Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. Nice book in great condition. Pages in excellent condition. Pages in unused condition.. Hardcover. English. See images for condition.

About the book >.>.> The issue of saints is a difficult and com-plicated problem in buddhology. This study is the first comprehensive examina-tion 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 prototyp-ical Buddhist saint as a “renunciant of the forest.” This classical type Ray argues provides the presupposition for and informs the different major Buddhist saint-ly types and subtypes including the bud-dha pratyekabuddha arhant and bod-hisattva. Discussing the nature dynamics and history of Buddhist hagiography Ray sur-veys the ascetic codes conventions and traditions of Buddhist saints and the cults both of living saints and of those who have “passed beyond.” He traces the role of the saints in Indian Buddhist history particu-larly at the times of Buddhist origins and the formation of the Mahayana. Calling for a reconceptualization of Indian Buddhist history that takes into account the essential role played by the saints of the forest Ray proposes a new three-fold model of Buddhism that adds the forest renunciant to the well-known fig-ures of the Buddhist monastic and layper-son. Of primary concern to scholars of Buddhism Indian religions Asian studies and religious studies Buddhist Saints in India will also interest those who study hagiography. (SP)