The Bodhisattva and the Hungry Tigress

Long ago, in the ancient kingdom of Kushinagar, there lived a wise and benevolent king who ruled with justice and compassion. The king had three sons, each blessed with different virtues, but the youngest prince, Mahasattva, was renowned throughout the land for his extraordinary kindness and his deep concern for the suffering of all living beings.

Prince Mahasattva was not content to live a life of royal luxury while others suffered. From his earliest years, he had shown an unusual sensitivity to pain and hardship, whether it was experienced by humans, animals, or any living creature. His heart was so full of compassion that he could not bear to see suffering without doing everything in his power to alleviate it.

“My son,” the king would often say with both pride and concern, “your kindness is your greatest strength, but I sometimes worry that your heart is too tender for this harsh world.”

“Father,” Mahasattva would reply with gentle conviction, “if we do not feel the pain of others as our own, how can we ever hope to create a world with less suffering? Compassion is not weakness – it is the greatest strength of all.”

The prince spent much of his time studying philosophy and spiritual teachings, seeking to understand the nature of suffering and the path to liberation from it. He was particularly drawn to the teachings about the interconnectedness of all life and the importance of selfless service to others.

One beautiful spring morning, Prince Mahasattva decided to venture into the deep forest beyond the palace grounds for meditation and contemplation. He invited his two older brothers to join him, hoping they might share in the peace and insight that could be found in nature’s quiet embrace.

“Come with me, brothers,” he said warmly. “The forest is beautiful this time of year, and there is much we can learn from observing the natural world in its perfect harmony.”

His brothers, always eager to spend time with their beloved youngest sibling, agreed to accompany him. Together, the three princes rode out from the palace into the vast wilderness that stretched beyond their kingdom’s borders.

The forest was indeed magnificent. Ancient trees reached toward the sky like living pillars supporting a canopy of emerald leaves. Wildflowers bloomed in brilliant colors along the woodland paths, and the air was filled with the sweet songs of countless birds. Streams of clear water wound through the landscape, creating a symphony of gentle music that seemed to invite contemplation and peace.

“How beautiful this world is,” Mahasattva murmured as they walked deeper into the forest. “And yet, even in this paradise, there is struggle and suffering. Every creature here faces the constant challenge of survival.”

As they continued their journey, following a narrow path that wound through particularly dense vegetation, they came upon a steep ravine carved into the forest floor by centuries of flowing water. The sides of the ravine were rocky and treacherous, making it nearly impossible for large animals to climb in or out.

Prince Mahasattva was walking slightly ahead of his brothers when he suddenly stopped, his attention caught by sounds coming from the bottom of the ravine. Listening carefully, he could hear what seemed to be weak, plaintive cries – the sounds of creatures in distress.

“Do you hear that?” he called softly to his brothers. “Something down there needs help.”

Carefully making their way to the edge of the ravine, the three princes peered down into the shadowy depths below. What they saw there would remain etched in their memories forever.

At the bottom of the ravine lay a magnificent tigress, but she was clearly in desperate condition. Her beautiful orange and black striped coat was dull and matted, her ribs showed prominently through her thin skin, and her breathing was labored and weak. It was obvious that she had not eaten in many days and was close to death from starvation.

But what made the scene even more heartbreaking were the two tiny tiger cubs nestled against their mother’s side. The cubs were clearly newborns, probably only a few days old, with their eyes still closed and their small bodies completely dependent on their mother for survival. They were crying piteously, trying desperately to nurse from a mother who had no milk to give them.

“Oh, the poor creatures!” exclaimed the eldest brother. “The mother tiger must have fallen into the ravine while hunting and become trapped. Now she’s starving, and her babies will die with her.”

“How terrible,” said the middle brother, his voice filled with sympathy. “But what can we do? Even if we could get down there safely, a desperate tiger would be extremely dangerous. And there’s no way to get her out of that deep ravine.”

Prince Mahasattva stared down at the tragic scene with growing anguish. Here before him was the very essence of the suffering that had concerned him all his life – innocent beings facing death through no fault of their own, with no one to help them in their desperate hour of need.

“My brothers,” he said quietly, “this tigress is dying, and when she dies, her babies will die too. They are completely innocent and helpless. Is there nothing we can do to save them?”

“We could try to find some way to get food down to her,” suggested the eldest brother. “But what do tigers eat that we could provide? And how could we get it to her?”

“Tigers are carnivores,” replied Mahasattva thoughtfully. “They need meat to survive, especially a nursing mother who must produce milk for her cubs. But there is no fresh meat to be found here, and by the time we could return with food, it would be too late. Look at her – she has perhaps hours left, not days.”

The three brothers stood in silence, each struggling with the feeling of helplessness that comes from witnessing suffering that seems beyond our power to prevent. But while his brothers were thinking of practical solutions, Prince Mahasattva’s mind was moving in a different direction entirely.

He was remembering the teachings he had studied about the highest form of compassion – the willingness to sacrifice oneself completely for the welfare of others. He thought about the great souls throughout history who had given their own lives to save others, demonstrating that the ultimate expression of love is the complete surrender of self-interest for the benefit of those who suffer.

“Brothers,” he said suddenly, his voice filled with a strange mixture of sadness and resolution, “I want you to return to the palace now. Go back and tell our parents… tell them that I have found the purpose I have been seeking all my life.”

His brothers looked at him with confusion and growing alarm. There was something in his tone and expression that frightened them.

“What do you mean?” asked the eldest brother. “Mahasattva, you’re speaking strangely. We came here together, and we will return together.”

“Yes,” added the middle brother. “Whatever you’re thinking, we can work together to find a solution. Don’t do anything rash.”

But Mahasattva had made his decision with the absolute clarity that comes from perfect understanding of one’s dharma – one’s righteous duty in life.

“My dear brothers,” he said with infinite tenderness, “I love you both more than I can express. You have been my companions, my teachers, and my friends throughout this life. But now I must ask you to trust me and to return home. What I am about to do, I must do alone.”

Something in his voice told his brothers that argument would be useless. They had known Mahasattva all their lives, and they recognized the tone of absolute spiritual conviction that meant his mind was completely made up.

“Promise us you won’t do anything dangerous until we return,” pleaded the eldest brother.

“Promise us you’ll wait for us to bring help,” added the middle brother.

Mahasattva embraced each of his brothers with deep affection. “I promise you that what I do, I will do with a pure heart and for the highest good. That is all I can promise. Now go, quickly, before you try to stop me from following my conscience.”

Reluctantly, filled with foreboding but unable to defy their brother’s clear determination, the two princes began the journey back toward their kingdom. They looked back several times, but Mahasattva waved them onward with gentle insistence.

When his brothers had disappeared from sight, Prince Mahasattva turned back to the ravine and looked down once more at the dying tigress and her cubs. The scene was even more heartbreaking now – the mother’s breathing had become more labored, and the cubs’ cries were growing weaker.

“Beautiful mother,” he said softly, though he knew she could not hear him, “you have given everything to bring life into this world, and now that life is slipping away through no fault of your own. Your babies depend on you completely, but you have nothing left to give them.”

As he spoke, Mahasattva began to remove his royal robes and jewelry, setting them aside carefully. He was preparing himself for the ultimate act of compassion – one that would save the lives of the three tigers but cost him his own life.

“In countless previous lifetimes,” he reflected, “I have sought to understand the true meaning of selfless love. Today, I have the opportunity to demonstrate that understanding perfectly. This body, which has been cared for so well and has known such comfort, can serve its highest purpose by preserving the lives of these innocent beings.”

With complete serenity and no trace of fear or regret, Prince Mahasattva made his way down into the ravine. The descent was treacherous, but his determination gave him strength and surefootedness.

When he reached the bottom, he approached the tigress slowly and calmly. She was so weak that she barely lifted her head to acknowledge his presence. Her eyes were glazed with approaching death, but in them Mahasattva could see the desperate maternal love that still burned within her dying body.

“Do not be afraid, noble mother,” he whispered gently. “I have come to help you and your children. Through my sacrifice, you will live, and your babies will grow strong and beautiful.”

What happened next was an act of supreme compassion that transcended ordinary understanding. Prince Mahasattva, moved by perfect love and complete selflessness, offered his own life to save the tiger family, demonstrating the ultimate truth that the highest spiritual development leads not to detachment from the world’s suffering, but to the willingness to bear that suffering oneself for the sake of others.

The tigress, nourished by this incredible sacrifice, gradually regained her strength. Her milk returned, and she was able to feed her hungry cubs. As her energy returned, she was eventually able to climb out of the ravine with her babies, and they went on to live full, healthy lives in the forest.

When the two older princes returned with a rescue party, they found only Mahasattva’s royal garments and evidence of what had transpired. Though they grieved deeply for their beloved brother, they also understood that he had achieved something extraordinary – the perfect expression of the compassion that had guided his entire life.

Word of Prince Mahasattva’s ultimate sacrifice spread throughout the kingdom and beyond. His story became a teaching that inspired countless others to consider how they might serve the welfare of all living beings with greater selflessness and dedication.

The king and queen, though heartbroken by the loss of their son, came to understand that he had achieved the highest possible spiritual attainment. They built a beautiful shrine at the site of his sacrifice, where people came to meditate on the meaning of perfect compassion and to aspire to such selfless love in their own lives.

The tigers that Mahasattva saved were occasionally seen in the forest near the shrine, and local people believed that they served as guardians of the sacred place, protecting it in honor of the one who had given his life for their survival.

Centuries later, when the Buddha told this story to his disciples, he revealed that Prince Mahasattva had been one of his own previous incarnations on the path to enlightenment. The tale became one of the most beloved Jataka stories, teaching that the development of perfect compassion sometimes requires the ultimate sacrifice, and that such sacrifice is not a loss but the highest achievement of the human spirit.

“This story,” the Buddha would conclude, “teaches us that true spiritual development is measured not by what we gain for ourselves, but by how completely we can give ourselves for the welfare of others. The prince found his greatest joy not in his royal comforts, but in his ability to save innocent lives through perfect selflessness.”

The story of the Bodhisattva and the hungry tigress continues to inspire people today, reminding us that the highest form of love is not emotional attachment, but the willingness to sacrifice everything for the genuine welfare of others, and that such sacrifice, rather than diminishing us, reveals the infinite capacity for compassion that lies within every human heart.