Sanskrit poetry Flashcards
1
Q
Pāli canon
A
- sacred scripture of Theravādin
- preserved in Thali language
- close to language Buddha spoke
2
Q
3 baskets/Ti-pitaka of Theravādin Pāli canon
A
sutta, vinaya, abhidhamma
3
Q
abhidhamma
A
- not recognized by all traditions
- 3rd basket
- also known as Buddhist metaphysics
- commentary on dharma or teachings
4
Q
5 Nikāyas of the sutta basket
A
- Dīgha-nikāya (group of long texts)
- majjhima-nikāya (middle length texts)
- samyutta-nikāya (connected texts)
- anguttara-nikāya (numerically arranged texts)
- khuddaka-nikāya (miscellaneous texts)
5
Q
khuddaka-nikāya
A
- miscellaneous texts
- 547 jātaka stories
- around 2500 verses
- only the verses are canonical. not the stories
- stories are considered to be commentary
6
Q
haribhatta
A
- flourished around 400 CE
- models on predecessor, Ārya-Sura
- wrote Jatakamala
- first appearance of jatakamala in wester world appeared in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society in 1904
- original version in sanskrit
- know very little about him. converted to buddhism. may have been native of Kashmir
7
Q
Ārya Sūra
A
- 4th CE (i.e. 3005)
- his Jatakamala was the only work to have survived in its entirety
8
Q
6 pāramitās/perfections
A
- dāna-pāramitā: perfection of generosity
- śila-pāramitā: perfection of moral integrity
- ksānti-pāramitā: perfection of forbearance
- vīrya-pāramitā: perfection of valour
- dhyāna-pāramitā: perfection of meditation
- prajnā-pāramitā: perfection of wisdom/understanding
9
Q
story of viśvamtara
A
- Ārya-Sura
- bodhisattva is so generous that he gives away his royal elephant, his kids, his wife
- test by Sakra (Hindu God)
10
Q
jataka
A
story that details past life/event of Buddha (i.e. historical ones)
11
Q
campū
A
- genre of mixed verse and prose
- both haribhatta’s jatakamala and Arya Sura’s belong to this genre
- earliest campu are buddhist, but only survive in fragments
12
Q
kāvya
A
- most sophisticated genre of Sanskrit literature
- includes plays and stories in prose and poetry
- should not include the jataka stories of the Pali canon
13
Q
general principles of campu
A
- descriptive passages are in prose
- didactic homilies are in verse
- narrative and conversation are in prose and verse
14
Q
prose
A
string of long, elaborate compounds
15
Q
verse
A
clear, elegant, moderate use of wordplay and sound effects
16
Q
why do we not translate prose and verse as separate portions?
A
because they sometimes run together to create a single syntactic unit
17
Q
haribhatta’s jatakamala
A
- another title: bodhisattvavadanamala (“anthology of stories about the outstanding deeds of the Bodhisattva (the future Buddha)”)
- purpose of all the stories is to show bodhisattva’s single-minded devotion to the good of all creatures
- bodhisattva’s incarnations help other to nirvana
- half as long as his predecessor’s jatakamala
- took Arya-sura’s jatakamala as a model for his own
18
Q
haribhatta (HJM) vs. Arya-sura (AJM)
A
- AJM’s jatakas are very close to Pali Jatakas collection, while HJM’s aren’t (30/34 vs. few)
- HJM is half as long as AJM
- can’t really compare that much because Haribhatta took different material from Sura. but haribhatta doesn’t stray from sura’s procedure that much
19
Q
what makes haribhatta’s writing unique?
A
his outstanding power of description: visual detail, references to paintings, animals
20
Q
jataka: the hare
A
- ascetic and hare were good friends
- drought left conditions really bad
- ascetic said he will leave the hare for awhile to stay with his family, and will come back to him later
- hare said this was not a good idea to stray off this path and indulge in pleasures
- hare sacrificed himself for food
- hare did this to allay the suffering of living creatures
- hare is the bodhisattva
21
Q
Jataka: the peacock
A
- king Brahmadata’s wife, Anupama was really interested in peacock so king sent people to go capture it
- eventually since capturing didn’t work, the people asked the peacock to come because otherwise their life is in danger
- peacock went
- Anupama was going to meet a prince privately and poisoned the peacock so he wouldn’t get the chance to inform the king
- peacock realized this and convinced them both to not make this mistake: described hell
- prince realized his mistake; when he called anupama “sister”, she got ashamed too
- peacock is reluctantly sent free
- peacock is bodhisattva
- perfection: moral integrity
22
Q
jataka: the deer
A
- when the king was hunting the deer, the deer offered to send one of them a day for the king
- one day, the bodhisattva deer went in replacement for a pregnant deer
- when the king asked why he was here instead of someone else, bodhisattva explained
- king felt embarrassed and remorse and let him go.
23
Q
jataka: nirupama
A
- nirupama, actress, was very beautiful
- she was dancing in a show
- an ascetic decided to attend. he had just made the decision that he was going to move away from the “being good life”
- when he saw her dancing, he became infatuated by her and decided to fully give up his old life
- clothes that were covering her slipped off while she as dancing. she was exposed
- actor became infatuated in love
- nirupama advised him
- this caused actor, ascetic, and many others to turn away from bad path and follow good path
- gave nirupama clothes to wear
- nirupama is bodhisattva
- perfection: wisdom/understanding
24
Q
perfection in jataka “rupyavati”
A
generosity
25
perfection in jataka "sudhana and the fairy princess"
valour
26
perfection in jataka "visvamtara"
generosity
