Editing The Buddha (section)

=== Previous lives ===
Legendary biographies like the Pali ''[[Buddhavaṃsa]]'' and the Sanskrit ''Jātakamālā'' depict the Buddha's (referred to as "[[bodhisattva]]" before his awakening) career as spanning hundreds of lifetimes before his last birth as Gautama. Many of these previous lives are narrated in the [[Jataka tales|Jatakas]], which consists of 547 stories.{{sfnp|Strong|2001|p=19}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Jatakas: Birth Stories of the Bodhisatta |work=British Library |date=13 March 2015 |access-date=28 June 2023 |url= https://blogs.bl.uk/asian-and-african/2015/03/the-jatakas-birth-stories-of-the-bodhisatta.html}}</ref> The format of a Jataka typically begins by telling a story in the present which is then explained by a story of someone's previous life.{{sfnp|Strong|2001|p=21}}

Besides imbuing the pre-Buddhist past with a deep karmic history, the Jatakas also serve to explain the bodhisattva's (the Buddha-to-be) path to Buddhahood.{{sfnp|Strong|2001|p=24}} In biographies like the ''Buddhavaṃsa'', this path is described as long and arduous, taking "four incalculable ages" (''[[Asaṃkhyeya|asamkheyyas]]'').{{sfnp|Strong|2001|p=30}}

In these legendary biographies, the bodhisattva goes through many different births (animal and human), is inspired by his meeting of [[List of the named Buddhas|past Buddhas]], and then makes a series of resolves or vows (''[[Bodhisattva vow|pranidhana]]'') to become a Buddha himself. Then he begins to receive predictions by past Buddhas.{{sfnp|Strong|2001|p=31}} One of the most popular of these stories is [[Sumedha|his meeting with Dipankara Buddha]], who gives the bodhisattva a prediction of future Buddhahood.{{sfnp|Strong|2001|p=25}}

Another theme found in the Pali Jataka Commentary (''Jātakaṭṭhakathā'') and the Sanskrit ''Jātakamālā'' is how the Buddha-to-be had to practice several "perfections" (''[[pāramitā]]'') to reach Buddhahood.{{sfnp|Strong|2001|p=37}} The Jatakas also sometimes depict negative actions done in previous lives by the bodhisattva, which explain difficulties he experienced in his final life as Gautama.{{sfnp|Strong|2001|p=43}}