Many Buddhas, One Buddha introduces a significant section of the important early Indian Buddhist text known as the Avadānaśataka, or "One Hundred Stories", and explores some of its perspectives on buddhahood. This text, composed in Sanskrit and dating to perhaps the third to fifth centuries of the Common Era, is affiliated with the Sarvāstivāda or Mūlasarvāstivāda, and thus provides important evidence of the ideas and literatures of lost non-Mahāyāna schools of Indian Buddhism. The text is a rich literary composition, in mixed prose and verse, and includes some elaborate devotional passages that illuminate early Indian perspectives on the Buddha and on the role of avad♯¹na texts. The book introduces the first four chapters of the Avadānaśataka through key themes of these stories, such as predictions and vows, preparations for buddhahood, the relationship between Śākyamuni and other buddhas, and the relationship between full buddhahood and pratyekabuddhahood. The study of these stories closes with an argument about the structural design of the text, and what this tells us about attitudes towards different forms of awakening. The second part of the book then presents a full English translation of stories 1-40.
目次
Preface vii Part A: Study 1. Crossing the Flood of Rebirth 2 2. The Avadānaśataka 5 3. Many Buddhas 10 4. Śākyamuni’s Past Lives 21 5. Independent Buddhahood 29 6. Miracles, Offerings, Aspirations and Predictions 37 7. And Then the Buddha Smiled 41 8. Structure of the Avadānaśataka 45 9. Many Buddhas, Many Buddhisms 52 10. One Buddha, Many Lessons 54 Part A Notes 55 Part B: Translation Note on the translation 64 First Decade (Stories 1-10) 66 Second Decade (Stories 11-20) 97 Third Decade (Stories 21-30) 143 Fourth Decade (Stories 31-40) 167 Part B Notes 216 End Matter Glossary 223 Bibliography 235 Index 239
