Using Sanskrit, Pali, Chinese, and Tibetan literature written between the third century b.c.e. and the late medieval period, Ohnuma argues that the theme of the Buddha's bodily sacrifice has had a major impact on Buddhist philosophy and culture.
Ohnuma looks to the "jatakas" and "avadanas," stories that recount the Buddha's previous lives as a "bodhisattva." As King Chandraprabha, he gave away his head; as King Shibi, his eyes; and as a wise rabbit, his entire body. She relates this theme to conceptual discourses central to Buddhism and South Asian religions, such as the categories of the gift, the body, kingship, sacrifice, ritual offering, and death. Ohnuma's singular study reveals a very sophisticated and influential perception of the body in South Asian Buddhist literature.
Head, Eyes, Flesh, and Blood: Giving Away the Body in Indian Buddhist Literature, Reiko Ohnuma, Columbia Universty Press, Hardcover, 372 Pages, $45.00
REIKO OHNUMA is associate professor of religion at Dartmouth College. Her research focuses on premodern South Asian Buddhist literature, especially narrative literature. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband and two children.
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Contents: Head, Eyes, Flesh, and Blood |
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llustrations |
ix |
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Tables |
xi |
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Conventions used in this book |
xiii |
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Acknowledgments |
xv |
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Introduction |
25 |
| 1. |
The Gift-of-the-Body Genre |
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| 2. |
Conventions of Plot |
52 |
| 3. |
Conventions of Rhetoric |
90 |
| 4. |
Dana: The Buddhist Discourse on Giving |
140 |
| 5. |
A flexible Gift |
167 |
| 6. |
Bodies ordinary and ideal |
199 |
| 7. |
Kingship, Sacrifice, Offering and Death: Some other interpretive Contexts. |
242 |
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Conclusions |
266 |
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Appendix: A Corpus of Gift-of-the-Body Jatakas |
273 |
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Notes |
285 |
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Bibliography of Works cited |
337 |
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Index.
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359 |
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