chapter 6. other concepts relating to sex - Windward Community ...

who chooses to leave. Their perspective seems to derive from the Isan view rather than the
Central Thai one on this subject.
Religious-oriented stories come mostly from India, though because they have been
passed down, have taken on some regional variation. Tossa (1992) argues that women are
virtually absent from Buddhist texts, including the Indian Jataka tales, 29 and that the focus of
these is the adventures of men (p. 12-13). Tossa believes the female characters are not intended to
be models for humans. But regardless of the intention of the stories, some Thais hold them up in
this way. The women who do appear are virtuous and not quite human. Collins (1982; 1998) and
Gombrich (1977, 1980), have written somewhat extensively about the Vessantara's (the final
human incarnation of the Buddha) wife as a role model for women. The Vessantara Jataka is told
every year in virtually every temple. The Jataka tales are well known among SWU students. The
extent to which the characters, whether real or fictional, serve as social role models is debatable.
They are, however, understood by students to be moral role models, whose lives provide
examples of the consequences of moral (or immoral) qualities and action in specific
circumstances.
Tossa also identifies what she calls pseudo-Buddhist tales, which "cannot be found in the
Sanskrit Mhavastu or the Indian Jataka tales, but the story-tellers claim that these are also
Buddhist Jataka tales" (p. 13). One of these pseudo-Buddhist stories familiar to students is
Kalakèet. Kalakèet is a prince and the story involves gods, angels, magic, kings, queens, love lost,
love found, plural wives, adventures, several compromises, and a happy ending.
Another popular Lao tale is The Orphan and the Little Ghost (Kamphráaphĭinø´øy). It is
the story of a poor orphan boy of great merit. He is disliked by the villagers, but finds friends in
29
Jataka tales were written in the Pali language about two thousand years ago and have been passed down
generation to generation. They are primarily stories about the past lives of Buddha, which offer wisdom
and serve as guides to moral behavior. There are over 500 Jataka tales.
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