The Buddha makes use of the story
. . . To expound his doctrines
Lotus Sutra
My investigation in this chapter focuses on the Ja¯takas, which are a part of
the Khuddaka Nika¯ya of the Sutta Pit
˙
aka or the first basket of the Pali
Canon. The Ja¯takas are a collection of over five hundred stories that in
common parlance are called folklore. Each story conveys a moral that is
considered as the basis of righteous conduct by early Buddhists. In the first
part of this chapter I will discuss my reasons for selecting the Ja¯taka books
for the development of my thesis despite the presence of some uncertainty
about their importance in scholarly Buddhist traditions and despite caution
from scholars about their use. I will demonstrate that the evaluation of these
texts is significant in defining a sense of environment in early Buddhism,
and that recent research indicates that I am justified in including them as a
source of information. Following this some of the stories contained herein
will be assessed for their factual and ethical content to establish how an
environmental perspective, both affirmatively and negatively, can be elaborated.
The general outcome of this exercise is the non-contentious revelation
of an environmental virtue ethics component in them (similar in theme to the
one developed in the rest of the Canon). In conclusion, the contradictions
that the search for an environmental ethics in the Ja¯takas may generate as
well as other obstacles that have to be faced along the way will be highlighted.
My final analysis seeks to ascertain the role of the Ja¯takas in the
formation and development of the position of early Buddhism on nature not
only through their framework of virtues but also through their innate pragmatic
nature. Ultimately, I include the Ja¯takas here not only because they are
fairly expressive of the thesis I have advanced in the last two chapters, but
also because they draw attention to some possible limitations of this position
in early Buddhist philosophy.
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