A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

In the past-life narrative of Jātaka 465, the king of Benares wants a palace supported by a single magnificent column. His builders cannot transport suitable forest trees and instead select a great sal tree in the royal park. The tree already receives worship from villagers, townspeople and the royal family. The builders bring offerings, announce that it will be cut in seven days and tell the resident deities to move elsewhere. The principal deity understands that its own life lasts only as long as its dwelling.

Its chief concern is for the younger trees around it, which house its divine kin and would be crushed by the great trunk. At midnight it enters the king’s bedchamber in divine clothing, fills the room with radiance and weeps beside his pillow. It calls itself the Lucky Tree and says that it has stood for sixty thousand years. When the king still insists on using the trunk, the deity asks to be cut from the top downward in separate pieces, accepting its own destruction to spare the smaller trees.

The king recognizes the reason for this apparently painful request and grants the tree freedom from danger. The deity departs; the king continues in generosity and good conduct. The extensive present-life frame concerns the Buddha’s attempts to protect his Sakya relatives, including an eventual massacre that the text says he cannot prevent. The final identification makes the Buddha the Lucky Tree deity, his followers the sapling deities and Ānanda the king. The story’s protective kinship and religious rebirth framework should not be reduced to a universal claim that every tree houses the same being.

Tree-bound lifeRadiant apparitionProtection of sapling kinVoluntary self-sacrifice
01

Origins & earliest records

Pāli Jātaka literary tradition; English translator W. H. D. Rouse, general editor E. B. Cowell.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete relevant English account, narrative frame, conclusion and attached notes read.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    The Jātaka, Volume IV

    W. H. D. Rouse (translator); E. B. Cowell (editor) · 1901

    465, Bhadda-Sāla-Jātaka, pp.91–98; past-life tree account pp.96–98; complete frame and attached footnotes

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

Primary records and illustrations

Complete English primary translation, frame, ending and notes read

The Jātaka, Volume IV

IV; Rouse translation, Cowell general editor, 1901. 465, Bhadda-Sāla-Jātaka, pp.91–98; past-life tree account pp.96–98; complete frame and attached footnotes

Retained complete HTML/text cache: data/cache/asia-continuation/jataka4-029.html/.txt. Translator/editor roles distinct; no Pāli collation.

Inspect the digitized plate · Source collection manifest

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Historical English translation of Buddhist narrativeRouse, Jātaka IV, complete tale and notesResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

FT·2160 · RESEARCH EDITION 01Back to top ↑