Buddhist Parables

Buddhist Parables, translated from the original Pāli by Eugene Watson Burlingame and published by Yale University Press in 1922, is an important early English-language anthology of Buddhist similes, allegories, parables, fables, and illustrative narratives drawn from Pāli Buddhist literature. According to Burlingame’s preface, the volume contains more than two hundred such narratives, traditionally used by the Buddha or his followers to communicate religious teachings, ethical principles, and practical wisdom; a substantial portion of this material had not previously appeared in English. The collection draws upon a remarkably wide range of early Buddhist sources. The opening chapters make extensive use of the Jātaka, the stories of the Buddha’s previous existences, together with material from the Vinaya. Other sections include parables concerning unity and conflict, gratitude and ingratitude, death, moral conduct, meditation, sensual desire, karma, rebirth, and liberation. The work also preserves narrative materials associated with the Dīgha Nikāya, Majjhima Nikāya, Saṃyutta Nikāya, Aṅguttara Nikāya, Udāna, Sutta Nipāta, and later commentarial literature. Of particular philosophical importance is the extensive section derived from the Milindapañha, presenting memorable similes used in the dialogue between King Menander (Milinda) and the Buddhist monk Nāgasena. These passages address such major Buddhist questions as personal identity, rebirth, non-self, and Nibbāna. Burlingame regarded these explanations as especially important for students of the history of religions. The chapters based on the Long and Middle-Length Discourses also illuminate Buddhist meditation as a path to liberation and explore the ethical consequences of human conduct. The final portion broadens the collection beyond the Pāli canon by including stories concerning self-sacrifice, the Bodhisattva ideal, and the early development of Mahāyāna themes, drawing upon Buddhist Sanskrit, Chinese, and related narrative traditions, including the Divyāvadāna. More than a collection of entertaining stories, Buddhist Parables is therefore a valuable source for the study of early Buddhist literature, Buddhist ethics, doctrine, narrative pedagogy, comparative religion, and the transmission of Buddhist stories across cultures. Burlingame himself characterizes the volume simultaneously as a collection of literary specimens, a presentation of the Buddha’s teaching through discourse and example, and a treasury of compelling stories capable of engaging both ordinary readers and serious philosophers.