No pleasure while another grieves

"There are but two things that make one disregard the grief of another: attachment to one's own pleasure and the absence of the power of helping. I am unable to have pleasure while another grieves, and I also have the power to help. Why should I be indifferent? And if able to succor I were to be indifferent even to an evildoer immersed in grief, my mind I suppose, would feel the remorse for an evil deed, burning like shrubs caught by a great fire. Therefore I will kill my own miserable body by casting it down into the precipice. My own corpse will serve as the food for preventing those young ones from being ripped to death by the teeth of their own mother.

"By so doing I shall set an example for those who long for the good of the world. I shall encourage the feeble and cause rejoice in the hearts of those who understand the true meaning of charity. I shall stimulate gladness in the hearts of those who love the Buddha-virtues. I shall confound those who are absorbed in selfishness and subdued by egotism and lusts, causing disappointment to the great hosts of the deceiver Mara.

"I shall give a token of faith to the adherents of the most excellent of vehicles, and well as astonish those who sneer at charitable deeds. I shall clear the highway to Heaven in a manner pleasing to the charitible have I ever had such an the opportunity to benefit others with the offering of my own limbs? I shall accomplish it now, and so acquire Complete Wisdom before long.

"This determination does not proceed from ambition, nor from thirst for glory, nor is it a means of gaining Heaven or royal dignity. I care not for obtaining supreme and everlasting bliss for myself, but rather for securing the benefit of others may I gain power over the world's sorrow and the world's happiness, just as the sun dispels darkness and imparts light unto the world! Whether or not I shall be remembered whenever virtue is practiced or made conspicuous when the tale of my exploit is told, in every way may I constantly benefit the world and promote its happiness."

After making up his mind and delighting in the thought that he was about to destroy even his life for the benefit of other beings, the Bodhisattva gave up his body to the amazement even of the calm minds of the Devas.

The sound of his body falling down the cliff stirred the curiosity and the anger of the tigress. She desisted from the contemplation of the slaughter of their whelps, and cast her sunken eyes all around. As soon as she perceive the Bodhisattva' s lifeless body, she sprang to its side and began to devour it. ~ Jataka tales

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