C. Baker and P. Phongpaichit, "From the Fifty Jātaka: Selections from the Thai Paññāsa Jātaka" (Silkworm Books, 2019)

New Books in Literature · Apr 2, 2020 · 1h 25m

The Jātaka tales, or stories of the Buddha’s previous lives as a bodhisatta, are included in the Pāli Canon and have for centuries been a rich source of inspiration in Theravada Buddhism. In addition to these classical Jātaka, a number of other non-canonical Jātaka tales emerged in Southeast Asia and were widely circulated throughout the region. Collections of these tales are conventionally referred to as the Paññāsa Jātaka, or the “Fifty Jātaka”. Once considered minor and apocryphal, the Paññāsa Jātaka are now recognized as the lifeblood of the region’s literature and an important source of…