From Stone to Flesh: A Short History of the BuddhaUniversity of Chicago Press, 12 avr. 2013 - 304 pages We have come to admire Buddhism for being profound but accessible, as much a lifestyle as a religion. The credit for creating Buddhism goes to the Buddha, a figure widely respected across the Western world for his philosophical insight, his teachings of nonviolence, and his practice of meditation. But who was this Buddha, and how did he become the Buddha we know and love today? Leading historian of Buddhism Donald S. Lopez Jr. tells the story of how various idols carved in stone—variously named Beddou, Codam, Xaca, and Fo—became the man of flesh and blood that we know simply as the Buddha. He reveals that the positive view of the Buddha in Europe and America is rather recent, originating a little more than a hundred and fifty years ago. For centuries, the Buddha was condemned by Western writers as the most dangerous idol of the Orient. He was a demon, the murderer of his mother, a purveyor of idolatry. Lopez provides an engaging history of depictions of the Buddha from classical accounts and medieval stories to the testimonies of European travelers, diplomats, soldiers, and missionaries. He shows that centuries of hostility toward the Buddha changed dramatically in the nineteenth century, when the teachings of the Buddha, having disappeared from India by the fourteenth century, were read by European scholars newly proficient in Asian languages. At the same time, the traditional view of the Buddha persisted in Asia, where he was revered as much for his supernatural powers as for his philosophical insights. From Stone to Flesh follows the twists and turns of these Eastern and Western notions of the Buddha, leading finally to his triumph as the founder of a world religion. |
Table des matières
1 | |
7 | |
The Myth | 63 |
The Man | 129 |
The Text | 173 |
The Aftermath | 213 |
Coda | 231 |
Acknowledgments | 233 |
Names for the Buddha Occurring in European Sources before 1800 | 235 |
The Buddha in Diderot and DAlemberts Encyclopédie | 239 |
Table of Contents of Transactions of the Literary Society of Bombay 1819 | 243 |
Notes | 247 |
277 | |
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ancient appear Asia Asiatic Society Athanasius Kircher Barlaam biography birth bodhisattva body brahmans British Buddha Buddhist monks Buddhist texts Burnouf called Catholic century Ceylon chapter China Chinese Christ Christian condemned Csoma death deity describes Desideri Devadatta dhism disciples divine doctrine earth East India Company Egypt Egyptian encountered enlightenment Eugene Burnouf Europe European famous Father figure find first five French George Turnour gods hair heaven Hindu Hodgson human Ibid identified idolaters idolatry idols incarnation influence Japan Japanese Jesuit Jesus Josaphat Kaempfer king kingdom Kircher language lived London Lotus Sutra Marco Polo Matteo Ricci missionaries Muslim nirvana ofthe original pagan Pali Pali canon Paris passage Persian Portuguese priests prince published Queyroz religion Ricci sacrifice Saint Sakya Sakyamuni Sanskrit scholars sect Siaka Siam Siamese Sri Lanka statues story sutras Tachard teaching temples Tibet Tibetan tion tradition trans translation travelers Turnour worship Xaca