Divine Stories

Divine Stories PDF Author:
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0861718313
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 530

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Book Description
Divine Stories is the inaugural volume in a landmark translation series devoted to making the wealth of classical Indian Buddhism accessible to modern readers. The stories here, among the first texts to be inscribed by Buddhists, highlight the moral economy of karma, illustrating how gestures of faith, especially offerings, can bring the reward of future happiness and ultimate liberation. Originally contained in the Divyavadana, an enormous compendium of Sanskrit Buddhist narratives from the early Common Era, the stories in this collection express the moral and ethical impulses of Indian Buddhist thought and are a testament to the historical and social power of narrative. Long believed by followers to be the actual words of the Buddha himself, these divine stories are without a doubt some of the most influential stories in the history of Buddhism.

Divine Stories

Divine Stories PDF Author:
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0861718313
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 530

Get Book Here

Book Description
Divine Stories is the inaugural volume in a landmark translation series devoted to making the wealth of classical Indian Buddhism accessible to modern readers. The stories here, among the first texts to be inscribed by Buddhists, highlight the moral economy of karma, illustrating how gestures of faith, especially offerings, can bring the reward of future happiness and ultimate liberation. Originally contained in the Divyavadana, an enormous compendium of Sanskrit Buddhist narratives from the early Common Era, the stories in this collection express the moral and ethical impulses of Indian Buddhist thought and are a testament to the historical and social power of narrative. Long believed by followers to be the actual words of the Buddha himself, these divine stories are without a doubt some of the most influential stories in the history of Buddhism.

The Divyavadana

The Divyavadana PDF Author: Edward Byles Cowell
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 732

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Book Description


A Study of the Svāgata Story in the Divyāvadāna in Its Sanskrit, Pāli, Tibetan, and Chinese Versions

A Study of the Svāgata Story in the Divyāvadāna in Its Sanskrit, Pāli, Tibetan, and Chinese Versions PDF Author: Kenneth K. S. Chʻen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Buddha (The concept)
Languages : en
Pages : 124

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Book Description


The Legend of King Aśoka

The Legend of King Aśoka PDF Author: John S. Strong
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publ.
ISBN: 9788120806160
Category : Aśoka, King of Magadha, active 259 B.C.
Languages : en
Pages : 362

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Book Description
This first English translation of the Asokavadana text, the Sanskrit version of the legend of King Asoka, first written in the second century A.D. Emperor of India during the third century B.C. and one of the most important rulers in the history of Buddhism. Asoka has hitherto been studied in the West primarily from his edicts and rock inscriptions in many parts of the Indian subcontinent. Through an extensive critical essay and a fluid translation, John Strong examines the importance of the Asoka of the legends for our overall understanding of Buddhism. Professor Strong contrasts the text with the Pali traditions about Kind Asoka and discusses the Buddhist view of kingship, the relationship of the state and the Buddhist community, the king s role in relating his kingdom to the person of the Buddha, and the connection between merit making, cosmology, and Buddhist doctrine. An appendix provides summaries of other stories about Asoka.

Thus Have I Seen

Thus Have I Seen PDF Author: Andy Rotman
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195366158
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
This book offers a new approach to understanding Buddhist lay and monastic practice by recognizing the crucial role that visual practices played in Indian Buddhism in the early centuries of the Common Era. In the genre of Indian Buddhist narratives known as avadana, most lay religious practice consists not of reading, praying, or meditating, but of visually engaging with certain kinds of objects. The key for understanding the Buddhist conceptualization about the world and the ways it should be navigated is found, in these stories, in ways of seeing and the results of seeing.

India as Reflected in the Divyāvadāna

India as Reflected in the Divyāvadāna PDF Author: Kalpana Upreti
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
Description: Divyavadana is a quite voluminous book written in mixed Sanskrit and belonging to the school of the Sarvastivadh Buddhists. The main emphasis in the text is on the Buddhist concept of Karma and the consequent result (phala). Religiosity and charity have been consciously stressed by the author/authors of the text to increase the interaction between the laity and the monastic establishments. Being a student of Buddhist philosophy as well as history, the author has tried to study the text from various angles with a multidisciplinary approach. Some questions have been raised for further research work. The work hopefully will benefit the students of Buddhist studies particularly for the study of changes in thought as well as in religious perception that took place in different Buddhist schools. It will also help the students of ancient Indian history as the text is replete with information on the socio-economic, political and religious ideas and institutions of India during the first few centuries of the Christian era.

Thus Have I Seen

Thus Have I Seen PDF Author: Andy Rotman
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199710767
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
Although Buddhism is often depicted as a religion of meditators and philosophers, some of the earliest writings extant in India offer a very different portrait of the Buddhist practitioner. In Indian Buddhist narratives from the early centuries of the Common Era, most lay religious practice consists not of reading, praying, or meditating, but of visually engaging with certain kinds of objects. These visual practices, moreover, are represented as the primary means of cultivating faith, a necessary precondition for proceeding along the Buddhist spiritual path. In Thus Have I Seen: Visualizing Faith in Early Indian Buddhism, Andy Rotman examines these visual practices and how they function as a kind of skeleton key for opening up Buddhist conceptualizations about the world and the ways it should be navigated. Rotman's analysis is based primarily on stories from the Divyavadana (Divine Stories), one of the most important collections of ancient Buddhist narratives from India. Though discourses of the Buddha are well known for their opening words, "thus have I heard" - for Buddhist teachings were first preserved and transmitted orally - the Divyavadana presents a very different model for disseminating the Buddhist dharma. Devotees are enjoined to look, not just hear, and visual legacies and lineages are shown to trump their oral counterparts. As Rotman makes clear, this configuration of the visual fundamentally transforms the world of the Buddhist practitioner, changing what one sees, what one believes, and what one does.

"Friendly Advice" by N_r_ya_a and "King Vikrama's Adventures"

Author: Nārāyaṇa
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 0814783058
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 742

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Book Description
Naráyana’s best-seller gives its reader much more than “Friendly Advice.” In one handy collection—closely related to the world-famous Pañcatantra or Five Discourses on Worldly Wisdom —numerous animal fables are interwoven with human stories, all designed to instruct wayward princes. Tales of canny procuresses compete with those of cunning crows and tigers. An intrusive ass is simply thrashed by his master, but the meddlesome monkey ends up with his testicles crushed. One prince manages to enjoy himself with a merchant’s wife with her husband’s consent, while another is kicked out of paradise by a painted image. This volume also contains the compact version of King Víkrama’s Adventures, thirty-two popular tales about a generous emperor, told by thirty-two statuettes adorning his lion-throne. Co-published by New York University Press and the JJC Foundation For more on this title and other titles in the Clay Sanskrit series, please visit http://www.claysanskritlibrary.org

Charming Cadavers

Charming Cadavers PDF Author: Liz Wilson
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226900537
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
In this highly original study of sexuality, desire, the body, and women, Liz Wilson investigates first-millennium Buddhist notions of spirituality. She argues that despite the marginal role women played in monastic life, they occupied a very conspicuous place in Buddhist hagiographic literature. In narratives used for the edification of Buddhist monks, women's bodies in decay (diseased, dying, and after death) served as a central object for meditation, inspiring spiritual growth through sexual abstention and repulsion in the immediate world. Taking up a set of universal concerns connected with the representation of women, Wilson displays the pervasiveness of androcentrism in Buddhist literature and practice. She also makes persuasive use of recent historical work on the religious lives of women in medieval Christianity, finding common ground in the role of miraculous afflictions. This lively and readable study brings provocative new tools and insights to the study of women in religious life.

A History of Indian Literature

A History of Indian Literature PDF Author: Moriz Winternitz
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publishe
ISBN: 9788120802650
Category : Buddhism
Languages : en
Pages : 660

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Book Description