batch.motif.buddhist-jataka-birth-stories-rhys-davids-gutenberg-l7876-l7994
---
record_id: batch.motif.buddhist-jataka-birth-stories-rhys-davids-gutenberg-l7876-l7994
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
passage_locator:
label: THE DISTANT EPOCH. / GLORY BE TO THE BLESSED, THE HOLY, THE ALL-WISE ONE.
/ BOOK I. / END OF THE STORY ON HOLDING TO THE TRUTH.; lines 7876-7994
start: '7876'
end: '7994'
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: A mendicant abandons meditation after failing to gain insight. The Buddha
admonishes him by recalling a former birth in which the same being, then a merchant
leader, showed determination in a deadly sandy desert. The past story begins with
a caravan of five hundred carts crossing a hot desert by night under a star-guided
pilot. After the pilot falls asleep, the caravan unknowingly returns to its former
camp, with water and wood gone. While the others despair, the Bodisat refuses
to lose heart, notices Kusa-grass, and infers that water lies beneath it.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: A young man hears the Teacher at Jetavana, becomes converted, enters the Order,
and after five years receives a meditation subject.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: After three months in the forest without attaining insight, the mendicant
concludes he is of the lowest class and returns to Jetavana.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: The mendicant’s friends say he has abandoned religious solitude and bring
him to the Buddha.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: The Buddha says the mendicant has given up trying, though formerly his energy
alone enabled the men and bullocks of five hundred waggons to obtain water in
the sandy desert and be saved.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: In the past narrative, the future Buddha is born in a merchant’s family and
travels for trade with five hundred carts.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:6
text: The sandy desert is described as twenty leagues across, with sand too fine
to hold in a closed fist and too hot after sunrise for people to walk on.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:7
text: Travellers cross the desert at night, carry wood, water, oil, and rice, camp
at daybreak under an awning, and use a land-pilot who guides by the stars.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:8
text: Near the end of the crossing, the merchant orders the wood and water to be
thrown away, expecting to leave the sand after one more night.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:9
text: The pilot lies on the foremost cart looking at the stars, falls asleep, and
does not notice that the oxen turn back along the same road.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:10
text: At dawn the caravan discovers it has returned to the previous encampment and
that its wood and water are gone.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:11
text: The men declare themselves lost, unyoke the oxen, spread the canopy, and lie
despondently under the waggons.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:12
text: The Bodisat says to himself that if he loses heart all will perish, walks
about while it is still cool, sees a tuft of Kusa-grass, and infers that water
must be beneath it.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: The Blessed One / Teacher / Buddha
description: The religious teacher at Jetavana who addresses the mendicants and
recounts the former-birth story.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Mendicant without perseverance
description: A young man of good family who enters the Order, practices meditation,
fails to gain insight, and gives up the attempt.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Friends and intimates of the mendicant
description: Fellow mendicants who challenge the returning brother and bring him
to the Buddha.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Future Buddha / Bodisat / merchant
description: In the former-birth narrative, he is born in a merchant’s family, leads
trade with five hundred carts, refuses to lose heart in the desert, and looks
for water.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:6
- ev:8
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Land-pilot
description: A guide chosen for the desert crossing who directs the caravan by observing
the stars but falls asleep.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Caravan men
description: Men travelling with the five hundred carts; after returning to the
old camp, they despair and lie under their waggons.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:7
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Bullocks / oxen
description: Draft animals for the carts; in the frame they are said to have been
saved, and in the past story they turn back while the pilot sleeps.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Brahma-datta
description: King reigning in Benares in the country of Kāsi at the opening of the
former-birth narrative.
role_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
roles:
- id: role:1
label: Teacher and revealer of past-birth example
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: He questions the mendicant, admonishes him, and makes manifest a concealed
thing through change of birth.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: role:2
label: Discouraged renunciant
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: He abandons forest meditation after failing to attain insight and admits
he has given up trying.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: role:3
label: Community admonishers
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: They criticize the brother’s return to social intercourse and take him to
the Buddha.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:4
label: Determined caravan leader
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: He leads the trading caravan and, when others despair, resolves not to lose
heart because all would perish.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:8
- id: role:5
label: Star-guided desert navigator
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: He is chosen as land-pilot and guides the caravan by knowledge of the stars.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: role:6
label: Endangered caravan dependents
assigned_to:
- fig:6
- fig:7
basis: The Buddha says the men and bullocks of five hundred waggons were saved through
the former determination, and the past story shows them stranded without water.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:7
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: Water
literal_form: Carried water discarded before the final night; water later inferred
beneath Kusa-grass.
associated_figures:
- fig:4
- fig:6
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- id: sym:2
label: Sandy desert
literal_form: A hot, fine-sanded desert crossed by night like a sea voyage.
associated_figures:
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:3
label: Stars
literal_form: Celestial signs used by the land-pilot to direct the caravan.
associated_figures:
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: sym:4
label: Kusa-grass
literal_form: A tuft of Kusa-grass seen by the Bodisat and read as evidence of water
below.
associated_figures:
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: sym:5
label: Five hundred carts / waggons
literal_form: The caravan vehicles used in the past-birth trading journey.
associated_figures:
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:7
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Mendicant abandons forest practice
summary: A novice mendicant practices meditation in the forest for three months,
fails to obtain insight, concludes he is incapable, and returns to Jetavana.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:1
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Community brings the mendicant before the Buddha
summary: The mendicant’s companions rebuke him for abandoning effort and bring him
to the Buddha, who asks whether he has given up trying.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: Buddha introduces a former-birth example
summary: The Buddha tells the mendicant that formerly he was determined, and that
by his energy the men and bullocks of five hundred waggons obtained water in a
sandy desert and were saved.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:4
- fig:6
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: scene:4
label: Caravan crossing the desert
summary: In the past story, the future Buddha as a merchant travels with five hundred
carts through a dangerous sandy desert by night, using supplies and a star-guided
land-pilot.
figure_refs:
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
- fig:7
- fig:8
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
- sym:3
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: scene:5
label: The sleeping pilot and return to the old camp
summary: Expecting to leave the desert, the caravan discards wood and water, but
the pilot falls asleep and the oxen return along the same road; at dawn the caravan
finds itself back at the previous camp without supplies.
figure_refs:
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
- sym:3
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: scene:6
label: Bodisat refuses despair and reads the grass sign
summary: While others despair, the Bodisat resolves not to lose heart, searches
in the cool morning, sees Kusa-grass, and infers hidden water beneath it.
figure_refs:
- fig:4
- fig:6
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Discouraged practitioner restored by exemplary past-life perseverance
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The Buddha uses the mendicant’s former determination in a desert crisis to
strengthen his present resolve after he has abandoned meditative effort.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage gives the beginning of the exemplary story but not its conclusion
within this line range.
- id: motif:2
label: Caravan lost in deadly desert through failed navigation
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: A caravan crossing a dangerous sandy desert depends on a star-guided pilot;
when he sleeps, the oxen turn back and the caravan is stranded without wood or
water.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: This is a narrative pattern described literally in the passage; no external
motif index is asserted.
- id: motif:3
label: Persevering leader detects hidden water from a natural sign
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: When the caravan despairs, the Bodisat refuses to lose heart, sees Kusa-grass,
and reasons that water must lie beneath it.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
confidence: medium
cautions: The actual uncovering of water is anticipated by the frame but not narrated
in the provided passage segment.
- id: motif:4
label: Water as survival in a barren crossing
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The caravan’s water supply is essential for desert travel, is discarded too
early, and its absence causes despair; the Bodisat then seeks signs of water.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
confidence: high
cautions: This is a passage-level symbolic pattern rather than a named taxonomy
motif family.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 7884-7904
quote_or_summary: A young man at Jetavana hears the Teacher, enters the Order, practices
meditation, spends three months in the forest without attaining insight, concludes
he is incapable, and returns to Jetavana.
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 7906-7929
quote_or_summary: The mendicant’s companions rebuke him for returning from solitude
and bring him to the Buddha; the Buddha asks whether he has given up trying, and
he says that it is true.
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 7931-7949
quote_or_summary: The Buddha says the mendicant was formerly full of determination
and that by his energy alone the men and bullocks of five hundred waggons obtained
water in the sandy desert and were saved; the mendicants ask to hear how this
happened.
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 7953-7957
quote_or_summary: In the former-birth story, when Brahma-datta reigns in Benares,
the future Buddha is born in a merchant’s family and later travels for trade with
five hundred carts.
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 7958-7972
quote_or_summary: The desert is twenty leagues across, with very fine and burning
hot sand; travellers carry supplies, travel at night, rest under shade by day,
and choose a land-pilot who guides by the stars like a voyage over the sea.
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 7974-7983
quote_or_summary: After nearly completing the crossing, the merchant orders wood
and water thrown away; the pilot lies on the foremost cart looking at the stars,
falls asleep, and fails to notice that the oxen have turned back.
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 7984-7990
quote_or_summary: At dawn the pilot stops the waggons; the men recognize the previous
encampment, say their wood and water are gone and they are lost, then lie despondently
under their waggons.
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: lines 7991-7994
quote_or_summary: The Bodisat thinks that if he loses heart all will perish, walks
while the morning is cool, sees Kusa-grass, and reasons that water must be beneath
it.
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: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: high
notes: The passage is clear for figures, scenes, water/desert symbols, and the perseverance
pattern. The narrative segment ends before the water is actually obtained, so
related motif candidates are limited to what is stated or forecast in the frame.
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 supplied passage does not itself support a specific cross-tradition or external comparative claim.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:buddhist-jataka-birth-stories-rhys-davids-gutenberg__l7876-l7994
passage_sha256=00e72c244f70510d42142524408789348b2bdc93b78317632e98476e0e22ef1b