: role:2
label: intended ritual killer
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: He has a goat brought with the intention of giving the Feast of the Dead.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:3
label: ritual preparers
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: They carry out the instructions to bathe and decorate the goat.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: role:4
label: speaking animal with memory of former births
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The goat laughs, weeps, and recounts deeds remembered from former births.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: role:5
label: victim of karmic death
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The goat says he cannot escape death and is beheaded by a rock fragment after
release.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: role:6
label: would-be protector
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The Brāhman says he will not kill the goat, releases it, and tries to protect
it.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: role:7
label: tree genius
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: The Bodisat is explicitly born as the Genius of a tree growing at that spot.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:8
label: supernatural moral preacher
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: He sits cross-legged in the sky and teaches the multitude against taking
life.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: role:9
label: converted audience
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: They hear the discourse, fear death, leave off taking life, and do good deeds.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: goat prepared for death ritual
literal_form: Goat bathed, garlanded, fed, decorated, and brought for the Feast
of the Dead.
associated_figures:
- fig:4
- fig:2
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:2
label: repeated severed head
literal_form: The goat's head is said to have been cut off across many births and
is finally torn off by a rock fragment.
associated_figures:
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:6
- id: sym:3
label: tree of the Bodisat's birth
literal_form: A tree growing on the spot, whose Genius is the Bodisat.
associated_figures:
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs:
- tree
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:10
- id: sym:4
label: thunderbolt and rock fragment
literal_form: A thunderbolt strikes the rock, and a split piece of rock hits the
goat's outstretched neck.
associated_figures:
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: sym:5
label: sky seat of the tree Genius
literal_form: The tree Genius seats himself cross-legged in the sky before the multitude.
associated_figures:
- fig:5
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Frame condemnation of the Feast of the Dead
summary: The Teacher tells the mendicants not to provide the Feast of the Dead,
says earlier sky-seated sages had persuaded Jambu-dīpa to abandon it, and begins
a tale.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Preparation of the goat
summary: In Benares under Brahma-datta, a Brāhman intending to provide the Feast
of the Dead orders his pupils to bathe, garland, feed, decorate, and return a
goat.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: The goat's laughter, tears, and explanation
summary: The goat laughs and weeps, then explains before the Brāhman that he had
once killed a goat for the Feast of the Dead and has suffered repeated beheadings
across births.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: scene:4
label: Release and unavoidable death
summary: The Brāhman releases and tries to protect the goat, but the goat says death
cannot be avoided; soon afterward a thunderbolt splits a rock and a fragment cuts
off the goat's head.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:4
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: scene:5
label: Tree Genius teaches against killing
summary: The Bodisat, born as the Genius of a tree, appears cross-legged in the
sky and teaches the assembled people that killing living beings brings grief and
woe.
figure_refs:
- fig:5
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- id: scene:6
label: People abandon killing and perform good deeds
summary: The people are frightened by the teaching, give up taking life, follow
the Bodisat's exhortations, give gifts, do other good deeds, and fill the city
of the gods.
figure_refs:
- fig:5
- fig:6
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: scene:7
label: Jātaka identification
summary: The Teacher closes the discourse by identifying himself as the Genius of
the tree in that former birth.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: rejection of ritual killing
taxonomy_refs:
- sacrifice
basis: The frame Teacher condemns the Feast of the Dead as destruction of life,
and the embedded tale ends with the people abandoning killing after the Bodisat's
discourse.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:8
- ev:9
confidence: high
cautions: The passage presents the ritual killing negatively; the taxonomy reference
is used for the ritual-killing context rather than endorsement of sacrifice.
- id: motif:2
label: karmic rebirth punishment for killing
taxonomy_refs:
- death_rebirth
basis: The goat remembers killing a goat in a former birth and says this caused
repeated beheadings across nearly five hundred births.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
confidence: high
cautions: The passage frames the sequence as karmic consequence, not as a generalized
afterlife map.
- id: motif:3
label: speaking animal remembers former births
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The goat speaks, recalls former births, and explains the moral consequence
of taking life to the Brāhman.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: The available taxonomy has no specific animal-speech motif; 'wisdom' is
applied only because the animal conveys remembered moral knowledge.
- id: motif:4
label: inescapable result of prior deeds
taxonomy_refs:
- death_rebirth
basis: Even after the Brāhman releases and protects the goat, the goat says death
cannot be escaped and is killed by an unexpected rock fragment.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: The passage attributes the event to the power of prior evil deeds rather
than to a named deity's judgment.
- id: motif:5
label: tree spirit appears in the sky as moral teacher
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The Bodisat is born as the Genius of a tree, appears cross-legged in the
sky, and teaches the multitude to abstain from taking life.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
- ev:10
confidence: high
cautions: The passage contains a tree-being and aerial preaching, but it does not
explicitly present the tree as a cosmic axis.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: 10204-10211
quote_or_summary: The Teacher tells mendicants not to provide the Feast of the Dead,
asks what advantage there is in destroying life, and says earlier sky-seated sages
made Jambu-dīpa abandon the practice before it arose again.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: 10213-10225
quote_or_summary: A Brāhman teacher in Benares, accomplished in the Three Vedas,
intends to give the Feast of the Dead and orders his pupils to bathe, garland,
feed, decorate, and return a goat.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: 10226-10238
quote_or_summary: After being prepared, the goat laughs loudly, then weeps loudly,
and tells the young Brāhman to ask about it in the teacher's presence.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: 10239-10256
quote_or_summary: The goat, remembering former births, says he had once been a Brāhman
who killed a goat for the Feast of the Dead; because of this he has had his head
cut off in five hundred births, less one, and this is the last.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: 10257-10268
quote_or_summary: The Brāhman says he will not kill the goat and will protect it,
while the goat replies that he cannot escape death that day and that his past
evil is powerful.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: 10269-10277
quote_or_summary: The Brāhman releases the goat and walks with it; when the goat
eats leaves by a rock, a thunderbolt strikes, a piece of rock splits off, hits
the goat's outstretched neck, and tears off his head; people gather.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: 10278-10280
quote_or_summary: At that time the Bodisat had been born as the Genius of a tree
growing at that spot.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:8
type: quote
locator: 10280-10288
quote_or_summary: 'The tree Genius seats himself cross-legged in the sky and teaches:
“The living would not slay the living; / For he who taketh life shall surely grieve!”'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; short quotation used for evidence.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: 10289-10295
quote_or_summary: The Great Being preaches the Truth, frightens the people with
fear of hell, and after hearing him they give up taking life, give gifts, and
do other good deeds.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:10
type: quote
locator: 10297-10299
quote_or_summary: 'The Teacher summarizes the Jātaka: “I at that time was the Genius
of the tree.”'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; short quotation used for evidence.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: high
notes: The narrative elements are explicit in the passage. Motif taxonomy assignments
are cautious because the available taxonomy does not include specific Jātaka categories
such as karmic retribution, talking animal, or anti-killing precept tale. No comparison
claims were added beyond the passage-level extraction.
reviewer_status:
status: needs_review
reviewer: ''
reviewed_at: ''
notes: Machine-generated draft from OpenAI Batch; not human-reviewed.
extracted_by: openai_batch:gpt-5.5
extracted_at: '2026-04-28'
notes: |-
Only the supplied passage and metadata were used. Literal observations are separated from candidate motif interpretation.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:buddhist-jataka-birth-stories-rhys-davids-gutenberg__l10204-l10299
passage_sha256=8b5b1b7dd3c0879058ec1d69af864a7903ba3120f0c03f89fe81df739632ef5f