batch.motif.buddhist-jataka-birth-stories-rhys-davids-gutenberg-l16252-l16400
---
record_id: batch.motif.buddhist-jataka-birth-stories-rhys-davids-gutenberg-l16252-l16400
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
passage_locator:
label: INDIAN TALES FROM TIBETAN SOURCES. / THE RELIGIONS OF INDIA. / BY A. BARTH.
/ FOOTNOTES:; lines 16252-16400
start: '16252'
end: '16400'
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: ''
summary: The passage consists of scholarly footnotes to the Jātaka translation.
It discusses textual arrangement, duplicate or related Jātaka numbers, manuscript
and comparative references, disagreements about Jātaka titles, literal translation
notes, and an explanatory note interpreting the Bodhisattva’s choice to renounce
immediate Nirvāṇa in order to become a Buddha and save others.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: A note says that after the death of the Blessed One, those who held the Council
placed certain lines in the Commentary and arranged the Jātaka in the Eka-Nipāta.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: Several footnotes list Jātaka numbers, duplicated story numbers, and cross-references
to pages or other Jātakas.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: A note states that one tale is not yet found in the Jātaka Book but is found
in the Vrihat Kathā or Kshemendra and in the Kathā Sarit Sāgara of Somadeva, and
was probably included in the Vrihat Kathā of Guṇadhya.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: A note reports General Cunningham’s view that a legend represented Buddha
as King of the Elephants, while the editor argues that a Jātaka title is not necessarily
chosen from the Bodisat’s character in the story.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: The explanatory note says the Bodhisattva could have entered the Buddhist
priesthood, practiced ecstatic meditation, freed himself from human passion, become
an Arhat, and attained Nirvāṇa at death.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: The explanatory note says the Bodhisattva rejected that course as selfish,
choosing instead to qualify himself to become a Buddha and save others as well
as himself.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:7
text: The note describes this choice as the great act of renunciation and says the
Bodhisattva preferred ages of heroic trials in the Pāramitās so that he might
become a Buddha and redeem mankind.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:8
text: Several footnotes provide literal renderings of phrases, including beating
drums, extinction, raising the right foot to depart, sitting cross-legged, and
rising into the air.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Bodhisattva
description: A being who could attain Arhatship and Nirvāṇa but chooses the longer
path toward Buddhahood for the benefit of others.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Blessed One
description: A revered figure whose death is mentioned in connection with a Council
arranging Jātaka material.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Mankind / others
description: The people whom the Bodhisattva aims to save or redeem by becoming
a Buddha.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Buddha as King of the Elephants
description: A form attributed by General Cunningham to the legend discussed in
the note on the Nāga or Elephant Jātaka.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
roles:
- id: role:1
label: Potential Arhat attaining immediate Nirvāṇa
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The note says the Bodhisattva could enter the priesthood, practice Jhāna,
become an Arhat, and at death attain Nirvāṇa.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:2
label: Renouncer of immediate liberation for Buddhahood
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The note says the Bodhisattva rejects a selfish course and chooses to become
a Buddha in order to save others.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:3
label: Deceased revered teacher
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The passage refers to the death of the Blessed One as the point after which
a Council arranged textual material.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:4
label: Beneficiaries of salvation or redemption
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The note says the Bodhisattva aims to save others and redeem mankind.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:5
label: Elephant king in a Jātaka legend
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: General Cunningham is quoted as saying Buddha is the King of the Elephants
in the represented legend.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
symbols: []
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Posthumous Council arranges Jātaka material
summary: After the death of the Blessed One, the Council is described as placing
certain lines in the Commentary and arranging the Jātaka in a chapter for one-verse
Jātakas.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Bodhisattva forgoes immediate Nirvāṇa
summary: The Bodhisattva is said to be able to attain liberation for himself, but
instead renounces that immediate path and chooses the longer path to Buddhahood
for the benefit of others and mankind.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Renunciation of immediate liberation for universal benefit
taxonomy_refs:
- sacrifice
- wisdom
basis: The passage explicitly describes the Bodhisattva’s refusal of immediate Nirvāṇa
as a great act of renunciation undertaken so that he might become a Buddha and
save others.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: This is an explanatory footnote rather than a full narrative episode;
motif labeling is based on the editor’s summary.
- id: motif:2
label: Long heroic trial-path toward Buddhahood
taxonomy_refs:
- mystical_quest
- initiation
basis: The note says the Bodhisattva preferred to endure ages of heroic trials in
the exercise of the Pāramitās in order to become a Buddha.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: The trials are mentioned in summary only and are not narrated in this
passage.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 16252-16257
quote_or_summary: A footnote says that those who held the Council after the death
of the Blessed One placed lines beginning with one phrase in the Commentary and
arranged the Jātaka in the Eka-Nipāta.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 16259-16291
quote_or_summary: Footnotes give page references, Jātaka numbers, duplicate-number
equivalences, and a direction to compare two translated stories.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 16319-16324
quote_or_summary: A footnote says a tale not yet found in the Jātaka Book appears
in the Vrihat Kathā or Kshemendra and the Kathā Sarit Sāgara of Somadeva, and
was probably in the Vrihat Kathā of Guṇadhya.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 16313-16318
quote_or_summary: General Cunningham is reported as saying that in the represented
legend Buddha is King of the Elephants; the editor objects that Jātaka titles
are not necessarily based on the Bodisat’s role.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 16375-16380
quote_or_summary: The explanatory note says the speaker could enter the Buddhist
priesthood, practice Jhāna, free himself from human passion, become an Arhat,
and attain Nirvāṇa at death.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: quote
locator: lines 16380-16387
quote_or_summary: "“let me rather qualify myself to become a Buddha, and so save
others as well as myself”; this is described as the “great ACT OF RENUNCIATION”
by which the Bodhisattva chose ages of trials so he might become a Buddha and
redeem mankind."
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt quoted.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 16358-16400
quote_or_summary: Footnotes give literal glosses for expressions such as causing
drums to be beaten, extinction, raising the right foot to depart, sitting cross-legged,
and rising into the air.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
confidence:
extraction: medium
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: high
notes: The passage is primarily scholarly footnotes, not a continuous mythic narrative.
The clearest motif material is the explicit explanatory note on the Bodhisattva’s
renunciation of immediate Nirvāṇa.
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: |-
No comparison claims were added because the passage gives textual parallels and source references but does not provide enough narrative content to support a motif-level comparison.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:buddhist-jataka-birth-stories-rhys-davids-gutenberg__l16252-l16400
passage_sha256=30abceb5ddbad371025a60caf50104af9f8f656f7266c9b4a8a9e5be364ab305