When the Buddha Was an Elephant 32 Animal Wisdom Tales from the Jataka

A treasury of traditional Buddhist wisdom tales, illustrated with gorgeous original artwork.

The Buddhist jataka tales are simple lessons in living with honesty, wisdom, and compassion that contain the power to transform the hearts and minds of those who hear them. They are stories of the Buddha’s past lives—in such forms as a boar, a parrot, a monkey, or a peacock—that have enchanted children and adults for millennia. Their animal characters powerfully and sometimes humorously demonstrate the virtues and foibles to which we humans are prone, and they point the way to more enlightened ways of living. Mark McGinnis retells the jatakas in poetic and accessible language, rendering the Buddhist teachings they contain abundantly clear. Each tale is brought to life by Mark’s full-color illustration, making the book a visually stunning entrée to this edifying and highly entertaining literary tradition.

MARK W. MCGINNIS is an artist and writer. He was a professor of art for thirty years at Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota. He now resides in Boise, Idaho, and his primary media are acrylic and black ink. His interdisciplinary approach to art in the past has included paintings, artist’s books, sculpture, printmaking, installation, video, performance, essays, and interviews. The research orientation of his work has led to projects of exploration and inquiry into a range of subjects including the extinction of species; the Snake River Basin; the literature of India and Japan; world religions; religious elders: economic evolution, foreign policy; nuclear weaponry; Native American history; and explorers of the “New World.”  His projects have been shown in more than 120 solo exhibitions.