Site mapAbout usConsultative CommitteeAsk LibrarianContributionCopyrightCitation GuidelineDonationHome        

CatalogAuthor AuthorityGoogle
Search engineFulltextScripturesLanguage LessonsLinks
 


Extra service
Tools
Export
Sacrifice and Purification: the Meanings of Religious Giving in Theravada Buddhism
Author Egge, James R.
Date1998
Pages240
PublisherThe University of Chicago
LocationChicago, IL, US [芝加哥, 伊利諾伊州, 美國]
Content type書籍=Book
Language英文=English
KeywordBuddhism, Purification, Sacrifice, Religious giving, Theravada Buddhism
AbstractThe early verse literature of the Pali suttas presents two distinct orientations to religious practice: mental purification and sacrifice. Mental purification consists in inwardly directed efforts to eliminate ignorance and desire, and is the means to attaining nirvana (nibbana). Sacrifice consists in acts of giving and worship directed toward the Buddha or his monks, and leads to the attainment of heaven after death. Buddhists appropriated donative practices, including the dedication of gifts (dakkhina, daksina) and observation of the Uposatha (upavasatha), and their interpretation as sacrifice, from Brahmanical practice. In the canonical verse literature, an act of giving (dana) may be informed by either sacrifice or purification, however, these two motivations give different meanings to the action. Sacrifice differs from mental purification both objectively, in that the worthiness of the recipient is believed to condition the effectiveness of sacrificial action, and subjectively, in that the sacrificial giver is to act with an attitude of devotion.

In contrast to the dual soteriology of the verses, the canonical prose presents a discourse in which the sole criterion of the goodness of actions is whether they conduce to mental purification. Theravadins have used this discourse of action (kamma, karma) to rethink all aspects of religious giving, including the merit (punna, punya) it produces, the destinies and worlds in which this merit is experienced, and the dedication of gifts for others. We can trace the growth of karmic interpretations in texts such as Vimanavatthu, Petavatthu, Paramatthadipani, and Sihalavatthuppakarana. However, these texts also show that descriptions of the act of giving have largely resisted reduction to the category of mental purification. In particular, they continue to emphasize that the worthiness of the recipient helps to determine the effects of a gift.



ISBN9780591956603
Hits373
Created date1999.03.24
Modified date2008.04.17



Best viewed with Chrome, Firefox, Safari(Mac) but not supported IE

Notice

You are leaving our website for The full text resources provided by the above database or electronic journals may not be displayed due to the domain restrictions or fee-charging download problems.

Record correction

Please delete and correct directly in the form below, and click "Apply" at the bottom.
(When receiving your information, we will check and correct the mistake as soon as possible.)

Serial No.
337602

Search History (Only show 10 bibliography limited)
Search Criteria Field Codes
Search CriteriaBrowse