Andy Rotman - Divine Stories: Divyāvadāna, Part 1

Divine Stories

CLASSICS OF INDIAN BUDDHISM

The flourishing of Buddhism in South Asia during the first millennium of the Common Era produced many texts that deserve a place among the classics of world literature. Exploring the full extent of the human condition and the limits of language and reason, these texts have the power to edify and entertain a wide variety of readers. The Classics of Indian Buddhism series aims to publish widely accessible translations of important texts from the Buddhist traditions of South Asia, with special consideration given to works foundational for the Mahyna.

Editorial Board

Paul Harrison, Stanford University

Jens-Uwe Hartmann, University of Munich

Sara McClintock, Emory University

Parimal Patil, Harvard University

Andy Rotman, Smith College

Akira Sait, University of Tokyo

THE DIVYVADNA

The Divyvadna is a large collection of Indian Buddhist stories written in Sanskrit from the early centuries of the Common Era. These stories have frequently been used in the moral education of monastics and laypeople, and they have often been considered to be the word of the Buddha himself. These stories have since spread throughout Asia, as both narrative and narrative art, leaving an indelible mark on Buddhist thought and practice. Representations of these stories can be found across Asia, from Kizil in China to Sanchi in India to Borobudur in Indonesia. It is not hyperbole to say that these are some of the most influential stories in the history of Buddhism. This volume contains the first half of the stories in the collection.

Wisdom Publications, Inc.

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2008 Andy Rotman

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photography, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system or technologies now known or later developed, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Tripiaka. Strapiaka. Avadna. Divyvadna. English.

Divine stories : Divyvadna / translated by Andy Rotman.

p. cm.

Translated from Sanskrit.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-86171-295-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)

ISBN 978-0-83171-831-3 (ebook)

1. Buddhist literature, SanskritTranslations into English. I. Rotman, Andy, 1966 II. Title.

BQ1562.E5R68 2008

294.3'823dc22

2008016709

12 11 10 09 08

5 4 3 2 1

Cover and interior design by Gopa&Ted2, Inc. Set in Diacritical Garamond Pro 11.75/15.75.

Cover photograph of the Sanchi stpa, North Gate, by Raja Deen Dayal, circa 1880s, is printed with permission of the Royal Ontario Museum.

Wisdom Publications books are printed on acid-free paper and meet the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.

Printed in the United States of America.

This book was produced with environmental mindfulness. We have elected to print this title on 30% PCW recycled paper. As a result, we have saved the following resources: 26 trees, 18 million BTUs of energy, 2,327 lbs. of greenhouse gases, 9,659 gallons of water, and 1,240 lbs. of solid waste. For more information, please visit our website, www.wisdompubs.org. This paper is also FSC certified. For more information, please www.fscus.org.

To my teachers,
who have given me so much

Bharthari, Ntiataka

Publishers Acknowledgment

The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous help of the Hershey Family Foundation in sponsoring the production of this book.

Table of Contents

Meritorious deeds are to be performed.

Not performing meritorious deeds brings suffering.

Those who perform meritorious deeds

can rejoice in this world and in the next.

The Divyvadna

I T IS MY HONOR to have this translation of the first half of the Divyvadna presented as the inaugural volume in the new Classics of Indian Buddhism series. I believe that the Divyvadna is an excellent choice to launch the series, for it encapsulates much of what is distinctive and inspiring about classical Indian Buddhism. Here one is introduced to various people, places, and philosophies of the Middle Country, with the Buddha and his disciples as the star performers. Traveling through the kingdoms of Koala, Magadha, and beyond, they encounter characters from all walks of life: animal, human, divine, and demonic. In these encounters, they teach the dharma by word and deed, generating faith and new converts, as well as illustrating for the listener the merits of the Buddhist path.

The avadnas, or stories, in the Divyvadna have traditionally served as a means of sharing Buddhist teachings with a broad audience of both monastics and laypeople, and this, too, makes the present volume a good choice for launching the Classics of Indian Buddhism series. The aim of the series is to present Buddhist texts that were influential within classical India in a way that both specialists and more general readers can appreciate. To this end, translations are meant to combine accuracy with readabilitya tall task indeed. I have tried to succeed on both accounts, providing readers with a glimpse of Indian Buddhism that complements and enriches the perspective gained from more contemporary works.

I first began studying the Divyvadna as a graduate student at the University of Chicago, and the critical study of the text that began as my dissertation is being published simultaneously by Oxford University Press (Rotman 2008). That book, Thus Have I Seen: Visualizing Faith in Early Indian Buddhism, can be read as a companion to this translation. In it I consider faith as a visual practice in Buddhism, and how seeing and faith function as part of overlapping visual and moral economies. In particular, I analyze the mental states of raddh and prasdaterms rendered as belief and faith in this translation; how these relate to practices of seeing (darana) and giving (dna); and what this configuration of seeing, believing, and giving tells us about the power of images, the logic of pilgrimage, and the function of narratives in Buddhist India.