ANCIENT WISDOM-5: THE HUNGRY TIGRESS
(A Jataka Tale from the Buddhist tradition)
Image by freddy dendoktoor, released under CC0 Public Domain license.
In one of his previous births, the Buddha was born as a young prince.
One day, while walking in the forest with his brothers, he saw a tigress lying near a cliff. She was weak, starving, and unable to feed her newborn cubs.
Her ribs showed through her skin.
Her eyes burned with hunger.
The prince realized something terrible — if she did not eat soon, she might devour her own cubs.
His brothers, frightened, urged him to leave.
But the prince stood silently, watching the suffering of the mother and her young.
He said gently,
“What greater gift can there be than saving lives?”
After sending his brothers away, he returned alone.
Moved by boundless compassion, he offered his own body to the starving tigress so that she and her cubs might live.
🌿 Reflection
This story may seem extreme to modern minds.
But the Jataka tales teach the perfection of compassion —
a heart so expansive that it sees no separation between “self” and “other.”
True compassion is not convenience.
It is not sympathy from a distance.
It is the willingness to feel another’s suffering as one’s own.
In a divided world, this ancient story whispers a radical truth:
The highest wisdom is love.
Grateful thanks to ChatGPT for its great help and support in creating this blogpost!🙏
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