The Jātaka Tales are a genre of Buddhist literature that comprise of some 550 stories about the former lives of the Buddha on his Bodhisattva path. In the vein of the tradition of Aesop or the later Jean de La Fontaine in Europe, most of the jātakas are animal fables with related moral teachings.
Each jātaka tale illustrates how the bodhisattva cultivated various virtues and qualities that eventually factored in his achievement of buddhahood. In life after life, the Bodhisattva is portrayed as an exemplary individual who embodies such virtues as wisdom, prudence, compassion, and ascetic detachment.
The Jātaka tales emphasize the Hindu-Buddhist doctrine of karma; according to this law of causality, present events can be explained by virtuous and bad deeds of the past. Thus, a bodhisattva becomes the superior being he has produced through his precedent righteous actions.
The myths and legends that comprise the Jātaka literature have developed over the centuries. Some of the tales are Buddhist in origin, and some are abstracted from prevalent folklore.
Throughout history, the Jātaka tales have played a foremost role in the propagation of Buddhist teachings. They are the focal point of Buddhist sermons, customs, festivals, spiritual art, and religious performances.
More: Wikipedia (via CC-BY-SA license) • READ: Works by The Jataka Tales
Full of truth and compassion and mercy and long-suffering.
—The Jataka Tales
Worship consists in fulfilling the design (of the person honored), not in offerings of perfumes, garlands, and the like.
—The Jataka Tales
Fulfil the perfection of long-suffering; be thou patient under … reproach.
—The Jataka Tales
It is not as a means of procuring my own happiness that I give in charity, but I love charity that I may do good to the world.
—The Jataka Tales
If you desire to do something pleasing to me, then desist from hunting forever! The poor poor beasts of the forest, being … dull of intellect, are worthy of pity for this very reason.
—The Jataka Tales
The virtuous retain in their mind the good done to them, whereas the evil they experience drops from their mind, like water from a lotus-petal.
—The Jataka Tales
You do not well enticing me to a sinful act. And what you say, that “nobody else will know of it” – will it be less sinful for this reason?
—The Jataka Tales
A heart bound by affection does not mind imminent peril. Worse than death to such a one is the sorrow which the distress of a friend inflicts.
—The Jataka Tales
To a righteous man death must bring gladness. For no fear of mishap exists for him who is devoted to a holy life.
—The Jataka Tales
Related Authors
- The Hitopadesha Indian Collection of Fables
- The Panchatantra Indian Collection of Fables
- The Dhammapada Buddhist Anthology of Verses