Readings of the Vessantara Jātaka - Columbia Readings of Buddhist Literature
Readings of the Vessantara Jātaka - Columbia Readings of Buddhist Literature
paperback
Published:
15 April, 2016
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Description
More Details
| Type | Book |
|---|---|
| ISBN13 | 9780231160391 |
| ISBN10 | 0231160399 |
| Number Of Pages | 232 |
| Item Weight | 1000 g |
| Publisher / Reseller | Columbia University Press |
| Format | paperback |
Media Reviews
Readings of the Vessantara Jataka will undoubtedly become a classic in the study of Buddhist biographical literature and its cultural contexts. The collection brings together excellent essays that show us how a central Buddhist narrative can resonate profoundly across a spectrum of dramatic, ethical, and cultural modalities. -- Juliane Schober, Arizona State University This volume, taken as a whole, starts with some basic questions: what accounts for the tremendous popularity of the Vessantara Jataka in the Buddhist world? How and why did it become a tale better known even than the life story of the Buddha? In addressing these issues, the individual contributors go on to reveal and analyze the multiple (and often ambivalent) ways in which the story has been open to interpretation and to enactment in ritual, art, and society in both classic and modern times. Readings of the Vessantara Jataka is a pathbreaking work that will long endure as a go-to reference for anyone interested in this most significant and popular of Buddhist stories. -- John S. Strong, Bates College The central figure in the Buddhism of Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, and even parts of Nepal is, as this book demonstrates, Prince Vessantara as much as it is the Buddha himself. This book is highly recommended not only for scholars interested in Buddhism as it is practiced but also for courses on Buddhism and society, religious studies, and anthropology and religion. -- Charles Keyes, University of Washington
Author's Bio
Steven Collins is Chester D. Tripp Professor in the Humanities at the University of Chicago, where he teaches in the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations and in the Divinity School. His books include Selfless Persons: Imagery and Thought in Theravada Buddhism and Nirvana and Other Buddhist Felicities: Utopias of the Pali Imaginaire.