Divine Stories: Divyavadana, Part 1

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Divine Stories offers us a rich selection from the "Divyavadana, " a narrative collection of north Indian Buddhism ably translated from the Sanskrit by Andy Rotman. Sprung forth from the creative soil of the Indian Buddhist imagination, these stories concretely represent the impact of the Dharma on the lives of those who turned to it for guidance. Despite the title, these are essentially human stories which record the trials and struggles of the Buddha's personal disciples as they meander through the corridors of samsara, seeking light, purity, and final freedom." -- Bhikkhu Bodhi, author of "In the Buddha's Words" "This new series is a very welcome initiative from Wisdom Publications. Such works are eagerly awaited by many scholars and practitioners of Buddhism throughout the world." -- Jean-Luc Achard, editor of the "Revue d'Etudes Tibetaines" "The "Divyavadana" is a major anthology of popular Indian Buddhist legends. It has been know since the dawn of Buddhist studies in the West, yet no full translation of it in any European language has ever been published. Now, Andy Rotman has remedied this situation by providing a fine, readable, yet accurate rendition of the Sanskrit text, with "just the right amount" of annotation to be helpful to readers, without distracting them from the narratives. The work is of major importance, comprising dozens of stories that have been central to Buddhists for the past 1, 800 years. As the translator points out, this is a kind of "greatest hits collection" of Buddhist tales, known not only in South Asia, but in Tibet and China as well. Taken together, these legends provide a rich store of information about the popular beliefs, social mores, ritual practices, doctrinal assumptions, and general world-view of Buddhism-as-it-was in ancient India. I applaud this impressive translation and its selection as the first volume in the new "Classics of Indian Buddhism" series. It is really quite a remarkable achievement." -- John Strong, Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religion, Bates College "Here are tales about ordinary people as well as monks, stories about women, princes, merchants, and slaves, not to mention a wretched pig and a bull about to be slaughtered (both of whom find their own salvation). These stories are to the Buddhist tradition what the "Arabian Nights" is to the Arabic, an ocean of stories from which Buddhist storytellers and artists throughout Asia drew their inspiration. The translation-precise, elegant, vernacular-flows clear as water in a mountain stream." -- Wendy Doniger, Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religions, University of Chicago