ཕག་མའ་རྟགས་པ་བརྗད་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བའ་མད intro.10

intro.10

This can also be seen in the fact that the first three verses of The Exemplary Tale About a Sow, one for each of the Three Jewels, occur independently, outside the setting of this avadāna, on a single paper leaf found among the Sanskrit manuscript remains at Turfan, in modern-day Xinjiang province, which tend to date to the fifth to sixth centuries ce.¹³ We find the same three verses on the Three Jewels in the Apaṇṇakajātaka, a Pali jātaka that probably dates to slightly before this period and that, in terms of the story, bears no connection with The Exemplary Tale About a Sow.¹⁴ It therefore appears that these verses were widely known and recited at one point in time, independently from any particular story.¹⁵