An unusual biography of the Buddha in Or.8210/S.3096: Śākyamuni and Yaśodharā jointly practicing the Way (original) (raw)
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A Buddhist Love Story: 1 The Buddha and Yaśodharā
Buddhist Studies Review, 2020
This article argues that a love story between the Bodhisatta and his wife may be read into the early hagiographies. The academic study of Buddhist literature has not given romantic love much consideration. There are exceptions, but for the most part, emphasis on renunciation has trumped interest on romance. And yet, if we consider the Buddha’s hagiography, romantic love proves to be a significant feature of the story. This article does not provide historical analysis of specific texts, but rather seeks to explore a number of South Asian hagiographies as a literary genre in the hopes of demonstrating Yaśodharā’s important role therein. Although she is abandoned by the Bodhisatta as he makes his Great Departure, the Yaśodharā of South Asian hagiography cannot be defined by her abandonment. She is regularly represented as a powerful character with a voice of her own — one who challenges, cries, speaks, and commands. But above all else, the Yaśodharā of many of these sources is regularly described as the Buddha’s match.
2020
The different hagiographical accounts on the life of the Buddha have justifiably drawn much scholarly attention since the very inception of Buddhist Studies as an academic field of study. Informing numerous rituals, artefacts, and teachings, the life of the Buddha is a defining element in almost any Buddhist tradition. As such, it is also a precious source for the study of Buddhist discourses of self-representation, past and present. As part of this lavish tradition, much has been dedicated to the description of the Buddha’s clan — the Śākyas. Nevertheless, research on the majority of these stories has not yet been thoroughly conducted. Treatments of the topic, such as in the admirable works of André Bareau, typically approached it from a “historicist” perspective, trying to uncover the historical “truth” beneath the narratives. However, this dissertation treats such narratives as “historical traditions”, rather than excavating them for their presupposed historical facts. In this dissertation, I focus on stories which are transmitted in the Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya (MSV), composed between the 2nd and 5th centuries CE. The Mūlasarvāstivāda nikāya, which was one of the most influential in ancient India, disappeared from its native-land in the 13th century. Its vinaya, which is an enormous and unwieldy text, is not available in its entirety in any Western language. By analysing such accounts, using narratological and philological methods, and in light of visual materials, the dissertation aims to shed new light on the way in which they reflect the historical circumstances of their compilers/authors. As this dissertation demonstrates, these monastic authors were in constant dialogue with other religious communities, and predominantly brāhmaṇas. While the dissertation focuses primarily on the cycle of birth-stories in the Saṅghabhedavastu of the MSV, it also draws upon other parts of this vinaya as well as on other Buddhist genres and the writings of other Buddhist schools.
CONTENTS The online pagination 2012 corresponds to the hard copy pagination 1992 Abbreviations............................................................................vii List of Illustrations.....................................................................ix Introduction...............................................................................xi T.H. Barrett Devil’s Valley to Omega Point: Reflections on the Emergence of a Theme from the Nō..............................1 T.H. Barrett Buddhism, Taoism and the Rise of the City Gods................13 L.S. Cousins The ‘Five Points’ and the Origins of the Buddhist Schools...27 P.T. Denwood Some Formative Inf1uences in Mahāyāna Buddhist Art…...61 G. Dorje The rNying-ma Interpretation of Commitment and Vow…..71 Ch.E. Freeman Saṃvṛti, Vyavahāra and Paramārtha inthe Akṣamatinirdeśa and its Commentary by Vasubandhu….................................97 D.N. Gellner Monk, Househo1der and Priest: What the Three Yānas Mean to Newar Buddhists...................................................115 C. Hallisey Councils as Ideas and Events in the Theravāda…………....133 S. Hookham The Practical Implications of the Doctrine of Buddha-nature……................................................................149 R. Mayer Observations on the Tibetan Phur-ba and the Indian Kīla ........................................................................163 K.R. Norman Theravāda Buddhism and Brahmanical Hinduism: Brahmanical Terms in a Buddhist Guise……………..............193 References...............................................................................201