Is there any force on earth stronger than a mother's love? Can anything on this planet force a mother to harm her babies? Only a few years ago, as a young tigress, I would have answered "no," unquestionably. But having gone through the hardships and struggles that I have experienced in these last three years, I now know that even the most dedicated mother can struggle with doing the right thing for her cubs; sometimes a mother can even struggle with knowing what the right thing to do for her cubs is. Motherhood is certainly not an easy job.
Three years ago, the jungle that I call home experienced a terrible fire, one that engulfed the entire area that was my territory. No game was left in the charred ruins of my home, with almost all having fled to safety and security or having died from lack of food and water. Everywhere I turned, only silence greeted me. After several weeks of scrounging up what little prey I could find, I gave up hope of being able to feed my two cubs. A week of wandering about had revealed absolutely no food whatsoever and my two babies were growing weaker and weaker. Their meager cries broke my heart as there was nothing I could do to relieve their hunger. I could not even drag myself up over a cliff face that I would have easily climbed only weeks before. I collapsed at the bottom, my cubs passing out next to me.
Due to starvation, I became delirious and began to contemplate devouring my own babies, a thought unspeakable now and one that fills me with horror and disgust. But the drive of hunger was so strong that I could not escape the desire to eat at all costs, even the cost of my innocent cubs' lives. In the end, I decided that if I killed one of them, the other cub and I would still have a chance for survival. What a horrible choice for a mother to make! It was just at the moment that I was prepared to do the unthinkable that the lives of my cubs and myself were saved by the incredible sacrifice of a holy man, a Bodhisattva who had wandered to the top of the cliff and had noticed our suffering.
As I lay near death, my beautiful cubs dying beside me, I heard him declare his compassion for my babies and me and proclaim his desire to sacrifice himself to save us, to save me from committing such an unforgivable act. His sensitive spirit had divined my inner struggle and his compassionate and loving heart had moved him to act on our behalf. After glancing upwards at the heavens, the holy man offered himself to me and jumped onto the rocks below, dying instantly upon impact. After thanking the heavens for this wonderful man's sacrifice, I ate and helped my weak cubs to eat this most appreciated and unexpected gift.
Upon regaining strength after several days of partaking of the Bodhisattva's flesh, my cubs and I were able to make it out of the burned region and into a lush section filled with prey and clean water, a paradise on earth. I have never forgotten the holy man's sacrifice and have vowed to never harm a human for as long as I live. I have taught my cubs to honor this vow and every once in a while, when our paths cross, they will ask me to tell them the story of how a human saved their lives and their mother's heart, a story I am only too glad to tell.
Author's Note:
So, I kept the original story the same, adding in some details about why the tigress and her cubs were starving and telling the story from her point of view. I thought it would be more touching to tell it from the tigress' point of view as she must face the difficult choice of saving herself by killing her cubs or letting them all die. I really like this story as the Bodhisattva shows such compassion and love for these animals, making the ultimate sacrifice to save their lives, for which the tigress in my version is grateful for life. The original story was a jataka story about one of the Buddha's lives--here you can see his love for animals and all living things and his willingness to sacrifice himself for others. I hope my story touches readers as much as the original touched me.
Bibliography: The Story of the Tigress in Jatakamala or Garland of Birth Stories of Aryasura translated by J. S. Speyer
Photo Source: Photo by Davidvraju. Source: Wiki Commons
Background Source: Photo by Muhammad Khairul Iddin Adnan. Source: Pexels