Divyavadana

Contents

The anthology contains 38 avadana stories in all, including the well-known Aśokāvadāna "Legend of Aśoka", which was translated into English by John Strong (Princeton, 1983). The collection has been known since the dawn of Buddhist studies in the West, when it was excerpted in Eugène Burnouf's history of Indian Buddhism (1844). The first Western edition of the Sanskrit text was published in 1886 by Edward Byles Cowell and R.A. Neil. The Sanskrit text was again edited by P. L. Vaidya in 1959. The Aśokāvadāna part of Divyavadana compiled during 4-5th century A.D. by sectarian Mathura's Buddhist monks

Sahasodgata-avadāna, in the opening paragraphs, describe the Buddha's instructions for creating the bhavacakra (wheel of life).

Rudrāyaṇa-avadāna explains how the Buddha gave the first illustration of the Buddha to King Rudrayaṇa. According to this story, at the time of the Buddha, King Rudrayana (a.k.a. Udayana (king) ) offered a gift of a jeweled robe to King Bimbisara of Magadha. King Bimbisara was concerned that he did not have anything of equivalent value to offer as a gift in return. Bimbisara went to the Buddha for advice, and the Buddha gave instructions to have the first drawing of the Buddha himself send the drawing to Rudrayana. It is said that Rudrayana attained realization through seeing this picture.

List of Stories

This is the list of stories contained in the Divyāvadāna:

1. Koṭikarṇa-avadāna
2. Pūrṇa-avadāna
3. Maitreya-avadāna
4. Brāhmaṇadārikā-avadāna
5. Stutibrāhmaṇa-avadāna
6. Indrabrāhmaṇa-avadāna
7. Nagarāvalambikā-avadāna
8. Supriya-avadāna
9. Meṇḍhakagṛhapativibhūti-pariccheda
10. Meṇḍhaka-avadāna
11. Aśokavarṇa-avadāna
12. Prātihārya-sūtra (The miracles at Śrāvastī)
13. Svāgata-avadāna
14. Sūkarika-avadāna
15. Cakravartivyākṛta-avadāna
16. Śukapotaka-avadāna
17. Māndhātā-avadāna
18. Dharmaruci-avadāna
19. Jyotiṣka-avadāna
20. Kanakavarṇa-avadāna
21. Sahasodgata-avadāna
22. Candraprabhabodhisattvacaryā-avadāna
23. Saṅgharakṣita-avadāna
24. Nāgakumāra-avadāna
25. Saṅgharakṣita-avadāna
26. Pāṃśupradāna-avadāna
27. Kunāla-avadāna
28. Vītaśoka-avadāna
29. Aśoka-avadāna
30. Sudhanakumāra-avadana
31. Toyikāmaha-avadāna
32. Rūpāvatī-avadāna
33. Śārdūlakarṇa-avadāna
34. Dānādhikaraṇa-mahāyānasūtra
35. Cūḍāpakṣa-avadāna
36. Mākandika-avadāna
37. Rudrāyaṇa-avadāna
38. Maitrakanyaka-avadāna