Avadāna ( Sanskrit ; Pali : Apadāna ) is the name given to a type of Buddhist literature correlating past lives ' virtuous deeds to subsequent lives' events.
4-558: Richard Salomon described them as "stories, usually narrated by the Buddha, that illustrate the workings of karma by revealing the acts of a particular individual in a previous life and the results of those actions in his or her present life." This literature includes around 600 stories in the Pāli language Apadāna ("Legends"). There are also a large number in Sanskrit collections, of which
8-661: Is the William P. and Ruth Gerberding University Professor in the Department of Asian Languages and Literature at the University of Washington . Salomon is a Sanskrit , Pali and Prakrit -languages scholar, known for his studies on Indian epigraphy . He is also a specialist in early Indian Buddhism studies. Salomon received his Ph.D. in Sanskrit (with Distinction) from the University of Pennsylvania in 1975 and
12-668: The canonical Buddhist books, avadānas are held in veneration by the orthodox, and occupy much the same position with regard to Buddhism that the Puranas do towards Hinduism . They act in a similar way to other texts describing past deeds or past lives held in other traditions in the region, such as the aforementioned Puranas, the Dasam Granth and Janamsakhis of Sikhism , and the Kalpa Sūtra of Jainism . Richard G. Salomon (professor of Asian studies) Richard G. Salomon
16-517: The chief are the Mahāsāṃghika 's Mahāvastu ("Great Book") and the Sarvāstivāda 's Avadānaśataka ( Century of Legends ) and Divyāvadāna ( The Heavenly Legend ). These latter collections include accounts relating to Gautama Buddha and the third-century BCE "righteous ruler," Ashoka . Amongst the most popular avadānas of Northern Hinayāna Buddhism are: Though of later date than most of
#738261