Search results for ""Author Timothy Lenz""
University of Washington Press Gandharan Avadanas: British Library Kharosthi Fragments 1-3 and 21 and Supplementary Fragments A-C
The Gandharan Buddhist Texts series presents editions, translations, and studies of the British Library’s unique collection of Buddhist manuscripts in the Gandhari language, dating from the first century AD. Gandharan Avadanas features editions and studies of five fragmentary scrolls containing collections of avadanas, or edifying stories. The manuscript fragments presented here comprise twenty-one avadanas that briefly summarize stories, typically furnishing no more than a title, identification of the main character, and minimal reference to the plot. Presumably, these summaries would have served as memory prompts for the intended reader, perhaps the scribe himself, who would already have been familiar with the avadanas. The newly discovered Gandharan avadanas differ from those popular in other Buddhist literatures in their lack of explicit reference to underlying karmic causes and also in addressing a broader array of themes such as the inevitable disappearance of the dharm and the pitfalls of samsaric existence. For more information go to the Early Buddhist Manuscript Project web site at http://www.ebmp.org/
£80.10
University of Washington Press A New Version of the Gandhari Dharmapada and a Collection of Previous-Birth Stories: British Library Kharosthi Fragments 16 + 25
This volume continues the detailed examination of the British Library Kharosthi scrolls--extremely fragile and brittle fragments of manuscript on birch-bark rolls. Although their provenance is uncertain, there are strong indications that they came from Hadda in eastern Afghanistan and were most likely written in the early first century A.D. during the reign of the Saka rulers, making them the oldest known Buddhist manuscripts. Fragments 16 and 25 are two long, relatively narrow fragments that obviously belong to the same scroll. Two texts were written on the scroll, each by a different scribe. The first text, referred to as the Gandhari London Dharmapada, represents an anthology of verses well known in the Buddhist tradition. The second text is a series of stories concerning previous births of the Buddha and of some of his disciples. For more information go to the Early Buddhist Manuscript Project web site at http://www.ebmp.org/
£80.10
