The Buddhavaṃsa (also known as the Chronicle of Buddhas ) is a hagiographical Buddhist text which describes the life of Gautama Buddha and of the twenty-four Buddhas who preceded him and prophesied his attainment of Buddhahood . It is the fourteenth book of the Khuddaka Nikāya , which in turn is the fifth and last division of the Sutta Piṭaka . The Sutta Piṭaka is one of three piṭakas (main sections) which together constitute the Tipiṭaka , or Pāli Canon of Theravāda Buddhism .
7-677: Along with the Apadāna and the Cariyāpiṭaka , the Buddhavaṃsa is considered by most scholars to have been written during the 1st and 2nd century BCE , and is therefore a late addition to the Pāli Canon. The first chapter tells how Gautama Buddha , to demonstrate his supernormal knowledge , creates a jewelled walkway in the sky. In seeing this display, Sāriputta asks the Buddha: In response,
14-494: A variety of different circumstances in different parts of India, before finally recounting the story of their present birth and how they came to be disciples of the Buddha. These stories of the previous lives of famous and not so famous monks and nuns may have been meant to provide moral examples to lay followers who wished to live as Buddhists but were unable or unwilling to undertake ordination as bhikkhus or bhikkhunis. The text
21-516: The Khuddaka Nikaya of the Pāli Canon , the scriptures of Theravada Buddhism. G.P. Malalasekera describes it as 'a Buddhist Vitae Sanctorum' of Buddhist monks and nuns who lived during the lifetime of the Buddha. It is thought to be one of the latest additions to the canon. The exact meaning of the title Apadāna is not known. Perhaps it means 'life history' or 'legend'. In Pāli it has
28-505: The Buddha relays the remainder of the Buddhavaṃsa. In the second chapter Gautama tells how in a distant past life as layman named Sumedha, he received a prediction from Dīpankara Buddha that "In the next era you will become a buddha named Gotama.", and told him the ten perfections he would need to practice. Chapters 3 through 26 are accounts of the twenty-four historical Buddhas who achieved Buddhahood between Dīpankara and Gautama, and
35-410: The acts of merit that Gautama performed towards them in his previous lives. Chapter 27 is an account of the life of Gautama Buddha. Chapter 28 mentions three Buddhas that preceded Dīpankara, as well as the future Buddha, Maitreya . Chapter 29 tells of the distribution of Gautama Buddha's relics after his death. Apad%C4%81na The Apadāna is a collection of biographical stories found in
42-528: The additional, older meaning of advice or moral instruction. Dr Sally Cutler has suggested the word originally meant 'reapings', i.e. of the results of karma. The title is sometimes translated as the Biographical Stories , or simply as The Stories . The Apadāna consists of about 600 poems (between 589 and 603 in different editions), mostly biographical stories of senior Buddhist monks and nuns, but also of Buddhas and solitary Buddhas. Many of
49-558: The stories of monks and nuns are expansions of, or otherwise related to, verses presented in the Theragatha and Therigatha as having been spoken by senior members of the early Sangha . The Apadāna is a parallel to the Jātaka commentary, in which the Buddha recounts his previous lives. Most Apadāna stories follow a fairly predictable outline, in which the speaker recounts their meritorious deeds in previous births as ethical individuals in
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