Knowledge of past lives, karma and the cessation of dukkha

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  • Created by: gemshort
  • Created on: 14-04-18 15:28

The final stage of Gautama's experience gave him further access to three significant insights beyond any that he had experienced before

Insight into previous lives

  • The Buddha recounted the stories of his previous lives to help him deliver a variety of practical examples of his teaching, which can be found in the Jatakas
  • There are around 550 Jatakas, where the Buddha was born as a human, animal, bird, fish, male and female - the characters in the tales were identified with him in his current life and the main message behind the Jataka stories is the consistent and determined effort to perfect the qualities that led Gautama to attain enlightenment as a sammasambudda

Observational insight into karma and the suffering of other beings

  • He had an objective overview of how the world of existence functioned

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