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The Buddha's Bad Karma: a Problem in the History of Theravâda Buddhism

The Buddha's Bad Karma: a Problem in the History of Theravâda Buddhism THE BUDDHA'S BAD KARMA: A PROBLEM IN THE HISTORY OF THERAVÂDA BUDDHISM JONATHAN S. WALTERS Introduction "Buddha's bad karma" is a veritable contradiction in terms. When reading the Buddha biography preserved in the Vinayapi.taka and Suttapitaka of the Pâli canon (Tipitaka), one cannot help think- ing that Gotama led a charmed life: endowed with physical and spiritual perfection, he transcended the attitudes and attachments that are so often the source of human suffering. The Jataka literature explains the perfection (in this life) of Gotama Buddha by describing its karmic roots over aeons of previous lives, during which the Bodhisatta produced unimaginable quantities of good karma. Despite its vastness, the Buddha biography preserved and developed in the Theravada tradition up to the present contains not the slightest hint that Gotama did anything productive of bad karma; his parinibbâna was the extinction of all karma, good and bad. But embedded within the Pali canon are records of certain events ' in the Buddha's life-systematized in later tradition as twelve in number-which were less than pleasant. Even during the canonical period, some Buddhists interpreted these events as the effects of the Buddha's own previous bad karma. Their explanation gave birth to http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Numen Brill

The Buddha's Bad Karma: a Problem in the History of Theravâda Buddhism

Numen , Volume 37 (1): 70 – Jan 1, 1990

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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© 1990 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0029-5973
eISSN
1568-5276
DOI
10.1163/156852790X00043
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

THE BUDDHA'S BAD KARMA: A PROBLEM IN THE HISTORY OF THERAVÂDA BUDDHISM JONATHAN S. WALTERS Introduction "Buddha's bad karma" is a veritable contradiction in terms. When reading the Buddha biography preserved in the Vinayapi.taka and Suttapitaka of the Pâli canon (Tipitaka), one cannot help think- ing that Gotama led a charmed life: endowed with physical and spiritual perfection, he transcended the attitudes and attachments that are so often the source of human suffering. The Jataka literature explains the perfection (in this life) of Gotama Buddha by describing its karmic roots over aeons of previous lives, during which the Bodhisatta produced unimaginable quantities of good karma. Despite its vastness, the Buddha biography preserved and developed in the Theravada tradition up to the present contains not the slightest hint that Gotama did anything productive of bad karma; his parinibbâna was the extinction of all karma, good and bad. But embedded within the Pali canon are records of certain events ' in the Buddha's life-systematized in later tradition as twelve in number-which were less than pleasant. Even during the canonical period, some Buddhists interpreted these events as the effects of the Buddha's own previous bad karma. Their explanation gave birth to

Journal

NumenBrill

Published: Jan 1, 1990

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