Jataka Tales
20 Tales · Four Vaggas
Twenty dramatic tales of sacrifice, wisdom, and courage from the most beloved collection of Buddhist literature. The Bodhisattva appears as monkey kings, golden deer, six-tusked elephants, hares in the moonlight, and noble princes across ten thousand lifetimes — each tale a perfection of compassion.
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The Buddha’s Past Lives
The Animal Kingdom
Tiracchāna-Vagga5 tales
The Monkey King's Bridge
The Bodhisattva as a monkey king sacrifices his body as a bridge to save 80,000 monkeys from a human king's army.
The Golden Deer Who Faced the King
A golden deer king offers his own life to save a pregnant doe, transforming a human king's heart forever.
The Elephant Who Forgave His Killer
A magnificent six-tusked white elephant forgives the hunter sent by his jealous former queen and helps saw off his own tusks.
The Quails Who Flew as One
United quails lift a hunter's net skyward through cooperation — until internal quarreling destroys what no enemy could.
The Monkey Who Outsmarted the Crocodile
A clever monkey tricks a crocodile who wants his heart by claiming he left it hanging in a fig tree.
Sacrifice & Devotion
Dāna-Vagga5 tales
The Prince Who Gave Away Everything
Prince Vessantara perfects generosity by giving away his kingdom, his white elephant, and even his children.
The Hare in the Moon
A hare leaps into fire to feed a starving traveler — the god Sakka in disguise — and is memorialized on the moon forever.
The King Who Weighed His Flesh Against a Dove
King Sibi cuts flesh from his own body to balance scales against a dove's weight, saving it from a hawk.
The Prince Who Fed the Tigress
A prince throws himself off a cliff to feed a starving tigress and her three newborn cubs.
The Elephant Who Carried His Blind Mother
A white elephant refuses a king's luxury because his blind mother waits alone in the forest.
Wisdom & Trickery
Paññā-Vagga5 tales
The Turtle Who Couldn't Keep His Mouth Shut
A talkative turtle carried by geese on a stick opens his mouth to insult villagers — and falls to his death.
The Jackal Who Played King
A cunning jackal wearing a grass mane rules the forest as a false lion — until he is asked to roar.
The Deer Who Played Dead
A clever deer escapes a snare by playing dead, then leads the hunter into his own pit trap.
The Crow Who Stole the Golden Chain
A vain crow steals a golden necklace to impress — but the weight traps him in thorns and attracts a hawk.
The Blind Men and the Elephant
Six blind men each touch a different part of an elephant and fight over what it "truly is" — while the whole truth stands patient above them.
Royal Courts & Justice
Rāja-Vagga5 tales
The Prince Who Refused to Drown
Prince Mahajanaka swims for seven days in open ocean after a shipwreck, refusing to die, until a goddess saves him.
The Sage Whose Words Moved Kings
A sage speaks with such wisdom that four kings claim him and a demon tries to kill him — but his words defeat death itself.
The Golden Goose and the Greedy Widow
A golden goose gives feathers one by one to a poor widow — until she grabs them all and they turn to worthless white.
The Child Who Outsmarted the Court
A seven-year-old boy solves impossible cases using simple experiments — oil in water, a mother's love, a thread in a bead.
The Golden Swan Who Counseled a King
A captured golden swan king teaches a human king that wisdom cannot be seized — only invited — then flies free at dawn.