Question

What is the importance of the jatakas in Buddhism?

Answer 1

Jataka, (Pali and Sanskrit: “Birth”) any of the extremely popular stories of former lives of the Buddha, which are preserved in all branches of Buddhism. Some Jataka tales are scattered in various sections of the Pali canonof Buddhist writings, including a group of 35 that were collected for didactic purposes. These 35 constitute the last book, the Cariya Pitaka (“Basket of Conduct”), of the Khuddaka Nikaya (“Short Collection”). Beyond this, a Sinhalese commentary of the 5th century that is questionably attributed to a Buddhist scholar named Buddhagosa and called the Jatakatthavannana, or Jatakatthakatha, gathers together about 550 Jatakastories, some of which are quite brief while others are as long as