Collection of traditional narratives of the previous lives of Buddha
In a previous life, as a woodpecker, the Buddha removes a bone from the throat of a lion, Amaravati style, c. 175-225 CE
Translations of Jātaka tales
English
Birth history
Sanskrit
जातक (IAST: Jātaka)
Burmese
ဇာတက
Khmer
ជាតក (UNGEGN: Chéadâk)
Sinhala
ජාතක කථා (Jātaka Kathā)
Thai
ชาดก (RTGS: Chadok)
Glossary of Buddhism
The Jātaka (Sanskrit for "Birth-Related" or "Birth Stories") are a voluminous body of literature native to the Indian subcontinent which mainly concern the previous births of Gautama Buddha in both human and animal form. Jataka stories were depicted on the railings and torans of the stupas. [1][2] According to Peter Skilling, this genre is "one of the oldest classes of Buddhist literature."[3] Some of these texts are also considered great works of literature in their own right.[4]
Vessantara Jataka, Sanchi
In these stories, the future Buddha may appear as a king, an outcast, a deva, an animal—but, in whatever form, he exhibits some virtue that the tale thereby inculcates.[5] Often, Jātaka tales include an extensive cast of characters who interact and get into various kinds of trouble - whereupon the Buddha character intervenes to resolve all the problems and bring about a happy ending. The Jātaka genre is based on the idea that the Buddha was able to recollect all his past lives and thus could use these memories to tell a story and illustrate his teachings.[6]
For the Buddhist traditions, the jātakas illustrate the many lives, acts and spiritual practices which are required on the long path to Buddhahood.[1] They also illustrate the great qualities or perfections of the Buddha (such as generosity) and teach Buddhist moral lessons, particularly within the framework of karma and rebirth.[7] Jātaka stories have also been illustrated in Buddhist architecture throughout the Buddhist world and they continue to be an important element in popular Buddhist art.[7] Some of the earliest such illustrations can be found at Sanchi and Bharhut.
According to Naomi Appleton, Jātaka collections also may have played "an important role in the formation and communication of ideas about buddhahood, karma and merit, and the place of the Buddha in relation to other buddhas and bodhisattvas."[7] According to the traditional view found in the Pali Jātakanidana, a prologue to the stories, Gautama made a vow to become a Buddha in the future, in front past Buddha Dipankara. He then spent many lifetimes on the path to Buddhahood, and the stories from these lives are recorded as Jātakas.[8]
Jātakas are closely related to (and often overlap with) another genre of Buddhist narrative, the avadāna, which is a story of any karmically significant deed (whether by a bodhisattva or otherwise) and its result.[2][9] According to Naomi Appleton, some tales (such as those found in the second and fourth decade of the Avadānaśataka) can be classified as both a jātaka and an avadāna.[9]
^ abStraube, Martin. Narratives: South Asia in Silk, Jonathan A. (Editor-in-chief) "Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism". Vol. I: Literature and Language. Leiden, Boston 2015
^Skilling, Peter (2010). Buddhism and Buddhist Literature of South-East Asia, pp. 161-162.
^Shaw, Sarah (2006). The Jatakas: Birth Stories of Bodhisatta, p. xxii. Penguin UK.
^Robert E. Buswell (2004). Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Volume 1, pp. 400-401.
^ abcAppleton, Naomi (2016-08-31). "Jātaka". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.182. ISBN 978-0-19-934037-8. Retrieved 2022-05-08.
^Shaw, Sarah (2006). The Jatakas: Birth Stories of Bodhisatta, p. xix. Penguin UK.
^ abAppleton, N 2015, 'The “Jatakvadanas” of the Avadanasataka: An exploration of Indian Buddhist narrative genres', Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, vol. 38, pp. 9-31.
concentrate on those Jatakatales which show previous lives of the Buddha as a king, rather than as deer or elephant or another Jataka animal. The scenes...
Jatakatales are a voluminous body of literature concerning the stories of previous births of Gautama Buddha. Following is the list of Jatakatales mentioned...
Dasaratha Jataka (Pali: Dasaratha Jātaka) is a Jatakatale found in Buddhist literature about a previous life of the Gautama Buddha. It is found as 461th...
BCE with the earliest reference to the islands are from the Buddhist Jatakatales presumably from the third century BCE. There are references to the control...
Vimalasuri. Rama and Sita legend is mentioned in the Jatakatales of Buddhism, as Dasaratha-Jataka (Tale no. 461), but with slightly different spellings such...
(fire sacrifice) of King Dasharatha. His story also occurs in the Buddhist Jatakas, where he is mentioned as the son of Bodhisatta and was tried to be seduced...
Shibi Jataka is one of the Jatakatales detailing episodes of the various incarnations of Buddha. Each Jatakatale illustrates the Buddhist ideals of Dhamma...
the Buddha as an avatar, Buddhism legends too adopted Krishna in their Jatakatales, claiming Krishna (Vishnu avatar) to be a character whom Buddha met and...
The Mahakapi Jataka is one of the Jatakatales or stories of the former lives of the Buddha, when he was still a Bodhisattva, as a monkey king The story...
December 2020. Retrieved 25 September 2023. JatakaTales: The Otters and The Wolf https://mocomi.com/jataka-tales-the-otters-and-the-wolf/ Archived 30 September...
prose, sometimes derived from Jatakatales Syntipas (c. 100 BCE), Indian philosopher, reputed author of a collection of tales known in Europe as The Story...
of the Buddha, collections of stories about his past lives known as Jatakatales, and additional discourses, i.e., the Mahayana sutras. Buddhism spread...
pleasures. They are featured in a number of Buddhist texts, including the Jatakatales and Lotus Sutra. In Southeast Asian Buddhist mythology, kinnaris, the...
story of previous soul of Gautama Buddha mentioned on Guththila Jataka in Jatakatales of Gautama Buddha. Guththila kawya contains over 511 poems. The...
Gandabherunda, who in turn defeated Sharabha. In Buddhism, Sharabha appears in JatakaTales as an earlier birth of the Buddha. It also appears in Tibetan Buddhist...
The Dog and the Bone. An Eastern analogue is found in the Suvannahamsa Jataka, which appears in the fourth section of the Buddhist book of monastic discipline...
the Rigveda. They were also mentioned in the Mahabharata and Buddhist Jatakatales. In the Mahabharata the infantry of Satyaki was composed by a tribe called...
the medicine in vain" in his poem, "The Old Dust". In the Buddhist Jatakatales, Tale 316 relates that a monkey, an otter, a jackal, and a rabbit resolved...
means "duck" Gaase (modern Danish Gåse) means "goose" Ræv means "fox" "JatakaTales of the Buddha, Part III, retold by Ken & Visakha Kawasaki". Retrieved...
(Wylie: mthun pa spun bzhi or Wylie: mthun pa rnam bzhi) is one of the Jātakatales, part of Buddhist mythology, and is often the subject in works of Bhutanese...
around thirty Jatakatales. Thus, it is possible that the bodhisattva ideal was popularized through the telling of Jatakas. Jatakatales contain numerous...
Jātakatales contain Hanuman-like stories. For example, the Buddha is described as a monkey-king in one of his earlier births in the Mahakapi Jātaka,...
Krishna occurs in the Jatakatales in Buddhism. The Vidhurapandita Jataka mentions Madhura (Sanskrit: Mathura), the Ghata Jataka mentions Kamsa, Devagabbha...
the Younger, (c. 65 AD) Cynegetica, by Nemesianus (3rd century AD) The JatakaTales (Buddhist literature, 5th century AD) Philosophus Autodidactus by Ibn...
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