batch.motif.buddhist-jataka-birth-stories-rhys-davids-gutenberg-l16555-l16665
---
record_id: batch.motif.buddhist-jataka-birth-stories-rhys-davids-gutenberg-l16555-l16665
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 16555-16665
start: '16555'
end: '16665'
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: Translator footnotes explain terms, numbers, distances, supernatural beings,
Buddhist meditation and moral training, Nirvāna imagery, Sakka’s intervention
at critical moments, and comparisons within Buddhist textual traditions.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The note says that at critical moments in important religious legends, Sakka’s
seat becomes warm and he descends or sends Vissakamma to set matters right.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The note explains Nibbāna as a lasting state of happiness and peace reached
by extinguishing specified fires and troubles.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: The note glosses the three Bhavas as seeming like houses on fire and identifies
them as forms of existence in different worlds.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: The note identifies superhuman Snakes and Winged Creatures as beings able
to assume the appearance of men.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: The note says Yakkhas are characterized in the Jātaka stories by cannibalism
and that female Yakkhas lure men to destruction like sirens.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: The note says Yakkhas are invisible until they assume human shape and can
then be recognized by their red eyes.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:7
text: The Great Struggle is described as moral training by which a Buddhist overcomes
delusion and sin and attains Nirvāna.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:8
text: The Great Struggle is divided into mastery over passions, suppression of sinful
thoughts, meditation on seven kinds of Wisdom, and fixed attention.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:9
text: The notes identify eighty and seven as lucky numbers and thirty-six as a sacred
number.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:10
text: The note refers to thirty-two good omens at the Buddha’s birth in an earlier
passage.
category: other
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Sakka
description: Archangel whose seat becomes warm at critical moments and who may descend
to intervene.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Vissakamma
description: Called the Buddhist Vulcan; may be sent by Sakka to set matters right.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Superhuman Snakes
description: Superhuman beings said to be able to assume the appearance of men.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Winged Creatures
description: Superhuman beings said to be able to assume the appearance of men.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Nāgas
description: Named together with Yakkhas and Supaṇṇas in the note on supernatural
beings.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Yakkhas
description: Beings characterized in the Jātaka stories by cannibalism, invisibility,
human shape, and red eyes.
role_refs:
- role:2
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Female Yakkhas
description: Female Yakkhas are described as luring men to destruction like sirens.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Supaṇṇas
description: Named together with Nāgas and Yakkhas in the note on supernatural beings.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: Gotama
description: Named in connection with Buddhist theory and the Great Struggle.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
roles:
- id: role:1
label: divine intervener
assigned_to:
- fig:1
- fig:2
basis: Sakka descends or sends Vissakamma at critical moments to put things straight.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: shape-assuming supernatural being
assigned_to:
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
- fig:8
basis: The notes describe Snakes and Winged Creatures as able to assume human appearance,
and Yakkhas as invisible until assuming human shape.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: role:3
label: dangerous luring being
assigned_to:
- fig:6
- fig:7
basis: Yakkhas are characterized by cannibalism; female Yakkhas lure men to destruction.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:4
label: religious exemplar in later doctrinal framing
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: The note says the biographer ascribes to Gotama knowledge of the whole Buddhist
theory from the beginning.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: warming seat
literal_form: Sakka’s seat becoming warm
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:2
label: fire
literal_form: fires and troubles; houses on fire
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: sym:3
label: serpent or Nāga beings
literal_form: superhuman Snakes; Nāgas
associated_figures:
- fig:3
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs:
- serpent
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: sym:4
label: red eyes
literal_form: red eyes identifying Yakkhas in human shape
associated_figures:
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:5
label: sacred and lucky numbers
literal_form: eighty, seven, thirty-six, thirty-two omens
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Sakka’s crisis intervention pattern
summary: At important religious crises, Sakka’s seat warms, prompting Sakka to descend
or send Vissakamma to remedy the situation.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Nirvāna and the imagery of extinguished fire
summary: Nirvāna is explained as peace reached by extinction of fires and troubles,
while forms of existence are glossed as houses on fire.
figure_refs: []
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: scene:3
label: Supernatural beings taking human form
summary: Superhuman Snakes, Winged Creatures, and Yakkhas are described as beings
that can take human appearance; Yakkhas remain identifiable by red eyes.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
- fig:8
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: scene:4
label: The Great Struggle as Buddhist moral training
summary: The Great Struggle is explained as discipline for overcoming delusion and
sin and attaining Nirvāna, with four listed components.
figure_refs:
- fig:9
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Divine intervention triggered by a crisis sign
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Sakka’s warm seat signals critical moments and leads to divine intervention
by Sakka or Vissakamma.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
confidence: high
cautions: The passage is an explanatory footnote rather than a full narrative episode.
- id: motif:2
label: Liberation as extinguishing fire
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The note links Nirvāna with extinction of fires and troubles and describes
worldly existence as houses on fire.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
confidence: medium
cautions: The fire language is doctrinal explanation and metaphorical gloss, not
a complete mythic episode.
- id: motif:3
label: Supernatural shapeshifters in human form
taxonomy_refs:
- shapeshifter
- serpent
basis: Snakes, Winged Creatures, and Yakkhas are described as supernatural beings
able to assume human appearance.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: The note generalizes across Jātaka stories rather than narrating a specific
instance.
- id: motif:4
label: Destructive female lure
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Female Yakkhas are described as luring men to destruction like sirens.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
confidence: medium
cautions: The comparison to sirens is the translator’s explanatory wording; details
of any individual lure episode are not present here.
- id: motif:5
label: Moral struggle toward liberation
taxonomy_refs:
- mystical_quest
- wisdom
basis: The Great Struggle is described as overcoming delusion and sin through disciplined
effort and attaining Nirvāna.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: This is doctrinal and ascetic training language, not a plotted quest narrative
in this passage.
- id: motif:6
label: Auspicious and sacred numbers
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Several numbers are explicitly called lucky or sacred, and thirty-two good
omens at the Buddha’s birth are referenced.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage gives notes on numerical value but does not elaborate symbolic
meanings.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage explicitly likens female Yakkhas to sirens in their function
of luring men to destruction.
claim_level: same_function
target: sirens as destructive female lurers
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: This is a translator’s brief explanatory comparison and does not establish
historical contact or shared origin.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 16589-16594, footnote [191]
quote_or_summary: At critical moments in religious legends, Sakka’s seat becomes
warm; he descends or sends Vissakamma, the Buddhist Vulcan, to act as a deus ex
machina.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized with brief phrase.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 16595-16608, footnote [192]
quote_or_summary: Nirvāna is explained as a lasting state of happiness and peace
reached by extinction of the passage’s fires and troubles.
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: quote
locator: lines 16610-16614, footnote [193]
quote_or_summary: "“The three Bhavas seemed like houses on fire.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 16634-16636, footnote [197]
quote_or_summary: The superhuman Snakes and Winged Creatures are said to be able,
like gods or angels, to assume the appearance of men.
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 16653-16660, footnote [201]
quote_or_summary: Nāgas, Yakkhas, and Supaṇṇas are named; Yakkhas are characterized
by cannibalism, female Yakkhas lure men to destruction like sirens, and Yakkhas
are invisible until they assume human shape but are recognized by red eyes.
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: summary
locator: lines 16639-16652, footnote [199]
quote_or_summary: 'The Great Struggle is moral training: mastery over passions,
suppression of sinful thoughts, meditation on seven kinds of Wisdom, and fixed
attention, leading to overcoming delusion and sin and attaining Nirvāna.'
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:7
type: summary
locator: lines 16555-16556 and 16578-16580, footnotes [183], [186]
quote_or_summary: Eighty and seven are identified as lucky numbers; thirty-six is
described as a sacred number.
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:8
type: summary
locator: line 16665, footnote [204]
quote_or_summary: The note refers the reader to thirty-two good omens at the Buddha’s
birth in an earlier passage.
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: medium
notes: The passage consists of translator footnotes rather than continuous mythic
narrative, so several motif candidates are based on generalized explanatory statements.
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 taxonomy IDs were added beyond the supplied available taxonomy references.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:buddhist-jataka-birth-stories-rhys-davids-gutenberg__l16555-l16665
passage_sha256=1ef83ed65d18d76be55394a98df86ec9e329e0934cca7ef116a11b2cbb4e141f