Zen Talks from Windhorse Zen Community
Oct 7, 2026 · 33 min · 8 segments
Roshi Sunya Kjolhede introduces the Jataka Tales and tells the story about the time the Buddha was born as a little grey parrot. To donate or learn more about Sunya-roshi & Lawson-roshi, and…
So, uh, just to say, the Jatakas are stories about the previous lifetimes of the Buddha.
He-- when he was sitting under the Bodhi tree after his great enlightenment, he focused his mind to try to remember previous lives, and he was successful, and one after another of those existences came back to him, to his conscious memory.
And during his forty-five years of teaching the Dharma, he would use those to clarify points about-- of his teaching and to inspire people to wake up, uh, and see into their own nature.
So these-- to, to come to the, to the point of it more clearly so we can get on to, for our younger members, get on to the story itself.
Very likely the Jatakas were first memorized through chanting, and before the advent of writing, at least by most people, and often chanted at the same sort of festivals and events that they're told at today, now in Asia.
Full moon festivals, other annual festivals, and when the offerings of, or feast was given in honor of the monastics, it was something the, the monks, the nuns could do to give back to their, to their donors.
We often talk about how different it can be, the, this Asian and Western psyches, but when you consider how, how different the, for example, the classical Grimm fairy tales are, and they're grim, many of them, and, and the Jataka tales, which are tales of compassion and courage and determination and simplicity and all these things, it-- you see there can be, there can be a real effect there.
And so they're, they're, they've really proliferated from medieval times to now as paintings and carvings on stupas and temple walls and gates all over, especially Southeast Asia.
In the Ellora and Ajanta Caves, you find all these, all these pi- pictures, paintings of-- and in Thai temples of the different lifetimes.
And everybody knew what these were, you know? It was just part of the culture.
And not only that, but dance and song and drama have, have really been heavily influenced by these tales.
There are five hundred and forty-seven Jataka tales, and it's the, like the largest body and most ancient body of tales.
There are-- many of them come from way, way, way back before the Buddha, which figures very w- nicely because he's talking about previous lifetimes, right [laughs].
A-- the verses are the things that are-- that accompany these tales, and the traditional telling are considered to be the words of the Buddha.
But everything else-- Well, some of them have come into being hundreds of years afterward.
And you know, right now they're also very-- they can be found in very popular graphic novels, graphic novels, telling the story of the, the Jatakas.
And people, Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike, have been-- have, uh, found these really entertaining and interesting.
So, uh, just to say, the Jatakas are stories about the previous lifetimes of the Buddha.
He-- when he was sitting under the Bodhi tree after his great enlightenment, he focused his mind to try to remember previous lives, and he was successful, and one after another of those existences came back to him, to his conscious memory.
And during his forty-five years of teaching the Dharma, he would use those to clarify points about-- of his teaching and to inspire people to wake up, uh, and see into their own nature.
So these-- to, to come to the, to the point of it more clearly so we can get on to, for our younger members, get on to the story itself.
Very likely the Jatakas were first memorized through chanting, and before the advent of writing, at least by most people, and often chanted at the same sort of festivals and events that they're told at today, now in Asia.
Full moon festivals, other annual festivals, and when the offerings of, or feast was given in honor of the monastics, it was something the, the monks, the nuns could do to give back to their, to their donors.
We often talk about how different it can be, the, this Asian and Western psyches, but when you consider how, how different the, for example, the classical Grimm fairy tales are, and they're grim, many of them, and, and the Jataka tales, which are tales of compassion and courage and determination and simplicity and all these things, it-- you see there can be, there can be a real effect there.
And so they're, they're, they've really proliferated from medieval times to now as paintings and carvings on stupas and temple walls and gates all over, especially Southeast Asia.
In the Ellora and Ajanta Caves, you find all these, all these pi- pictures, paintings of-- and in Thai temples of the different lifetimes.
And everybody knew what these were, you know? It was just part of the culture.
And not only that, but dance and song and drama have, have really been heavily influenced by these tales.
There are five hundred and forty-seven Jataka tales, and it's the, like the largest body and most ancient body of tales.
There are-- many of them come from way, way, way back before the Buddha, which figures very w- nicely because he's talking about previous lifetimes, right [laughs].
A-- the verses are the things that are-- that accompany these tales, and the traditional telling are considered to be the words of the Buddha.
But everything else-- Well, some of them have come into being hundreds of years afterward.
And you know, right now they're also very-- they can be found in very popular graphic novels, graphic novels, telling the story of the, the Jatakas.
And people, Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike, have been-- have, uh, found these really entertaining and interesting.
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