This Buddhist stories for kids collection include stories of Buddha and his adventures throughout the world. Read these with your kids.
Once, there lived a cruel monkey king. He did not want his sons to take over the kingdom, so he bit them to make them weak. One of the king’s wives escaped and gave birth to a strong monkey. When the prince grew up, he went to meet his father. The king hugged him hard […]
One day, an old man was returning home from a city. He had been travelling since morning. Althoug he travelled so long, he could not reach the destination. On the way, he saw a Buddhist hut. He went there and requested the disciple, “I would like to stay here as it is getting dark and
Once, a rich man in Kapilavastu buried his gold in a rice field, to protect it from robbers. However, the rich man soon died and the rice field was abandoned. Many years later, a poor farmer decided to plough the rice field. While ploughing, he found the long-forgotten gold. The farmer tried to lift the
Once, a man opened a juice bar. He had a helper who was very hard-working. One day, the owner went out leaving his helper in charge. The helper wondered, ‘Why do people ask for salt to be served with their juice? Instead, if we add salt to the juice before serving, it would taste good
Once, the Bodhisattva was born as a fish in a pond. Many other fish, big and small, lived in the pond with the Bodhisattva. One year, there was severe drought. The crops died; ponds and rivers dried up. The fish and turtles buried themselves in the mud to keep wet. The crows would stick their
Once, the new King of Tree Spirits announced, “Each spirit should choose a tree to live in.” A wise tree spirit, the leader of a large clan, who was the Bodhisattva in his previous birth, advised his members, “Choose forest trees and not single trees in towns and villages.” Most tree spirits settled down in
The prince of Benaras was a cruel man. One day, the prince was swept off by a rainstorm, while bathing in a river. To save himself, he held on to a dead log. A monk saw the prince and saved him. On the same log, he also found a snake, a water rat and a
Once, the Bodhisattva was born as the wise Elephant King. One day, a man from Benaras got lost in the forest and started crying. Hearing his cries, the Elephant King came to his rescue. He carried the man on his back and left him near the city. On reaching the city market, the man saw
Once, 500 followers of a monk went to the forest to gather firewood. One of them was full of kosajja or laziness. He saw a tree that had no leaves. Thinking it to be a dead tree, he decided to rest first. Soon, he fell asleep. The others gathered the wood and woke up the
Once, the Bodhisattva was born as a vegetable grower. One day, he decided to become a monk and go to the forest. So, he hid his shovel and became a monk. However, soon he started thinking of his shovel and returned to become a vegetable grower. Then again, he gave up gardening and became a
Once, a man was bitten by a snake. The wise doctor told the family, “There are two ways of treating the snake-bite. One is by giving him medicine. The second, by capturing the snake who bit him and make it suck out its own poison.” The family wanted to find the snake. So, the doctor
Once, the Bodhisattva or the Enlightened Being was born into an ordinary family. In his next 500 births, he had the same father. Then the father was his uncle for another 500 births and then grandfather for the next 500 births. The Bodhisattva had the same mother for the next 500 births, who had been
Once, some bandits robbed a village and escaped into the forest. The villagers chased them into the forest but could not find them. On the way back, they saw three men ploughing a field. Thinking that the robbers were pretending to be farmers, the villagers arrested them. When the three men were taken to the
Once, a monk lived in a forest. One day, he visited a kingdom for alms. King Brahmadatta invited him to stay in the royal garden. The monk lived there for sixteen years. One day, King Brahmadatta had to go out. The queen had to take care of her husband’s responsibilities in his absence. She was
Once, a country man married a city woman. His wife stole money from his pocket and bought knickknacks for herself. So, whenever she would steal money, she would be nice to him. However, on other days, she would be rude to him. The young man was disturbed by his wife’s behaviour. Soon, he came to