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Liner Notes
Jataka Tales Fables from the Buddha
Edited by Nancy DeRoin (Ross Ryan)
A world classic for more than two thousand years, the Jataka Tales appear here for the first time in modern dress. Although these fables were originally told by the Buddha some five hundred years before the Christian era and have been read by millions in India and Asia since they first were committed to writing, the Tales never before have been available in popular format for an American audience. Newly edited and fully illustrated, this collection is intended to delight children and intrigue adults, as well.
The Jataka Tales are to Buddhist culture and the East what Aesop's Fables were to the West. The similarities are quickly apparent: animals that speak and act much as we do; life situations that require basic decisions; and solutions based upon moral precepts.
The differences between the Jataka Tales and Aesop, however, are crucial. The Buddhist fables point to the importance of the individual and emphasize that solutions to life's problems should be based on an awareness of reality, rather than an effort to control and manipulate external forces.
Do you fear the wind? It only
Instead of a dualistic world-view based upon adversary relationships, the Jataka Tales offer cooperation, understanding, creativity, wisdom -- uniquely human potentials -- as the key to a fulfilled life.
Human problems, both personal and social, were as prevalent and disturbing in the time of Buddha as they are today. Thus, the Jataka Tales are very much concerned with greed, ambition, foolishness, bad company, environmental damage, addiction -- even disrespectful language. By the same token, the Tales dramatically demonstrate the tangible benefits that derive from cooperation, friendship, respect, independent thought, responsible behavior, courage, humility, and education.
Besides their surprising relevance, the Jataka Tales are great fun to read. Packed with action and adventure, they are earthy, humorous, direct, and -- above all -- honest. The thirty tales in this collection were selected from more than five hundred for their special appeal as stories, as well as for the re-ordered world-view they offer, based on a less familiar but increasingly popular philosophy.
Nancy DeRoin (Ross Ryan) is a writer and editor who has written numerous articles, poems, and stories. She has edited Zen Koans for the Late Venerable Gyomay M. Kubose. She herself is a Buddhist.
Preface
The Jataka Tales are among the most famous folk stories in the world. Although little known in America, they have been read for over 2,000 years in other parts of the world and are attributed to Buddha himself, the founder of one of the world's five major religions. When Gautama Buddha lived and taught in northeast India between 563 and 483 B.C., there was no written common language. So the stories were memorized and handed down from generation to generation by word of mouth. Scenes from some were carved in ancient Buddhist sculptures and can be seen in India today.
Several hundred years after Buddha's death, the stories were written down in the Pali language. Not until late in the nineteenth century were they translated into English.
In their early written form, the Jataka Tales were "birth stories," so called because they were supposedly stories remembered by Buddha from his past lives. But belief in reincarnation is a Hindu, not a Buddhist idea. Buddha did not teach reincarnation, and Buddhists generally do not believe in it. Buddhists feel that the stories, although told by Buddha, were given their form as "birth stories" by those who wrote them down hundreds of years later.
The stories in this book were selected because they speak of issues we face today: responsibility. honesty, popularity, friendship, ingenuity, ecology, respect for the old, independent thinking, and so on. Although the language of the stories has been updated, the casts of characters and plots remain the same. The creatures and their adventures, the humor, and the wisdom are true to the originals.
The Venerable Gyomay M. Kubose, Buddhist priest, scholar, and author, has most kindly read the tales in this collection and served as consultant.
The Jataka Tales represent a branch of the same cultural root that produced Aesop's "Fables" in the West, and, as such, they provide another link with our Indo-European heritage.
This book is now out-of-print.
Yamantaka Mandala (Arts of Asia) - Suggested Reading (Social Studies)
Classical Civilizations of the Ancient World Grades 1-4
These recommendations are from the Massachusetts History and Social Science Guide for Kindergarten to Grade 4: A Model Scope and Sequence and Sample Resources (June 2000). Author: Susan Secor Goldsmith, Boston University School of Education. All comments are from this publication. |