Book Description

Excerpt from The Mahavastu, Vol. 3 In the Foreword to the first volume of this translation, and again in that to the second, the translator expressed his intention to give, with this third and final volume, a detailed study of the composition of the whole of the Mahâvastu. It is now seen, however, that such a study could not be contained within the limits of a foreword. A long article, or even a whole volume, would be needed to do anything like justice to the subject. Partial analysis, confined to the more prominent or extensive passages, would not suffice to give a fair conception of the manner and process of the composition of the whole text. The traditions which have gone to the making of the Mahâvastu are so numerous and so varied that a comparative study of them must needs make use not only of Pali texts, canonical and commentarial, but also of other Buddhist Sanskrit works, not to speak of Tibetan and Chinese. Here, therefore, the translator must confine himself to a few general remarks, forgoing even the quotation of parallel or relevant texts which, in a full study, would be indispensable to the argument. These remarks may consequently seem to be based too much on impressions, but the translator is convinced, even from the little progress he has already made with his full critical and comparative study, that these general remarks give a fair idea of the conclusions to which such a study will lead. Besides, he may justly claim that any mere impressions he may seem to indulge in derive a certain degree of validity from the simple fact that they are the result of a long and close acquaintance with the text of the Mahâvastu. Some scholars have spoken of an author of our text, others of its redactor or redactors, but a more accurate description of its creation would be gained by imagining a community of monks, over a more or less long period of time, busily engaged, out of motives of piety, in gathering traditions of the Buddha's life and teaching from all sources accessible to them. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.