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Document Details : Title: The Formation of the Buddha's Former Life Stories in the Bhaiṣajyavastu of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya Author(s): YAO, Fumi Journal: Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies Volume: 45 Date: 2022 Pages: 343-385 DOI: 10.2143/JIABS.45.0.3291583 Abstract : This paper deals with a series of stories of the Buddha’s former lives narrated in the Bhaiṣajyavastu of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya and aims to elucidate how this part of the text was compiled as revealed by the arrangement of the stories and their contents. The stories, which are narrated in the context of the Buddha’s donations in past lives and his present awakening, are divided into three groups. The stories collected in Group 1 are all concerned with generous donations made by the Buddha in his former lives, and we can detect editorial processes intended to fit some of the stories into the context mentioned above. In Group 2, various stories are narrated, and their arrangement seems to have been borrowed from some unknown source outside the Bhaiṣajyavastu, judging from its correspondences with a certain narrative anthology. Group 3 is a collection of extracts from Āgama and Vinaya sources arranged in accordance with a certain passage in a sūtra. The extant materials of the Bhaiṣajyavastu, namely, two Sanskrit manuscripts, a Tibetan translation, and a Chinese translation, all represent different phases in the development of these three groups of stories. |
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