Unfortunate Destiny: Animals in the Indian Buddhist Imagination

Ohnuma, Reiko (著)

著者

Ohnuma, Reiko (著)

出版年月日

2017.06.22

ページ

264

出版者

Oxford University Press

出版サイト

https://global.oup.com/

出版地

New York, NY, US [紐約, 紐約州, 美國]

シリーズ

Oxford Scholarship Online

資料の種類

書籍=Book

言語

英文=English

キーワード

Buddhism; Indian Buddhism; South Asian Buddhism; animals; Buddha; jātaka

抄録

This book focuses on the imagery and roles of nonhuman animals in premodern South Asian Buddhist literature. Part I examines the animal realm of rebirth in Buddhist doctrine and cosmology and shows that early Buddhist literature depicts the animal rebirth as a most “unfortunate destiny” (Skt. durgati), won through negative karma and characterized by violence, fear, suffering, and a lack of wisdom, moral agency, or spiritual potential. It also shows that although animals are capable of being reborn in heaven, the means by which this occurs are passive in nature, highly dependent upon the physical presence of a buddha, and categorically inferior to the spiritual cultivation unique to human beings alone. In contrast, Part II looks at the thinking, speaking, and highly anthropomorphized animals that populate many previous-life stories of the Buddha (jātakas). Not only do these animals exhibit wisdom and moral agency, they also use their powers of speech to condemn humanity for its moral shortcomings and expose humanity’s rampant abuse and exploitation of the animal world. Part III examines the roles played by major animal characters within the life-story of the Buddha, arguing that certain animal characters can be seen as “doubles” of the Buddha, illuminating the Buddha’s character through comparison with an animal “other.” Throughout the book, the author shows that humanity’s relationship to the animal is forever characterized by a simultaneous kinship and otherness, identity and difference, attraction and repulsion—and that discourse surrounding animals is primarily aimed at illuminating the nature of the human.

Front Matter
Copyright Page
Figures
Conventions
Acknowledgments
Preface

Part I Unfortunate Destiny
One Unfortunate Destiny: Animals in a Buddhist Cosmos
Two Catching Sight of the Buddha: Faithful Animals in the Divya¯vada¯na and Avada¯nas´ataka

Part II When Animals Speak: Animals in the Pa¯li Ja¯takas
Three (Human) Nature, Red in Tooth and Claw
Four Animal Saviors

Part III Animal Doubles of the Buddha
Five Scapegoat for the Buddha: The Horse Kanthaka
Six Mirror for the Buddha: The Elephant Pa¯rileyyaka
Seven Billboard for the Buddha: The Elephant Na¯ḷa¯giri

Conclusion
End Matter
Appendix Animal Rebirths of the Bodhisattva in the Pa¯li Ja¯takaṭṭhavaṇṇana¯
Abbreviations
Notes
Bibliography
Index

ISBN

9780190637545 (pbk); 9780190637576 (eb)

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190637545.001.0001

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