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Avadana
Avadāna (Sanskrit; Pali: '' Apadāna'') is the name given to a type of Buddhist literature correlating past lives' virtuous deeds to subsequent lives' events. Richard Salomon described them as "stories, usually narrated by the Buddha, that illustrate the workings of karma by revealing the acts of a particular individual in a previous life and the results of those actions in his or her present life." This literature includes around 600 stories in the Pāli language Apadāna ("Legends"). There are also a large number in Sanskrit collections, of which the chief are the Mahāsāṃghika's '' Mahāvastu'' ("Great Book") and the Sarvāstivāda's '' Avadānaśataka'' (''Century of Legends'') and '' Divyāvadāna'' (''The Heavenly Legend''). These latter collections include accounts relating to Gautama Buddha and the third-century BCE "righteous ruler," Ashoka. Amongst the most popular ''avadānas'' of Northern Hinayāna Buddhism are: * Ratnamālāvadāna, which is a collecti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Avadanasataka
The ''Avadānaśataka'' (''A Hundred Tales'') is a Buddhist anthology in Sanskrit of one hundred Buddhist avadāna legends associated with the Mūlasarvāstivāda school.Buswell, Robert E; Lopez, Donald S. The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, pp. 81-82. Princeton University Press, Nov 24, 2013. The Sanskrit text's composition date is uncertain, with an approximate origin around 100 CE or later, between the second and fourth centuries CE. The collection likely originated in the northwest Indian subcontinent, with some fragments discovered in the Schøyen Collection, possibly from Bāmiyān. The Mūlasarvāstivāda affiliation is supported by shared passages with the Divyāvadāna and the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, as well as its textual and thematic parallels. The ''Avadānaśataka'' is similar to and possibly from the same milieu as the ''Aśokāvadāna'' and the '' Ratnamālāvadāna''. The text was later translated into Chinese (as ''Zhuanji baiyuan jing'') and into Tibetan. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Gautama Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was born in Lumbini, in what is now Nepal, to royal parents of the Shakya clan, but Great Renunciation, renounced his Householder (Buddhism), home life to live as a wandering ascetic. After leading a life of mendicancy, asceticism, and meditation, he attained Nirvana (Buddhism), nirvana at Bodh Gaya, Bodh Gayā in what is now India. The Buddha then wandered through the lower Indo-Gangetic Plain, teaching and building a Sangha, monastic order. Buddhist tradition holds he died in Kushinagar and reached ''parinirvana'' ("final release from conditioned existence"). According to Buddhist tradition, the Buddha taught a Middle Way between sensual indulgence and severe asceticism, leading to Vimutti, freedom from Avidyā (Buddhism), ignora ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Buddhist Texts
Buddhist texts are religious texts that belong to, or are associated with, Buddhism and Schools of Buddhism, its traditions. There is no single textual collection for all of Buddhism. Instead, there are three main Buddhist Canons: the Pāli Canon of the Theravada, Theravāda tradition, the Chinese Buddhist canon, Chinese Buddhist Canon used in East Asian Buddhism, East Asian Buddhist tradition, and the Tibetan Buddhist canon, Tibetan Buddhist Canon used in Tibetan Buddhism, Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. The earliest Buddhist texts were not committed to writing until some centuries after the death of Gautama Buddha. The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts are the Gandhāran Buddhist texts, found in Pakistan and written in Gāndhārī language, Gāndhārī, they date from the first century BCE to the third century CE. The Early Buddhist texts, first Buddhist texts were initially passed on orally by Buddhist monasticism, Buddhist monastics, but were later written down and composed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Ashoka
Ashoka, also known as Asoka or Aśoka ( ; , ; – 232 BCE), and popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was List of Mauryan emperors, Emperor of Magadha from until #Death, his death in 232 BCE, and the third ruler from the Mauryan dynasty. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, stretching from present-day Afghanistan in the west to present-day Bangladesh in the east, with its capital at Pataliputra. A patron of Buddhism, he is credited with playing an important role in the spread of Buddhism across ancient Asia. The Edicts of Ashoka state that during his eighth regnal year (), he conquered Kalinga (historical region), Kalinga after a brutal war. Ashoka subsequently devoted himself to the propagation of "Ashoka's policy of Dhamma, dhamma" or righteous conduct, the major theme of the edicts. Ashoka's edicts suggest that a few years after the Kalinga War, he was gradually drawn towards Buddhism. The Buddhist legends credit Ashoka with establishing a larg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Apadāna
The ''Apadāna'' is a collection of biographical stories found in the Khuddaka Nikaya of the Pāli Canon, the scriptures of Theravada Buddhism. G.P. Malalasekera describes it as 'a Buddhist Vitae Sanctorum' of Buddhist monks and nuns who lived during the lifetime of the Buddha. It is thought to be one of the latest additions to the canon.Oskar von Hinüber, ''Handbook of Pali Literature'', New Delhi 1996: 61. The exact meaning of the title ''Apadāna'' is not known. Perhaps it means 'life history' or 'legend'. In Pāli it has the additional, older meaning of advice or moral instruction. Dr Sally Cutler has suggested the word originally meant 'reapings', i.e. of the results of karma.Cutler, Sally Mellick (1994)The Pali Apadana Collection Journal of the Pali Text Society, volume XX The title is sometimes translated as the ''Biographical Stories'', or simply as ''The Stories''. The ''Apadāna'' consists of about 600 poems (between 589 and 603 in different editions), mostly biograph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Kalpa Sūtra
The ''Kalpa Sūtra'' () is a Jain text containing the biographies of the Jain Tirthankaras, notably Parshvanatha and Mahavira. Traditionally ascribed to Bhadrabahu, which would place it in the 4th century BCE, it was probably put in writing 980 or 993 years after the ''Nirvana'' ('' Moksha'') of Mahavira or 1230 years after the Nirvana of Tirthankar Parswanath. History Within the six sections of the Jain literary corpus belonging to the Śvetāmbara school, it is classed as one of the Cheda Sūtras. This Sutra contains detailed life histories and, from the mid-15th century, was frequently illustrated with miniature painting. The oldest surviving copies are written on paper in western India in the 14th century. The Kalpa Sutra is ascribed to Bhadrabahu, traditionally said to have composed it some 150 years after the ''Nirvāṇa'' ( samadhi) of Mahavira. It was compiled probably during the reign of Dhruvasena, 980 or 993 years after Mahavira's death. Importance The book is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Sikhism
Sikhism is an Indian religion and Indian philosophy, philosophy that originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent around the end of the 15th century CE. It is one of the most recently founded major religious groups, major religions and among the largest in the world with about 25–30million adherents, known as Sikhs. Sikhism developed from the spiritual teachings of Guru Nanak (1469–1539), the faith's first guru, and the nine Sikh gurus who succeeded him. The tenth guru, Guru Gobind Singh (1666–1708), named the Guru Granth Sahib, which is the central religious scripture in Sikhism, was their successor. This brought the line of human gurus to a close. Sikhs regard the Guru Granth Sahib as the 11th and eternally living guru. The core beliefs and practices of Sikhism, articulated in the Guru Granth Sahib and other Sikh scriptures, include faith and meditation in the name of the one creator (''Ik Onkar''), the divine unity and equality of all humankind, engaging ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Janamsakhis
The Janamsakhis (, IAST: , ), are popular hagiographies of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism. Considered by scholars as semi-legendary biographies, they were based on a Sikh oral tradition of historical fact, homily, and legend, with the first ''janamsakhi'' were composed between 50 and 80 years after his death.Guru Nanak Encyclopaedia Britannica, Brian Duignan (2017) Many more were written in the 17th and 18th century. The largest ''Guru Nanak Prakash'', with about 9,700 verses, was written in the early 19th century by . The four ''janamsakhi'' traditions that have survived into the modern era ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified by adherence to the concept of ''dharma'', a Ṛta, cosmic order maintained by its followers through rituals and righteous living, as expounded in the Vedas. The word ''Hindu'' is an exonym, and while Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, it has also been described by the modern term ''Sanātana Dharma'' () emphasizing its eternal nature. ''Vaidika Dharma'' () and ''Arya dharma'' are historical endonyms for Hinduism. Hinduism entails diverse systems of thought, marked by a range of shared Glossary of Hinduism terms, concepts that discuss God in Hinduism, theology, Hindu mythology, mythology, among other topics in Hindu texts, textual sources. Hindu texts have been classified into Śruti () and Smṛti (). The major Hin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Puranas
Puranas (Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on "Puranas", , page 915) are a vast genre of Indian literature that include a wide range of topics, especially legends and other traditional lore. The Puranas are known for the intricate layers of symbolism depicted within their stories. Composed originally in Sanskrit and in Languages of India, other Indian languages,John Cort (1993), "An Overview of the Jaina Puranas" in ''Purana Perennis: Reciprocity and Transformation in Hindu and Jaina Texts,'' (Editor: Wendy Doniger), State University of New York Press, , pages 185-204 several of these texts are named after major Hindu deities such as Vishnu, Shiva, Brahma, and Mahadevi, Devi. The Puranic genre of literat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
