batch.motif.buddhist-jataka-birth-stories-rhys-davids-gutenberg-l7996-l8036
---
record_id: batch.motif.buddhist-jataka-birth-stories-rhys-davids-gutenberg-l7996-l8036
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 7996-8036
start: '7996'
end: '8036'
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 caravan digs deeply for water but stops at a rock. The Bodisat hears
water beneath it and urges his page not to give up. The page strikes the rock,
water rises, and the caravan survives, prospers, and returns home. The Buddha
then states a verse about firm resolve and continuing effort, declares the Four
Truths, and identifies the past-life figures in the Jātaka connection.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The group digs sixty cubits deep before striking a rock and giving up in despair.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The Bodisat descends into the well, tests the stone by sound, and hears water
beneath it.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: The Bodisat tells his page that if he gives up, all will be lost, and orders
him to strike the rock with an iron hammer.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: The page goes down with determination and strikes the stone.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: The rock splits, no longer blocks the stream, and water rises in the well.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:6
text: The people drink and bathe, cook rice, feed their oxen, set up a flag by the
well, sell their merchandise profitably, return home, and live to old age.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:7
text: The Buddha gives a verse about firm resolve, continued effort, and finding
rest for the heart.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:8
text: After the discourse, the despairing priest is established in Arahatship, identified
parenthetically as Nirvāna.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:9
text: The Teacher identifies the page as the present brother without perseverance,
the other men as attendants on the Buddha, and the caravan leader as himself.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Bodisat / caravan leader
description: The figure who believes water lies under the rock, tests the sound,
instructs the page, later gives gifts and performs virtuous acts, and is identified
by the Teacher as himself in a former birth.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:4
- ev:7
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: page / lad
description: The attendant who obeys the Bodisat, descends into the pit, strikes
the stone, and is later identified as the brother without perseverance.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:7
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: diggers and caravan men
description: The group who dig, despair after striking rock, later drink and bathe
in the water, eat, feed the oxen, trade, and return home; the other men are identified
as attendants on the Buddha.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:7
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Buddha / Teacher
description: The figure who tells the story, utters the verse, declares the Four
Truths, and forms the Jātaka connection.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: despairing priest / brother without perseverance
description: The listener who is established in Arahatship after the discourse and
is connected with the page in the former-birth story.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
roles:
- id: role:1
label: resource-finding leader
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: He infers water beneath the rock, tests it, and directs the decisive action.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:2
label: obedient breaker of the obstacle
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: He obeys the instruction, descends into the pit, and strikes the rock so
that water can rise.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:3
label: despairing beneficiaries
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: They give up when the spade strikes rock, then later drink, bathe, eat, trade,
and return home.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:4
- id: role:4
label: teacher and interpreter
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: He tells the story, gives the verse, declares the Four Truths, and explains
the former-birth identities.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: role:5
label: former-birth self of the Buddha
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The Teacher says the caravan leader was himself.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:6
label: listener brought to attainment
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: The despairing priest is established in the highest Fruit, Arahatship, after
the discourse.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: water beneath rock
literal_form: Water gurgling beneath the stone and rising in the well after the
rock is split.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: sym:2
label: blocking rock
literal_form: A rock struck by the diggers' spade and later split in two by the
page's blow.
associated_figures:
- fig:2
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- id: sym:3
label: iron hammer
literal_form: The hammer given by the Bodisat to the page for striking the rock.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:4
label: well
literal_form: The dug pit or well in which the stone blocks the stream and where
water rises.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: sym:5
label: flag by the well
literal_form: A flag set up by the well at sunset after the group has found and
used the water.
associated_figures:
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: digging reaches an obstacle
summary: The group digs sixty cubits and stops in despair when the spade strikes
rock.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Bodisat detects hidden water
summary: The Bodisat enters the well, tests the stone by sound, hears water beneath
it, and instructs the page to strike the rock without losing heart.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
- sym:3
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: rock split and water released
summary: The page strikes the stone; the rock splits, the stream is unblocked, and
water rises in the well.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: scene:4
label: survival, profit, and return
summary: The caravan drinks, bathes, cooks, feeds the oxen, marks the well with
a flag, trades profitably, returns home, and lives to old age.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: scene:5
label: Buddha's moral verse and attainment
summary: The Buddha states the lesson of firm resolve and continuing effort, declares
the Four Truths, and the despairing priest attains Arahatship.
figure_refs:
- fig:4
- fig:5
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: scene:6
label: Jātaka identity connection
summary: The Teacher identifies the page, the other men, and the caravan leader
with present figures.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: perseverance through obstacle reveals life-sustaining resource
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The narrative contrasts despair with the Bodisat's inference and the page's
continued effort, leading to water and survival; the verse explicitly generalizes
this as firm resolve and continued effort.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: The taxonomy reference is broad; the passage's explicit emphasis is perseverance
and effort rather than wisdom alone.
- id: motif:2
label: hidden water released from beneath stone
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Water is heard beneath a rock, the rock is split, and the stream rises in
the well.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
confidence: medium
cautions: No specific supplied motif family directly corresponds to this literal
pattern; it is recorded as a candidate passage motif without a taxonomy reference.
- id: motif:3
label: didactic past-life identification
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: After telling the story, the Teacher maps figures in the past episode to
present religious figures and the Buddha himself.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
confidence: medium
cautions: This is a Jātaka narrative frame pattern rather than a motif family listed
in the supplied taxonomy.
- id: motif:4
label: teaching brings listener to liberation
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: After the Buddha's discourse and declaration of the Four Truths, the despairing
priest is established in Arahatship.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage states attainment after teaching, but the supplied taxonomy
has no specific liberation or enlightenment motif family beyond the broad wisdom
category.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 7996-8000
quote_or_summary: The group brings a hoe, digs sixty cubits, strikes a rock with
the spade, and gives up in despair.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary used.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 8001-8009
quote_or_summary: The Bodisat reasons that water must be under the rock, enters
the well, listens to the stone, hears water gurgling beneath, and tells his page
not to lose heart but to strike the rock with an iron hammer.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary used.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 8010-8015
quote_or_summary: The page obeys, goes down determinedly, strikes the stone, the
rock splits and falls below, the stream is unblocked, and water rises to the height
of a palm-tree in the well.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary used.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 8015-8022
quote_or_summary: The group drinks, bathes, cooks rice using extra yokes and axles,
feeds the oxen, sets up a flag by the well, trades profitably, returns home, lives
to old age, and passes away according to deeds; the Bodisat gives gifts and performs
virtuous acts.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary used.
- id: ev:5
type: quote
locator: lines 8023-8029
quote_or_summary: '"The men of firm resolve dug on into the sand... And so the wise,
strong by continuing effort, / Finds--if he weary not--Rest for his heart!"'
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:6
type: summary
locator: lines 8030-8033
quote_or_summary: After the discourse, the Buddha declares the Four Truths, and
the despairing priest is established in the highest Fruit, Arahatship, identified
as Nirvāna.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary used.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 8034-8036
quote_or_summary: 'The Teacher forms the Jātaka connection: the page who broke the
stone was the brother without perseverance, the other men were attendants on the
Buddha, and the caravan leader was the Teacher himself.'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary used.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: uncertain
notes: Literal sequence and figures are explicit. Motif assignments are cautious
because the supplied taxonomy lacks a precise category for perseverance releasing
hidden water or the Jātaka identity 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 passage itself does not support comparison to another text, tradition, or motif family beyond internal didactic generalization.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:buddhist-jataka-birth-stories-rhys-davids-gutenberg__l7996-l8036
passage_sha256=ff9a3494cf1746889b909eeb484a97d8fd508c0061782c1edac2dce0d1a60700