SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This thesis provides a critical study, an annotated translation, and a diplomatic edition of the Tibetan text of the Jatakanidana. Its overall aim is the study of the Tibetan text and its relationship to the Pali version. This is accompanied by a study of the bodhisatta ideal as it is found in this Pali text, and in other related canonical and commentarial works. The thesis is divided into the following three parts: Part One consists of a study in five chapters: Chapter one provides a description of the methodologies used in the thesis and the historical background to the text. Chapter two defines the genre of literature to which the Jatakanidana belongs, and also discusses the doctrine of past buddhas as it is presented in the text. Chapter three deals with the doctrine of the bodhisatta as it is presented in the text, and provides an analysis of the doctrines peculiar to this Pali bodhisatta concept. Chapter four provides a detailed study of the concept and nature of the ten paramis, and shows how the paramis are defined in the literature produced prior to the Jatakanidana. Chapter five examines the way the Jatakanidana presents the life of Gotama as a bodhisatta. Part Two provides an annotated translation of the Jatakanidana based on the edited text of its Tibetan version. Part Three provides a Tibetan edition that has been produced utilising five different Tibetan editions of the text, together with appendices and bibliography. The appendices include the following items: (i) Dhammapada verses occurring in the Jatakanidana, their Tibetan translations, with Sanskrit and Prakrit parallels. (ii) Miscellaneous Pali verses in the Jatakanidana, their Tibetan translations together with Sanskrit and Prakrit parallels. (iii) Jatakanidana verses with no identifiable Pali canonical source. (iv) Jataka verses in the Jatakanidana varying from the extant Jataka verses. The Bibliography consists of primary sources in Tibetan, Pali and Sanskrit which are cited in the thesis, and secondary sources referred to in the study.