A brief introduction to the Jatakas: I suppose it’s not really something most of us Buddhists think about much, but the Buddha, who was superduppermegga awesome in his final life,  took awhile to get there. In fact, the Jataka Tales, which recount the past lives of the Buddha-to-be, have around 550 stories — not exactly instant enlightenment huh?  

To me, it’s pretty heartening really, even the Buddha had to follow a path, perfecting himself along the way, till he became his ultimate awesome self. For someone who usually feels like the fact that I’m not there yet (i.e. enlightened) means I will never ever get there, the Jatakas are pretty darn inspirational.

Anyway, this blog is a brief one about a single moment from a single jataka — the Mahajanaka Jataka — that really touched me. For context, this is the Buddha-to-be’s 9th from last life, after a long arduous journey involving a shipwreck and goddess style saving, the passing of some perilous tests and riddles, and the marriage to a lovely queen, Mahajanaka (soon to be Buddha) becomes the just and beloved king of his homeland, bringing us to the moment of my blog…

The Blog: One day, King Mahajanaka decided to take a walk in one of his gardens.  He came to a place where 2 mango trees stood, one was lush and green, but bore no fruit. The other had a ton of fruit and the king decided to gather a few mangos to eat. They were super delicious so, he thought to himself, “at the end of my stroll, I’ll come back and grab a bit more fruit before I return to the palace”.

Meanwhile, word got out that that the King had eaten from the mango trees. You see, as was the custom, before the king ate the first fruit no one would dare touch the tree. But after he had partaken, everyone felt free to come grab some fruit, so a hoard of people came to eat. By the time the king had returned the tree had been nearly destroyed by the picking and climbing and pushing and shoving. At the same time the fruitless neighbor tree remained untouched, still green and full of life, since there were no mangos for anyone to bother with.

When Mahajanaka came back and saw the two trees again –the fruitful one ravaged and the barren one just fine — he realized that he was like the fruitful mango tree, with a kingdom, riches, subjects, a family and a life filled with so much to lose. “Better” he thought “to be the barren tree and never have anything to take, anything to be beaten for or plundered for, nothing to lose.”   At this point the King decides to renounce the world and worldly possessions, to make himself like the barren tree and leaf (J/K –leave), to become an ascetic.

I have no idea why it was this particular story, this particular telling, that touched me so deeply. But for the first time it really hit my heart: my shit, my peeps, my meness, make me too just like that fruitful mango tree. So pretty, so rich, so smart, so loved, so verdant and abundant and healthful and so so so much to lose. So much to make me a target, a victim, both of outside ravishers (duh) but also of time and withering and wasting and attrition and all the other causes by which a tree can lose fruit and an alana can lose what I hold dear.

I guess its the fact that in this telling, turning away is not a sacrifice. It’s not the high road or the hard decision. It’s not the effort-full forcing to be non-attached, to be ‘what a Buddhist should be’. It’s a way out, a road of ease, peace, salvation. It the natural, even easy, choice once you really see it for what it is.

And though, obviously, I’m still not quite clearly seeing this world for what it is, these days, when I think about my practice, what it can bring me, what it’s really about, I think a whole lot about those mango trees.

Final note: I dedicate this blog to the Buddha — yah, I know, he is already long gone and doesn’t really need any dedication of mine. But still, I have so much gratitude. For the 550ish lives he worked so hard to become the Buddha and then, when it wasn’t necessary, when it was a bunch of work, when he had already become a Buddha so what more merritt did he need, when he could have just been a silent Buddha like so many others, he decided to teach. He left behind a legacy, a friggin roadmap and a compass, for slow pokes like me. He left behind hope…so Great Dharma Lord, this blogs for you.