Tōhoku 83 : Bhadrapālaśreṣṭhiparipṛcchāsūtra : The Questions of Bhadrapāla the Merchant = ཚོང་དཔོན་བཟང་སྐྱོང་གིས་ཞུས་པ།

Liljenberg, Karen; Pagel, Ulrich

Abstract

In The Sūtra of the Master Craftsman Bhadrapāla's Questions, the Buddha’s principal interlocutor is a wealthy merchant who asks him to explain what consciousness is, and what happens to it when one dies and is reborn. In its characterization of consciousness, the discourse relies heavily on the use of analogies drawn from observation of nature. The sūtra also reflects beliefs drawn from the common cultural background of ancient India, such as, for example, in spirit possession. In addition, it presents graphic and vividly contrasting descriptions of rebirth in the realms of the gods for those who have lived meritorious lives and, for those who lack merit, in the realms of hell.

Citation

Liljenberg, K., & Pagel, U. (in press). Tōhoku 83 : Bhadrapālaśreṣṭhiparipṛcchāsūtra : The Questions of Bhadrapāla the Merchant = ཚོང་དཔོན་བཟང་སྐྱོང་གིས་ཞུས་པ།. New York

• Other Type: Other
• Acceptance Date: Jul 7, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Feb 25, 2017
• Deposit Date: Nov 15, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 13, 2019
• Pages: 1-35
• Keywords: Buddhist Literature, Mahāyāna Sūtras, Sanskrit Literature, Tibetan Studies
• Publisher URL: https://read.84000.co/translation/toh83.html
• Related Public URLs: https://read.84000.co/translation/toh83.html
• Additional Information: Additional Information : 84000 is a non-profit global initiative to translate the words of the Buddha and make them available to everyone. The project's primary focus will be the translation of Tibetan texts included in the Kangyur and Tengyur. 84000's main efforts will be directed to the commissioning of translations of these texts, particularly those that have not yet been translated. In the initial phase of the project, the emphasis will be on translation into English. Other modern languages will be included as soon as possible.