Reading Notes: Jatakas Anthology

Definitions

  • Buddhism - Buddhism is a religion and dharma that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices largely based on original teachings attributed to the Buddha and resulting interpreted philosophies.
  • Jataka Tales - a voluminous body of literature native to India concerning the previous births of Gautama Buddha in both human and animal form.
    • "The Jātakas are a textual division of the Pāli Canon" 1
    • "The word 'jataka' means 'birth,' so the Jataka Tales are actually stories of the Buddha's previous births, and in the traditional version, each Jataka has a little poem that conveys the moral of the story, as you will see here." 2

Full Reading List

The reading list for this assignment can be found here.

Possibilities for the Story

The Foolish, Timid Rabbit (Babbitt). I found this one to be the one with the most relatable story (I will describe this more in my story-telling post). The story itself was inclusive, including animals from several different species. Starting small the rabbit's panic turned into a massive stampede, with the only background behind it being one rabbits opinion. The prospect of this story can also be paralleled to how false information spreads throughout modern media (anit-vax, flat earth, et al.).

The Turtle and the King (Babbitt). This story was interesting because of the ignorance of the people. Ignorant in both not having knowledge of turtles, and in not considering the fact that the turtle would try to trick them in order to live.

The Crane and the Crab (Rouse). Why was it necessary for the crane to eat them at the tree? Would it not have been better to dispose of the bones into the water?

Goblin City (Rouse). Was marrying people you just met a common occurrence? How common is a theme of magic? This picture below is funny to look at :)

W. Robinson


Overall: Most of the stories that we read had some form of deceit in them. Additionally, in most of the stories the original liars had to face the consequences.

Bibliography

Babbitt, Ellen C., The Foolish, Timid Rabbit
Babbitt, Ellen C., The Turtle and the King
Rouse, W. H. D., The Crane and the Crab
Rouse, W. H. D., Goblin City

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