The Mahāvastu - Vol. 1 (Jones 1949)

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The Mahāvastu, Volume 1

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

The Mahāvastu ("Great Chapter") is a lengthy work of the Lokottaravāda subsect of the Mahāsāṃghika tradition, written in mixed Sanskrit, Pāli, and Prakrit. It is regarded as the earliest biography of the Buddha and belongs to the Vinayapiṭaka, describing itself as a historical preface to the Buddhist monastic codes. Some scholars have regarded the Lokottaravāda as a precursor of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Over half the text comprises avadānas and jātakas—including some with no Pāli antecedent—recounting the past lives of the Buddha as a bodhisattva on the path to awakening.

This first volume, translated by J. J. Jones and published by Luzac & Co. in 1949 as volume 16 of the Sacred Books of the Buddhists series, opens with the ten bhūmis (stages of spiritual development) and includes sections on the Buddha Dīpaṃkara, the genesis of the world, and a range of avadānas and jātaka narratives. Two further volumes followed in 1952 and 1956.

Citation

Jones, J. J., trans. The Mahāvastu. Vol. 1. Sacred Books of the Buddhists 16. London: Luzac & Co., 1949.

Table of contents

Abbreviations in footnotesvii
Forewordix
Prologue1
Visits to Hell6
Visits to Other Worlds22
Abhiya29
The Many Buddhas39
Visit to Śuddhāvāsa46
The Ten Bhūmis53
The First Bhumi61
The Second Bhūmi66
The Third Bhūmi72
The Fourth Bhūmi79
The Fifth Bhūmi87
The Sixth Bhūmi95
The Seventh Bhūmi100
The Eighth Bhūmi108
The Ninth Bhūmi110
The Tenth Bhūmi112
Attributes of the Buddha124
Apparitions140
Dīpaṃkara152
Birth of Dīpaṃkara171
Enlightenment183
Megha and Meghadatta188
The Buddha Mangala204
The Buddha visits Veśālī208
The Sunshades218
The Three Birds225
Plagues of Former Days235
The Buddha in Veśālī242
Mālinī249
Ghaṭikāra and Jyotipāla265
Genesis of the World285
History of the Deer Park301
Indexes313

Interconnections

Works related to this item

1 Full translation of

Mahāvastu Avadāna [महावस्तु अवदान]. [Great Chapter].

Classical WorksAbout this item

The Mahāvastu or “Great Chapter” is a lengthy work of the Lokottaravāda (Proponents of the Supramundane) subsect of the Mahāsāṃghika (Great Saṅgha) tradition, which some scholars have regarded as a precursor of Mahāyāna Buddhism. It is written in mixed Sanskrit, Pāli, and Prakrit and is regarded as the earliest Sanskrit biography of the Buddha. The work belongs to the Vinayapiṭaka and in fact describes itself as a historical preface to the Buddhist monastic codes (Skt. vinaya). In this regard, it does correspond loosely to the Mahāvagga section of the Khandhaka in the Pāli Vinayapiṭaka. Over half the text comprises avadānas and jatakas (some having no Pāli antecedent), which tell of past lives of the Buddha when he was a bodhisattva on the path to awakening. (Source: 84000)

1 Other editions

Jones, J. J., trans. The Mahāvastu. Vol. 1. Sacred Books of the Buddhists 16. London: The Pāli Text Society, 1987.

Books1987About this item

The Mahāvastu ("Great Chapter") is a lengthy work of the Lokottaravāda subsect of the Mahāsāṃghika tradition, written in mixed Sanskrit, Pāli, and Prakrit. It is regarded as the earliest biography of the Buddha and belongs to the Vinayapiṭaka, describing itself as a historical preface to the Buddhist monastic codes. Some scholars have regarded the Lokottaravāda as a precursor of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Over half the text comprises avadānas and jātakas — including some with no Pāli antecedent — recounting the past lives of the Buddha as a bodhisattva on the path to awakening. This first volume, translated by J. J. Jones, was originally published by Luzac & Co. in 1949 as volume 16 of the Sacred Books of the Buddhists series and reissued by the Pāli Text Society, London, in 1987. It opens with the ten bhūmis (stages of spiritual development) and includes sections on the Buddha Dīpaṃkara, the genesis of the world, and a range of avadānas and jātaka narratives. Two further volumes completed the translation in 1952 and 1956.

2 Other volumes

Jones, J. J., trans. The Mahāvastu. Vol. 3. Sacred Books of the Buddhists 19. London: Luzac & Co., 1956.

Books1956About this item

The Mahāvastu ("Great Chapter") is a lengthy work of the Lokottaravāda subsect of the Mahāsāṃghika tradition, written in mixed Sanskrit, Pāli, and Prakrit. It is regarded as the earliest biography of the Buddha and belongs to the Vinayapiṭaka, describing itself as a historical preface to the Buddhist monastic codes. Some scholars have regarded the Lokottaravāda as a precursor of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Over half the text comprises avadānas and jātakas — including some with no Pāli antecedent — recounting the past lives of the Buddha as a bodhisattva on the path to awakening. This third and final volume, translated by J. J. Jones and published by Luzac & Co. in 1956 as volume 19 of the Sacred Books of the Buddhists series, brings the work to its conclusion with narratives covering the establishment of the Buddhist order. It includes the ordination of Mahā-Kāśyapa, the conversion of Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana, the Buddha's visit to Kapilavastu, the rolling of the Wheel of Dharma, the conversion of Bimbisāra, and the temptation by Māra, alongside numerous jātakas. The volume completes the translation begun in 1949 and continued in volume 2 (1952).

Jones, J. J., trans. The Mahāvastu. Vol. 2. Sacred Books of the Buddhists 18. London: Luzac & Co., 1952.

Books1952About this item

Excerpt from The Mahāvastu, Vol. 2

The second volume of the Mahāvastu corresponds to the second of the three sections into which, on the analogy of the Nidāna-kathā, the whole of the work may be divided. In effect, we have in this volume what corresponds to the Avidūre-nidāna, or the more recent history of Gotama the Buddha, as compared on the one hand with his history in the far-distant past when he was proclaimed as future Buddha by Dipamkara, and on the other hand with the still more recent establishment of the Buddhist Order as recounted in the latter part of the third volume.

The first volume will already have shown us, however, that we must not expect in this section to find a connected and straight-running account of Gotama's career. We have seen in that volume abundant examples of the proclivity of the compilers of the Mahāvastu to include in this canonical work of their sect every possible piece of tradition which bore on their subject. In so far as this proclivity is evident, we may say that the whole work has a certain pattern, in spite of the chaotic accumulation of all sorts of Buddhistic lore, Jātakas, Avadānas, and Sūtras. Every possible incident, for example, in Gotama's career is made the occasion for relating an edifying Jātaka or Avadāna, which is often repeated in varying versions. Whatever length of time may have separated the latest from the earliest compilers, this aim of comprehensiveness was consistently pursued, so much so that in the process the Mahāvastu lost almost all the features of a Vinaya, which it claimed to be.

This characteristic of the Mahāvastu gives it not the least of its many attractions to the student of Buddhism and its literature. For it thereby affords instructive material for the study of the growth of the legend of the Buddha. Careful analysis of the various repetitive versions, coupled with a critical comparison with the versions in other texts will often prove useful for determining…[Amazon]