Jataka Tales: Storytelling and Building Bonds

Timeless Tales: Communal Bonds Through Storytelling
Saturday, May 10, 2025
4:00 PM (PDT) – A free event – open to all
In Person at Concord Hall, 1407 Chapala Street, Santa Barbara, CA
Speaker will join us via Zoom to give her talk and take questions from the audience
It will also be Webcast for those who cannot join in person (see details below)
Speaker: Margo McLoughlin

In world cultures East and West, stories have long been one of the primary tools for building a sense of shared identity and creating bonds of connection across time and space. In the early Buddhist tradition, the birth stories of the Buddha, known as the Jataka, depict the ethical dilemmas and life choices of the Bodhisattva on his journey to awakening. Over the centuries, in the Buddhist countries of southeast Asia, these stories have been told and retold, depicted in paintings, murals and comic books, recited at ceremonies and shared at bedtime with children. In this Institute Forum, Margo McLoughlin will share some reflections on the enduring power of the story-form and the Jataka as a means for creating a common understanding of how to live a generous life in harmony with the whole.

Margo McLoughlin, who is joining us via Zoom in Concord Hall is a Canadian writer, storyteller and teacher. A graduate of the Harvard Divinity School, Margo leads retreats and teaches meditation in Victoria and other communities on Vancouver Island. Visit margostoryteller.net for more information.

*Webcast begins at 4:00 PM (PDT). Click here to view the program. Our speaker will join us in Concord Hall, not in-person but via Zoom. She will take questions from the live audience in Concord Hall. A recording of the talk will be available after the program for future viewing at the same link.
If the link does not work, copy the following and paste it into your browser: https://www.youtube.com/@iwcinsantabarbara/streams