Dear Group,
While the Jatakas may look like simple stories they were taught
because they edify and encourage the development of wholesome mental
states - especially the parami.
I quote now from the Majhima Nikaya
Sallekhasutta.m
(8) Purity

Cunda, it may happen, that a bhikkhu secluded from sensual desires,
secluded from evil thoughts, with thoughts and thought processes,
with joy and pleasantness born of seclusion, would abide in the
first jhaana . Then it would occur to him, I abide in purity. Cunda,
in the dispensation of the noble ones that is not purity, It is
called a pleasant abiding here and now........
Cunda, it may happen that a bhikkhu overcoming all the sphere of
nothingness, would attain and abide in the sphere of neither
perception nor non-perception. It might occur to him, I abide in
purity. In the dispensation of the noble ones, that is not purity,
it is a pleasant abiding here and now.

Cunda, purifying should be done thus: Others will be hurters, we
will be non-hurters. Others will be destroyers of life, we will not
destroy life. Others will be taking what is not given , we will
abstain from taking what is not given. Others will lead an unholy
life, we will lead a life of celibacy. Others will tell lies, we
will abstain from telling lies. Others will talk maliciously, we
will abstain from malicious talk. Others will talk roughly, we will
abstain from rough talk. Others will talk frivolously, we will
abstain from frivolous talk. Others will be coveting, we will
abstain from coveting. Others will be with an angry mind, we will
not be angry. Others will be with wrong view, we will be with right
view. Others will speak wrong words, we will speak right words.
Others will be with wrong actions, we will be with right
actions. .... Others will be released wrong, we will be rightfully
released. . Others will be excited, we will not be excited. Others
will be doubting, we will overcome doubts. Others will be angry, we
will not be angry. Others will bear a grudge, we will have no
grudge. Others will be hypocritical, we will be free from hypocrisy.
Others will be merciless, we will be merciful. Others will be
jealous, we will not be jealous. Others will be selfish, we will not
be selfish. Others will be crafty, we will not be crafty. Others
will be deceitful, we will not be deceitful. Others will be stuborn,
we will not be stuborn. Others will be conceited, we will not be
conceited. Others will be unruly, we will be gentle. Others will
have evil friends, we will have good friends. Others will be
negligent, we will be diligent. Others will be without faith, we
will be with faith. Others will be shameless, we will be shameful.
Others will be remorseless, we will be remorseful. Others will have
little learrning, we will learn much. Others will be lazy, we will
be with aroused effort..
Cunda, I say, that even the arousing of thoughts for meritorious
things is of much help, so what if they are followed up by words and
actions. """ENDQUOTE

All of these skillful actions are demonstrated in the over 500
jatakas and accompaning commentaries. If one can take them to heart
then much profound progress will be made.

I wrote to a friend on dsg who had doubts about the dhammapada
commentaries. Because these also talk about past lives his
objections apply also to the jatakas:

Kamma is a main conditioning factor and hence a core
aspect of understanding anatta, no-self.
In an earlier post I quoted the Dhammapada atthakatha:

http://www.vipassana.info/f.htm#threegroupsof
In this a farmer tied a straw rope round
the neck of the ox and set fire to it, and the ox died. ""On account
of
this evil deed the, farmer had suffered for a long time in niraya,
and in serving out the remaining part of his punishment, he had been
burnt to death in the last seven existences."
Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:
Verse 127. Not in the sky, nor in the middle of the ocean, nor in
the
cave of a mountain, nor anywhere else, is there a place, where one
may escape from the consequences of an evil deed.

At the end of the discourse all the bhikkhus attained Sotapatti
Fruition.
_____
Dharam you asked: ""Why should we be concerned with concepts such
as 'punishment' for the old farmer for past misdeeds?""

Often in the suttas the Buddha teaches the Dhamma in conventional
terms (vohara vacana) and so refers to human beings and animals etc.
Certainly, as you realise, these have no reality and are merely
concepts used for convenience. In the case of such terms as
punishment (unpleasant result) we know that in the true sense there
is no one
who receives results but that results arise by
conditions: From the
Visuddhimagga 172"Experiencer is a convention for mere
arising of fruit (vipaka);"
And Vis. XIX20 "There is no doer of a deed Or one who reaps the
deeds
result: Phenomena alone flow on- No other view than this is right."
This is basic Dhamma and I am glad you bought it up as otherwise we
might turn away from the stories in the Dhammapada of Jataka
commentaries not realising their profundity.

Indeed you write:
"How is the the seeming attention paid to mythical issues consistent
with the expectation that we should test any teaching against
reality? [The stories of the farmer, Maha Mogallana etc. and
references to devas etc.]"

In part I think this is answered above but to clarify further. We
may
think of devas and such as mythical but the greatest myth is the
idea
that `we' exist now. Thus when I
read the Dhammapada or the Jataka I look at it in this
way, which is also the way that life is here and now.
I think knowing this we read the
story in a
different way: That it is that the story
is an illustration of the workings of conditionality,
especially that condition called kamma.
You further ask:
"How is concern about kamma consistent with concentrating on what is
just occuring in the moment?"

Well when there is concentrating on the present this can be with
right view or wrong view. Someone may know breath or subtle
sensations in the body or heat or seeing but with no insight.

So one who has some background in Dhamma knows – at least
theoretically - that "The mental and material are really here, but
here there is no human being to be found,for it is void and merely
fashioned like a doll just suffering piled up like grass and
sticks"(visuddimagga xvii31).

And further than this one must know that nama(mentality) and rupa
(matter) are conditioned to arise by conditions such as kamma.

Now we cannot know what kamma done in what life produced this momnt
of seeing consciousness. It could have been kamma done 100,000
millions of aeons ago that was the dominant condition. But I believe
developed insight can see how conditions work. "The succession of
kamma and its result is only [fully]clear in its true nature to the
Buddha's . But the succession of kamma and its result can be known
in
part by one practising insight" Vis. Xix17


Back to the present moment: Didn't we, before we heard Dhamma, think
that `our' body and mind, which we all know are here now, were
something good? But in fact they are killers: "therefore the wise
should see the aggregates (the five khandas, nama and rupa) as
murderers." Visuddhimagga XiV230
When we talk about such matter(ruap) as the eyebase, earbase etc
which are produced by kamma (done in past lives) it is again the
same
as discussing anatta. "All formed bases should be regarded as having
no provenance and no destination. For the do not come from anywhere
prior to their arrival nor do they go anywhere after their fall. On
the contrary, before their rise they had no individual essence and
after their fall their individual essence is completely dissolved.
And they occur without mastery been exercisable over them since they
exist dependent on conditions and in between the past and future".

No control and powerlessness is the sign of anatta. And again this
relates to right insight into the present moment. Someone with wrong
understanding will try to control or change the present moment
rather
than insighting it as it is now, rather than understanding the
conditionality of each moment.

Back to the story about the farmer: "At the end of the discourse all
the bhikkhus attained Sotapatti Fruition."
We might wonder how such an apparently simple story could lead
directly to enlightenment. It is because this discourse teaches
conditionality and anatta – and for those with accumulations
(pubekata punnata, sp?) must
lead to insight into the conditioned nature of this moment.
RobertK