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PARABLES AND SIMILIES |
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 Medieval Japanese depiction of the Buddha's parable of the blind men and the elephant. |
A parable (upamākathā) is a brief story told to make a moral point and a simile (upamā) is a figure of speech that compares one thing with another for didactic purposes. Being a teacher of remarkable creativity and skill, the Buddha was a master of the use of parables and similes. When asked a question, the Buddha would often say before replying: 'I shall give you a simile, because some smart people understand better by means of a simile' (S.II,114). The Jātaka is a collection of parables told by the Buddha. Throughout the Sutta Piṭaka there are roughly 300 similes, many of them ingenious, apt and memorable. | Search BuddhismAtoZ.com
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