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Podcast: New Books in Buddhist Studies
Episode: C. Baker and P. Phongpaichit, "From the Fifty JÄtaka: Selections from the Thai PaƱƱÄsa JÄtaka" (Silkworm Books, 2019)
Description: The JÄtaka tales, or stories of the Buddhaās previous lives as a bodhisatta, are included in the PÄli Canon and have for centuries been a rich source of inspiration in Theravada Buddhism. In addition to these classical JÄtaka, a number of other non-canonical JÄtaka tales emerged in Southeast Asia and were widely circulated throughout the region. Collections of these tales are conventionally referred to as the PaƱƱÄsa JÄtaka, or the āFifty JÄtakaā. Once considered minor and apocryphal, the PaƱƱÄsa JÄtaka are now recognized as the lifeblood of the regionās literature and an i...