Thus I Have Seen: Visualizing Faith in Early Indian Buddhism

FAIN: FT-54694-06

Andrew Neil Rotman
Smith College (Northampton, MA 01060-2916)

The Divyavadana ("Divine Legends") is an important collection of Sanskrit Buddhist narratives from the early centuries of the Common Era in India. These stories then spread worldwide, leaving an indelible mark on Buddhist thought and practice. However, unlike much contemporary Buddhism in both Asia and America, these stories map out a world in which seeing is an integral part of Buddhist morality. In trying to make sense of this connection between the moral and visual economies of the text, I focus on faith as a visual practice, and how this matrix of seeing, faith, and giving offers unique insight into Buddhist ethics.

Associated Products

Thus Have I Seen: Visualizing Faith in Early Indian Buddhism (Book)
Title: Thus Have I Seen: Visualizing Faith in Early Indian Buddhism
Author: Andy Rotman
Abstract: Although Buddhism is often depicted as a religion of meditators and philosophers, some of the earliest writings extant in India offer a very different portrait of the Buddhist practitioner. In Indian Buddhist narratives from the early centuries of the Common Era, most lay religious practice consists not of reading, praying, or meditating, but of visually engaging with certain kinds of objects. These visual practices, moreover, are represented as the primary means of cultivating faith, a necessary precondition for proceeding along the Buddhist spiritual path. In Thus Have I Seen: Visualizing Faith in Early Indian Buddhism, Andy Rotman examines these visual practices and how they function as a kind of skeleton key for opening up Buddhist conceptualizations about the world and the ways it should be navigated.
Year: 2008
Primary URL: http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/ReligionTheology/Hinduism/?view=usa&ci=9780195366150
Secondary URL: http://www.amazon.com/Thus-Have-Seen-Visualizing-Buddhism/dp/0195366158/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1314816811&sr=8-2
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 978-019536615

Divine Stories (Divyavadana) Classics of Indian Buddhism Part I (Book)
Title: Divine Stories (Divyavadana) Classics of Indian Buddhism Part I
Abstract: Translated from Sanskrit into English. The Divyavadana is an enormous compendium of Indian Buddhist narratives written in Sanskrit from the early centuries of the Common Era, whose stories have since spread throughout Asia, as both narrative and narrative art, leaving an indelible mark on Buddhist thought and practice. The stories in the collection were frequently used in the education of both monastics and laity in premodern Asia, exerting a powerful influence as moral exempla and legal precedent, and they were considered by many to be the word of the Buddha himself. These stories were likewise canonical in their influence on Buddhist art. Representations of these stories can be found across Asia, from Kizil in China to Sanchi in India to Borobudur in Indonesia. It is not hyperbole to say that these are some of the most influential stories in the history of Buddhism. The stories presented here, among the first texts to be inscribed by Buddhists, highlight the moral economy of karma, illustrating how gestures of faith, especially offerings, can bring the reward of future happiness and ultimately liberation.
Year: 2008
Publisher: Wisdom Publications, Inc.
Type: Translation
ISBN: 0861712951
Translator: Andy Rotman
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

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