batch.motif.buddhist-jataka-birth-stories-rhys-davids-gutenberg-l7473-l7594
---
record_id: batch.motif.buddhist-jataka-birth-stories-rhys-davids-gutenberg-l7473-l7594
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
passage_locator:
label: TABLE VIII. / THE DISTANT EPOCH. / GLORY BE TO THE BLESSED, THE HOLY, THE
ALL-WISE ONE. / BOOK I.; lines 7473-7594
start: '7473'
end: '7594'
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 opening frame of Jātaka No. 1 describes Anātha Piṇḍika bringing five
hundred heretical friends to Jetavana, where they hear the Buddha preach, abandon
their former refuge, and take refuge in the Buddha. After the Buddha leaves for
Rājagaha they return to their former beliefs, but when he comes back Anātha Piṇḍika
brings them again. The Buddha asks them about abandoning the Three Refuges, praises
the incomparable qualities of the Buddha and the Three Gems, warns that rejecting
them is wrong, and states that those who take refuge in the Buddha, the Truth,
and the Order avoid rebirth in places of punishment and may attain heavenly rebirth
and progress on the paths through meditation.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: Anātha Piṇḍika brings five hundred heretics, described as his friends, to
Jetavana with offerings including garlands, perfumes, ointments, oil, honey, molasses,
clothes, and vestments.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: Anātha Piṇḍika salutes the Blessed One, offers gifts to him, gives medicines
and clothes to the Order of Mendicants, and sits respectfully near the Teacher.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: The five hundred followers of wrong belief salute the Blessed One and sit
near Anātha Piṇḍika.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: The Teacher is described with a full-moon-like countenance, marks of honour,
brightness around his person, and paired clustering rays issuing from him.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:5
text: The Teacher preaches in a powerful and pleasant voice, and the hearers are
pleased at heart.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: obs:6
text: After hearing the discourse, the five hundred abandon wrong belief as their
refuge and take refuge in the Buddha.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:7
text: After the Blessed One leaves Sāvatthi for Rājagaha, the former converts give
up that faith, trust again in heresy, and return to their former condition.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:8
text: When the Blessed One returns to Jetavana after seven or eight months, Anātha
Piṇḍika brings the men again and reports their relapse.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:9
text: The Blessed One asks whether they have given up the Three Refuges and gone
for refuge to another faith; they admit that this is true.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:10
text: The Teacher states that no one in hell, heaven, or the countless world-systems
is like a Buddha in goodness and wisdom.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:11
text: The Teacher says those who take refuge in the Three Gems will not be born
in hell, will be freed from rebirth in places of punishment, and will be reborn
in heaven.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:12
text: Quoted verses state separately that those who trust in Buddha, the Truth,
and the Order will not go to a world of pain and will enter a heavenly body after
death.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:13
text: A cited verse contrasts many refuges, including mountains and forest, with
a refuge that frees from every pain.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: obs:14
text: The Teacher says meditation on the Buddha, the Truth, and the Order gives
entrance and fruit of the First through Fourth Paths.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: obs:15
text: A cited passage says meditation on the Buddhas leads to disenchantment with
worldly vanities, ending of longings, peace of mind, higher knowledge, complete
enlightenment, and Nirvāna.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: The Blessed One / Teacher / Buddha
description: The speaker at Jetavana, described as radiant, incomparable in goodness
and wisdom, and preaching the discourse on the True.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:11
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Anātha Piṇḍika the merchant
description: A merchant who brings five hundred heretical friends to Jetavana, makes
offerings, sits respectfully near the Teacher, and later reports their relapse.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:5
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Five hundred heretics / followers of wrong belief
description: Friends of Anātha Piṇḍika who hear the Teacher, take refuge in the
Buddha, later return to their former belief, and admit abandoning the Three Refuges.
role_refs:
- role:3
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:6
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Order of Mendicants
description: The mendicant community receiving medicines and clothes from Anātha
Piṇḍika; also named as one of the refuges in later cited verses under the term
Order.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:9
roles:
- id: role:1
label: Preaching teacher
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The Blessed One delivers the discourse and instructs the hearers about refuge,
the Three Gems, and meditation.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:6
- ev:8
- ev:11
- id: role:2
label: Donor and mediator
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: Anātha Piṇḍika brings the five hundred men to Jetavana, gives offerings,
and reports their conduct to the Blessed One.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:5
- id: role:3
label: Hearers who take refuge
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The five hundred hear the Teacher’s discourse, bow, give up wrong belief
as refuge, and take refuge in the Buddha.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:4
label: Relapsed disciples
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: After the Blessed One leaves, they give up that faith and return to their
former heresy; when questioned, they admit abandoning the Three Refuges.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:6
- id: role:5
label: Incomparable wise being
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The Teacher states that no one in hell, heaven, or the world-systems is like
a Buddha in goodness and wisdom.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:6
label: Recipient community and refuge
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The Order receives gifts and is later named with the Buddha and Truth as
a refuge in the cited verses.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:9
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: Three Refuges / Three Gems
literal_form: Buddha, Truth, and Order as named refuges or gems
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:8
- ev:9
- ev:11
- id: sym:2
label: Radiant Buddha body
literal_form: Full-moon-like countenance, marks of honour, surrounding brightness,
and paired clustering rays
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:3
label: Offerings at Jetavana
literal_form: Garlands, perfumes, ointments, oil, honey, molasses, clothes, vestments,
medicines
associated_figures:
- fig:2
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:4
label: Hell and heaven
literal_form: Hell, places of punishment, heaven, heavenly body, and world of pain
as stated destinations or avoided destinations
associated_figures:
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: sym:5
label: Mountain refuge
literal_form: Mountains named among many refuges in a cited verse
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs:
- mountain
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: sym:6
label: Forest refuge
literal_form: Forest named among many refuges in a cited verse
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Visit to Jetavana with offerings
summary: Anātha Piṇḍika brings five hundred heretical friends and many offerings
to Jetavana, salutes the Blessed One, gives gifts to him and to the Order, and
sits respectfully.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: Radiant preaching and initial conversion
summary: The five hundred see the Teacher’s radiant appearance, hear his powerful
and pleasant discourse, become pleased, bow, abandon wrong belief as their refuge,
and take refuge in the Buddha.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: scene:3
label: Relapse after the Teacher departs
summary: After the Blessed One leaves Sāvatthi for Rājagaha, the men give up the
faith they had taken and return to their former trust in heresy.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: scene:4
label: Return to Jetavana and admission
summary: When the Blessed One returns after seven or eight months, Anātha Piṇḍika
brings the men again, reports their relapse, and the Blessed One asks whether
they have left the Three Refuges; they admit it.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: scene:5
label: Teaching on refuge, rebirth, and meditation
summary: The Teacher praises the Buddha and the Three Gems, states that those who
take refuge in them avoid hell and places of punishment, cites verses on heavenly
rebirth, contrasts other refuges such as mountains and forest, and says meditation
on the Buddha, Truth, and Order gives the Paths and leads toward Nirvāna.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:4
- sym:5
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
- ev:10
- ev:11
- ev:12
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Taking refuge after hearing sacred teaching
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The five hundred hear the Teacher’s discourse, give up wrong belief as their
refuge, and take refuge in the Buddha.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
confidence: high
cautions: The taxonomy reference is broad; the passage frames the change as refuge
and response to teaching rather than as a named comparative motif.
- id: motif:2
label: Relapse and restoration of faith
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: After initially taking refuge, the men return to their former belief when
the Teacher departs; when he returns, they are brought back and questioned about
abandoning the Three Refuges.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: No specific external motif family is asserted by the passage.
- id: motif:3
label: Safe refuge prevents painful rebirth
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The Teacher states that disciples who take refuge in the Three Gems will
not be born in hell or places of punishment, and cited verses say such persons
will not go to a world of pain but will enter a heavenly body.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
confidence: high
cautions: The passage gives doctrinal claims about rebirth rather than a narrated
afterlife journey.
- id: motif:4
label: Meditation on sacred objects of refuge leads to enlightenment
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The Teacher says meditation on the Buddha, Truth, and Order gives the entrance
and fruit of the first four Paths, and a cited passage says meditation on the
Buddhas leads to higher knowledge, complete enlightenment, and Nirvāna.
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- ev:12
confidence: high
cautions: The passage is instructional and doctrinal, not a mythic quest narrative.
- id: motif:5
label: False or insufficient refuges contrasted with liberating refuge
taxonomy_refs:
- mountain
basis: A cited verse says people go to many refuges, including mountains and forest,
and then refers to a refuge by which they are freed from every pain.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
confidence: medium
cautions: The intervening omitted lines are not supplied; the exact contrast is
only partially visible in the provided passage.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 7481-7489
quote_or_summary: Anātha Piṇḍika takes five hundred heretical friends and offerings
to Jetavana, salutes the Blessed One, offers gifts, gives medicines and clothes
to the Order, and sits respectfully.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summary generated from supplied passage.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 7489-7501
quote_or_summary: The followers salute the Blessed One; they see his full-moon-like
countenance, marks, surrounding brightness, and paired rays; he preaches in a
powerful, sweet, and pleasant voice.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summary generated from supplied passage.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 7503-7510
quote_or_summary: After hearing the Teacher’s discourse, the men are pleased, bow
to the One Mighty by Wisdom, give up wrong belief as refuge, take refuge in the
Buddha, and thereafter attend the Wihāra with offerings and observances.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summary generated from supplied passage.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 7512-7516
quote_or_summary: When the Blessed One goes from Sāvatthi to Rājagaha, the men give
up that faith, put their trust again in heresy, and return to their former condition.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summary generated from supplied passage.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 7518-7525
quote_or_summary: After seven or eight months the Blessed One returns to Jetavana;
Anātha Piṇḍika brings the men again, gives gifts, bows, and reports that they
broke their faith and resumed their former condition.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summary generated from supplied passage.
- id: ev:6
type: quote
locator: lines 7527-7534
quote_or_summary: "“Is it true, then, that you, my disciples, giving up the Three
Refuges, have gone for refuge to another faith?” They answer, “It is true, O Blessed
One!”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; short excerpt from supplied passage.
- id: ev:7
type: quote
locator: lines 7536-7540
quote_or_summary: "“Not in hell beneath, nor in heaven above, nor beyond in the
countless world-systems of the universe, is there any one like to a Buddha in
goodness and wisdom.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; short excerpt from supplied passage.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: lines 7545-7551
quote_or_summary: The Teacher says that men or women who take refuge in the Three
Gems will not be born in hell, will be freed from birth in places of punishment,
will be reborn in heaven, and that these hearers did wrong by leaving so safe
a refuge.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summary generated from supplied passage.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: lines 7553-7569
quote_or_summary: Three cited verses say those who put trust in Buddha, the Truth,
and the Order will not go to a world of pain and, after putting off the mortal
coil, will enter a heavenly body.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summary generated from supplied passage.
- id: ev:10
type: quote
locator: lines 7571-7576
quote_or_summary: "“They go to many a refuge-- / To the mountains and the forest....”
and the supplied continuation ends, “They are freed from every pain.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; short excerpt from supplied passage.
- id: ev:11
type: summary
locator: lines 7578-7583
quote_or_summary: The Teacher says meditation on the Buddha, the Truth, and the
Order gives the Entrance and Fruit of the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Paths,
and says they did wrong to reject such salvation.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summary generated from supplied passage.
- id: ev:12
type: summary
locator: lines 7585-7594
quote_or_summary: A cited passage says one practice, meditation on the Buddhas,
leads to weariness of worldly vanities, the end of longings, destruction of excitement,
peace of mind, higher knowledge, complete enlightenment, and Nirvāna.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summary generated from supplied passage.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: uncertain
notes: The narrative frame, figures, and doctrinal claims are explicit in the supplied
passage. Motif labels are candidate descriptions only; no external comparison
claims are made because the passage itself does not establish historical or cross-traditional
comparison.
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: |-
Used only the supplied passage and metadata. Taxonomy refs were limited to available terms and applied only where directly supportable.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:buddhist-jataka-birth-stories-rhys-davids-gutenberg__l7473-l7594
passage_sha256=a9e9de395491b7286e9df5efe6393778b2e2d07a4a34ceb56f5fc54a6e77a7c0