01:840:211 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Mahayana, Human Beings In Buddhism, Jataka Tales
Document Summary
The j taka tales are a voluminous body of literature native to india concerning the previous births of gautama buddha in both human and animal form. The future buddha may appear as a king, an outcast, a god, an elephant but, in whatever form, he exhibits some virtue that the tale thereby inculcates. Often, j taka 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 entire bodhisatta path of perfecting all the perfections takes a bazillion years and many rebirths. There is an important genre of buddhist scripture called j taka ( birth-story ) that describe 547 of these births, and the specific perfections the bodhisatta is working to perfect in them. During the bazillion years that separate d pa kara and gotama, 23 other buddhas appear in the world.
