The Buddha’s lifestory doesn’t begin with his birth in Lumbini in the fifth century BCE – it goes much further back, through countless lifetimes in which he was readying himself for the attainment of buddhahood. In this worksheet, you can find out about the encounter that is said in some sources to be the beginning […]

An introduction to the five precepts, a traditional Buddhist story about their importance, some suggested discussion questions and further readings, all in a single downloadable pdf document: The Five Precepts This worksheet was created by Naomi Appleton as part of the Who is the Buddha? series.  

Here is a story that I find useful when discussing the five precepts (against killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, and taking intoxicants). This story is number 459 in a large collection of past-life stories of the Buddha (the Jātakatthavaṇṇanā) found in Pali and preserved by the Theravada school of Buddhism. The text was probably composed […]

This is a fun little story from the Pali Jataka book (so early Indian and Theravada in affiliation) that explores a Buddhist karmic response to Vedic sacrifice through the character of a goat: “Feast for the Dead” Jātaka (Matakabhatta-jātaka, Jātakatthavaṇṇanā 18) “If beings only knew…” The Teacher [the Buddha] spoke about the feast for the […]