Recent discoveries of Gāndhārī manuscripts include two texts concerning the biography of the Buddha. The first, the 'Many-Buddhas Sūtra' (*Bahubudhagasutra), held in the Library of Congress, compares in a topical format Śākyamuni Buddha’s career with those of his thirteen predecessors and his predicted follower Maitreya. The second manuscript, in a private collection, contains fragments of a long narrative biography of Śākyamuni in verse. While the first biography resembles materials in the Sanskrit Bahubuddhakasūtra incorporated into the Mahāvastu, no parallel for the second has been identified. The article presents annotated samples and translations from both new texts.
目次
Abstract 1. Introduction: New Buddha biographies in Gāndhārī 2. A topical life of the Buddha(s): The *Bahubudhagasutra (Library of Congress scroll) 3. A continuous life of the Buddha Appendix Primary sources and abbreviations References
