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This incident, called praṇidhâna or the vow to become a Buddha, is frequently represented in the frescoes found in Central Asia. The history of this career is given in the introduction to the Jâtaka and in the late Pali work called the Cariyâ-piṭaka, but the suttas make little reference to the topic.
This is derived from the Karma Jataka, which was possibly the ultimate source of the whole series of tales. In some cases the bystander who restores equilibrium is alone; in most instances there are three of them; the first two having suffered from man's ingratitude see no reason for interfering. This is the "common form" which I have adopted in my version.
"The illuminating Buddha," the twenty-fourth predecessor of Sakyamuni, and who, so long before, gave him the assurance that he would by-and-by be Buddha. See Jataka Tales, p. 23. It is called a "pewter staff" from having on it a head and rings and pewter. These were the "marks and beauties" on the person of a supreme Buddha. Probably="all Buddhas." The number may appear too great.
This also is a Jataka story; but Eitel thinks it may be a myth, constructed from the story of the blinding of Dharma-vivardhana. Seven days' journey from this to the east brought the travellers to the kingdom of Takshasila, which means "the severed head" in the language of China.
Then, when he passed away, he appeared in the Tushita heaven, to enter in due time the womb of Maha-maya, and be born as Sakyamuni. I take the name Sama from Beal's revised version. He says in a note that the Sama Jataka, as well as the Vessantara, is represented in the Sanchi sculptures. But what the Sama Jataka was I do not yet know.
Such are the Buddha-vaṃsa, or lives of Gotama and his twenty-four predecessors, the Cariyâ-Piṭaka, a selection of Jâtaka stories about Gotama's previous births and the Vimâna and Peta-vatthus, accounts of celestial mansions and of the distressful existence led by those who are condemned to be ghosts .
Geyya: mixed prose and verse. 3. Gâthâ: verse. 4. Udâna: ecstatic utterances. 5. Veyyâkaraṇa: explanation. 6. Itivuttaka: sayings beginning with the phrase "Thus said the Buddha." 7. Jâtaka: stories of former births. 8. Abbhutadhamma: stories of wonders. 9. Vedalla: a word of doubtful meaning, but perhaps questions and answers.
It took him, indeed, seven days travelling eastwards to reach it; but we do not know what stoppages he may have made on the way. We must be wary in reckoning distances from his specifications of days. Two Jataka stories. See the account of the latter in Spence Hardy's "Manual of Buddhism," pp. 91, 92.
Now the little Chinaman began his stories with words like these, for most Jataka stories so begin: "Once upon a time in the days of Buddha-Atta in Benares." To-night Lucy began her tale in nearly the same manner the words sounded so fine. "Once on a time, after the days of Buddha-Atta in Benares, there was a little Chinese boy who was born a wang, which is a king.
"And in their own country they found that every one had become rich and happy, and that people flew about like birds, and that the sun shone in the night. And!" she added, "isn't that a Jataka story?" Lucy's mother seemed much pleased, also astonished; but Sky-High said nothing for some time. "Do you think me a wang?" asked he, at last.
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