Jataka Tales and Moral Education: A Comparative Cultural Study of Buddhist Fables and Aesop’s Fables

The fable tradition has been a powerful tool for moral education for millennia. The Buddhist Jataka Tales and the Greco-Roman Aesop’s Fables constitute the major collections of fables in world literature, but in-depth comparative studies between these traditions are limited. This research examines how the narrative structures and ethical frameworks of these story traditions reflect the cultural goals of the Buddhist and Greco-Roman worlds. This study analyzes selected fables from the Pali Jataka and Aesop’s Fables using the method of content inquiry. The analysis is conducted at the structural, thematic, and cultural philosophical levels. Therefore, Jataka’s three-part structure reflects karma and rebirth, whereas Aesop’s simple structure imparts practical principles applicable in a present society. On the other hand, the Jatakas emphasize the perfection of charity, veracity, and patience virtues while the practical virtues such as diligence and prudence are represented by Aesop’s fables. Besides, the character analysis indicated that Jataka characters are characters of Bodhisatta’s behavior while human qualities/vices are manifested through Aesop’s characters. The paper concluded that Aesop educates about how to succeed in this world and Jatakas teach how to leave the world behind. It is actually an expression of the profound cultural and philosophical difference between the anthropocentric rationality and the liberation-oriented cosmology of the Buddhist realm.