I had occasion to revisit the Jatakas recently and was much struck by the ferocity of the Maha Sutasoma Jataka, which is Number 537 in the Pali canon. Why were such stark stories told, I wondered.

In Buddhism, we have a lot of holy books and the oldest is called the Tripitaka or Pali canon. I especially like a small part of it called the Dhammapada, which is a collection of Buddhist sayings.