Jataka (Shedlock) Unit
Many of these stories are very similar. Especially in the first half of the unit, there are many stories that include the spirit of Buddha, whether in the body of an animal, human, or tree, and testing his virtue and morals. Many of the tests come from the King of Gods, Sakka.
The Spirit that Lived in the Tree
The Hare That Was Not Afraid to Die
The Parrot that Fed His Parents
The Man Who Worked to Give Alms
The King Who Saw the Truth
All of these stories above had the spirit of Buddha inside a being, where the spirit did many gracious and kind acts. Mainly, Buddha gave away whatever he could to others, not for wealth or fame, but for his own moral goals. It's a good lesson to learn, but it gets very repetitive.
Hi Paula, one of the things you can do with the diary is note what is distinctive and different about each story; stories can share the same theme but work out that theme with different details. For some reason, the Buddhist tradition NEEDED all these different stories - same theme, but the stories are serving different purposes somehow, with people creating all these variations. It's worth pondering why they wanted to create these different versions, and what the different versions contribute individually...
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