Avadana
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AvadÄna (Sanskrit; Pali cognate: ApadÄna)[1] is the name given to a type of Buddhist literature correlating past lives' virtuous deeds to subsequent lives' events. While including accounts from the Pali Vinaya Pitaka ("Basket of Discipline"), this literature also includes a large number of Sanskrit collections, of which the chief are the MahÄsaá¹…ghika's MahÄvastu ("Great Book"), and the SarvÄstivÄda's Avadanasataka (Century of Legends) and Divyavadana (The Heavenly Legend). These latter collections include accounts relating to Buddha Gautama and the third-century BC "righteous ruler," Asoka.[2]
Amongst the most popular avadÄnas of Northern HinayÄna Buddhism are:
- the story of Sudhana, preserved in the MahÄvastu under the title KinnarÄ«jÄtaka, amongst others, who falls in love with a kinnarÄ« and saves her life
- the Vessantara jÄtaka, the story of the compassionate prince who gives away everything he owns, including his wife and children, thereby displaying the virtue of perfect charity.
- the SuvannasankhajÄtaka[3]
Though of later date than most of the canonical Buddhist books, avadÄnas are held in veneration by the orthodox, and occupy much the same position with regard to Buddhism that the Puranas do towards Hinduism. They act in a similar way to other texts describing past deeds or past lives held in other traditions in the region, such as the aforementioned Puranas, the Dasam Granth and Janamsakhis of Sikhism, and the Kalpa Sutra of Jainism.
Notes
- ↑ While avadÄna (Sanskrit) and apadÄna (Pali) are cognates, the former refers to a broad literature, including both canonical and non-canonical material from multiple Buddhist schools, while the latter refers explicitly to a late addition to Theravada Buddhism's Pali Canon's Khuddaka Nikaya.
- ↑ "AvadÄna" (2008).
- ↑ Padmanabh S. Jaini, "The Story of Sudhana and ManoharÄ: An Analysis of the Texts and the Borobudur Reliefs", Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 29, No. 3 (1966), pp. 533-558.
Sources
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Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "AvadÄna". Encyclopædia Britannica 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 51.
- "AvadÄna." (2008). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved August 20, 2008, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/45339/Avadana