The Illustrated Jātakas or Stories of the Buddha's Former Births

Once Upon A Time

Roberta Mansell
Buddhism and the arts
Folklore
Oct 13, 2020

These stories tell the tales of how the Great Bodhisattva, who would one day become Shakyamuni Buddha, developed the virtues that would lead to his Complete and Perfect Enlightenment.

An Illustrated Jātaka:Mahāmora-jātaka (part 1)

The Tale of the Golden Peacock illustrated by Roberta Mansell
These tales tell of the previous births of Shakyamuni Buddha and appear throughout the scriptures. They tell how the Great Being (Bodhisattva), developed the virtues which in turn led to his final re-birth and attainment of Complete and Perfect Enlightenment.

An Illustrated Jātaka:Mahāmora-jātaka (part 2)

The Tale of the Golden Peacock illustrated by Roberta Mansell

Jātaka Tales: The Carpenter's Boar

Part One
Artist Roberta Mansell illustrated some of the stories of the Buddha's previous births (Jātakas), for her children. She has kindly allowed The Zen Gateway to feature some of them. We present some here with extracts of text from the original story.

Jātaka Tales: The Carpenter's Boar pt. 2

The final part of this Jātaka tale sees the Boar defeat the tiger and the sham ascetic, liberating the boars from danger, whilst the tree sprite reveals the details of who each character is in this birth.

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