1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910784960503321

Autore

Ray Reginald A

Titolo

Buddhist saints in India : a study in Buddhist values and orientations / / Reginald A. Ray

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Oxford : , : Oxford University Press, USA, , 1999

ISBN

0-19-773844-3

1-280-83427-7

0-19-802363-4

0-19-535061-8

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (527 pages)

Disciplina

294.3

294.361

Soggetti

Buddhist saints - India

Buddhist saints

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliography and index.

Nota di contenuto

Contents; Conventions; Abbreviations; Introduction; 1. The Buddhist Saints and the Two-Tiered Model of Buddhism; 2. Buddha Śāakyamuni as a Saint; 3. Saints of the Theragāthā and Therīgāthā4. Some Orthodox Saints in Buddhism; 5. Saints Criticized and Condemned; 6. Cults of Arhants; 7. The Solitary Saint, the Pratyekabuddha; 8. Bodhisattva Saints of the Forest in Mahāyāna Sutras; 9. Ascetic Traditions of Buddhist Saints; 10. The Buddhist Saints and the Stupa; 11. The Cult of Saints and Buddhist Doctrines of Absence and Presence; 12. The Buddhist Saints and the Process of Monasticization; Conclusion: Toward a Threefold Model of Buddhism; Bibliography; Index

Sommario/riassunto

The issue of saints is a difficult and complicated problem in buddhology. This study is the first comprehensive examination of the figure of the Buddhist saint in a wide range of Indian Buddhist evidence. Drawing on an extensive variety of sources, Ray seeks to identify the prototypical Buddhist saint as a "renunciant of the forest." This classical type, Ray argues, provides the presupposition for, and informs the different major Buddhist saintly types and subtypes, including the buddha, pratyekabuddha, arhant, and bodhisattva.



Discussing the nature, dynamics, and history of Buddhist hagiography, Ray surveys the ascetic codes, conventions, and traditions of Buddhist saints, and the cults both of living saints and of those who have "passed beyond." He traces the role of the saints in Indian Buddhist history, particularly at the times of Buddhist origins and the formation of the Mahayana.