Bodhisatta, Women, Rebirth and Jātaka Stories in Theravāda
Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2012 7:52 am
Here are some interesting research papers by a scholar in England:
http://edinburgh.academia.edu/NaomiAppleton" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Narrating Karma & Rebirth (a lot of lists of sources from Buddhist texts)
Project Abstract: Buddhism and Jainism share the concepts of karma, rebirth, and the possibility (and desirability) of escape from rebirth, though each has a different interpretation of these. Within the literature of both traditions we find many stories about remembered past births, illustrating progress on the path to awakening, the workings of karma, or the jumbled nature of rebirth that makes renunciation the only way to avoid incest. These stories have much to reveal about Buddhist and Jain attitudes towards the mechanisms of rebirth and the pursuit of long-term (multi-life) religious goals. This project will compare birth stories from the different traditions in relation to: the role of karma in rebirth; the key religious paths and goals; and the role of birth stories in the teaching careers of awakened beings. The project will help to ascertain the distinctively Buddhist and Jain uses of this genre, thereby illuminating both the significance of the stories within each tradition, and the extent of interaction between Buddhist and Jain schools during their formative periods.
http://blogs.cf.ac.uk/birthstories/cate ... st+sources" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Narrating Karma and Rebirth: Multi-life Stories in Buddhist and Jain Traditions
http://www.cf.ac.uk/share/research/cent ... birth.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Jātaka Stories in Theravāda Buddhism: Narrating the Bodhisatta Path
By Naomi Appleton
Jataka stories (stories about the previous births of the Buddha) are very popular in Theravada Buddhist countries, where they are found in both canonical texts and later compositions and collections, and are commonly used in sermons, children's books, plays, poetry, temple illustrations, rituals and festivals. Whilst at first glance many of the stories look like common fables or folktales, Buddhist tradition tells us that the stories illustrate the gradual path to perfection exemplified by the Buddha in his previous births, when he was a bodhisatta (buddha-to-be). Jataka stories have had a long and colourful history, closely intertwined with the development of doctrines about the Buddha, the path to buddhahood, and how Buddhists should behave now the Buddha is no more. This book explores the shifting role of the stories in Buddhist doctrine, practice, and creative expression, finally placing this integral Buddhist genre back in the centre of scholarly understandings of the religion.
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=86Ka ... &q&f=false" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Review: http://www.indiana.edu/~jofr/review.php?id=1228" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Temptress on the Path: Women as Objects and Subjects in Buddhist Jataka Stories. New Topics in Feminist Philosophy of Religion. 103-115. P. S. Anderson (ed.), Springer.
It is undisputed in early Buddhist texts that women as well as men are capable of becoming arahats (awakened beings). Both men and women can act morally, attain all the advanced meditative states, and follow the teachings that lead to nibbāna. Despite this soteriological inclusiveness, the presentation of women in Buddhist texts is often less than egalitarian, perhaps most especially in popular narrative literature. In Pāli jātaka stories, which are popular subjects for sermons, children’s books and temple illustrations throughout Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, the influence of both androcentric and misogynistic tendencies is evident. Women are portrayed as obstacles to men’s progress on the spiritual path, and few female characters are given any voice of their own. In addition, the stories are presented as relating the previous births of Gotama Buddha, who in every case is identified with a male character, leaving few role models for Buddhist women, and altering the soteriological backdrop.
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=FLoT ... &q&f=false" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
In the Footsteps of the Buddha?: Women and the Bodhisatta Path in Theravāda Buddhism
Abstract:
Although a woman can achieve the state of awakening known as arahatship, Theravāda Buddhist tradition states that a woman cannot achieve full and complete Buddhahood. More than this, a woman is unable to successfully aspire to Buddhahood, or progress on the path to it—in other words she cannot be a bodhisatta. In this article, Appleton explores the origins of the doctrine that excludes women from the bodhisatta path, as well as its effects on the outlook of women in Buddhist societies. She begins by outlining the bodhisattapath as it is presented in Theravāda texts, and tracing the role of jātaka stories—stories about previous lives of Gotama Buddha—in codifying this path and excluding women from it. She then examines the striking absence of stories about changing sex between births, and the possible influence of this upon the understanding that a bodhisatta is always male. She finishes with an assessment of the relationship between the exclusion of women from the bodhisatta path and other ideas about the social and spiritual incapacities of women.
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of ... leton.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
A place for the Bodhisatta: the local and the universal in jātaka stories (PDF)
http://www.leidykla.eu/fileadmin/Acta_O ... 09-122.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
- this article shows how the jataka stories were adapted for local cultures and geographical locations in SE Asia to make them relevant to the Buddhist population there
http://edinburgh.academia.edu/NaomiAppleton" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Narrating Karma & Rebirth (a lot of lists of sources from Buddhist texts)
Project Abstract: Buddhism and Jainism share the concepts of karma, rebirth, and the possibility (and desirability) of escape from rebirth, though each has a different interpretation of these. Within the literature of both traditions we find many stories about remembered past births, illustrating progress on the path to awakening, the workings of karma, or the jumbled nature of rebirth that makes renunciation the only way to avoid incest. These stories have much to reveal about Buddhist and Jain attitudes towards the mechanisms of rebirth and the pursuit of long-term (multi-life) religious goals. This project will compare birth stories from the different traditions in relation to: the role of karma in rebirth; the key religious paths and goals; and the role of birth stories in the teaching careers of awakened beings. The project will help to ascertain the distinctively Buddhist and Jain uses of this genre, thereby illuminating both the significance of the stories within each tradition, and the extent of interaction between Buddhist and Jain schools during their formative periods.
http://blogs.cf.ac.uk/birthstories/cate ... st+sources" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Narrating Karma and Rebirth: Multi-life Stories in Buddhist and Jain Traditions
http://www.cf.ac.uk/share/research/cent ... birth.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Jātaka Stories in Theravāda Buddhism: Narrating the Bodhisatta Path
By Naomi Appleton
Jataka stories (stories about the previous births of the Buddha) are very popular in Theravada Buddhist countries, where they are found in both canonical texts and later compositions and collections, and are commonly used in sermons, children's books, plays, poetry, temple illustrations, rituals and festivals. Whilst at first glance many of the stories look like common fables or folktales, Buddhist tradition tells us that the stories illustrate the gradual path to perfection exemplified by the Buddha in his previous births, when he was a bodhisatta (buddha-to-be). Jataka stories have had a long and colourful history, closely intertwined with the development of doctrines about the Buddha, the path to buddhahood, and how Buddhists should behave now the Buddha is no more. This book explores the shifting role of the stories in Buddhist doctrine, practice, and creative expression, finally placing this integral Buddhist genre back in the centre of scholarly understandings of the religion.
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=86Ka ... &q&f=false" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Review: http://www.indiana.edu/~jofr/review.php?id=1228" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Temptress on the Path: Women as Objects and Subjects in Buddhist Jataka Stories. New Topics in Feminist Philosophy of Religion. 103-115. P. S. Anderson (ed.), Springer.
It is undisputed in early Buddhist texts that women as well as men are capable of becoming arahats (awakened beings). Both men and women can act morally, attain all the advanced meditative states, and follow the teachings that lead to nibbāna. Despite this soteriological inclusiveness, the presentation of women in Buddhist texts is often less than egalitarian, perhaps most especially in popular narrative literature. In Pāli jātaka stories, which are popular subjects for sermons, children’s books and temple illustrations throughout Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, the influence of both androcentric and misogynistic tendencies is evident. Women are portrayed as obstacles to men’s progress on the spiritual path, and few female characters are given any voice of their own. In addition, the stories are presented as relating the previous births of Gotama Buddha, who in every case is identified with a male character, leaving few role models for Buddhist women, and altering the soteriological backdrop.
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=FLoT ... &q&f=false" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
In the Footsteps of the Buddha?: Women and the Bodhisatta Path in Theravāda Buddhism
Abstract:
Although a woman can achieve the state of awakening known as arahatship, Theravāda Buddhist tradition states that a woman cannot achieve full and complete Buddhahood. More than this, a woman is unable to successfully aspire to Buddhahood, or progress on the path to it—in other words she cannot be a bodhisatta. In this article, Appleton explores the origins of the doctrine that excludes women from the bodhisatta path, as well as its effects on the outlook of women in Buddhist societies. She begins by outlining the bodhisattapath as it is presented in Theravāda texts, and tracing the role of jātaka stories—stories about previous lives of Gotama Buddha—in codifying this path and excluding women from it. She then examines the striking absence of stories about changing sex between births, and the possible influence of this upon the understanding that a bodhisatta is always male. She finishes with an assessment of the relationship between the exclusion of women from the bodhisatta path and other ideas about the social and spiritual incapacities of women.
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of ... leton.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
A place for the Bodhisatta: the local and the universal in jātaka stories (PDF)
http://www.leidykla.eu/fileadmin/Acta_O ... 09-122.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
- this article shows how the jataka stories were adapted for local cultures and geographical locations in SE Asia to make them relevant to the Buddhist population there