The Middle Way of the Jataka Tales

Abstract

first translated into Sinhalese and then recast into P.li perhaps in the fifth century A.D. or shortly thereafter.It is the Jdtaka commentary that will concern us here. Though the dating of this commentary is uncertain, there is little question that the stories themselves are of ancient lineage since they provide material for the famous bas-reliefs at Bhdrut and Sdnchi as well as the basis for such later collections of Indian stories as the Panchatantra. More significantly, these tales have been a basic instrument of popular education first in India and then in other Buddhist lands down to the present day.2 While there is little question as to the important place this body of material has occupied in the history of popular Buddhism, there has been a persistent doubt as to its importance as a vehicle of significant Buddhist doctrine. The response of