Garland of the Buddha’s Past Lives (Volume 1)

Garland of the Buddha’s Past Lives (Volume 1) PDF Author: Aryashura
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 1479885835
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 552

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Book Description
The Garland of Past Lives is a collection of thirty four stories depicting the miraculous deeds performed by the Buddha in his previous rebirths. Composed in the fourth century C.E. by the Buddhist monk Aryashura, the text’s accomplished artistry led Indian aesthetic theorists to praise its elegant mixture of verse and prose. The twenty stories in this first volume deal primarily with the virtues of giving and morality. Ascetics sacrifice their lives for hungry tigers, kings open their veins for demons to drink their blood, helmsmen steer their crew through perilous seas, and quail chicks quench forest fires by proclaiming words of truth. The experience is intended to arouse astonishment in the audience, inspiring devotion, through the future Buddha’s transcendence of conventional norms in his quest to acquire enlightenment and save the world from suffering. The importance of such stories of past lives in traditional Buddhist culture, throughout Asia and up to today, cannot be overestimated.

Garland of the Buddha’s Past Lives (Volume 1)

Garland of the Buddha’s Past Lives (Volume 1) PDF Author: Aryashura
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 1479885835
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 552

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Book Description
The Garland of Past Lives is a collection of thirty four stories depicting the miraculous deeds performed by the Buddha in his previous rebirths. Composed in the fourth century C.E. by the Buddhist monk Aryashura, the text’s accomplished artistry led Indian aesthetic theorists to praise its elegant mixture of verse and prose. The twenty stories in this first volume deal primarily with the virtues of giving and morality. Ascetics sacrifice their lives for hungry tigers, kings open their veins for demons to drink their blood, helmsmen steer their crew through perilous seas, and quail chicks quench forest fires by proclaiming words of truth. The experience is intended to arouse astonishment in the audience, inspiring devotion, through the future Buddha’s transcendence of conventional norms in his quest to acquire enlightenment and save the world from suffering. The importance of such stories of past lives in traditional Buddhist culture, throughout Asia and up to today, cannot be overestimated.

Garland of the Buddha's Past Lives (Volume 2)

Garland of the Buddha's Past Lives (Volume 2) PDF Author: Aryashura
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 1479839922
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 524

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Book Description
In this second volume of the Garland of Past Lives, Aryashura applies his elegant literary skill toward composing fourteen further stories that depict the Buddha’s quest for enlightenment in his former lives. Here the perfection of forbearance becomes the dominant theme, as the future Buddha suffers mutilations from the wicked and sacrifices himself for those he seeks to save. Friendship, too, takes on central significance, with greed leading to treachery and enemies transformed into friends through the transformative effect of the future Buddha’s miraculous virtue. The setting for many such moral feats is the forest. Portrayed as home for the future Buddha in his lives as an animal or ascetic, the peaceful harmony of this idyllic realm is often violently interrupted by intrusions from human society. Only the future Buddha can resolve the ensuing conflict, influencing even kings, in the stories but also throughout Asian history, to express wonder and devotion at the startling demonstrations of virtue they encounter.

Once the Buddha Was a Monkey

Once the Buddha Was a Monkey PDF Author: Āryaśūra
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226782158
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 293

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Book Description
Here is one of the most entertaining masterpieces of Sanskrit literature rendered in an English translation that fully captures the original's artistry and charm. Written most probably in the fourth century A.D., the Jatakamala is generally considered the masterpiece of Buddhist literature in Sanskrit. In elegant, courtly style, Arya Sura retells thirty-four traditional stories about the Buddha in his previous incarnations, human and animal. Whether as a king, a brahmin, a monkey, or a hare, the Great One is shown in assiduous pursuit of virtue and compassion. Though primarily intended as exemplary tales illustrating the Buddhist virtues, these stories also provide a vivid picture of life at a high point in ancient Indian culture—city life in ordinary households or at the royal court, and country life against a backdrop of mountain, desert, and jungle. Fresh study of the Sanskrit manuscripts, now scattered in libraries all over the world, has enabled Peter Khoroche to make this new translation faithful to the original in both style and content. His explanatory notes will assist student and general reader alike in appreciating this classic from an ancient and exotic civilization. “The general reader will be highly grateful for this new translation which, besides being beautifully printed, is rounded off with a very informative and reliable introduction.”—Renate Söhnen-Thieme, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies “One would be a fool not to welcome the chance to read this book.”—Richard Gombrich, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society

The Sri Lanka Journal of the Humanities

The Sri Lanka Journal of the Humanities PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Humanities
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description


Jâtakamâla

Jâtakamâla PDF Author: Jat̀akas
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Book Description


Ancient India’s Myths and Beliefs

Ancient India’s Myths and Beliefs PDF Author: Charles Phillips
Publisher: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc
ISBN: 1448859905
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 145

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Book Description
An introduction to myths of ancient India features commentary on tales about the divinities, the ten incarnations of Vishnu, and female figures prevalent in the legends.

The Body of God

The Body of God PDF Author: D Dennis Hudson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019536922X
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 687

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Book Description
Although Hudson died without completing 'The Body of God', the work has been edited and brought to fruition by Margaret Case. The book is a detailed study of a renowned Tamil Hindu temple, the Vaikuntha Perumal (ca. 770 CE). Hudson uses this temple as an illustration of a major current and historical stage in South Indian Vaisnava religion.

Culture Heritage of India

Culture Heritage of India PDF Author: EduGorilla Prep Experts
Publisher: EduGorilla Community Pvt. Ltd.
ISBN: 9366890598
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 820

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Book Description
EduGorilla Publication is a trusted name in the education sector, committed to empowering learners with high-quality study materials and resources. Specializing in competitive exams and academic support, EduGorilla provides comprehensive and well-structured content tailored to meet the needs of students across various streams and levels.

Imagining a Place for Buddhism

Imagining a Place for Buddhism PDF Author: Anne E. Monius
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198032064
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
While Tamil-speaking South India is celebrated for its preservation of Hindu tradition, other religious communities have played a significant role in shaping the region's religious history. Among these non-Hindu communities is that of the Buddhists, who are little-understood because of the scarcity of remnants of Tamil-speaking Buddhist culture. Here, focusing on the two Buddhist texts in Tamil that are complete (a sixth-century poetic narrative and an eleventh-century treatise on grammar and poetics), Monius sheds light on the role of literature and literary culture in the formation, articulation, and evolution of religious identity and community.

Four Illusions

Four Illusions PDF Author: Candrakīrti
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780195151138
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
Candrakrti, who lived in India in the 7th century CE, is a major Mahayana Buddhist scholar whose works are studied in modern western universities and traditional Tibetan Buddhist monasteries. This is a translation of the first four chapters of Candrakrti's commentary on Aryadeva's 400 Stanzas.