著者

天野 信

出版者

パーリ学仏教文化学会

雑誌

パーリ学仏教文化学 (ISSN:09148604)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.28, pp.1-20, 2014

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The purpose of this paper is to point out that the Mahapadanasuttanta (=MAP; Skt. Mahavadanasutra; Chinese version 大本経) is the fundamental source of the four excursions in various biographies of the Buddha. The four excursions are represented as the central factor in Buddha's renunciation. On the other hand, MAP is a biography of the seven former Buddhas which includes the four excursions. MAP is the only text which preserves the four excursions in the four Nikayas. Takamichi Fukita argues that MAP fixed the concept of "the common career for all Buddhas" by placing it within the ideology of the Seven Former Buddhas. Through a close examination of MAP, it is shown that the God in the Heaven of the Pure Mansion knows in detail "the common career for all Buddhas." Therefore the later Pali commentary Mahapadanasuttanta- atthakatha explains the situation of the four excursions as being produced by the God in the Heaven of the Pure Mansion. A similar description is handed down concerning the four excursions in the Nidanakatha as the Buddha's biography in the Theravada tradition. In this connection, the Nidanakatha refers to the four excursions as a quotation from MAP. In addition, this case appears frequently in Northern Buddhist texts which contain the Buddha's biography. Thus, it can be said that the descriptions of the four excursions in various biographies of the Buddha presuppose MAP and its Sanskrit and Chinese versions. As a result the God in the Heaven of the Pure Mansion in MAP is presented as a guide for Buddha's renunciation.