Buddhist Parables contains more than two hundred similes, allegories, parables, fables and other illustrative stories and anecdotes found in the Pali Buddhist texts and said to have been employed, either by the Buddha himself or by his followers, to convey religious and ethical lessons and the lessons of common sense. Much of the material has been translated into English for the first time.

The book is a collection of specimens of an unusually interesting type of literary composition, a text-book of the teachings of the Buddha, presented just as the Buddha and his followers presented them, by discourse and example; and a collection of good stories - all in one. It contains much that will interest children; it also contains much that will puzzle the profoundest philosopher.