Jātaka (Volume 1 - Volume 2) (本生經)

About 本生經

Source text translated by 悟醒

994,223 · about 3314 min

The Jātaka is an important Buddhist scripture, belonging to the *Khuddaka Nikāya* of the Pāli Canon. It was compiled collectively by ancient Indian monastics, primarily transmitted orally, and later committed to writing around the 1st century BCE in Sri Lanka. This text was not authored by the named individual Wuxing; Wuxing may be a modern compiler. Its core content consists of 547 stories in which the Buddha Śākyamuni narrates his past lives as a bodhisattva, taking on various identities such as a king, a brahmin, or an animal, cultivating loving-kindness, compassion, empathetic joy, equanimity, and accumulating merit. These vivid parables elucidate the teachings of cause and effect, karma, and the bodhicitta mind. They are a treasury for understanding the Buddha's path of cultivation and Buddhist ethical principles, holding a revered position in Theravāda Buddhism and exerting a profound influence on Buddhist literature and art.