Great Resource: Jataka Tales, Animated Buddhist Stories

During the Buddha’s time, people would go to the Buddha and report bad behavior or inquire about the karmic cause that led to a particular result. The Buddha, being able to see the past lives and karma of all beings, was often asked to tell these past rebirth stories (Also known as jatakas stories). Seeing the commonality and causality inherent in the issues, people would then realize and cease doing evil or even proceed to achieve a level of enlightenment. Wat San Fran is proud to share their favorite Jatakas with you (75 in all).

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Great video, looking forward to watching the other 75.

Is the Buddha depicted with a hat on his head, or is that his hair in a bun? He did not shave his head like the monks do?

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They’re curls. . . . . . . . .

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Why did he not shave his head?

Why do all the other monks shave their heads?

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My understanding is that his hair became that way after his enlightenment. He is perfect. Monks who chose to follow him, after he was persuaded to begin teaching, shaved their heads in acknowledgement of their path, their devotion and their commitment to the Buddha, The Dharma and The Sangha.

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Fantastic presentation to remember these stories!

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This is a Fairy Tale for Adults from the Anthroposophical Medicine, the basis of Waldorf Pedagogy.

This kind of stories have the spark to enlighten and nurture our hearts and spirits… I hope you enjoy :heart_eyes:

“Yunus Emré, in very ancient times, invented chantings that would last more than the memory of his own life. He was an unquenchable searcher for the truth. When he was around 28 years old, or perhaps even younger, a desire for knowledge came into his heart, that took him into the paths of the world.

He set out in the hope that this thirst for knowledge would lead him to a master who would enlighten him. This master was given to him to find after ten years of miserable wandering, in the great wind of a hill, in the middle of the Anatolian steppe.

His name was Taptuk and he was blind. Taptuk had also traveled a lot, but along different paths than Yunus. Still a teenager, he shaved his head, eyebrows and, wearing a red felt cap, went to fight Mongol invaders. He went through as many defeats as ephemeral victories. He rode with his saber between his teeth, chasing men as mad as himself.

Hated, looted, killed. A hundred times he lost and found his soul in the fury of fighting, until finally, silence fell over his head. On a night of defeat, he was left for dead on a battlefield, on the edge of a stream. There, a woman, the first in his existence, with the exception of some tavern prostitutes, finally leaned over him. She collected him and took care of him and even cured him. It just can’t give him back the vision that was taken from him by an enemy saber. She then offered him her life, her hand to lead him.

From that day on, guided by his wife, Taptuk dreamed of nothing other than finding, within himself, a path to the silent source from which rises the light that makes all things simple. One night in that dry desert, where no one ventures except a few lost shepherds, he reached the source. There, he built his house. Other seekers joined him, from time to time carried by, who knows, what wind of the soul. They recognized in this imposing man of few words the master they had been waiting for. They built their huts close to his, and around it they built a palisade.

When Yunus Emré arrived at this place, the monastery of Taptuk the blind, was nothing more than that. A few low huts surrounded by a dry-stone wall in the endless steppe. Taptuk, as soon as he felt the face and shoulders of this wanderer hungry for knowledge, promised him the truth.

-“It will arrive little by little” - he told him - “For now, your job will be to sweep the monastery courtyard seven times a day.”

Yunus obeyed wholeheartedly. The moment he found himself in the presence of this shaved-headed old man, an unbreakable confidence took hold of him. Seven times a day he swept the courtyard with enthusiasm, happily greeting the master and his disciples when they gathered at the wife’s house, where Taptuk, the blind man, taught every morning. But no one responded to their greetings.

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