The issue of saints is a difficult and complicated problem in Buddhology. In this magisterial work, Ray offers 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 "classical type" of the Buddhist saint, as it provides the presupposition for, and informs, the different major Buddhist saintly types and subtypes. Discussing the nature, dynamics, and history of Buddhist hagiography, he surveys the ascetic codes, conventions and traditions of Buddhist saints, and the cults both of living saints and of those who have "passed beyond." Ray traces the role of the saints in Indian Buddhist history, examining the beginnings of Buddhism and the origin of Mahayana Buddhism.
Author(s): Reginald A. Ray
Year: 1999
Language: English
Pages: 528
Contents......Page 12
Conventions......Page 14
Abbreviations......Page 16
Introduction......Page 22
The Two-Tiered Model......Page 34
Some Ideological Features of the Two-Tiered Model......Page 42
2. Buddha Śāakyamuni as a Saint......Page 63
Buddha Śākyamuni's Life as Paradigm......Page 66
Some Historical Considerations......Page 80
3. Saints of the Theragāthā and Therīgāthā......Page 98
Prerealization......Page 99
Postrealization......Page 108
Conclusion......Page 115
A Preeminent Saint among the Buddha's Disciples: MahākāŚyapa......Page 124
A Latter-day Orthodox Buddhist Saint: Upagupta......Page 137
A Paradigmatic Saint of Settled Monasticism: Śāriputra......Page 150
Conclusion......Page 155
A Criticized Saint: Pindolabhāradvāja......Page 170
A Condemned Saint: Devadatta......Page 181
The Sixteen Arhants......Page 198
The Chinese Pilgrims on the Cult of Arhants......Page 206
Conclusion......Page 216
7. The Solitary Saint, the Pratyekabuddha......Page 232
Images of Pratyekabuddhas......Page 233
Some Questions of Interpretation......Page 251
8. Bodhisattva Saints of the Forest in Mahāyāna Sutras......Page 270
Śāntideva on the Bodhisattva as Forest Renunciant......Page 271
The Bodhisattva in the Ratnagunasamcayagāthā......Page 274
The Bodhisattva of the Forest in the Rāstrapālapariprcchā Sutra......Page 279
The Samdhinirmocana Sutra on the Bodhisattva as Saint......Page 285
Conclusion......Page 288
Appendix: The Minor Rāstrapālapariprcchā Sutra on Forest Bhiksus......Page 294
The Dhutagunas......Page 312
Two Pāli Depictions of the Dhutagunas......Page 317
Some Other Groups of Dhutagunas......Page 326
Conclusion......Page 333
10. The Buddhist Saints and the Stupa......Page 343
Some Aspects of Stupa Symbolism......Page 344
The Stupa Cult......Page 348
Participants in the Stupa Cult......Page 356
Modalities and Parallels of the Stupa......Page 363
Conclusion......Page 367
A Doctrine of Absence in the Mahāparinirvāna Sutra......Page 377
A Doctrine of Presence or Immanence among the Buddhist Saints......Page 386
Conclusion......Page 400
12. The Buddhist Saints and the Process of Monasticization......Page 415
The Origins of Buddhist Monasticism Reconsidered......Page 416
The Origins of the Mahāyāna and the Process of Monasticization......Page 423
A Forest Response to the Process of Monasticization......Page 436
Appendix: Some Limitations of Weber's Model of Early Buddhism......Page 440
Conclusion: Toward a Threefold Model of Buddhism......Page 452
Three Kinds of Actors in Buddhist History......Page 453
Some Dynamics of the Threefold Model......Page 457
Bibliography......Page 467
A......Page 488
B......Page 491
C......Page 497
D......Page 498
E......Page 500
F......Page 501
I......Page 502
L......Page 503
M......Page 504
N......Page 509
P......Page 511
R......Page 515
S......Page 516
T......Page 521
U......Page 524
V......Page 525
W......Page 526
Y......Page 527
