The Jataka Tales Abridged

The Jataka tales compose a large collection of Buddhist morality stories in which the Buddha recounts some of his past lives on his long road to enlightenment. Even though they're a part of the Pali Canon and contain words attributed to the Buddha himself, they're more folktale than religious text, and their popularity stems as much from their entertainment value as their moral messages. Often compared with Aesop's Fables, the Buddha-to-be is sometimes born as an animal, and he frequently overcomes difficult situations and solves problems in creative and comical ways.

This book features abridged, plain-language versions of all 547 classical Jataka tales, the first-ever complete collection of this sort in English. Much easier to read than the stodgy translations done by scholars more than a century ago, these concise stories are as enjoyable as they are enlightening and appeal to everyone, not just Buddhists.

"With these modern English renderings of Cowell's nineteenth century translations, Tim Bewer has offered freshly readable versions of the entire jataka collection . . . This enormous labor of love makes these delightful, but long obscured, texts elegantly accessible to modern readers. They will be valued by all lovers of Buddhist art and literature for their spiritual and aesthetic qualities, but also by those who simply admire the fabulous Indian imagination, for these tales make their wisdom charming with entertainment and fun."-Stephen Jenkins, Professor Emeritus of Religion at Cal Poly Humboldt

"Easy to read and understand, these versions of the Jataka tales are a delight."-Phra Saneh Dhammavaro, Founder of the Monk Chat Program and International Meditation Center at Wat Suan Dok, Chiang Mai