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Tournier, Vincent (2014) 'Mahākāśyapa, His Lineage, and the Wish for Buddhahood: Reading Anew the Bodhgayā Inscriptions of Mahānāman.' Indo-Iranian Journal, 57 (1-2). pp. 1-60.

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Abstract

This article investigates the religious message of a set of inscriptions from Bodhgayā issued by Sinhalese monks in the 5th and 6th centuries ce. The long inscription of the hierarch Mahānāman, in particular, allows an in-depth understanding of this monk’s self-representation as the heir of a virtuous lineage descending from the Elder Mahākāśyapa, committed to the transmission of the Saṃyukta-Āgama, and related to the ruling dynasty of Laṅkā. Moreover, it provides the rationale behind Mahānāman’s aspiration to Buddhahood, as the donor dedicates to this aim the merits of the erection of a temple on the Bodhimaṇḍa itself, hosting a representation of Śākyamuni’s Awakening. I argue that Mahānāman is part of a milieu sharing common origins, monastic background, and aspirations, a milieu that was later labelled as *Mahāyāna-Sthavira by the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang.

Item Type: Journal Article
Keywords: Mahākāśyapa; adhiṣṭhāna; Sthāvirīya/Theriya lineages; aspirations to Buddhahood; Bodhisattvayāna/Mahāyāna; Māravijaya
SOAS Departments & Centres: Departments and Subunits > School of History, Religions & Philosophies > Department of Religions & Philosophies
Legacy Departments > Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Department of the Study of Religions
Legacy Departments > Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Department of the Study of Religions > Centre of Buddhist Studies
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ISSN: 00197246
Copyright Statement: © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2014. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
DOI (Digital Object Identifier): https://doi.org/10.1163/15728536-05701001
Date Deposited: 12 Mar 2014 16:10
URI: https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/id/eprint/18263

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