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Book Cover
E-book
Author Egge, James

Title Religious Giving and the Invention of Karma in Theravada Buddhism
Published Hoboken : Taylor and Francis, 2013

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Description 1 online resource (204 pages)
Series Routledge Studies in Asian Religion
Routledge Studies in Asian Religion
Contents Cover; Half Title; Title Page; Copyright Page; Table of Contents; Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; Introduction: Question and Method; Meritorious giving and mental purification: one path or two?; Sacrifice and karma in the suttas and in history; The plan of this book; Part One Sacrifice and Karma in Didactic Verse and Discursive Prose; Chapter One: The Discourse of Sacrifice; The structure of Brahmanical sacrifice; Almsgiving as meritorious sacrifice; Uposatha observance as meritorious votive asceticism; Almsgiving as transfer of sacrificial substance; Why sacrifice?
Another ideology of the giftChapter Two: The Discourse of Karma; Karma in early Buddhist prose literature; Representations of Vedic sacrifice in karmic prose; The reduction of sacrifice to karma; Why karma?; The invention of karma in ancient South Asia; Part Two Sacrifice and Karma in Narrative; Chapter Three: The Centrality of Sacrifice in Vimānavatthu and Petavatthu; Meritorious and demeritorious acts; Eschatology and cosmology; The attainment of nirvāna; The dedication of dakisnā; Representations of givers
Chapter Four: The Commentaries' Karmic Retelling of the Vimānavatthu and Petavatthu NarrativesMeritorious and demeritorious acts; Eschatology and cosmology; The dedication of daksinā and the dedication of merit; The social context of progress toward nirvāna; Chapter Five: Giving as Sacrifice, Karma, and Heroic Generosity in Sīhalavatthuppakarana; Meritorious acts and their fruits; The attainment of nirvāna; Demeritorious acts and the dedication of gifts; The social context of giving and of progress toward nirvāna; Afterword: Doctrine and Narrative; Notes; Bibliography
Editions and translations of primary textsSecondary literature; Index
Summary Demonstrates that Buddhists appropriated the practice, vocabulary, and ideology of sacrifice from Vedic religion, and discusses the relationship of this sacrificial discourse to ideas of karma in the Pali canon and in early Buddhism
Notes Print version record
Subject Karma.
Theravāda Buddhism -- Doctrines
Generosity -- Religious aspects -- Buddhism.
Generosity -- Religious aspects -- Buddhism
Karma
Theravāda Buddhism -- Doctrines
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9781136859151
1136859152