Lives lived, lives imagined : biography in the Buddhist traditions

by Linda Covill (Editor)

Other authorsSarah Shaw (Editor), Ulrike Roesler (Editor)

Paperback, 2010

Publication

Imprint: Boston : [Oxford] : Wisdom Publications ; In collaboration with the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, c2010. Series: Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies monographs. Responsibility: edited by Linda Covill, Ulrike Roesler, Sarah Shaw. OCLC Number: 642352100. Physical: Text : 1 volume : viii, 335 pages ; 23 cm. Features: Includes bibliography, index of Buddhist names, contributor biographies.

Call number

Commentary / Covill

Barcode

BK-08130

ISBN

9780861715787

Collections

Your library, Adult Materials, Religious Studies

CSS Library Notes

Description: From the Buddha in ancient India to a nun in modern-day Los Angeles, Lives Lived, Lives Imagined crosses time, traditions, and cultures to present fascinating depictions of lives lived on the Buddhist path. Buddhist biographies come to life in many forms; they come from known poets and anonymous compilers; they are told by bards and even enacted by performers; they may also be autobiographies, either public or secret. Equally diverse have been the purposes they have served—as models for emulation, as origin stories for a particular community or lineage, or as narrative explications of doctrine.

This book, a collection of papers presented at a conference at the University of Oxford, presents a multifaceted, multitradition portrait of Buddhist biographies. Part 1 deals with biographies of the Buddha, investigating Chinese and Pali sources and the Sanskrit dramatizations of Asvaghosa. Part 2 contains modern Buddhist life stories, including a rare autobiography from Burma. Part 3 explores the Tibetan tradition, including such well-known figures as Milarepa, Shakya Chogden, and Karmapa Mikyö Dorje. Together, these biographies and studies reveal the rich diversity of Buddhism’s myriad incarnations over its long history and the dynamic scope of its thought and practice.

Table of Contents:
I. Buddha: A Life Lived, Imagined, and Living Still --
And That Was I: How the Buddha Himself Creates a Path between Biography and Autobiography / Sarah Shaw --
Chips from a Biographical Workshop: Early Chinese Biographies of the Buddha: The Late Birth of Rahula and Yasodhara's Extended Pregnancy / Max Deeg --
Truth Under the Guise of Poetry: Asvaghosas "Life of the Buddha" / Roland Steiner --
Handsome Is as Handsome Does: Asvaghosas Story of the Buddha's Younger Brother / Linda Covill --
II. Theravada Biographies in the Twentieth Century --
Seeing Myself as Another Person: The Autobiography of a Burmese Monastic Thinker in the Twentieth Century / Ven. Khammai Dhammasami --
Learning, Living, Spreading the Dharma --
A Postmodern Journey from Uku Baha, Lalitpur, to Hsi Lai Monastery, Hacienda Heights, California: How Ganesh Kumari Shakya Became Bhikkhuni Dhammawati / Sarah LeVine --
III. Tibet Re-Narrated: Biographies of Tibetan Masters --
Evolution of the Biographies of Milarepa and Rechungpa / Peter Alan Roberts --
Tibetan Sources on the Life of Serdog Panchen Shakya Chogden (1428-1507) / Volker Caumanns --
Narratives of Reincarnation, Politics of Power, and the Emergence of a Scholar: The Very Early Years of Mikyo Dorje / Jim Rheingans --
Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: The Circumscription of Saintly Evil in Tibetan Biography / Charles Ramble.

FY2019 /

Physical description

viii, 335 p.; 23 cm

Description

From the Buddha in ancient India to a nun in modern-day Los Angeles, Lives Lived, Lives Imagined crosses time, traditions, and cultures to present fascinating depictions of lives lived on the Buddhist path. Buddhist biographies come to life in many forms; they come from known poets and anonymous compilers; they are told by bards and even enacted by performers; they may also be autobiographies, either public or secret. Equally diverse have been the purposes they have served - as models for emulation, as origin stories for a particular community or lineage, or as narrative explications of doctrine. This book, a collection of papers presented at a conference at the University of Oxford, presents a multifaceted, multitradition portrait of Buddhist biographies. Part 1 deals with biographies of the Buddha, investigating Chinese and Pali sources and the Sanskrit dramatizations of Asvaghosa. Part 2 contains modern Buddhist life stories, including a rare autobiography from Burma. Part 3 explores the Tibetan tradition, including such well-known figures as Milarepa, Shakya Chogden, and Karmapa Mikyo Dorje. Together, these biographies and studies reveal the rich diversity of Buddhism's myriad incarnations over its long history and the dynamic scope of its thought and practice.… (more)