Part B translated from the Sanskrit. Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents:
Crossing the flood of rebirth -- The Avadanasataka -- Many buddhas -- Sakyamuni's past lives -- Independent buddhahood -- Miracles, offerings, aspirations and predictions -- And then the Buddha smiled -- Structure of the Avadanasataka -- Many buddhas, many Buddhisms -- One Buddha, many lessons -- First decade (stories 1-10) -- Second decade (stories 11-20) -- Third decade (stories 21-30) -- Fourth decade (stories 31-40)
Summary:
"Many Buddhas, One Buddha introduces a significant section of the important early Indian Buddhist text known as the Avadanasataka, or "One Hundred Stories", and explores some of its perspectives on buddhahood. This text, composed in Sanskrit and dating to perhaps the third to fifth centuries of the Common Era, is affiliated with the Sarvastivada or Mulasarvastivada, and thus provides important evidence of the ideas and literatures of lost non-Mahayana schools of Indian Buddhism. The text is a rich literary composition, in mixed prose and verse, and includes some elaborate devotional passages that illuminate early Indian perspectives on the Buddha and on the role of avad́℗£na texts. The book introduces the first four chapters of the Avadanasataka through key themes of these stories, such as predictions and vows, preparations for buddhahood, the relationship between Sakyamuni and other buddhas, and the relationship between full buddhahood and pratyekabuddhahood. The study of these stories closes with an argument about the structural design of the text, and what this tells us about attitudes towards different forms of awakening. The second part of the book then presents a full English translation of stories 1-40"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.