Readings of the Vessantara Jātaka (Columbia Readings of Buddhist Literature)

This anthology undertakes sophisticated literary, anthropological, and art historical analyses of the __Vessantara Jataka__ and its ethics of giving, understanding of attachment and nonattachment, depiction of the trickster, and unique performative qualities. Contributors including anthropologists, textual scholars in religious and Buddhist studies, and art historians unravelthe story's moral and religious character. This collection helps recast Buddhism as a human tradition rich in ethical, political, and aesthetic complexity. The Vessantara Jataka tells the story of Prince Vessantara, who attained the Perfection of Generosity by giving away his fortune, his children, and his wife. Vessantara was the penultimate rebirth as a human of the future Gotama Buddha, and his extreme charity has been represented and reinterpreted in texts, sermons, rituals, and art throughout South and Southeast Asia and beyond. This anthology features well-respected anthropologists, textual scholars in religious and Buddhist studies, and art historians, who engage in sophisticated readings of the text and its ethics of giving, understanding of attachment and nonattachment, depiction of the trickster, and unique performative qualities. They reveal the story to be as brilliantly layered as a Homeric epic or Shakespearean play, with aspects of tragedy, comedy, melodrama, and utopian fantasy intertwined to problematize and scrutinize Theravada Buddhism's cherished virtues. Table of Contents Preface Introduction, Dramatis Personae, and Chapters in the Vessantara Jātaka, by Steven Collins 1. Readers in the Maze: Modern Debates About the Vessantara Story in Thailand, by Louis Gabaude 2. Emotions and Narrative: Excessive Giving and Ethical Ambivalence in the Lao Vessantara Jātaka, by Patrice Ladwig 3. Blissfully Buddhist and Betrothed: Marriage in the Vessantara Jātaka and Other South and Southeast Asian Buddhist Narratives, by Justin McDaniel 4. Jājaka as Trickster: The Comedic Monks of Northern Thailand, by Katherine Bowie 5. Narration in the Vessantara Painted Scrolls of Northeast Thailand and Laos, by Leedom Lefferts and Sandra Cate 6. A Man for All Seasons: Three Vessantaras in Premodern Myanmar, by Lilian Handlin 7. Vessantara Opts Out: Newar Versions of the Tale of the Generous Prince, by Christoph Emmrich Index "The Vessantara Jataka is one of the most popular and influential Theravada Buddhist texts and the final and longest scripture in the Pali Canon. It tells the story of Prince Vessantara, who attained the Perfection of Giving by giving away his fortune, his children, and his wife. Prince Vessantara was the penultimate rebirth as a human of the future Gotama Buddha, and his extreme charity is frequently portrayed in the sermons, rituals, and art of South and Southeast Asia. This anthology features sophisticated literary and anthropological analyses of the ethics of giving, understanding of attachment and nonattachment, depiction of the trickster, and unique performative qualities of the Vessantara Jataka."--From publisher description.