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Jataka
The ''Jātaka'' (Sanskrit for "Birth-Related" or "Birth Stories") are a voluminous body of literature native to the Indian subcontinent which mainly concern the previous births of Gautama Buddha in both human and animal form. Jataka stories were depicted on the railings and Toran_(art), torans of the stupas. According to Peter Skilling, this genre is "one of the oldest classes of Buddhist literature."Skilling, Peter (2010). ''Buddhism and Buddhist Literature of South-East Asia,'' pp. 161–162. Some of these texts are also considered great works of literature in their own right.Shaw, Sarah (2006). ''The Jatakas: Birth Stories of Bodhisatta'', p. xxii. Penguin UK. The various Indian Buddhist schools had different collections of jātakas. The largest known collection is the ''Jātaka (Pali Canon), Jātakatthavaṇṇanā'' of the Theravada school, as a textual division of the Pāli Canon, included in the ''Khuddaka Nikaya'' of the ''Sutta Pitaka''. In these stories, the future B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bharhut
Bharhut is a village in the Satna district of Madhya Pradesh, central India. It is known for a Buddhist stupa, unique in that each panel is explicitly labelled in Brahmi characters saying what the panel depicts. The major donor for the Bharhut stupa was King Dhanabhuti. The Bharhut sculptures are some of the earliest examples of Indian and Buddhist art, later than the monumental art of Ashoka (), and slightly later than the early Shunga-period reliefs on railings at Sanchi Stupa No.2 (starting circa 115 BCE). It is more provincial in quality than the sculpture at Sanchi, Amaravati Stupa and some other sites, a large amount of sculpture has survived, generally in good condition. Recent authors date the reliefs of the railings of Bharhut circa 125–100 BCE, and clearly after Sanchi Stupa No.2, compared to which Bharhut has a much more developed iconography. The torana gateway was made slightly later than the railings, and is dated to 100–75 BCE. Historian Ajit Kumar gives a l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sanchi
Sanchi Stupa is a Buddhist art, Buddhist complex, famous for its Great Stupa, on a hilltop at Sanchi Town in Raisen District of the States and territories of India, State of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is located, about 23 kilometers from Raisen, Raisen town, district headquarter and north-east of Bhopal, capital of Madhya Pradesh. The Great Stupa at Sanchi is one of the oldest stone structures in India, and an important monument to the historical architecture of India. It was originally commissioned by the Maurya Empire, Mauryan emperor Ashoka the Great, Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE. Its nucleus was a simple hemispherical brick structure built over the relics of the Gautama Buddha, Buddha. It was crowned by the Chatra (umbrella), chatra, a parasol-like structure symbolising high rank, which was intended to honour and shelter the relics. The original construction work of this stupa was overseen by Ashoka, whose wife Devi was the daughter of a merchant of nearby Vidisha. Sanchi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jātaka (Pali Canon)
The Jātaka is a Buddhist scripture, part of the Pāli Canon of Theravāda Buddhism. It is included in the Sutta Pitaka's Khuddaka Nikaya. It comprises 547 poems, arranged roughly by an increasing number of verses. The various Indian Buddhist schools had different collections of ''jātakas'', and the definitive Jātaka of the Pali Canon is one of the canonical collections that have existed within various Buddhist traditions. Some of the stories are also found in numerous other languages and media, such the Hindu Panchatantra. History Early ''jātakas'' ''Jātakas'' were originally transmitted in Prakrit languages and various forms of Sanskrit (from classical to Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit). They were then translated into central Asian languages (such as Khotanese, Tocharian, Uighur, and Sogdian)''.''Skilling, Peter (2010). ''Buddhism and Buddhist Literature of South-East Asia,'' p. 165. Various ''jātaka'' stories and source texts were also translated into Chinese and Tibet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
Bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who has attained, or is striving towards, '' bodhi'' ('awakening', 'enlightenment') or Buddhahood. Often, the term specifically refers to a person who forgoes or delays personal nirvana or ''bodhi'' in order to compassionately help other individuals reach Buddhahood. In the Early Buddhist schools, as well as modern Theravāda Buddhism, bodhisattva (or bodhisatta) refers to someone who has made a resolution to become a Buddha and has also received a confirmation or prediction from a living Buddha that this will come to pass. In Theravāda Buddhism, the bodhisattva is mainly seen as an exceptional and rare individual. Only a few select individuals are ultimately able to become bodhisattvas, such as Maitreya. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva refers to anyone who has generated '' bodhicitta'', a spontaneous wish and compassionate mind to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings. Mahayana bodhisattvas are spiritua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Early Buddhist Schools
The early Buddhist schools refers to the History of Buddhism in India, Indian Buddhist "doctrinal schools" or "schools of thought" (Sanskrit: ''vāda'') which arose out of the early unified Buddhist monasticism, Buddhist monastic community (Sangha (Buddhism), saṅgha) due to various schisms in the history of Buddhism, history of Indian Buddhism. The various splits and divisions were caused by differences in interpretations of the Monasticism, monastic rule (Vinaya), doctrinal differences and also due to simple geographical separation as Buddhism spread throughout the Indian subcontinent. The early Buddhist community initially split into two main Nikāyas (monastic groups, divisions), the Sthavira nikāya, Sthavira ("Elders"), and the Mahāsāṃghika ("Great Community"). This initial split occurred either during the reign of Ashoka, Aśoka (c. 268-232 BCE) or shortly after (historians disagree on the matter). Later, these groups became further divided on doctrinal grounds int ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
Dāna
(Devanagari: , IAST: ) is a Sanskrit and Pali word that connotes the virtue of generosity, charity or giving of alms, in Indian religions and philosophies. In Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, is the practice of cultivating generosity. It can take the form of giving to an individual in distress or need, or of philanthropic public projects that empower and help many. is an ancient practice in Indian traditions, tracing back to Vedic traditions. Hinduism (Sanskrit: ) means giving, often in the context of donation and charity. In other contexts, such as rituals, it can simply refer to the act of giving something. is related to and mentioned in ancient texts along with concepts of () which means benevolent deed, helping others; () which means fee one can afford; and (), which means alms. is defined in traditional texts as any action of relinquishing the ownership of what one considered or identified as one's own, and investing the same in a recipient without ex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sutta Piṭaka
The ''Sutta Piṭaka'' (also referred to as ''Sūtra Piṭaka'' or ''Suttanta Piṭaka''; English: ''Basket of Discourse'') is the second of the three division of the Pali Tripitaka, the definitive canonical collection of scripture of Theravada Buddhism. The other two parts of the Tripiṭaka are the Vinaya Piṭaka (''Basket of Discipline'') and the Abhidhamma Piṭaka (''Basket of Higher Doctrine''). The Sutta Pitaka contains more than 10,000 suttas (teachings) attributed to the Buddha or his close companions. Origins What was later to become the written scripture of the ''Sutta Pitaka'' was first orally rehearsed by Buddha’s cousin Ānanda at the First Buddhist Council that was held shortly after the Buddha's death. The first council also defined the set of rules (Vinaya) that governed the life of monks and nuns within the monastic community. Tradition holds that little was added to the Canon after this. Scholars are more skeptical, but differ in their degrees of ske ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion, diffused there from the northwest in the late Bronze Age#South Asia, Bronze Age. Sanskrit is the sacred language of Hinduism, the language of classical Hindu philosophy, and of historical texts of Buddhism and Jainism. It was a lingua franca, link language in ancient and medieval South Asia, and upon transmission of Hindu and Buddhist culture to Southeast Asia, East Asia and Central Asia in the early medieval era, it became a language of religion and high culture, and of the political elites in some of these regions. As a result, Sanskrit had a lasting effect on the languages of South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia, especially in their formal and learned vocabularies. Sanskrit generally connotes several Indo-Aryan languages# ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
Dipankara
Dipankara (Pali: ''Dīpaṅkara''; Sanskrit: ', "Lamp bearer") or Dipankara Buddha is one of the Buddhas of the past. He is said to have lived on Earth four asankheyyas and one hundred thousand kalpas ago. According to Buddhists, Dipankara was a previous Buddha who attained Enlightenment eons prior to Gautama Buddha, the historical Buddha. Generally, Buddhists believe that there has been a succession of many Buddhas in the distant past and that many more will appear in the future. Dipankara was one of these previous Buddhas, while Gautama Buddha was the current and most recent Enlightened one, and Maitreya will be the next Buddha in the distant future. Chinese Buddhism honors Dipankara as one of many Buddhas of the past. Dipankara, Gautama, and Maitreya are "the Buddhas of Three Times" in Yiguandao. Iconography Sanjaa (Dipankara) inside Western Temple in the Mongolia.html" ;"title="Erdene Zuu Monastery, Mongolia">Erdene Zuu Monastery, Mongolia. Dipankara is generally rep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
