Buddhism and Morality

After meditating today we set to work on the Jatakas.  Read on.....

The main written source of Buddha's wisdom is the Tripitaka, or  Three Baskets.  It is called the Three Baskets because the palm leaf manuscripts written by the Buddha's followers were kept in three different baskets.  These basked are call the Vinaya-Pitaka, the Sutta-Pitaka and the Abhidhamma-Pitaka.  Many Buddhists consider the Tripitaka to be the most accurate record of the Buddha's teachings.

One of the most often translated elements of the Sutta-Pitaka is the Jatakas, a collection of 547 birth stories about the previous lives of the Buddha.  The aim of these popular stories is to illustrate morality.  In these stories the Buddha takes on the identity of on of the characters which might include a king, beggar, animal or other being who exhibits virtue.

From this website, Buddhist Tales, add to the shared Buddhist Tales presentation to teach the class about:

a.  The story
b. The significance of the story
c. Who you think the Buddha is in your story
d. Explain why you agree with or disagree with the moral of the story