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E-book

Title The Buddha : a storied life / edited by Vanessa R. Sasson and Kristin Scheible
Published New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2024

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Description 1 online resource (xx, 253 pages) : illustrations
Contents 1. The Vow That Starts the Story / Andy Rotman -- 2. Creative Tensions in the Past Lives of the Buddha / Naomi Appleton -- 3. The Final Birth / Reiko Ohnuma -- 4. A Timeless Love Story / Vanessa R. Sasson -- 5. A Great Departure / Kristin Scheible -- 6. Around the Tree of Awakening / Todd Lewis & Jinah Kim -- 7. The Buddha's Teachings and Miracles / David Fiordalis -- 8. Sorrow and its Ending in the Buddha's Last Days / Maria Heim -- 9. The Buddha's Story Continues: Afterlives of the Relics / Stephen C. Berkwitz -- 10. Overstory: First There is a Buddha, Then There is No Buddha, Then There is / John S. Strong -- Bibliography -- Index
Summary "Retellings of the Buddha's lifestory have animated and sustained Buddhist thought and practice through roughly 2,500 years of history. To this day, Buddhist holidays and rituals are pinned to the arc of his biography, celebrating his birth, awakening, teaching, and final nirvana. Buddhists embody the story when they meditate, and when novices shear their hair, don robes, and ask permission to leave home. His story is the model for hagiographies of exemplary Buddhists to follow, from experiencing a moment of insight akin to the Four Sights, to the experience of tearing themselves away from their families to make a great departure, to a period of searching, to the moment when awakening is finally accomplished. The Buddha's story is therefore not just the Buddha's story; it is the story upon which the tradition rests. In this volume, we articulate the Buddha Blueprint, the underlying and foundational pattern that holds the lifestory of a buddha together. We retell the episodes of Buddha Gautama's extended lifestory, keeping in mind the cosmic arc of his narrative. The contributors are all prominent scholars of South Asian texts and traditions who have dedicated their careers to exploring hagiographical materials, each applying their own methodological and theoretical interests to shed new light on the enduring story of Buddhism. Our book, using multiple perspectives, voices and sources, underscores the multivalent centrality of this story"-- Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on October 24, 2023)
Subject Gautama Buddha.
SUBJECT Gautama Buddha fast
Subject Buddhism -- Origin.
Buddhism -- History.
Buddhism -- Doctrines.
Buddhism
Buddhism -- Doctrines
Buddhism -- Origin
Religion & beliefs.
Religion.
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
Author Sasson, Vanessa R., editor.
Scheible, Kristin, editor.
LC no. 2023032615
ISBN 9780197649497
0197649491
9780197649503
0197649505
9780197649480
0197649483