Durājāna-Jātaka 64 – The Fish in the Water: An Ancient Buddhist Story to Stop Reacting

Resilience, acceptance of ambiguity, and inner care. With a Jungian analysis of projections and the Shadow. 

The cover image shows the teacher (the Bodhisatta) under a tree, hand raised in the teaching mudrā. Before him kneels the young student, his heart tangled in confusion. Above them, a translucent female figure splits in two: on the left, meek and submissive as a slave‑girl; on the right, proud and tyrannical. Below, a dark river where a silver fish swims an erratic, barely visible path – the “unknowable path” that gives the Jātaka its name. The ochre, brick‑red and lapis lazuli colours echo the Ajanta cave paintings, while the hierarchical scale (the teacher larger) emphasizes the centrality of wisdom. This image invites us to enter the mystery of human relationship without pretending to decode it.

 

 First Video – The Story of Jātaka 64 (two musical tracks)

 

  

 

 

This video presents Durājāna-Jātaka in its pure narrative form, faithfully following the original Buddhist canon. Through 18 Ajanta‑style animated scenes, we witness:

- the layman of Sāvatthi who stops visiting the Buddha, worn down by his wife’s shifting moods;

- the Buddha telling the past life of the young brahmin in Benares;

- the Bodhisatta’s teaching: “Do not rejoice if you think she loves you; do not grieve if you think she does not. A woman’s nature is as hard to know as the path of a fish in the water”;

- the turning point: the brahmin stops reacting, the wife changes, the couple is reconciled;

- the final identification: “That couple was you; I was the teacher”.

 

Two musical tracks accompany the experience: the first underlines each scene’s emotional arc (from confusion to serenity); the second, more meditative, is composed on the text of the Jātaka and contrasts the uncertainty of the fish with the peace of awakening. No external psychological analysis – just the story, its beauty and its transformative power.

 

For those who want to immerse themselves in the original tale before exploring its deeper meanings.

 

 

Second Video – Analysis with the Carousel Table (Jātaka + Jung)

 

  

 

 This second video is built exactly on the 18‑slide LinkedIn carousel table. Each scene pairs two captions:

- Jātaka text (the literal story, in summary)

- Jungian reference (projection, Anima, Shadow, individuation)

 

The soundtrack is Watching The Water’s Skin – an original piece blending wooden flute, tanpura, soft percussion and spiritual jazz textures. The music follows the psychological journey: from the brahmin’s anxiety as he tries to control the unpredictable, to the encounter with his own Shadow, to the equanimity of withdrawing projections.

 

Key analytical points:

- The “slave/tyrant” wife is the screen onto which the man projects his own Anima (the unconscious feminine).

- The obsession with “understanding her” is a failed attempt to neutralise anxiety – it is the resistance to ambiguity that causes suffering, not the ambiguity itself.

- When the student stops reacting (withdraws the projection), the wife spontaneously changes – as systemic psychology teaches.

- Jung’s phrase “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate” finds a perfect illustration here.

 

This video is ideal for lovers of the intersection between ancient Buddhism and analytical psychology, and is the natural companion to the LinkedIn carousel (available as a PDF in the comments).

 

Conclusion

 

Jātaka 64 gives us a universal lesson: true resilience is not controlling the other, but inhabiting uncertainty with equanimity. Whether you watch the first video for pure narrative beauty, or the second for analytical depth, the invitation is the same: stop asking “why is she acting like this?” and start asking “what part of my Shadow am I projecting?”

 

🐟 Which invisible fish swims in your water? Leave a comment or share your experience.