Hans H. Penner
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195385823
- eISBN:
- 9780199870073
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195385823.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
This chapter details Buddha's visit to his home. With the earth refreshed with monsoon rains, the Buddha decided that it was time to keep his promise to Kaludayin and visit home. When he arrived at ...
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This chapter details Buddha's visit to his home. With the earth refreshed with monsoon rains, the Buddha decided that it was time to keep his promise to Kaludayin and visit home. When he arrived at Kapilavatthu along with a great multitude of ascetics, he was directed to Nigrodha Park for his residence. The town folk, hearing that he had arrived, started for the grove but were stopped short by a proclamation from the king stating, “No one is to go to the grove before me”.Less
This chapter details Buddha's visit to his home. With the earth refreshed with monsoon rains, the Buddha decided that it was time to keep his promise to Kaludayin and visit home. When he arrived at Kapilavatthu along with a great multitude of ascetics, he was directed to Nigrodha Park for his residence. The town folk, hearing that he had arrived, started for the grove but were stopped short by a proclamation from the king stating, “No one is to go to the grove before me”.
Hans H. Penner
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195385823
- eISBN:
- 9780199870073
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195385823.003.0016
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
This chapter details how as Buddha settled down in the grove near Kusinara the sal trees burst forth in abundant untimely blossoms that fell, covering his body. Heavenly coral tree flowers also fell ...
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This chapter details how as Buddha settled down in the grove near Kusinara the sal trees burst forth in abundant untimely blossoms that fell, covering his body. Heavenly coral tree flowers also fell from the sky, together with sandalwood powder, sprinkling and covering his body in homage. It describes how Buddha rehearsed the levels of meditation, just as he performed them during the watches of the night at Bodh-Gaya. Traversing and then reversing the levels of meditation, he attained final liberation.Less
This chapter details how as Buddha settled down in the grove near Kusinara the sal trees burst forth in abundant untimely blossoms that fell, covering his body. Heavenly coral tree flowers also fell from the sky, together with sandalwood powder, sprinkling and covering his body in homage. It describes how Buddha rehearsed the levels of meditation, just as he performed them during the watches of the night at Bodh-Gaya. Traversing and then reversing the levels of meditation, he attained final liberation.
Hans H. Penner
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195385823
- eISBN:
- 9780199870073
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195385823.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
This chapter details Buddha's meeting with King Bimbisara and two ascetics, Sariputta and Moggallana. After a stay at Bodh-Gaya, the place of his enlightenment, the Buddha decided to take a large ...
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This chapter details Buddha's meeting with King Bimbisara and two ascetics, Sariputta and Moggallana. After a stay at Bodh-Gaya, the place of his enlightenment, the Buddha decided to take a large number of monks to Rajagaha, the capital city of Magadha. When he finally arrived there he settled near the town in the pleasure garden known as the Bamboo Grove, near a sacred shrine. Rajagaha was the seat of the famous king of Magadha named Bimbisara. The king was told of the Buddha's arrival and decided to visit the Buddha with a vast number of Magadha, Brahmins, and householders. Together with the 250 renouncers, Sariputta and Moggallana also headed for the Bamboo Grove to meet the Buddha.Less
This chapter details Buddha's meeting with King Bimbisara and two ascetics, Sariputta and Moggallana. After a stay at Bodh-Gaya, the place of his enlightenment, the Buddha decided to take a large number of monks to Rajagaha, the capital city of Magadha. When he finally arrived there he settled near the town in the pleasure garden known as the Bamboo Grove, near a sacred shrine. Rajagaha was the seat of the famous king of Magadha named Bimbisara. The king was told of the Buddha's arrival and decided to visit the Buddha with a vast number of Magadha, Brahmins, and householders. Together with the 250 renouncers, Sariputta and Moggallana also headed for the Bamboo Grove to meet the Buddha.
Stephen C. Berkwitz
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195301397
- eISBN:
- 9780199785100
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195301397.003.0014
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
This epilogue describes a prediction wherein Duṭugämuṇu and various members of his family and court will be reborn to attend to the future Buddha Maitreya.
This epilogue describes a prediction wherein Duṭugämuṇu and various members of his family and court will be reborn to attend to the future Buddha Maitreya.
Mario Poceski
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195319965
- eISBN:
- 9780199785445
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195319965.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
This chapter explores key themes in the Hongzhou school's doctrines. It draws attention to attacks on all forms of dogmatism, including reifying concepts of the mind derived from Chinese ...
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This chapter explores key themes in the Hongzhou school's doctrines. It draws attention to attacks on all forms of dogmatism, including reifying concepts of the mind derived from Chinese interpretations of the Buddha-nature theory, which forms a central theme that links together the main sources. A large part of the chapter is concerned with the flexible and context-sensitive interpretive strategies employed in discussions of famous Chan adages associated with Mazu, especially “mind is Buddha” and “ordinary mind is the Way”.Less
This chapter explores key themes in the Hongzhou school's doctrines. It draws attention to attacks on all forms of dogmatism, including reifying concepts of the mind derived from Chinese interpretations of the Buddha-nature theory, which forms a central theme that links together the main sources. A large part of the chapter is concerned with the flexible and context-sensitive interpretive strategies employed in discussions of famous Chan adages associated with Mazu, especially “mind is Buddha” and “ordinary mind is the Way”.
Taigen Dan Leighton
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195320930
- eISBN:
- 9780199785360
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195320930.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
As a religion concerned with universal liberation, Zen grew out of a Buddhist worldview very different from the currently prevalent scientific materialism. Zen cannot be fully understood outside of a ...
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As a religion concerned with universal liberation, Zen grew out of a Buddhist worldview very different from the currently prevalent scientific materialism. Zen cannot be fully understood outside of a worldview that sees reality itself as a vital, dynamic agent of awareness and healing. This book explicates that worldview through the writings of the Zen master Eihei Dōgen (1200-1253), considered the founder of the Japanese Sōtō Zen tradition, which currently enjoys popularity in the West. The Lotus Sutra, arguably the most important Buddhist scripture in East Asia, contains a famous story about bodhisattvas (enlightening beings) who emerge from under the earth to preserve and expound the Lotus teaching in the distant future. The story reveals that the Buddha only appears to pass away, but actually has been practicing, and will continue to do so, over an inconceivably long life span. The book traces commentaries on the Lotus Sutra from key East Asian Buddhist thinkers, including Daosheng, Zhiyi, Zhanran, Saigyo, Myoe, Nichiren, Hakuin, and Ryokan. But the main focus is Eihei Dōgen, whose profuse, provocative, and poetic writings are important to the modern expansion of Buddhism to the West. Dōgen's use of this sutra expresses the critical role of Mahnullynullna vision and imagination as the context of Zen teaching, and his interpretations of this story furthermore reveal his dynamic worldview of the earth, space, and time themselves as vital agents of spiritual awakening. The book argues that Dōgen uses the images and metaphors in this story to express his own religious worldview, in which earth, space, and time are lively agents in the bodhisattva project. Broader awareness of Dōgen's worldview and its implications can illuminate the possibilities for contemporary approaches to primary Mahnullynullna concepts and practices.Less
As a religion concerned with universal liberation, Zen grew out of a Buddhist worldview very different from the currently prevalent scientific materialism. Zen cannot be fully understood outside of a worldview that sees reality itself as a vital, dynamic agent of awareness and healing. This book explicates that worldview through the writings of the Zen master Eihei Dōgen (1200-1253), considered the founder of the Japanese Sōtō Zen tradition, which currently enjoys popularity in the West. The Lotus Sutra, arguably the most important Buddhist scripture in East Asia, contains a famous story about bodhisattvas (enlightening beings) who emerge from under the earth to preserve and expound the Lotus teaching in the distant future. The story reveals that the Buddha only appears to pass away, but actually has been practicing, and will continue to do so, over an inconceivably long life span. The book traces commentaries on the Lotus Sutra from key East Asian Buddhist thinkers, including Daosheng, Zhiyi, Zhanran, Saigyo, Myoe, Nichiren, Hakuin, and Ryokan. But the main focus is Eihei Dōgen, whose profuse, provocative, and poetic writings are important to the modern expansion of Buddhism to the West. Dōgen's use of this sutra expresses the critical role of Mahnullynullna vision and imagination as the context of Zen teaching, and his interpretations of this story furthermore reveal his dynamic worldview of the earth, space, and time themselves as vital agents of spiritual awakening. The book argues that Dōgen uses the images and metaphors in this story to express his own religious worldview, in which earth, space, and time are lively agents in the bodhisattva project. Broader awareness of Dōgen's worldview and its implications can illuminate the possibilities for contemporary approaches to primary Mahnullynullna concepts and practices.
Susanne Mrozik
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195305005
- eISBN:
- 9780199785681
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195305005.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
This chapter investigates how even an apparently negative discourse on bodies serves the Compendium of Training's purpose of producing bodhisattvas with bodies that have transformative effects on ...
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This chapter investigates how even an apparently negative discourse on bodies serves the Compendium of Training's purpose of producing bodhisattvas with bodies that have transformative effects on others. It shows that in spite of their differences, the ascetic and physiomoral discourses on bodies share the same end: producing bodhisattvas with bodies capable of ripening others. These are the bodies of well-disciplined monastics whose very features, postures, and movements instantiate for others their moral achievement. If these bodhisattvas reach the end of their path, they too will materialize the most virtuous body of all, namely, that of a buddha.Less
This chapter investigates how even an apparently negative discourse on bodies serves the Compendium of Training's purpose of producing bodhisattvas with bodies that have transformative effects on others. It shows that in spite of their differences, the ascetic and physiomoral discourses on bodies share the same end: producing bodhisattvas with bodies capable of ripening others. These are the bodies of well-disciplined monastics whose very features, postures, and movements instantiate for others their moral achievement. If these bodhisattvas reach the end of their path, they too will materialize the most virtuous body of all, namely, that of a buddha.
Robert G. Morrison
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198238652
- eISBN:
- 9780191679711
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198238652.003.0013
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter presents a summary of discussions in the preceding chapters. It argues that by skilfully channelling certain deep rooted tendencies, man can venture on a path of continual ...
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This chapter presents a summary of discussions in the preceding chapters. It argues that by skilfully channelling certain deep rooted tendencies, man can venture on a path of continual self-overcoming that eventually culminates in a new kind of being: a Buddha. Perhaps, by borrowing much from the Buddhists, Nietzsche could have found a practical way of creating his as yet hypothetical Übermensch. Indeed, if Nietzsche had lived in an age where Buddhism was better understood, he might even have considered the Buddha to be such an Übermensch.Less
This chapter presents a summary of discussions in the preceding chapters. It argues that by skilfully channelling certain deep rooted tendencies, man can venture on a path of continual self-overcoming that eventually culminates in a new kind of being: a Buddha. Perhaps, by borrowing much from the Buddhists, Nietzsche could have found a practical way of creating his as yet hypothetical Übermensch. Indeed, if Nietzsche had lived in an age where Buddhism was better understood, he might even have considered the Buddha to be such an Übermensch.
Aviad Kleinberg
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780231174701
- eISBN:
- 9780231540247
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231174701.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
Here the philosophers' God is introduced, just to be declared utterly unknowable.
Here the philosophers' God is introduced, just to be declared utterly unknowable.
Ilkka Pyysiäinen
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195380026
- eISBN:
- 9780199869046
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195380026.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
In the Buddhist tradition, buddhas are regarded as omniscient in the sense that everything is directly reflected in the mind of a buddha. In certain “Hindu” schools, the ideas of karma and rebirth ...
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In the Buddhist tradition, buddhas are regarded as omniscient in the sense that everything is directly reflected in the mind of a buddha. In certain “Hindu” schools, the ideas of karma and rebirth seem to have developed as “folk-genetic” explanations of the observed fact that offspring resemble their parents. Problems involved in explaining all states of affairs in the world as based on the past actions of isolated individuals were solved by postulating a God who saw the merits of individuals and fixed their future correspondingly. In Buddhism, both the ideas of an immutable self and God were rejected; all things and events were considered to arise from purely mechanical processes. The Buddha’s mentality now lives in the doctrine which is regarded as the Dharma-body of the Buddha. Relics and Buddha images are used as a means of giving a concrete form to the Buddha’s agency after his death.Less
In the Buddhist tradition, buddhas are regarded as omniscient in the sense that everything is directly reflected in the mind of a buddha. In certain “Hindu” schools, the ideas of karma and rebirth seem to have developed as “folk-genetic” explanations of the observed fact that offspring resemble their parents. Problems involved in explaining all states of affairs in the world as based on the past actions of isolated individuals were solved by postulating a God who saw the merits of individuals and fixed their future correspondingly. In Buddhism, both the ideas of an immutable self and God were rejected; all things and events were considered to arise from purely mechanical processes. The Buddha’s mentality now lives in the doctrine which is regarded as the Dharma-body of the Buddha. Relics and Buddha images are used as a means of giving a concrete form to the Buddha’s agency after his death.
Aakash Singh Rathore and Ajay Verma
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198068679
- eISBN:
- 9780199081233
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198068679.003.0009
- Subject:
- Political Science, Indian Politics
This concluding chapter outlines some of the tributes dedicated to the Buddha and his greatness. It presents an anthology of the impressions and thoughts of modern thinkers and scientists on the ...
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This concluding chapter outlines some of the tributes dedicated to the Buddha and his greatness. It presents an anthology of the impressions and thoughts of modern thinkers and scientists on the Buddha and his Dhamma. S.S. Raghavachar, Winwood Reade, Ranjan Roy, E.G. Taylor, W.T. Stace praise the greatness of the Buddha and his Dhamma. R.J. Jackson praises Buddhism for having the capacity to direct man to search inwards to the potentiality hidden within himself. Dwight Goddard praises Buddha for his keen eyes to the intrinsic greatness of man and for his exaltation of man as his equal rather as an inferior. E.J. Mill points out the openness of Buddhism to the development of mental culture. While other religions put restraints on the thoughts of its followers, Buddhism stresses to keep one's eyes open and to cultivate knowledge to attain salvation and to attain morality.Less
This concluding chapter outlines some of the tributes dedicated to the Buddha and his greatness. It presents an anthology of the impressions and thoughts of modern thinkers and scientists on the Buddha and his Dhamma. S.S. Raghavachar, Winwood Reade, Ranjan Roy, E.G. Taylor, W.T. Stace praise the greatness of the Buddha and his Dhamma. R.J. Jackson praises Buddhism for having the capacity to direct man to search inwards to the potentiality hidden within himself. Dwight Goddard praises Buddha for his keen eyes to the intrinsic greatness of man and for his exaltation of man as his equal rather as an inferior. E.J. Mill points out the openness of Buddhism to the development of mental culture. While other religions put restraints on the thoughts of its followers, Buddhism stresses to keep one's eyes open and to cultivate knowledge to attain salvation and to attain morality.
Jonardon Ganeri
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199202416
- eISBN:
- 9780191708558
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199202416.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
The mistakes we make about ourselves result in our deepest sufferings. Philosophy, meant to be a medicine for our souls' affliction, claims to offer both a diagnosis and a cure. This book looks to ...
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The mistakes we make about ourselves result in our deepest sufferings. Philosophy, meant to be a medicine for our souls' affliction, claims to offer both a diagnosis and a cure. This book looks to ancient India, where Buddhists and Hindus alike grapple with the fundamental human quest for peace of mind. For Indian thinkers, a philosophical treatise about the self is meant not only to lay out the truth, but also to embed itself in a process of study and contemplation that will lead eventually to self-transformation. The survey includes the Upaniṣads, the Buddha's discourses, the epic Mahābhārata, and the philosopher Candrakīrti, whose work was later to become foundational in Tibetan Buddhism. The book shows that many contemporary theories of selfhood and personal identity are not only anticipated but developed to an extraordinary degree of sophistication in these works, and that there are other ideas about the self found here which modern philosophers have not yet begun to explore. In the Appendices, the book begins to disclose some of the paths along which Indian ideas about the self have migrated throughout history to the West.Less
The mistakes we make about ourselves result in our deepest sufferings. Philosophy, meant to be a medicine for our souls' affliction, claims to offer both a diagnosis and a cure. This book looks to ancient India, where Buddhists and Hindus alike grapple with the fundamental human quest for peace of mind. For Indian thinkers, a philosophical treatise about the self is meant not only to lay out the truth, but also to embed itself in a process of study and contemplation that will lead eventually to self-transformation. The survey includes the Upaniṣads, the Buddha's discourses, the epic Mahābhārata, and the philosopher Candrakīrti, whose work was later to become foundational in Tibetan Buddhism. The book shows that many contemporary theories of selfhood and personal identity are not only anticipated but developed to an extraordinary degree of sophistication in these works, and that there are other ideas about the self found here which modern philosophers have not yet begun to explore. In the Appendices, the book begins to disclose some of the paths along which Indian ideas about the self have migrated throughout history to the West.
Paula K. R. Arai
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195304671
- eISBN:
- 9780199866861
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195304671.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
Chapter 6 engages in ethnographic study of rituals practiced by nuns in the contemporary Sōtō sect of Zen. Through surveys and interviews conducted among Sōtō nuns in the Nagoya area of Japan, Arai ...
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Chapter 6 engages in ethnographic study of rituals practiced by nuns in the contemporary Sōtō sect of Zen. Through surveys and interviews conducted among Sōtō nuns in the Nagoya area of Japan, Arai has articulated the ways in which two quite different rituals “shape, stretch, and define” the identity of participants. Both rituals—Anan Kōshiki and Jizō Nagashi—seek to evoke in participants an awareness of their own Buddha nature, and along with that, a strong sense of their own free agency and power. The central themes of these two rituals are gratitude and interrelatedness, and elements in these sacred ceremonies bring these qualities out in the experience of the women who participate in them. In addition, these themes are linked to Dōgen's own Zen teachings as a natural expression of his claims about the Buddha nature in all beings.Less
Chapter 6 engages in ethnographic study of rituals practiced by nuns in the contemporary Sōtō sect of Zen. Through surveys and interviews conducted among Sōtō nuns in the Nagoya area of Japan, Arai has articulated the ways in which two quite different rituals “shape, stretch, and define” the identity of participants. Both rituals—Anan Kōshiki and Jizō Nagashi—seek to evoke in participants an awareness of their own Buddha nature, and along with that, a strong sense of their own free agency and power. The central themes of these two rituals are gratitude and interrelatedness, and elements in these sacred ceremonies bring these qualities out in the experience of the women who participate in them. In addition, these themes are linked to Dōgen's own Zen teachings as a natural expression of his claims about the Buddha nature in all beings.
Andy Rotman
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195366150
- eISBN:
- 9780199867882
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195366150.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
Chapter 7 returns to the Koṭikarṇa-avadāna and considers what monastics say about seeing the Buddha and what they do when confronted with the opportunity. The chapter then focuses on two accounts ...
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Chapter 7 returns to the Koṭikarṇa-avadāna and considers what monastics say about seeing the Buddha and what they do when confronted with the opportunity. The chapter then focuses on two accounts from the Aśoka cycle of stories that address the problem of how to see the Buddha’s physical body after he has passed into final nirvāṇa. The first concerns King Aśoka and the logistics of pilgrimage, and the second involves Upagupta and the veneration of images.Less
Chapter 7 returns to the Koṭikarṇa-avadāna and considers what monastics say about seeing the Buddha and what they do when confronted with the opportunity. The chapter then focuses on two accounts from the Aśoka cycle of stories that address the problem of how to see the Buddha’s physical body after he has passed into final nirvāṇa. The first concerns King Aśoka and the logistics of pilgrimage, and the second involves Upagupta and the veneration of images.
Vanessa R. Sasson
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195380040
- eISBN:
- 9780199869077
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195380040.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society, World Religions
The Buddha’s fetal life was as extraordinary as the rest of his hagiography. He sat ablaze with light in a jeweled palace inside his mother’s womb. He was bathed by deities. He delivered teachings to ...
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The Buddha’s fetal life was as extraordinary as the rest of his hagiography. He sat ablaze with light in a jeweled palace inside his mother’s womb. He was bathed by deities. He delivered teachings to his visitors. This chapter argues that these stories serve a number of important hagiographic functions: they give voice to the views of the time; they distinguish the future Buddha from ordinary beings by rendering him independent and invulnerable; and they foreshadow all the qualities he would eventually manifest as the Buddha he would become. In short, these fetal narratives tell us everything we need to know about the Buddha and the role he comes to play, with the womb functioning as a perfect metaphor for the cosmos—a legend at the microcosmic level that speaks of something far greater to come.Less
The Buddha’s fetal life was as extraordinary as the rest of his hagiography. He sat ablaze with light in a jeweled palace inside his mother’s womb. He was bathed by deities. He delivered teachings to his visitors. This chapter argues that these stories serve a number of important hagiographic functions: they give voice to the views of the time; they distinguish the future Buddha from ordinary beings by rendering him independent and invulnerable; and they foreshadow all the qualities he would eventually manifest as the Buddha he would become. In short, these fetal narratives tell us everything we need to know about the Buddha and the role he comes to play, with the womb functioning as a perfect metaphor for the cosmos—a legend at the microcosmic level that speaks of something far greater to come.
John Powers
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195306316
- eISBN:
- 9780199867721
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195306316.003.0011
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
The historical Buddha insisted on celibacy for monks and nuns because suffering was caused by ignorant craving and because sexual relations encouraged attachment to the world. Both functioned as ...
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The historical Buddha insisted on celibacy for monks and nuns because suffering was caused by ignorant craving and because sexual relations encouraged attachment to the world. Both functioned as obstacles to mental concentration. Monastic rules helped one to comprehend the reason for the essential role of celibacy in the quest for liberation. Buddhist practice became more complex with later developments, such as Tibetan Buddhism, which witnessed some schools insisting on celibacy, while others allowed sexual intercourse within a ritualistic context for advanced practitioners, and other schools approved a married clergy.Less
The historical Buddha insisted on celibacy for monks and nuns because suffering was caused by ignorant craving and because sexual relations encouraged attachment to the world. Both functioned as obstacles to mental concentration. Monastic rules helped one to comprehend the reason for the essential role of celibacy in the quest for liberation. Buddhist practice became more complex with later developments, such as Tibetan Buddhism, which witnessed some schools insisting on celibacy, while others allowed sexual intercourse within a ritualistic context for advanced practitioners, and other schools approved a married clergy.
Kristin Scheible
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780231171380
- eISBN:
- 9780231542609
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231171380.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
Vamsa is a dynamic genre of Buddhist history filled with otherworldly characters and the exploits of real-life heroes. These narratives collapse the temporal distance between Buddha and the reader, ...
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Vamsa is a dynamic genre of Buddhist history filled with otherworldly characters and the exploits of real-life heroes. These narratives collapse the temporal distance between Buddha and the reader, building an emotionally resonant connection with an outsized religious figure and a longed-for past. The fifth-century Pali text Mahāvamsa is a particularly effective example, using metaphor and other rhetorical devices to ethically transform readers, to stimulate and then to calm them.
Reading the Mahāvamsa advocates a new, literary approach to this text by revealing its embedded reading advice (to experience samvega and pasada) and affective work of metaphors (the Buddha's dharma as light) and salient characters (nagas). Kristin Scheible argues that the Mahāvamsa requires a particular kind of reading. In the text’s proem, special instructions draw readers to the metaphor of light and the nagas, or salient snake-beings, of the first chapter. Nagas are both model worshippers and unworthy hoarders of Buddha’s relics. As nonhuman agents, they challenge political and historicist readings of the text. Scheible sees these slippery characters and the narrative’s potent and playful metaphors as techniques for refocusing the reader’s attention on the text’s emotional aims. Her work explains the Mahāvamsa’s central motivational role in contemporary Sri Lankan Buddhist and nationalist circles. It also speaks broadly to strategies of reading religious texts and to the internal and external cues that give such works lives beyond the page.Less
Vamsa is a dynamic genre of Buddhist history filled with otherworldly characters and the exploits of real-life heroes. These narratives collapse the temporal distance between Buddha and the reader, building an emotionally resonant connection with an outsized religious figure and a longed-for past. The fifth-century Pali text Mahāvamsa is a particularly effective example, using metaphor and other rhetorical devices to ethically transform readers, to stimulate and then to calm them.
Reading the Mahāvamsa advocates a new, literary approach to this text by revealing its embedded reading advice (to experience samvega and pasada) and affective work of metaphors (the Buddha's dharma as light) and salient characters (nagas). Kristin Scheible argues that the Mahāvamsa requires a particular kind of reading. In the text’s proem, special instructions draw readers to the metaphor of light and the nagas, or salient snake-beings, of the first chapter. Nagas are both model worshippers and unworthy hoarders of Buddha’s relics. As nonhuman agents, they challenge political and historicist readings of the text. Scheible sees these slippery characters and the narrative’s potent and playful metaphors as techniques for refocusing the reader’s attention on the text’s emotional aims. Her work explains the Mahāvamsa’s central motivational role in contemporary Sri Lankan Buddhist and nationalist circles. It also speaks broadly to strategies of reading religious texts and to the internal and external cues that give such works lives beyond the page.
Todd T. Lewis and Subarna Man Tuladhar
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195341829
- eISBN:
- 9780199866816
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195341829.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This book is the English translation of Sugata Saurabha, a poetic rendering of the Buddha's life, published in 1947 in the Nepalese language, Newari, by Chittadhar Hrdaya, one of the greatest ...
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This book is the English translation of Sugata Saurabha, a poetic rendering of the Buddha's life, published in 1947 in the Nepalese language, Newari, by Chittadhar Hrdaya, one of the greatest literary figures from Nepal in the twentieth century. Sugata Saurabha (“The Fragrant Life of the Buddha”) is a remarkable text for its comprehensiveness, artistry, and nuance. Remarkably, this work was composed while Chittadhar was jailed for five years for the crime of publishing a poem in his native language. Sugata Saurabha covers the Buddha's life from birth to enlightenment to death, according to the classical sources, and conveys his basic teachings with simple clarity and narrative subtlety. What makes this nineteen-chapter epic of additional interest is the author's insertions, where the classical sources are silent, of details on the Buddha's life and sociocultural context that are Nepalese. The effect is to humanize the founder and add the texture of real-life detail. A third level of artistry is the modernist perspective that underlies the poet's manner of retelling this great spiritual narrative. This rendering from the Kathmandu Valley, in a long line of accounts of the Buddha's life dating back almost two thousand years, may be the last ever written in the tradition of Indic classic poetry (kāvya). Sugata Saurabha provides an aesthetically pleasing and doctrinally sound comprehensive account of the Buddha's life and is of interest to Buddhist devotees and suitable for classroom use.Less
This book is the English translation of Sugata Saurabha, a poetic rendering of the Buddha's life, published in 1947 in the Nepalese language, Newari, by Chittadhar Hrdaya, one of the greatest literary figures from Nepal in the twentieth century. Sugata Saurabha (“The Fragrant Life of the Buddha”) is a remarkable text for its comprehensiveness, artistry, and nuance. Remarkably, this work was composed while Chittadhar was jailed for five years for the crime of publishing a poem in his native language. Sugata Saurabha covers the Buddha's life from birth to enlightenment to death, according to the classical sources, and conveys his basic teachings with simple clarity and narrative subtlety. What makes this nineteen-chapter epic of additional interest is the author's insertions, where the classical sources are silent, of details on the Buddha's life and sociocultural context that are Nepalese. The effect is to humanize the founder and add the texture of real-life detail. A third level of artistry is the modernist perspective that underlies the poet's manner of retelling this great spiritual narrative. This rendering from the Kathmandu Valley, in a long line of accounts of the Buddha's life dating back almost two thousand years, may be the last ever written in the tradition of Indic classic poetry (kāvya). Sugata Saurabha provides an aesthetically pleasing and doctrinally sound comprehensive account of the Buddha's life and is of interest to Buddhist devotees and suitable for classroom use.
K. R. Norman
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780197262856
- eISBN:
- 9780191753961
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197262856.003.0006
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Asian and Middle Eastern History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter goes back to the beginnings of Buddhism, in fact to that ancient problem: What language or languages did the Buddha speak? It discusses Old Indo-Aryan and the origin of the Prakrit ...
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This chapter goes back to the beginnings of Buddhism, in fact to that ancient problem: What language or languages did the Buddha speak? It discusses Old Indo-Aryan and the origin of the Prakrit dialects, the language(s) of the Buddha and the Jina, Old Māgadhī, the migration of the Buddhist teachings, the writing down of the canon in Ceylon, anomalous forms in the Theravādin canon, anomalous forms and the Aśokan inscriptions, and why anomalies remain in the Pāli canon.Less
This chapter goes back to the beginnings of Buddhism, in fact to that ancient problem: What language or languages did the Buddha speak? It discusses Old Indo-Aryan and the origin of the Prakrit dialects, the language(s) of the Buddha and the Jina, Old Māgadhī, the migration of the Buddhist teachings, the writing down of the canon in Ceylon, anomalous forms in the Theravādin canon, anomalous forms and the Aśokan inscriptions, and why anomalies remain in the Pāli canon.
John E. Cort
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195385021
- eISBN:
- 9780199869770
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195385021.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society, World Religions
This chapter presents a thorough overview of the scholarly evidence from archaeology (both images and inscriptions) and Jain texts concerning the earliest history of Jina images. According to the ...
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This chapter presents a thorough overview of the scholarly evidence from archaeology (both images and inscriptions) and Jain texts concerning the earliest history of Jina images. According to the present scholarly understanding, the Jina image emerged from the Buddha image in the region around Mathura. Jina images were in existence possibly in the second century BCE, and certainly by the early years of the first century BCE. The earliest images are of stone, and there is little convincing evidence for a pre‐stone image tradition in other media. Bronze Jina images emerge slightly later. Textual evidence comes later than archaeological evidence, and shows that by the early centuries CE the Jains had developed an elaborate ritual culture of Jina images. Art historians have often complained of the relative lack of variety in the iconography of Jina images. The chapter directly addresses this critique, and by framing an understanding of the Jina image in the twentieth‐century Minimalist style shows how geometrical and symmetrical minimalism have allowed the Jains to express the Jain ideals of perfection in plastic form. The chapter concludes with a brief description of the rituals of worship and veneration of Jina images.Less
This chapter presents a thorough overview of the scholarly evidence from archaeology (both images and inscriptions) and Jain texts concerning the earliest history of Jina images. According to the present scholarly understanding, the Jina image emerged from the Buddha image in the region around Mathura. Jina images were in existence possibly in the second century BCE, and certainly by the early years of the first century BCE. The earliest images are of stone, and there is little convincing evidence for a pre‐stone image tradition in other media. Bronze Jina images emerge slightly later. Textual evidence comes later than archaeological evidence, and shows that by the early centuries CE the Jains had developed an elaborate ritual culture of Jina images. Art historians have often complained of the relative lack of variety in the iconography of Jina images. The chapter directly addresses this critique, and by framing an understanding of the Jina image in the twentieth‐century Minimalist style shows how geometrical and symmetrical minimalism have allowed the Jains to express the Jain ideals of perfection in plastic form. The chapter concludes with a brief description of the rituals of worship and veneration of Jina images.
